The Retro Goat Reviews- Koihime + Musou (The Visual Novel)

Koihime + Musou is an adults only strategy game visual novel developed by BaseSon and published by MangaGamer. It is based loosely off of the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and it features a gender-swapped cast of the character from the book. Keep in mind that while this review is appropriate for all ages, this game contains erotic content and is not intended for minors.

Story- 8/10
As previously stated, Koihime Musou is loosely based off of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. That being said, it takes a variety of liberties with the story and creates it’s own unique plot. You are a random guy who, more or less, gets spontaneously teleported into an altered version of ancient China. You end up becoming the leader to the Shu faction as you try to unite all of China while growing closer to your ladies.It sounds odd on paper, but the delivery is surprisingly well done. The plot can be pretty griping at times, and I was legitimately entertained by the portions for the story that were focusing on you establishing a connection with your people and attempting to maintain a decent public image while your kingdom grew. While the story is nowhere near as dark as it’s source material, especially as it thankfully lacks characters dying, it does add a unique type of conflict. Throughout the game, you have a bit of an existence crisis, never being positive that you won’t end up magically teleported back home and away from all your new friends. It uses natural human emotion to make the player feel worried about their in-game future, due to the fact that nobody wants to be forced to hurt their loved ones. Koihime + Musou does also tap into some of the darker parts of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story, such as Xiahou Dun losing an eye or Zhou Yu being left distraught after Sun Ce dies. It adds a bit of alternative interpretation to the whole story too, which makes Koihime Musou stand out among other stories based off of the Three Kingdoms era. It’s all very well done, and the game manages to explain it’s admittedly contrived plot in a manner that makes a decent amount of sense. It also manages to explain why there is an alternative world, and how every play through, ending, and media for Koihime + Musou is a legitimate part of the story. It’s hard to explain, but it is very well done.

Characters- 8/10
The game boasts a pretty large roster of characters, especially for being the first in the series. They include many of the notable warriors from the Three Kingdoms era, while giving each individual their own unique personality. No two characters have identical personalities, and it makes each individual more memorable and easier to grow attached to. One benefit this game has is it’s usage of the characters Japanese names as opposed to their Chinese ones. Guan Yu becomes Kan’u, Zhang Fei becomes Chouhi, and so on. Due to this being a dating game, it’s a subtle change that helps make sure you don’t picture a six foot tall man with a two foot long beard when you see a beautiful maiden whom you’re trying to fall in love with. The only issue with the roster is that there aren’t many selections for plot important dating choices. There are three main women to date, and a dozen or so characters that are mostly subplot. The fact that almost every character gets their own short story is enjoyable, but it would be nice to have a larger amount of important characters. The current amount is fine though, and it’s good to be able to expand for future releases.

Gameplay- 7/10
This is a visual novel with actual gameplay elements. Part of the game is going into battle with a number of warring factions, and there is a bit of strategic element to it. There are little over half a dozen formations to choose from, with each having their strengths and weaknesses to each other. It’s fun, but it can get a bit tedious due to how predictable the AI is for most of the game.It’s still pretty enjoyable, and I like that you can skip it during subsequent play throughs, if you just want to get all of the cut scenes and endings. With four different endings, the game is a decent length, even if you skip the battle parts. It’s got a heavy amount of content, and the replay value is pretty high. That being said, this game will get tedious if you try to do everything within a small time period. This is a game that’s more fun to pick up periodically and play, rather than play for hours on end. It is still a likable title, and one that could appeal to a large amount of players.

Graphics- 8/10
There’s a very large amount of variety in the art, both CG scenes and character designs, which make the game more appealing to look at. The CG scenes are anatomically accurate, and each character has a decent number of intimate scenes in the game. The characters are all distinct looking in terms of body structure, and the faces look relatively different too. Each girl is also extremely pretty, which is always a plus for a dating game. The battle animations are a little lacking, but they’re not poorly done by any means. One subtle thing that this game has that deserves props is the various amount of character portraits. Every character has many different reactions, which makes the visual novel feel more active and alive. There’s also a few times where the characters are just plain adorable, and the art really helps make a cute scene even cuter. The game is very nice looking, and there aren’t many things they could do to impress in terms of graphics.

