Highborn HD on the iPad Shows That War Can Be Fun

It’s safe to say that iDevice games are getting better, as a quick perusal through the iPad App Store’s top paid games list reveals the turn-based strategy title Highborn HD from Jet Set Games. At #5 when we found it, the relatively new game is certainly there for good reason. Set in a satirical fantasy world, Highborn comes off as deceptively simple, but as players delve deeper into single player missions, that simplicity evolves into a rather surprising amount of depth. Other than a few minor problems with repetition and usability, it’s certainly a game worth the $2.99 price tag. Players start off controlling the Highborn hero “Archie” -- an overly cheerful, “fancy-pants” paladin -- and his troops as they set out to rid the world of evil. Along the way, the forces of Decay, lead by the arch lich Floyd, will attempt to stop them. For each level, users are given some sort of objective to complete and move their squads of units about a grid in order to kill enemy soldiers and capture useful structures. For the record, there are a metric ton of unit types in Highborn stemming from fantasy lore, but for the most part they consist of ranged, melee, and hero types. Ranged classes, such as archers, can attack from multiple grid spaces away, which will prevent melee units from attacking back. Melee, on the other hand tend to be stronger, but must be adjacent to a target to do anything. There are many variations of these, such as flyers that travel very far and ignore terrain, healers, catapults with, and even stealth units. Heroes are where things change up a bit as they are extremely powerful, generally killing an enemy unit in one strike. Typically, however, they are limited in some way, such as Archie, who cannot move as far per turn as one of his knights. However, heroes are granted a special spell that can be cast every couple of turns. Such spells can do direct damage to enemies, heal allies, or even turn them to stone so they can’t fight back. Terrain also plays a role in strategy. Aside from the occasional wall or rock formation a ranged unit can shoot over, certain grid tiles can have adverse effects. Moving through forests, for example, runs the risk of revealing hidden enemies (you can hide there as well), while moving through rock will reduce how far a unit can move in one turn and moving through swamp can actually do damage. The battle gets more interesting with the concept of capturing buildings. Players don't start out with many units, and must stand adjacent to a neutral or enemy structure in order to capture it and earn more. If the structure is controlled by the opponent, then players must defeat the automatically placed garrison there in order to take it. Different types of structures will spawn different types of units. For example, a monastery will produce a monk that cannot attack, but can travel far and heal allies. Other structures, such as a wizard’s tower, will also come with added defenses, bombarding enemies within range with fireballs or arrows. The only way one gets attacked by defenses, however, is if they actually engage in battle. Whenever a unit is close enough to attack something, a circle will highlight it. Telling them to attack will whisk them away to a 3D battlefield where the two forces duke it out, with the attacker going first. The player has minimal control, with the only option being to use special spells at the start of a battle they initiate (should they have any) and recharge every few turns. As for where these spells come from, they are earned by capturing buildings called “monoliths” and will do everything from weakening enemies to inflicting tremendous damage. Unfortunately, these battles are where the few complaints for Highborn come into play. Visually, it’s not all that impressive, and matches in the campaign are very long. Watching the same animations a couple dozen times does begin to get old (at least the first few times are amusing as death animations tend to be a bit overdramatic). Beyond this, it is exceedingly annoying to be able to undo moves. Once the player has moved a target unit, even if they did so accidentally, they cannot reverse the effect. Another key aspect to Highborn worth noting is that everything about it comes with a very tongue-in-cheek style of comedy that is actually quite funny. Most of it comes from the dialogue and interaction between heroes, but there are other subtle elements of the game worth noting too. Perhaps the most memorable is the options menu that houses a “broken” button with a sign taped to it saying “do not press.” Don’t worry, we won’t tell you what happens. Moving onto the social mechanics of the game, Highborn evidently once utilized Facebook for its multiplayer system. In a recent update, however, that was removed for OpenFeint. With the addition, a rather sizable number of shareable achievements were added, but being a basic social feature, it is easily outshined by the asynchronous multiplayer. It goes without saying that multiplayer is always a popular choice, and as far as social games go, asynchronous modes tend to be more attractive than synchronous ones. In Highborn this works similar to a challenge system in other social games, and players can apparently access multiple games in progress. The downside, unfortunately, is that the games must be created with OpenFeint friends that play. There is no obvious way to challenge random users. In the end, all this is merely just the tip of the iceberg that is Highborn HD. Each level can take 30 or more minutes to complete, so there is a tremendous amount of longevity to the title. Other than some minor repetition in the battle systems and usability qualms, it’s a game that comes highly recommended. Furthermore, even if you don’t own an iPad, it’s also available for the iPhone as well.

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Highborn HD on the iPad Shows That War Can Be Fun

Christopher Mack

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Christopher Mack