Casual Review

Full Review

All too often people make the mistake of assuming casual and indie games are all simple and showy and lacking in any depth. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard my “hardcore” gamer friends dismiss a title just for being casual. Well, Mitorah’s game, Battles of Norghan, is a swift kick to the teeth for all such statements, and proves just how hardcore, and awesome, an indie game can be.

Battles of Norghan is a turn-based fantasy strategy game which simulates the war games played by a group of clans for entertainment and profit. The amount of depth, options, and strategy present in this game is staggering. I’m telling you now: your first instinct, even with the very informative tutorial system, will be to turn tail and run or risk being overwhelmed. Don’t give in! You’ll be missing out on one of the deepest and coolest games this year.

The basic gameplay works like this: You draft a team (or clan) of heroes, equip them with weapons, spells, and armor via shops, train their desired skills, and then pit them against opposing teams in turn-based combat similar to any other strategy game you’ve played. The combat pacing will feel very slow until you get a feel for the controls and build a slightly larger force, at which point you’ll really see the strategy kick in. Do you want to have one large tank backed by an army of archers? Several frontline fighters supported by healers? A small but powerful force of arcane sorcerers? These are all viable parties and just a few examples of the myriad of teams you can put together.

The combat is really only one part of the game, however. Equally important is the behind-the-scenes management of your clan. Mitorah decided to use an incredibly complex and interesting drafting system for choosing heroes that’s similar to any sports draft. You have a fixed amount of gold each season and can bid against other teams on heroes. Also, you can offer them varying contract lengths, from one battle to a lifetime signing fee for your clan. Obviously, signing a lifetime fighter is more expensive than signing someone for a few battles or one season, but that’s the beauty of it. You can try different classes in your clan mix, and sign them permanently when you’re satisfied with their skills and playstyle. With the ridiculous number of races and classes, you’ll be testing for a while (and it’s really fun).

Further depth and strategy is granted by the equipment and statistic systems… there are enough weapon types, armor types, spell types, and individual pieces of the aforementioned gear to make any respectable RPG geek chortle with glee and give your clan even more unique flavor. Do you want a Minotaur Warrior wielding chain mail and a 2-handed maul? An Ogre Berserker wearing leather and dual wielding scimitars? Sure! That and any number of other options (including mage weapons with spell-boosting stats).

Sounds all good, right? Unfortunately, there’s one other major drawback to this game. With all of the planning and forethought that went into making this game, it’s really a shame they didn’t put a bit more effort into making the combat look interesting. The character sprites are cute, but there are no combat animations aside from spells (which are animated a bit clunkily), and the backgrounds are boring and serve little purpose other than to get in the way of movement. Like it or not, graphics are a deal breaker for many players, and Battles of Norghan is pretty lacking in that department.

Despite these shortcomings, if you’re at all of an RPG or a strategy fan, you need to try this game. Look past the graphics, and play it at least long enough to get a feel for the drafting system. If you get far enough that you’ve set up a team you like and played a few battles, I guarantee that you’ll be hooked on this one for a long time. If Mitorah ever decides to make a sequel with slightly better graphics, you can be sure I’ll be laying my $20 down faster than you can blink.

Review by Cameron Sorden