RoundGuard: Circle of Fun
I’m late to the party, but I actually love Roundguard…..
On March 2020, The Quantum Astrophysics Guild and Wonderbelly created a game that’s designed to place fellow ‘dungeoneers’ down an infinite path to gold and glory.
Enter Roundguard, a multi-platform game that incorporates a leaderboard style that allow users a series of ways to explore the dungeons of comedic evil. Sure, it’s not dungeons and dragons, but this game is styled in such a way, that it’s worth killing a couple of hours over.
The game focuses on three major protagonists: Flagon, the Warrior; Shade, the Rogue, and Fizz, the Wizard; as they travel through dungeons and dungeons of madness, magic and mayhem, all the while upgrading their HP, Manna and of course, their defensive and offensive abilities. I was granted a chance to play as Flagon and as I played, I realized, its more than just blindly shooting the marble-shaped character around the arena, it takes precision and more importantly, a sense of humor.
While the game looks easy at first, strategy is necessary to navigate this colorful little enterprise. Placed at the top of the screen in, what looks like, a human crossbow, the player has to try to obtain elixirs of blood, manna and eliminate the bad guys in all shapes and form. Similar to Peggle, it also comes with a ‘firm precision’ system that gives the user a ‘minute’ movement to create a more accurate deployment.
Roundguard’s Arrow Positioning System
As my character went bouncing around the screen, breaking vases of gold, elixirs, manna, and the bad guys, one interesting feature that I definitely enjoyed was when the game does a closeup of the character. For example, when I used my ‘spin attack’ on one of the dancing spiders, the game quickly zoomed in and pinpointed the attack, thus slowing down the gameplay. It’s cool at first when I use the attack, but over time, it could get a little monotonous for some game players.
The way this game moves, it follows the ‘how low can you go theory’ with most dungeoneers. You just keep playing until the HP runs out and let me tell you, there are multiple ways in which the HP can wane:
As you fall towards the bottom of game, only a soft bed can save you from falling on a floor of spikes.
The enemies can inflict dangerous ‘poisons, toxins or beams’ that could continuously drain your HP even as you replay again from the top.
You can use up your manna very quickly, thus allowing the enemies to quickly deal a fatal blow on you.
An all-round bouncy adventure! video by Wanderbots
The games quickplay feature after you launch your character is definitely an eye follower. Once launched, you could easily lose sight of your protagonist, making it ‘fast playing’ at times and as you finally get a hold of your character during gameplay, there are times when it’s too little too late as the character is plummeting toward the bouncy bed of safety or the pointy spikes of oblivion. For control, because of it ‘peggle-like’ similarity, the only part of the game you can actually control is the launch. After that, the character is on their own.
For kids, ages 5-10, this game may bring some difficulty. For those greater than 10 years of age, you’ll be okay as long as you can use precise aiming. For those players who love detail, that ability could be a gift or a curse.
Aside from the addictive playability, the leveling up is great too. As you descend into evil, skills improve, but due to the randomness of choosing the dungeons, the choice of skill varies, and if you refuse the skill, you cash out, making yourself richer in the process.
Roundguard is a fun game and I recommend it for those with a little time to kill. ‘Peggle-like’ in its abilities, one interesting aspect of this game is that the creators took themselves seriously to make it not so serious. Aside from the ‘zoom-in attack’ feature, the game’s playability makes it a hit in the Rogue-like sphere. The game is funny and addictive enough to ensure hours of fun for all ages.
Gameplay: 4/5
Very simple to play yet when the guard is thrown and in circulation, quick gameplay can become an issue.
Difficulty: 2/5
Great difficulty for children (ages 7-10), but for the older crowd, very easy.
Replay-Ability: 4/5
Great for a cell phone app, providing hours of downtime, especially in the age of the coronavirus. With platforms, if you got time, play it. Gets addictive real qucik.
Overall: 4/5
The game is easily playable, but with some consequences: One of them is the players ability to not choose the next level. Without proper aiming of the human arrow, wherever you land at the end of the match, the games operating system places you in the nearest pot.
My Thoughts:
Buy the game, especially if its on the phone.
