UPDATE: August 10th, 2010
Since Pocket Legends was released back at the iPad launch, Spacetime Studios has continued to reward players with incredible post-launch support. There are now dozens upon dozens of instances, PvP, a quest system, starting areas for each race, and more. In this review update we'll cover some of the highlights of recent developments in the world of Pocket Legends.
Questing is an essential element to any RPG, and Pocket Legends has finally added this in its latest "Adventure" update. The first part of this comes in the form of three different starting zones, one for each race. These explore some light backstory on the characters and introduce you to game mechanics. They're also single player experiences, so you won't find other players inside with you.
Each of these ends with you taking a portal into the main town, which serves as a hub for pretty much everything. Here you'll take on quests in the first three instance packs available in the game. These can be completed with other players, which helps keep things moving quickly. The developers are promising quests in other areas in future updates.
Grouping with other players just got a heck of a lot easier. Following in the footsteps of WoW's random instance finder, you'll be able to click a button and automatically be grouped with other players in the instance of your choice. If you'd like to pick a group from a list, that option is still available, but instantly jumping to the area where you need to quest and having others playing alongside you isn't something we'd pass up.
Pocket Legends has also recently added player vs player combat. Entering a PvP match follows the same simple system as grouping for an instance and pits you against players of the same level. The two types currently available are 3v3 and 6v6, both of which must be purchased separately.
One misstep is how in-app purchases are now handled. Instead of each item having a dollar price, you'll now need to purchase them with an in-game currency called "platinum". Platinum is bought in bulk, much like the system Ngmoco has adopted for their various games. On one hand, some items will cost less than $.99 in theory, but it also adds an extra layer to making transactions that ends up getting in the way.
The UI and menus are still overly-complicated as well, especially when it comes to the store. There are tons of check boxes, tabs, advanced options, and more that can confuse players. Hopefully this will be one of the next items to be addressed in a future update. If Blizzard's recent developments with WoW are any indication, players like simplification without sacrificing depth.
Despite these lingering issues, Pocket Legends is one step closer to that fully-fledged MMO we've been waiting for. We still aren't convinced that it has reached Must Have status, but if you're at all interested and still haven't checked it out, we highly recommend downloading it for free.
We’ve been waiting for that World of Warcraft-style MMORPG to storm onto the App Store for some time now. This hope has finally become a reality with Pocket Legends, a cross-platform cooperative dungeon crawler where you match up randomly with up to four other players and slash through lands invaded by evil knights, zombies, and other creatures.
Pocket Legends isn’t an MMO in the traditional open-world sense. You navigate from dungeon to dungeon by means of a menu system. This is a fair compromise, although you need to click a lot of buttons to find what you like. There isn’t a good way to quickly find a group at your level, as everything is compiled into one place. We'd like to see the menus streamlined in a future update.
However, we aren’t here for the menus. It’s all about working with other players, or by yourself if you choose, to smash through a variety of levels referred to as "instances" in MMO parlance. There are a lot to run through, with 14 available at first and 18 more difficult levels available via map packs for $1.99 a pop. The downside is that most of them feel pretty similar and have the same kinds of enemies, just tougher and more plentiful.
We're startin' up a posse.
Once you start, Pocket Legends is a lot of fun. There is something about charging enemies with your team of warriors controlled by real people that gives you a sense of excitement not found anywhere else in iPhone or iPad gaming.
Once you beat the initial levels and have some skills unlocked, there is a good amount of depth to the combat. A wide variety of moves can be deployed, like a ground stomp that sends your enemies falling onto their backs and “buffs” to temporarily increase your stats. You can also talk with the other players through the chat box and view a map of the dungeon.
Besides stat managing, which is fairly simple, there isn’t a whole lot of customization. Each of the three classes is paired to a specific character which has one player model. As you level up, you can get new gear, but your progression is very straightforward.
