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Trouserheart is a hack-and-slash game with a charming feel to it. Players control the lionhearted king as he journeys across the lands, searching for his stolen pants. Help him find his trousers and take back his honor. Just watch out for thieves. They will steal the crown right off of your head.
At the beginning of the game, an annoying little monster sneaks into the King’s chambers and steals his pants right off of him. Now, the game is afoot. Don’t try chasing after the shifty creature. Instead, practice our hacking and slashing skills on a variety of monsters as you fight your way to different castles, looking for your pants.
Players control the king’s movements using a virtual joystick on the lower left side of the screen. If you prefer, you can switch to floating controls by tapping the Pause button and selecting “Floating Controls.” This means, instead of a virtual joystick, you will control the king by touching anywhere on the screen in the direction you want him to go. Personally, I found the floating controls to be awkward and difficult to master. The joystick controller is very loose, but works better than the alternative.
To attack, tap the sword button on the lower right side of the screen. The king can only perform one kind of attack. So, you won’t be trying to figure out any combos or weapon switching. You can’t even manually block. Although the king will do so automatically sometimes when he has his shield.
Start the adventure by exiting the castle room. When you enter a new level, you will be faced with numerous monsters and unique characters. Each new monster has a different ability that you must learn to avoid. For example, one monster conjures fireballs and throws them at you. Another monster drops boulders from the sky that you must avoid.
In addition to meeting monsters in each section of a level, there are numerous treasures to find. The only thing you will be able to loot is gold, health, and gems. However, gold and health are very important for your success. Gold is used to upgrade your armor and health, well… it keeps you from dying. I couldn’t figure out what the gems were used for.
When you select a castle to invade, you will travel from room to room, killing all monsters and looting any goodies. Some rooms will have special items in them. For example, one room features a box filled with bombs. If you manage to slash a bomb into a gold-filled rock, you will destroy the rock and collect the gold. In another room, there are three interchangeable blocks that you match up by stepping on them. If you match them with “Xs,” monsters will appear. If you match them with “Os,” gold will appear. If you match them with the swirl, hearts will appear.
At the middle of each level is a special fire room. This is a save room. If you die after getting through the fire room, you won’t have to start from the beginning. You will start from the save room instead. The save room will also drop a health barrel after you’ve killed all of the monsters. You can fill your health meter to its fullest before moving on.
The last room of each level features a boss. These monsters can be as easy to kill as a few, well-timed attacks, or so difficult that you die trying. If you die while fighting a boss, you won’t have to start from the beginning. You will respawn right in the same room.
When you have completed a level, the door you walk through will take you back to your chambers. In your chambers, you can use the health barrel to replenish your health, check your Game Center stats, and upgrade your weapons and armor. The gold you’ve looting during your adventure is used to turn a simple wooden sword into a shiny broadsword. You will also get better armor, a stronger shield, and more hearts for increased health.
After you’ve upgraded, head out to the next castle to see if your pants are waiting for you at the end.
The game is playable in three different modes of difficulty, casual, hard, and perma-death. Casual can seem too easy at first, but it gets more difficult once you are in the third segment of the game. Hard mode is definitely harder, but not unplayable. I have not yet tried perma-death.
What I Like: I like how simple this game is. It doesn’t require much from you. In casual mode, you won’t be faced with much challenge until you fight the bosses. Then, you will have to work a little. To get a bigger bang for your buck, you can replay it in all three difficulty modes.
What I Didn’t Like: The movement controls are a little loose. I found myself “stretching” the virtual joystick around in order to get the king to move where I wanted him to go.
I also found that this game gets a bit repetitive after a while. You don’t find any special items or loot anything other than gold, gems, and hearts. I’d like to see a little variety in the swag. Maybe players could win a new crown when they beat a boss or something.
To Buy or Not to Buy: The game costs $2.99. It isn’t very long, but the price is reflective of what you get. It seems like a very simple game, but you can increase the difficulty for a more exciting experience. If you are a fan of simple hack-and-slash games, you will enjoy this one.
Name: Trouserheart
Version Reviewed: 1.0.1
Category: Games
Developer: 10tons Ltd
Price: $2.99
Score: 
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