Army Corps of Hell Review: A Fair Title That Could Gain Your Appeal

Army Corps of Hell Review

PlayStation Vita
Action

About The Game

Army Corps of Hell is an action title where you command an army of goblins in battle against other creatures and bosses. You are the King of Hell, who lost his throne and is now attempting to recapture his full power. You will play through multiple stages including a number of boss stages throughout. As you start the game you only have a limited number of goblins in your army, but as you grow stronger you will make your way up to 100 goblins to use in battle. You also have different type of goblins which are your soldiers, magi and spearmen. Each with unique abilities that you can bring to the gameplay.

Game play – AI – Controls

Army Corps of Hell is a fairly easy game to handle in terms of it’s controls and the gameplay. Though I have to say that there is one part to it’s gameplay that is just awkward no matter how many times you try it. One of the options in Army Corps of Hell is that you have items that you can use during the gameplay. Items that will increase your health or give your minions more powerful attacks. Instead of simply selecting these items to have them work, you select them and then play the instrument that the item is tied to. You play the instrument by using the back touch screen. For one item, you need to tap both sides of the back touch screen multiple times and evenly. It’s not as easy as it sounds and it’s not that fun either. Same goes for swiping the back touch screen in a horizontal direction. It just doesn’t seem to work as smoothly as it should.

As you select the stage, it will take you to a formation screen for you to choose your goblins. Once you get past the first few stages, you will eventually be able to select up to 100 goblins total. You can go with either 100 soldiers or you can mix it up and go with 70 soldiers and 30 magi. You will also get to change the goblins equipment for them to use in battle. As you play the game you will be able to unlock a number of different items to equip your goblins, making them stronger. You will need to make sure you collect “material” that the enemies drop in order to create those special items that you unlock.

There are multiple areas in each stage that you will need to clear before you reach the “exit door.” By killing all the enemies in that area you will be able to move on to the next area. Most of these areas are fairly easy and don’t prove for to much of a challenge, not until later on at least. It does present for some interesting situations though with different types of enemies that keeps the gameplay feeling fresh. You will also need to play with some strategy against certain enemies later on as well.

There are two ways to attack enemies which vary depending on which goblins you use. For example, what I am about to say applies to using the soldier goblins. One option lets you move around as you send off your goblins to attack your selected target. You select the target using the second analog stick. If you use that option to move around as you select a target and send your goblins after them, they only go at the target one goblin at a time. As your goblins are sent-off to attack an enemy, some will be more difficult and you will see a counter start up on them in order for you to pull off a special attack to kill them. Some enemies require that you have 10 goblins on them to perform the special attack while others require 20 goblins. Though, as you send goblins towards the enemies, the enemy will still lose life as they attack, but in order to kill them more quickly you need to fill up the counter. Once you fill that counter up, you will then push the O button to start the attack and then push O again quickly after to perform the attack.

One thing about the special attack option is that you can kill them once you fill up that meter, however, if you let the number of goblins continue to go up, you can perform overkills which at the end of each level, gives you a special bonus for having so many overkill points. It will give you a medal at the end of each level based on your performance. That includes overkill, time spent in the level and number of goblins lost. Overkills are easiest to perform with the soldier, whereas with the others it is not as easy to get as many overkill points. Especially with the spearmen, but they are much more powerful in their regular attack. It creates for you different ways to play the game, especially if you mix and match different goblins.

Speaking of losing goblins in battle, as you play each stage, goblins will die. Though you will have a chance to save them before they do, sometimes there is so much battling going on, that you can’t always get to them in time to save them. One good thing is that there are areas in each stage that gives you the chance to bring back more goblins incase you no longer have the 100 goblins you started with. You will need to have however, crystals in order to bring back goblins.

Overall I did enjoy the gameplay and the controls for my attack. Most of the time I just used soldiers and didn’t bother using the spearmen or magi. I like how the soldiers do business and kept it that way for most of my time in the game. I especially liked trying to perform high overkill numbers when using the soldiers. I also liked gathering material and creating new gear for my goblins as well and seeing how that would affect the game. There is plenty to enjoy with this game and as your goblins get more powerful, it makes it more enjoyable to go over past stages to try and perfect them by getting each gold medal. The replay ability is very good for this title.

Sound – Graphics

The game has a decent art style in which is presents the story to you. However, the in- game graphics do not come across as anything special at all.
The music in the game is straight up heavy metal, which in my opinion isn’t bad. I suppose it fits the theme of the game. I’m not a heavy metal fan, though I still didn’t find the music to be bothersome.

Enjoyment Level – Fun Factor – Final Notes

Army Corps of Hell certainly took me awhile to get into the game. It’s not something that will pull you in or entice you to keep playing. But as you play through it does eventually grow on you some. That was certainly the case for me as I made my way through. I wanted to keep experimenting with the different goblins and I also got on my trophy kick, where I wanted to get a few of the game’s trophies. It’s not the greatest game ever but if you have the chance to play it you may certainly find some of it to be enjoyable. There is local multiplayer as well for you to enjoy, and they are bringing some downloadable content to the game.

Score: 6/10

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