As you begin Heroes War, you're introduced to some interesting characters. There's Sylvia, an enigmatic girl who serves as your guide, and Trevor, a gruff kid who uses a large knife as his weapon of choice. As the game goes on, you'll join up with other characters and former adversaries you defeat in battle, including a Werewolf, Amazon and Pirate; those are their actual names.
It's your choice how you want to proceed in Heroes War. You can visit dungeons, tackle dangerous missions or embark upon quests. Along the way, you'll be able to use money to level up your characters and unlock new abilities. The game is a free-to-play title, so if you're in a hurry to make the ultimate squad, you can drop a few dollars. It's not the end of the world if you don't, though.
The game also provides competition against your friends through a PvP system, giving you the opportunity to either team up or take them on in battle. It's a novel concept, though there are situations where loading pops up out of nowhere, and you'll have to wait for it to finish before continuing. It can be a pain when all you want to do is fight.
Heroes War has a solid gameplay system. The turn-based battles work almost flawlessly, as you can choose your target and abilities with very few errors. However, some enemies are stronger than others, so you'll want to make sure you're properly leveled up before heading into battle. That's why so many mission types are available, to build you up before you complete tougher tasks. It's a system that works well.
However, as novel as Heroes War's gameplay is, we never cared for the characters. The story lacks intrigue and the characters don't establish themselves. Trevor's still just as much of a thug with a knife as he was when you started, and with the other characters having generic names like Martial Artist and Vampire, it's almost as if the developers didn't even try to give them personalities.
The presentation doesn't make any great strides either. The graphics are minimal at best, with barely any effort put into the animations. The characters move just a few frames at a time. The backgrounds look boring, and the hub where you select missions and level up characters is plainly designed. Audio doesn't fare much better, with music that loops every minute-and-a-half. There are only so many growls you can take from the Werewolf.
Had more time gone into the presentation and PvP of Heroes War, it could've been a real contender against the App Store's dominant turn-based champions. For now, it's moderately entertaining, but can't shake free of its "me too" design.
