Hero Academy: turn-based combat, kind of like Wizard Chess.
Hero Academy – Free (universal app) with in-app add-ons
Hero Academy has been likened to Wizard Chess (the imaginary chess game from the Harry Potter universe) and Summoner Wars, a real card-based battle game (look for a review of that on GeekDad later on), though it’s not really either one exactly. It’s a two-player turn-based combat game, set on a 5 x 9 grid. Each player brings in their troops from opposite edges of the board, and attempts to destroy their opponent’s crystals or eliminate all their troops.
The free version includes the Council team, a balanced team that features your traditional fantasy characters (knight archer, wizard, cleric) as well as a ninja, who’s the heavy muscle. You get three of each regular troop and one ninja, as well as various tools that can increase defense or attack, healing potions, and two spells that just inflict damage on any spot of the board you choose. When you play the game, however, you can only choose from six of these things at a time, selected at random. Additional teams can be purchased for $1.99 each: the Dark Elves leech life from the opponent, Dwarves have a lot of area-effect attacks, and The Tribe (orcs) have combo attacks.
There are a couple different boards (also randomly-selected when you start a game), and they have different features on them: one to three crystals, spaces where your units will spawn on the board, and squares that give bonuses like extra defense, extra attack, or extra damage to crystals when your unit is standing on them. On each turn, you get five actions, which can be used to spawn units, equip items, cast spells, move units, or attack. One really nice feature is that you can play out a turn, see the effect, and then undo moves and try something else. Nothing is final until you hit the “submit turn” button — I wish more multiplayer games had this feature!
The base game (with the Council only) is free, though ad-supported. I was given a code to try out the Dwarves, and apparently after you’ve purchased things the ads are shut off, but I’ve been told by some of my friends that there are a lot of ads. You can also spend money to purchase more avatars and colors, but that seems like an expensive splurge for something that doesn’t really affect gameplay. You can also spend money on “taunts.” After you play a move, you can submit your moves with a taunt, which has your various units making faces and sticking out their tongues — your opponent will see that when they watch your moves.
I am curious about the Dark Elves and the new Tribe, which I haven’t tried yet. I will say that the Dwarves, while they have some interesting powers, seem to have a steeper learning curve: I usually lose when I play the Dwarves against the Council.
I like the fact that there’s a chat option (this should be required for nearly all multiplayer games, too) and the interface is fairly easy to use once you figure out what you’re doing. However, the game is lacking a single player mode and a local multiplayer mode, which means the only way to play the game is to find somebody online, and that’s not necessarily the easiest way to learn the game.
Overall, I’ve really enjoyed playing Hero Academy. The graphics and animations are a lot of fun. If you don’t mind a lot of ads I think the Council is a great team to use overall; it can get pretty pricey if you want all the teams and colors and lots of taunts. Occasionally there have been reductions in prices on the teams, but it might be worth buying at least one extra team to get rid of the ads.
