Order & Chaos Online review (iOS/Universal)

♫ “Captain Kidd’s on the sand
With the treasure close at hand
In the land of make believe”

"For an occurrence to become an adventure, it is necessary and sufficient for one to recount it." (Image quotations in this review are by Jean-Paul Sartre. Mostly)

10 word description: Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Quests, loot and levelling.

Order ...

... & Chaos

10 word review: Marvellous. An MMO on your phone (better on your iPad).

"Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does."

You will like this if you enjoy: MMOs, RPGs, multiplayer games, etc.

"Everything has been figured out, except how to live."

The good news: It’s a full “World of Warcraft” style MMO on your iOS device. It’s stable, smooth and I haven’t encountered a single crash in many hours of play. It really is quite surprising seeing something like this being played on a phone. I prefer the iPad experience, but then that’s hardly surprising.

"A lost battle is a battle one thinks one has lost."

The bad news: Jean Paul Sartre said it best. You probably know the quote. “Hell is other people”. I’m using many of his quotes throughout this article because they seem strangely apt.

"I am not virtuous. Our sons will be if we shed enough blood to give them the right to be."

Arcadelife verdict: This review is based on my experience playing a Warrior up to level 20. I’ve since passed that point but I will describe my further adventures in another post.

"Better to have beasts that let themselves be killed than men who run away."

Order & Chaos Online is surprisingly good fun. I say surprisingly because I expected it, at least in the week following its launch, to be unstable, laggy, full of broken quests and the usual problems of a new MMO. I haven’t really seen any evidence of any of that. The game hasn’t crashed on me; there is very little lag, even in crowded areas, and I haven’t come across any broken quests. There is a lot that can be enhanced and improved, but nothing that makes the game unplayable or too frustrating.

"All that I know about my life, it seems, I have learned in books."

Visually it is absolutely satisfactory, apart from the scenery pop-up. I wish there was an option to adjust the pop-up distance, at least on the iPad. There’s the usual RPG range of zones: summery forest, forbidding swamp, desert, etc. and the standard enemies: goblins, skeletons, giant spiders, etc. Somehow it manages to remain interesting and it doesn’t feel utterly derivative, possibly because of the devices it’s being played on.

"Once you hear the details of victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat."

Who really cares that all Gameloft have done is taken most of World of Warcraft (or LotRO, or any other standard MMO) and simplified it for mobile gamers, when we can have this game – a proper 3D, full-world MMO – to play on our phones, MP3 players and tablets?

"The best work is not what is most difficult for you; it is what you do best."

Overall, it’s very hard not to fully recommend this game to experienced MMO players or complete noobs who just fancy having a go. Sure, because of what it is, the game is full of everything annoying and distasteful about the human race – arrogance, prejudice, greed, illiteracy, rudeness – but if you can ignore all that (just turn off Global chat) then there are many, many fun-filled hours to be wasted here.

Arcadelife rating: 90/100

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.0.0

Order & Chaos forum site link

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
iPad (OS 4.3.2)
4th gen iPod Touch (OS 4.3.2)