The result is that the player will frequently find themselves at a disadvantage in fights - pitted against an opponent that deals more damage than them, and takes less.
Your all-important equipment has stats that must be leveled up by leveraging various in-game currencies, earned by playing through its story mode, side missions, or 'versus' duels (against CPU opponents). Story missions are doled out piecemeal, and the duels frequently match you up against opponents with higher stats that you. Tense counter-attacks and reversals are common, and in a fair fight, it plays out like a 2D version of Soul Calibur on your phone.īut sadly, fair fights in Shadow Fight 3 are rare.
You will need to learn your weapon's reach, speed and power relative to your opponents. Shadow Fight 3 plays with a surprising amount of depth, with hard controls through a virtual gamepad and restrained movement that requires proper form and timing to succeed. The ability to mix and match equipment from different factions and select different special moves gives you enough variety that you don't miss choosing different characters - every combination demands different tactics. The equipment is tied to one of three factions: The Legion (Medieval European themed), the Dynasty (Wuxia Chinese) and the Heralds (anime-influenced techno-samurai). Instead of the traditional roster of similar games, you get one character that you customize through their equipment: armor, melee weapons and missile weapons.
The Shadow Fight series isn't a port from more traditional gaming platforms, but instead was developed natively for mobile. Although previous titles in the series featured battles between almost featureless black figures, Shadow Fight 3 brings all the action into the light, and looks good while doing it. Street Fighter IV Champion Edition Shadow Fight 3: blades over brawn
$5 for a fair fight every time? Well worth it. A single in-app purchase of $5 unlocks all the other fighters and various of game modes including arcade, survival and online versus.Īll in all, the successful port of Street Fighter's mechanics and lack of pay-to-win BS elevates this game over prettier but more predatory offerings out there. The free version of the game is akin to an old school demo, where you can play as Ryu against three classic characters. Unlike many fighting games on mobile, there's no login for daily rewards, no grinding for in-game currencies to level up your fighters' punches, no gambling-style random unlocks of characters, moves or features. However, there's also an optional button just for special moves to make it easier for those who find touch controls awkward. The game uses a virtual on-screen gamepad by default (though you can add your own controller), and Street Fighter veterans will find it fits like Ryu's worn red gloves.