Rebirth of Fortune Review

Rebirth of Fortune is a turn based tactical RPG that feels very similar to Final Fantasy Tactics.  In the game you can customise a team of up to eight units to form a mercenary team.  This team is then used to fight a wide cast of enemies throughout 200 stages of varied terrain.  This team of units have clear strategies

The game itself is free but you have the optional choice to pay for the removal of adverts that exist permanently at the top of the screen during the skirmishes of combat.   As to be expected with an App the missions are brief and most can be completed within 5-10 minutes.  If you fail your team must just repeat the mission however if they destroy all enemy units the player is rewarded with cash to spend on improving their units.

There are eight different unit types that can be upgraded, it is up to the player whether they take in multiples of some units or keep a nice varied team.    As the missions progress the struggle becomes greater and different strategies must be put into place and the deeper abilities of each unit must be learnt, forcing the gamer to keep on their toes and constantly making them alter their teams and the method of assault. 

Before every combat the player gets the option to alter their force and upgrade their units, which is the main aspect of the game.  Here the player can change their team around and even inspect what the opposition is going to be.  Later in the game the AI also varies it's team based on what you have put forward that creates an even greater challenge. 

At the start of the game nothing is told to the player and there is no tutorial in sight.  Even to the seasoned gamer this leaves the player at a tremenous disadvantage and creates quite a harsh starting impression.  It takes the first ten games until the basic controls are in the players disposal.  To begin the player only has three different unit types, after leveling the units available newer ones will unlock.  As the system is not explained a lot of the units deeper abilites and specials that build up over time will be ignored until they are discovered.  Once the player has mastery of these abilities the real game starts.

Every unit has a standard attack (In the case of the healer, a healing move) and one or more special attacks based on the orbs that are gained in combat.  The more a player does in their turn or suffers damage the quicker these orbs mount up.  In the later stages of the game the AI always has more units than the player creating a situation where its orbs build up much faster than the players. 

Despite the AI's overwhelming numbers and fast special moves and unique unit types, it lacks in intelligence and often makes very silly errors, such as stepping on its own mines, shooting its own units or making its units stand in easy to shoot places and staying determined not to bring them close to the player.

While this is a drawback for more hardcore gamers the balance comes from the large amount of non-playable enemy types with a wide range of abilities.  These units help keep the game fresh, whilst the player may only play on the same few maps every few levels a new enemy type is introduced, throwing a new challenge at the player.  The enemies are never explained so it is often the case that the player learns from their mistakes. 

The visuals are all hand-drawn and have been entered into a rendering package after giving the game a very unique and cute fantasy appeal. 

The game takes a very long time to get through all 200 stages and the variation keeps things permanently fresh and rewarding, making you keep coming back for more.  Rebirth of Fortune does often freeze after a missions games in a row but as soon as the player quits and comes back in the game is once again fine.  Even with small issues within the Ai's make-up and the occasional freeze Rebirth of Fortune is well worth a download.