Bonfire | Munchlax's Indie Game Reviews! 04-25-2013, 01:28 PM
#1
Published on April 20th, 2013
Bonfire by the collective of game developers ‘Moacube’ is marketed as ‘a strategy RPG with a puzzle element.’ The puzzle element in this game is a little different from the traditional with the puzzle element being, from the developers themselves; ‘How the hell am I supposed to survive this?!’
From the very first moment you open the game you catch a glimpse of what it’s going to be like. The adventurous catchy tunes that you will soon memorize and hum along with come to life and three little bobbing characters are huddled around a bonfire. Hitting the begin button you’re greeted with what seems to be only 8 levels. I was personally a little disappointed when I first laid my eyes on the level select screen. ‘I wasn’t going to get much gameplay from this.’ I thought to myself. Never have I been so wrong.
After a few levels you start to realise where the strategy part of ‘a strategy RPG’ comes from. You form a party of three from 10 unlockable heroes in the game, all with different strengths and weaknesses and use them to battle, progress and loot through randomized quests. You unlock these different characters by finishing journeys which also get progressively harder as you go. You have to manage and switch up these three chosen heroes throughout different journeys as all have different attacks and strategies just like the monsters.
The story in Bonfire isn’t too much of a story, but then again, it doesn’t need to be. To generalise, the storyline revolves around a band of heroes who all have a grudge against ‘the Overlord’ who has reigned over the lands for a little too long. This particular overlord isn’t the nicest either, he removes eyes, takes away vampire’s powers and kills assassins’ parents! It isn’t much of a story but the game revolves around the strategy and the combat, you generally don’t go looking for a deep and meaningful story when you play this game.
I was impressed when I first opened Bonfire. It was cute yet kind of intimidating as well. The detail in the Monk’s robes stood out against the green grass dimly illuminated by the bonfire the heroes surround. The battle animations are excellent; Pyra shooting fire at all three of the enemies was extremely satisfying, the twang of the Blind Archer’s bow as he blindly shot an arrow at one of the enemies. The characters are well proportioned and all unique. The detail that has gone into the sprites of the enemies is exceptional and I’m quite sure that every scale on the dragon is a different shade of green. The backgrounds are great and really set the scene for the rest of the game.
The turn based system allows each hero to use 3 different types of attacks; enemy, ally and self. If you don’t already realise each of these attack types refer to the enemy, an ally and yourself. For example, the assassin’s (my favourite hero) enemy attack is launching at the enemy with a poison blade, ally attack is covering a teammate with a smokescreen (rendering them unable to be targeted by enemy attacks) and the self being dodging the next incoming attack and fighting back with a counter-attack.
The strategy element in this game refers to the combat, especially as it’s a turn-based game. Out of all 10 heroes you must find the sheer number of different strategies you can put into play are unbelievable, all-out offensive, rock-hard defensive or slowly but surely dwindling down the enemies’ health. A lot of the time you spend playing Bonfire will end up being retrying levels and mixing and switching up your heroes, working out the best and most effective strategy to use in the journeys and this isn’t a bad thing. Having to grind up your Bulbasaur in wild grass with the same god damn level 7 Weedle over and over really isn’t the most thrilling thing in the world but Moacube really prevent this feeling. By making each quest and battle randomised it’ll never just feel like you’re grinding and learning new strategies which I think is what makes this game so appealing.
When you defeat a monster it explodes satisfyingly into a mess of blood and gold coins, bouncing around all over your screen. They then rattle up in one long, sparkly line to the top left corner where it shows your hard earned coins. Unlike many other games, cash isn’t such a big focus. You don’t use it to buy heroes, you don’t use it to get unfair advantages and in fact you could finish the entire game without having to spend a penny of your bloodied virtual currency! The only real use for them is buying items that you can only use once per quest. Even then, there’s still not much use for money because you can get the items as loot in between each battle. These items also play quite a vital part in your quest to defeat the Overlord; restoring health, bringing past heroes back from the dead and increasing stats.
The sound in Bonfire is pretty good. The soundtrack provides an atmosphere which is suspenseful and frightening while at the same time adventurous and inquisitive. It’s very well rounded and not jagged at all. The sound effects are great too; the slashing and bubbling of toxins sound excellent and really fit in with the art style.
In conclusion, I really did enjoy Bonfire. It promised to be a challenging game and it most definitely kept its promise. It has a great variety of characters, strategy and tactics and provides hours of entertainment. It has found a way to ensure that you spend a lot of time coming up with the best way to do something without making it extremely repetitive and I respect it for that. The graphics and the sound in the game go together hand in hand and it’s a top notch indie game.
Story – 6/10
Gameplay – 9/10
Graphics – 8/10
Sound - 9/10
Overall Score - 8.5/10
Bonfire by the collective of game developers ‘Moacube’ is marketed as ‘a strategy RPG with a puzzle element.’ The puzzle element in this game is a little different from the traditional with the puzzle element being, from the developers themselves; ‘How the hell am I supposed to survive this?!’
