Hero Academy available globally – Initial thoughts!
Today marks the global release of Robot’s Game 3.0 – “Hero Academy” the light-hearted tactical strategy game for iPhone and iPods. Players choose their teams and then go head to head with their friends in “friendly” battle. The goal of the game is simple, try to destroy the opponents crystals before they destroy yours. Players make use of a number of different characters and items to achieve this goal, and the best will results will be the players who choose the right combination at the right time. Check out the latest launch trailer:
Having played a couple of games this evening I have been very impressed with the game. Starting with the basics the user interface is clean and intuitive. The art style encourages the games sense of light-hearted battle and approachability along side an equally encouraging music track. The first impressions are certainly excellent. Players can log in to the game via their existing RobotEntertainment.com accounts. No account? No problem! The sign up process for new users is incredibly easy and fast, just enter in your email address and choose a password and that’s it, you’re good to go! No pesky forms or long registrations to trawl through.
Once signed up and logged in, hitting “Play” it is then time to choose your opponent. Players can either choose a friend whos Robot ID they know, or can search randomly for an opponent. Once the opponent is decided a brief introduction screen is displayed which describes how to play the game. The instructions can seem slightly daunting at first, but not to worry. As soon as the game starts players can get help on every single item in the game by pressing the help button in the corner. The help system is very comprehensive and it is clear a lot of attention to detail has gone into providing players with all the information they need to get right into the game. During my first play through I found it took me a few goes to work out precisely what was going on, a few turns later though and I was in the know. Overall I felt it was a very good experience playing the game for a first time and learning the ropes. The game feels very refined in this regard and it is clear that Robot tried hard to make the game as approachable as possible.
As for the gameplay experience itself, its addictive, really addictive. So much so you may want to make sure your iOS device is fully charged before playing as this game is hard to put down! There is certainly a lot of thrill and excitement when you make a cunning move to out with your opponent. The asynchronous game-play particularly fuels the addictive feel to the game as you can sit down and have a number of games buzzing away with a few players all going at fast pace. If you’re ever bored and need to fill 10 minutes a game of Hero Academy is all you need. Of course if speedy games are not your preference you can always play the game at a more leisurely pace.
In terms of pricing the core game is priced at a very accessible price of FREE. This is a great price for the game as it will result in a much larger population of players and increased exposure. Payment for the game comes in the form of extra content packs such as additional teams, colours and taunts. I much prefer this payment model for mobile games. Those players who enjoy Hero Academy will no doubt look to stand out from the crowd and can purchase extra content for as little as £0.69.
Overall Hero Academy looks to be a very exciting and addictive game that you should definitely check out on the iTunes store right away. After all with the price being free what have you got to lose? Nothing! What have you got to gain? Well.. a whole lot of fun! Check it out now using the iTunes link below! See you in-game!
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/hero-academy/id488156323?mt=8 (UK)
www.heroacademyapp.com (All other regions)
News bite: Orcs Must Die! XBLA Sale + Skirmish Hall launches for AOE-O
Orcs Must Die! features on this weeks Xbox Live sale. Now is a great time to tell all your friends about the need to go Orc slashin’, from just 600 MS Points! Be sure to check it out and spread the word! http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Product/Orcs-Must-Die/
In other news Hero Academy is due to launch globally in the next few days. Your nickname for Hero Academy will be the same as that on your RobotEntertainment.com profile. Why not encourage your friends to sign up online so that they are ready to go into battle when the game launches for iOS devices in the next few days?
Age of Empires Online gets an update this week too. The Skirmish Hall booster developed by Gas Powered Games has gone live and allows players to create their own custom skirmish games. In a similar fashion to skirmish games on older Age titles players can control various settings like resources, difficulty and victory conditions. The Skirmash Hall is certainly been one of the most requested features the community has been looking for from Age Online and it is good to see Microsoft is listening to the community feedback and doing the Age series justice! The Skirmish hall is available for FREE for a limited time only. So I suggest opening up AOE-Online and downloading it straight away!
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Product/Age-of-Empires-Online/
Age of Empires 3 Complete Collection released on Steam!
Great news for Age of Empires 3 fans! Today Microsoft Studios have announced the release of the compete Age of Empires 3 collection on Steam. The full collection includes Age of Empires 3 and both expansions, The Warchiefs and The Asian Dynasties and is available on Steam today with a 50% discount on the price. The standard price is £29.99 but the game is £14.99 with this time limited launch offer. Currently the complete collection is available in stores for around the £22 price range so there is good value in picking up the Steam edition with the discounted price.
