Round 1, Fight! Hadouken, hadouken, hadouken, hadouken. I found myself mouthing those words, yup, including “Round 1, Fight!” when I was playing Epiphany Games‘ latest iOS title Runic Rumble. The game in a one vs one fighting, wait, dueling would be better, game in which players control the hero Aki as they cast spells against AI opponents in a bid to dwindle down their opponent’s health bar to zero.
Yup, it’s kinda like Street Fighter but ditches the body contact in favour of spells representing different elements and they can either buff you defensively or proceed to pummel your opponent. The fun part is of course creating combos out of the offensive spells which enable you to deliver the proverbial knock-out punch earlier.
Players cast spells by first selecting the spell and drawing the shape that appears on screen. Players come into each match with a maximum of four spells in their arsenal, so pick wisely in the selection screen. Spells are unlocked (for a total of 24) with each successful battle in the Story mode and your opponents aren’t exactly defenseless….picking the right spell will help negate whatever they are throwing your way.
The game boast some really nice character models and the various spell effects are quite pretty as well, but in my opinion, the frantic gameplay where you cast spell after spell, like Harry Potter on steroids, would be the main draw for this very impressive title. Besides the Story mode, the Challenge Arena offers endless waves of opponents, in return for the opportunity to obtain powerful spells.
After playing the game, it dawned unto me that maybe because of Epiphany Games’ Aussie roots that Runic Rumble looks to have some Aboriginal influence on it; not everyday you get a game tapping into its developers’ national heritage. Nine Over Ten 9/10 rates Runic Rumble at a 4.5 out of 5, you really need to check it out. The game is available on the iTunes App Store for just 99 cents for both the iPhone and the iPad, grab it over here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/runic-rumble/id556744723?mt=8
