Surprisingly Addictive- A Venture into Mobile Games, Brave Frontier

I don't often review mobile game titles, since as a hardcore enthusiast I feel that the quality of mobile titles still doesn't match my standards bar for acceptable games. Most games are rife with bugs, forced in game purchases, and mechanical oddities that just make mobile titles fall flat on their face. The ones that I have enjoyed like Infinity Blade are few and far between. However, I took the advice of a fellow gamer, who yes also happens to be a girl and wound up trying out a free-to-play title that dazzled me. Brave Frontier seriously impressed me and it highlighted what mobile gaming could be if done right.

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Story: While this certainly isn't the highlight of all mobile games; still evident in this particular title. Brave Frontier manages to pull out of the proverbial magical hat of mobile gaming, a semi-decent story.  Characters each have lore entangled back stories, each new area unlocked boasts a bit more of the story panning out. Anything that isn't directly tied to the story has fair representation. It certainly isn't the Hamlet of mobile gaming stories but it does give providence to an aspect of mobile titles that has largely been neglected. It is well written, however, because of mobile limitations, the story is still simple and therefore has been given a back seat. Some of the dialogue is clearly out of sync with the actual setting and lore. For the all of the good and the bad the story receives an acceptable score of 6.5/10.

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Gameplay: It's simple, it's advanced, it's quite ingenious. With mobile limitations they actually packed quite a lot of depth into the gameplay elements. The main mechanics rotate around the old Fire Emblem style weakness/strength tree. Basically every unit has its strengths, weakness, and neutral elements/weapons. Combat while smooth is however, very limited. Characters only have 3 move types: Basic Attack, Brave Burst, and Guard. Alim studios managed to solve the limitation by introducing some aspect of timing, thereby raising the skill cap and depth of the game possibilities. By comboing "correctly" and on time with each units specific type of attack animations you can trigger Sparks to maximize damage. This gives skilled players an advantage in fights especially if they know their units well. While beginner players like me, can mash down on characters and still do just as well. (Note: higher level play will require Spark mastery, there's a noticeable difference in the strength of Non-Sparked combos)[Note: this means players of all ages and skill levels can participate in this game]. Cash shop elements are non-intrusive to gameplay at least in the earlier levels. Deep collectiblity in units lends itself to replayability. For its well designed combat and intricate yet simple systems Gameplay receives a 10/10.

Graphics: Return of the good ol-8 bit RPG style. While this certainly doesn't turn many players on, it doesn't actually hurt this game in any way. It's a retro feel, that actual feels good. Character sprites and art are all well drawn and designed; some people may not care for the Japanese-anime inspired art. Graphical FX are beautiful and each individual animation is both stylish and varied. However, chaining together large amounts of Brave Bursts causes massive frame drops. I don't have a FPS recorder on my phone, but, I'm pretty sure at one point or another my frames dipped to single digits, when chaining together a lot of ultimates. Because the game isn't fully optomized to handle all the 8-bit attack art at a time. I can't give graphics full score. However, it does receive a solid 8/10. 

Sound: All of it is done masterfully. I don't care for some of the background music especially in the village. But, all other attack sound FX and musical scores are admirably performed. Each has its own varied taste which is good. I was afraid that due to the mobile platform there would be lots of cookie cutter music, but this isn't the case which left me pleasantly surprised. The sound receives a 8/10.

Honestly, this isn't a new game. But, I just recently discovered this little gem. Now I'm really addicted in a bad way. It is a Free to play so there's no reason not to at least try it out you can get the app on either the Google Play Store or the Apple iStore. 



If you do end up trying the game out my Friend ID: 3107058851. If you add me It'll be appreciated in its own right.