Order & Chaos Online

After buying this game, I really, really thought it was worth my time & effort to write a little review. The game has only been out for a few days, so this is by no means a complete review.


Enjoy :)


Order & Chaos is a MMORPG for most iOS devices.

The game is made by Gameloft they are pretty much known for taking popular console or PC games and making a similar game for your mobile device.  There are allot of people that complain about this.  But I for one am happy they do this because you get very ambitious games like this.  Also they do a pretty decent job at it.  This game will be mainly compared to a little game you may have heard of called World of Warcraft.

Order & Chaos Online is £3.99 in the App Store.  This comes with 3 months of online subscription.  As far as I can tell you can keep on playing even if you do not pay the monthly fee - you just get limited access to in-game content. After the 3 months you will need to pay monthly at 59p, 3 months at £1.19, or 6 months for £1.79.  I don't feel this price is to much if they are able to keep people interested and able to provide new content.


The game contains 4 races Human, Elf, Orc, Undead.  You can then choose between male or female.  Then you can choose your class Warrior (good we weapons and armor), Mage (powerful spell caster), Monk (important healing skills), Ranger (good a ranged weapons). When you get to customizing it seems a little limited.  So not sure how many configurations of characters you are going to see out there.

The controls are fairly standard for this kind of 3rd person view you have.  The left side virtual thumb stick controls your characters movement.  You can swipe just about anywhere else to look around.  On the right you have your options for attacks and spells and jumping.  


Menus are pretty straight forward.  You can look at your Bag it contains your items.  Under Character you see what clothing, armor, weapons you have equipped.  Quest is where you can select or view and drop quests you have accepted.  Spells is where you can change the spells you are using also under Talents you can upgrade your talent tree.  I have not gotten much into the Social or Team options but will try them out soon.

Graphics on this game are very good.  This could easily be one of the best looking games on the iOS platform at the moment, and shows the iPhone / iPad can compete with the DS & PSP. Although the screen looks a bit cramped on the iPhone version, it still looks amazing.



I don't have allot to talk about game play other then it seem to be pretty standard getting a quest and doing what you need to finish it.  I am hoping there is some good variety in the quests.  I really don't want it to be come a grind fest. The game is also missing a few key items that I hope Gameloft will bring soon. There are no Dungeons, no real raids & no Mounts. None of there are missed at the moment, but when players start hitting the level cap (I believe it's 50 right now), these thing will be essential to the games survival.

I believe this is a game that will keep me playing for some time. It wont make me leave Final Fantasy XIV or Rift, but I think this it's a game I can pickup and play when there is nothing on the TV, or when i'm in work :). This could really be World Of Warcraft mobile. After I get some more time into this game I will post a full review.
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/order-chaos-online/id414664715?mt=8

Enter the RIFT

So this is my Rift Review. I'll address what I think makes the game good, bad, and unique with a lot of in depth points. So let's get to it, shall we? 

I've been playing the game for a total of 8 days now, and believe i have experienced a lot in the game itself, and with all this under the belt, it's time I voiced a good opinion on the game.


Factions
The first thing I note about the factions, is they actually make themselves feel alive. Before the Shade and Regulos' reemergence, it's possible to believe that at some point in time that the two factions were just one wide planet with some key differences, and then they had their two radical splits. This is different then most MMO's where everyone hate's each other for the sake of it, while here everyone hate each other because of this great disaster and the sides chosen

Races
Each of the six races on Telara have their own unique feel to them, and while not many, their racial buffs get to the point and save a lot of the unneeded 'well this is nice, but this doesn't fit' factor. And unless you're an RP'er, or you really hate the ideals of a faction, you can base your race on what you want to do, with the racial buffs seamlessly fitting into place.

Character Creation
This is one of the THE best character creators I've seen in an MMO, in fact the only thing better I could think of is the creation depth of Dragon Age: Origins. Though I do with there were a lot more markings and many more hairstyles. 

Starting Zones
While from a flavor perspective, and the sake of telling the story, I can see why everyone gets the same starting area. However one of the few things that I did like about WoW was that everyone got their own starting area. While doubtful, I am hoping that when the game is released, everyone does get their own starting area, and the Future Story is something special for the beta testers. 

The World
Short of that feeling that everything starts out seeming like other MMO's, it has a very unique feel to it. The random appearances of Rifts drastically changing the environment around them is a real boon, as it's always fun to have one open up right on top of you. As you move along in the world, it starts to feel less and less similar, and more like it's own unique place.

The Classes
Much like all games, you get your set of classes, and what makes each one unique isn't so much the base class as the different souls you can combine. I've never seen a game have such depth in simply taking your character where you want. Want to be an effective healer AND an effective tank? it can be done. Want to fight from long range and teleport? It can be done. Self healing DPS? It can be done. The amount of different combination given by the soul trees is amazing, and it's one thing that I feel will keep the game fresh for quite some time. 

Graphics
The graphics will require some people to get upgrades, but I feel that the age of making games for everyone's graphics are coming to an end. It's visually stunning to see the game on high settings, and if you really intend to shell out for this game, i suggest a graphics upgrade. The animations are well done, though narrow. This isn't a bad thing, since when you take a look, most MMO's have between 5-10 animations that they reuse with different flares for uniqueness. 

Crafting
There's not much for me to say about crafting short of it feels like most MMO professions and that I haven't done much with my professions due to simply enjoying the game itself. It feels very Warcraft, where I personally prefer the Crafting on Final Fantasy XIV.

Conclusion 
After playing Warcraft (2 Years), Final Fantasy XI (6 Years) & Final Fantasy XIV (6 months), I can say that this is so much of a refreshing change to me. WoW was fun, but it seemed so forced to someone like me, who generally didn't like it as much as the kids do. Warcraft is very cartoon-like, and is soooooo easy. Even my 10 year old has a level 51 character!! And he has only been on Warcraft for 8 months. Final Fantasy XI & XIV are the complete opposite of Warcraft. Leveling is hard, Crafting is hard, and in Final Fantasy XI, getting a party together is almost impossible nowadays. Final Fantasy XI & XIV makes you earn everything, where Warcraft gives you everything.
I have high hopes for Rift. The graphics are 2nd only to Final Fantasy XIV, and the gameplay is easy to pick up like Warcraft, but I feel everything is not fed to you on a spoon like Warcraft.

Although Final Fantasy XIV will remain my number 1 MMO, Rift now overtakes Warcraft in number 2.