From the very first moment you open the game you catch a glimpse of what it’s going to be like. The adventurous catchy tunes that you will soon memorize and hum along with come to life and three little bobbing characters are huddled around a bonfire. Hitting the begin button you’re greeted with what seems to be only 8 levels. I was personally a little disappointed when I first laid my eyes on the level select screen. ‘I wasn’t going to get much gameplay from this.’ I thought to myself. Never have I been so wrong.
After a few levels you start to realise where the strategy part of ‘a strategy RPG’ comes from. You form a party of three from 10 unlockable heroes in the game, all with different strengths and weaknesses and use them to battle, progress and loot through randomized quests. You unlock these different characters by finishing journeys which also get progressively harder as you go. You have to manage and switch up these three chosen heroes throughout different journeys as all have different attacks and strategies just like the monsters.
The story in Bonfire isn’t too much of a story, but then again, it doesn’t need to be. To generalise, the storyline revolves around a band of heroes who all have a grudge against ‘the Overlord’ who has reigned over the lands for a little too long. This particular overlord isn’t the nicest either, he removes eyes, takes away vampire’s powers and kills assassins’ parents! It isn’t much of a story but the game revolves around the strategy and the combat, you generally don’t go looking for a deep and meaningful story when you play this game.
I was impressed when I first opened Bonfire. It was cute yet kind of intimidating as well. The detail in the Monk’s robes stood out against the green grass dimly illuminated by the bonfire the heroes surround. The battle animations are excellent; Pyra shooting fire at all three of the enemies was extremely satisfying, the twang of the Blind Archer’s bow as he blindly shot an arrow at one of the enemies. The characters are well proportioned and all unique. The detail that has gone into the sprites of the enemies is exceptional and I’m quite sure that every scale on the dragon is a different shade of green. The backgrounds are great and really set the scene for the rest of the game.
The turn based system allows each hero to use 3 different types of attacks; enemy, ally and self. If you don’t already realise each of these attack types refer to the enemy, an ally and yourself. For example, the assassin’s (my favourite hero) enemy attack is launching at the enemy with a poison blade, ally attack is covering a teammate with a smokescreen (rendering them unable to be targeted by enemy attacks) and the self being dodging the next incoming attack and fighting back with a counter-attack.
The strategy element in this game refers to the combat, especially as it’s a turn-based game. Out of all 10 heroes you must find the sheer number of different strategies you can put into play are unbelievable, all-out offensive, rock-hard defensive or slowly but surely dwindling down the enemies’ health. A lot of the time you spend playing Bonfire will end up being retrying levels and mixing and switching up your heroes, working out the best and most effective strategy to use in the journeys and this isn’t a bad thing. Having to grind up your Bulbasaur in wild grass with the same god damn level 7 Weedle over and over really isn’t the most thrilling thing in the world but Moacube really prevent this feeling. By making each quest and battle randomised it’ll never just feel like you’re grinding and learning new strategies which I think is what makes this game so appealing.
When you defeat a monster it explodes satisfyingly into a mess of blood and gold coins, bouncing around all over your screen. They then rattle up in one long, sparkly line to the top left corner where it shows your hard earned coins. Unlike many other games, cash isn’t such a big focus. You don’t use it to buy heroes, you don’t use it to get unfair advantages and in fact you could finish the entire game without having to spend a penny of your bloodied virtual currency! The only real use for them is buying items that you can only use once per quest. Even then, there’s still not much use for money because you can get the items as loot in between each battle. These items also play quite a vital part in your quest to defeat the Overlord; restoring health, bringing past heroes back from the dead and increasing stats.
The sound in Bonfire is pretty good. The soundtrack provides an atmosphere which is suspenseful and frightening while at the same time adventurous and inquisitive. It’s very well rounded and not jagged at all. The sound effects are great too; the slashing and bubbling of toxins sound excellent and really fit in with the art style.
In conclusion, I really did enjoy Bonfire. It promised to be a challenging game and it most definitely kept its promise. It has a great variety of characters, strategy and tactics and provides hours of entertainment. It has found a way to ensure that you spend a lot of time coming up with the best way to do something without making it extremely repetitive and I respect it for that. The graphics and the sound in the game go together hand in hand and it’s a top notch indie game.
Story – 6/10
Gameplay – 9/10
Graphics – 8/10
Sound - 9/10
Overall Score - 8.5/10
(This post was last modified: 04-25-2013, 01:29 PM by iRosko.)
![[Image: RNzzR6k.png]](http://i.imgur.com/RNzzR6k.png)
![[+]](https://sinister.ly/images/modern/collapse_collapsed.png)
I did not know this game.