Over the last couple of years I've fallen deep into the world of tabletop gaming. After first discovering that there was a world beyond Monopoly and Connect Four, I quickly fell down a slippery slope while trying to grab onto everything I could. Ticket To Ride! Carcassonne! Catan! If you haven't made the leap yet, DO IT. But the one sub-genre of tabletop gaming that has yet gotten its claws in me is collectible miniature games. That's where Confrontation comes in.
If you're looking for a game where you can build a castle to call your own on the go, you won't have to look much further than Rule the Kingdom, the next mobile title from Game Insight set to release in April.
With their generally simplistic set up, graphics, and controls, old school RPGs are a pretty natural fit for mobile devices. A major caveat of those traditional RPGs is building a party to gallivant around the world with, getting into random encounters and raiding many dungeons. Though you usually make the decisions for each of the members concerning which spells to cast or enemy to attack, you could always use some help.
Chaos Rings II is the type of game that doesn't make a great first impression. Players are plopped into an ill-defined world with a couple of characters they know nothing about and expected to figure it out as they go. Furthermore, at first blush the combat system looks identical to the original Chaos Rings, leading players to wonder if they just spent $18 on re-skinned characters and an incomprehensible story. Those who stick with it, though, will be richly rewarded, as Chaos Rings II introduces a terrific cast of characters, a beautiful world and a combat system which has evolved quite nicely from its predecessors. The price tag may be steep, but it's well worth it.
Monsters just can't catch a break. Even when they have their own island away from any skyscrapers to knock over, some insensitive souls have to experiment on them, riddle them with bullets, and knock out their teeth for offerings to tribesmen.
Developer Crystal Shard hopes to recapture the wonder of classic RPG adventure games with its upcoming Heroine's Quest on PC. In the world of Northland, humanity bends at the will of nature, as cold and ice have swept across the lands. Wolves and trolls stalk survivors in the night, and trade caravans disappear before ever delivering their goods. The people of Northland are terrified and untrusting, just as willing to stab each other as they are to shake hands. The world needs a heroine, and you're going to be it.
A lot of North American gamers were pretty disappointed when it was revealed that Adventure Bar of Wonderland Portable wasn't going to get a PlayStation Store release outside of Japan. Pretty much out of nowhere, though, the game was announced for iOS, under the new title of Adventure Bar Story. Even though the game's got a lot of people interested in its combination of RPG and restaurant management gameplay, the iOS port never quite comes together to create a truly great experience.
I'm not entirely sure what to make of Dungeon Village. The controls aren't great, the graphics are cramped and dull, and the single-song soundtrack will burrow into your brain like some sort of instrumental "Song That Never Ends." On the other hand, the very first time I started playing it, I didn't stop until my battery died. It's that kind of game; I don't know why, I don't know how, but the more I play it, the more I want to play it.