Army of Heroes
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| Army of Heroes

Next time you sit down to watch a fantasy epic along the lines of The Lord of the Rings, Troy or (heaven forbid) Krull, you might want to take a wee moment to appreciate the level of organization and planning that must go into preparing for the titanic battles you see splashed across the silver screen; a feat of logistics that must be almost as arduous and demanding as the actual conflict itself.

Okay, so there isn't any real-world combat preparation going on in those films – aside from creating the endless special effects and CGI rendered sequences, obviously – but it's still worth mulling over as you chomp on your popcorn and swig your fizzy beverage. Winning a skirmish is one thing, but actually getting an army to the battlefield in the first place is quite another.

If you're wondering where all this is headed, let us spare you a furrowed brow and lift that puzzled expression from your face. Army of Heroes is a fantasy-themed puzzle title that focuses on rallying your forces prior to a great clash between good and evil.

The races of man, elf and orc have put aside their differences in order to tackle a growing menace that threatens to engulf their world – the relentless Army of the Undead. Having signed various treaties, kitted out their best warriors and made sure that the gas has been turned off, all that remains is for these three proud species to get to the field of battle and put an end to the undead threat – and this is where you come in.

The action takes place on a small map littered with various roads and pathways. Some of the paths have junctions which correspond to a number on your mobile phone keypad. Pressing that number will change the orientation of the junction, enabling you to send troops in different directions.

The human, elf and orc armies flow onto the map one warrior at a time. They must be guided to the correct rally point (blue for men, yellow for elves and green for orcs) in order to take part in the upcoming battle. There's a time limit involved so it's vital you think fast and send each warrior on the correct route; sending a fighter to the wrong rally point results in a deduction in the number of troops available for the conflict, so it's important you keep your eye on the progress of each soldier.

Once you've successfully shepherded your unruly forces onto the battlefield you become nothing more than a spectator, watching with fingers firmly crossed as your army crosses swords with the evil skeleton ranks. Unless you managed to entirely fill the 'troop level' bar in the main game, then you might as well skip these sections and start over – anything less that a full troop quota will result in a victory for the undead hordes.

Army of Heroes is essentially a puzzle game that plays like a cross between retro classics Pipe Dreams and Lemmings. You have very limited control on what happens – changing the road junctions is as involved as you get – but some of the later maps use several different turning points and can get somewhat demanding as a result, especially when you're having to guide more than one soldier at a time.

To keep things interesting there are also items like teleportation gates (which magically transport anything that enters to another part of the map) and magical portals that allow your units to cross paths. Although these three races are quite prepared to fight and die alongside one another, it seems they're not too comfortable with marching to war side-by-side so you must be sure to keep them apart during preparations.

There are 40 different levels to plough through, with each being more difficult than the last – however, after the first ten or so missions the actual game mechanics don't change a great deal. The levels themselves are attractively modeled and packed with engaging details like swaying trees and bubbling lava floes.

Army of Heroes is challenging to say the least and will tax even the most dedicated of puzzle players given that it relies not only on brainpower but swift eyes and fingers also. On some of the later maps you can't even afford to take your eyes away from the screen for a second, with each warrior needing to be watched like a hawk to ensure they don't stray into the wrong rally-point or bump into another fighter.

Alas, the gameplay gets repetitive a little too quickly. The fantasy theme and general presentation hint at lots of hack 'n' slash action but sadly those of you expecting arcade-style epic combat will be sorely disappointed. The actual battles – which you don't have any control over, remember – are as dull as watching England play a friendly (thankfully, these sections can be skipped).

Nevertheless, despite the fact the game is misleadingly packaged, Army of Heroes will still provide plenty of entertainment for those of you that like their mobile games to tickle the old grey matter – just don't expect a massive amount of variety.

Army of Heroes

Masquerading as an epic fantasy action title, Army of Heroes is in reality a far more mentally taxing affair that, regrettably, is ultimately let down by repetitive gameplay
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Damien  McFerran
Damien McFerran
Damien's mum hoped he would grow out of playing silly video games and gain respectable employment. Perhaps become a teacher or a scientist, that kind of thing. Needless to say she now weeps openly whenever anyone asks how her son's getting on these days.