Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Zenonia S: Rifts In Time - Free Android Game Review

Free Android Game Review - Zenonia S: Rifts in Time is an online action RPG on mobile devices with anime-inspired graphics, fast-paced action combat, many stages to fight through, 5 different classes, asynchronous PVP, and co-op Boss Raids. Zenonia S is the sixth installment in the Zenonia series with a focus on online features.


Publisher: GAMEVIL

Playerbase: High

Type: Mobile RPG

Release Date: November 3, 2015

Pros: +Cute graphics. +Action combat. +Easy to pick up and play. +Co-op Boss Raids.

Cons: -Repetitive gameplay. –Some pay-to-win aspects.





Zenonia S: Rifts in Time Overview
Zenonia S: Rifts in Time is a 2D hack-and-slash action RPG developed by GAMEVIL, the popular publisher behind Kritika: The White Knights and Dragon Blaze. Choose one of 5 unique classes and experience an engaging storyline as you fight for justice in the Celestial Kingdom. Defeat foes in familiar 2D action combat, a trademark of the Zenonia series. Battle through 9 different realms in the Story mode or team up with players around the world to take down powerful bosses in Boss Raid. Test your skills in the Fairy Tower and Monster Wave modes and earn great rewards. Collect hundreds of pieces of equipment, customize your stat and skill build, and enhance your equipment to make them more powerful. Join the online world of Zenonia today.
Zenonia S: Rifts in Time Features:
  • Stage-based Levels – Fight through hundreds of stages with many different environments, monsters, and bosses.
  • Cute 2D Graphics – Immerse yourself with cute chibi graphics and varied environments containing both adorable and frightening monsters and bosses.
  • Fluid, Action Combat – Defeat hundreds of different monsters and bosses with smooth, hack-and-slash combat with the ability to dash and use skills.
  • Five Classes to Choose From – Play as a Slasher, Ranger, Fighter, Magician, or Assassin who all vary in combat, abilities, and playstyle.
  • Story and Questing – Experience a storyline full of character dialogue with interesting NPCs and character development embedded into the game’s questing system.
  • PVP, Co-op, and Additional Modes – Compete against other players in asynchronous battles in the Arena, take down powerful bosses in 4-player Boss Raids, or survive in the Fairy Tower and Monster Wave modes.
Download This Free Game : 



DOWNLOAD
 
 
 
Zenonia S: Rifts in Time Review
Zenonia S: Rifts in Time is a free-to-play, 2D online action RPG developed and published by GAMEVIL, the mobile game developer behind the popular Zenonia game series as well as several esteemed mobile games including Kritika: The White Knights and Dragon Blaze. Zenonia S was first released in Korea under the name 제노니아 온라인 for Kakao in 2013 and after several months of closed beta testing in early 2015, the global version was finally released on November 3, 2015 and gathered almost 500,000 downloads one week after its release, making it one of the fastest growing mobile games. Unlike the previous Zenonia games, however, Zenonia S is an online game rather than a single-player game. It trades its free roam exploration and captivating storylines for stage-based combat, online co-op, and PVP. While the game features a solid combat system and active, online community, the changes in its core gameplay turns it into just another generic Korean RPG in the mobile marketplace.



Character Creation and Classes
When players begin, they can choose between one of five classes: Slasher, Ranger, Fighter, Magician, and Assassin. Players of the previous Zenonia games will recognize the characters behind each class although the story is completely different. Slashers are two-handed sword wielding warriors balanced in attack and defense, Rangers are dual pistol-wielding gunners with quick, long ranged attacks but low defense and difficult skill control, Fighters are close-ranged brawlers with the highest health and defense but lowest attack, Magicians are long ranged sorcerers with powerful AOE spells but low defense and survivability, and Assassins are stealthy rogues armed with chain scythes and poison abilities with high damage but low survivability. Each class has unique playstyles, abilities, and builds (via equipment, stats, and skills) and some are recommended only for intermediate and advanced players. All classes are useful in battle and undergo the same story and quests as each other. The large number of classes makes for great replay value and variety in the co-op mode.



A Stage-Based Zenonia
The Zenonia series (prior to Zenonia S) were most known and praised for creating captivating single-player experiences with a storyline and semi-open world to explore. Zenonia S, however, went in a different direction, and the open world was replaced by multiple instanced stages spread out upon several maps, much like in most other mobile RPGs. There is a persistent town where players can run around and look through their menus such as inventory, skills, and more, but otherwise, seeing other players in town doesn’t really serve any purpose. The various stages are all instanced and can only be solo’d, so although the game was meant to be online, players cannot play through the main campaign with others. This is unfortunate because the Korean version of Zenonia S actually has co-op for every stage in the game, but it was removed in the global version. There are, however, Boss Raids that players can play co-op with others in, which will be discussed later in this review.



Each map (currently 9 maps total) has 10 stages and each stage consists of 3 zones, with a boss battle in the third zone. Each zone is full of monsters running around and players must defeat all the monsters in each zone in order to move onto the next zone. Although each stage is fairly short, lasting from 2-5 minutes, each zone still has a decent amount of monsters to fight and the boss battle will takes up a good amount of time. Each stage has a unique boss with special attacks and abilities, and a ton of health. The boss is also surrounded by several monsters looking to get in the player’s way. The boss battles are fairly interesting and get a lot more difficult later on, although they can also be very annoying due to a game mechanic that causes bosses to constantly run away from players which prolongs the battle. Like most Korean mobile RPGs, Zenonia S also has an “Auto” feature that allows players’ characters to automatically attack and play though the levels on their own which helps speed up the grinding and farming process at the price of losing player interaction.



2D Action Combat
Zenonia S features hack-and-slash action combat similar to that of the previous Zenonia titles. Players have an overhead view of their character and can move around with a virtual joystick and attack by either tapping or holding onto the action button. There are also skills to use, which have to be used strategically because mana runs out quickly and does not replenish on its own. Players can also dash by double tapping a certain direction (with no cooldown) which is useful for dodging enemy attacks and skills. Players can attack multiple enemies at once if the enemies are within the attack range and although attacks knock enemies slightly back, they can still attack the player while they are getting hit, meaning they cannot be stun-locked. Bosses cannot be knocked back at all, although bosses do not actually attack much other than to unleash skills every now and then. Overall, the combat is very fluid and action-oriented but can get fairly repetitive since each stage is very similar and there isn’t much variation in combat strategies. There is also, of course, the “Auto” feature which not only allows the game to play itself, but also speeds up the game which helps to battle and fuel the repetitiveness at the same time.



Questing and Story
Zenonia S features a lengthy storyline embedded into its questing system. There is essentially a quest for every stage in the game that involves character dialogue before and after its completion. The dialogue is usually short and conversational, but is somewhat interesting and humorous with a main plot revolving around character development and evil plots against the Celestial Kingdom. The player’s character starts off as selfish and arrogant foreigner who gradually evolves into a noble hero which really adds a sense of emotional connection to the game. The quests, however, are mainly fetch quests that involve killing a certain number of monsters or collecting items in the various stages. Although the story is somewhat interesting, it is isn’t nearly as good as the storylines in the previous Zenonia titles (Zenonia 1-5) but it is better than nothing at all.



