Vainglory iOS Review: Mini MOBA, Big Fun

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I recently played Vainglory, the latest iOS MOBA, at the offices of its rather brilliantly-named developer, Super Evil Megacorp. I and five other staff members sat around a table where we could play the 3 vs 3 action with all the back-and-forth chitchat and catcalling that goes along with that kind of situation. I walked away highly impressed, and thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game.

At home, playing online, the game offers a different, slightly lesser experience – but even so, this is one cracking MOBA. Especially considering it's running on an iOS device.

Looking every inch a PC game, Vainglory is a classic, single-level MOBA where the objective is to dominate the routes between your and your enemy's strongholds, take out the defensive positions along the way and ultimately destroy the opponent's base. Helping you along are up to two other characters, and of course an endless army of grunts, the number of which depends on the amount of resources you've captured during the game.

It's all very simple and straightforward in concept, but in the heat of battle, Vainglory delivers a typically subtle and complex MOBA back-and-forth, with participants able to swing the battle in their favor through shrewd tactical and strategic plays.

The game features eleven characters at launch that span five classes – Assassin, Mage, Warrior, Sniper, and Protector. Each character has his or her strengths and weaknesses, and of course, each class has its own distinct playstyle. They're not particularly well balanced, but that's ostensibly the rock-paper-scissors aspect of the game: characters might not necessarily gel as a great team, but perhaps against the opposition, they might have the edge. Or maybe the perfect, almost-overpowered team might come up against a trio whose one single combined strength might be enough to undo their opponent's tactical prowess. What it does make for is some interesting battles.

In typical MOBA style, characters are continually upgraded during the course of battle, and this aspect of the game is surprisingly rich. There are different paths of upgrades that can add powerful offensive or defensive powers to your character, or give them special movement capabilities.

One of the strengths of Vainglory is something that might sound like a weakness - the lack of immediate communication. Instructions can still be given, but they're Hearthstone-like – chosen from a preset menu of messages. It's limited, but for the most part it works well. The only time when it doesn't is in the midst of a complex battle where very specific instructions to your teammates would help, but the upside to that small downside is that it completely deep-sixes the kind of nerd-raging nonsense seen in other MOBAs. This is a real boon, and while I'm sure some players might be yelling in frustration over their iOS device at perceived co-player shortcomings, none of that ever gets through, other than perhaps overly-spammed communication giving some sense of urgency.

The best way to play the game is with local players. Like I said at the start – I did so with six players together, and that was really excellent fun. I've since played it with another local player, and one online player, and that was also a really satisfying experience.

Like many iOS games these days, Vainglory is free, but pays its developer's wages by charging for certain things - in this case, extra characters. There's a decent enough selection available in the try-before-you-buy version, and then you can pick and choose additional characters for a premium. It's not that expensive, and to be blunt, the game is of more than sufficient quality to justify buying into should the MOBA-oriented action be to your taste.

Vainglory is a rock solid MOBA that looks as good as any PC game equivalent. The game's list of characters is relatively small compared to the vast rosters of its competitors, but there's more than enough for players to get their teeth into. Ultimately, it's well worth one's time to play the free version to see whether or not the game is worth paying for - which I believe it most certainly is.