Sounds- 9/10
This game has one of the best soundtracks out of any game I’ve played, regardless of console. Every song is enjoyable, with each setting the appropriate emotion for their given scene. The soundtrack is honestly worth checking out by itself, regardless of your desire to get this game. There are over forty different songs in the game, and each is simply spectacular. The voice acting is also really well done. Each characters sounds like someone of their given age would, the acting is nice for their given context, and no character sounds particularly annoying unintentionally. The only complaint I have is that some characters do sound pretty similar, but that’s out of the control of the developers. It’s all well done, and this game excels in terms of sound quality.

Buy It?
If you’re looking for a charming dating game that avoids becoming tedious, this is a good game for you. If you want a well done visual novel with a nice plot, this is one of the best ones out there. If you’re simply interested in the eroticism, this game delivers in that field too. This is not a game that should be passed up, and it really is one of the best visual novels out there. The characters are lovable, the soundtrack is nice, and the plot is very well done. This isn’t a run of the mill pornographic game, this is a legitimate video game worth checking out that just so happens to have erotic elements in parts of it. It’s definitely worth getting.

Overall Koihime + Musou was a very fun game to play. It’s easy to grow attached to the characters and invested in the plot, and the game delivers a unique experience. It is certainly not for minors, but anyone who legally can check this game out should. It’s definitely worth getting, and it’s better than a large amount of video games out there at giving players an emotional and fun experience.

Final Score- 8/10

Help support the publishers by legally purchasing the game. Visual Novels are frequently pirated, and that seriously hurts the sales. There exists sequels to this game, but they’re Japanese only and won’t be released out of Japan until Koihime+ Musou gets a certain number of sales. Obviously that will not happen if the game is pirated more than it is legally purchased. You can get the game from MangaGamer here. The price is well worth it.

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Bravely Default Review (3DS)

Story: The story starts with that a young man named Tiz Arrior who miraculously survives a disaster that befall unto his home village, and created a great chasm. He loses everyone he knows and he see's his younger brother die before his eyes. It would come to no surprise that he became traumatized by this. He went through such a shock that he fainted, and was a asleep for three whole days; It was by chance that a rescue party managed to find him after the disaster.

This, however, didn't stop Tiz. He is almost certain that there may still be survivor's after the catastrophe. When he arrives at the chasm, he finds a girl standing there looking at it over a edge of a cliff. He goes and tells her that it's dangerous, but then all of a sudden they are attacked by the sky knights! The sky nights are from the Kingdom of Eternia, who are hunting the mysterious girl.





Tiz saves her and gets to know that she is the Wind vestal of the Wind Crystal. Her name is Agnés Oblige, and she is investigating the darkness that has taken over the wind crystal, and how it has affected the world; accompanied by a Cryst fairy called Airy. Tiz feeling a strong sense of justice decides to help her out, so that no one has to ever go through what he went through.

Airy is a mysterious character, she helps out the party by telling where we should got next, and what we should do. You don't get to know that much about her except her goal, which is to awaken all the Crystals around the world.




Tiz and Agnés seem at first kinda bland. . . OKAY really bland. They are just very basic for a JRPG story, and we have seen their character types thousands of times before; however, after you get your third party member called Ringabell, then the whole games story really starts to get interesting.