Enter the Arena
Zenonia’s PVP system takes place in the Arena where players can fight against other players online in asynchronous combat (opponents are AI-controlled). Players do have full control over their characters in battle, although the “Auto” combat option can be used, which is sometimes more efficient than manually controlling the battle themselves. However, the PVP is not very balanced in terms of match-making and players are given a choice of three opponents to face at random. Players rise in the rankings when they win and the rewards are based on the player’s ranking at the end of the season. The rewards vary for the rankings “Top 0.1%, 0.5%, 1%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 50%, and Bottom 50%” with better rewards at the higher positions. It’s a slightly odd system since players have to wait a long time before they receive their PVP rewards but the ranking system offers a competitive aspect to the game.



Boss Raids, Fairy Tower, and Monster Wave
In addition to the main Story mode, there are three additional modes which include Boss Raids, Fairy Tower, and Monster Wave. Boss Raid is a co-op Boss battle mode and is probably the most fun mode in the game. Boss Raid features a large variety of powerful bosses to fight against (for different levels) and players can team up with 3 other players online to take them down. Players can choose to invite friends or auto-party with strangers and then work together to take down a powerful boss which can give great rewards such as rare equipment and Stones (for equipment socketing). Unfortunately, players can only participate in Raids for a limited amount of times each day and it is the only co-op mode in the game. Fairy Tower is a survival mode in which players fight through floors of a tower with increasingly difficult enemies on each floor. Players can obtain better rewards the higher they go and tower progression is limited by player’s level and equipment. Last, Monster Wave is similar to Fairy Tower except instead of advancing up floors, players have to hold their ground against endlessly spawning enemies to see how long they can survive. All three modes can only be attempted a limited amount of times each day and each of them give out gold, experience, and useful materials.



Cash Shop/In-App Purchases (IAP)
The in-app purchases in Zenonis S are largely based off of the well-known Gacha system seen in many mobile RPGs. With Zen (premium currency), players can summon random weapons, armor, and accessories between ranks B-S (with a guaranteed A rank item if they summon 10 at once), random Stones between the ranks B-S (with the same bonus for summoning 10), Avatar costumes that provide minor stat boosts, in-game gold, and random Fairies between the ranks B-S. With in-game gold, players can only summon equipment, Gems, and Fairies between the ranks of D-B. Players can also purchase energy and stage revives with Zen. Additionally, there is a VIP system with multiple tiers for purchasing Zen which gives free in-game gold, free summons per day, and more energy for stages and PVP. Overall, the in-app purchases offer advantages to paying players largely due to better equipment, but players can still obtain the best equipment via enhancing and “tiering up” which requires a lot of farming but can be done without spending any cash. The in-app purchases will, however, offer quick advantages to help players dominate in both the Story stages and PVP.



Final Verdict – Good
Zenonia S is a decent but unfortunately generic online mobile RPG with action combat, cute graphics, and stage-based progression. The series trades away its trademark free-roaming and engaging story-telling for a more casual experience with online aspects that will appeal to hardcore Zenonia fans and casual players but ultimately takes a step backwards from the previous Zenonia titles.


Source : mmos.com

Eternal Arena - Free Android Game Review

Free Android Game Review - Eternal Arena is a MOBA-action RPG hybrid on mobile devices with high quality graphics, fast-paced action combat, many stages to fight through, many Heroes to collect, 1 vs 1 asynchronous and real-time PVP, and 3 Heroes to control at once.


Publisher: NetEase Games

Playerbase: Medium

Type: Mobile MOBA/RPG

Release Date: November 12, 2015

Pros: +High quality graphics. +Action combat. +Easy to pick up and play. +Lots of stage variety.

Cons: -Repetitive gameplay. -Pay-to-win aspects. –Clunky skill controls.





Eternal Arena Overview
Eternal Arena is a 3D MOBA action RPG developed by NetEase Games, a large Chinese game developer behind the mobile titles, Speedy Ninja and Rise of Dinos. Experience a unique mixture of action RPG and MOBA on your mobile device. Collect over 35 Heroes and play through 15 different modes. Save the world in the lengthy single player campaign and face players around the world in both asynchronous and real-time PVP. Control 3 Heroes at once and switch between them at any time. Immerse yourself in action combat on a MOBA battlefield. Equip, upgrade, and train your Heroes and join a Guild to meet new friends. Participate in ranked PVP battles and become the Champion of Eternal Arena.

Eternal Arena Features:
  • Stage-based Levels – Fight through hundreds of stages with various modes such as action RPG and MOBA modes.
  • High Quality Graphics – Immersive yourself with colorful and cartoony graphics full of detailed environments, flashy effects, and smooth animations.
  • MOBA-Oriented Action Combat – Defeat hundreds of different monsters, bosses, and enemy Heroes with hack-and-slash combat combined with MOBA-style skills.
  • Many Heroes to Collect – Collect, level up, and evolve over 35 unique Heroes with different classes, abilities, and roles in battle.
  • PVP and Additional Modes – Compete against other players in 1vs1 asynchronous and real-time battles, and participate in a large variety of single player modes.
Download This Free Game : 



DOWNLOAD
 
 
Eternal Arena Review
Eternal Arena is a free-to-play, MOBA-style action RPG developed and published by NetEase Games, a large Chinese game developer with an increasingly large presence in the U.S. after the success of their popular endless runner mobile game, Speedy Ninja. NetEase first revealed Eternal Arena at PAX Prime 2015 which produced a lot of hype before it finally came out for Android and iOS on November 12, 2015. Eternal Arena is a unique hybrid of action RPG and MOBA that works surprisingly well. With high quality graphics, action combat, and lots of content, Eternal Arena is an entertaining MOBA game with a greater focus on single-player PVE, although there is also asynchronous and real-time PVP.



Stage-Based, Single-Player Campaign
Similar to most online mobile RPGs, Eternal Arena has a single-player campaign with over 100 stages to play through. However, it is very unique in that each stage varies not only in monsters and environments, but modes. Some stages play like a regular action RPG where players have to navigate through a fairly large map and defeat monsters and bosses along the way, while other stages play like a MOBA game. There are two MOBA modes that feature towers, minions, and enemy Heroes on either 1 or 2 lanes with rules similar to MOBA games such as League of Legends. There is also a survival mode where players have to survive numerous waves of enemies in a somewhat confined area. The different modes add a lot of variety and uniqueness to the game and players never know what mode they will get in the next stage. The game also has a story and each stage has some character dialogue although the story is very minimal and not very interesting. Players can bring along 3 Heroes in each stage and each stage gives gold, experience, equipment, and more.



Action Combat Meets MOBA
The combat in Eternal Arena is a combination of action RPG and MOBA. Players move with a virtual joystick and have a button to attack like in most mobile action RPGs except the skills resemble those in MOBA games. Most of the skills are skill-shot or AOE based and players will have to aim them although the game also has an odd auto-aim feature that automatically targets the skill at the nearest enemy. While the movement and attacking are fluid, the skill system can be frustrating because the auto-skill aim doesn’t also go where you want it to go and the manual aim is clunky and sometimes even more difficult to aim. Because the skills are based off the MOBA genre, the skills would aim much better if the game had tap controls rather than joystick/button controls, but generally, the auto-aim still works 90% of the time. Players can switch between 3 Heroes at any time by pressing the Hero icons on the top right, and the Heroes that players are not actively controlling are controlled by the AI. Overall, the combat is smooth and full of flashy effects with the only drawback being the problematic skill control.



