Lately the eShops have both been seeing an increase in the number of mobile titles ported over with new control schemes, some of which turn out better than the original and some that don't transition well. As such it makes sense for gamers and publishers to be wary of bringing titles over to Nintendo systems, but this hasn't stopped Gamelion Studios from delivering League of Heroes onto the 3DS eShop.

The game's premise is very simple, and tasks you with fighting enemies to defend a village called Frognest in an almost mediveal world. The main sense of progression is simply leveling up and defeating new enemies, which appear on randomly generated maps outside of the town. The premise is simple but a bit more on the story of the world would have given the characters more life besides that of a typical merchant NPC.


Fighting monsters requires you to choose a level to embark on from an overworld map of the region on the touchscreen. In each level you'll encounter a number of enemies that are somewhere around your skill level and need to defeat them all to clear the level. Fighting boils down to hitting the A button repeatedly until you win, as the enemies aren't very strong and will likely never kill you unless you stand still for a while. Despite the lack of challenge the leveling system is oddly enjoyable and will likely be a driving force for you to finish the game.

Enemies will drop Experience and other goodies when defeated, and you can claim these for yourself by walking relatively close to them to pick them up. You can then use your money to purchase upgrades in the town in the form of armor, weapons or new skills you can unlock every few level increases. The town acts as a central hub for your adventure but does lack a lot of character, and feels as lifeless as the majority of the enemies you'll encounter.

The levels themselves never seem to offer anything relatively new either, besides the same enemies and locations for the whole game. Thankfully the gameplay is accessible for everyone as the controls are consistent and don't change much throughout the game, only adding in new items once or twice.


League of Heroes also suffers from some odd design choices, mainly in the combat sections. You can only attack in four directions, but can move in a full circle with the circle pad, leading to some odd handling and overall it feels a little clunky. Running around feels great, though you do move a bit slower than expected, it just feels wrong to suddenly be forced into a direction of attack, and takes a lot away from the combat.

The rest of the game looks nice enough, and is just on par with the latest cartoony mobile graphics. As such, League of Heroes doesn't look exceptionally good or bad, and doesn't leave much of a lasting impression. It is also worth mentioning that the development team somehow made the game look worse when played with the 3D effect on, with everything popping out at the same level and the ground fading into the background. The feature is disorientating and confusing, and seems like it was left in only to boast that the game features 3D effects.

League of Heroes was a free to play title for its other releases, and as it is on the 3DS has no microtransactions included. The choice is yours for which version you prefer, because for $5 you can own the title on 3DS, or you can potentially play for free, but limited, on a mobile device.

League of Heroes is exactly what you would expect from a mobile title ported to the 3DS, a lighthearted good time without much depth. Simple gameplay and graphics are somewhat brought down by the lack of effort in correcting some large flaws in combat, most of which are possible to fix on a system like the 3DS. League of Heroes offers up a decently fun game if you enjoy simple quests, but overall doesn't offer much beyond beating up the same enemies.


Review copy provided by Gamelion Studios.