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Yup, this is my second post in a row about the games I'm playing with my son.  Since that's where most of my gaming time is devoted these days...I hope you'll understand :)

The game can be played in either single player campaign mode or in a multiplayer "capture the flag" style game of up to 15 players vs 15 players(or bots).  The objective is to take down a series of towers along the way to the enemy castle.  These towers serve as spawn points for the team that currently owns them, so you get to spawn closer to the enemy side as you make progress.

Ultimately you need to take down the gates to the enemy castle and then destroy the large tower inside.  But, there is always a Boss Monster there to make that difficult.  Players have the choice of either a Warrior, Cleric or Mage and can change that choice after each death.  I have only been playing as a Warrior and trying to level up and Kian tends to play as a cleric.  Each battle earns you Stars and experience toward increasing your character's ability to hold more equipment.

It's interesting to see the Free to Play model come to Xbox Live and so far I think Happy Wars has done an excellent job of hooking me and my son.  The game itself is free to download and play and even comes with 20 in game dollars that you would normally buy with real money.  This currency allows you to buy specific items for your characters while the Starts earned in game only let you play mini games for a chance at random stuff.  You can, however, use the Stars to upgrade the level of items you have.

The beauty is in the incentives they have created to play every day.  There is a monthly treasure map that you move one spot along each day that you log in.  Each day you receive Stars and there are also two item chests along the way as well as a special chest at the end.  There is also a group co-op challenge going on each month that has special rewards associated with it so that's what Kian and I tend to play.

There is a ton of equipment which improves the abilities and stats of your characters but also greatly improves their look.  The game is super cute and Kian is having an absolute blast with it.  We haven't yet spent any real money on the game but I likely will soon to support something that we are having so much fun with.  It's a really great game for short plays of 10 minutes or so, but you can also spend hours playing like we do.

Wait, there's a smartglass app for it?!  OK, I'll be downloading that today and reporting back how (or if) that fits into the gameplay experience.


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See other Co-Op w/ Kian posts