Stormblades Review

Developer: Kiloo
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.0.2
App Reviewed on: iPhone 5

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Is it Infinity Blade but simpler? Is it an auto-runner? Is it a series of Quick Time Events? Those are the questions that will run through your head as you play Stormblades. The answer? Well, it’s a bit more complicated than picking just one. It’s more of a mixture of the three, and it still manages to turn into a fairly samey experience.

Each level consists of you automatically leaping from area to area, tackling foe after foe. You attack these enemies by swiping on the screen. There aren’t any combos to rack up here, so the key is to swipe often and occasionally remember to duck out of the way by double tapping on screen. It’s a fairly simple process, but being so tactile means that Stormblades feels reasonably involving for a short time.

The problem is that this is all you do throughout the game. You can pick up extra essence by swiping at things as you move between enemies, but otherwise it’s pretty samey and repetitive stuff.

Outside of levels, you can use such essence to upgrade your weapon and sometimes unlock a new one, but this simply makes you more powerful, rather than gives you anything new to do. It does, at least, give you some reason to keep chipping away.

Stormblades looks quite gorgeous at times, and it works reasonably well. It just isn’t overly thrilling after you’ve completed the first few stages. A little too formulaic for comfort, it’s the kind of game you’ll play for a brief time, enjoy, then feel no great urge to go back for more. There’s not even any story to follow, with the sole level of satisfaction stemming from gutting perfect scores and learning to block more effectively. You’ll probably have got bored by the time that blocking becomes essential, however.