Features

App Army Assemble: Super Spell Heroes - A unique take on match three?

Our community has their say

App Army Assemble: Super Spell Heroes - A unique take on match three?
|
| Super Spell Heroes

Super Spell Heroes is a puzzle strategy RPG game from Flaregames. You'll find yourself choosing a wizard, picking their spell loadout and fighting duels across a large map. The intense 1v1 battles rely on you matching colours to create spells until your opponent meets their demise.

The matching system isn't all down to how lucky you are thanks to the option of choosing your spell loadout, meaning you can have some tactical input in how you destroy enemies.

Super Spell Heroes sounds like a unique take on the classic match-3 games but today isn't about what we think! We handed the reigns over to our App Army - here's what they thought...

yt
Subscribe to Pocket Gamer on
Dan Biff Turner

I'm loving the hell out of this game. I enjoy that it's not just about the spells at the stage I'm currently at and more about how you're playing the game itself.

Very strategic, easy to pick for a couple of games and out away for a while but with the quest system still feel like you're accomplishing something.

I can see myself spending a fair bit of time with this.

Matthew Jared Tucker

I've been playing for a few days now, and what I've experienced has been fantastic. The game combines a number of concepts - match three, one-on-one simultaneous PvP, upgradable "cards," customization and others - and mixes them into an extremely entertaining format.

The game, which is quick to pick up and easy to learn, is incredibly tactical - during the game you see a mini-map version of your opponent's game surface, allowing you to see what they might be planning next. The means that not only do your available options for spells (and your choice of when to use them) matter, but your timing and your opponent's available options.

Choices like allowing your opponent to damage you to build up more "mana," casting many small spells to open up availability to more powerful spells, and waiting until right before your opponent casts an offensive spell to activate a defensive spell can make or break your match.

Additionally, the excellent matchmaking system allows players who choose to opt out of the IAP to be as successful as players who choose to put money down - I've only purchased a "starter pack," and I've experienced a good balance of experiences.

The biggest concern I might have about the game is that it's solely a multiplayer experience - if ever the player base weakens, matchmaking may be difficult (or impossible). As such, some form of PvE AI might be wise as the game develops to ensure longevity.

Paul Manchester

From the moment you sign your life and data away at the first disclaimer to the £99.99 gem packages offered in game, this really summarises the most bleak and soulless side of mobile gaming. The game is the usual match 3 affair seen done a thousand times before with nothing new.

It has a certain level of polish but scratch the surface and there’s very little there to hold long term interest in this gemstone grind-a-thon. Oh and it’s always online of course.

Overall thankfully this just fades away into a sea of other cash hungry, dull, match 3 clones already clogging up a saturated mobile market place.

Kainen Ryan

This game is fun for a while. I think I'll still play it but it's starting to drag a little. I've not hit a pay wall as such but I can feel the tempting call to spend a little to get rid of some of the grind. It's a nice twist on match 3 games and feels fresh enough to keep me going back so far but I can see this game may end up getting dull and repetitive.

Mark Abukoff

In most ways, this is a clone of countless other match three games. There is one variation that just barely sets it apart, that while you're playing, you don’t have to wait for the other player. You just keep going. But aside from that, it's the same thing.

Little cute wizards, spells, upgrades push you to spend money. And as this seems to be geared towards kids, it's really not cool that the money push is so prevalent. But if you have your own money and can't get enough of juvenile (and there's nothing wrong with that) match threes, and don't mind being pushed to spend money, maybe this is a game for you. Otherwise, you really aren't missing anything.

Wossa Harvey

I found it confusing and hard to find out what the varying monies (Gems, coins, and runes) do as there is no explanation around how they can be spent. There needs to at least be a help area that has these in-depth explanations.

Also, there seems to be a need to pay if you want to use the gems to gain spell books in the store. There is no way to gain the needed amount of gems in game to cover even one purchase of the books before you go to the next area. Once in a new area the cost for the spell books in gems go up.

