When you hear the word MMO, you usually think of PC greats like World of Warcraft, Runescape or Guild Wars. Recently however, more and more of them have been appearing on the App Store, but due to the limitations of iOS, many have been of poor quality. Gameloft has thrown their latest effort into the mix, but does it have the quality that so many others lack?
Order & Chaos Online in essence is the World of Warcraft of iOS. In fact, it is so similar that gamers could easily be convinced that Blizzard made the game themselves. The graphics, quests, characters, areas and abilities all mimic those from the smash-hit MMO, and WoW gamers will certainly feel at home in the game. The amount of detail is astonishing. There are more items, quests, areas, characters, abilities and classes than I have seen in any other mobile game, and even more than some PC titles. Before you start the game, you have to make a character, and can choose from four races (Orc, Undead, Human and Elf) and four classes (Warrior, Mage, Ranger and Monk), all allowing the different roles of tanks, DPS’ers and healers. Players are allowed to create up to four different characters per account, and each can be customised in appearance to give hundreds of possible combinations.
Like most RPG’s, your earn experience points from completing quests and killing enemies, allowing characters to level-up and get stronger. At various levels you also unlock skill points which you can use to upgrade current abilities, or learn new ones. This means that everyone’s character is different. As you travel through the world, you will discover new areas, encounter new foes, and pick up new weapons and items. For new MMO players, the game offers very useful tooltips (which can be turned off) to ease them into the system. Crafting abilities also exist, and allow levelling and creation of items to enhance player’s performance. Players can also group up together to complete more challenging quests, or chat together. Additionally, there are global and local chats, which really make the community atmosphere feel great. There is also the option to join Guilds allowing groups of different races and classes to come together, chat and quest. Friends can be added too. Though the game features no Player vs Player at the moment, it does allow duelling.
Order & Chaos has many great minor features as well. The world map makes it easier to travel between locations, and an arrow guide allows players to see where they need go to complete quests. Autorun and jump actions are also included. The graphics really do the game justice as well. Though they are not the prettiest seen on iOS, the amount of players on screen, and number of animations possible at any given time is really amazing. Enemy and NPC variety is vast, and the world surroundings look lovely. The game music and sounds are fantastic too. They sound effects help bring the world to life, and the music is as epic as you can get on iOS.
The game servers are also fantastic. When connected to my wireless home network, I receive no lag. Multitasking is also made very easy as the game simply sync’s you back into the server (which takes a matter of seconds) when you exit the app, instead of having to make you login again. Sometimes however, the servers can feel over-populated. This doesn’t affect performance, but you can be waiting with five other people just for one enemy to spawn for a quest. This will die-down over time, and happened with all major RPG’s on release, but is a nuisance at the moment.
Looking past the game’s depth, there are a few other flaws. If you are a World of Warcraft veteran, you really won’t find a lot in the game you haven’t seen before. That’s not to say it isn’t enjoyable, but there won’t be a great deal to discover. Though you can tell Gameloft have done the best they can with the control system, they are still very hard to use. An improved zoom function would make movement easier. The huge amount of items, options and abilities that players can use simply means that when playing on the iPhone, the limited space creates issues. It’s not uncommon in the middle of a fight to accidently untarget your enemy. This can get fairly annoying after a while. Players must also be aware that the game is a battery drainer. Though it’s understandable with all the graphics and sounds that feature in the game, and the constant connect to the network, it’s handy to have a charger nearby for those who intend on playing for extended periods of time.
Order & Chaos Online is a brilliant game. There is no denying it is current king of MMO’s on iOS. Though there are a few minor issues with the controls, with future updates hopefully these can be fixed. If Gameloft keeps improving the game with further content, Order & Chaos could be one of the longest-living mobile games ever. It is certainly worth its original price tag of £3.99, and if you enjoyed it like I did, the small monthly subscription fee will seem minimal when compared to the content you receive.
Final Score – 9/10
You can download Order & Chaos Online from the App Store for £3.99.
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