Many readers will already have a copy of Age 3 and the expansions, but if you are perhaps missing an expansion or are just looking for another CD Key to play online, this Steam bundle may be perfect for you. Unfortunately the package doesn’t include any extra Steam bonuses like achievements.
Its great to see Microsoft is still making investment in this great game though. The Age Community will no doubt be pleased to see additional people join the ranks on ESO which at the time of writing has 2000+ people online. With this announcement of a Steam release, now would be a perfect time to go back and check out some classic Age 3 multiplayer. See you on the battle field again folks!
Hero Academy trailer and teams revealed!
Welcome to the Hero Academy! A few days ago Robot Entertainment took the wraps off more details about the upcoming mobile tactics game. First and foremost we have an exciting gameplay trailer and we can finally see more about how the game works. Players pick a friend to versus against and then pick their teams before heading out into a game of turn by turn tactical combat. Players start on either end of the board and the objective is to destroy the other enemies team. Special bonus items are placed on the map to shake things up as well. Magic crystals for both teams must also be rigorously defended. As we read before the gameplay is very light-hearted and seems to take a pick up and play approach. Lets take a look at the video trailer to get a better idea of the gameplay:
Its good to see what appears to be a very clean user interface and polished graphics. From the video the game looks very intuitive and easy to play, the asynchronous multi player should be great for those players wanting fast paced matches. Also announced today are the two teams which will be launching with the game sometime this Winter. First we have the “Council” who appear to be the good guys and then we have the “Dark Elves” who seem to take the guise of being the bad guys.
The Council are the heart and soul of the Hero Academy – the oldest team and one of the most well-respected. Drawing their members from multiple human kingdoms, they fight with honor and bravery. The Council’s teams are always extremely well-balanced, with powerful area of effect attacks, good staying power, and the ability to keep control of key positions on the field.
The sinister dark elves have travelled to the Hero Academy from their shadowy underground cities, fully prepared to unleash their mix of magic and battle prowess to the surface-dwellers. Dark elves possess the inherent ability to leech life from their enemies. A dark elf team will also raise phantoms from dead enemies to fight on their side; unwary opponents will soon find themselves overrun by a team that grows only more powerful as the contest progresses.
Orcs Must Die! DLC available on XBLA now!
The Orcs Must Die! “Lost Adventures” DLC pack is now live on the Xbox Live Marketplace right now! So if your after your fix of more Orc bustin’ action then you best head over to your console or online to the Xbox Live Marketplace to download the DLC for just 400 Microsoft Points. Just in-case you need a reminder of the DLC packs awesome features for just 400 MS Points here is the low down:
New Fortresses and Enemies
- Five New Fortresses – Repel the orc onslaught in four completely new fortresses plus a reverse version of The Tower where your enemies have the high ground! Each fortress can be played on Apprentice, War Mage, or Nightmare difficulty.
- Two New Enemies – Fear the icy breath of the Frost Bat, and beware the draining magical attack of the Cyclops Mage!
- New Leaderboards – Challenge your friends for the highest score on leaderboards for each of the five new levels.
- New skull rewards – Earn up to fifty additional skulls to further upgrade your arsenal of traps, including the new traps in the Lost Adventures pack.
New Additions to the War Mage’s Toolbox
- Mana Well – Place the Mana Well in strategic locations around a fortress for a burst of magical energy at just the right moment.
- Vampiric Gauntlets – Armed with these grim gauntlets, you can drain the enemy’s health while restoring yours at the same time. If you have a desperate need to use spells, you can also use the gauntlets to drain your health in exchange for mana.
- Alchemist’s Satchel – Toss a series of deadly acid bombs that explode on your command to melt flesh from the bones of multiple groups of orcs at once.
- Shock Zapper – Mount the Shock Zapper on the ceiling and zap fliers and ground units equally dead with this oversized pest remover.
- Floor Scorcher – By the time they see the fire, it will be too late. Burn entire groups of complacent enemies with this pop-up flaming surprise.
Orcs Must Die! DLC lands tomorrow on XBLA with Hero Academy also on the way!
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Some exciting news to get you in the jolly Christmas spirit! Robot Entertainment will be on hand to provide us with all our entertainment needs. Firstly as previously announced the DLC for Orcs Must Die on Xbox Live Arcade will be made available for purchase from tomorrow. The DLC pack brings new levels and weapons and can be purchased for just 400 MS points – a bargain! A Title Update for the game has been released today which provides the framework to support the DLC content when it is released tomorrow. Happy Orc slaying!
