Chaos Rings Review: If Two was One

 And you thought the only good game on the iPhone was Doodle Jump.

I've had my iPod touch for a couple of months now and I've played through my fair share of games, good and bad. If you haven't figured out by now I have some good to say about this game so let's get to the bottom of things.

Chaos Rings is a new Adventure game, with some RPG flavor, by Square Enix. The game presents itself with some stunning graphics that really show off the power of the Touch. The art style is a mix of classic renaissance and final fantasy XII. Just watching the game in motion is a delight because of the beautiful back drops that the artists have created. the game's graphics are up to par with early PS2 games. This one is definitely pleasing to the eyes, especially when its on a5 inch screen.

As for story, it's like Bladerunner met a really bad JRPG. Tons of ellipses, characters blurt out random nonsense at times, and the story overall doesn't motivate me as person so I'm not going to go too deep into it.
Basically 5 groups of two( 1 gets killed right off the bat) are forced to play a game of survival against each other in which they must find the 'Chaos Rings'. The first team to collect all the rings will be granted immortality and youth. I will give the game's story one positive: I enjoy the characters' backgrounds. They're very interesting but I'm saddened that not much is done with the backgrounds that could easily be intertwined like how each team's stories cross paths.

Extra order of Melodrama.

What will keep a person into the game will be the gameplay itself. This game plays fantastic. It plays like a classic turn-based RPG and has two characters working together in battle. The game uses a Solo and Pair system. Very Risk-Reward: Go in solo and do standard commands and take individual damage. Go in together and do double the damage but both characters take damage. This is both fun and a challenge because some situations don't call for pair attacks all the time as one character could miss or have a spell not be as effective as the others. The game also goes for the old school random encounters in the over-world. I've never been a fan of them, but they're only 1-5 per screen depending on how long you spend in a area and you can turn them off after beat a team's story.

If there's one part of the game I don't enjoy it's the puzzle they have littered throughout the game. They're very basic and time consuming. Once you get the basic gist of what the puzzle wants you to do, they'll take time that you could spend slaying creatures.

All in all, Chaos Rings is a great treat for any RPG fan who wants some old school style gameplay with a twist. The art and graphics are a treat especially for the iPhone/Touch. With 4 Stories that intertwine with each other lasting about 5-8 hours a piece, the game is well worth the $ 12.99 price tag.

Wins:

• Where's the fun? Oh, it's right here: Great Gameplay for a touch base RPG
• Wouldn't have it any other way: Awesome Controls
• "It's... Beautiful": Fantastic Graphics and art
• Like playing on the SNES but with better graphics: Old school RPG feel
• Sequel Worthy: Square Enix has a potential hit series on their hands

Loses:

• Why is this in here?!?: Puzzles are not fun and not needed.
• Just because it's old school doesn't mean it's good: Random Battles have NEVER been fun and, most likely, NEVER WILL BE (Note: After you complete one of the dungeons you unlock the ability to play the game without Random Battles)
• I swear I've seen this before: Story plays out like a bad movie
 

And for the Score Junkies out there: Love It ( 4/5 Slashes) 
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I know this review doesn't have a comic or some other form of media attached to it and there's two reasons for this. 
I just got my scanner working again
Trying to make a joke for the reader to get was almost impossible

I'm thinking of putting up a audio review in the coming hours to try something out. I know I haven't put up the Splinter Cell Conviction Review but that's because of the scanner and me not being pleased with my artistic skill ( or lack there of).

Edit: Here's the audio review as promised.

 

   

Review: Chaos Rings

   

First Strike Podcast