Braveheart

Braveheart
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/braveheart/id401885524?mt=8
Cost: $0.99
Developed by Gaijin Entertainment
Last Updated on May 23rd, 2011

Braveheart is a top down action/role-playing game in which you progress through a number of stages and zones in your quest to find the Holy Grail, a legendary chalice that is guarded by the Great Dragon, a being of supreme power! It features a fairly unique combat system and the constant upgrading of skills and weapons is sure to keep the player coming back for more.

Yep, that's a menu

The Story Begins

The game begins with a speech by King Wilhelms herald, who tells of how the King has declared a quest to find the Holy Grail. The herald goes on to announce that whomever can retrieve the Grail would be awarded half the kingdom as well as his daughters hand in marriage.

Sounds like a pretty cool cup

This is the point at which you, the good Sir Richard, having become exceeding drunk decide that it would be an excellent idea to take liberties with the Kings daughter. This of course doesn't go over well and it is determined that instead of being put to death you will be forced to undertake the Kings quest and seek out the Grail.

Awww yeah!

Gameplay

Braveheart features a top down combat system in which you mainly utilize two virtual analog sticks. The left stick is used for movement while the right is used for swinging your melee weapon or for aiming your crossbow. The game does quite a good job of walking you through the initial stages of your first battle, showing you how to move, swing, and shoot.

Showing you how to swing that big ass flail

The melee combat is quite intuitive and I was able to get in there and smash faces with my flail right away. When you're using the flail and your thumb comes off the weapons pad it can be a tad difficult to get it going again but once you do it's business as usual.

The ranged combat in the game felt rather clunky and forced, so if your looking for a shooting game you may want to look elsewhere.

Words and stuff

As you defeat enemies they randomly drop gold as well as giving you experience. You can use gold to purchase new weapons or to upgrade the ones you already have, you can also use it to purchase perks which give your character a momentary bonus during combat, i.e. faster health regeneration.

When you've gained enough experience you of course level up, this gives you the opportunity to upgrade your skills and attributes. I personally decided to go with a mix of Flail and Wisdom during the game, Flail increases melee damage while Wisdom increases XP gained. 

Level-Up Menu

As you play the game and complete levels you will advance through stages i.e. The Dark Forest 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and so on. You can also go back and replay earlier stages for XP and gold if you find the later stages are getting too difficult.

The Map!

As with most games now you are able to purchase a large amount of gold for real money. Braveheart also offers an In App Purchase that will increase the amount of gold that is dropped in game for $1.99.

Conclusion

The Good

• Excellent melee combat
• Good upgrading system
• Entertaining story

The Bad

• Doesn't deliver on ranged combat
• Combat could feel monotonous during long gaming sessions

Should I buy it?

If you enjoy swinging around a giant hunk of metal attached to a chain then this is the game for you. If you are only interested in ranged combat then you might be better off with something else. Overall I highly recommend Braveheart as I have gotten many hours of enjoyment out of it and I hope you will as well.

Thanks for reading!