Unique MOBA Mechanics
While the action RPG element of the game greatly resembles those of other mobile action RPGs, the MOBA aspects is somewhat unique compared to other MOBA games. The biggest difference is that players have control over 3 Heroes rather than only one, and every PVP match is 1 vs 1 with each player controlling 3 Heroes. However, unlike an RTS where players can control all 3 Heroes at once, players can only control 1 Hero at a time which actually makes sense since it is a MOBA where individual Hero movement and skill-shots are required. The computer AI opponents and allies are not very intelligent but are decent enough. They will generally spam skills and rush their opponents until they get low on HP and then run away, but in a way that they are usually able to get away. There are temporary power-ups such as health, attack boosts, and defense boosts that occasionally appear in the jungle area as well as in the lanes, and killing minions, enemies in the jungle, and enemy Heroes increases the player’s Power meter which strengthens the player’s Heroes (which replaces in-match equipment purchasing). Other than those differences, the rules of the MOBA stages are fairly standard. There is either 1 or 2 lanes and 2 towers to go through (on each lane) before getting to the Core, and there are minions that tank towers. The team that destroys the other team’s Core wins.



Pick Your Hero
Eternal Arena has many Heroes to collect to add to the 3-man party. Each Hero is either a Tank, Warrior, Mage, or Support. Tanks are defensive melee damage absorbers, Warriors are melee fighters balanced in attack and defense, Mages are powerful ranged sorcerers, and Supports are supportive ranged healers and buffers. Each Hero has different abilities so their roles in battle are not set in stone by their class which provides a lot of variety and strategy to the battles. Heroes start between 1-3 stars and can eventually be evolved into 5 stars via Soul Essences for that particular Hero. Soul Essences can be obtained from login rewards, completing certain stages, and from summoning the same Hero twice. Once a Hero receives enough Soul Essences, they will automatically evolve into the next rank which increases their stats and unlocks new skills. Heroes can also be equipped with various equipment that ranged from 1-5 stars that can be upgraded with in-game gold. Each Hero also has a bunch of voice-acted lines when they move and attack that add a lot of charm to each Hero.



A Large Variety of Additional Modes
In addition to the lengthy Story mode, Eternal Arena also many other single player modes that yield great rewards. These modes include Goblin Hunt, Monster Hunt, Wanted, Invocation, Rune War, Trials, and Challenge. In Goblin Hunt, players have 2 minutes to kill as many gold-carrying goblins as they can, which is a good way of acquiring gold. In Monster Hunt, players have 40 seconds to deal as much damage as they can to a Boss and are rewarded based on their damage. In Wanted, players must either complete a map or defeat a boss for various rewards. Invocation is a boss killing mode where players can team up with up to 4 of their friends in real-time co-op, Rune War features quick 3-round automated PVP duels, Trials is a 10-wave survival mode, and finally, in Challenge, players take on boss versions of AI Heroes. All modes give various rewards and can be attempted a limited amount of times each day. They also add a lot of variety and content to the game.



Cash Shop/In-App Purchases (IAP)
The main in-app purchases in Eternal Arena are random Heroes and equipment summons and energy. With Gems (premium currency), players can summon random Heroes between 1-3 stars and if they summon 10 at a time, they will receive a guaranteed 3 star Hero. The same goes with equipment summoning and summoning duplicate Heroes will provide Rank up Experience to increase the star ranking of to those Heroes. Players with money to spend will be able to summon much more Heroes and equipment, and rank up Heroes much more easily than non-paying players. They also have an increased possibility of getting high ranked Heroes and equipment. Free players do get one free Hero and equipment summon a day which helps but obviously they are at a disadvantage against players that pay. Energy can also be purchased with Gems which will allow players to play longer. Overall, the game is somewhat pay-to-win because paying gives an advantage in better Heroes and equipment, which allows paying players to dominate in the PVP, although only temporarily until non-paying players can catch up.



Final Verdict – Good
Eternal Arena is a surprisingly fun mobile game that combines action RPG combat with the MOBA genre. Although the skill usage could use some work and the PVP is fairly pay-to-win, the single-player campaign and overall gameplay is engaging, fast-paced, and action-oriented that both MOBA and action RPG fans can enjoy.


Source : mmos.com

Heroes Of Incredible Tales - Free Android Game Review

Free Android Game Review - HIT (Heroes of Incredible Tales) is a hack-and-slash action RPG on mobile devices with high quality graphics made with the Unreal 4 engine, fast-paced action combat, many stages to fight through, 4 different classes, lots of equipment to collect, real-time PVP and Co-op Boss Raids, and additional modes including Tower of Trials and Sanctuary.

Publisher: Nexon

Playerbase: High

Type: Mobile RPG

Release Date: November 18, 2015 (KR)

Pros: +High Quality graphics. +Fluid, action combat. +Easy to pick up and play. +Voice-acted story. +Real-time PVP and Co-op.

Cons: -Repetitive gameplay. -Pay-to-win aspects. –Lots of farming required.





HIT Overview
HIT (Heroes of Incredible Tales) is a 3D dungeon crawler action RPG developed by NEXON, the popular publishers behind Pocket Maplestory and Legion of Heroes. Experience beautifully detailed and realistic graphics made with the new Unreal 4 engine. Defeat hundreds of monsters and bosses in over 100 stages with fast-paced, action combat with the ability to use skills, block, dodge, and counterattack. Participate in an epic story to save the world from the God of Chaos. Face off against other players in the bloody Arena in real-time or team up with up to 4 other players in real-time co-op to take down powerful bosses. Choose one of four unique classes, collect and enhance various equipment, and upgrade your skills for maximum effectiveness. Experience the next-gen action RPG, HIT, today!

HIT Features:
  • Stage-based Levels – Fight through hundreds of stages with many different environments, monsters, and bosses.
  • High Quality Graphics – Experience top notch graphics made with the Unreal 4 engine with detailed environments, flashy effects, and realistic animations.
  • Fluid, Action Combat – Defeat hundreds of different monsters and bosses with smooth, hack-and-slash combat featuring flashy skills, skill-based combos, and the ability to block, dodge, and counterattack.
  • Four Classes to Choose From – Play as Anika (Scythe), Lucas (Dual Swords), Kiki (Magical Staff), or Hugo (Greatsword) that all vary in combat, abilities, and playstyle.
  • Voice-acted Story – Immerse yourself in the world of HIT with an epic story featuring well-known voice actors.
  • PVP, Co-Op, and Additional Modes – Battle other players in real-time PVP, team up with friends in 5-player Boss Raids, and survive in various additional modes.
Download This Free Game : 



DOWNLOAD
 
 
HIT Review
HIT (Heroes of Incredible Tales) is a free-to-play, 3D hack-and-slash action RPG developed and published by Nexon, the popular game developers behind Pocket Maplestory and Fantasy War Tactics. HIT was first released on November 18, 2015 in Korea, and not only did it reach 1 million downloads within a week, it was the #1 trending game on Google Play one day after its release and made it into Korea’s Google Play Games of the Year 2015 two days after its release. What is so special about HIT you might ask? HIT doesn’t really offer anything new to the table; it is your typical Korean stage-based action RPG, except it is extremely polished. In fact, HIT is so polished and improved upon that it is currently at the top of its class (of mobile action RPGs). It features next-gen graphics with the Unreal 4 engine, extremely fluid action combat, strategic combat strategies such as blocking, dodging, and counterattacking not seen in many similar games, a voice-acted story, and lots of content that overshadows the generic-ness of the game.



