Picky Gamer Apps #6

The weekly Picky Gamer Apps column is dedicated to mobile games and apps a picky gamer wants to have. I’m focusing on the games and will be dropping some occasional applications that will help in your gaming lives.

Two of the games in today’s selection have the word “Raid” in it. This is just a random coincidence on my part, though I suspect many game makers tend to call their titles using the word.

Here is the selection of games for this week: ‎

1. RAID: Shadow Legends
2. RAID HQ
3. Shop Heroes

RAID: Shadow Legends

RAID: Shadow Legends is a strategy turn-based game set in a fantasy world where you control a limited number of champions. Each champion has two or three active skills, and when their turn comes, you need to choose both the skill and its target.

The biggest advantage RAID: Shadow Legends is an active community, where players discuss the game and strategy. You can easily find video and text guides and ask for advice via various forums. You don’t stumble upon mobile games with such commitment from players very often. There are even guides on how to install the game on PC.

RAID: Shadow Legends greats new players with a confusing and quite long tutorial where you are supposed to learn by taping on places highlighted on the screen. I find this approach to the education of new players boring and ineffective, but once you get through the initial missions of the campaign, it starts getting very addictive.

RAID: Shadow Legends has unexpected layers of complexity, for example, you might want to gather the right item sets for separate character archetypes. There are support, tank and damage dealing characters, just like in most strategy games.

Unfortunately, the game has many microtransaction traps, and you need to be smart to avoid them. Experienced players recommend focusing on a limited pool of heroes, rather than spending resources on maintaining a vast squad. You want to finish the daily, weekly, and monthly quests because they provide the rewards that are very hard to come by without spending real money.

RAID: Shadow Legends is a beautiful game with plenty of things to do and worth your time and effort. Just remember, that it’s not a casual game, and in order to get a rewarding experience, you need to commit to playing it on a regular basis.

iOS Link

https://itunes.apple.com/app/raid-shadow-legends/id1371565796?mt=8

Android Link

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.plarium.raidlegends

RAID HQ

In this game, your mission is actually to “raid” enemy bases. You get to control one of four preselected characters, who fight the enemy soldiers to loot the base.

RAID HQ reminded me of playing Metal Gear Solid V, in the sense that you get thrown on the enemy territory on a helicopter and between the sorties you control the Mother Base the HQ, building up defenses and recourse mining facilities.

The character development in RAID HQ is a system similar to Clash of Clans, where you gather the character cards to be able to use and upgrade them. Since RAID HQ is mostly single player experience (though you raid enemy bases like in MGS V), using the character card system makes sense — you don’t lose a battle just because the foe put in more time or money into the game.

Like in the previous game, before you start truly enjoying it, there is a lengthy tutorial which makes you mindlessly tap around the GUI and scroll through the text prompts. Once you get through the tutorial, the game becomes very interesting.

I wish the developers put a little bit less GUI elements into RAID HQ, because it makes the interface very cramped.

Overall, I really enjoyed RAID HQ and recommend trying it out.

iOS Link

Android Link

Shop Heroes

Though the game has a Steam port, it originally released for mobile devices, and still feels and plays like a mobile game. In Shop Heroes, you own an artefact crafting and selling establishment. To get some materials you send the heroes, who are also your clients, on different quests. You also get to invest in the city you dwell in together with other players (the bigger the city level, the more players it can take).

Shop Heroes is a game I wouldn’t recommend for everyone because, in my opinion, it’s a true time killer – the gameplay is very repetitive, and you never get to finish the game — there is always a new customer to help or new raid to send the heroes to.

There are rumors, that once you make an in-game purchase, the game goes on a higher level, and it gets much harder to complete things like daily quests without a microtransaction.

Shop Heroes is perfect for when you need to sit through a boring class or occupy your mind while executing simple tasks. Playing the game leaves enough attention to also listen to a podcast.

iOS Link

Android Link