Lately, I have been playing a lot of light mobile RPGs like Mobius Final Fantasy and Once Heroes. Both of these games are turned-based RPGs and were an awesome source of entertainment for a couple of weeks. But I got tired from turn-based shtick and wanted to find one RPG with the real-time combat. That is how I came across Masquerade: The Faceless. Now on the surface, this game looked like any other mobile RPG, but what made this game stand out for me was its side-scrolling beat `em up gameplay. This game captured my time so much that I needed to write my thoughts on it for the rest of you.
I will cover all the parts of the game that are important for my enjoyment and try to give you a better insight into its core mechanics and gameplay. Also, for all the lazy readers, I will put pros and cons at the end of the review so you don’t have to go through this wall of text.
Story
If you have read any of my previous reviews then you know how important story is for me. Sadly, I don’t care anymore when it comes to mobile games. I have realized that developers of mobile games just don’t care or don’t have enough funding to develop a proper story for their games. I am not saying that this story is absolute trash. It is well written and thought out, but it uses all of the textbook tropes of any fantasy story.
The story goes, without going into any spoilers, that demons found a way to come to your world with the help of masks. These masks were carved by the great mask carver Kron who was later slain by the demons. Your character, as you might expect, can also use these masks to gain tremendous power and fight off the demons. This starts your adventure to save the world from the demon invasion. In the beginning, you will be given a choice between three different characters that have their own unique style and abilities. You can switch between them anytime you want, but you level them up individually.
As you can see there is nothing special about this story, but I must say that it uses masks as both plot device and gameplay mechanic in a fun and rewarding way. If you learned to enjoy cliché stories and are not looking for the next Final Fantasy 7 type plot, then this game meets your requirements and more.
Gameplay and core mechanics
Now to the meat of the game and the reason why I decided to write a review on it. I mean what can I say, I am a sucker for side-scrolling beat `em ups and this game is just that. It uses old formula and even adds to it. Controls are easy and intuitive and there are plenty of combos and abilities to use. I will explain this better so everyone understands.
First of all, you are able to move in any direction through the 3D environment maps. This allows you to dodge all kinds of enemy’s attacks and abilities, as was usual in old arcade games. Also, you have one more movement ability, roll. You can use this to quickly evade enemies and escape clutch situations. Now combat is where things get really interesting. Besides your standard 3-hit combo, you can swipe up to lift foes in the air and swipe down to knock them on the ground. Additionally, you can pair any of these three attacks to perform combos and deal greater damage. As we said every class has different playstyle and combos of course.
And on top of all this, you can pick two special abilities to help you with your missions. Every class also has different abilities and you unlock new ones as you level your character. With all this combined you get a fun and refreshing gameplay, which encourages you to constantly experiment with different powerful combos and abilities. It can get a bit repetitive, but luckily different classes and constant new unlocks keep the gameplay fresh for a long period of time.
Item customization of your character uses, what is now known as the standard for the mobile RPGs. It uses the star-system for the items and it is pretty fair keeping in mind that this is a free-to-play title. One thing that is new and different is the mask system. You can equip your characters with a number of different masks to further distinct your playstyle. They are also upgradeable and change the appearance of your character which is a nice little touch.
Music and sound design
One last thing I want to talk about is music and sound design. I often play mobile games with the volume off and my own music in the background. But for the first time, I didn’t do that. Masquerade`s music is really fitting for the gameplay and environment. Fast-paced music during combat really keeps you on the edge of your seat, even though it can get repetitive at some times. It also helps that the sound effects are amazing. When casting abilities or hitting your foes you can really feel the impact and damage done. Hats off to the developers for this.
Conclusion
PROS CONS
-Fast-paced gameplay -Disappointing story
-Music and sound effects -No innovation in item customization
-Mask system
As you can probably already tell I really liked this game. It is not without any flaws and I can’t give it a perfect score, but for a mobile game, it has done a great job of keeping me entertained during my play sessions. So I will strongly recommend this game to anyone who likes side-scrolling beat `em ups and doesn’t care that much about the story. My final verdict for this game is 8/10, disappointing story and lack of innovation in the character customization brought the score down.
8.0/10
