Azur Lane

Artist Credit: 尾崎ドミノ. Image sourced from Arknights Fankit

This mini-review was originally posted as part of the article ‘Pass The Time With These Four Attention-Grabbing Smart Device Game‘

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My airship cannot be this cute, correct?

Serving as the source material for the 2020 action-strategy game Azur Lane: Crosswave which was published for the PlayStation 4 and PC by Idea Factory International earlier this year; Azur Lane is the side-scrolling shoot-em-up developed by Shanghai Manjuu and Xiamen Yongshi and published internationally by YO-STAR last year. The main appeal of this game is its hundreds of uniquely designed anthropomorphic ships, all featuring cute anime-style visuals, and surprisingly good lore which has been adapted into everything from anime adaptations to several manga and light novel series.

The gameplay is very pick-up-and-play, perfect for those who might wish to play something in small bursts or while catching a bus/train to work. You take control of a fleet of six ships – three in the front row and three in the back row; and go up against waves of enemies through the firing of barrage upon barrage of bullets (fired automatically) and missiles (fired manually). The front row enemies are the only ones you directly control, while the rear guard serve only to provide special moves – giving them very little screentime. Azur Lane has a solid tutorial in-place, and the gameplay while easy at first does increase in difficulty to a more comfortable level of challenge a few chapters in.

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As mentioned above, there are a lot of characters you can recruit through the game’s gacha system. These include your main front-row battlers which make up destroyers, light cruisers and heavy cruisers; and back-row support units. Many of the characters have Japanese voice acting, giving some life to their presence on the field. However, like many games of this nature, you can ultimately end up with a character you absolutely love the design of, but cannot practically use due to it being of low ranking and underpowered for mid/end game content.

This is not the only game of this particular niche available on the market, with Kantai Collection also featuring an anthropomorphic ship slant with regards to its characters. While both games have particularly strong lore and narratives; gameplay wise Azur Lane has the edge, especially with this being the only of the two officially available on the English market.

Whether you just want to sprawl out on a couch with your phone or need something to keep you occupied while travelling hours to work, games for smart devices are a great option. But it can be hard to choose a game which is both of quality and of interest to you. Helping make that decision a little bit easier, here are four of my recommendations of games for both iOS and Android platforms which offer hours of entertainment.

While not the most in-depth in terms of gameplay, Azur Lane is still a worthwhile consideration if you are hunting for a simple smart device game to enjoy.