Ringabell is a amnesiac fellow who happens to have a book which he calls "The book of D," no one knows who has written it or why. The book has the ability to predict the future, which means that it will be brought up in the story many times, but it's also a interesting read. When you read the so called "future," it may tell of events that are to come, but it never really tell how it happens. The book is more of a journal written by someone, and the author tells about different events that he was a part of. It never actually spoils the story in one way, which is a surprisingly hard thing to do. The book is also a guide book, giving you details about monsters you have seen, and a detailed description of every person you meet in your jorney. It also has tutorials to help you understand the game better; however, that is not what makes Ringabell the one that gets the story going, he is one of the best charmers in any JRPG I have ever had as a party member. He gets all the funny and good lines, he is kind of a dork in a good way, and his English voice actor (who is well known Voice Actor Spike Spencer) sounds a bit like French (if I am not mistaking that is), which works with the character perfectly. Actually the surprising part was that Ringabell's English voice sounds much better then the original Japanese one (by the way you can change your voices in the tactics, config option), everyone else sounds just fine but for some reason Japan thought that a cool young charmer like Ringabell needed a VERY deep voice. It just doesn't fit him in my own humble opinion.



Last but not least you meet Edea Lee who is one of the sky knights, and she turns against the sky knights after seeing how dishonorable they are against innocent people. Edea is what you would call a tomboy girl, however, compared to your stereotypical tomboy character, she still actually acts like a girl. What I mean with that a typical tomboy girl (especially in anime), are the kind of characters that always want to compare themselves to guys, and never want to "act like a girl," they actually detest everything that has to do with being a girl; however, Edea is the more rare kind of tomboy character. She acts tough and strong, but she likes going to a store and have shopping sprees. She is just a fun, interesting character, and for a while she is kinda the main character; since you keep on meeting different sky knights who know her. She also is a really good combo with Ringabell, as they both share a lot of funny awesome dialogue together. I am just gonna say this, Edea is my favorite character out of the main four, why? Because I really like her design.


Ringabell and Edea are the ones making the story fun to experience and complement the otherwise bland Tiz and Agnés, but later on they will develop to more interesting characters to.

There will also be many different side quests, most of them early on are about getting jobs (more on this later), and get to know more about the side characters. Although, to be fair you CAN skip them, but you wont get the story behind the characters, or get the job.

Now I want to talk about the more "Controversial" part of the story. The crystals in this world are treated largely by everyone as holy entities, and is a well known religion called the Crystal orthodoxy, which Agnés is part of. The kingdom of Eternia believes that its useless to call the crystals holy entities, and should instead be used for resources. Then the kingdom of Eternia starts a new way of viewing the Crystals called Anti-crystalism, they start a war against the world, and tries in every way to force people to stop believing in Crystal orthodoxy, even down right telling lies about it.

The game has also a fair amount of criticism against modern age, for example: You will visit the city of Florem later on in the game, the city was well known for being in a close healthy relationship with the beautiful nature around them; however,when you are in the city, all the girls want to instead try to become beauty itself and most of them have forgotten everything about the nature.

Now you reader my be thinking "Dang that is a lot of VERY touchy subjects," indeed it is; however it doesn't make the story less enjoyable. The messages and criticism isn't the kind that slaps your face, and then starts shooting it with a shotgun on close range. Really they are there to make the world that much more interesting, the story follows the main characters and their viewpoints and thoughts about what is happening around them. However, there is indeed a lot very touchy subjects, so some of you may have a problem with that, but seriously though, it doesn't destroy the story at all; quite the opposite actually. It gives the world that much more life.

Gameplay: The game follows old JRPG traditions, you get random encounters on the world map and dungeons, where the game turns into a turn based strategy game like most JRPGs; however, there are three main features here that changes the whole game. First there is Bravery. Basically bravery lets you do more actions with one character in the same turn, although when you do that, you get minus one or more in your BP counter. BP is your turn counter, if its on plus with one character it will allow you to do more moves with that said character and so on up to three, when your character has a minus they will not be able to do anything next turn, or for the next four turns if you went all out.

Then there is Default, basically it makes your character spend their turn on defending themselves, which will lower the damage you receive (duh); however, it also increases your BP counter, which give you the chance to use more moves in one turn without loosing that characters next turn.

This changes all the fights in the whole game, defending has more of a point now, since in other JRPGs defending was not usually something you did, since it didn't give you that much of a edge, and you would just prolong the fight. The other thing that makes the fights even more interesting is that the bosses also use bravery and Default, you have to be extra careful when a boss is charging his/her BP meter.