Character Creation and Classes
When players begin, they can choose between one of four characters classes which include: Anika (Scythe), Lucas (Dual Swords), Kiki (Magical Staff), or Hugo (Greatsword). Players can switch between these classes at any time but will have to level each individually, and only the first two are free. Anika is an acrobatic and seductive two-handed Scythe-wielding fighter with wide attack range, Lucas is a deadly and swift dual blade-wielding swordsman with super-fast attack speed, Kiki is a powerful elven girl with devastating AOE attacks and ranged elemental spells, and Hugo is a slow but hard-hitting warrior armed with a large two-handed greatsword. Each class has unique attack styles, skills, and stats, and feels very different to play. Generally, every class has similar attack and defense with the exception of Kiki, who has much more attack than defense, and all classes can block (which negates all damage) and dodge in similar ways. The different classes add variety to the game and the fact that players can switch between their different characters also add a lot of replayability.



Stage-Based Progression
Like most mobile action RPGs, the world is divided up into many stages across multiple Areas (10 stages in each Area). Each stage consists of running through a fairly short map and fighting through waves of monsters with a boss battle at the end of each stage. Stages can be completed in about 1-5 minutes (with later stages taking longer to complete) which is great for casual players, and while the stages may feel short for more hardcore players, it does help to tone down the repetitiveness. Each stage gives gold, experience, and a chance of obtaining rare equipment, which creates a reason to farm and replay stages. The stages gradually become more difficult as time goes by, and farming previous stages for better equipment or for equipment to sacrifice (for enhancement) becomes a large part of the game. Each stage also has a recommended equipment score which indicates its difficulty and suggests whether or not players need to upgrade their equipment. In addition, there is also a voice-acted story that appears every 5 stages that is well-written but not entirely captivating since it is fairly generic and doesn’t really have any memorable characters or player interaction. Overall, the stages are fairly short and standard of mobile action RPGs, but still provide a lot of action and content.



“Unreal” Graphics
HIT currently has the best 3D graphics seen in any mobile action RPG. The game was made with the Unreal 4 engine, a relatively new game engine that is currently in use for many next-gen games. The character models and animations are very realistic and the environments look detailed and varied. The attack effects and skills are flashy and the combat feels extremely fluid with many frames of animation in both movement and attacking. The knock back of monsters when attacked makes it feel even smoother. The game also has spectacular lighting effects in each level, creating realistic shadows as well as light reflection on equipment and weapons which looks especially impressive. Each class has many collectable equipment such as tops, bottoms, boots, and weapons that all vary in appearance and are well designed with a medieval-fantasy look. In terms of appearance and gameplay, HIT resembles a more realistic-looking version of Kritika: The White Knights, which is still a really great looking game today. The one downside is that the game may not run smoothly on many medium and lower-end devices.



Fast-Paced, Action Combat
HIT features a very fluid hack-and-slash combat system that is both simple to use and skill-oriented at the same time. Players can move their characters with a virtual joystick and can attack by tapping or holding the attack button, block by holding the block button, and dodge by holding the block button and then pressing a direction. Players can also use skills by pressing the respective skill buttons. While the combat seems fairly standard, the block option for every class is actually a unique feature not seen in many games and adds a strategy aspect to the combat. Blocking negates all damage and blocking right when the enemy is about to strike deals a powerful counterattack. As the level difficulty increases, being able to block, counterattack, and dodge efficiently can greatly help in tougher battles and can make up for not-so-good equipment. Some skills can also be combined into special finisher attacks if players attack right after using the skill (the finisher attacks have cooldowns so they cannot be spammed).



Each class has many skills and each skill can be upgraded by spending skill points onto the 4 possible upgrades: Offense (skill damage), Wisdom (reduces cooldown), Concentration (critical chance), and Fatality (critical damage). There are also attack, defense, and counterattack-related passive skills. Each class can also equip weapons, armor, and accessories that increase stats and these equipment can be enhanced and leveled up by sacrificing other equipment and then promoted with Jewels to further strengthen them once they are max level (level 20). Like most Korean mobile games, there is also an “Auto” feature that allows characters to automatically move and attack in battles, which allows for AFK farming, but isn’t as effective as manually controlling characters because characters do not use skills or block/dodge/counteract in Auto mode. Overall, the combat system is easy to use but also involves some in-depth combat strategies such as blocking, dodging, and counterattacking, and ultimately feels very fluid and a little more in-depth than other mobile action RPGs.



Real-Time Co-op and PVP
In addition to the main stage-based Story mode, HIT features real-time Co-op, PVP, and additional single player modes. First, the game has a fun Co-op Boss Raid mode where players can party with up to 4 other players in real-time and take on a powerful boss. The “Auto” feature is disabled in this mode and players will have to work together and strategically defeat bosses which is very exciting and rewarding. Unlike a lot of mobile RPGs, the PVP is also in real-time. Players are randomly matched up against other players of similar ranks and then battle it out in intense real-time battles that involve a lot of dodging, timing, and strategy. Unfortunately, the PVP is mostly pay-to-win because players who spend money generally have better equipment and the match-making is not always balanced. Finally, there are some additional single player modes such as the Tower of Trials where players must climb floors of a tower defeating enemies, which gives great rewards such as Gems and equipment summons, and Sanctuary which is a similar survival mode that players can team up with AI companions, that give Jewels for promoting equipment. Overall, HIT has a lot of content and variety with fun, real-time multiplayer modes as well as single player modes.



Cash Shop/In-App Purchases (IAP)
HIT has the common Gacha-style in-app purchases that provide advantages to paying players. With Gems (premium currency), players can summon random weapons, armor, and accessories between the ranks Rare-Legendary (Guaranteed Heroic item if players summon 10 at once), purchase in-game gold (for equipment enhancement), and refill energy for stages. The biggest advantage is the equipment summoning because paying players can obtain really good equipment, although it is random, while non-paying players can only summon Normal-Rare equipment with friend points. Players do, however, get five free Normal-Rare summons a day and one free Rare-Legendary summon every couple of days, as well as Rare & Heroic summons from login rewards so it is possible to obtain premium summons without paying. Players can also use Gems to revive themselves if they die during stages, which is a large advantage in the Story mode progression. Overall, spending money is not completely necessary if players are willing to repeat stages to obtain better equipment, but spending money offers convenience and many advantages such as better equipment and more energy.



Final Verdict – Great
HIT is an incredibly polished mobile action RPG with beautiful graphics, smooth, skill-oriented action combat, and lots of content including real-time PVP, co-op, and many additional modes. Although the game requires a lot of farming and repetition due to steep rises in difficulty, has pay-to-win PVP, and is fairly generic in gameplay, it is currently the best in its class in the mobile action RPG genre and is a game all RPG fans should try out.


Source : mmos.com
 

Crusaders Quest - Free Android Game Review

Free Android Game Review - Crusaders Quest is an online hero-collecting RPG on mobile devices with cute 16-bit pixel graphics, over 200 Heroes to collect, a unique Match-3 puzzle-based combat system, many stages to fight through, Hero evolution and weapon upgrade systems, asynchronous PVP, and many additional modes.

Publisher: NHN Entertainment

Playerbase: High

Type: Mobile RPG

Release Date: December 11, 2014

Pros: +Cute 16-bit graphics. +Many Heroes to collect. +Interesting story. +Unique puzzle-based combat.

Cons: -Repetitive gameplay. -Lots of farming and grinding.





Crusaders Quest Overview
Crusaders Quest is a 2D online hero-collecting social RPG developed by TOAST and published by NHN Entertainment, the team behind Guardian Hunter and Drift Girls. Lead your army of mercenaries across fantastic lands to save 5 Goddesses from a mysterious and villainous witch. Experience the world through cute and colorful 16-bit pixel graphics. Battle monsters and bosses with unique, fast-paced Match-3 combat that is simple to use yet fairly in-depth. Collect over 200 unique Heroes with different classes, abilities, and equipment. Upgrade Heroes and weapons to make them more powerful in battle. Experience an engaging story with memorable characters and well-written dialogue. Battle other players in the Colosseum and explore wondrous dungeons. Join the 16-bit world of Crusaders Quest today!

Crusaders Quest Features:
  • Many Stages to Complete – Play through hundreds of levels, and fight monsters and bosses in various maps and environments.
  • 16-Bit Pixel Graphics – Experience the game with colorful and cute pixelated Heroes, monsters, environments, and effects.
  • Puzzle-Based Combat – Defeat foes with a unique and fast-paced Match-3-style combat system where players control 3 Heroes at once, and timing is important.
  • Many Heroes to Collect – Collect over 200 Heroes with different classes and abilities, equip them, upgrade them, and promote them into more powerful Heroes.
  • Engaging Story – Take part in an interesting journey to rescue 5 Goddesses full of character dialogue and charming personalities.
  • PVP and Additional Modes – Compete against random players online in the Colosseum, fight through a variety of different dungeons, and take on the World Boss.
Download This Free Game : 



DOWNLOAD
 
 
Crusaders Quest Review
Crusaders Quest is a free-to-play, online hero-collecting RPG developed by TOAST, the creators of Guardian Hunter and Drift Girls, and published by NHN Entertainment, a large Korean gaming publisher under NAVER Corporation. After its global launch on December 11, 2015, Crusaders Quest quickly rose to become one of the most popular RPGs on mobile devices with over 10 million downloads within 9 months of its release. Crusaders Quest is a game that immediately stands out from the rest of crowd with its incredibly charming and adorable 16-bit anime-inspired graphics and unique Match-3 combat system. While it still shares a lot in common with other hero-collecting RPGs such as stage-based progression and having many heroes to collect, its unique art style, combat, and even storyline, adds a new refreshing flavor to the genre. The game is surprisingly in-depth despite its simplistic appearance and offers tons of content that will keep players coming back for more.



A Journey to Rescue Five Goddesses
A mysterious witch has abducted five beautiful goddesses (protectors of the land) for her evil deeds and it is up to the player to rescue them. The world of Crusaders Quest is divided up into many stages among six chapters with each chapter containing 96 different stages for a total of over 500 stages in the game. The story plays a decent role in the game and becomes more interesting as the game progresses. There is a lot of character dialogue and interesting characters to meet along the way, including Sera, a spunky Forest Goddess in training, and Lednas, a compassionate but strict Captain of the Guard. Players play as a Mercenary Captain in charge of a party of Heroes (Heroes that can be collected and added to the party) that is suddenly thrown into the center of this conflict.



Each stage is quite short, lasting from 1-5 minutes, and features multiple waves of enemies to fight through. The final wave consists of a boss battle, often times with more than one boss at once, that range from powerful beasts to possessed warriors. Completing stages provide gold, experience, and potentially equipment and Heroes. Each chapter contains 4 maps and each map contains 24 stages, which is a lot more stages than in other similar games. Players will see the same background and environments for a rather long time but the monsters do vary every couple of stages and there are many different types of bosses. The 24th stage of each map features a large Boss battle that can be challenging to battle and unlocks a new Goddess in the earlier Chapters.



Graphics
Crusaders Quest greatly stands out from other games with its charming 16-bit art style. The game has an anime-inspired retro look and all of the Heroes, monsters, and environments are undeniably cute. Despite the pixel graphics, each Hero (and monster) still looks quite detailed with different attire ranging from plate armors to kimonos to magical robes. All the sprites also have a wide range of animations making them feel very alive rather than stiff, and each attack and skill is full of flashy effects and physics-based knockbacks. Weapons also vary in appearance and the armor of Heroes change as they become higher in ranking. In addition, the musical score has a retro and chiptune theme that fits the game perfectly. Overall, the world looks and feels very charming and delightful.



Match-3 Puzzle-Based Combat
Crusaders Quest features a unique Match-3 combat system not seen in any other games. During stages, players can have up to 3 Heroes in their party who automatically attack and move on their own, but players have control over their skills via Skill Blocks. Skill Blocks consistently appear on the bottom of the screen and pressing them will activate a skill for the respective Hero. When a single Block is selected, the skill deals 56% damage (of the Hero’s attack power), when two matching Blocks are selected, the skill deals 178% damage, and when three matching Blocks are selected, the skill deals 322% damage. Therefore, it is important to match up the Blocks to deal as much damage as possible which actually requires some strategy. Healing skills also correspond to the amount of blocks matched but heals instead of deals damage. Blocks cannot be moved so in order to match them up (assuming consecutive ones don’t appear), Blocks in between must be used up first. There are also Special Skill Blocks (that use Hero SP) that cannot be matched (can simply be activated for full damage) that activate Heroes’ special abilities. The combat is unique and actually quite fast-paced because everything happens in real-time and Blocks constantly appear making things frantic and intense in more difficult battles. Players can also select a Goddess to follow them a battle and activate the Goddesses’ ability by tapping the screen when the Goddesses’ bar is full (different Goddesses have different abilities).



Many Heroes to Collect
Crusaders Quest has over 200 unique Heroes to collect. Each Hero is one of 6 classes: Warrior, Paladin, Archer, Hunter, Wizard, and Priest. Warriors are melee fighters balanced in attack and defense with high physical resistance but low magical resistance, while Paladins are melee tanks with high defense and health and low attack power with high magical resistance and low physical resistance. Archers and Hunters are similar ranged strikers with high damage and low defense that can attack the enemy backline except Hunters have more armor than resistance while Archers are balanced in armor and resistance. Lastly, Wizards are ranged spell-casters with large AOE (area of effect) damage while Priests are ranged supportive healers with healing and damage reduction abilities. There are many Heroes to collect in each class and they all have different stats and skills, making each very unique not only in appearance but in combat. Heroes can be trained with pastries via the game’s baking system, equipped with hundreds of different weapons (each class uses different weapons), and promoted with Honor (gained from quests and retiring/deleting Heroes). Weapons can also be upgraded and special weapons can be forged with recipes.



