Before the adventure starts, the game would prompt players to set passwords for their characters. It’s a bit of an annoyance, but reasonable enough as a means of account protection. A short tutorial would popup, giving out ample explanations on playing the game. I highly suggest new players to take the tutorial. The explanation is concise and comprehensive enough, that it doesn’t take up much of your game time. Other gameplay features are already familiar to most gamers. Plus, the UI is easy to navigate with. I give props to the game for being very responsive to commands and actions. The interface immediately updates itself with information the players need in the surrounding area or in the chat room. The feel of playing a client-based game is somehow mirrored in Aurora Blade.

Another star goes to Aurora Blade for being quest-heavy. The game gives you direction and plot as a character in the virtual world. There’s little time for heavy grinds, since you’d be more focused in finishing off quests. EXP and item rewards are definitely generous and more than enough for your character to survive in the game. Each area of the map also lists monsters enough for everyone to battle against. There’s no shortage of monster entrées anywhere.

Combat is quite fast-paced. It’s somehow turn-based, relying on timers to determine when to attack. Players can also queue battle commands in a certain order, adding a bit of strategy to every battle. This feature is very important when dealing with difficult monsters or during PvP. The character’s first few levels don’t offer many skills to queue, but the game offers at least a hundred skills at your disposal as your character reaches higher levels. Like with other MMORPGs, skills and strategies take time to build up, and it is one experience worth playing through. In addition to turn-based strategic battles, Aurora Blade also has an auto-fight feature by setting up a series of commands for automated use against every single monster you encounter. It’s a lazy feature, but if the grinding or harvesting is your thing, the feature adds to the ease of playing.

Visually, Aurora Blade could only settle for what browser-based games can offer. The 2D sprites have decent animation in them, and the watercolored environments are capable of balancing visuals with short loading times. I just wish the game had sounds though. A nice battle BGM or some sound effects here and there wouldn’t hurt.

Balancing accessibility, fun and RPG elements to a browser game is a difficult task. However, Aurora Blade manages to pull this off with flying colors. The game responds well even on slow connections. It also offers several features usually found in client-based MMORPGs, such as a marriage and PvP system. For a game that offers quick fun, the features are well worth looking into. Aurora Blade doesn’t promise a long-term gaming investment for most players, but it has content more than enough to keep interested gamers satisfied for as long as possible.

Mister Sieg

Review Mister Sieg
October 20, 2009