Legends at War

Real time strategy game, Legend of War is now available to download on both the App Store and Google Play. Whether you’re flanking opposing legions, wreaking havoc with spell and weapon-based siege attacks or building up your own empire, this title’s going to keep you busy.

As Ron Perlman aptly puts it at the start of the popular post-apocalyptic RPG series Fallout, "war never changes."

The same can be said for nearly every game set within the confines of war. After all, there are only so many scenarios you can play through before you've seen and played through every pivotal battle in every war ever.

So, it's down to the History Channel licensed game Legends of War to bring something new to the table. Surprisingly, it manages to achieve this without treading on the toes of what's come before.

As most mobile games either revolve around turn-taking or small-scale battles, we strove to create a game that offered a large-scale battle on a small device. Pair this with the unique catapult firing system used throughout the game, probably never before seen in a strategy game, and Legend of War is in a league of its own.

The biggest challenge was getting a lot of animated characters on the screen while preserving a decent frame rate. We overcame this by combining all of the meshes into a single mesh and animating it as a whole.

With regards to complex elements, the A.I. is one of the most advanced aspects of Legend of War. We wanted an A.I. that acted like a human player and couldn’t easily be fooled by using simple techniques. For example, when attempting to lure a legion out of its defensive position, the A.I. will be smart enough not to go on a wild goose chase.

Dependent upon user feedback, there are a number of options here. Most likely, is that we will start by developing a new batch of characters and fine-tune the Guild War, which is currently in its infancy.

But this doesn't quite work as intended, because you pretty much don't care who's who until you begin to upgrade your units into more specific roles of Paratrooper, Sniper, Bazooka trooper, and so on. Even then, their profile thumbnails are all identical within each class, so it's hard to form a bond.

While History: Legends of War's combat isn't as tight or complex as XCOM's, the tactical side of battles is handled very well. It's great fun to position troops behind cover, popping out to take down Nazi forces as they come into your line of sight. And thanks to a generous and simple movement system, you can plan attacks and then revise them easily on the fly.

It is a little strange that Slitherine hasn't made use of the Vita's touchscreen, which lends itself perfectly to the strategy genre. It's stranger still that it hasn't even factored in the right stick for camera control, instead making it a fiddly procedure with the left stick and shoulder buttons.

That said, it's still a solid and highly enjoyable tactical game that will satisfy almost any urge for some portable historical fun - even if it does lack a much-needed online multiplayer mode.

Armed Heroes (BGI)

Say this for Armed Heroes (formerly known as Armed Heroes Online): It’s not misleading you at all with its title. This freemium fantasy action MMORPG does contain heroes, and they are in fact armed. Chinese developer EGLS didn’t provide it with a whole lot of originality, but it’s a competent way to do some questing with or without other people helping you on your iOS device of choice.

You may recall Armed Heroes getting into a bit of a flap with Runic Games over the summer after the Torchlight creators accused the game of borrowing (read: wholesale copying) some elements from Torchlight II. EGLS never officially admitted any wrongdoing, but the game was removed from the App Store for a few months, returning in October.

In any case, the end result doesn’t really look or play like the game that supposedly “inspired” it; what we got instead is a pretty standard set-up for a fantasy RPG. After creating an account and picking a server, you’re prompted to pick from one of four fairly self-explanatory character classes: Warrior, Archer, Wizard and Necromancer. I went with the Archer for this review, this being the “Year of the Bow” in pop culture and all. Don’t expect much in the way of character customization right off the bat, not even for the gender of your toon.

Gameplay largely revolves around visiting NPCs to receive quests, most of which send you into nearby dungeons to clear out monsters and/or retrieve items. The quest-givers have distinctive personalities, including one who controls a portal who tells you to get lost the first time you talk to him. Unfortunately, the story gets lost in the failed translation, as in this sample line of dialogue: “People were running around with scare.” On the plus side, there’s an option to auto-run directly to the next person you need to talk to in your quest chain, which definitely saves you some hassle in the game’s towns.

The dungeons are rendered in 3D fashion, with scenery that’s nice to look at except when it’s getting between you and your character. That doesn’t happen too often since the levels are laid out in pretty straightforward fashion and the mini-map is effective at showing you around. Advancing to the next level of each dungeon requires you to clear out all of the monsters on your current level, including the occasional oversized boss. This being an MMO, you can group with other players if desired, something that becomes an absolute necessity on the higher difficulty levels: Nightmare, Hell and Inferno, in that order.

