When it comes to JRPGs, there’s one company that immediately springs to mind when talking about the genre amongst gamers – Square Enix. Yet despite the incredible success of the Final Fantasy series, there is more to the company’s RPG lineage than just that franchise as Chaos Rings proves…
Released as a cross-platform mobile title (iOS, Android, PSM and Windows Phone), Chaos Rings is regarded as one of the best mobile RPGs available and it’s not hard to see why. The game starts innocently enough – you take control of a party of two characters from a group of eight, all of whom have found themselves transported mysteriously into the Ark Arena – no one knows how or why they are there but what you do know is that all of the characters have to work together in pairs to train in the dungeons in this “Ark” in order to ready themselves to face and defeat a creature known only as the Qualia…
So herein starts the adventure in true JRPG fashion. While it doesn’t quite seem to run in the PS Vita’s native resolution (as most PlayStation Mobile games do), it still looks great and I’d say that it compares favourably to many PS2 RPGs. Sound is up to the high standards you would expect from Square Enix and while the game does have a full speech soundtrack, unfortunately it only offers a Japanese language track but is fully subtitled throughout. The gameplay itself is what sets it aside from any other RPG on PlayStation Mobile though. Combat is fast and intuitive using turn-based mechanics that we’ve come to expect, there are plenty of puzzles to solve, and a great storyline throughout. You genuinely couldn’t ask for anything more from this.
It has to be said that while this is one of the more expensive PSM titles (and one of the largest in terms of file size), you’re certainly going to get your money’s worth with this one. Under £7 for a Square Enix JRPG is an absolute steal and if you’re looking for a change from Final Fantasy and all the other “big” name sagas in the RPG world, then this could be right up your street…
Title: Chaos Rings
Developer: Square Enix
Type: RPG
PlayStation TV Compatible: Yes
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