PVP, Dungeons, and Additional Modes
Players can battle other players’ heroes in asynchronous combat in the Colosseum, fight through a variety of different dungeons, and participate in many additional modes. In the Colosseum, players are matched up against other players’ parties based on ranking and battle it out similar to in the single player mode. Players have full control over their party and the PVP battles can be quite intense especially if both sides are evenly matched. There are also single player dungeons that players can take part in that require Dungeon Keys and feature a wide range of different dungeons with varying objectives. Dungeons change every couple of days and some involve defeating enemies with special rules such as no skill chaining or surviving for a certain amount of time, and each dungeon has multiple “floors” with better rewards as players progress. Lastly, there are various other interesting modes including Nest of the Divine Beasts, which involve stages similar to the Story Mode but much more difficult with very powerful bosses, Fortress of Souls, which also like the Story Mode but with a lot more floors and is easier than Nest of the Divine Beasts, and World Boss, an endgame mode that features extremely powerful bosses that require skill and strategy to take down. These modes add a lot more variety and content to the game and can keep players entertained even after they finish the Story mode.



Cash Shop/In-App Purchases (IAP)
The in-app purchases in Crusaders Quest follow a similar model to most hero-collecting RPGs which revolve around the Gacha/Summoning system. With Jewels (premium currency), players can summon random 3-6 Star Heroes (of any class), random 2-6 Star Heroes of a specific class, and random 4-6 Star weapons. Jewels can also be used to purchase in-game gold and 2x Hero experience boosters. The Gacha rates aren’t very good so players will usually receive Heroes on the lower end of the spectrum, but lucky players can receive high ranked Heroes if they spend enough money. Players can also summon random 2-5 Star Heroes with Honor, obtained from quests and retiring Heroes. The game isn’t necessarily pay-to-win since players can upgrade all their Heroes to 6-Star for free with enough time (grinding and farming) but spending money helps speeds things up. Players can also get free summons from events, login rewards, and certain quests. Overall, spending money is not required but offer convenient advantages such as potentially rare Heroes and equipment and faster level progression. Having said that, there is a lot of grinding and farming to be done in Crusaders Quest in order to upgrade Heroes.



Final Verdict – Great
Crusaders Quest is an incredibly addictive game with charming 16-bit pixel graphics, a fast-paced Match-3 combat system, and many adorable Heroes to collect. While it does require quite a lot of repetitive grinding and farming in order to upgrade Heroes, Crusaders Quest feels very unique, simple yet surprisingly in-depth, and has lots of content making it a great mobile RPG that will keep both casual and hardcore players busy for a very long time.


Source : mmos.com
 

Soccer Spirits - Free Android Game Review

Free Android Game Review - Soccer Spirits is an sports CCG/RPG on mobile devices with anime-inspired artwork, a lengthy single player campaign with lots of character dialogue, unique soccer-themed card battles, hundreds of voice-acted cards to collect, and a variety of modes including Galaxy League and asynchronous PVP.

Publisher: Com2uS

Playerbase: High

Type: Mobile CCG/RPG

Release Date: August 21, 2014

Pros: +Appealing artwork. +Interesting story. +Many cards to collect. +Strategic battle system. +Unique soccer-themed gameplay.

Cons: -Repetitive gameplay. -Lots of farming and grinding.





Soccer Spirits Overview
Soccer Spirits is a 2D CCG/RPG hybrid published by Com2uS, the company behind the popular mobile RPGs, Summoners War and Soul Seeker. Defeat the League of Evil by conquering the Galactic League, a soccer tournament that will determine the fate of the universe. Assemble your team with over 100 cards to collect and create a formation consisting of a front, middle, and back line. Defeat enemy teams in strategic soccer-based combat where players battle for control over the ball and must get past enemy defenders. Immerse yourself in the lengthy Story mode full of character dialogue and charismatic characters. Participate in Challenge Mode, Colosseum of Despair, and asynchronous PVP. Level up, enhance, and evolve your heroes for the ultimate team. Score the final goal and save the universe today!

Soccer Spirits Features:
  • Many Stages to Complete – Participate in hundreds of stage-based soccer matches and battle against a large variety of enemy teams.
  • Anime-inspired Artwork – Each card features high quality, anime-style artwork with special voice-acted lines, unique skills, and varying stats.
  • Strategic Battles – Defeat enemy teams in card-based combat where cards battle for control of the ball and move up and down the field in order to score.
  • Many Cards to Collect – Collect over 100 unique cards and assemble your formation, upgrade your Heroes, and evolve your players to take over the competition.
  • Engaging Story – Experience an interesting story full of characters, dialogue, humor, and more.
  • Online PVP – Fight head-to-head against random players online in strategic, turn-based combat with complete control over each battle.
Download This Free Game : 



DOWNLOAD
 
 
Soccer Spirits Review
Soccer Spirits is a free-to-play, soccer-themed CCG/RPG published by Com2uS, the company behind the popular mobile RPGs, Summoners War and Soul Seeker. Soccer Spirits launched globally on August 21, 2014 and reached 2 million downloads within a year as well as released a large Season 2 update that offered a bunch of new content on May 2015. Soccer Spirits adds a refreshing new twist on the CCG (collectable card game) genre with its unique soccer-themed combat system that is easy to use yet strategic and in-depth, and its RPG elements in which players can level up and evolve their cards. The game also has beautiful anime-inspired artwork and each card was voice acted by over 30 professional voice actors. While the game does offer a large focus on story, the story is not its strongest feature; rather, it is the large variety of collectable cards and innovative combat system that will keep players hooked for a very long time.



Become Champion of the Galaxy
In Soccer Spirits, players take the role of a young and talented soccer player who is suddenly thrown into the center of a great galactic conflict between the League of Evil and the Peacemakers where the fate of the universe is decided by the outcome of the Galactic League (a universal soccer tournament). The story has a mix of fantasy and science fiction all-the-while focusing on modern characters (the player and his team) who represent “Team Earth.” The game has a lot of character dialogue that is very conversational with a mix between humorous and annoying. After certain stages, story sequences are activated and players observe conversations between their soccer team, which in my opinion, can be quite annoying to read due to the immaturity of the players (who are supposedly high school students) who lack seriousness and overreact in various situations. In addition, players can also observe conversations between various other soccer teams in the Galactic League who, despite being older, ironically also speak like high school students. Clearly the story was designed to target a young and teenage audience. Overall, the story does add more entertainment to the game but most conversations drag on for far too long with lots of irrelevant discussions that are more oriented toward a younger audience.



Conquering the Galactic League
The single player campaign is divided up into hundreds of matches in the Galactic League. Each league in the Galactic League contains three matches and there are a multitude of leagues to complete. The different leagues feature various enemy teams to defeat, different backgrounds, and lots of character dialogue. Story dialogue sequences usually pop up at the beginning and end of the 3-stage leagues and completing leagues advances the game’s story. Players must win at least two of the three matches in order to advance to the next league otherwise they will have to repeat the league from the beginning. Completing matches gives Hero experience, gold, and potentially new Heroes and Spirit Stones. Each match is fairly short, lasting from 1-5 minutes, but more difficult matches or matches between closely matched teams can take significantly longer to complete.



