Gaming has been a substantial seller for smartphone and tablet devices. Ranging from the simple ‘match three’ games to those catering to us old-school table top gamers. There aren’t many significant fantasy RPG games available and unfortunately, the really immersive games are often priced and the free ones are rarely addictive. All of that is very likely about to change.
Dungeons and Dragons: Arena of War has come to Google Play from Mobage as the first free to play D&D game for mobile devices. With the setting in the Forgotten Realms, this 3D role-playing game offers a multi-player immersive environment of epic proportions to coincide with its single player attributes offering plenty of content to keep the player going. This is just part of a massive event to alter and rewrite the Forgotten Realms. The multi-player aspect offers a substantial amount of game play in and of itself, but will also give the option for various competitive and timed events. As quoted from the download site at Google Play:
“The Sundering, a historic event that will reshape the world and the heavens, is underway and threatens the balance of power between the gods of good and evil. You will be called upon as a champion to fight on behalf of good against the adversaries of evil and help set the balance of power before the Sundering is complete.”
Along with the standard Dungeons and Dragons Forgotten Realms rules and game play, there are bonus creatures each month that will offer various independent rewards. The more friends you invite, the stronger your team, unlocking powers for upgrading your character in this dynamic environment. For those who play MMOs, treat these monsters much like a raid to better your chance of victory. Mobage eludes to the arena itself being “as dynamic and deadly as the enemies within it.”
With what seems to be a fairly mildly involved character creation and an MMO style game play (see game trailer below), this could very easily push other games to follow suit. The game play graphics seem well-developed and the play style should seem familiar to many of us. I’m not sure how adaptive the control system is, but being primarily a role-player and long-time D&D player myself, I look forward to downloading this and giving it a try later today.
Personally, I think any gamer should be excited about this release. The download page doesn’t say whether there will be micro-transactions or not (I hope not) but even if so, it’s still worth checking out. Settling it at a 35MB download, Dungeons and Dragons: Arena of War is available for Android 2.2 and up. Considering the newer devices out there, 35MB is nothing for such an intense, immersive, and beautifully designed game.