Eredan Arena is a free-to-play Collectible Card Game (CCG) developed by Feerik, set in the universe Eredan, and which is available for iOS, Android and now Facebook. We decided to test Facebook and Android versions of this simple but interesting title, and thanks to its cross-platform nature you can play it from any device that supports it. And without further delay take a look to our impressions.

Eredan Arena is not the typical GCC; the objective of the game is to be simple and clear, and succeedsto do this by getting rid of the whole deck thing and offering quick matches in which you control a team of 5 heroes. And before the purists of the genre had the chance to cry "there is no deck? Heresy!". We assure you that the entire system, although different from the usual, works well and is simply a new approach to the genre.

The graphics of the game include some colorful and detailed anime/comic style illustrations,and the evolutions of the heroes are something worth seeing. The game still has some graphic glitch, with numbers or skill texts disappearing and similar stuff. The engine is still a little heavy and a couple of times on our android device the game froze as well, but it is still young so there is definitely room for improvement. The sounds are average, and if you play on a mobile device, you would probably just turn them off when playing in public places.

  

When you start the game will only have a standard set of 5 basic characters, and after a short tutorial that will guide you through the mechanics of the game you will be thrown into the harsh world of the Eredan Arena fights, where there is no PvE, only brutal PvP battles. The gameplay is simple and easy to learn, and even the random factor plays an important role within the games, you can prove your tactical skills, both in team building and during the match thanks to the actual combat system.

Upon clicking the big "Play" button, the game puts you against an opponent with a team strength level similar to yours; at this point you and your contender have both only 3 out of 5 cards available (the other ones being "in queue" and ready to be gradually selected once a slot is freed), and will have to choose which one to play first from these 3. Once the 2 rival heroes are chosen, the fight between these 2 cards starts. Each card has a race, a guild, a class, an attack value and up to three different skills. Skills have different effects, either direct damage, protective shields, buffs, debuffs, life-steal, etc., and each skill has a cost of activation that is represented with a combination of three symbols: a yellow rune, a red strength and a blue fireball.

Players will then launch six dice with four faces each, displaying the already mentioned symbols plus another one which is a grey sword and representing the base attack. Players can relaunch the dice up to 3 times and each time they can lock down the dice they want to keep and reroll the others in order to try to play their hero's abilities or perform basic attacks where damage is determined by the heroes’ attack value.

Once the players have chosen the six dice, or have rolled the dice three times, the combat starts, activating first the special abilities and going on with the basic attacks. The hero who manages to do more damage wins the match, and after declaring a winner, two new heroes are selected for the next round. The first player who manages to win three rounds is the winner of the match.

Although it may seem complex, the system is actually very simple and addictive, and you will get used to it in just a couple of matches. As we have already said there is an important random factor, so it is very important to create a good team whose skills complement each other, and choose wisely which symbols keep, which one to reroll, when it's better to play safe and when to risk instead.

In addition each hero can evolve twice, up to level 3, which unlocks new skills and change their appearance. Higher level skills have several types of interesting and original effects, including group buff/debuff which can also affect only the attackers, defenders, a particular class or race or a specific Guild. These skills add more strategic depth to the game and gives a certain relevance to the choice of the right heroes for your team and for each fight.

After each match, either you win or lose, you will have the right to open one of six random treasure chests, which can contain red gems (used to buy basic boosters), a specific hero card or a booster (which contains a single random hero card). If you get a double of a card that you already own, you can choose to merge them and add a green stone to that card or sell it for red gems. Upon reaching a certain number of green stones on a card, it will level up in a more powerful version of itself, gaining new artwork, new skills and a new attack value.

You can also buy diamonds, the Premium currency of the game, with real money to acquire advanced boosters, unlock new heroes and open more than a single treasure chest after a match.

By upgrading the different basic heroes to the maximum level you will unlock new level 1 heroes, so you will always have something to work on. The developers also hold special events during some weekends where you can earn special limited edition EX cards, so there is always something to do for the collection junkies.

One criticism that we intended to make to the developers was the absence of a friend list, with the possibility of playing with your friends and challenging them; however, with a recent patch, Feerick added this feature due to popular demand, completely integrating it with Facebook: if one of your Facebook friends plays Eredan Arena, they will be automatically shown on your friend list when online, and can be challenged/challenge you at any time. This showed to everyone that these guys really listen to the community feedback.

CONCLUSION

Eredan Arena represents a fresh and light approach to the Collectible Cards Games genre. Is fast, fun and above all it is addictive. The game gives the best of itself if it's played on a mobile device, and although you can also play it from Facebook, the game has been optimized for smartphones and tablets. If you are looking for a casual PvP game which doesn't require much time, and if you also like to collect cards, give it a try; After all, it is free.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 9th, 2014 at 12:04 am and is filed under MMO News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.