Teeny Titans

Teen Titans GO is one of the more divisive children's cartoons airing today. Some fans of the original Teen Titans series feel its a betrayal, because the original series ended prematurely while the comedic spinoff prospers.

If you can't cope with the mere existence of Teen Titans GO, this game might not be for you. In fact, they directly make fun of you in the game more than once!

Everyone else is in for a treat, because Teeny Titans is one of the best mobile RPGs around.

The presentation is immediately striking, from the fully animated intro to the game's graphical style itself. Interface elements are bold and colorful, standing out while not distracting from the gameplay. The game's art mimics the cartoon's vibrant colors and over-the-top animations perfectly without a single drop in framerate. The voice actors from the cartoon all reprise their roles, even for bit characters that only show up in a handful of episodes. It's like playing an episode of the cartoon.

Teeny Titans is set in a large town with a few distinct areas: a beach, upscale suburbs, and a shady, run-down district that is literally named Shady District. Much of your time in this RPG is spent in turn-based battles take place between small groups of characters, each of which have elemental abilities that interact like Rock-Paper-Scissors: Fighting beats Beast but is weak to Tech, Tech beats Fighting but is weak to Super, and so on.

That description probably sounds familiar if you've ever played a Pokemon game. The rock-paper-scissors element is similar, but the nuts and bolts of these battles are distinctly different than that handheld RPG.

Each team only consists of three figurines and there's no "not very effective" attacks, only Super Effective attacks that deal bonus damage. Most battles won't be won or lost based on bonus damage, as your team composition and planning is much more important.

Attacks are based on a timer, and you can only use a move when the bar reaches it. This starts off simple but becomes much more complex and satisfying later. Some attacks require a charge time after selected, and they can be interrupted by opponents. Some attacks can be stacked multiple times for added effect. Robin, for example, can buff his attack power as much as he wants. Suddenly his 3 damage Batarang can reach 15 damage and become a one-hit KO instead of an annoyance. But there are a handful of moves that can debuff damage, leading to a back-and-forth struggle over who will finally attack first. Learning the ins and outs of the timing system lets you manipulate it in your favor, letting you win battles against overleveled opponents.

Many of the game's characters are obsessed with collecting the figurines and the game encourages you to get in the collector's spirit as well. There are multiple shops across town that have different items to sell, and a huge amount of figurines with unique skills. They even encourage binge spending with limited-time sales, which pop up a timer and waypoint on your minimap. Stores are filled with multiple pegs full of figurines, and some of the most enjoyable bits in the game are knocking unwanted figurines off of the shelf to see what's behind them.

There are a lot of figurines, ranging from known DC characters to unexpected weirdos. Not only is there Nightwing, there's Dad Nightwing fussing with a small child. Not only is there Raven, there's Wonder Raven (Raven with Wonder Woman's powers for some reason) and Lady Legasus, her alter-ego who relies on kicks instead of magic. The battle system is enjoyable and frequently challenging, but catching the figurine-collecting fever and hunting them all down is satisfying.

The game's main story mostly involves winning tournaments, but there are plenty of diversions throughout the town. Every character you can speak to can be battled, and some have sidequests to give. Even if you aren't speaking to everyone, a good amount of quests get added to your log just by walking around. They range from simple fetch quests to absurd tasks like mailing in money for a "Nigerian Prince" scam, beating dogs in figurine battles and proving to the town tofu lover that you love tofu more than he does. They're rarely difficult to complete, but the game rewards you with some cash and figurines for your time.

There are a few annoyances the game that pop up during extended play. Robin frequently repeats his lines while walking around town, and you can only solve this issue by muting all voices in the game. The game has a warp system to get around town, but they're not in very convenient locations in regards to completing sidequests. And there's a day/night cycle in the game that is largely cosmetic, but can become a issue when completing story missions. Many story missions are locked to either day or night, and the only way to skip forward is to find a hotel and spend currency opening it. The day/night system was more of an annoyance than a way to see unique content.

Overall, these issues don't detract from the game much. The game has a superb difficulty curve that allows you to complete most battles even if you're underleveled by using clever strategies on the fly. The presentation is fantastic, with all of the bright colors and self-referential writing of the show translating to a game perfectly. There's plenty of content to keep coming back for, with lots of side missions and figurines to collect. And this is only the base version of the game, as the developers will soon add more missions and figurines in updates.

If you're a fan of Teen Titans GO, this is a must-have. If you're looking for a quality mobile RPG, this game is perfectly sized to fit whatever time you can put into it. There's short quests to knock out during a commute, and enough content to keep you in Jump Town for hours at a time.