Now, you might be thinking, “Nothing mobile gaming can be like Overwatch.” You may be right, but hear me out for a second! If you were to take Overwatch, re-brand it as an iOS game, what would you get? Shadowgun War Games.
If you’re looking for a casual or competitive hero shooter without the keyboard and mouse or PC tryhards, Shadowgun War might be the game for you. I was very skeptical going into this game; thought it would be like any other simple shooter with lackluster controls.
Most mobile game shooters are a hit or miss; either it’s graphically unappealing or gameplay is too simple. Recently, we’ve been seeing major advancements in that area with COD Mobile and Fortnite. Shadowgun now takes things to another level!
What is Shadowgun War Games?
Shadowgun is a fast-paced 5v5 shooter. Similar to Overwatch, select a hero during the start of the game and you’re ready to go. When you first launch the game, you’ll be greeted with a well-done tutorial, showing you how to shoot, aim and use your character abilities.
Gameplay
The gameplay is fast-paced and extremely fun. I spent most of my time wrecking new players, who just stand there getting sprayed. However, since it’s mobile, you won’t be able to really move left and right while shooting, unless you practice optimally.
Similar to other games, you gain a free battle pass points as you win or lose a match. You can purchase the premium pass, for more elite cosmetics and items. So far, it doesn’t look pay to win, but I cannot fully critique it since I haven’t gone through the pass yet.
There are currently five heroes, each having their own class: Slade, Revenant, Sara, and Willow. Each hero has two abilities to use during combat, which makes them unique, adding a layer of strategy during gameplay. So far, I’ve been enjoying Slade, who is an Assault class that carries a rifle, grow grenades and have a medkit for self-recovery.
Revenant was the first character I started with, though. It’s the tank class and can take damage and be a bit more aggressive than other heroes. It has full health, but lack speed and range. Its roar ability slows enemies that it’s close to and has inner rage, its other ability, that increases movement speed and reduces damage dealt.
Sara is your photo-typical support, with Healing Blast and Protective Dome for her abilities. Support is great to have on your team, since it takes awhile for other players to really sink damage into your character. The protective dome can keep your tank alive and other characters that are taking too much damage.
Willow is your sniper, which requires a great deal of skill if you aren’t used to playing mobile shooters. You’ll be able to take out enemies with just a few shots, with maximized range. However, your health will be significantly low. She also has Supercharge and Flash Mine as her core abilities.
Jet is the speedster (or classified as Runner in-game). You’ll be able to breeze past the enemy front-line or flank for back kills. This character can be quite annoying if you leverage him correctly, as it can Blink in different directions or use Time Rift to transport time. You have very great skills in your arsenal to really put pressure on the enemy teams, especially if they are disorganized and spread out.
It’s obvious this is a meta-based game, if you were to be competitive. You’ll usually want a Tank, Support and Flank (with Sniper and Assault being optional here once there are more characters). However, you’ll be able to experiment with which hero is the strongest and base your entire strategy around those characters. This is what makes it similar to Overwatch.
Currently, it has two game modes; Team Deathmatch and Capture the flag. Team deathmatch is my personal favorite, but it depends on if your team is competent or not to win the match. At lower ranks, you’ll see many players are starting out and learning to play. As you slowly progress, you will find players with more experience and matchmaking becoming increasingly harder.
Overall, the gameplay is exceptional. It’s fun to play with its fast-paced action and hero strategy. As they put out more heroes, it’ll be interesting to see how ranked matches play through and its overall potential for Mobile E-sports.
Controls
At first, the controls may feel clunky (depending on your hands) or hard to get used to. Understand it’s a mobile game and nothing is perfect within the genre when it comes to controls. However, I find Shadowgun War Games to have great controls with my big hands and long fingers. It took about an hour to get used to and by the time I reached rank 10, I was semi-competent with the controls.
At the bottom of the screen, it has your two abilities, left and right. You can also double-tap the screen to aim down your scope. The most interesting part about this game is its automatic shooting. At first, I found this to be annoying, but it has a level of casual to the gameplay, so anyone can play. It became useful further down the line, as you won’t have to worry about pushing a bottom to shoot. This mechanic is very casual-friendly and makes it easier for mobile gamers to play.
The rotation of the screen is very smooth and effortless. Didn’t find any lag at all during gameplay and everything appears crisps. It is obvious the developers put a massive focus on quality and ensuring the game is played beautifully.
Is it really console quality?
In the app description, the developers claim their game console quality. But, is it really? For a mobile game, I would definitely say it’s up there with many different console titles. The graphics are stunning and the gameplay is crips. However, it does have its own downfall. For one, the controls can take some time to get used to.
It doesn’t defeat the analog sticks that a controller can give you on a console. I tend to find myself standing there trying to aim, especially the hero Jet who tends to run around causing trouble. But, I’m still able to hold my own in many matches, holding a positive K/D.
Do we recommend Shadowgun War Games?
Yes, if you’re looking for a fun shooter to spend most of your free time, we highly recommend this game. It’ll be interesting to see how Shadowgun progresses in mobile e-sports and ranked gameplay. If you’re casual, it’s not hard to understand, but you’ll need to get used to the controls and spend a few hours practicing your aim.
