Official game of the animated fantasy movie
Epic is the official game of the movie of the same name. It is a 3D city building game in which you need to nurture and protect the woodland home of the Jinn.
Is it just Ice Age Village in the forest?
The gameplay in Epic is very similar to other city building games such as The Simpsons: Tapped Out and Gameloft's own Ice Age Village. You have to build your very own version of the Jinn kingdom by planting special trees, constructing lodges and building training grounds and academies for your woodland villagers.
The idea of Epic is that you plant seed-producing flowers, then you transform the seeds into nectar by planting nectar springs. Seeds and nectar can be used as game currency to purchase new objects for your woodland village.
Everything you plant or construct in Epic takes some time to build, though you can avoid waiting around by spending Aura, which you acquire or can purchase in-app. It's feasible that you can build up your village without spending real money, but eventually that requires lots of waiting.
There's also a military angle to Epic, which helps to add some variety to the gameplay and lift it above the ranks of the average city building game. You are responsible for an army of leafmen, who you must train up and equip with weapons and spells in order to fight the insurging Boggans.
You can take part in battles against the Boggans, which are represented through a different game screen. Here, you decide which leafmen you want to use to best crush your opponents in battles which mix skill and strategy. Epic includes a multiplayer battle mode, where you can go head-to-head with other players.
Aside from the battle element to the game, there are some nice touches to Epic, which help to add some variety and interest. For example, there's a theater you can build where you can watch video content based around the Epic movie.
Is Epic easy to play?
The Epic game can be a little confusing if you've never played this type of game before. Be sure to pay attention to the helpful on-screen hints and tips that guide you through the early stages of the game, which explain how the production and harvesting system works, how to build, and how the battle system works.
Even with these hints, there's so much happening at once in Epic that it can be difficult to know what to do next. You should pay attention to the Tasks menu bar on the left of the screen, where you'll find current jobs that need to be perfomed. Following these is a good way to learn the game as you go.
How does it look?
The official Epic game makes good use of the license, with characters and visual assets from the movie used to good effect in the game. The overall landscape of the game looks beautiful and you'll wish your mobile device could swallow you in so you can live in the lush fantasy world.
You can pinch to zoom in and out of the world, which is handy for exploring exactly what is happening in your village. However, when zoomed right in the sprites often look a bit rough, especially on a larger screen device, and the animation of the characters is quite jerky with poor collision detection.
The verdict
The official game of Epic is an enjoyable city construction game with a battle mode which, though slightly rudimentary, adds an interesting dimension to the gameplay. If you're a fan of this type of strategy game and don't mind waiting around to level up and upgrade, you'll enjoy Epic.
