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Everlands
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Graphics & Sound:
This is the perfect part of the review in which to warn about the dangers of judging a book by its cover. What developer Hexage has done with Everlands looks very much like various hex-based strategy games out there, but it's something different. We were reminded of the great PSP title Wild Arms XF at first glance, simply because the tiles on the board and the battle theme seemed to match up. There's definitely a battle happening at every point in the game, but it's a battle for control of space, not trouncing your enemy. The enemies are unbearably cute, matched only by the opposing force you control. The design style is somewhere between Japanese super-cute and an all-ages comic book, but in the best way possible. Every member of the team is some kind of animal, and all the animals have to fit into a six-sided tile. The style quotient in Everlands is extremely high.
The story follows your progression through a forest that has been cursed by darkness, so expect some moody stuff, but nothing that feels outright scary or creepy. The text that introduces each level is a bit stilted, but gets the point across. Each time you face off against a new animal, excitement builds as you read through the description for that level, and the payoff is generally very good. Everlands isn't a noisy game, but it has some good sounds to accompany the action as you play. Light-hearted music floats through the background, keeping things very much in sonic wallpaper territory. Better writing and some animal sounds would have added to the allure, but this is nitpicking in an otherwise attractive package. |
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Gameplay:
So, what is it that makes Everlands different from other hex-based strategy games? For starters, it has more in common with the ancient game Go than the turn-based battle games we're accustomed to playing. Instead of battling to defeat your opponents, Everlands awards victory to the player who controls the highest percentage of tiles, when all tiles are filled. This prompts a different type of gameplay, and rewards a very careful, thoughtful player. The story behind the game is that a strange force is turning animals in the forest into something violent and dark. It seems to be linked to food, and that means things get out of hand quickly as good animals follow the path from one part of their forest to another. Much like a classic virus/zombie flick, you hope against hope that more animals aren't being turned against you. Each time a battle ensues, the winning conditions are largely the same, to control more than 50% of the board. Apart from the main game, there are options to play Duel Mode against a friend, which we liked quite a bit. Next up on the wish list is playing against opponents online, with your phone. Not an option for now, but you just wait...
Without understanding the dynamics of the game, this might sound simple enough. Animals take turns attacking, and the strongest animals win, right? Wrong. The turn-based attacks are here, but there are several rules complicating Everlands greatly. First, each animal can only attack on certain sides, which creates vulnerabilities. Second, most animals have some special power that makes them extremely valuable if used correctly. Third, you can only attack once with each animal, per attack direction. Your arsenal of animals grows a bit too quickly in the game, making it difficult to remember the special powers of your animals, and harder still to plan out how to use them smartly. The scenarios get larger and do have some harder conditions attached, such as the requirement that you win the level where Hippo appears with Hippo in your possession. The "possession" thing marks an interesting point about the game. Since animals are getting sick, you can heal them and restore them to your army, or become lax and have your party drawn into the darkness. Once you lose your hit-points, that animal is lost to you, and you may not have sufficient time to win it back. Planning ahead and knowing the animals under your control is the key to winning. |
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Difficulty:
Winning in Everlands is more elusive than you might think. The cutesy quality of the game's design is another one of those things not too judge quickly. Several levels in and you'll be begging for mercy, asking for hints, and wondering if you missed something during the Tutorial Mode. Everlands even offers a helpful hint feature, but it isn't always that helpful. It's smart in that it appears only when you've deliberated too long over your move, but we played an entire game using hints and still lost. The game suggests an animal and that animal's placement, leaving you nothing more to do than press a button. This is the super-casual version of Everlands, but it's not going to be too enthralling if people can't use it to win... The difficulty in the game comes from having to think two or three moves ahead. Just defeating an enemy with your superior might is well and good in most strategy games, since you can always retreat to lick your wounds. In Everlands, there's no retreat, and you'll have to think about the moves your opponent will make when you defeat some enemy on the field. Placing an animal with lots of sides unprotected is tantamount to giving the enemy another soldier, and possibly giving him two spaces. You have to think about how a well-placed soldier for the other side might turn your troop in the next move, or three moves from now. This level of concentration may be an acquired taste, but it speaks to the relatively deep strategy required to beat Everlands. Once you do beat the game, replay value is minimal, unless it's to try dueling with a friend. We loved the challenge, and the only gripe we had was "animal overload." Games that introduce new features gradually tend to earn more points for instructing players on the tactics required to win under certain conditions. Everlands doesn't give you more than one level to learn a new animal, before turning you loose to use that animal while trying to defeat yet another new animal... You can see the point here, I'm sure.
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Game Mechanics:
Touch mechanics are awesome for a game like this. It would be awesome on the DS, but it happens to be a mobile game that we played on a Droid Eris. Hexage sells its wares in the App Store as well as Android Market, so these folks are covering lots of ground. The basics of placing an animal involve swiping left and right in a tray at the bottom of the screen, selecting an animal you wish to place, and touching the appropriate spot on the board. We liked that you could shift places or choose another animal, so long as you didn't click the button to end your turn. This design helps people who think visually, play around with different placements on the board. We only found a few things annoying. Touching an animal twice brings up a description of the animal and its special powers, which is a nice feature, but the sensitivity sometimes registered one tap as two. We also wished for a mid-game save of some kind, rather than forcing us to replay an entire level. It probably seems a bit silly to ask for something like this, since the game's developers can no doubt whip through these levels like a hot chainsaw through butter. Again, these are minor quibbles in comparison to the generally smooth controls we found through Everlands.
Original games aren't that easy to find, but the explosion of mobile development will create some new stars in companies that recognize the value of creativity. Hexage whipped up something special with Everlands, a game that feels instantly familiar but offers a very different twist on turn-based strategy. The sense of accomplishment you'll get from playing is high, making this a round peg in the square hole of casual gaming. There's nothing casual about how you'll need to work your noggin to win Everlands, although there are some moments of blind luck. Learning the strengths and weaknesses of each animal is key to winning, as well as figuring out the most strategic places on the board for each critter. Changing boards, new animals, and some special conditions make Everlands a game you'll get sucked into longer than you might expect, a bright spot in an otherwise crowded space of shovelware and adware. |
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-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock |
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