Asian gamers rejoice, there’s finally a good MOBA for iPad

I can’t believe it’s taken this long for there to be a decent MOBA for iOS, but the wait has been totally worth it. Fates Forever is the first game by indie studio Hammer and Chisel, and if my spider-sense is right, you guys are going to love it. Fates Forever is a 3v3, two lane MOBA, containing a host of unique, wildlife-themed characters. You can play as everything from a twin-sword-wielding rhino to a snail who beats other characters to death with another snail!

[fve]http://youtu.be/5Qscs6ezrEE[/fve]

Fates Forever looks great and a huge amount of time has been spent making the characters and the vale of redemption are look great. Fates Forever looks better than League of Legends did when I played in an internet cafe last week! Kudos to the developer for pushing the platform to its limit.

Fates Forever has followed the League of Legends style of monetization, giving players only a handful of characters to play for free. The only problem is that there aren’t enough characters to pull this off successfully. You will sometimes find yourself fighting against a team that is a twin of your own, and the archer May, is always on every team. She is by far the best ranged character. You can also buy different armors, outfits and other cosmetic enhancements for your favorite characters.

Unfortunately, the size of the map also has its downsides. Being small is essential for the iPad, because it’s a mobile device and many gamers don’t want to sit down for a 45 minute gaming session. Smaller maps keep the action short and intense, which to be honest I kind of like. But jungling is almost impossible because the map is so small; you never really get away from the action. There’s also not enough cover in the jungle to hide you from enemy players using a shortcut. It’s a small complaint, but as a jungler, it was a bit of a let down.

(See: MOBA games dominate China’s internet cafes, and MMORPGs are dying)

That said, Fates Forever has an ace card that immediately won me over. The controls. That’s right an iPad-based MOBA with decent controls. The developer obviously put in a lot of effort making sure that controlling the action with only a few fingers is not a chore. Attacks are done by quickly tapping the area or the opponent you want to attack, or by drawing a line from your character to the enemy. You would be amazed at how accurate this feels, and how badass you feel taking down multiple enemies with only a few finger swipes. It also makes you feel pretty lousy when you’re on the other end of those fingers of death, but you can’t have everything.

But you can have a guitar playing bird!

Fates Forever is an ongoing project and the developer is already working on several new characters. Hammer and Chisel also has an active forum community, and promises to talk with fans directly about how they can improve.

This is a great game and it’s great to see someone taking the genre seriously on iPads, instead of just making cheap copies. So what are you waiting for? You can download Fates Forever for iPad here and don’t forget, it’s free!