Review:
Izanagi Online is a free-to-play, 3D mobile MMORPG developed and published by Asobimo Inc, a popular Japan-based MMORPG developer known for their mobile games, Avabel Online and IRUNA Online. Izanagi Online was out in Japan for over a year before it was finally translated into English and released worldwide on April 2, 2015. Izanagi Online was built on the Unreal 3 Engine and has a unique ninja theme. This game offers top notch graphics and the characters were designed by a famous visual and graphical designer. Does this new persistent world mobile MMORPG match up to Asobimo’s high standards or was it released 1-2 years too late?
Classes and Character Creation
Izanagi Online offers traditional fantasy MMORPG classes with a unique ninja twist to them. These classes include: A powerful and tanky two-handed Warrior, a silent and deadly Assassin, a fragile but explosive Mage, and a healing and support-based Priest. Warriors are balanced between attack and defense and have a unique class-based ability to block. Assassins portray the stereotypical Japanese ninjas with quick and deadly strikes, shurikens and leaping attacks, and the unique ability to dodge. Mages have low health but can dish out high amounts of damage via ranged magical spells (most of which also moves them backwards to maintain distance from the enemy) and have the ability to recharge their mana. Priests are similar to Mages but have more supportive (buff) and healing spells and a special Barrier skill. Each class has different gameplay as well as different weapons and armor. Players can choose one of these classes, male or female, and customize their characters with a decent amount of face, hairstyle, hair color, and skin color options.
The Open World of Izanagi Online
Izanagi Online has a large 3D persistent open world. After completing a tutorial full of interesting cutscenes and story elements, players start in a town where they will find many other players roaming around. Unlike a lot of online mobile RPGs, both the town and outside areas are fully persistent. The world is technically semi-open world though since the world is broken up into different zones outside of town. However, these zones are huge and are filled with lots of different terrain, monsters, and NPCs. There are caves to explore, plants and other materials to gather, and lots of monsters to fight, which include some big boss monsters that can be found both in dungeons and in the main world outside.
“Unreal Graphics”
The graphics in Izanagi Online look spectacular. Izanagi Online is one of the few mobile games created with the Unreal 3 Engine, which is capable of producing console quality graphics. The textures are detailed and sharp and the animations are smooth. The game has a dark, gloomy theme to it so the graphics don’t look super bright and colorful but they are good for what the game was going for. The characters in Izanagi Online were designed by Takashi Okazaki, a famous designer most known for writing and illustrating the manga, Afro Samurai. No doubt he was the perfect person to design the characters in this dark, ninja-themed MMORPG. The graphics and designs fit the game’s “ninja and demons” theme well and this is one of the best looking MMORPGs on mobile.
Questing: Back to the Basics
Questing in Izanagi Online feels very traditional, which may be a good thing for players familiar with PC MMORPGs. Players will generally find themselves running around town (which is fairly large) talking to NPCs, meeting other players, and fighting monsters outside of town. There are a lot of quests to accept which gives players something to do other than to grind and these quests usually involve killing a certain number of monsters, obtaining a certain number of monster drops, gathering materials, and talking to other NPCs. Each NPC has quest dialogue that provides a somewhat interesting read for those interested in the game’s lore. Questing is fairly generic, but provides objectives for players and gives the game a PC MMORPG feel to it. There’s also a handy quest arrow that guides players to where they need to go.
Combat: The Good and the Bad
Izanagi Online is yet another mobile MMORPG with action, hack and slash combat but there’s good news and bad news about it. Players can move their characters with a virtual joystick and have a button to attack as well as skills to use and a special class ability. Different classes vary greatly in combat gameplay due to their different skills, class ability, and attack style. The action combat makes the fighting more engaging and the smooth animations and flashy skills make it pleasing on the eyes.
However, there is some bad news. Although the attack animations look smooth, it is the attacking itself that feels clunky. First of all, it is a bit hard to aim your attacks. Unlike a lot of mobile games that simply guide your attacks into your enemies, in Izanagi Online, your character will only attack the direction in which your camera is facing. Meaning, if your character is facing the enemy but your camera angle isn’t, you will start whacking forward in a straight line instead of in the direction of the monster. Players have to position the camera so that monsters are “12 o’clock” from their characters in order to attack their enemies.
Attack animations also cannot be cancelled, so if you’re in the middle of an attack and want to block (Warrior), dodge (Assassin), or just move out the way, you have to wait for the attack animation to end (which has a slight delay in ending) and then do an action, such as move. It ends up feeling a bit clunky and doesn’t feel as smooth as most newer action RPGs on mobile. In its defense though, this game was released in Japan 1-2 years ago. This combat system would have been considered amazing 1-2 years ago before all the better action RPGs came out, but it is still decent once you get used to the aiming and attack delays. It can still be very annoying when you’re fighting bosses and need to dodge fast but can’t. Also this game doesn’t have PVP, which will disappoint many players.
Cash Shop/In-App Purchases (IAP)
In-app purchases in Izanagi Online feature a variety of different items that provide advantages and cosmetics but are not required to progress in the game. A large part of the IAP Store consists of lotteries for equipment, items, and Avatars (costumes). The lotteries are separated into different categories and players have chances to obtain high ranked weapons and armors, items such as experience boosts, return scrolls, repair kits, appraisal kits, enhancement items, and more, special Avatars that do not increase stats, and in-game gold. The items can also be bought separately without going through the lottery. Players can also purchase inventory and treasure box expansions. The special weapons and armors can give paying members an edge in combat, although powerful weapons and armors can be found and enhanced without paying. The experience boosts reduce grinding time and the other items are also useful convenience-wise. The Avatars and expansion items aren’t really necessary though. Overall, even though IAPs in this game can provide some advantages, it is not entirely necessary and the game has no PVP so these advantages can’t really affect other players.
Final Verdict – Great
Overall, Izanagi Online is a great open world MMORPG on mobile devices with amazing graphics. Despite the clunky combat, Izanagi Online offers top notch graphics, a large persistent world, a unique and well-designed dark ninja theme, lots of quests, and fair in-app purchases that make it a great mobile MMORPG despite its late release into English.
