Game review: Save the planet in Battle for Candora

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by Chrisanna Lazaridou on 2 March 2017 · 2595 views

Mobile card games are not really my thing with the exception being Hearthstone which I’m a big fan of. I prefer playing card games the traditional way, on a table or on the floor with friends as it is something I grew up with and it’s hard to replace it with the modern card games in digital form. That doesn’t mean of course that I don’t appreciate the thought and care that is being put into these games and the amount of fun and entertainment they offer to many players worldwide. Thus, I decided to give a new game that uses cards as its main focus a try. This game is Battle for Candora by OnOff Gaming and it has been developed by a family, which I found amazing and lovely. Let’s take a look at the result of their effort.

Plot

In the year 2399 an alien species called Greys unleashed a horrible plague on the humans that caused the infected to carve sugary treats unstoppably. After searching, the humans found a cure, Gluconium-6 on the planet of Candora. Now it is up to you to save the Earth by finding the cure and bringing it to our planet. That task is not easy though; You will have to face the enemy aliens before anything else. Are you ready for the challenge?

Gameplay

Battle for Candora is basically a strategy game in which you need to use the right cards at the right moment to defeat your opponent. The characters you play as vary and you can change between your available ones during a match. Some of the characters are even based on historical and famous people, which is a lovely treat for the players. Your opponents are enemy aliens and each team has up to 3 characters available. At the bottom of your card you can see its health and on the top right the attack ability and the damage it can cause to the opponent. Of course, every character is not simply a decoration but each has its own unique ability thus making it highly important to know which one to use and when. At the left of your screen you will notice the energy bar which is filled slowly at the start of every turn.

Now, moving on to the cards that you can use during battle; the food cards give you a variety of boosts e.g. if your attack ability is 7, with the right food card it can go up many points. Other cards give you energy or life and more for you to discover while playing. Also, if you put 5 or more cards of the same group in your deck, a special power will be released.

Your deck is basically what will earn you the victory or bring you to game over, so improving it and learning new strategies will decide the outcome of every battle. A game is over when one of the two teams loses all 3 of their characters. One of the characters of your choice is placed on the attack position and the rest remain on defense until you summon them forth to replace them with your current attack character. Energy is necessary to perform attacks and if you run out of it there is not much you can do except wait for the next turn to have 1 energy battery again. This makes things even harder for the player because the game is already hard as it is and with strong opponents but with training you will learn to manage your energy resources better each time.

There are over 60 missions for you to complete and more than 200 cards to unlock and use at your advantage. When you perform well you are also given rewards to improve your deck. The training seemed a bit confusing at first as many things kept happening one after the other and it was hard for to focus and keep in mind what each move does but when the real missions begun it got easier to learn and play.

Graphics & Sounds

Battle for Candora has lovely 2D graphics with cartoony characters and nice colorful environments. Everything looks smooth and the colors are crystal-clear. It also has quite a joyful BG music with plenty of tracks that fit the game perfectly.

Conclusion

All in all, Battle for Candora is a card game that will satisfy the fans of the genre and why not, give other players the initiative to give a chance to mobile card games. It gets a bit confusing at times and the rules might seem hard to follow at first but it is worth giving it a try and learn its mechanics before deciding if it is your cup of tea. Let us know your thoughts and impressions in the comments below.