I feel after giving Zenonia a bunch of playtime so far that I can do a good review of this huge game release by Gamevil. This game is massive (40+ hours not including if you want to get to lvl99) as well with a ridiculous amount of detail and polish. I picked up my copy the moment it hit the Android market and I’ve been playing it on and off as much as I can between working, it’s addictive.
Game Play: You start the game off going over the beginning of the story, learning a bit about the history of your character and where he comes from (sort of, it’s a bit of a mystery still as to your exact origin). The off you go after your father dies to start your great adventures doing a few of the standard beginner quests that you tend to do to learn the game and controls as with any RPG. You’ve got your bag icon in the top right where you can tap on it to open up the window holding various options like equipment, skills, stats, items, quest details etc etc. The storyline is entertaining as well and so far I’ve gotten a few chuckles out of it. If you don’t want to read everything you can easily just rapid tap through it. There’s lots of NPC’s to talk to as well as Main and sub quests right off the jump and you can have a max of 5 quests going at any given time, 4 subs and 1 main.
Also in this game you can find items that you need to analyze a.k.a Diablo 2 style where you use a scroll and it’ll reveal the bonuses that particular item has. You can also combine items to boost their stats as well via the Blacksmith. You have two bars you need to deal with, HP and SP. HP is your heath, SP is your strength (basically like MP/Mana in other RPG games) which you eat to regain at any time even in combat, same with HP using potions. You special actions use SP so when you get low you can eat and regain some back.
When you level you get skill and stat points which you can place in your stats (agi, str, con, sprt) and skill points go into your skill tree which means there are different types of ‘builds’ for each class possible.
Some features:
– 40+ hours of game play NOT including if you want to get your character to lvl99 and the best gear.
– Hundred of Items.
– Numerous Quests that follow the epic storyline and sub-quests.
– Various skills with stylish effects (everything looks great and unique but more on that later)
– Innovative elements that reflect real life.
– Skill tree system (8 active skills, 8 passive skills and 1 ultimate skill)
– 5 Item classes (Normal, Magic, Rare, Unique and Epic)
– Good and Evil decision making. The story changes depending on the path you choose.
– Night and Day cycle.
– Double Tapping the D-pad allows you to dash
– Automatic target facing and intuitive controls
Controls: All controls are done via the D-Pad on the left and the action button on the right. You also have 2 customizable ‘Quick Slot’ bars where you can put your skills or items for quick use such as potions and food. You can easily flip through the 2 bars using the smaller button with the triangle right near the action button and I highly suggest getting that setup pretty much right away.
Double tapping any one direction will make your character dash in that direction. You can also move things blocking your way (which you learn about after a few beginner quests) by pressing the action button once (not holding it down) and then using the D-Pad to push the object in whatever direction you need it to go. A lot of people mention in the comments on the Android market that due to it not supporting multitouch that they can do what they need to in the game. You do not need multitouch to do things like move objects, you’ll automatically grab the object when you are standing there in front of it after pressing the action button once. Then you just use the D-pad to push.
For a D-Pad on-screen setup it’s very responsive whether moving around the world or the menus where all your stats and items are. A lot of the games that come with D-Pad controls tend to lag a bit sometimes but I’ve not noticed that at all while playing this game, in fact quite the opposite, it’s almost too responsive but I partially blame my big thumbs for that.
Some people have complained that due to the lack of physical keyboard support that they are having difficulty playing the game. Once you get the hang of the sensitivity of the controls, playing is pretty much a breeze with the on-screen D-Pad but that also depends on what device you’re playing on as well considering that some are more precise then others. For the sake of people who use physical keyboards (I used to up until a few days ago when I got my Nexus One from Google’s Dev Seeding Program) some support for key usage would have been a good thing to include.
Sound/Music: There’s a ton of sounds in this game and constantly background music going that fits the atmosphere of the game and what you are doing at the time. All the action sounds are unique as well so it’s not like the game uses the same sound for a bunch of different action. This keeps the game interesting and entertaining and stops any sort of monotonous feeling that some games tend to give off with little variance in sounds.
Graphics: The graphics are straight out of the older RPGs we used to play and it’s a nice change and a suitable one. This game wouldn’t work with 3D graphics and wouldn’t be half as good as it is with them. This game brings back the classic RPG style all of us RPG fans know and love and these graphics are perfect for them right down to the tiny little equipment icons.
When viewing items in your inventory you are also treated to two small windows popping up when you highlight something in your bag letting you compare the stats of whats in your back and what you have equipped which is very help UI feature. Everything in this game has it’s own graphic whether it’s just the skill icon in the skill tree or when you use one of your special moves, everything is unique and very details right down to the last pixel. Cities/towns/buildings all look different as do the NPCs, even the monsters are very detailed.
Options: There are three slots that you can use to save your game should you want to make different classes of characters or try new builds or paths. There’s also options for disabling sounds, background music and vibrations.
Overall: This game is about as good as it’s gets when it comes to RPG games for Android. It is huge, extremely detailed, massive in size with a huge amount of replay value and graphically beautiful. The Android platform needed a serious RPG title and after waiting for so long for one to show up, Gamevil answered the call with nothing less then an amazing game. Some people are going to want multiplayer but this isn’t a multiplayer style game, this is an individual RPG. Gamevil states that “Zenonia brings back the classic action RPG” and they do with nothing short of perfection. This is exactly how RPGs used to be and it’s just a wonderful, entertaining game right from the start. Well worth every penny I’ve spent on this game and any RPG fan will be glad to own this.
Rating: 4.8/5
A quick note: We have some helpful guides posted in the guides section as well as a forum dedicated to Zenonia should you need help, want to talk about Zenonia or show off your character/gear or help others with tips and tricks.
Developer Website: Gamevil
Click QR Code to enlarge for easy scanning: {rokbox}images/stories/QRCodeLibrary/QRZenonia.png{/rokbox}
Android apps at AppStoreHQ