The last new feature is difficulty settings. Basically you can play this game almost however you want. You can change the difficulty from easy to hard WHEN EVER you wish, you can also set the encounter rate to higher, or turn it completely off, which makes it easier for you to go through a dungeon. There is also feature to turn off gaining XP (experience poitns) and job points. . . . Now readers I dare you to try beating this game on hard and turn of XP/job points gain, if that is even possible I have no clue; however, because of this feature basically any kind of player can enjoy this game however they want to. Though to be fair, this feature can mean that if you are having a hard time in the game, then you can just change it to easy or put the encounter rate to the highest, and grind yourself up. You can also speed up the battles and put them on Auto mode, which makes grinding even easier. It can be really easy if you so wish to, which might turn off some hardcore players.

After winning a battle you can earn bonus points depending on how you finished the fight; for example if you clear the fight in one turn you get bonus XP, if you win the fight without taking any damage you will earn more job points, and lastly if you manage to kill all your enemies at the same time, you will earn more money. If you keep on earning the same bonus multiple times, then it will become a bonus streak, and you will earn even more bonus. Which makes grinding even more easier for those who like to do that.

There is also another feature called bravery second, it's a move that lets you do any kind of move at any time during a battle, although it will consume SP, and you can only have three of them at a time. You get more SP by letting your 3DS be in sleep mode, or actually buying more of them with actual cash from Square-Enix's online shop in the game. I can tell all of you readers, this is one of the most pointless features I have ever seen in a JRPG, ever. Firstly you can get the SP for free if you leave your 3DS in sleep mode for a few hours, and secondly the SP costs actual real cash, the game will never be so hard (especially with the difficulty settings) that you will actually need to buy more SP. It is obvious that the developers just threw this in so that they could get some desperate person's cash. It doesn't however make the game less enjoyable, or heck you will forget that it exists in the first place.

In this game a familiar feature from the Final fantasy franchise returns, you will get different jobs that anyone in your party can use. Jobs level up after getting a certain amount of job points, which you earn at the same time as earning normal experience points, when a job levels up you get either a new ability for that job or a support ability. Support abilities are skills you can equip even if your character is using another job, some increases different stats or makes you immune to certain statuses (like blind, poison etc etc).

Different from most JRPG's, is that you can equip two jobs at the same time, though only the one of them you have chosen as main will levels up. This makes the strategy even more rewarding, you can for example equip one character with both white magic and black magic, to make a awesome mage, or equip your melee class with white magic to be the extra healer for the party.

Jobs also change your characters appearance. All the jobs have different stats, which will be better or worse for your main characters depending on their starting stats. Depending on the job, different equipment's work better for that job, for example a staff is better for a white mage, while a sword is better for a knight, you see a rank besides your character when you are choosing equipment, so you know what is good for what character at that moment.

Now lets talk about the other main feature. Early in the game Tiz is tasked with rebuilding Norende, in practice this means that you will be able to put a few villagers at work to start building shops or clearing roads to new places. After you have built a shop of any kind, you can keep on leveling it up until level 11, you get new items from the shop that a mercenary will sell, which you can find in towns or even dungeons. However, these shops needs villagers, and there are two ways of getting them: Either you meet random people with streetpass, or you have to connect to the internet. It takes real time for the shops to be made, they will keep on building them even if you leave your game on sleep mode.

You will also through the internet (or streepass) get random people added to your summon friend list, summon friend is a command you can use in the middle of a battle to summon a random main character from another persons game, who will have a selected attack that the other person sent with it. You can also send your own characters to help out another player, before you make your move, you can choose if the command you make will be sent to other players, its a great way to help out friends you know who also have the game.

You will also receive nemesis data from other players, a nemesis is a really hard special boss that will inhabit your Norende, but it will never really do anything, you can battle it if you like. It's just there for the extra challenge, and you can send it to other people to.

