Few companies have been as success in the mobile market as Supercell. The makers of “Clash of Clans,” “Boom Beach” and “Brawl Stars” know how to make accessible games that hook players with a simple premise and turn them into obsessions.
For its 10th anniversary, Supercell wanted to do a mashup game. One that brings all their varied properties together in the same way Nintendo’s “Smash Bros.” has become a de facto crossover celebration for video games. The team had it all planned out for this ambitious game, but the only problem was that the sixth planned Supercell game “wasn’t fun enough, so we decided to kill that game,” CEO Ilkka Paananen said.
From the ashes of that failure, several key members of the team clung to the idea of a Supercell mashup. They just couldn’t let it go, and luckily enough, they found another idea that worked. That game became “Squad Busters,” and the sixth title from the studio is scheduled to launch worldwide May 29.
Supercell calls the project a party action game, where players build up their squad and take their characters through a journey across different worlds. Players build up their party by collecting coins, which unlock chests that help your squad grow and become more powerful. The goal is to collect the most gems by the end of the four-minute contest.
So where’s the competition? It’s nine other players who are also trying to do the same thing with their own squad configuration. Players can attack each other or avoid conflict and focus on collecting coins to unlock chests and power-ups. Be aware though that the more chests you open, the more coins it takes to unlock the next one. Nevertheless, there’s plenty of ways to tackle a mission and still find success.
In “Squad Busters,” 10 players compete for gems with the one gathering the most winning. (Supercell)
The actual mechanics of the game are simple, the developer said, as most of the action automatically takes place in a circle around the leader. The protagonist’s squadmates automatically attack and fulfill their roles in that area. The controls appear set up for two hands, but the developers said the control scheme is so easy that players can enjoy “Squad Busters” with one hand if need be.
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It sounds like the magic of the game comes from the elasticity of the competition. Supercell mentioned “Mario Kart” when designing the title. Players can be aggressive and skillful while wreaking havoc on competitors, but those who prefer to search for treasure may uncover the Mega Unit power-up. It’s essentially the Blue Shell of “Squad Busters,” and it’s capable of catapulting a last-place player to first in the middle of the session.
That kind of unpredictability makes the game both fun and competitive without being too vicious. The fact that lower-placed player have a higher chance at the Mega Unit also plays a role. Whatever the case, players are rewarded with resources in the form of chests. The better a player does the higher-level the reward chest becomes. That comes into play after the match because they help players evolve their squad in a style similar to “Pokemon.”
In “Squad Busters,” each unit starts off as a baby and players can evolve them by fusing their duplicates that they get from reward chests. When they evolve, they age up and become more powerful, helping out players more in a battle. In addition, evolution creates Portal Energy that’s used to unlock the other levels in “Squad Busters.”
With so many characters to collect across five franchises, the opportunities and combinations to build a squad is near endless. It’s also a hook that will keep players going as they unlock more content, including maps and new characters.
It sounds like a winning formula and one that could be a starting point for players just dabbling into the Supercell universe.