Happy Wars

Overview

Happy Wars is a free-to-play multiplayer action game developed by Toylogic and published by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 (via Xbox Live Arcade) on October 12, 2012. In a war between the light and dark kingdoms (caused by no good reason), each battle has two teams of fifteen knights trying to siege each other's castle by capturing spawn points and using special class-based powers (including special powers requiring multiple players).

By fighting in battles, players can earn new gear, granting them better weapons, shields, and armor (most of which can have unique buffs). Players also earn Happy Stars, which can also be used to upgrade the player's gear, modify buffs to the player's gear, or gamble in a wheel (to earn new gear). Players can also earn experience points and level up their overall stats, increasing their gear weight limit and allowing them to play new single-player campaign missions.

As a free-to-play game, the game also supports microtransactions in the form of Happy Tickets. Generally 10 msp ($0.125) per Ticket (and can only be purchased in 80 msp, 400 msp, and 1200 msp increments), players can use Tickets to buy special gear, special player customization options, and gear modifications (as an alternative to Happy Stars). While respawning, players can use a large amount of Happy Stars or Happy Tickets to add a major temporary buff (such as removing cooldowns on Skills).

The beta of the game was originally released alongside the beta to the Xbox 360 dashboard update for Fall 2012. The game has received a variety of special events and updates after release, adding new gear (including a collaboration with Castle Crashers) and game modes.

Gameplay

In Happy Wars, two teams of fifteen players (either humans or AI bots), face off with the goal of breaching each other's castle and taking down each other's "Big Tower". Players earn advantages by taking down each opponent, performing support actions, and capturing "Towers" as respawn points. Each player has the choice of playing as one of three classes:

• Warrior - Specialized in close-ranged combat, the Warrior has a powerful sword and shield (which can be held in defense while attacking, unlike the Cleric's shield). The Warrior has a variety of special attacks.

• Cleric - Specialized in support functions, the Cleric has basic close-ranged gear (including a mace and a shield). The Cleric provides various defensive magic to its allies (which includes healing, resurrecting, armor buffing, and speed buffing) and can provide materials to build special offensive and defensive objects (such as ballistas, ladders and battering rams).

• Mage - Specialized in ranged magic, the Mage is the only class that has ranged magic attacks. The Mage can also add elemental powers to its allies' weapons and can set elemental traps around the battlefield.

Players move their knight with the left stick and move the camera (around the knight) with the right stick. Continuously pressing the X button performs a melee attack and holding down the Right Trigger either deploys its shield (Warrior and Cleric) or peforms a ranged magic attack (Mage). Ranged magic attacks take up a certain part of the player's AP bar (which charged up over time).

Skills

Each class has a variety of Skills, each split up into three categories (based on the buttons that activate them): A Skill, B Skill, and Y Skill. The Y Skill is reserved for special Team Skills, which require other players to join in a specific formation. The effectiveness of the Team Skill is determined by how many players join. Players start with two-to-three random skills at Skill Level 1 and earn new skills by earning experience points. Up to five extra skills (chosen at random) can be earned (by leveling up to Skill Level 5). Each Skill has a cooldown timer and take up a certain part of the AP bar (which charges up over time).

For the Heal, Resurrect, Dash, Sacred Armor, Wind Enchant, Ice Enchant, Fire Enchant, and Lightning Enchant skills, pressing the specified skill button once activates the Toggle Mode. In Toggle Mode, the player is stationary and defenseless, and uses the left stick to choose which teammate (including him/herself) gets the receiving end of the Skill. Pressing the button again activates it. Pressing the X button in Toggle Mode cancels it.

Warrior

A Skill

• Smash - Knocks any unshielded enemies in front of the user away.
• Spinning Blade -
• Charged Attack -
• Rush -

B Skill

• Stone Throw - Throws a stone at the enemy. A weak long-ranged attack that stuns enemies (when hit from the back).
• Roar -
• Super Guard - Boosts the user's shield, allowing them to block more powerful attacks while blocking those behind them.
• Rocket Man -

Y Skill

• Cheer - Temporarily boosts the attacking power of all participating players.
• Group Rush - Automatically performs the Rush skill to all participating players.
• Iron Phalanx - Deploys shields to all participating players, granting them the Warrior's ability to attack while shielding. A circle appears around the user, boosting defense to all teammates inside the circle.

Cleric

A Skill

• Heal - Heals the selected player.
• Sanctuary - Casts a circle around the user that speeds up HP recovery of all players inside. Over time, the circle gets smaller and disappears.
• Resurrect - Revives the selected dead teammate.
• Dispel - Negates negative effects of all nearby players, disables enemy enchantments, and negates the effects of certain other enemy skills (such as Sanctuary and Sacred Armor).

B Skill

• Summon Materials - Summons materials (when used at certain points throughout the map) for certain objects. These include ballistas, cannons, ladders, and battering rams. If materials are left untouched after a certain amount of time, they disappear. Finished objects can be destroyed by attacking them.
• Sacred Armor - Grants a temporary armor buff to the selected player (which resembles a drink carton). All damage is negated until a certain amount of hits on the player.
• Dash - Grants a temporary speed boost to the selected player.
• Wall - Casts a long temporary stone wall to block access (which can be destroyed by attacks).

Y Skill

• Sacred Song - Temporarily increases the maximum HP, AP, and defense of all participating players.
• Happy Miracle - Resurrects all nearby dead teammates and temporarily transforms all nearby enemies into flowers (which cannot attack, block, or use skills, and is killed after one hit).
• Transport - Teleports all participants to an allied tower or castle of the user's choosing.

Mage

A Skill

• Wind Enchant - Grants a temporary wind enchantment to the weapon of the selected player. Normal melee attack staggers enemies backwards.
• Ice Enchant - Grants a temporary ice enchantment to the weapon of the selected player. Normal melee attack freezes enemies in place.
• Fire Enchant - Grants a temporary fire enchantment to the weapon of the selected player. Normal melee attack deals more damage.
• Lightning Enchant - Grants a temporary lightning enchantment to the weapon of the selected player. Normal melee attack slows enemies down.

B Skill

• Lightning Strike -
• Blizzard -
• Wind Trap -
• Magic Napalm -

Y Skill

• Lightning Arrows - All participating players launch a hail of magical arrows across a long distance. Each participating player controls the general direction of their arrows by their current direction. They are also immobile and defenseless while the hail is active.
• Meteor Storm - Drops meteors around the user for a short time, dealing massive damage to nearby enemies.
• Tornado - Creates a large, slow, controllable tornado that picks up nearby enemies and throws them around for an instant kill. All participating players are immobile and defenseless while the tornado is active (or until they get knocked back by an attack). The tornado's direction is determined by the direction the main user is facing (with little effect by the direction the participating teammates are facing).