HeroClix gets a TabApp, combining physical figures with digital gameplay

HeroClix is an official superhero collectible figure game that's been around for a while -- I remember the thing first starting to get popular when I was a kid. The company has just released a tie-in app for the iPad called the TabApp, and it sounds very interesting. You can supposedly use the app to unlock special maps and scenarios figures, plus there's a game to play that's tied in to the collectible game.

HeroClix fans should give it a download. Unfortunately, for the rest of us, it sounds like the app is disappointing. While there is a little interaction with the figures (you need to place one on the screen at a certain point), it's not like this is a full version of the collectible game, and the app won't do things like animate your own figures. There's one review on the app right now, and it's pretty devastating: Apparently the game has nothing to do with the figures you own, and the feature where you place your HeroClix figure on the iPad is nothing but a button.

That's a shame. I'm intrigued by the possibilities of the interaction between established physical games and iOS releases, and an app that really took advantage of the large HeroClix universe would be really cool. It could be that Wizards of the Coast doesn't want to cannibalize the existing figures game, but the Magic app was finally released and that seems to have done well, so maybe the company will reconsider in the future.