Fourth Time's A Charm With Arcane Legends

Spacetime Studios has landed back in time with its second fantasy themed MMO for iOS, Android, and as an app for Google Chrome. Spacetime heads back to their roots, and creates their second MMORPG in the fantasy genre after visiting both Scifi, and goth/vampire worlds. Hold on to your broadswords, we’re taking a look at Arcane Legends.

Our adventure starts (after falling asleep waiting for patches and content to download ) at our character customization screen, where my first disappointment set in; gender-locked classes. Warriors are male. Rogues are female, and the Wizard is some odd hybrid of Papa Smurf and a Weeble. I would have much preferred androgynous bodies and gender specific heads for players if this was a decision based on not having to make duplicate content. (Armor for both male and female bodies is generally created as two separate game assets.)

Then we pick our wonderful companion to accompany us on our journey. Which was a little odd, and of course, I had to choose the Turtle with the racing flag attached to its back that grants movement speed as a bonus. I half expected to also find a NOS sticker on the bottom of his shell, but was not able to maneuver the camera to verify if this was the case.

While the game may play similar to their first title, Pocket Legends, I personally enjoyed being able to be human, and not a fuzzy bi-pedal animal with a bow this time around. As a huge fan of this genre, and having played entirely too many titles in it, I have a pretty high set of standards. Arcane Legends, and any of the titles in this series really, do a fantastic job of bringing an MMO to portable devices. One of the major fall backs of non-local multiplayer gaming on mobile devices is the lack of inter-player communication; it’s hard to get a party started and get players to tackle challenges with.

Arcane Legends fixes this issue with a very clean instancing system for its areas. Players are automatically sorted into smaller groups and funneled into play areas with players their like level to accomplish quest objectives and crush foes, without needing to spam LFG! (Looking For Group) in the game’s towns. The game will rotate players in and out of your group as you progress but if you find someone you enjoy playing with, invite them to a party, and you will stay linked with them as you progress.

The game has three varying classes that each come with eight active cast-able skills, and each of those skills has four upgrade perks, that you can pick in any order, which in my opinion is an awesome skill system. Each character has five equipment slots (Weapon, Helmet, Armor, Ring, and Amulet) which will vary in appearance and stats as you collect drops of ranging rarity throughout the game.

Arcane Legends does a great job of keeping the tittle filled with “off-topic” content. Daily, non-story related quests, achievement system, pet collection, and PvP keep me busy for a desktop title, let alone a handheld. On that note, truth be told, I installed Google Chrome just to play this on my desktop as well.

This title has me hooked, and I’ll be playing this well beyond my timeline for these reviews. I mean, how could I resist decimating hordes of undead minions lurching my way – with an axe that somewhat resembles a large boat anchor?

Graphics:

The colors Spot, the colors! This bright and happy title, may appear a little on the childish side, but what it lacks in gore, it makes up in with crisp, enticing visuals, that don’t necessarily pull me in with realism, but create a wonderful visual aesthetic that is quite pleasing to the eye.

Gameplay:

This game is not quite perfect, and scoring a 5 in this category is hard, that means I don’t find a fault anywhere and wouldn’t change anything. But this game comes about as close to a 5 as it could without getting it. While I feel the item system would be better with more items abound, and the drop rate is a little on the low side. I did find enough items to keep me playing and not ragequit over losing a new sword to a fellow warrior.

Audio:

The music does a wonderful job of setting the mood and creating an atmosphere where I feel things are all connected. It’s very important for a game’s graphical style and audio style to flow and mesh well and Arcane Legends nails that. The BGM tracks are great, and the sound effects for ambient noises and combat are both exactly where they should be.

Innovation:

Do not take my low score in this category as a massive wound to the title. This game is great in a lot of aspects, but it didn’t exactly do anything ground breaking. While one of the very few cross platform MMORPGS on the market, that was its only high point in terms of innovation. That’s not to say that Arcane legends doesn’t do what it does very well, just that it didn’t exactly blow my mind with unique features and mechanics.

Overall:

Wow, what a gem. I have a soft spot for MMORPGS, but really this game takes the cake. Sure a better drop rate and more varied equipment would be nice, but as time goes on, I’m sure things will change in those departments. This title is a must play from me and if you see an “Owctony” warrior walking around, feel free to send me a friend invite and let me know you read the blog!