By now, most App Store gamers shouldn’t really be surprised by Gameloft’s method of operation. Basically, they “borrow heavily” from a popular style of console game and come up with their own version of it. Opinions are mixed on whether this is right, wrong, good, or bad. But regardless of your feelings towards Gameloft, it’s hard to argue with some of the compelling gameplay experiences that they’ve brought to iOS that we might not otherwise have. One of the newest offerings from them is called Eternal Legacy [$6.99], released earlier today, and is a riff of the most recent Final Fantasy console games.
I’ve spent a bit of time with Eternal Legacy today, and like most of Gameloft’s other titles, it’s not bad, and offers a comparable experience to the game that they draw inspiration from. For what is supposed to be a story-driven game, the borderline laughable voice acting detracts from the experience some. But the story itself is fairly engaging, and the turn-based battle sequences are a lot of fun. Plus, it has feminine male characters that carry huge swords, so really, what more could you want?
Enemies roam around the 3D environments in Eternal Legacy, so you have an idea of when you’ll be engaging in battle. There can be up to 3 members in your party, but you’ll only have full control over the main character by default, though you can change this in the options. You can choose from a number of different attacks, skills, or items to use during battle. Up to 3 of these can be queued up and a small timer gauge denotes when each move will be executed. The secondary characters in your party will perform moves on their own, but you can choose the demeanor of those moves, such as if they should attack enemies or focus on healing your party.
You will also have full control over equipping each character in your party, and there are a ton of equipment and weapon options. Also, you can collect rare fragments that can be fused with your equipment to add special properties to them, like fire damage or healing. There’s quite a lot going on in Eternal Legacy, and the game does an excellent job at walking you through the process each time you do something new. The menus are all clean and easy to navigate, and the default setup of the gameplay is very conducive to gaming on the go.
For anybody who has been looking for a fully 3D RPG experience that is similar to a contemporary Final Fantasy game, Eternal Legacy should quell that desire pretty well. The battling is entertaining, with plenty of weapons and gear to equip, the magical skill attacks have over-the-top animations and graphical effects, and there appears to be a sufficiently interesting storyline if you can look past some of the terrible voice acting (or better yet, turn it off altogether in the options screen). The environments are pretty linear, but look nice visually and still contain a good amount of areas to explore and secrets to discover.
If you’re looking for some more information or further impressions on Eternal Legacy, check out the thread in our forums which has been abuzz with activity regarding the game all day long.
After playin Infinity Blade with its graphics, it makes all other games look sub par.
I disagree. Yes, IB looks amazing, but the gameplay is linear, limited, and repetitive.
There are thousands upon thousands of amazing top notch quality games out there that beat the pants of IB, all with much lesser graphics. Quality of graphics is not what makes a game, it has to have a heart and a soul. That is what is important.
I have to agree with both of you!
Graphics are a huge part of what can make a game worth playing, and I’ll reject a game sometimes on looks alone (esthetics and fun do relate to each other). But how a game looks is still secondary to other factors, and looking “really good" instead of “best ever” is OK.
(On the other hand, IB does do some interesting things with game play—it gets some innovation points too.)
I’m just glad to see more and more shooters with real environments instead of just an open space with a couple obstacles.
true gamers enjoy a good story not visual effects you don't bother noticing when you're too busy dodging your opponents next attack.
Thousands and thousands of games that beat the pants off of Infinity Blade? Obviously you're not talking in terms of graphics and obviously you're not talking about iDevices. Graphics are an important part of multimodal new media such as video games, perhaps not more important than what we call "playability", but it is still an important part of the mix. Granted hyper-realistic isn't appropriate for EVERY game style, it works with Infinity Blade. Infinity Blade actually uses the unique human-computer interface available on iDevices; Max Adventure looks like an unimaginative, amateur pile of crap. Also, linear is a valid narrative style; name me a successful non-linear game on an iDevice (Max Adventure looks to be linear). Would love to see your list of "thousands upon thousands" of top notch video games; theres only a handful on iDevices, and Infinity Blade is one.
I thought this was a PC gaming site...
