Just as an example here, let’s talk about the monstrous dog-like thing you’ll meet. The enemies you’ll bludgeon not only look fantastic, but also boast, in most cases, more sophisticated routines and trickier blows to block, dodge, or parry. I’m not much of a fan of either of these new styles, but they work as they should. Heavy weapons trade speed for power, but require a sure-hand. Two swords eliminates blocking from the equation and rely on your ability to chain together combinations flawlessly. More importantly, dual weapon and heavy weapon wielding have been added to the combat model and they do meaningfully change your combat approach. Since you can straight-up buy gold via IAP, this element might turn you off, but in our play, we’ve yet to feel like IAP was anything more than optional.

Buying new weapons is the key to leveling up, and you’ll need to keep pumping your quarters into the virtual machine in order to compete since each re-birth sees the addition of more powerful enemies. The game’s currency system is still tied integrally to the combat. Gems can be found or purchased and attached to weapons with matching slots. In others cases, they add bonus effects like, say, increased Titan Damage Upon Blocking. In most cases, they act as weapon modifiers that add elemental damage to attacks. Parries seem much more accurate, now, as well, and are much more encouraged by virtue of the dodge nerf. Dodge too many times in succession, and you’ll take tick damage from narrowly avoided blows. Dodging, for example, is now monitored by an endurance bar. There’s a sense of momentum and honest-to-Crom progression since not every re-birth is a simple game “reset ' plus, not just battle death triggers these this time around.Ĭombat has been expanded, too, and its constituent parts tweaked. But now the protagonist is as aware of his plight as you are, and you’ll be doing things in this new place with this knowledge in tow. As in the first, you’ll be once again stuck in a cyclical play loop, forever walking the halls of this new fortress as you puzzle out what it has to offer. The story element in particular makes Infinity Blade 2 a more cohesive game. Beautiful vistas and artfully designed and detailed hallways compose that game’s more expansive fortress the “guided' walking scenes are always punctuated with many more items to loot and fights to be had against increasingly bigger and more complex opponents also, the mystery as to who you are and why you’re undying is unraveled more coherently, as the writing is now presented with confidence - it actually wants to tell you a good story. Design-wise, this is more Infinity Blade, except expanded. The added oomph of the presentation is a convenient parallel to what’s going on under the hood.

Later, you’ll find a fountain with gurgling water creeping over two titanic figures, a crypt filled with gigantic, ragged rocks with glowing glyphs imbued into them, and you’ll even observe plenty of nature again, as the game’s new fortress has plenty of aerial life and environmental effects to share. In the game’s opening, you’ll be whisked to a Japanese garden where pink petals tenderly fall into a pond filled with koi. Infinity Blade 2 is a step a step or two beyond what was accomplished in the original, adding in layers and layers of next-level environmental and character texture detail on top of a ton of fantastic ambient touches - sharper shadows, stronger lighting, and a glut of atmospheric effects bolster what’s already a visual delight, especially on iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.

It’s a showcase piece a technically and visually gifted game that consistently delivers eye-popping stuff. We put incredibly powerful devices in our pockets and on our laps daily, but rarely do we see games that utterly embrace this like Infinity Blade has.

Original infinity blade sword