The Graphics are great. They're very well thought out and executed. I liked the use of the transition animations between battles and powerups. I found the seer animation that takes you to the videos to gain extra game monies and power-ups quite good. The pushing of the videos was not at all intrusive.

It's marketed at a puzzle fighting game. There is no puzzle work involved. It's a tile matching fighter where tactics and reaction times are key.

I found it fun to play. It's marketed as a PvP, but I find at least on the lower levels, I seem to be fighting a player profile controlled by the computer. Their decision making seems a bit less than authentic.

It would be good to get a solo story quest with a full story line for each Hero that you can unlock.

Data usage does not seem overly excessive. I used it over 2 days for a total of about one hour and used 32mb.

Ed Davis

I enjoyed this game far more than other matching games I have played. The idea isn't new but I felt it to be well executed and it all felt quite polished.

I would, at some point in my mobile gaming career, like to see one of these games without ridiculous IAPs. You hit a pay wall fairly early on which encourages those "pay-to-win" players to spend extortionate amounts on it. But if you don't mind a bit of a grind without paying, then this is a pretty good game.

Dave van Gorkum

I like this game, it's fun to play in short bursts and looks really well polished. You can tell the design of this game was a big part of development, everything looks so shiny!

The gameplay is fun and even though I've only played 25 games or so, it's pretty cool to do. I do wonder what the game will be like later on, I have a feeling it might be P2W after the initial start-up period. For example: I can upgrade 6 different spells at the moment but I don't have the gold to do so. Still, it's free, it's fun, let's see how long it lasts!

Funem

The game is nicely presented with both a visually appealing art style and excellent sound. The game itself has a relatively easy gaming mechanic, which makes it easy to learn but gives enough depth that it will allow you some flexibility in the way you play it.

Now you can probably see there was a "but" coming, and it’s a biggie for me…It has all the tropes of a slow to progress game.

Really early on you hit a problem where you earn so little gold, that all the spells you have start having level up indicators on them and you just don’t earn gold fast enough to level them up, you can buy some though with real money. Even earning gold in game is slowed down the more you play.

Every day you get a certain number of keys, and these will open the chests at the end of each victory, win enough times and you run out of keys, so you can’t open the victory chests, this put me right off, what's the point of playing and winning if you can’t get your rewards.

I will never understand any developer who puts in a game mechanic that makes you think, "I'll close the game and come back later even though I am enjoying the experience".

Denying the victory rewards just makes me exit the game as I lose interest in playing for little or no rewards, keep me hooked in the games I am more likely to spend money.

To add to this, when the game starts for the first time a message pops up saying that it collects information on your use of the game and before you can play you are then asked to, and I quote "share such information and device identifiers with..." and then it lists nine, yes nine different companies. You have to accept this to enable you to play the game. two or three possibly, but nine!

Jason Rosner

Super Spell Heroes by Flaregames GmbH is an awesomely refreshing new take on the classic match 3 style genre. I absolutely love the production values here - from the crisp vibrant graphics, to the smooth controls, and punctual sounds. This all adds up to some intense battles against real time opponents. I highly recommend giving Super Spell Heroes a go!

Oksana Ryan

I found this slant on a match 3 game a bit dull and repetitive but I played on for the review. I have several games of this genre that I have on my various devices which give me gameplay for a short time when I need to kill twenty minutes or so. Bearing this in mind I was annoyed when I came to play it during my break to find that I needed internet connection. As I was out in the middle of nowhere it was a slight drawback to say the least.

On the whole I found the game easy on the eye, the music okay and as a free to play game it wasn’t bad, though I wasn’t interested enough to play to the barrier where I would need to start paying.

Dries Pretorius

I enjoy it when a developer takes an innovative approach to a gaming genre. The effort here to refresh the match 3 genre is solid, the monetization scheme and progression system kills any and all potential this game has. The core mechanics feel like a gimmick to bring the candy crush compulsive spenders and the clash of clans competitive spenders into the same room.