Cute is a commodity. Every third game features a bevy of characters full of saccharine appeal, and DeviantArt is wall-to-wall with the wide-eyed cast of an otaku's wildest dream. To stand out today, a game has to do more, and Hero Academy performs admirably with a cast of distinctively designed characters. The three "teams" available for play in the game come with five characters and assorted articles that really convey a mood and betray the design team's labor of love. Nifty animations during battle help amplify that mood, such as the boot that kicks out new equipment once you've completed your turn. Accompanying sound effects add yet another layer. Although you may tire of the sound of your opponent "thwacking" you during battle, Hero Academy is a pretty rich tableau from a sound design standpoint. We especially liked the fact that there is a sound effect associated with almost every action in the game. It's a reward for interaction and a reason to keep the volume up, compared to games where you tire of the repetition and end up playing against a backdrop of your own music.

Beyond the basic presentation, you can customize your teams with avatars, available as an in-app purchase, modify your team's color palette, and buy "taunts" you can submit to your opponent during an especially damaging round. All these options explain partly how Hero Academy manages to be a free download, and they wouldn't be worth a darn if the gameplay wasn't spot-on.

More turn-based games have been popping up lately on mobile devices, and we're excited to see this trend. It's unintuitive in some ways, because at the outset, we probably assumed being mobile meant being "in the moment" and real-time. The reality now is that we do a lot on our mobile devices and there's plenty of competition during the day for a player's time. Introducing games that have an asynchronous component is perfectly suited to these busy folks who need the flexibility to wait one hour or one day between turns. Hero Academy is a simple enough game, where the goal is to destroy your opponent's crystals, representing a pool of health points. First to have his health points depleted is the loser. You play on a board where characters move from square to square, in a style similar to Checkers or Chess.

The Chess analogy is probably more apt, since each character has unique abilities that can be enhanced with items, spells, etc. Each turn includes a finite number of moves, and there's also a finite number of units you'll be able to kit out before battling to the bitter end. These are strategic decisions you'll learn to make, as you learn each team's strength and weakness. The basic flow of the game is solid, but we found a few things lacking. There's no sense of online presence, to tell you whether an opponent is playing the game and ready for a real-time battle. You can always count on notifications and alerts to let you know when its your turn, but some kind of indicator right inside the game would have made it stickier. We also found the game discovery mechanic a bit lopsided. There appears to be a bias toward social media, and challenging your friends or followers on Facebook and Twitter. This works fine, but some form of an online lobby is needed, along with a way to gauge the relative skill of your opponent.

Crushing defeats don't exactly encourage a newbie to keep playing, so smarter matching is definitely a must-have enhancement. Teams like Dark Elves, available as an in-app purchase/expansion are better suited toward more advanced players who can think about the long-term strategy, since they have some inherent vulnerability compared to the Council or Dwarves team. Dwarves excel in ranged combat, making them a good team for players who like to focus on defense. The basic strategy of Hero Academy is illustrated in the game's Training Mode, but there are many nuances you won't get by watching a simple overview of the mechanics. Thankfully, Robot Entertainment threw in several ways to get smart about more advanced strategies, including links to their website, where you can find newly updated information, tips, and tricks. Hero Academy suffers from a feeling of randomness, until you really understand how to position characters throughout the field of play. Leveling and using items also plays a big role in creating an indomitable force. One of the best features of the game is the "reset" button that lets you reclaim your action points and try a different combination. This allows you to test different actions and find the one most damaging to your opponent.

Testing moves from one turn to another is fine and well, but you must have a larger strategy in order to win. The board is filled with special squares that boost offense or defense, not just for one player, but for your entire team. Special items can give a huge strength or defense boost, and spells can revive fallen characters who haven't been entirely banished from the field of play. There's a helpful "?" button prominently displayed on the screen, that lets you investigate each item, see your characters' vital stats, and plan out exactly how to achieve the most bang for your buck. You can spend your action points on moving characters, outfitting them, or exchange items that don't suit your strategy with those you can use. Everything is accomplished with simple tap mechanics, keeping the controls simple. The interface is pretty stripped down, so there aren't many menus to worry about, unless you're into reading documentation or stepping through some of the customization screens.

Turn-based games definitely deserve a place on your iPhone or iPad, especially for busy people who can't commit more than a few minutes here and there to play. Since Hero Academy is a universal app, it displays quite nicely on an iPad, by the way. The basic mechanics, concept and presentation of Hero Academy are spot-on, but the online matching system is not on par with the rest of the material. There's also a need for a more interactive tutorial, perhaps in the form of a Single-Player Story or Campaign Mode? Right now, you've got a fun distraction for two players, with room to expand and plenty of potential.