Planet Stronghold is a full length RPG set in a SciFi setting. While the story is interesting, and there is control over both the direction it takes and over your relationships with the other characters, there is unfortunately a LOT that gets in the way of actual enjoyment of the game.
Set in the distant and indeterminate future, you begin your quest by choosing a gender and occupation, much like Mass Effect (only more stripped down). The player is a new recruit on a plant that’s known as Planet Stronghold, which is also the capitol of the Human Empire. The story then moves on from your start to how you get involved with the politics of the planet (and the Human Empire by extension). There are close to a dozen characters that you can build your team from, worth a decent cross section of the game’s classes among them. Those classes include features like, or an emphasis on Psionics (think: magic), scouting, and heavy weaponry.
You also have the opportunity to romance some of these characters, or simply build a strong relationship with them. Much of that is achieved through dialogue (again, like a stripped down Mass Effect) that you participate in with the other characters. If you’re not careful with them, you can “burn a bridge” with them. They’ll continue to be on your team, but you will lose out on any possible side quest with them. The battles are more of a Final Fantasy style, where they’re turn based; your side attacks first (in succession), then the other side goes. Rinse and repeat until one side is completely wiped out.
The look of the game is decent. There’s no real animation to speak of, and the characters frequently have the JRPG look to them, at least in their influence. Nothing too extreme, but a vague resemblance is there for sure. The sound track is fitting for the game, similar to what you might hear in other, and older, Final Fantasy style games. The only voice work I noticed was when you vanquish an enemy, or one of your attack miss, with the character being used at that moment voicing cheer or dismay. Nothing in the audio and visual department stands out as exceptional mind you, but very there’s very little here to complain about either.
The controls are touch based, Normally this would go without saying for a game on a mobile platform, but this game is a port that came over from PC. I mention this as it’s related to the first of my complaints about the game, which is the touch targets are WAY too small. Clearly they were designed to be seen on larger computer monitors, and interacted with using the precision of a mouse. For example, I frequently found myself tapping the same spot multiple times to try and select an item in my inventory. As it is, I was playing the game on my Nexus 7. I can’t imagine trying to play it on a screen any smaller, like that of my phone. Definitely avoid this game if you are rocking anything under ten inches for this reason alone.
Second, there are points where the game experiences lag. During the battles for example, it wasn’t uncommon where I’d tap an enemy to select a target for my attack, only to then see nothing happen for a couple of seconds. Not every time, but too often nonetheless. Third, the achievements in the game didn’t seem to work much at all. Often I was told that I’d reached an achievement, but it wouldn’t tell me what it was and showed a blank area in the middle of the screen (as if that part had yet to be filled in). The first one that actually did indicate what was actually achieved was for killing 100 aliens. Unfortunately, I continued achieving the “I Hate Aliens” well beyond the 100 kill mark, and not much else seemed to come my way in achievements. Just that one, over and over. So I hate aliens now. Must I be told that repeatedly? There is a gallery that players can view for showing achievements that have yet to be attained or reviewing ones that have already been unlocked, much like a trophy room. The problem here is that even with a number of achievements that I’d already accomplished remained locked out as if I had not completed them. This area, much like the others, definitely needs attention.
There’s free version with IAPs, and a separate, full version ringing in at $12.99. I played the full version, but I’m thankful that it’s something I acquired through Humble Bundle. At that asking price for the full, IAP-free version, I can’t picture myself having paid that and remaining a happy customer. If you’re *desperate* for some SciFi RPG action, for some watch for some patches before checking out the free version. Otherwise, look elsewhere entirely.
