I think most first impressions after viewing screens of  BladeSlinger on iOS would be that it is “Infinity Blade with a western theme”, and to be honest that is not too far from the truth. However, after getting the chance to play the final build of the game hands on last week I can say that it does differ from Infinity Blade in enough aspects to defiantly not be called a “clone”.  But, is it as good as it looks? Are the micro transactions ( IAPs) going to put me and you totally off? Well, read on as I do a little preview of BladeSlinger right here.

The first thing I noticed while playing BladeSlinger on my iPhone 4S we just how gorgeous the game really looked. Sure, screens show this off very well, but in motion on the retinal display screen the game is one of the best looking iPhone games to date. If you are a “visualphile” you may need to pick this game up on day one of its global release just for its eye candy alone. The audio is pretty good as well, except for very cheesy voice acting. The cheesy voice acting takes away from the seriousness of the game in my opinion. But, overall the production value of this title is absolutely top notch and I am impressed.

As far as gameplay is concerned, it is pretty limited to fight after fight against similar looking bad guys/demons.  You move a few meters up a path or down a deserted street and another monster/demon battle commences. It is a bit on the repetitive side for my personal tastes, but if your into that kind of gameplay there is lots of it here  for you to enjoy. You can shoot at a long range or you can fight up close and personal with a blade. The enemies are tough, they take a lot of damage to be killed and when several of them are against you at the same time you can be in trouble very early on in the game. Of course you can block and you can also roll away, but often the camera angle and the environment don’t help you out in an easy escape. Controls are pretty good, I have had very little issues with them and that is a big plus for the game right there.If touch controls don’t work the game doesn’t work, but in BladeSlinger they work pretty well.  On thing that I don’t understand is the games ability to move about freely in the environment.  Sure this sounds like a good idea and if you have ever played Infinity blade and its clones you understand the usual limitations on movement. But here there is no real point in free movement at all. Aside from collecting one item, which you could do by touching it at a distance to be honest, the game makes no real use of free movement. The environments look amazing but they are absolutely deserted and boring to explore. Who really cares if you can move around a deserted train station, desert path and a ghost town when there is almost nothing to see or do? -PatTip- Look behind you at the very start of the game to find something.

So the enemies are pretty tough and your not that powerful at first  but you do have the chance to upgrade abilities, spells and more as the game goes on. You will earn gold by killing the badguys and can spend that gold on items including health, but by the time I go to the boss at the second chapter that gold ran out. Here is where the IAPs, or  micro transactions if you prefer come in, and to be honest, they have made the game a little too difficult perhaps on purpose so that you pay up and get all sorts of gold. And this is where I personally lost interest. Sure I go the game early and for free, but I just don’t like a game that basically forces you to pay up to continue a game past its second chapter.

So what is the final say on BladeSlinger? Well in my opinion its a great looking game that is fun but overly difficult at times. The freedom of movement could have been used much better and is almost pointless as it is now and the micro transactions may put you off if you suck like I do in the game. It all depends on the pricing of this game. If it comes out for $0.99 then I say go for it even if you will have to pay a few bucks in gold soon into the game. If it comes out at a price tag of $2.99 or higher then they better put the difficulty down or give out more free gold. I guess we wait and see what the price tag will be on this one.