World of Warriors Review

March 25, 2018

If there’s one thing I’ve got to hand to World of Warriors, it hits you with its best stuff right out of the gate upon start-up. The theme song that plays over the game’s introductory cinematic is pretty awesome, it’s catchy and it has a great hook. It’s reminiscent of the kind of song you’d hear in toy commercials in the 80’s and 90’s that would get stuck in your head and effortlessly attach itself to that brand. While I’m not the biggest fan of World of Warriors as a game on the whole, I like their music guy.

World of Warriors is best known as a pretty successful mobile game that came out several years ago, originally developed by Mind Candy. The original app relied on cinematic action with cutesy heroes, and perfectly timed attacks to inflict maximum damage on your foe. However, this World of Warriors released for PlayStation 4 is a different beast entirely, although it shares the same presentation and drive as the original, developed by Saber Interactive of TimeShift and Inversion.

Rather than a free app, World of Warriors on PS4 is a AU $39 full game clearly aimed at children, that thankfully doesn’t depend on microtransactions or sneaky in-game currencies. The presentation is clean and the conformed adorable design of the warriors definitely make me feel as if a line of toys really isn’t far away for the franchise.  As you progress through the game you collect gems that can unlock more characters, all cute representations of real-world historical armies, as well as a number of crafting materials that can be used to forge potions and talismans to strengthen them. Whether you do so through the campaign or online, you’ll have to take your miniature warriors out into arena battles to level them up and progress towards collecting all 40 characters.

This is all well and good, and for small children it’s a simple and bloodless action game that shouldn’t offend. For anyone older looking for something more challenging, World of Warriors unfortunately falls short. The core combat gameplay lacks weight or impact.  As opposed to the cinematic mobile game, this is a 3D arena action game. While you have access to combos, magic-enchantments and magic attacks (in a rock-paper-scisssors style weakness system), and even parrys, none of it really feels satisfying at all, and you wouldn’t even be able to tell if you were dealing damage if it weren’t for the occasionally hard-to-decipher health icons above everyone’s heads. Battles can involve up to 4 players, or more NPCs if you’re in an enemy wave level.

There are several unique stages, all of which have their own traps and interactive elements you can use to turn a battle to your advantage. For instance, the sea stage has a giant sea titan who can be angered with your attacks to cause your opponent some grief, and you can throw a switch to incur the wrath of nearby cannons as well. However, much of the time a much easier and safer strategy is just attacking full bore into your enemy, or pushing them into a hazard. Chests sometimes appear that dispense crafting materials and bombs which can be thrown at enemies, although picking them up can be challenging when the game fails to detect that you’re right next to them. The local campaign requires you to revisit stages again and again in similar battles before you can advance, which unfortunately causes their novelty to wear off pretty quickly.

The best enjoyment the game has to offer would most likely come from its multiplayer, both local and online; although the online community must be tiny at the moment as I’ve scarcely found a match to play since receiving the game. There is potential for some tactical selection of characters to take into battle, as along with elemental weaknesses, each warrior has their own strengths and stats and is classified as ‘light’, ‘medium’ and ‘heavy.’

Unfortunately, the truth is that for most, World of Warriors on PlayStation 4 won’t be able to hold your attention for long. The core gameplay feels too weightless and bereft of the timing and impact of the mobile app, while progression in the campaign soon becomes a recipe for repetition. I do think there’s appeal here as a title for children with an interest in collecting, but even then there are plenty of other choices out there. World of Warriors is a decent, if average title for tots, but won’t set the world on fire for anyone else.

Positives:

-Colourful, simple presentation that will appeal to kids
-Collecting and progression without feeling the need to abuse microtransactions
-Cool song

Negatives:

-Rather dull combat lacking impact or weight
-Repetition sets in early and maintaining interest becomes tough

Overall Score: