Backstab

Backstab is a narrative-driven action-adventure game packed with a wide array of main and side quests. As you follow the story, you will uncover the events that shattered the protagonist’s life and witness his entire journey of revenge. Throughout the game, you will engage in combat against various naval foes using an assortment of melee and ranged weapons; by skillfully dodging attacks and hitting the correct on-screen prompts at the right moments, you can defeat your opponents and earn generous rewards. Each setting in the game features a meticulously crafted, unique musical score, perfectly tailored to the unfolding narrative to keep players deeply immersed in the experience.

Gameplay of Backstab:

The first few levels are a little rigid in their structure. You are given quests that you need to complete to exact your revenge. Without giving too much of the plot away, this direct path ceases to exist once you make your escape from prison. From here on out, you have the option of picking side quests and roaming across a number of different lands. While I found the first few levels limited, they really pushed the narrative forward and project you into the exploratory nature of the latter part of the game. As I said, the earlier levels have a clear path for you to follow, but they still utilised some explorative elements in order to navigate through them. Much of the work Blake needs to do is best kept to the shadows. Attempting to take down an entire naval force single-handed is no easy task, and drawing attention is a luxury both you and Blake can do without. In order to make your way through the dangerous world, you will need to scale countless numbers of walls and jump from roof to roof. While a few of the scalable walls are a pain to make your way across or over, it really adds to the sense of adventure of the game as a whole. For the moments when you simply cannot avoid conflict, Gameloft have provided some truly impressive combat.

The 18th century was a pretty rough time, especially in the Caribbean. At least I assume it was I’m basing the majority of this opinion on watching Pirates of Caribbean. Despite my historical inaccuracy, Gameloft have captured my expectations of 18th century Caribbean life with some impressive, and often gruesome in-game combat. Your trusty weapon for the most part will be a sword, which varies in type and strength the further your process. This isn’t the only weapon you’ll pick up along the way though. No renegade naval officer would be complete without a trusty pistol. The pistol can be utilised, as a weapon out of combat for some sneak attacks, however the loading time is rather slow depending on the quality of your weapon. As well as this, the pistol also comes into play in combination attacks while you are crossing blades with enemies. While pressing the aptly labelled sword button, you will wield your blade wildly, striking enemies who dare to cross your path. But if you still want a bit more of a bang in your attack, pressing the button labelled with a skull that appears during combat will bring your pistol into the mix for a final deathblow. The combat is an integral part of the game, one that Gameloft have done extremely well in this title. So well in fact, that I will be mentioning it again in this review.

Features of Backstab:

Massive Open-World Exploration: Traverse a beautiful, sprawling 18th-century island filled with bustling cities, hidden coves, and dangerous wilderness.

Dynamic Combat System: Engage in visceral, combo-based fighting. Use a variety of weapons and lethal execution moves to dispatch your foes in cinematic fashion.

Fluid Parkour & Traversal: Move like a shadow. Utilize a high-speed movement system that allows you to climb buildings, leap across rooftops, and surprise enemies from above.

Engaging Storyline: Experience a gripping narrative of revenge and redemption with professional voice acting and high-quality cutscenes that rival handheld console titles.

Varied Mission Design: From high-stakes stealth assassinations to full-scale naval skirmishes and chaotic street brawls, the gameplay remains fresh and challenging.

Stunning 3D Graphics: Witness high-resolution textures, realistic lighting, and detailed character models that push the limits of mobile hardware.

Player Comments of Backstab:

Playing like a more action-orientated version of Assassin’s Creed with the occasional nod to Uncharted and Prince of Persia, BackStab splits its gameplay down the middle, with half the game spent roaming a variety of open-world levels and the other devoted to running through linear missions.

These missions are usually multi-part affairs set somewhere in the islands and cities that make up BackStab’s world. They often involve taking in a spot of parkour and then a few fights with the British/Spanish soldiers and an almost inevitable cannon-based setpiece.

Controlling Blake is done via both the touchscreen and the Play’s physical buttons, with the latter the clear winner in terms of user friendliness.

That's not to say there aren’t faults with the physical controls. Riding a horse is bafflingly hard - with the steed prone to stopping, starting, then stopping again for no discernible reason mid-run

The fact that Blake is controlled from the camera’s perspective rather than character's may work well on touchscreen, but it feels odd with physical buttons, leading to incidents where Blake will absent-mindedly throw himself off a ledge to his death when first starting out.

Still, these occasional moments of idiocy are made less troublesome thanks to the excellent checkpointing. The gorgeous graphics also take the sting out.

While the character models do look blocky and relatively basic, the textures and design of the world around them - complete with real-time day/night cycle and long draw-distance - are a feast for the eyes.

Most of the locations you visit - including shanty towns, windswept islands, and reinforced forts, among others - are fully explorable, with sub-missions and secret treasures hidden away from the beaten path for intrepid souls to discover.

Even Gameloft’s trademark naggy waypoint marker is a lot less strict this time around, which is a relief for us who don’t like being told which foot to place down next.

Conclusion:

Backstab suits players who want a story focused mobile action experience with room to explore at their own pace. It centers on movement, timing and clear objectives, making it easy to jump in and progress between sessions. You can play in short bursts during a commute or settle in for longer runs at home, and the flow remains consistent.