Game Impressions Some impressions, particularly relevant for those who already own Orions 1: There's plenty of new cards, with some spectacularly powerful creatures. There's multiplayer with Game Center, which is rather bare boned (no statistics, no context, no community, just random games). It is possible to pre-build decks and save. And there seem to be some VERY small additions to the single player campaign. And that's about it. Much of Orions 2 is near-identical to Orions. The graphics have not been upgraded at all, as far as I can see. Which is a damn shame, as the game already looks good, and would have been absolutely stunning with Retina support. The game plays almost exactly like the first. It really, really, really, really does not feel like a sequel at all, but like a content update to the original game. There are plenty of iOS titles which have received greater content updates over the course of a few months than the additions Orions 2 bring when compared to Orions 1. Given that Orions 2 is available for a rather generous price, I don't feel cheated in any way. But it is still weird to fire up a sequel and find yourself seemingly back in the original. This leaves my first verdict as this: if you want more of Orions 1, Orions 2 is a given. If you haven't tried Orions 1, Orions 2 is the "ultimate" version, and well recommended. If you, however, have grown a bit tired of Orions 1, then the sequel will probably do little to change this, unless you think you can get by on randomized multiplayer games that do not belong to any greater whole. After all, once you get tired of the contextless multiplayer games, there is only single player left, and it simply plays like Orions 1 single players with plenty of new cards. Personally, I wish I had not taken the leap, not because 3 dollars even registers as a waste, but simply because I probably will never even start Orions 2 again.
Thank you for those impressions. I loved Orions 1 but I felt like it had some serious issues, particularly with single-player campaign and the empire building meta-game. Looks like I will skip this.
Same here as the building/colony management aspect of the first got VERY tedious, I assumed it was dropped in the sequel.
Ouch, not such a great sequel then. I hate to say it, but all the complaints about these guys not providing updates and responding to the community seem to be somewhat justified... Orions 2 sounds a little lazy to me. Maybe I just don't understand the complexity of it, but this sounds like something another developer could have added as IAP within a couple of months.
I don't think the campaign mode is worth playing at all - it was only once that I've played it entirely through, back in the WinMo days. It's the Duel mode that this app really excels at.
Well, it has - tons of new cards - multiplayer(!!!!) Yup, the engine is pretty much the same and the graphics is low-res (not that it'd be THAT bad - it's the gameplay that counts with these kinds of games, and not the graphics); nevertheless, there're quite a few of new animations and effects as far as I could see.
I don't think Campaign mode is worth playing. Go straight for Duel (particularly in multiplayer). Campaign mode is only worth spending time on if you don't know how to use the cards - then, Campaign mode has a tutorial.
Yes, if all the new cards are not enough to reel you in, then there is only multiplayer left, and the current implementation is *very* limited in appeal and impact. A bit sad to see such a hotly awaited sequel deliver so little in terms of gameplay changes and upgrades (though I maintain that for someone new to Orions, this is a great purchase, and for those who are still enjoying Orions 1, Orions 2 is a given). Hmm, yes, so was I. As far as I can see, the only differences to empire building is the black market, and the fact that castles can only build one type of crystal generator. Perhaps this last change is what makes the building and management easier, as there are no pre-requisites for the crystals (as opposed the tiered crystal buildings in Orions 1). Though, as far as I can tell, we still have to fill our bases with crystal generators, only they will be of only one color now. Not being a programmer, I canna say for sure that this is the case, but I think that's the impression many Orions veterans will have. And it certainly seems that way to me. There IS a host of new cards, though, in fairness and for the sake of a balanced argument ;-) You ARE aware you just quoted ME saying that it has multiplayer and lots of new cards and then proceeded to inform me it has new cards and multiplayer... right? EDIT: The multiplayer is a bit of a wasted opportunity. I was hoping for something along the lines of Urban Rivals and Shadow Era (though less deep, of course, given that this game has a single player component), with card trading mechanisms, winnings that allows you to purchase more cards, a sense of progression, etc.
In California and just dl'd it. Did a direct search for 'Orions' on my iPhone. It was at the bottom of the list.
Omg the new music and effects and everything are awesome. Very immersive with headphones. There are some scary beefy cards in there too. Won my first medium game good sign!
I think it's pretty great what little I've played so far. And I really am bad at it. There do appear to be leader boards on Crystal just not GC. Would be nice if it supported all screen orientations (at least on iPad)
