Infinity Blade II Reviews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on December 2nd, 2011

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For all that's new and improved, Infinity Blade 2 is still a game about high stakes combat and bloody perseverance. Still a game about fast and smart fight scenes bolstered by a personalised assortment of weapons and shiny hats.

The novelty of repeated bucket-kicking has dampened a little. And towards the end, the game just starts throwing high-level bastards in your face to see how many you can take. The core formula that defined Infinity Blade and made it so interesting has been tarnished in the move to write an App Store description with some higher numbers than before.

But Chair's unreal sword-swinging romp still puts up a hefty fight, and most of the added loot adds just enough to bring Infinity Blade fans back for a second, vengeful stab at victory.

It's now almost exactly a year since the first Infinity Blade was released and to be honest it hasn't really changed the world of smartphone gaming as much as some predicted. Clearly most mobile developers don't have Chair's (or rather owner Epic Games') resources but as we say it's not just the technical achievements that make the game stand out but its ability to turn the weaknesses of the format into strengths.

Even if few other smartphone games manage the feat this alone vindicates their position as a viable platform for state-of-the-art video games.

Overall, Infinity Blade II is a worthy successor to the already well-received original game. The game play, while similar in feel, is expanded enough to provide players of the original as well as newcomers a satisfyingly rich experience. It's a fine day indeed when we carry around in our pocket or messenger bag such a compelling and graphically amazing video game, one that only a few short years ago would have been only seen on highly powered gaming consoles. Yes, Infinity Blade II is more of the same, but the first game was fantastic; this one is even that much more so. While owners of (older) Apple devices are out of luck, I highly recommend this game to owners of an iPad 2 or iPhone 4S; this is the benchmark, state-of-the-industry level game that everyone should have a chance to play.

Infinity Blade II isn't perfect, though, at least in one sense: it isn't vastly different from its predecessor. Players who took issue with the repetitious nature of Infinity Blade will run up against that wall again here, sooner or later; sure, there are many more enemy animations to contend with and more weapon sets to earn, but players who worked their way to boredom in the previous game may be tripped by the same obstacle here. And despite leveraging the dual-core processor power of Apple's new A5 chip in its iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, the game still occasionally sees frame rate issues that suggest it's a little too much for mobile devices to handle.

But Infinity Blade II gives so much for its asking price that minor quibbles are quickly swallowed by the march of enemies to be bested. Only those players who adamantly found nothing to enjoy in the previous game will find complaints in the sequel for those of us who loved Infinity Blade, there's only more fun to be had in Infinity Blade II.

In just about every way, Infinity Blade 2 builds on the rock-solid foundation of the original game, and delivers an experience that's as tense, deep, gorgeous, and enjoyable as anything you'll find on the platform. If you didn't like the original Infinity Blade, the sequel isn't different enough to change your mind. But for everyone else--and there are a lot of us--it delivers exactly what we're looking for.

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