Cleavage and Typos Are Rarely a Good Combination
Legend Online is the second game I’ve reviewed over at GiN. My editor, Marie, assigned me the game and also sent me a very generous credit in Diamonds, the game’s premium currency, from the game’s publicist. But when I looked at the game, it was one of my more awkward moments in game reviewing.
“Is there any possibility,” I had to ask her, “that maybe this isn’t actually the game? Like, maybe Legend Online is a great game, but I accidentally downloaded a ripoff reskin called Online Legends? Also I can’t seem to spend this my virtual currency, and their customer service says they don’t have a diamond shop.” Spoiler: No, I was playing the right game.
Legend Online: New Era is made up of a spreadsheet RPG, where your hero and sidekicks battle fantasy villains to win loot and glory, and a city builder, where you level up your City Hall in order to level up your Barracks in order to level up your sidekicks. After a while, players can battle other players and join guilds for larger battles. The game does what it says on the tin, but barely.
The game opens with a choice of hero and character class. I first chose the female spellcaster, because girl. She’s wearing calf-high boots, and an open coat over her thong, but I figured I could find her some pants once we entered the magic land.
I was mistaken. This is a pants-free kingdom.
Good game design is often described as a series of meaningful choices, but it was hard to find either meaning or choice in Legends Online. I was level 7 or 8 before I got to do something besides tap where the blinking arrow pointed in a tutorial. Although, with player instructions like VIP can CD for Free and Click the Army button (while pointing to a button labeled ‘Troops’), plus loads of different loot, I needed all the typo-ridden explanation I could get.
Ooooohh… ‘Noob’ Sage.
Yeah. There’s actually some thought and work required in game writing and localization — who knew?!?!