Mobile game reviews
TECHLIFE’S TEAM REVIEWS THE LATEST GAMES FOR ANDROID & iOS SMARTPHONES & TABLETS.
YOU CAN MANUALLY CONTROL BASIC AND SKILL-BASED ATTACKS FOR YOUR CHARACTERS, SWITCH BETWEEN THEM AT WILL...
Dragalia Lost ACTION RPG, NINTENDO STYLE. Free with IAP
REGULAR READERS OF these reviews would be aware by now that I am a huge fan of mobile RPGs – there is just something fun about that almost constant progression, limited events, time-based challenges and perfecting those builds. Dragalia Lost is another fixed scenario dungeon crawler, separated into both a story mode and a variety of other modes – including PVP, Co-Op, Limited Time events to get rare characters and equipment, and the usual other additions. The differences here are mainly related to the Dragon transformation abilities, which allow you to mix and match in order to gain an advantage against different types of enemies.
As gameplay goes, it’s fairly like other games of its type – you can manually control basic and skill-based attacks for your characters, switch between them at will, or turn on the “auto” feature to instead control just the skills and advanced attacks. The enemy types are fun, and the bosses varied enough in style and strategy to keep you addicted. Many of the limited time events can vary from adding a character to your team to level up or meet certain conditions, or simply completing difficult tasks. The art style is great, a mixture of 2D/3D sprites with a slick drawn aesthetic, combined with a generous suite of free summons to bulk out and build up your team.
If anything, the main problem with Dragalia is that it tends to be a little grindy, especially when it comes to completing the vast array of daily tasks. Some of the limited time events are just that – very short – and require a lot of activity in an extraordinary condensed amount of time. That said, its simple to team up with other players to smash through a lot of difficult bosses and it’s a lot of fun to figure out which elements work in the more advanced levels. Nintendo still thinks it’s a good idea to use friend codes, however, which makes it far more difficult to play with your friends than it should be.
LifeAfter ZOMBIE SURVIVAL IN YOUR POCKET. Free with IAP
LIFEAFTER IS A unique experience in that it tries to pack what is ostensibly a full console or PC experience – surviving an ongoing zombie horde via scavenging your surroundings with others – onto mobile, which is generally considered less of a “long term play” device. One of the larger problems with running games like these on phones is that players are much likelier to disconnect after short periods of play – they get a text, or a call, or just flick the app out of the view. This makes teaming up with strangers almost entirely pointless for collaboration.
The developers, Netease, have done an impressive job in building a large, detailed and populated open world, as well as a system that creatively manages the pop-in and out of players in a manner that seems to suit the “team survival” ethos. Controls are like those of Fortnite and PUBG – contextual based on the situation on screen, whether fighting off fast moving zombies, mining resources or crafting new weapons or parts of your base.
That said, the game is obviously in the final stages of localisation – there is a lot of Mandarin scattered across images and text in the game, although many of it is superficial and not important to play. If you are a fan of hardcore experiences like these and want something on the go – you could do worse.