Once you finish all the dungeons and have your character at a high level, there isn’t much more to do. The lack of end game content that gives a continuous challenge means the only thing left to do is mindlessly run through familiar halls or try out a new character. Buying slots for this extra character costs $0.99 each.
If you choose, you can also buy the best armor with real-world money. This takes away a lot of the reward associated with attaining such weapons, but it's up to you if you want to take the shortcut.
Racking up the loot.
Despite these flaws, Pocket Legends is a lot of fun. For free, you'll get a few hours of fresh content that works across both the iPhone and iPad. There is no discernible difference between the two versions of the game, either, except that on the iPad you can zoom the camera out further, and all of the menu items are neatly tucked away on the edges of the larger screen.
Since the apps are more like clients, the developer can release updates to your device any time. There is still a lot of work going into the game at the moment, as there seems to be new content every time we log in. Even if this isn’t usually your type of game, you should give Pocket Legends a try for free.
30 Comments
Great game but buying armor = epic fail. Freemium games should not give you a competitive edge via purchases. Purchases should provide access to content, make outfits look cooler, increase customization, etc. They have some of this done right but the game will fail if they don't fix the "pay for armor and epic weapons" fail mode.
Why is it a competitive edge in this game, though? You're not playing Player vs Player, it's Player vs Enemy.
does either polsky or rattaray know when splinter cell conviction is coming out on the iphone? april 13th?
also, is this being ported to iphone?
Hey Cal - yes, it's currently in the iPhone App store (just downloaded it)...
This game does feauture Player Vs. Player maps as well as Player Vs. Everything.
They don't give you a premium advantage. Whoever wrote this review is either a complete noob who didn't make it past getting the good gear end-game, or finds those "platinum armors" so good its just sad. Get to end game and try to buy those platinum gear vs the rare gear you get from bosses, we'll see who's laughing.
Quick point of clarification: you cannot actually buy the "best" items in the game. The best weapons and armor come exclusively from loot drops. You can purchase iTunes weapons and armor that are *okay* in terms of stats (very nice in terms of cosmetic appearances), but nowhere near the best. Same goes for things you buy from the in-game vendor.
We agree with the sentiments expressed here about DLC: in that it's important that you have to actually *play* the game to get the most out of it. And that's exactly how it was executed :)
Hope this helps! Thanks.
If there is any need for a beta tester or anything like that, I've had exp. In that department. But anywayssss...
I thoroughly enjoy pocket legends! But u know what it needs?
-a raccoon that's like a theif/knife guy
-more colors for the animals!
-trade by value options!
-the ability to sit down in the haven and start a shop so people can buy!
-a max level of 50 (AT LEAST)
-love the storyboard, but let's do a plague too along with zombs/skeles. Like living trees/plants?
If u want anymore ideas, you can feel free to contact me. Hope I gave a few good ones.
How do u even get to tHE ingame store???
All you have is click on your name/health/mana and go to "store"
You have to buy dungeons to access more than half of the game. Once I got to lvl 13 I never opened the app again. Level 13 is max if you don't buy the dungeons and it took me about 30 minutes to get to level 13. Even if you buy the dungeons the max lvl is only 25 which is really low. I think it's 25 not sure. They should make all dungeons free, and add exclusive end game dungeons that drop slightly better loot or maybe just different "cooler" looking gear. Then after add a pvp system where you enter the same way by joining the game. Then it would be 5/4 rating for me (no typo). Maybe make more variety to the dungeons all the free dungeons are forests or boring castles. Then again the game just came out but those are my personal ways of making the game better. Also add more gear because there's barely any. Nothing close to an iPhone/iPad WoW in general terms although it is the only thing he have so far. I Hope Spacetime actually read this review and checked my comment for some ideas. Although I don't think they would listen to what I had to say :P Whatever! Hope to see an update soon that improves some aspects. ALSO INCREASE DAMAGE TEXT SIZE! And make it white!.
Spacetime is reading-- Cinco there (above) is the game's creative director.
