The mad Norse god Odin thinks he just destroyed the last Valkryie, but he only shattered her into memory fragments.  Now it’s up to the Valkyrie’s daughter Astrid to travel all over the land via Phantomgates to collect the scattered memory fragments to save her mother and defeat Odin in this action platformer RPG.  It’s based on Norse mythology as you can tell, and would probably make for a great plot for another Thor movie.  It’s available free-to-play on mobile devices but reviewed on iPad here.

The game is one part 2-D platformer and one part turn-based RPG.  As Astrid, you’ll travel through gates that act like stages, and each stage can have multiple parts.  In these stages, you’ll run about in 2-D platformer fashion.  Use the touch screen to move around and jump.  Sometimes you can find a special Valkryie wing item that’ll let you fly through the rest of the stage.  You can also collect keys and flip switches to progress through the level.  Sometimes you can run into people that might have a quest for you, and you can also collect gems that’ll help you level up.  To pass the level, you must find three special gems that’ll unlock the gate.  These gems can be acquired through quests, or just hidden in the level.

Every so often you’ll run into enemies, then the screen switches to a turn-based RPG battle.  Astrid and your party will trade blows with the enemy.  Use special skills and drag blue and red bubbles to aid your party and debilitate the baddies.  The game will end if you lose all your hit points.  Because of how the game changes from 2-D platforming to RPG battles, it reminds me of an excellent game I reviewed a few years ago called Child of Light.

After a stage, you’ll be sent back to a hub world where you can manage your party before tackling the next stage.  While in battle, sometimes you can collect the enemy’s souls.  The enemies in this game are called phantoms, and if you can collect them, you’ll be able to summon them to help you out in battle.  So the game has kind of a Pokémon aspect to it, too.  The only main problem I had with this game was that to level up your phantoms, you have to go through a lot of fiddly menus and make sure you have the right materials to enhance and evolve them.  But anyone who has dabbled in one of these free-to-play RPGs knows what to expect with that.  Also the touch screen 2-D platforming controls can be slightly clunky.  I know that with mobile games, the term ‘console quality’ gets thrown around a bit, but that phrase definitely applies here.  I almost wish they would release a streamlined version of this game for consoles at some point.  The mix of RPG battles and 2-D exploration is fun, and the Norse legend characters are neat.

Kid Factor:

You can hit monsters with weapons and magic, but they just fall down when defeated and that’s as violent as it gets.  Reading skill is needed for the text, and because of the complexity of the game, I’d say it’s best for older kid gamers.  Parental supervision is recommended for the in-game purchases and ads.

Tags: Game Reviews