Graphics: The game mixes hand drawn backgrounds with a 3D modeled overworld, and 3D character models. The hand drawn looks really good and the 3D models of the characters are cute, they are all very cute, I personally like it, although if you look at the official art, they look much older then their 3D models. The game is detailed but I feel that they could have done a little more with the overworld, it feels kinda bland, but then again it isn't that important, everything else is a treat for your eyes.

Music: Fun fact: The composer of the whole soundtrack is the band Sound Horizon, who are well known for their main theme for the anime hit, "Attack on Titan." The soundtrack likes to mix Symphony with power rock and trumpets, as strange as that mix may sound, it actually sounds AMAZING; many of the tracks are memorable and  fun to listen to. There is really nothing more I can say, go look up some videos of the soundtrack and judge for yourself, they are really that good.

Replayability: Because of the different difficulties and different jobs, this game is a great game for Speedrunners; However, for everyone else, after clearing the main story and doing pretty much every side quest, there is not really anything that would bring a player back, maybe some will play it again after a few years for the story. There is though plenty of side quests and to 100% the D book with all monsters, items, story bits, will take a pretty long while.

Final verdict: I will give this game 9/10, it's a game that pretty much anyone can enjoy without problems, but the Bravery second is really stupid, and something they could have left completely out of the game. After playing through the game once, you will not have any reason at all to play it again, except for enjoying the story again. With all that said the story is well written, the characters are memorable, and the soundtrack is amazing, it's a game that deserves all the hype it has gotten. If you are a RPG fan then you cannot miss out on this gem.

Thats all from me readers, have a awesome day!

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Pokemon Bank Out Now

After a delay lasting little over a month, Pokemon Bank has finally been released in North America. Pokemon Bank is a storage system designed to help players transfer Pokemon from Black, White, Black 2, and White 2 over to X and Y. It can also be used as a regular storage unit for X and Y, similar to Pokemon Box or My Pokemon Ranch.

In addition, there is an event going on right now to give you a Celebi at level 10 for free. This event is scheduled to go on until September 30, 2014. You can download a 30 day free trial, which will also allow you to download the Celebi.

After your free trial has expired, you can purchase a yearly subscription to Pokemon Bank $5.00 (U.S.)

Pokémon Bank allows the player to deposit up to 3000 Pokémon from the games in an online cloud. The referred cloud will work as a PC, and will have 100 Boxes capable of carrying, like in a normal PC, 30 Pokémon each. Boxes can also be categorized into groups (with a maximum of 10 groups), and the player can customize the name of each group. The service will feature extensive search options and filters, allowing the player to locate deposited Pokémon. Pokémon from Generation V can be transferred to the service individually, or entire Boxes can be transferred at once.

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This Months' Releases- February 2014

February is the month of love. That being said, we all love video games. Let’s show our love by buying some titles coming out this month! These are the currently confirmed games being released in North America sometime in February. All dates are subject to change and if a system isn’t listed below, that means there’s no games coming out for it this month.

Nintendo DS

February 18th
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes : Universe In Peril

February 28th
LEGO Friends

3DS

February 7th
Bravely Default

The LEGO Movie Videogame

February 11th
One Piece: Romantic Dawn

February 28th
Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy

Wii U

February 7th
The LEGO Movie Videogame

February 21
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

PlayStation3

February 7th
The LEGO Movie Videogame

The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief

February 11th
Far Cry Compilation

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

February 14th
The Last of Us: Left Behind (DLC)

February 18th
Earth Defense Force 2025

NASCAR ’14

Ragnarok Odyssey ACE

February 25th
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

Magus

Port Royale 3 Gold

Tales of Symphonia Chronicles

Thief

PS4

February 7th
The LEGO Movie Videogame

February 18th
Rayman Legends

February 25th
Thief

PlayStation Vita

February 7th
The LEGO Movie Videogame

February 11th
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Gunslugs (digital only)

Toukiden: The Age of Demons

February 18th
Ragnarok Odyssey ACE

Xbox 360

February 4th
Fable Anniversary

February 7th
The LEGO Movie Videogame

February 11th
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

February 14th
LocoCycle (digital only)

February 18th
Earth Defense Force 2025

NASCAR ’14

February 25th
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare

Thief

February 26th
Pac-Man Museum (digital only)

Xbox One

February 7th
The LEGO Movie Videogame

February 18th
Rayman Legends

February 25th
Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare

Thief

As previously stated, all dates are subject to change. If you wanna get a game for your Valentine, there’s plenty coming out this month. If you don’t have a Valentine, treat yourself to something nice and get a game. Happy shopping everyone!

