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A slick mobile RPG fighting game! | Full Review - N-INNOCENCE

2K View2023-03-06

N-INNOCENCE is an upcoming brawler RPG game set in a fantasy world full of familiar heroes and legends. An English version is currently out now at a limited capacity, for North American Regions only on both Android and iOS.

🟩Pros

+Simple, but addictive combat

+Interesting premise and story

+Beautiful artstyle

🟥Cons

-distribution of story and gameplay is not well balanced

The developers are calling it a “tap-and-flick” fighting action game, and while I agree that is an simplistic description of the gameplay, there is much more to that, with various actions and moves that you can do despite its simplistic controls.

Hey you, you’re finally awake

You suddenly find yourself in the middle of a fight without memories. A girl named Ney is trying to kill you, and you are saved by another girl named Nya (yes those are the names). Aside from these girls are cyborg looking creatures that are also out to get you. You have discovered you have these “Alter Powers” that seem to give you an extraordinary ability that grants and amplifies other heroes' powers.

You find out you are transported into a magical world full of mythological and legendary beings from across human history and folklore, including a female Thor from Norse mythology, or Zeus from Greek mythology. The story is actually surprisingly interesting for a mobile game, and since many of the characters are from real folktales and stories, the players are already halfway familiarized.

At the start, N-INNOCENCE immediately presents itself as heavily story-driven, with various visual-novel-esque dialogues and storytelling, a common theme in these mobile games. While the story is good, I find these cutscenes far too long and dragged out and the gameplay elements are far spread out in-between them. You can skip it, but you are doing a disservice too by missing huge chunks of the story.

Gameplay Analysis

The gameplay on the other hand is simple, but addictive. You get to choose up to three fighters from your character pool, and then level them up as you progress through the game. The game does have a nice variety of characters to unlock and choose from, each with their own unique abilities and fighting styles. You can also choose a support character from your friends list to provide occasional attack assistance. A specific character can provide support once a day only.

One-handed play is possible

The controls are intuitive, and the combat is fast-paced and thrilling. It’s simple enough to allow players to play one-handed, but it is also functional for two-handed play if you wish to do so. At any part of the screen, flicks usually control the movement, such as dodges, jumps and moving the character. taps result in an attack, while holding it causes a special attack.

Players can seamlessly switch between their three selected fighters to integrate combo attacks and gain attack bonuses. If players time it right, it is possible to chain combos together that will involve all three fighters together along with the support, complete with cool looking animations.

The Divine Power ability adds an extra layer of strategy to the game, giving you a special attack to unleash when the time is right. Combat advantages and weaknesses are based on a five-point rock-paper-scissors dynamic that your characters and enemies specialize into.

Progression

You play through the story chapters in a linear based mission system, with bits of cutscenes inserted in-between. As I said earlier, the overall premise of the story is interesting, but the combat is just too good to happen at few intervals during the early parts of N-INNOCENCE.

The battles take place in a side-scrolling, and usually composed of smaller waves that end in a boss fight. In-between battles, you get bits of storytelling. Having said that, I find the levels and encounters too short, almost always ending abruptly for my liking.

Of course, by playing the game and advancing the story through various chapters and battles, you can level your acquired characters and "evolve" them into higher ratings. unlocking new bonuses and abilities, and gaining more materials to use for additional upgrades as well.

Free-to-play and gacha elements

One thing to note is the time-currency and gacha elements of the game. You only have a limited amount of playtime each day before it runs out, so you'll need to play smart and strategize your time to get the most out of the game, or pay real-world cash.

As with gacha elements, the more you spend, the better quality characters you gain push for in a shorter amount of time. Despite that, it’s not pay-to-win, and you can still expect many hours of free-to-play gameplay with this game, especially with the time-currency features, before hitting the proverbial paywall.

The Art

The 2D artwork is beautifully made — more specifically — tailor-crafted to appease male fans with the sexy character designs — and the 3D cel-shaded graphics during gameplay is up to par. The music is well-composed and feels on the level of quality one might expect from an Eastern RPG game. There is no voice-acting, so be well prepared for a lot of reading for the narrative.

Conclusion:

N-INNOCENCE is a thrilling action mobile game that offers a rich and immersive gameplay experience. With its somewhat engaging storyline, addictive character team building, and strategic gameplay, it's definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of anime looking action fighting RPG games that you can play for small bits at a time in a daily manner.

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