Game review: Blades of Fury - iPhone / iPod Touch

Blades of Fury from Gameloft offers console-quality combat in miniature form and sets a standard which other beat-em-ups on the platform will struggle to match.

This one-on-one fighter is far better than I ever expected a game of this sort to be on these tiny devices.

It boasts superb free-moving graphics, controls which work amazingly well on the touch screen and fast-paced action the like of which the iPhone and iPod have never seen before.

The concept of Blades of Fury is wholly unoriginal. For Blades of Fury, think Street Fighter, Tekken or Soulcalibur – overblown, weapon-wielding fantasy warriors going at it in an arena to settle some sort of eternal struggle to do with honour and justice.

Taking its influences from or, more accurately, replicating other fighting games doesn’t stop Blades of Fury being an excellent game in its own right. It might not bring much creativity to the table but everything in the game has been done really well.

Blades of Fury offers a choice of 10 characters, each with their own individual weapons and special moves. There are also 10 arenas to fight in.

You can battle computer opponents in story, arcade, survival and practice modes, or compete against human foes via wifi or Bluetooth (I’ve not been able to test the multiplayer modes).

Don’t expect a compelling storyline or deep purpose to Blades of Fury because it has neither. It is unashamedly an out-and-out old-school fighting game with no fiddly RPG elements or other frills.

The format of the brawls will be immediately recognisable to anyone who’s played any fighting game before. You start on the left side of the screen and must unleash attacks on your adversary to reduce their health bar to zero, defending yourself at the same time.

Visually the game is stunning, with its sumptuous backgrounds, colourful effects, detailed combatants and smooth-running animations.

But its main strength is how the designers have nailed the control system.

Touch control works fine in more relaxed genres such as puzzlers or board games but the method has widely been seen as an obstacle to creating a satisfying fighting game, where speed, ease-of-use and precision are essential requirements of any control scheme.

A virtual d-pad and a series of touch buttons, a control mechanism considered clunky and clumsy in other games, somehow works great in Blades of Fury.

A combination of size, position and responsiveness makes the d-pad, or joystick if you choose, strangely more functional than in other games which have employed similar devices for character movement. It just feels like my thumb fits nicely on to the d–pad in the bottom left corner, and it’s easy to keep it there too.

Meanwhile, some clever design tweaks have also gone into making the touch buttons on the right-hand side work like a charm. They are nicely spaced out, yet don’t dominate the screen, and it’s easy to move your thumb around them, striking the right button when you need it.

There are four buttons which are used to launch various attacks and defences for each character. One of the buttons controls magical attacks, the strength of which is determined by how full your magic gauge is at the top of screen.

The control system really comes into its own when the d-pad and touch buttons are combined, making it simple to launch complex moves and combos. Each character has around 20 moves, which is pretty good.

There is an alternate control method which takes away the buttons and uses swipe gestures on the screen for launching moves instead, but for me the default settings work best.

There are five difficulty levels which should cater for all skill levels, from those with limited digit dexterity through to fighting game veterans.

Sound in the game is good overall. There is epic but understated orchestral music playing in the background, while the effects such as metal clanging against metal during fights are nicely done. In keeping with a time-honoured tradition in fighting games and martial arts movies, Blades of Fury has appalling but often amusing voiceovers that give it a corny feel.

There are many other nice touches in the game, such as being able to save replays of battles and alter numerous game settings to suit your preferences. There is a good stats section which lists things such as how often you’ve played as each character and what percentage of fights you’ve won.

The overall presentation is top-notch but there are also a couple of annoyances.

The biggest of them is the lack of a save option. There is no way to resume a game should you have to exit for any reason. Even though one full run-through of story mode doesn’t take that long, it’s still very frustrating having to go back to the start if you take a break from the game. It’s an oversight not to allow the game to be saved after each fight.

Other little gripes include having to click page by page through annoying text dialogue between characters ahead of battles.

The issues, especially the omission of a save function, demote Blades of Fury from near-perfect landmark title to excellent game which needs a couple of fixes.

The game’s developers still deserve huge praise simply for the technical accomplishment, not to mention the surprise, of bringing such great graphics and controls to a fighting game on the iPhone/iPod.

For the end result to be such immense fun on top of how good it looks and works, well, that’s a real treat.

Verdict: 9 out of 10 – Far and away the best game of its kind on the iPhone/iPod platform. Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough, it says to rival fighting games.