Hi-Rez Studios is best known for their console and PC games. Most notably their 3rd-person MOBA Smite is one of their biggest successes, though many may have the opinion it has seen better days. It would appear that Hi-Rez is no longer satisfied with the console and PC market, as they are now branching out into mobile gaming with the release of Paladins Strike. If the name sounds familiar, that is because they already have a hero shooter available for consoles and PC called Paladins: Champions of the Realm. This release simply takes the characters and lore from that title to create an offshoot game that is better suited for play on mobile.

You can expect 5v5 battles and a choice of more than 15 different characters. Combat, of course, takes place in real time, and you can easily join up with your friends to play through the escort mode Siege or call upon a mighty juggernaut in the Summons gameplay mode.

Like most MOBAs this plays from a top-down view. The controls use virtual analog sticks on the screen for both movement and shooting. So if you prefer tapping to move like in Vainglory, you will probably want to stick with that title. So far I have noticed a small amount of lag in the few matches I have played, but I'm in the US. Users in Asia are having a worse time with server lag. The Play Store is littered with complaints from that territory.

Now, this is a free-to-play release, so there are going to be plenty of in-app purchases that range up to $89.99. There are also 3 types of in-game currency that can be used to purchase a wide assortment of items including new champions, skins, consumables, and loot boxes. But like with most FTP games, only one of those currencies will consistently be earned through gameplay. So if you were hoping that this would be a reasonably monetized title similar to Hi-Rez's console and PC offerings, I'm sorry to say that this is not the case.

If you enjoy hero shooters or MOBAs, then Paladins Strike should be right up your alley. It comes from a well-known studio that knows how to make quality free-to-play games, though the monetization used can be a little off-putting thanks to the high prices and an ungodly amount of items available for purchase. At its core, the gameplay is still satisfying, so I guess that's all that really matters. What's one more MOBA on the pile anyway?