It was a close call this week in our games department, as reviewer extraordinaire Evan Killham lobbied hard for his favorite, Words & Cards. Granted, it’s a great game, but I had to push back a bit. Plus, I’m the editor, so I win.
Star Wars Assault Team is kind of the perfect blend of role-playing game stickiness with digital collectible card game features, all put together with your favorite Star Wars characters to boot.
The writing is great, with plenty of nods to the iconic movie series, and we finally get to see something new: how you spell Chewbacca’s roars. Really, that’s worth the download right there.
Here’s our Game of the Week video below to show you a bit of the game play.
You start the game with Han Solo trying to get out of the triangle-shaped Devastator class destroyer ship from the first Star Wars film. You know, the one that glides across the screen in the very first scene? Yeah, that one.
Learning the basics is easy: tap on each target Stormtrooper to shoot Han’s blaster, and then tap on Solo’s card arrayed at the bottom of the screen to use his special power, “Lucky Shot.” If that’s not a sly nod to “Han shot first,” I don’t know what is.
As you move through each level automatically, you’ll open up footlockers and other cabinets aboard the space ship to pick up extra cards, and you’ll end up earning new characters and other materials that will help train up your characters between each mission.
Missions are short and easily played with one hand on the go, though the game prefers a landscape orientation. The game play is simple: take turns to blast your way through various bad guys and monsters, using your characters’ special powers to stay in the fight. Chewbacca has “Wookie Rage,” which forces your opponents to only shoot at him, R2-D2 can disrupt Imperial Droids, and the Rebel Doctor has a heal power that’s essential to any team.
You’ll take up to four character cards out on each mission, which tasks you with figuring out the best blend of abilities and strengths to survive. You’ll level up more quickly if you use items with similar affinities as the ones your characters have.
Overall, Star Wars Assault Team is a simple yet compelling, easy to drop into free-to-play game that will keep you entertained for a good long time, in short bursts. That’s why it’s our iOS Game of the Week.
Source: App Store
