Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Just plain fun"

At first glance Chaos Rings feels like a game that's too good to be played on your phone. It's an epic role-playing experience that will last anywhere from 25 to 30 hours. Something of this magnitude couldn't possibly be an iOS release. But the most satisfying feeling is the realization that Chaos Rings is the type of IP that embraces the mobile future of gaming and if you're a busy individual looking for a hardcore RPG fix on the go without pulling out some flip-top plastic toy, than Chaos Rings belongs on your iPhone, iPod or iPad, because it's an experience that shouldn't be missed.

The game is part Clue, part Battle Royale, part Final Fantasy and all sorts of awesome. The game takes place on the Ark where five couples have been brought to fight to the death for the prize of immortality. There are four main couples in the game and the story can be played through with each of the four couples, with each play through taking roughly six or seven hours. Playing through with all of the couples is the only way to reach the true ending (which unsurprisingly is the only satisfying ending).

There are four main areas, with a fifth unlockable area to explore. These areas are where the actual combat takes place and some dramatic events unfold on the battlefield. The game is a turn-based RPG played with a party of two, one character is initially the warrior while the second character is the mage. The magic in the game is learned by defeating higher level enemies. So it isn't something you learn by simply leveling up your character and choosing a skill, but done through battle itself. Leveling up only raises your stats, but magic can be learned at any point in time. A single play through really is not enough to master all of the game's magic, but by the time you go through with the final couple you can have almost all of it maxed out since your magic carries over through each couple's story.

One of the more peculiar decisions was to include puzzles in the game. These serve as checkpoints of sorts where each of the couples are presented with different sorts of logic puzzles that need to be figured out in order to progress the game. The game tries to present the puzzles as a part of the story, as a way for each of the couples to have their intelligence tested as they become stronger. Still, the first time you come across a puzzle is a bit jarring in terms of the gameplay shift. The puzzles aren't particularly difficult, in fact, they're rather enjoyable at times, but the implementation is a bit off.

Another issue is that the game has been designed to be played through four times. There is no single main character, Chaos Rings is a game of an ensemble cast and each couple you play the game with feels like the coolest version of that couple. But the developers did not design different levels for each couple, so expect to run through each of the game's five main areas four times. Fortunately the writing and gameplay are strong enough to carry the game, but it's still annoying to have such a limited selection of levels.

Another nagging issue comes with one particular moment in the ending that just felt really unnecessary. The game features strong writing throughout, but there's a point at the ending where things reach this high and then something absurd happens that just feels so out of place with the game. Fortunately it quickly passes and the game ends gracefully, but that moment is still worth mentioning as being particularly bad.

Despite a few shortcomings, Chaos Rings does have a few nifty tricks that really help it stand out. One of them is to choose the difficulty of the monsters you fight at any point in time. There were moments where I had my level 40 characters fighting level 91 monsters since I decided I wanted to level up rapidly. Other players may have a harder time and may choose to fight monsters at their level or maybe a bit lower. The game provides flexibility for all types of players.

Another cool idea is the ability to turn off random encounters at will. Let's face facts, there's a good chance of fatigue kicking in when you're stuck running through the same level for the fourth time. The writing may be strong enough to carry the game forward, but seeing the same level four times isn't the most exciting prospect, so having the ability to just run through it helps out. You will need to level up though as Arena Battles are at set levels and if you aren't properly prepared you will die, so even if you do turn off random battles expect to level up afterwards in order to stand a chance against the tougher enemies.

The most notable thing though is that Chaos Rings looks fantastic. The graphics are of a very high quality, but the art design is stellar. The worlds are beautiful, the monsters are ferocious and the four main couples are all distinct in their own way, helping to show some cultural and ethnic variety. The sound effects aren't particularly good, but the music is fantastic. I still hum the Arena Battle theme from time to time.

Chaos Rings has some ups and downs in terms of design decisions, but the overall package is a memorable RPG that simply needed different levels to help add variety to the experience. Other than that, there's little really wrong with Chaos Rings. It's an expertly crafted game that provides dozens of hours of entertainment, has excellent touch controls that really point out how unnecessary analog and buttons are to certain game experiences and is the type of game that belongs on any RPG fan's phone, music player or tablet.