Playing Soccer with Cards
Soccer Spirits has a very unique, one-of-a-kind soccer-based card combat system that is simple to use yet strategic and fairly in-depth. Players can assemble a team of up to 10 Heroes that can be placed into three lines: front, middle, and back. On the field, Heroes can take control of the ball much like in an actual soccer game. The combat is turn-based and Heroes with the ball will have an option to pass, penetrate, shoot (if they are at the enemy’s back line), or use a skill. Passing gives the ball to another Hero in the line which is useful if the previous Hero’s health is low, penetrate allows players to attack the enemy directly across from them in an attempt to get past them, shooting launches the ball at enemies, and skills are different depending on the Hero. Shooting the ball is similar to an attack and if it defeats the enemy goalkeeper, the ball enters the goal which ends the match. Each match is only decided by one goal. However, if the defending goalkeeper isn’t defeated by the shot, their team takes possession of the ball. Alternatively, if players fail to penetrate past their opponents, the opponent will steal the ball instead.



On defense, it is the opponent’s turn to make their way down the field. Occasionally defending Heroes will be given the option to either steal or block. Stealing will attack the opponent (like penetrating) and the ball is only stolen if the attack defeats the opponent. Blocking reduces the opponent’s action bar and forces them to pass the ball away. Each side has a goalkeeper that teams up with the back line player (who is under attack) to defend against attacks and shots. By doing so, the damage done by the attacker is spread out among the goalkeeper and another Hero which reduces the damage for both. Generally, each match tends to go back and forth until one side manages to defeat the other team’s final line of defense for a match-ending goal. The combat is very unique, and rather than simply watching cards attack, there is an actual soccer component to it which can be very strategic. In each match, players can also add a random person’s leader card or a friend’s leader card (once a day) into their team as a temporary 10th member which adds a social aspect to the Story mode. There is also an elemental advantage system in which certain elements deal more damage (Each Hero has an element).



An Arsenal of Powerful Kickers
Soccer Spirits has over 100 unique Heroes to collect. Each Hero has different active and passive skills that can be increased by leveling up, and these skills, as well as their stats and element type, determine their usefulness in various team compositions. In addition, each Hero is voice-acted with a couple different lines (in Japanese) which add some charm and personality to them. Most of them also appear in the story. Heroes range from 1-5 stars and are one of five elements that play a large factor in matches. Heroes can be evolved with enough #-star Elementals (i.e. Evolving a Hero from 3 to 4 stars requires two 4-star Elementals, two 3-star Elementals, and 32,000 gold). Elementals can be obtained randomly from completing matches or Gacha summons, and require quite a bit of time to farm since a lot of Elementals are needed to evolve multiple Heroes, and higher evolutions require more and more Elementals. Each Hero also has a certain Cost and teams have a Cost limit (that increases as players level up) that require players to strategically sort their formations in order to create the most efficient team under the Cost limit. In terms of graphics, the game has very well-drawn anime-inspired artwork with quite a lot of fan service in the form of scantily clad women and lolicon girls.



PVP and Additional Modes
In addition to the main Story mode, there is a PVP mode as well as two additional PVE modes. In the Galaxy League (PVP), players can battle against other players’ teams (which are controlled by the computer AI) asynchronously. Although players cannot battle against real players online in real-time, the asynchronous battles work fine with the game’s combat system. Players are placed into leagues (Bronze, Silver, etc.) based on their ranking and are given a list of 6 players to fight each day. Defeating players gives gold and experience, and maintaining a consecutive winning streak gives attack power and HP boosts, bonus gold, and additional GP which can be exchanged for special items. There are also two additional PVE modes called: Space Time Continuum and Colosseum, which includes Colosseum of Despair and Colosseum of Trials. Space Time Continuum features a variety of daily matches against many different enemy teams, most of which are meant for higher leveled players. The two Colosseums feature many floors to climb and each floor involves defeating opponents in a match with each floor getting progressively harder. All modes give gold, experience, GP, and potentially new Heroes and Crystals, and add more variety to the game.



Cash Shop/In-App Purchases (IAP)
The main in-app purchases in Soccer Spirits involve summoning Heroes via the game’s Draw (Gacha) system. Players can use Crystals (premium currency) to summon random 3-5 star Heroes (or Elementals) or Friend Points to summon 1-3 star Heroes. Occasionally the game gives out free 3-5 star summons and if players don’t receive a 5-star Hero within 43 summons, their 44th summon is a guaranteed 5-star Hero, which is a generous offer by the publishers. Elementals can also be summoned in place of Heroes which are used to evolve Heroes. Players can also receive free Crystals for completing leagues in the Story mode, from achievements, and from login rewards. Additionally, players can use Crystals to replenish their stamina which allows them to play more matches each day. Spending money ultimately offers advantages in obtaining better Heroes to add to the team or to power up other Heroes, obtaining Elementals to evolve Heroes, and having more stamina to play longer. Obtaining the best team does not require spending any money but will take a much longer time.



Final Verdict – Great
Soccer Spirits is an impressive mobile CCG with a strategic and unique soccer themed combat system that is simple to use yet surprisingly in-depth. Although the story has limited appeal and the game requires a lot of grinding and farming to upgrade Heroes, it is a very addictive game with innovative combat and beautiful anime-inspired artwork that even players not fond of CCGs will likely enjoy.


Source : mmos.com

TrainCrasher - Free Android Game Review

Free Android Game Review - TrainCrasher is a side-scroller beat ‘em up action RPG on mobile devices with anime-inspired graphics, fast-paced combo-oriented combat, many stages to fight through, Chain system to switch between two characters in battle, lots of equipment to collect, asynchronous PVP, and additional modes including Ghost Train and Gold Rush.


Publisher: Softmax

Playerbase: Low

Type: Mobile RPG

Release Date: December 29, 2015

Pros: +High Quality graphics. +Combo-oriented, action combat. +Easy to pick up and play.

Cons: -Repetitive gameplay. -Pay-to-win aspects.




TrainCrasher Overview
TrainCrasher is a 3D beat ‘em up action RPG developed by Softmax, a Korean game company behind the mobile titles, Chaos Battle Hero and Fishing Fishing: Set the Hook! Fight through hundreds of train cars on a quest for revenge in a game that combines arcade-like action combat and RPG elements. Defeat foes in side-scrolling, combo-oriented combat that is easy to use and full of different button combinations. Pick one of four unique classes with more in the making, and unleash hell on your foes with different playstyles, combos, and more. Immerse yourself in a beautifully drawn steampunk world with anime-inspired graphics. Collect and enhance new equipment, and level up your character’s attacks and abilities. Battle other players in asynchronous PVP, and earn gold in the Ghost Train and Gold Rush modes. Crash the train today in TrainCrasher!

TrainCrasher Features:
  • Stage-based Levels – Fight through hundreds of train cars in various difficulties with many different environments, enemies, and bosses.
  • High Quality Graphics – Immerse yourself in stylish anime-inspired graphics in a steampunk world full of detailed environments, flashy effects, and fluid animations.
  • Beat ‘em Up Action Combat – Defeat hundreds of different enemies and bosses with fast-paced, side-scrolling combat featuring many different button combos and the ability to switch between characters in battle.
  • Many Classes to Choose From – Play as Ron (Sword), Mei (Axe), Zett (Brawler), or Hound (Gun) that all vary in combat, combos, and playstyle, with many more classes to come.
  • PVP, Ghost Train, & Gold Rush – Battle other players in asynchronous PVP to climb the rankings, survive for as long as possible in the Ghost Train mode, or fill your pockets with gold in the Gold Rush mode. 
Download This Free Game : 



DOWNLOAD
 
 
TrainCrasher Review
TrainCrasher is a free-to-play, side-scroller beat ‘em up action RPG developed and published by Softmax, the Korean game company behind the hit game series, Magna Carta and The War of Genesis. TrainCrasher is a new mobile RPG that resembles a mixture between the classic beat ‘em up game, Final Fight, and the more modern PC MMORPG, Dungeon Fighter. The game completely takes place on a moving train with hundreds of stages to fight through and features a unique steampunk world with beautifully drawn anime-inspired graphics. While its progression system, PVP, and RPG elements are fairly standard compared to other mobile RPGs, the arcade-like, combo-oriented combat system is TrainCrasher’s most impressive and distinctive feature that offers a breath of fresh air in the action RPG genre.


