Gameloft proves they have heart, but they’re still missing the soul
Wild Blood is an important release for Gameloft. Despite releasing mobile games with some of the highest production values around, they’ve long fielded complaints that their releases are buggy and unpolished, and frequently exist as transparent efforts to capitalize on similar console titles. It’s clear that this is their attempt to remediate that image with an original game using the industry standard Unreal Engine.
Although it is not an obvious rip-off of a major console franchise like most of Gameloft’s catalogue, Wild Blood is not especially original either. It’s a console-style hack-and-slash that should be immediately familiar to anyone who has played Dante’s Inferno, God of War, or Gameloft’s own riff Hero of Sparta. Set in a dark version of Arthurian lore, you play Sir Lancelot out to rescue Guinevere from a jealous and enraged King Arthur, who has teamed up with a sorceress to unleash the demons of hell on his Kingdom. The thin, overacted plot almost seems like a cynical imitation of videogame storylines, and lend little charm to the experience, but this title is all about action.
This is a fast and frantic button masher that offers a surprisingly hardy challenge. The combat is pretty similar to the action in The Witcher 2, with an attack button, a dodge/roll button, and variety of special attacks that drain your Mana bar. This puts the emphasis on timing – waiting for openings and rolling away before counterattacks – rather than button-mashing. You can cycle between a sword, dual axes, and a longbow at will. The axes and sword are perhaps too similar, and the latter a bit awkward, but the variety helps. A handful of shooting sequences with a ballista mix things up, but the stiff controls render these bits the absolute low-light of the game.
Killing enemies, rescuing prisoners, and opening treasure chests yield gold coins, which can be used to purchase restorative potions as well as a wide variety of RPG-like equipment upgrades. Gold essentially doubles as an experience system, and smart upgrades help take the edge off of some of the game’s more difficult encounters. Of course, the lazy or frustrated can purchase this gold with real money, but this is completely unnecessary to beat the game. Those who feel stuck can always go back and replay earlier stages for some extra cash if they feel so inclined, but this doesn’t become necessary until you unlock the game’s Hard mode.
Gameloft’s decision to license the pricey Unreal Engine is an interesting one, because the proprietary tech used in games like N.O.V.A. 3 and Modern Combat 4 seems more than capable of churning out impressive graphics. In fact, Wild Blood’s visuals aren’t really any better than their earlier games, and the impressive shader effects can’t offset the blocky character models. Like other recent Gameloft games, some effects are disabled on all but a handful of Android handsets, so don’t expect this to look like its iPhone counterpart, even on your Nexus 7. Luckily, the low-fi version is actually quite close to the full-featured one this time, with weapon effects and texture resolution serving as the only giveaways.
The decision to use an off-the-shelf engine may have had other benefits, however. Wild Blood seems better optimized and more stable that Gameloft’s typical output. Ultimately, a more polished experience is probably a bigger win for them than a bit of extra graphical juice. The only question is whether or not a cheaper (and more Android-friendly) solution like Unity might have served just as well.
There is the requisite online component, as with most of the developer’s games, but it feels forced here. In practice, hacking through Capture the Flag or Deathmatch modes isn’t as bad as you’d think, but there’s very little to keep players’ interest. Your rank is leveled to maintain balance, and there’s no ability to build a character, nor to earn in-game currency when playing against other players, rendering it little more than a temporary distraction.
It’s clear that Gameloft is paying attention to its critics and Wild Blood is indeed one of their strongest efforts yet. The console-style hack-and-slash action is among the best of its kind on the Android, and seems relatively free of Gameloft’s usual launch-window compatibility and stability problems. But Gameloft still seems to be lacking inspiration more than anything else, and no amount of polish can make up for a lack of personality. While Wild Blood may not be an outright forgery, it’s still relying on the fact that it resembles the sort of console game that is hard to find on your phone. To that end it’s a resounding success, but it’s equally clear that if it were on a console, you’d never give it a second look.
Hardcore?
Yeah.
Wild Blood is one of Gameloft’s most polished games yet, but control issues and a general lack of personality keep it from being a real breakthrough.