One last thing all the weapons/gear look very bland. The weapons that are free are the repeated models with upgraded stats as you level. The armor models are all the same just changed colors and name/stats. Also I can't access different weapons other than swords as a warrior.
I am level 25 on my way to 45 which is max level and if i want to trade money it wont let me i type in how luch to give but it jus wont work can i have advice or a suggestion plz
I tried it. It's pretty boring, and there still seems to be some bugs.
I was on 'level 2' and I had one enemy left to kill. I opened my inventory to change weapons and when I went back out, the enemy was just a shell of his former self. He was there, dancing in a spot, but would not attack, nor could I attack him.
Quit that game, logged into somebody else's public game and saw the same thing happen.
I didn't like WoW very much either, so don't take my word as gospel, but this app was deleted within an hour of install.
Now if they made iUltimaOnline with PvP, that might be interesting.
great game, but it really need a PVP
if they add PVP i will definitely buy all the dlc
Have to admit I've found it to be a pretty poor game. firstly I wouldn't call a game with only 5 players at a time an MMO, secondly it's either a case of run through a forest killing enemies or run through a 'dungeon' killing the same types of enemies.
I just don't see the appeal, the combat's poor, the controls are poor and the game gets horribly repetitive after just two levels. It's just not that much fun, you're better off buying something like Dungeon Hunter which, although only single-player, is infinitely more enjoyable than this.
Ya the level 13 thing is crap
Dude your just mad u cant affrd it just buy it i mean is not tha hard to find money
Dude its a few bucks to unlock the maps, if you can't spare that then thats just sad.
definitly massive potential here, looking 4ward to buffalo shaman and dragonfish warlock classes,i saw on itunes spacetim are gooing to add them!!!!1!
They should make the dungeons free
Add a roam aspect- in that way you could seperate people of different levels (by having requirements to enter dungeons), while still letting them interact. Aswell as get rid of the 'clunky menus'.
Also it seems like the only difference between archer helms are stats.. I'd adjust the appearence aswell; even if only slightly... It would entice people to get the rest of the game too.
But I agree with ^, you should only have to pay for some rare accessability- right now it's just a 25 minute sesh/delete . Paying to level is stupid...you should be able to train in f2p... I planned on training to 15 then buying A new dungeon...
P2p would have more skills/abilities, cooler dungeons and bigger armour- but f2p should be able to train to max level and buy decent armor and such.
PvP minigames would seal the deal, perhaps 4-4 CTF or something simple like that. And 1-1 sparring with onlookers would be sick but I'm getting ahead of myself☺
Personally, I think the ipad device looks inferior to Amazon's Kindle and even the iPod Touch is better. I say, let's kick the ipad into outer space. I, like many other tech geeks, am fed-up with hearing how amazing Apple is. Yes, ipod was great, but since then I think there's been too much hype. I totally disagree with almost all the junk written online about the iPad on blogs listed on pages like http://www.squidoo.com/ipad_tablet. And the ipad looks like it is not good enough to play flash movies. Don't buy it yet, it's too expensive and has only 1000 apps.
What's the point on coming onto an iPhone/iPad and iDevice website and bashing the iPad it doesn't need Flash and the Kindle is weak compared to the iPad and are you counting iPhone apps also because those run on the iPad. P.S.: The Kindle doesn't have Apps or Web Browsing or Flash.
o the ipod touch the chat gets in my way too much.
Paying for upgrades stinks and, as stated in the review, the menus are convoluted and confusing. 2/4 from me.
the ranger sucks... the mage is overpowered and the warrior focused on intelligence beats all... get creative... look at lineage 2 and make it the best app ever
As a programmer for many years I believe that people that moan about free software & having to pay for additional services are welcome to try their hand at writing their own, that's how I started out, but to be honest these guys have worked hard to bring the best mobile phone game at this current time in my opinion, why shouldn't they be rewarded for extra work they put in?
After all, if you use up your network usage on your phone you pay for extra minutes and texts eh? ;-)
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