➤ The Paladins Strike review 🎮

There are certainly several ways to bring a shooter to mobile devices, but the authors of Paladins they thought of approaching the issue in a "creative" way, turning their online shooter into a ... MOBA. Paladins Strike starts with these premises, which after several weeks in soft launch is finally available all over the world for iOS and Android terminals. The formula is the one we know well and can currently count on two different modes: Siege, which will see us conquer a central point of the map in order to generate a "chariot" that we will then have to escort to the enemy base in order to destroy it; and Summons, which is based on a series of territorial objectives, with areas to be controlled and defended to collect a higher score than the opposing team.

The two teams are composed as usual of five components, the matchmaking is fast and effective, but compared to the classic online multiplayer battle arena, several elements are missing, first of all the minions and the in-game store which determines the progression of the character within the game. The latter has been replaced by a series of bonuses that can be selected after some time and that allow you to improve the skills of our fighter, fished from a rather large but slowly accessible roster if you do not intend to put your wallet. : it takes a few hours to get the tickets needed for each release. The classes are four (Damage, Flank, Support and Frontline), while the warriors available for free are five (Viktor, Grohk, Cassie, Makoa and Buck), with the possibility of unlocking an additional character in rotation.

The champions of the Earth

Thanks to a rich achievement system that unlocks money and tickets, the experience of Paladins Strike proceeds rather quickly, without constraints or limitations other than the accessibility of the roster. It is not the first time that we have seen such an approach for a freemium MOBA, and we consider it completely legitimate: those who want to play for free will be satisfied with basic fighters or get new ones with a little commitment and perseverance, while those who appreciate particularly the formula developed by Hi-Rez Studio will be able to contribute to the cause by purchasing some packages and enriching its collection of warriors.

Of course there are no openings to the "pay to win", each character starts with the same possibilities (although modifiable through the use of the runes) and the victory is a matter of experience and coordination: the team needs to move in a cohesive way, without loners in trouble, and help us where necessary. The repertoire available to the paladins is quite varied: the anthropomorphic turtle Makoa, for example, can create an energy barrier, throw a grappling hook to attract enemies and turn into a real scourge with its own special, where the basic weapon is a powerful shotgun but recharge slowly; while Viktor is the traditional gunslinger who can hit from medium range, throws grenades or orders bombing from above, but can also use a quick shot to quickly reach objectives or maybe get to safety.

Health recharges automatically when we manage to escape the clashes for a few seconds, but in MOBAs this aspect must also be evaluated with great attention so as not to weigh on the team: it is often better to stay and die, waiting a few seconds for the respawn, which do not run away and leave your companions alone in a situation of numerical inferiority. Simplifications aside, the gameplay of Paladins Strike works really well and a third mode, Team Deathmatch, will be unlocked in the future, but unfortunately during our tests we encountered problems on which it is difficult to turn a blind eye, specifically the presence of a constant lag which affects the enjoyment of the experience. The Hi-Rez Studio guys absolutely need to improve this aspect by working on the online infrastructure, since otherwise there is very little to complain about: both from an artistic and a technical point of view the game is really a great sight. , with great characters, compelling animations and great fluidity. Excellent touch controls, deputed to two invisible and repositionable virtual analog sticks, assisted by icons for special attacks on the right side of the screen.

Comment

Tested version iPhone (1.0.9) Digital Delivery App Store, Google Play Price Free Resources4Gaming.com

7.5

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Paladins Strike faces the MOBA genre on iOS and Android playing the card of simplicity, thus eliminating some classic elements of this trend in favor of a more immediate approach but not devoid of strategic depth. The result is remarkable, thanks also to the excellent technical and artistic work deriving from the console version of the experience, although completely different in terms of gameplay, while the limitations for those who want to play for free do not weigh that much, focusing on the breadth of the roster and unlocking new characters. It is a pity that at the moment the game suffers from frequent episodes of excessive lag: an inconvenience that is far from marginal for a title in which speed and precision are fundamental, and which we hope will be resolved quickly.