In other news, Hero Academy the newest project to come fresh from the factory is still on track for its Winter release. Infact, Robot have the game in Apple’s certification process as we speak. Providing the certification process with Apple goes according to plan we could be looking at a release date in the very near future for the upcoming mobile tactics game. According to an update posted on the studios Facebook page for Hero Academy they are planning to hit Canada with the launch first and then moving to other territories shortly after. It should be interesting to see what Robot has to offer on the iPhone which has proved to be a very successful platform for other Ex-Ensemble studios in the past! Stand by folks!
Kenny Newell goes on location to interview Justin Korthof at Robot Entertainment HQ!
Avid Age of Empires Online players and Robot forum-goers will no doubt recognise Kenny Newell often under the guise of “RadioKenny”. Usually Kenny is the man behind adding a touch of humour to the community with some golden humour classics such as:
Click to enlarge
This week though Kenny has been doing something a little different and has travelled down to Robot Entertainment HQ to take the time out to interview Robot’s Community Manager, Justin Korthof. The 25 minute audio interview takes us through the life of Robot Entertainment, rising from Ensemble’s ashes, working on Age Online, releasing and marketing the studios first original IP plus some discussion about the upcoming Hero Academy coming this winter. The audio interview is a must listen for all Robot fans and Kenny throws some detailed questions in Justin’s direction looking back at the marketing of Orcs Must Die and the thoughts and ideas which preceded making the game. Not to mention some tid bits about Hero Academy plus some top community manager tips.
With tons of facts and useful information you’re gonna want to grab a nice warm drink and sit down to this excellent interview which is a first for Remember ES. Enjoy!
Why we must kill Orcs, the opening of a new Hero Academy and what it takes to become a community manager at Robot Entertainment…
Press the play button below to listen:
Kenny Newell's Interview with Robot Entertainment - December 2011 [ 25:07 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadSpecial thanks to Kenny Newell for taking the time to do this!
Orcs Must Die! DLC on route to Xbox Live!
Patient Xbox Live Arcade Orc slayers who have eagerly been waiting for DLC for Robot’s critically acclaimed Orcs Must Die need not wait much longer! As promised DLC is on route to the XBLA version of the game and Robot have today announced that the DLC pack will be landing sometime this December – considering its December now the exciting content can’t be far away!
As expected the DLC contains exactly the same content as on PC except the package is rolled up into one instead of two separate products like on Steam. The XBLA DLC will take the title of “Lost Adventures” and will contain:
New Fortresses and Enemies
- Five New Fortresses – Repel the orc onslaught in four completely new fortresses plus a reverse version of The Tower where your enemies have the high ground! Each fortress can be played on Apprentice, War Mage, or Nightmare difficulty.
- Two New Enemies – Fear the icy breath of the Frost Bat, and beware the draining magical attack of the Cyclops Mage!
- New Leaderboards – Challenge your friends for the highest score on leaderboards for each of the five new levels.
- New skull rewards – Earn up to fifty additional skulls to further upgrade your arsenal of traps, including the new traps in the Lost Adventures pack.
New Additions to the War Mage’s Toolbox
- Mana Well – Place the Mana Well in strategic locations around a fortress for a burst of magical energy at just the right moment.
- Vampiric Gauntlets – Armed with these grim gauntlets, you can drain the enemy’s health while restoring yours at the same time. If you have a desperate need to use spells, you can also use the gauntlets to drain your health in exchange for mana.
- Alchemist’s Satchel – Toss a series of deadly acid bombs that explode on your command to melt flesh from the bones of multiple groups of orcs at once.
- Shock Zapper – Mount the Shock Zapper on the ceiling and zap fliers and ground units equally dead with this oversized pest remover.
- Floor Scorcher – By the time they see the fire, it will be too late. Burn entire groups of complacent enemies with this pop-up flaming surprise.
Previous Steam previews
Robot Entertainment announces “Hero Academy” a new iOS game!
After a teaser on the website for the last few days, Robot Entertainment have taken the wraps off Game 3.0 – Hero Academy! Hero Academy is a game for iOS which means it will be compatible with iPhone and iPad’s. So lets delve in and find out what its all about!
About the game:
Hero Academy is all about equipping your own character, or “hero” and preparing them against battle with your friends. In typical Robot / Ex Ensemble fashion there is a strong sense of strategy. Players can cast spells and deploy countermeasures in order to both attack and defend themselves. Each turn players have the choice of either attacking, defending or using an item. Sounds a bit like Rock, Paper Scissors! The game sets a very light-hearted view on things with very cartoony 2D appearance, no gruesome Orcs to slay here!
