MMObile - Classic JRPGs & a Stellar Wanderer

For those of you who can’t get enough gaming at home on your computer, mobile games are a must.  With a never-ending assortment of games out there and new ones being released by the day, it may be hard to keep up with the mobile world.  With this new column, we’ll give you a quick rundown of what is new out there so you have a good idea what direction to aim. 

This week holds the long awaited release of Stellar Wanderer, an outer space styled RPG where you can customize and level up your ship, mine asteroids for minerals, and fight space pirates.  With a massive galaxy to venture forth in and a great story line, it is definitely something that can keep your attention; however, a few things trouble me about this game.  The first being that whenever you fail to complete a mission or die you have to resort back to the start of the mission before launch, which gets fairly troubling during the early missions while still trying to get a grasp of the game.

The other disappointing feature is the lack of multiplayer, and by lack of, I mean there is none.  Trading, battling, and grouping with other players would bring this game to a whole new level, without it though it’s just a single player EVE online for your phone.  Which is still fairly impressive, but with this game being $4.99 on the App Store so it really calls to beckon if it’s worth the trouble.

Another fun game that came out is the global launch of NEXON’s Medal Masters, a casual RPG that you can pick up and put down anytime.  The gameplay is 2D multi-lane stages (think Mario) and has an extremely passive play-style and an auto-battle feature.  This game advertises 245 playable characters, which in reality is only about 50 or so with up to 6 different variations of power.  The heroes that are used are based on real life entities, you can get anyone from Napoleon Bonaparte to the Egyptian god Anubis.  Along with 5 different types of play modes that you can choose from, this game surely has the right combination to make sure you don’t get bored too quickly, but it is also a game that could be hard to grab and keep your attention.

Also available at the store is Legend Borne, a pseudo MMO that has a little newer take on the genre.  Instead of having one setting for your base camp or a town, there are three different stages to the game, the city, the walls, and the world.  The city is where your barracks, town hall, and other buildings are held, while the walls are where the defenses are mines are kept.  While in world view you can venture away from your kingdom by discovering new parts of the fogged out land.  By doing this you have a chance of unlocking various battles and events. 

This is the most fun I’ve had battling with a game of this genre.  Just like any other one, battles are done by storming through the walls and defenses of your enemy and into their city to claim their town hall and be victorious.  Legend Borne differentiates itself by having a more linear pace to the combat as well as starting out with heroes and special abilities. 

A few other titles that came out this week are Blackwell 5: Epiphany, the final game in the Blackwell series, which concludes the epic storyline very well.  For the remakes, the revolutionary Final Fantasy IX finally makes its way to mobile (it came out a little early!), as well as the second installment to one of the original classic JRPGs, Ys Chronicles II.  All three of these games you have to be willing to pay for, but if you’re a fan of any of these series, I’m sure it won’t sting too bad. 

We’ll be back in 2 weeks to give you another update from the store.  Until then, Happy Gaming!