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Atomic Brawl - Review

When it comes to browser based games, two popular genres are "trading card" styled games, as well as turn based strategy. Both of these genres work very well with browsers, due to their nature, and there's quite a lot of them out there; however, not all of them are unique. Typically most of these games are the same old thing, and you'll either find one you like and stick with it, or you'll move onto another only to find that it isn't much different form the last one you played. A lot of strategy games focus on either war, sci-fi, or fantasy (most of which are inspired by other well known strategy games), and a lot of card games all come down to collecting cards, and having the better hand. It is a pattern which repeats itself time and time again, and sooner or later people get tired of it. That is, until something different comes along.

Not too long ago we here at Netto's Game Room were contacted by Chris Shorrock, and Ken Pratt. They are Ex EA developers who broke off on their own, and they wanted us to check out their new indie game titled "Atomic Brawl." At first glance the game looked interesting, but we personally were not too sure if it was something we would like or not. Its just that there were so many other games out there like this, and the art style was a bit strange as well. It didn't appeal to many of us, but we decided to look past it and give the game a chance. Lets just say, we didn't regret it!

Atomic Brawl is the perfect example of "don't judge a book by its cover." Even if the art style doesn't appeal to you, don't let it keep you from trying this one out. But, just how good is it? Well, lets find out, shall we?

The Gameplay:

Atomic Brawl is a game which mixes turn based strategy with cards. While the cards are used for just about everything, the game itself plays out a lot like a chess game (as it takes place on a game board where your units can move freely). At the start of each game, players start out with some randomly selected cards from their deck, and they take turns placing their cards on the game board. Although units can only be placed next to the player's "Core," which is something you must defend, there are other type of cards which can be placed elsewhere on the board as well. Trap cards are cards that can be placed in a space next to any of your units, while item cards can be used on any unit on the board. At the start of each turn, players draw a new card, and can then freely use them as they see fit; however, it isn't quite that simple.

Each card has a lot of depth, and they can be used in different ways. Every unit card starts with a set amount of HP, defense, attack power, as well as movement speed, but they also have their own special abilities as well. For example, the Bully card has a knock back ability which launches whoever he attacks across the board. This ability makes the Bully a great card to use for spacing, and it can also be used to force your opponent to the space you want them to land on. While playing this game with fellow NGR writer GlacialLeaf, he did just that. By using his Bully, he was able to send my unit across the map in front of another one of his units; which then proceeded to kill me. It was a great tactic to use, and one I never saw coming.

Other cards have abilities such as counter abilities. While the dog card isn't a strong attacker on its own, it deals damage to whatever hits it. This makes it a high risk unit to attack, and it makes you think about how you want to deal with it. You could take a loss and just attack it directly, or you could try to kill it with a trap. How you deal with it requires strategy, and so does using it. On top of the counter abilities, there's also cards which can move a large number of spaces, cards that can throw other cards, ones that can attack at long range, and even cards that can increase the stats of others. There are all just a few examples of the abilities your cards can have, and they all help make this one interesting game, with some very interesting tactics.

Besides the units, the trap cards and item cards play a major role as well. Each trap and item has a different effect, and they can be used in some very creative ways. Some traps, such as the landmine, can be used to kill units that have just been placed on the map (by placing the mine in front of a core), others can be used to slow your opponent down, and one card even forcefully returns a unit to the other's hand. By being creative with your traps, you can gain the upper hand in a match, but you also have to remember that the other player may have done the same thing. Since you cannot see the other player use traps, you never really know what
is waiting for you on the board.

