Overall, the anime-inspired graphics, fantasy storyline, polished visuals, and various features could allow Chain Strike to become a go-to escape for gamers on the go. However, the expensive micro-transactions, long tutorial, and grindy nature of the game might put off some gamers as well.
Chain Strike is a turn-based, strategy RPG that combines elements of chess-inspired positioning with a diverse cast of characters that have unique abilities. It is clear from the outset that much of the allure of the game lies in its visual polish and art direction. The game is simply stunning to look at, and even when running on an older Samsung Galaxy S7 there was no noticeable lag or frame-dropping. The animations of various attacks also seemed to be polished without straying into the realm of overly-flashy.
Getting into the game is very easy, and a case could be made that the tutorial section of the game is almost too simplified. Furthermore, it drags on for quite some time so be prepared to sink your first hour or two into nothing but touring the mechanics of the game. There is some benefit to the lengthy intro, as upon first glance the game can be somewhat overwhelming to newcomers. There are different modes aside from the main story which takes place in the form of various multi-stage levels. These modes include a PvP mode which I didn’t have a chance to try and an endless dungeon-grind mode where players try to get through as many dungeons as possible.
The gameplay is simple. You create a custom team out of the characters available to you, and then through correct positioning, you can apply various buffs and create team-wide combo attacks to dish out heavy damage on increasingly difficult bosses and boards. Each character has a certain movement restriction (much in the same way chess pieces do) as well as a tailored “role” through the few abilities they can have. In this way, it is clear that some characters are designed to be damage-dealers while others are geared more towards buffing or playing the role of healer.
It should be noted that this is a mobile game, which means that the mechanics are essentially made known to the player before the tutorial section is complete. The difficulty of the game will no doubt come from said mechanics being ramped up to higher levels, thus requiring the player to grind enough resources to unlock the best of the 200 champions. There are rewards for leveling up, rewards for logging in, performance-based rewards for completing missions with a higher score and better time, as well as special participation-awards for in-game events. There are also at least three forms of in-game currency; it is clear that this game has been designed around the concept of enticing players to spend real money instead of earning everything in-game. It may still be possible to play enough to unlock satisfying enough rewards without spending real cash, but the dice-roll ‘summoning’ from the extensive hero roster, coupled with the diversified currency and the pricey “suggested bundles” from the shop (the first was $99.99 followed by another for $49.99) imply that one should be careful to expect too much from this game for free.
Overall, the anime-inspired graphics, fantasy storyline, polished visuals, and various features could allow Chain Strike to become a go-to escape for gamers on the go. However, the expensive micro-transactions, long tutorial, and grindy nature of the game might put off some gamers as well.