This looks like a blast. Insta-buy for me (and I am also enjoying Infinity Blade right now).
looks a bit dated like it's from back when minigore was popular. Still could be fun though.
The game looks like a potentially fun twist on a dual-stick shooter genre but the music... Oh the agony! Try as I might I am unsure how a demented, untinentionally clesmer-like, messy auditory assault made it into this potentially fun game! The audio in the trailer is truly atrocious. I sincerely hope that Imangi will change their mind about the awful audio and fix it soon after the release.
Oh wow. To each his own I guess but I loved the music. It suits the game perfectly. Also, tbqh, I didnt notice it much when I played through the game first time (beta 1), but the moment I started playing the second beta, I couldnt believe how much I liked the music. Maybe I just like simple soothing music or it just grows on you with time, whatever it is, I didnt find the music as annoying at all.
Wow. First you email us trying to get us to use your music, which was a bad copy of the Mario Galaxy soundtrack but I was too nice to say so. Then you blast MY music in public like that? Very professional, Gene Rozenberg. We'll definitely want to work with you in the future and recommend you to all our friends.
Oh, is that true? The nerve of people these days...
I really liked the music in the trailer :D
Really???? LMFAO.
wow the audio was the thing I liked most
Gotta disagree with a few here...IMO for a trailer that music totally doesn't sell it. I think You need some of the in game sound (the guns, explosions, character voice exclamations etc), and some music that in some way matches the concept, pacing and style of the game...you are shooting aliens, not going for a happy little adventure, skipping through a wood. (For some reason Im thinking of Peter and the Wolf!)
my 2c anyway....
If you contact me I'd be happy to do some music for you, at least for your trailers! My rates are very reasonable and flexible ;)
Zombies Ate My Neighbors!
I was thinking about ZaMN too! Man, they should port that to iOS - that was a lot of fun to play.
Can't wait to grab it!
Sorry, but every game with a Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Nutcracker theme inpired music get´s an instant NO from me. Plus Boys with Salad Bowls on their heads are really retarded.
I don´t know if can give this game a fair chance.
I have to agree. Um is this Pocket Gamer?! There's nothing to like about this game, the only reason (as far as I can tell) this game is getting such unwarranted exposure and positive spin is due to the historical relationship the writer has with the developers [nothing personal]
If I was publishing iphone games (and I know, I'm not) and they brought me this I would send them back to the drawing board. No offense to Imangi; really I am sure they are mighty fine people but they should have made better design choices across the board when attempting to re-jig this genre. 'A freaking hoverboard???'...it's a BLOB and it insults our intelligence. It should be the game that speaks not PR. To say it's only a 99c game is not an excuse anymore, there are TONS of 99c new releases with class and invention, which should be getting this exposure. Add adventure to this genre and what do you get...a bunch of fetch quests, betcha. To my eyes this just looks like a big ol' upscaled java game not a billboard app! If I am missing something here please tell. I know this is negative but I'm saying it as I see it folks. Update me on progressive games please TA. Quality control, we do notice these things.
I agree the game doesn't look very original and it's not for me but surely it's no worse than Dead Rising mobile which was on TA front page the other day.
Like most gaming pubs it's all about which games have the most hype.
This is a bit unfair. I'm a dev and I do my fair share of networking, just as everybody else. Of course I'd love to see the same almost given attention to my games, but I understand where this comes from and I don't blame Imangi for a) doing thorough networking from the early days on b) having one of the biggest Indie successes ever on their books c) at the same time building a great rep in the forums and d) generally just being really nice people.
All these factors combined lead to the fact that a lot of folks here ARE generally curious about what they are doing and like to see an editorial post. Need more proof? Check out the interest that any Imangi related post generates in the forums. As long as this is the case it is correct to feature them on the front page.
People who dont get the music need to go watch Marvin the Martian.
This looks stupid, why bother preview and review it? Dual stick has been done to death, where's the innovation?
Hmm, not sure why there seems to be so much negative talk about this game. Looks like a very solid dual stick to me from the makers of some equally solid games. What's the problem?? Do you need it to make your tea in the morning as well?