Gameloft have provided us with some amazing iPhone games the past few years, taking already existing game concepts and utilising them on the iOS platform. Sometimes with incredible results and other times falling short of their own hype. We’ve seen adventure, shooter and racing games amongst others but this time Gameloft has taken the reigns of quite literally one of the biggest genres existing. Biggest referring to it’s multiplayer capabilities, Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.
A genre made popular by games like WoW and more recently games like DC Universe. This is a new and huge step for Gameloft, as the main definition for success in the world of MMORPG isn’t just how many copies you sell like with other games. It’s building the community and keeping it alive. I remember back when The Matrix was all the hype and Warner Brothers released their own Matrix MMORPG, inevitably the concept of The Matrix was no longer desirable and the game servers were shut down a few short years after it’s launch.
The key to attracting and keeping an audience interested is to create a style that will remain timeless as the years go by. This is why both Starcraft and World of Warcraft have proven successful. Neither Space nor Fantasy settings have a sell by date.
Gameloft have clearly taken note and done their homework here, and I’m sure they’ll be plenty of WOW fanboys just waiting to slam this game as a rip off. It’s expected as WOW fans are some of the most hardcore out there. Now I won’t be making comparisons between the two games as that would be unfair. One is played on a PC and the other on an iDevice, it would be impossible to have a fair head to head in my opinion. However there is no denying where Gameloft lifted it’s inspiration from.
First and foremost you MUST have a wifi connection to play Order and Chaos, so if you’re looking for a MMORPG experience ‘on the go’ then this won’t quite cut it for accessibility. Not unless your phone provider gives you free wifi access outside of your home.
You use your Gameloft ID to play, and you’re given three character slots, there is a 4th but it’ll cost you 10 Rune stones to unlock, these can be purchased in app, for real cash, should you wish to do so. Next it’s time to create your character, first by defining their race. You can choose from Human, Elf, Orc or Undead, then either male or female. I went for Undead. Next you pick your class, again you get 4 choices. Warrior, consisting mostly of short range attacks and swordplay. Mage, gives you control with magic and sorcery. Monk, which is similar to magic but concentrates on drawing power from the gods and finally Ranger, giving you expertise in ranged weapons and sneaking about.
After the tough decisions you get to style your character’s looks and finally name them before picking which server you want them on. Now if you intend to play with friends you will all need to be on the same server so choose carefully.
After creating my undead warrior whom slightly resembled something of a zombie Joker I set off on my big adventure, into the unforgiving wild that is MMORPG.
The game looks fantastic, incredible detail and absolutely enormous map, considering this game does not use the recently acquired Unreal engine. The only let down is the draw distance of other characters and enemies, although acceptable on the iPhone4, on the iPad version it’s terrible. You have to be within a few feet before other characters appear out of nowhere, I cannot speak for the iPad2 though as this was played mostly on the iPhone4 and partially on the first Gen iPad. I have a few niggily concerns with the Chaos and Order so let’s get the out the way first. The chat window, all recent chats in your local area are shown at the bottom of your screen and you are shown the last 5 lines. The window alone takes up almost one 3rd in height of the screen and is incredibly invasive, especially as most of the text is written in a language I don’t know, there is currently no option to have this hidden completely so hopefully Gameloft will address this in a future update. My second issue is the camera, generally the camera works well but will at times zoom too far in, taking your character completely out of sight leaving you to blindly move the directionally stick around until you come back into frame. This is most frustrating when it happens in mid battle.
You start the game at a home base and you’re put through tutorials in control and battles, all really good at getting you into the game until you’ve completed them and there is no clear goal of what to do next other then look for quests. You start off with all the minor jobs like killing small boars that have escaped from a pen, to collecting the remains of crocodile like creatures, nothing exactly epic, but it does break you into the action at a good speed.
The controls and layout take full advantage of the iPhone’s touchscreen with a virtual stick on the left and a wheel on the bottom right that you use to trigger your attacks. Three options will always be visible and you can spin the wheel to access the rest other three. It’s very neat, clean and most importantly fast. Your map appears in the top right and your stats on the top left side, from there you can also access you bag for potions and other items as well manage your quests, teams, spells, and character clothing/amour. If it wasn’t for the chat, I would say there was plenty of space left for the action.
At this point, I launched the game up on the iPad thinking that the bigger screen would mean I have more viewing space, but the chat was just as invasive and although the quality of the game was still maintained, all the sidebars, and controls were also increased in size rather than being smaller to give the player more space to play the game.
Back on the iPhone, the directional stick works really well with the environment, there is a change in the back gesture in comparison to other Gameloft releases, instead of turning around and running towards the camera, you will walk backwards. It might take a little getting used to at first but will come in handy when in battle. On the subject of battle, each quest and battle will give experience points, which go towards levelling up and learning new skills. Basic attacks are automatic once you enter battle, so you are left with controlling your movements and non standard attacks or skill enhancers found on the wheel.
The social features of the game are on par with other MMORPG’s with the ability to take on quests with friends, duel other people online and you can chat smack too, but like I’ve said before you’ll be lucky to find someone that not only speaks the same language but is willing to start a team.
Now I’ve barely scratched the surface of this game and I can already tell there is much much more to it. You could very easily lose hours of your life in this game as you would with a full PC/Mac version of any other MMORPG. This is not a watered down version of WOW on an iOS device, this is the full blown experience in your hands.
If you’re an existing MMORPG player or even a new comer looking for a portable fix, this is the must have game. It pulls you in at the right speed and keeps you hooked.
You can buy Order & Chaos now from the appstore for $6.99
For my full review of Order & Chaos, download issue 1 of the TouchGEN iPad Magazine from iTunes (coming soon)