The turn by turn gameplay takes place asynchronously and supports push notifications so you will know precisely when a player has made their turn. Similar to the method used on NewToy/Zynga’s “Words with Friends”.This means you can either play a whole game in a space of 20 minutes with all friends making their moves straight away, or you can take the more relaxed approach and make moves in the space of a day or two. The pace is yours (and your friends!).
Lets take a look at what Robot Entertainment has to say about the game:
Teams have gathered from all over the world to engage in friendly
contests before seeking adventure in the wider world beyond the
Academy’s walls. The Academy extends a warm greeting to all players
– whether they’re already heroes, or simply heroes-in-training. Success
belongs to the captain that can keep both his magical crystal and his
team intact in this light-hearted battle between friends!
- Highly accessible turn-based gameplay that’s easy to learn – jump right in and play!
- Play with friends, or challenge random opponents.
- Colorful, light-hearted graphics and sound.
- Random elements and multiple playfields – never the same game twice!
- Get started with the human Council team, including Knights, Wizards, and the mysterious Ninja.
- Expand your roster with additional teams!
- Customize your team with in-app purchases such as avatar portraits.
- Chat with your opponent ingame.
- Push notifications update you when new turns are available!
- Challenge your Facebook friends!
- Invite your Twitter followers to play
Screenshots
Nothing helps describe a game better than screenshots so lets take a look at the light-hearted turn by turn strategy game below!
Release date, pricing and more details
The game is aiming to be released sometime this winter on the iOS platform which means we should expect it certainly on iPhone. There are currently no plans to release on other platforms unfortunately so Android and Windows Phone users are currently out of luck. In terms of pricing, as is typical among iPhone games there will be a free ad-supported version and also a paid for version. Players who purchase the “Dark elf” team not only get the extra team, but also get the removal of all advertising. Certainly sounds like a good deal that players get an extra team alongside the ad removal.
Wrapping up
It’s interesting to see Robot produce an iPhone game, a path that many studios have taken from the Ex Ensemble. At the community event in February there was a suggestion that Robot would do an iPhone game if the opportunity presented itself and that there was suitable motivation for the project. Its great to see the studio is flexible with ideas, concepts and platforms. There is no doubt alot of creativity and buzz amongst the bots to develop games based on any ideas they think would make a fun experience and are not tying themselves down to any particular IP, publisher or console.
Keep a close eye on updates for Hero Academy. Hopefully there will be a video trailer up soon so that we can see more clearly what the game and the mechanics are like! A task perhaps for resident video making extraordinaire, Dunkman!
Lost Adventures DLC for Orcs Must Die available today
Robot Entertainment has today made available the second DLC pack for Orcs Must Die on Steam. This DLC pack is perfect for those who have completed the main campaign and are looking for some extra challenges. This DLC pack includes 5 new exciting fortresses to play, four of which are completely new and original and one is the reverse of one of my favourite levels “The Tower” where the Orcs will now be heading down hill rather than up! Each of these levels can be played on all three difficulty settings which also means there is room for an extra 50 extra skulls to collect – perfect to upgrade your entire set of traps from the last DLC! The new levels appear as a separate campaign in-game so you can also enjoy them if you havnt yet finished unlocking the main campaign levels.
Also included in the DLC pack are 2 new enemies the Frost Bat and Cyclops Mage. The Frost Bats are very similar to the existing Hell Bats, instead they are just a bit more frosty and attack with ice rather than fire. The Cyclops Mage however is quite a formidable enemy. The Cyclops Mage is bigger than a Gnoll Hunter and smaller than an Ogre, the problem is the Cyclops Mage can fire magic blasts which home in on the War Mage and steal energy. Both these new enemies help mix things up suitably in these new levels.
In order to help players deal with these new enemies comes a new item which is perfect for those War Mage’s who enjoy practising magic – the Mana Wall allows players to re-charge their many by placing the item onto near by walls. The War Mage can then step close to the wall mounted item to regain mana just like standing next to the rift. This will be great for fighting frost bats with the fire bracers!
Check out the new trailer for the DLC below!
All this is available for just $2.99 or £2.99 – Orcs Must Die super fans can get 25% off the purchase price by ordering in the first week of release. So if you fancy 5 exciting new OMD levels and 25% off the price you best head over to Steam on the link below pretty sharpish!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/102623
