Mobile Game Review: Slayin'

In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.

However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason.  You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.

And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time.  I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.

Today's review is on a game that I saw on youtube, Slayin'. Slayin' is a game built around a touchscreen control scheme, with a left button, a right button, a pause button and an action button. The action button is determinant on which of 6 classes you can choose for combat. Each class has something different to bring to the table; the Knight, for example, has a one directional weapon, but has the most defense, but the Knave has a bidirectional weapon, and the highest luck, and the mage has the highest attack, but can't jump, and so on for the other three classes.  All bring something distinct to the gameplay in your attempt to last long enough to face the dragon at the end.  It has a retro aesthetic in sound, and music; it would have fit in perfectly on the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis.



This game has plenty of unlocks, and all can be bought with in game currency, fame. All the characters, different background music, interface borders, gravestone styles for to display your high score, all of it purchased with in game currency. Yes, you can buy the currency with real money, but you don't have to; fame is easy to get so long as you know what you're doing.

Control: Slayin' is built around around touch screen controls. Things are precise, and when you hit a button, it does what you tell it to. Though, if you're like me and used to a controller with this kind of game, you may find yourself taking damage unintentionally when you try to rock the dpad, since touchscreens don't work that way. 

Graphical Fidelity: Slayin' looks like it came right out of the 90s in terms of graphics, and it fits the screen perfectly.  Sprites are colorful and easy to make out against the backgrounds, so you're never confusing your character with an enemy.

Sound: Slayin' sounds like a game for the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis.  Sound effects and music are sound like they were made with a 16 bit sound chip.

Ads: Slayin' is very good about ads.  When you boot up the game, you get a static ad, and if you want to revive after your character dies, you can watch an additional ad.

Fun Factor: Slayin' is mindless fun for when you've got nothing else to do.  It's simple, easy to understand, and can fill up a few minutes here and there when you're waiting on something.

Final Analysis: Slayin' is fun.  It's simple to learn, but difficult to master. There's plenty of challenges for you to complete with each character, some more fun than others, but Slayin' can be a game you play for a LONG time.