Character Creation and Classes
When players begin, they can choose one of four character classes which include: Ron (Sword), Mei (Axe), Zett (Brawler), and Hound (Gun), with many more classes coming soon. Players can create their first two classes for free but will have to spend a good amount of Diamonds (premium currency) to create additional characters. Ron is an all-around swordsman that is well-balanced in attack and defense with a high critical chance rate, Mei is a mid-ranged combatant armed with a large axe with medium attack speed and powerful combos, Zett is an unarmed brawler specialized in blows and grabs with high defense, and Hound is a ranged gunman with low attack and defense but specialized in long-ranged attacks and hit-and-run tactics. After completing the Story campaign on Normal difficulty with Hound, players can unlock a secret character named Alice who generally plays the same as Hound but with a different appearance. Each class generally has the same button combinations for attacks but the moves differ for each class which makes them fairly different to play. The different classes all have various playstyles, combos, and gameplay which add a lot more variety and strategy to the game.



Crashing the Train
TrainCrasher takes place completely on a train, which is divided into many stages or parts of the train. The story, which isn’t a large aspect of the game, basically involves the player seeking revenge on a villain named Meleck who happens to be at the end of the train, and the player will have to go through over 100 train cars full of bodyguards to get to him. Although the entire game takes place on a train, there are many different maps, moving environments, and a steam-punk theme that makes the game look quite varied and charming. Each map contains 5 stages and there is a powerful boss battle in the 5th stage of each map, although every stage also has a mini-boss battle at the end of it. Every stage consists of moving along the train, which is littered with explosive barrels, boxes, and other obstacles that can be destroyed, and defeating waves of enemies and a boss. Completing stages gives gold, experience, and equipment, and each stage is fairly short which makes it a great game to pick up and play at any time. There are also different difficulties that can be unlocked after completing the Story mode on a previous difficulty. However, even in Normal difficulty, the stages become progressively more difficult and will require players to upgrade their equipment via enhancement and/or farming previous stages to become more powerful.



Beating People Up in Style
TrainCrasher features a side-scrolling, beat ‘em up style combat system that easy to use yet fast-paced and full of interesting combats. If you combined the classic arcade/SNES game, Final Fight, with the PC MMORPG, Dungeon Fighter, and put it on mobile, you would get something like TrainCrasher. Players can move their characters with a virtual joystick and attack with three buttons: A, +, and S. While the 3 button layout appears very simplistic, there are actually a bunch of different moves that can be executed with the A and S buttons that can create special combos and unique attacks. For example, some button combinations might look like this: AAAS, AAAASS, AAAAASSS, etc. The + button grabs enemies (the + really means A+S but allows players to simply press one button for both) and then players can either press A to punish a grabbed enemy or press S to throw enemies into the side of the train or completely off the train (if the side is exposed). There are also various combinations that include running, grabbing, and more for a bunch of unique moves with only three (mainly 2) different buttons. The combat is incredibly fun, fast-paced, and flashy, and each class varies in playstyle and combo moves.



While there are no skills to activate like in other RPGs, characters do have an AP (ability power) bar to watch out for. Skills are replaced by special combos, which are any moves other than pure A spamming, and these combos use up AP to perform. Once a character runs out of AP, they can no longer perform certain combos and must refill their AP by either using basic A moves or switching to a secondary character via the Chain system. When players attack enemies, their Chain bar fills and when it is full, players can switch to a secondary character (that they can choose before the stage) that takes the place of the original character. This character generally won’t be as strong since they won’t have the original character’s equipment, but using them will allow the original character’s AP and HP to refill. However, the secondary character cannot be switched out until they refill the Chain bar again and if they die, the stage is over. Therefore, it is important to use the Chain system strategically when the original character is running low on AP and/or HP in order to maximize the chance of defeating stages.



PVP and Additional Modes
Like most mobile RPGs, TrainCrasher features asynchronous PVP which is the game’s only online feature. In the Arena, players are given a choice of three players to fight against asynchronously, which means the opponent is controlled by the computer AI. Before a PVP fight, players can assemble their party of a main character and a secondary character that they can switch between in battle. When players attack others, they play as their main character, with full control of the combat, and can switch characters when the Chain bar is full (which will almost never happen since the PVP matches are very short). However, the system works differently for the asynchronous opponents. Instead of being able to switch characters, the opponents simply have both of their characters out at once, which actually gives them a slight advantage. Alternatively, if someone attacks the player, they will have to go up against the player’s two characters at the same time. It is an odd system but the PVP works as one would expect and there is a ranking system that gives rewards based on the players rank at the end of the season. The PVP is somewhat fun but getting stun-locked and quickly killed by two of the opponent’s character at the same time can be quite irritating.



In addition the PVP and Story Mode, there are two other PVE modes that players can participate in. These modes include: Gold Rush and Ghost Train. The Gold Rush mode resembles an endless runner game in which the player’s character is constantly running forward (can’t be stopped) and players have to destroy boxes/barrels and defeat enemies in order to obtain the most amount of gold before they die. Players will die after they get hit a certain amount of times, which is made harder by the unstoppable running, and defeating things will give out gold. Ghost Train, on the other hand, plays more like a survival mode. Players control their characters like in the Story Mode, and fight through train cars of never-ending enemies. The goal is to get as far as possible without dying. Both modes give gold as a reward, which is used for enhancing equipment, and increases the player’s ranking in those modes which give rewards at the end of the season.



Cash Shop/In-App Purchases (IAP)
TrainCrasher’s in-app purchases mainly revolve around equipment summoning and convenience-related items. With Diamonds (premium currency), players can summon random weapons and purchase in-game gold, Coins (energy), and temporary experience boosts. Players can summon random 1-3 star equipment with friendship points and in-game gold, random 4-6 star equipment for any class with Diamonds, and random 4-6 star equipment for a specific class with a little more Diamonds. Equipment summons, energy for stages, and the experience boosts are the main advantages of spending money and will allow players to play longer, defeat stages more quickly, and level faster. Spending money isn’t required for progression, but players will have to grind and farm previous stages in order to enhance their equipment until they are powerful enough to progress, and spending money helps reduce that process. Spending money can, however, make the PVP slightly pay-to-win since certain players will be higher level and have better equipment. Overall, spending money is not required but provides advantages in faster stage/Story progression and a slight edge in the asynchronous PVP.



Final Verdict – Great
TrainCrasher is a great mobile beat ‘em up RPG that brings something new to the table via its unique action-packed combat system. With charming steampunk and anime-inspired graphics, a unique combat system full of interesting combos, and many classes to choose from, TrainCrasher is a fun RPG to pick up and play at any time that all action RPG fans should try out.


Source : mmos.com