Krosmaster Arena review

Japanime Games | Fantasy fighting | £64.99 | 2-4 players | 60 minutes | www.japananimegames.com 

Based on a free-to-play MMO that no one has heard of, Krosmaster is a super simple skirmish game that’s great as an intro into the world of skirmish games. In particular, young kids taking their first tentative steps into this world are likely to be wowed by Krosmaster’s pre-painted and brightly coloured cast of quirky characters.

The characters themselves certainly help the appeal of Krosmaster and are along the current trend of chibi anime characters, like those seen in Super Dungeon Explore or Arcadia Quest. Then again, don’t let that cute appearance fool you because, like other skirmish games, Krosmaster involves lots of opportunity for customisation.

But how do you play? Well, each player takes a team of four characters (the game comes with eight and extras are available as expansions) and must try to steal their opponent’s Gallons of Glory tokens. Everytime you knock out an enemy character you snaffle their Gallons too. However, what’s great is that all the characters have abilities that can combine with potentially devastating effects. Say, for example Kassius Kaos a witch doctor with a spell that can potentially push the target three squares. It’s fairly easy to avoid, unless you place your Krosmasters around him to stop a dodge. Elsewhere Queen of the Tofus can summon three duck-like creatures on an empty square that can be buffed to make them more powerful when attacking an enemy. Mixing up your teams to experiment with the way these abilities can be combined is great and really adds to the replayability. 

Another fun element is that dotted around the grid – a bit like a videogame – are little Kama coins. These can be collected and traded for new equipment or spent to steal more Gallons from your opponent. As such, it can often to be a race to not only knock out the enemy but also grab the Kama coins too. Finally, Krosmaster’s board is certainly worthy of praise thanks to the cardboard trees and crates that act as obstacles in the game. 

Buy your copy here.

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