Masters of Anima

 PC
Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. The Games Machine
    May 4, 2018
    74
    Masters of Anima allows us to control an army of minions to save our princess (and the rest of the world). The most difficult thing about the game is mastering the control system, and there's a notable - and irritating - separation between exploration and fights; nonetheless, the game is a solid and fun experience.
  2. CD-Action
    Jul 6, 2018
    70
    With its entertaining combat system, solid story and enjoyable puzzles Masters of Anima would’ve been excellent if it weren’t for small but irritating bugs and occasionally absurdly high difficulty level. [06/2018, p.62]
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  3. The Overpowered Noobs
    Apr 13, 2018
    60
    The genre-bending Masters of Anima is most compelling for its fusion of RTS and environmental puzzling, all of which is complemented by a richly simple art style. The gameplay, however, is as delectable as the storytelling is stale, causing Masters of Anima to feel more like a preview of something great than the actual thing itself.
  5. COGconnected
    Apr 10, 2018
    60
    This didn’t provide a particularly memorable or impressive experience, but it did keep me entertained. It leaves much to be desired in the way of a nice soundtrack and varying level design, but it achieves at least the most important element of gaming: fun.

User Reviews

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User Score
5.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 7
  3. Negative: 2 out of 7
  1. Lumabros
    Apr 15, 2018
    8
    Masters of Anima is set in a fantasy world where an epic battle between good and evil took place long ago with a group of sorcerers named theMasters of Anima is set in a fantasy world where an epic battle between good and evil took place long ago with a group of sorcerers named the Shapers striving to defeat the evil Mount Spark. You are Otto, an apprentice Shaper of Anima, who simply seek to marry your fiance, Ana. The problem is that she is the Supreme Shaper and has been taken captive by the evil Zahr. Zahr’s plan is to destroy all other shapers and free Mount Spark, bringing darkness to the land. After Zahr’s devastating attack on the Shapers you are the only able bodied warrior left, you must go on a quest to save Ana, who has been split into heart, mind and body.

    Gameplay
    The Gameplay consists of non-combat sections and combat sections that are spaced throughout a series of levels. The sections balance each other out and keep each other from becoming boring or tedious. Both of these sections revolve around creating and commanding minions called Guardians to achieve your goal.
    During the non-combat sections, you are solving puzzles and collecting upgrades as well as collectables. You summon Guardians to help you complete the puzzles and find secrets. As you progress through the story, more and more types of guardians are put at your disposal. There are a variety of guardians that each have unique abilities, such as archers who can hit distant targets and psychics who can create protective barriers. This keeps the gameplay from getting stale. It’s very fun to command several groups of your minions to do different things in order to complete a task at once, I just wish there were more instances in which this occurred. More commonly, you are just ordering one group of guardians to do something so you can proceed. This is still fun, just less so. One issue I had that wasn’t a bug was the archers, called Sentinels, firing at targets they did not have a clear path to hit, making them endless shoot into an obstacle such as a wall. Also, targeting things off the ground can be confusing as you must point to the ground they are over. Lastly, the direction in which you role does not follow the direction you are moving, it follows the direction in which your cursor is pointing. This may not sound like a big deal, but if you are in the middle of a battle and you are trying to simultaneously dodge enemy fire and order guardians, this can be the difference between taking damage or not. It is also just generally annoying for when you are trying to move around the map quickly. These annoyed me but are certainly not deal breakers and could be easily fixed/changed.
    During the combat sections, you are fighting Zahr’s minions. These consist of mini-boss fights. You command your guardians to attack the enemy while you try to keep yourself and your guardians alive. You can use the terrain to your advantage by buffing your guardians. You have to be careful though, because the enemy may destroy the terrain while attacking. This is a great feature as it adds another layer of strategy to the game. Each combat section ends by giving you a grade on how well you did. I liked this, because it encouraged me to do better, even if I won the battle.
    At the end of each level, you can upgrade yourself as well as your guardians. This is nice as it allows you to customize your play style by upgrading the units you use the most.
    Overall, the gameplay is fun and engaging.

    Graphics/Artworks
    The art style really appeals to me. It's not the 16-bit pixel art, and it’s not the high definition realistic art of triple-A titles, it boasts a unique style. There’s not much else to say here. I just really liked it.

    Performance
    The game performs quite well on my gaming computer. The resolution was good and the framerate was always high. Over the course of my playtime I encountered only two very minor bugs. Both of these involved guardians in places where they shouldn't have been, but didn’t really take away from the experience.

    Overall
    Overall I really enjoyed Masters of Anima. The graphics, story, and voice acting really took me in to the fantasy settings. The core mechanic of commanding guardians is executed well and is very fun. The practice of commanding minions to do your bidding may seem similar to pikmin, but I think there is enough other mechanics that really make this game quite unique. There are only a few, easy to fix bugs. I give Masters of Anima an 8/10. It doesn’t completely knock my socks off, but it is a very strong and enjoyable game.    … Full Review »
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