After months of anticipation, Infinity Blade has finally come to Apple's iOS platform--and it will do its very best to take every cent of your lunch money if you're not sure of what you're doing.
Set in a medieval age, Infinity Blade puts you in the role of an unnamed hero who must fight his way through the multiple champions of a castle in order to take on and try to defeat a mysterious figure known as the God King. Despite your best efforts and intentions, you will not succeed--or at least, not the first time through.
Truth to tell, the God King will most likely take you apart within moments, running the Infinity Blade through you and hoping aloud that your descendants fare better against him than you did. That's where Infinity Blade picks up, the task of killing an immensely powerful final boss resting in your sons' hands through each generation. For every descendent that comes back to fight the God King, they'll have the previous abilities, equipment and experience their father left them, the rest relying on you.
So, without further ado, here's what several hours spent working towards (and finally) defeating the God King taught me this past weekend.
Before you dive into the mythos of "Oh, awesome, I'm a medieval warrior and I've got a way cool sword and it's time to stab everything that opposes me!!!", remember that your first first job is staying alive to stab anything at all. That being said, spend the first few battles analyzing your opponents' attacks and get used to dodging left, right or hitting the center button to activate the shield on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad's touchscreen. The controls are sensitive but if you can get a sense of timing down, survival becomes that much easier.
When in doubt, keep dodging and after you've earned a Dodge Break or a Shield Break, then begin attacking. Until then, focus on keeping yourself alive, healthy and in one piece.
In as much as Infinity Blade focuses around combat, it's also a role playing game and the items you buy and upgrade make all the difference. Although the game is essentially on rails (there's almost no way to explore the castle beyond the set path your character takes), you can use the cut scenes in which your character walks from one area to another to spot sacks of gold and healing potions to click on the items and collect them. Although these aren't huge amounts of money you're collecting, it adds up and healing potions can prove invaluable before battles.
If it's there, take it and consider it a medieval birthday card from grandma with $15 inside…
You'll fight a fairly wide variety of enemies in Infinity Blade that will use different styles, speeds and weapons to attempt to flatten you. Still, there tend to be some universal elements to each battle. Over the course of testing, the most reliable move proved to be following my opponent's weapon and dodging to the side I was being attacked on (if the giant troll swings a mace to your left side, dodge to the left and so on). Some enemies will use flourishes to mislead the side they're attacking from. Be aware of these, focus on where you think the blow will land and work from there.
During your battles with the God King's various champions, you'll run across opponents whose blows are almost impossible to dodge. If your opponent starts to mix it up, switching from their main weapon to charges, punches and kicks, switch over to your shield, even though it has a limited number of times you can use it in each battle. Not only will this keep your character alive, but it'll save your character from being too stunned to perform a conventional dodge when needed.
It's probably the hardest thing to do in the game, but if you can time it right, try to block an incoming blow and turn the attack against your opponent. It's tricky but it's feasible and try practicing with a slower opponent to get the timing down.
It may feel a bit like cheating but it makes all the difference. Beyond reaching for the occasional super move (which stuns your enemy and allows you to perform a series of strikes over the next few seconds), try to equip a magic ring that allows for both offensive and healing/defensive spells. This will both keep you alive and in the game as well as allow you to test out offensive spells on opponents to see what works. Be sure to pick up enchanted weapons when possible and there's nothing like seeing a life-stealing sword tear your enemy apart while healing you or a lightning-enchanted sword decimate your opponent with only a fraction of the blows needed from that of a conventional weapon.
Finally, remember that Infinity Blade will take at least a few hours to beat and that you'll have your head handed to you quite a few times, your dignity depleted just a bit and there'll be times where the 80s rich kid movie jerk WILL walk off with the girl you were intending to ask to the prom. Try to take this all in stride and if there does come a point where you're up against a champion you can't beat, elect to save and start the castle over. This will hold onto your progress and allow you to gain additional experience points, money and levels, putting you in a much better position the next time you take that opponent on again.
There will be downtimes, moments of incalculable loss and defeat, but this is part of your training montage and at the end of it, you'll be able to prove that you drank milk, did your chores and have a bright, shining future ahead of you when you finally run the God King through with your blade and claim his throne…
