Skulls of the Shogun for Windows Phone Review

More personality than you can shake a samurai sword at

Skulls of the Shogun is undeniably pretty. It has a distinct art style that the developer describes as "a mashup of classic 1960s anime and modern urban vinyl character design," and the environments are sprawling and lush. Everything, from character models to spells, is colorful and really pops; it's one of the best-looking smartphone games I've ever played.  I almost wish I had bought it on Xbox Live Arcade instead so I could see how the visuals look on a bigger screen.

Working in tandem with the game's beautiful visuals is its personality. The story is a decent, fairly standard tale of a man trying to clear his name, the unique aspect being that it's taking place in the afterlife and features a bunch of dead samurai. But what makes it so enjoyable is that rather than taking a dark approach and having the game take itself too seriously, developer 17-Bit infused the story with a clever personality and hilarious dialogue. Though there is no voice acting, the beginning and end of every level in the campaign has at least one or two lines that's guaranteed to make you chuckle.

Performance

As much as I'm in love with the game's graphics, I have to admit that they're a bit of a strain on my phone and the framerate dips especially hard once there are a lot of units on the screen at once. However, my phone runs Windows Phone 7, so for testing purposes I also tested out Skulls of the Shogun on a Windows Phone 8 device. Given the higher specs of all Windows Phone 8 handsets (dual-core processors, for example, are a must) the game ran like a dream, and I was only playing it on a mid-level smartphone.

One of the most appealing parts of Skulls of the Shogun -- and a surefire way to extend the game's value -- is multiplayer. The game is available on all of Microsoft's gaming platforms, so that includes Windows Phone platforms (7 and 8), Xbox Live, Windows 8, and Surface (RT). While each platform may not have a huge multiplayer community in its own right, Skulls of the Shogun features cross-platform multiplayer, allowing players to square off against each other no matter what they're playing on. It's a great idea, one that is tarnished only by the semi-common occurrence of bugs, like enemy units disappearing during your turn, only to reappear (and most likely attack you) during your opponent's next turn.

The multiplayer is also asynchronous, so it's perfect for quick play sessions when you have just a couple of minutes and want to play a quick move in one of your online games (after you play one turn, it's sent into the game's server and you have to wait for your opponent to play theirs before you can continue). It can also be played locally, hot-seat style.

I emphasize that online multiplayer is good for short play sessions because the campaign is surprisingly meaty. At about 12 hours, it's definitely one of the longer smartphone games out there, with each of the missions taking at least 20 minutes or so, if not longer. Replayability is also enhanced by the inclusion of "gold skull" challenges for each mission, rewarded for meeting certain criteria like using your general to eliminate the enemy's.

Conclusion

The $7 price tag for Skulls of the Shogun may seem a little steep for a smartphone game, especially with so many popular 99 cent titles out there, but the bang to buck ratio justifies it for the most part (it also doesn't hurt that for a limited time, it has a special launch price of $5). This isn't just some simplistic, mindless time-killer. Skulls of the Shogun is very much a legitimate turn-based strategy game with some great visuals and personality. If you're looking for that rare hardcore smartphone title that you can really get lost in, look no further.

Individual Ratings: *

Service, Warranty & Support  
Ease of Use 
Design 
Performance 
Value 
* Ratings averaged to produce final score