Item cards also have a wide verity of effects, and can either help your units, or hurt the other player. Some items will increase your unit's stats, and some will heal them or remove status ailments. Meanwhile, some item cards exist only to lower your enemy's stats, or even prevent them from moving for a turn. Besides the standard item cards, there are also structure cards such as the wall which you can use to protect your base or trap someone in, as well as the scarecrow which prevents anyone from stepping on the spaces around it. These cards really add to the strategy in this game as well, and they can be used in some very creative ways.

Although you can place or use any of these cards whenever you want, there are actually some restrictions. In this game, the best cards do not always win. To use any card, you must use energy, and you are limited on how much you have each turn. When you first start the game you only have a low amount of energy to work with, but with each passing turn you gain 5 more. This means that not only can you only use a few cards during the start of the game, but you are also only able to use weaker cards as well. You cannot place your strongest cards, which you may have been lucky enough to draw, and expect to win, simply because you can't use them. If you draw your strongest card which requires 90 energy to use, and you only have 65 energy, you'll have to wait quite a few turns to use it. In the mean time, you'll have to defend your Core with weaker cards, and attack your enemy with them as well. This set up helps keep the game balanced, and adds a sort of high risk, high reward element to the game; especially when it comes to building your deck.

Card Decks:

After you have played a match or so, you can then begin to build your own custom deck. When you first start the game, you are given 50 cards and a starter deck, but by winning matches, and spending your earned cash on boxes, you can get more cards to add to it. Cards are randomly selected (which is nice considering it prevents players from only buying the "best" cards), and it is up to you if they go in your deck or not. While a card deck has to have at least 50 cards, you can add many, many, more if you wish to do so; however, this too has its risks.

When building your deck you have to take into consideration just how balanced it is. You don't want too many of the same type of card, or you may find yourself in trouble. As you add more cards to your deck, you have a lower chance of drawing the cards you want to use, so in some cases it may be best to keep your deck as small as possible. This is a problem I personally ran into when playing against writer Cheerfuljochan. I had a deck of about 70 cards against his deck of 50, and while he was drawing cards to attack me with, I was getting mostly item cards. Because of this, he was able to easily attack me early on, and even after I managed to have a comeback, I started drawing items which wouldn't help me, and he was able to come in for the kill. My poorly built deck didn't stand a chance against his well balanced deck and tactics.

Overall, there is a bit of luck involved when it comes to building decks, but it mostly comes down to you playing smart. You can also build more than one deck, so you can easily switch between them before a match depending on your needs.

What Atomic Brawl Does Right:

Even though Atomic Brawl is still in its early days, it is a game that does a lot of things right. The fact that it is a mix between a strategy and card game is a nice change from the norm, and it is also a game with a LOT of humor. A lot of the cards are parodies (such as the Mushroom mixing the Mario 1-Up Mushroom with Mario himself), and there is a lot of humor in the game's writing as well. A lot of the characters are flat out ridiculous, and you can do some funny things such as putting a pink dress on your opponent's body builder. The game has a lot of craziness, and it is sure to make you at least smile from time to time. Even though most of us here at NGR didn't care for the style at first, we ended up liking it in the end.

Another VERY nice feature is the fact that you do not have to be constantly active while playing this. You can actually start a few games at once, and you can set how often you must make a move. If you only have the time to play once or twice a day, you can set the minimum amount of turns per day to "once a day," or if you want to drag it out for a few weeks, you can set it so each player must move at least once a week as well. Sure there is also the "fast game" where you must be actively playing from start to finish, but when you work or go to school, this may not be an option. Once you finish a match a replay is saved of it as well, so you can go back and watch it at anytime. This too is also a very much welcomed feature!

