by Any early gripes about the App Store being a destination solely for casual gaming were pretty well silenced with the release of the original Infinity Blade, which delivered a rich, rewarding, and utterly gorgeous combat experience without trying to shoehorn a console-style affair onto a touch screen device. Infinity Blade II nicely expanded upon the concept with additional weapon types and branching paths to explore, while digging a little deeper into the narrative surrounding the adventure.
Launching alongside a couple of other juggernaut releases — the iPhone 5s and iOS 7 — Infinity Blade III concludes the trilogy in expectedly slick fashion. The single-player quest trumps its predecessor as the best-looking iOS game to date, with fantastic detail throughout the environments and an array of wide, swooping camera shots to create the sense of an epic scale on even a small iPhone screen. And while the combat remains reliably enjoyable, the grinding nature of the series’ campaign approach makes this third entry feel a bit more tiresome amidst the overall triumph.
It’s somewhat surprising, because on the surface, Infinity Blade III injects a bit more variety into the adventure than the series has in the past. You’ll control a pair of fighters, Siris and Isa, in separate, smaller, self-contained series of battles that you’ll access from a map screen as the storyline progresses. While several other iOS games have copied Infinity Blade’s combat system wholesale, the original combat system remains the most fluid and refined of the bunch, and Infinity Blade III’s swipe and tap-based duels feel responsive, challenging, and intuitive on the touch screen. It remains one of the best examples of touch screen-centric gaming after all this time, and the constant pursuit of leveling up your character and amassing new gear still proves a strong hook.
But despite a mix of side events like Clash Mob social missions, solo combat trials, and crafting potions to spice up the action, the smaller campaign arcs can prove grueling when the inconsistent difficulty puts you up against a brick wall of a boss. You’ll be forced to repeat the same series of fights again and again along the linear paths to earn enough experience to move forward, and we miss the more open areas of the previous entry. Moreover, splitting the action between two characters slightly lessens the attachment you have to your customizable hero. Add to that unclear storytelling that assumes you’re a scholar of series lore (including the Infinity Blade novellas), and the game loses its grip on players from time to time.
Outside of those occasional exasperating moments, however, Infinity Blade III still demonstrates the great pull that made the series the iOS smash it is today, with brilliant refinement seen throughout. Like its predecessors, it’s the rare game that delivers both quick-hit action and opportunity for long-term investment — but if you’re not already deeply entrenched in the franchise, the latest entry isn’t the best place to start.
The bottom line. Infinity Blade III caps off the epic franchise in a largely dazzling manner, though the repetitive nature of the series resonates more strongly than ever.
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