Epic Flail

To be fair the game is more of a twin stick shooter. You have 2 controls the ability to point in a direction and the ability to do a dash attack and that is it. This is more Bomberman or Porcunipine style gameplay than Smash Bros but it works. Everything plays out in an increasingly difficult set of Arenas where you fight gladiators and eventually bosses. You are killed in one hit but as you progress you can gain armour and pickups that make you more hardy. A weird thing about the difficult is the ability to unlock starting armour for each level. This sounds like a good idea but the odd thing is that the game becomes easier the more you play rather than more difficult which oddly seems the wrong way around. Later levels also add traps to make the fighting more difficult such as spikes & buzzsaws. Epic Flail isn’t perfect. Enemy variety is a little lacking and there aren’t that many arenas, the difficulty is a little all over the place and a multiplayer mode is desperately needed… but… and it’s a big but it’s a fun little game for a small price that kept my attention for a good hour. I tried the steam version but could see this working well on mobile due to its simple premise an…

So many mobile ports end up being just bad on PC, or just an average game that can't compare to what is already on offer on the platform. Epic Flail's option menu does not escape the rule of shoddy ports. Want to leave the game? No button, press Exit. Want full screen? No checkbox to quit, press Alt + Enter. Where the game redeems itself admirable is that it lets you rebind your keyboard keys. Light at the end of my tunnel. Let's get into the game proper. It looks mostly like a "wave survival in an arena" type of game, in which you have to dispatch a certain number of opponents before moving on to the next arena. So far, nothing new under the sun. Until you set yourself in motion. There is no jump button, but instead the little gladiator can perform a dash attack in any direction, including upwards. And again, and again, and again. Screw gravity, you can remain in the air indefinitely and the only limit is the sky (technically, the top border of the arena). Super fast and empowering. Bring it on, give me something to slash and... WOW THAT GUY KILLED ME. Yes, enemy troops have the same moveset as the player. Dash against dash results in a parry, so you will have to be cunning to …

Look it's a mobile game GET OVER IT. The controls are pretty tight and it's just a very simple and well put together game. It's unfortunate they left in the mobile prompts or else I might not have known. Controller works well! I demand you watch my video? https://youtu.be/VqWLg-UKClg

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Pros: Nice retro art Tight controls Price Cons: Unfair deaths (offscreen kills, undodgable AI at times) Clash of theme and gameplay Use of arena combat doesn't quite fit mechanics Difficulty needs balancing (doing well once makes future play become trivial) Overall: For the price, it's a buy, though be ready to be frustrated. Best played with a few friends swapping a single controller. Full review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdJHOxAgb8A