In a review of a different game that made use of barcode scanning, I talked about how I’ve always been enamored of the idea, but rarely found the games attached to the scanning to be of much merit. Well, I’ve finally found a pretty decent game that integrates barcode scanning. It’s called Code Of Arms (Free), and it’s basically like a simplified version of Dungelot ($0.99) fused with a card battler. If you enjoyed that game, you’ll probably enjoy this one even if the scanning mechanic does nothing for you. Best of all, it’s inexplicably free, without even so much as ads to support it.
As in Dungelot, you travel floor-by-floor through a grid-based dungeon, tapping away cells one at a time to reveal what’s inside them. There’s generally less to discover here compared to that game, with most cells containing either nothing at all or a monster. Tapping on a revealed monster takes you to a simple turn-based combat where all of your possible actions are represented by cards. After the battle, the enemy might drop the key you need to proceed to the next floor. There are no coins to collect or experience points to be gained from battle, so it’s generally best to find the key and get moving as soon as you can.
Without any sort of in-game character progression, the main way to upgrade your character’s capabilities is by building a better deck to draw from in battle. The cards in your deck are based on the equipment you’re wearing, with better gear offering more useful cards, and more of them, while weaker gear might offer a single ability that hurts you as much as it harms your enemy. The only way to get new gear is by scanning in barcodes, naturally. Each code you scan will generate a piece of equipment with a unique assortment of cards. Surprisingly, there’s no limit to how many codes you can scan, so you can just go hog-wild on every barcode you come across to put together a nice assortment of gear.
The battle system offers up a reasonably satisfying amount of depth. Each card requires a certain number of action points to be played, so you might not able to play all three cards in your hand on any given turn. There are plenty of effects spread among the different cards, lending a bit of extra strategy to the combat both in terms of your own options and enemy behaviors. Unless you are lucky enough to get the right combination of cards, you’ll usually come out of each battle down a few life points. Your goal is to simply get as far into the dungeon as you can before your life points are whittled down to zero.
Visually, the game is about on par with the original Dungelot. It’s no looker, but it is fairly cool how your character’s appearance changes to match each piece of gear you equip. The music doesn’t fit the game well, in my opinion, with a soft piano tune that made me feel sleepy as opposed to adventurous. The UI gets the job done, with most actions being quite intuitive and scanning being painless and quick. Though the game keeps track of your best scores, there’s no Game Center support for leaderboards or anything like that. You’ll have to compare with your friends the old fashioned way.
That’s really all there is to Code Of Arms. It doesn’t offer quite the same depth or replayability as Dungelot, but there is a learning curve to it that elevates it beyond most of the other games I’ve seen that make use of barcode scanning. At the end of the day, though, your success is heavily tied to randomly stumbling across useful gear by scanning codes. I also wish the game provided some sort of incentive to tempt you into fully exploring floors instead of darting for the exit as soon as the key is in hand, because right now it feels like there’s a little too much luck involved in doing well at the game.
With that said, Code Of Arms is a pretty enjoyable game. Unlike most other games built around a code-scanning mechanic, this one actually remembered to build a game worth playing around its gimmick. It could use a bit more meat on its bones, but it’s hard to complain when the core game is competent and completely free, with no strings attached. I hope this is just a starting point that this developer intends to build on in the future, but if not, I’m just happy to have a code-scanning game that offers entertainment beyond seeing what pops out of each UPC.