The gameplay itself is also very solid, and it works very well on both PCs and mobile devices (download NOT required). There is a lot of strategy involved, matches can last quite awhile, and there's also unranked and ranked games. It is a system which works well, and the game seems to be well balanced. The only real issue with this is that if you pay using real money, you will have an advantage; simply because you can buy more/better card packs faster. Other than that, people who pay do not have access to exclusive content, so that's always a plus. Sure it takes more work to earn the prizes by simply playing the game, but it can be done; unlike in most free to play games. The game also rewards you everyday for playing, so there's always a reason to check back, and that is pretty nice.

It is also worth mentioning that there is also a very challenging challenge mode for you to tackle, and you can test your card decks against a training bot as well. These single player "modes" are a great way to practice before heading online, and you might just learn something new while using them. That's always a plus!

What Could Be Improved:

With Atomic Brawl still being in its early days (with this review being written on 2/3/2014), there is a lot that can still be improved on. In game you can actually submit feedback directly to the developers, but here's some things we noticed which we would love to see improved.

One of the biggest issues we found with the game, came from its community and profile settings. In your profile you only have the option to pick from a few preset images, and that is it. There is no bio for you to let the world know more about yourself, and you really can't customize your profile at all. You either select a picture to use, or you never even bother messing with the profile field. Its only real purpose is your friends list; which even that could use some improving. Currently there is no way to search for players, so you either know their username and invite them to be friends, or you keep guessing until you get lucky enough to find them.

The chat system in game is also poorly done. It uses a pop up box which covers the whole screen, and cannot be opened while you try to play. While this set up works well on a mobile device, where there isn't enough room on screen to have a chat and game open, it doesn't work well on a PC. The game would be better off to use a chat box either at the bottom left of the screen, or directly below your hand, with an option to toggle it on or off. Some people like to actually chat as they make their moves, and it can be annoying to switch between screens just to read or send a message. Here at NGR, we actually used a messenger program to chat rather than the in game option.

Besides having a strange in game chat, the game's forums are a bit strange as well. While it doesn't directly impact the game, the game's forums use Reddit instead of standard forum software such as Invision Power Board, Vbulliton, Lithium, phpBB, or one of the many great free forum softwares. It's just that Reddit is extremely outdated, and very cumbersome to use. It would be nice if the players had a nice, simple, forum where they could meet up and chat. Still this really doesn't impact the game itself.

Another addition which would be nice is if there was more than one game board to pick from. Now sure, this is a chess like game so there should just be a standard board, but it could be fun to change it up once in awhile. Maybe have different size boards, or have boards with different shapes/holes in the middle you must navigate around, etc. It could really help add to thee strategy, and help keep things from getting stale later on down the road.

The final addition which would be nice is to the game's sound and animation. As it stands now, there's very limited sound effects, no music, and little to no in game animations. While the game doesn't actually need sprite animations to be fun, it would be nice to see a little something other than the card's single sprite. Music also isn't technically needed, but a lot of people may prefer to listen to something while playing; especially if it helps draw them into the experience.

Even so, none of this actually drags the game down. It is a game which will always be improving over time, so you shouldn't let the lack of features put you off.

Should You Play This:

So, with all of that being said, is Atomic Brawl worth playing? Well, the answer is yes. If you're a fan of strategy games, or card games, you have nothing to lose by checking this one out. It only takes a few minutes to sign up, and you can jump right into it almost instantly. The game is simple and easy to learn, but it has enough depth to keep you coming back for more. It is a strategy game in every possible way, and it can be a lot of fun; especially when you play against friends. As of right now there are almost 200 possible cards to collect, so there is plenty to experience. Sure the game could also use a lot of improvements, but you also have to understand how early on into its life this is. Games such as this advance quickly, and there are endless possibilities as to what can happen. Just about anything you can think of can happen, and it can evolve into something truly great. This is just the first step. Trust me, I've been through this with one of my own games. What is today a small browser game with a lot of depth, can become one of the biggest games on the web. Overall we give Atomic Brawl an average score of 8/10. It's fun.

When it comes down to it, Atomic Brawl is a promising game with a great start, and it deserves a chance. If you would like check it out, simply go to the link below:

Or you can register using the following URL to let them know we referred you:

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