Happy Wars

Happy Wars is the first free-to-play multiplayer online Xbox Live Arcade game for the Xbox 360. It was developed by Toylogic. The game was released on October 12, 2012 as a free download for Xbox Live Gold members through the Xbox Live Marketplace. An Xbox One version was released on April 24, 2015.

Gameplay
Happy Wars is a multiplayer online game, defined as a role-playing strategy game, although it also has a short story-driven single player campaign mode. The multiplayer mode consists of two teams of up to 15 players attempting to destroy the other team's castle while also defending their own.

As of September 3, 2014, it was Gold account online only, But due to recent updates, the game now accepts regular [Xbox Live] members as well.

The players choose from one of three classes: the warrior, the mage, and the cleric. There are also subclasses, although the only ones implemented at the moment are the Warrior-type Berserker, the Mage-type Zephyr, and the Cleric-type Engineer. Each class has a base attack and other unique abilities that are available as the player gains new levels. Each class also has a unique "Team Skill", where players can gather teammates together to allow the casting player to use more powerful skills. The more players that aid in the use of the team skill, the more powerful the ability becomes.

The game also has items that can be purchased either through playing the game or through microtransactions that allow in-game items to be purchased with Microsoft Points. There are items in Happy Wars that can only be purchased with Microsoft Points. They are usually powerful items that can allow players to get a head start in the game. The developers have announced plans to release new maps and items "every 1-2 months".

In March 2018, Microsoft announced that they're closing Xbox 360 and Windows 10 servers in December 2018 and will continue working on the game for Xbox One.

Reception
Happy Wars has received mixed reviews from critics. It has an aggregate score of 63.75% on GameRankings and 61/100 on Metacritic. IGN cited lack of players as a concern with the game and that "Happy Wars went too far in the direction of accessibility with its few classes, lack of distinctive weaponry, and simple game modes." Official Xbox Magazine compared the game to Awesomenauts, but noted that players who pay for additional content appear to have an advantage over other players.

Jason Venter of GameSpot said that the game was "difficult to recommend because of the game's matchmaking and connection issues." A content update was released in November that attempted to fix the connection issues and other small game fixes.