Eternal Arena Review (iOS)

You’d be right for thinking that Eternal Arena, from NetEase Games, on first look, doesn’t look any different from the usual online Action-RPG game you can find in the App Store and, upon playing, that fact is confirmed. But while Eternal Arena isn’t going to win any awards or change the way we look at the genre, the gameplay is executed well enough and it even introduces a MOBA-lite gameplay mechanic.

You are the chosen one and that is enough to go on a grand quest. Honestly the story is forgettable and the western flavour of the dialogue may put some off (though conversely, it may attract those who can stand the crazy eastern anime feel that other online games have).

The presentation is good. The graphics have a scaled down World of Warcraft feeling to it while the art work is a tad flat in personality but still drawn very well and the UI is tidy and big. This all gives it a polished, competent look to it. The music is the sort that gets the job done but at least the sound effects sound quite meaty and your characters and unique enemies have sound bites which is amusing.

When playing Eternal Arena, you may find that you’ll let the AI takeover, except when trying to get certain conditions (the AI heads straight to the boss and so will avoid any branching paths that lead to a stage task being completed). There are lots of modes in Eternal Arena, including ones that use the MOBA-lite gameplay. It’s not something that is deep as true MOBAs like League of Legends or SMITE and you can just rely on the AI to brute force their way to victory if they are well levelled and equipped. But at least NetEase tried to freshen up the gameplay in some way.

If you’re new to the online Action-MMO scene or looking for an online game to invest real money into, then you can do a lot worse than Eternal Arena. But if you’re a veteran who wants something that stands out then Eternal Arena has a “been there, done that” feeling.

Still, even Eternal Arena isn’t anything special, one can’t deny that it’s also a game that is decent in its own right and is at least worth a couple of hours of playtime.

You can download Eternal Arena  on the App Store.