The Banner Saga for iOS

Being a kid that grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, I was into video games in a big way. I remember spending entire weekends holed up in my Great Grandmother’s basement playing various games with my cousins.

Sports games were a lot of fun, often times brining uncles and older cousins into the action, but I had a fondness for role playing games. One of my favorites was Shining Force. It was drastically different from RPGs such as Final Fantasy because of the battle system. It wasn’t for everyone but I loved it.

Years later, when I got a Playstation for Christmas, I discovered Final Fantasy Tactics and it was similar to Shining Force in a lot of ways. I played that game so many times that it stopped working and I had to buy a second copy.

As the years went by I spent less and less time playing video games. Feeling a bit nostalgic one night, I started looking around for games like Shining Force and Final Fantasy Tactics for my iPad. This is when I came across The Banner Saga.

The concept of Vikings didn’t really do anything for me but with the game only costing a few dollars, I made the purchase and started playing. The battle system is everything that I hoped for but the remainder of the game was different. Kind of like the old Oregon Trail game for PC where you travel across the land making decisions that affected your voyage.

The more I played, the more I came to enjoy it. Then, to my surprise, the game ended and I was left in disbelief. My voyage lasted something like 120 Days (game-time) and my fighters weren’t all that built up.

Despite the fact that it felt way too short, the game was beautiful. The battle system was fun, the adventure aspect was cool, and the old-school graphics / artwork style was nostalgic. The only real gripe I had was that there were entirely too many loading screens.

I’d say I got my monies worth out of The Banner Saga and look forward to playing The Banner Saga 2 if / when it is released for iOS.