Moving characters is pretty easy thanks to a virtual thumbstick, and they target the closest enemy in the direction they’re facing. A large button in the lower-right corner is for basic attacks, with four smaller buttons nearby that can be mapped to special abilities. Those deplete your magic meter, which sits next to your health in upper-left corner. Both magic and health can be refilled using potions that you can score for free by talking to a specific NPC.

Rewards from slain foes include gold and gear, and you’ll get experience points and more gold for turning in quests. Items unusable by your class can be sold at the Auction House, the only way you can obtain Diamonds, the game’s premium currency, without buying them. For some reason, there’s also a star system for completing dungeons that is based on how long it takes you and how many times you die. This would be fine except that advancing to certain levels takes a set number of stars on top of the XP requirement. When you do advance, you can choose from a nice selection of passive and active skills to improve.

Ragnarok: War of Gods

Ragnarok: War of Gods is a mobile MMORPG developed by Neo Cyon and published by Animoca. It is heavily based on Ragnarok Online by Gravity, which itself is based on the manwah or Korean comic Ragnarok: Into the Abyss by Myung-Jin Lee.

Ragnarok Online was the very first MMORPG that I played. I was one of the beta players and continued playing the game for five years or more. That is why upon learning that Ragnarok Online is coming to Android, I was quite excited to give it a try.

Gameplay and mechanics: It’s not about hack-and-slash

Ragnarok: War of Gods is quite simple. You farm monsters in the fields to earn experience and Zeny, the currency in the Ragnarok world. Pretty simple, right? However, in this game, the highlight isn’t the combat system, but the rest of the game mechanics, which affect how you build your character. Players may choose to play as a Swordsman, Mage or Acolyte, and they can change their jobs or classes after reaching a certain level. Each character class may have different builds. This is where Ragnarok: War of Gods shines as well as gets tricky.

There are two level branches per character — the base level and the job level. Every time a character gains a base level, he is given status points, which he will then distribute among five attributes. The key here is to focus on building two or three attributes that you will focus on in order to come up with a build that will suit your play style.

On the other hand, every time a character gains a job level, he is given a single skill point, which he can use to upgrade an existing skill. Building your character’s attribute goes hand-in-hand with building your skills and in turn, both skills and attributes affect what kind of equipment your character will use.

The character building system is something I like in this game because it makes up for the abundance of rote monster farming. What I don’t like, however, is how my monster-killing gets interrupted by the monotony of having to go home to sell my stuff because inventory space ran out too quickly and once it does, I am either slowed down or immobilized. To avoid this, players can either use inventory expansion items or choose which items to pick up.

Visuals and interface: Yes, they use 2D chibi anime sprites

Ragnarok: War of Gods is made up of a 2D sprite world with cute anime-like designs, which is exactly like Ragnarok Online. In fact, the character, enemy, and NPC sprites, as well as buildings, attack and skill animations, emoticons, and other elements are taken straight from Ragnarok Online. I believe this is to attract and please the players of the original Ragnarok Online. And in my case, it worked.

Since the game is played via a mobile device, I expected that movement in the game would be simple. Ragnarok: War of Gods offers two ways for players to move about. Players may tap on the screen or use an in-game directional pad. There are also two methods in talking to NPCs and attacking monsters. These alternative methods are convenient especially for people with large fingers that prohibit accuracy on the screen. Also, the in-game directional pad saves players from continuously tapping on the screen to get somewhere. You can just hold the in-game pad towards one direction that your character will keep on walking.

Audio: What just happened?

The game uses the midi format for music, and that’s understandable from a nolstalgic standpoint. I even liked that they used familiar background music and sound effects from Ragnarok Online. What I didn’t like, however, is how it is looped. Background music usually plays continuously without noticeable breaks or with fade-out, fade-in silence in between.

In this case however, the background music looped with awkward breaks. I also understand how background music sets the mood for action and adventure, but in the field map, the background music felt quite off. It was too heavy and energetic for my taste. I ended up turning off the background music and continued playing with the regular sound effects, which worked just fine for me.

The verdict

Ragnarok: War of Gods is for gamers who like to think and calculate about character builds and reaping the fruits of their deliberations. It involves a lot of computation, logic, probability, and patience. It is not for gamers who prefer to skip the thinking and jump into the action. Nor does it rely purely on getting great equipment and learning the best spells. If you do not pay attention to the character building system, you might perceive it to be a boring tap-and-kill routine-based game.

Both patient and veteran players will enjoy this game. If you previously played Ragnarok Online, I definitely recommend this. It will stir up nostalgia in your stomach. You will remember your old characters, your old party-mates, and guild-mates. The first few minutes will remind you of your first character, your anticipation of learning a reliable set of skills, and your boss-hunting sprees.