Let’s get this out of the way, Square Enix’s Chaos Rings Ω [$11.99 / HD] is identical to the original Chaos Rings in more ways than one. In fact, its differences are so few, it’s hard to differentiate the two and considering Chaos Rings Ω follows the original by a full year, that’s going to be a bit disappointing to fans of the first game looking for something new.
By the nature of the narrative in the first game, there is little in the way of expanding the Battle Royale style storyline, which pits you in a fight to the death against a random collection of couples abducted to an arena for the sake of proving their battle-worthiness. Even though this is billed as a prequel, it’s still not the “first" time this the tournament has gone down and it’s clearly not the last.
Where the first game told the story from several different viewpoints, Chaos Rings Ω decides instead to tell the main story of Vieg (who you’ll recognize from the first game, perhaps a bit younger looking). This might be a bit jarring to fans of the multiple viewpoints of the first game, but it does allow Chaos Rings Ω to tell a slightly more cohesive story.
The setting is the exact same and that goes for the dungeons as well. They’re varied in layout, but considering the first games dungeon designs were essentially randomly put together screens, that’s not really saying much. Since there are different characters, the narrative is tweaked slightly, including a ridiculous mother/child plot involving a not-at-all-pregnant-looking woman who happens to be your wife. Dialogue is on par with the first as well, which is to say, it reads like it’s something closer to fan fiction. Because of that, there are plenty of inadvertent jokes — for instance, during a cut scene where your wife is giving birth, an ill-timed achievement called “Pelvic Pummeler" will pop up in relation to a boss fight you just completed.
But if you liked the style and story of the first game, you’ll enjoy this one too. Without spoiling things, you’ll seen connections between the two games and get a few explanations of how the Ark Arena works and where certain situations and characters from the first game came from.
Combat, movement, the menus; everything else is the same as the first. That includes the ability to turn off random enemy encounters or alternately, to force one into happening. The puzzles are back this time too, but you can skip them if you fail three times. Combat works on the same two-person tactic as the first, which offers entry level RPG fans a clear and simple system to go with and it’s mixed with enough complexity that you can take it to some extremes to deal hefty damage, but the game doesn’t really challenge you to do so as often as it could. There is also a ludicrously over-done tutorial system at the beginning of the game, which features a tutorial for how to use the “options" menu for no apparent reason.
The same goes for the graphics, which are, to be frank, identical to the first, oftentimes seemingly taking assets directly from the original and changing their color. While Chaos Rings had a bit of a shock-and-awe factor going for it, Chaos Rings Ω doesn’t. The weirdly pixelated static backgrounds and poorly textured character designs look significantly dated now. It shouldn’t really matter, but as a whole, it looks like they weren’t trying too hard.
There are a flurry of post-release updates planned, including increased level caps and bosses (which only makes sense after you finish the game), but based on their descriptions alone, they don’t really seem that interesting unless you’re an absolute die-hard fan. If nothing else, it’s nice to see Square Enix is coming around to the App Store update model, at least a little bit.
By the end of it all, Chaos Rings Ω is solely for diehard fans of Chaos Rings and with the first game currently on sale, you’ll be better of starting there if you’re just a curious passerby. It’s not bad by any means, but it doesn’t even pretend to offer anything different or new. More is more — so if that’s all you’re asking for, you’ll be happy with the way the story fills in the gaps of the first, but if you didn’t like the first or wanted new battle systems or combat, you’ll be disappointed.
Looks like it's not available in Germany. Too sad :(
USA either. Maybe it was pulled.
Darn it, I want to see this!
It's available in the US now. They jumped the gun on announcing it.
Same here, can't get it in Germany. Maybe it was only released in certain countries?
Also: do Steam codes work globally or are there also US/European/etc... versions?
Hey guys, I think the game is still propagating through iTunes servers, and it might take a bit for it to show up for you. Really sorry about the inconvenience!
Can't wait for it to appear on the UK store. Phillip, how many hours of game play would you say The Heist has? Is this by Taptaptap?
I would guesstimate 2-3 hours to beat it, and maybe 4-6 depending to 100%? It's really designed for quick pockets of play here and there though. And yep, it's a tap tap tap app.
I did it in under an hour. Free Game at the end is interesting.
Hey, there it is ^^ (german store)
Yeah, it's back on USA too.
I'd like to know what the game is that you unlock, and is there only one game, or do different people get different games?
Got it :)
I just beat it and I got a copy of Eets from Steam. I'm slightly bummed, since I own it on XBLA and beat it years ago. Can't complain about the The Heist, though. Still a great puzzle game.
Am I the only one that thinks this trailer is a bit cheesy? lol Nevertheless, I'm probably gonna get the game lol.
All of MacHeist's trailers/clips are cheesy. It's what they do ;)
Anyone else finish it and get a different prize? Just wondering if there are more possibilities.
trying to beat it now. i'd rather not get eets though.
Forget the game , im in love with the chick in the video , love her accent ;)
Then you shouldn't forget the game. Check it out :)
Yes, love the obvious fake accent...... Though, if you follow macheist, you are used to it.
Not loving Eets at all. Way to childish for me (if that makes sense).
This comment section is about The Heist...
And since Eets is the reward for playing The Heist, I think it's fine to talk about it too.
I liked the "inter-activeness" of this app. Starting the game and receiving a fake phone call was genius! More games need to play like this...
Anyone remember the "Majestic" game by EA back in the day? Let's get THAT going again on the iPhone!
You spoiled the second coolest thing about this app without needing to. Try to be more vague in the future. I just tell people it uses the medium in an interesting way.
A lot of the fun of it was being surprised
My apologizes for discussing an event which happened 15 seconds after launching the app.
It's okay. Next time just take a breath and try to contain your excitement in the future, and use some more self restraint.
Hopefully people don't scroll down this far, or you could edit your post possibly
thats it/? thank god for this otherwise i would have died of curiosity. overhyped gimmicks lol.
What's this "really cool feature" I don't know what it is