Icarus M: Riders of Icarus Review

Take to the Skies

Take to the skies in Icarus M: Riders of Icarus a new MMORPG by VALOFE. Choose a class, create your character and dive into a world of fantastical monotony. The game boasts sweet 3D graphics and a unique character class. Unfortunately, its much anticipated aerial combat system falls far below expectations.

Icarus M: Riders of Icarus’s storyline is nothing memorable. You fall into the typical savior trope, stopping bad guys and thwarting evil plans. Sure, some of the baddies look cool but combat is simplistic, and quests are far too easily completed especially with auto play enabled. Despite having messed around with the auto play setting quite a bit, my character attacks enemies atomically the instant I stop mashing buttons. Combat while aesthetically pleasing enough to capture my attention for a while, offers no real challenge. Not once did my characters health drop to dangerous levels no matter how many hits an enemy got in. Don’t get me wrong, the game offers interesting abilities such as the assassin’s Falling Leaves ability, or the artist’s Master of The Sea ability. However, the game’s mediocre plotline and lack of difficulty really brought the score down.

Choose A Class

Icarus M: Riders of Icarus offers players five classes to choose from—Gladiator, Ranger, Assassin, Wizard, and Artist. The first four classes are self-explanatory so let’s talk about the artist. Artists are considered to be tricksters. Wielding a giant paint brush, artists fight by painting designs in the air. The artist is a unique character class and you’ll find yourself amused by her creative attacks, at least for a while.

Some classes are easier to master than others. During character creation you’ll see a bar indicating operation difficulty for each class. Wizards are the most difficult class to master while Ranger and Assassin classes are the easiest. This is a handy feature that allows players to choose a class based on how much of a challenge they desire—or it would be if the game was challenging to begin with.

The Pitfalls of Mobile MMO’s

Icarus M: Riders of Icarus falls to the typical flaws found in many mobile MMORPG’s. Because it’s difficult to traverse a complex multiplayer world, the game makes use of an auto play feature. Unfortunately, there’s something about not fully controlling your character that makes it difficult to immerse one’s self in Icarus. And then there’s character creation. While the game offers five classes, each class is locked to a specific gender, either male or female. One of the great aspects of role-playing titles is the roleplaying.  It’s a bit off-putting when players cannot create the character they wish. I’m no game programmer, but would it really have been that difficult to open up each class to multiple genders?

Icarus M: Riders of Icarus’s main selling point is its aerial combat. Unfortunately, I found this feature to be rather lacking. While mid-air battles are an intriguing concept, I found the controls far less responsive while in flight. As much as the developers boast about aerial combat, I expected  flying on the backs of dragons in combat to be the rule not the exception. Aerial battles are rather infrequent at least in the first few hours of gameplay and by then you’ll be inclined to toss the game aside in favor of something more exciting.

If you’re looking for the next best mobile MMO look elsewhere. Sure, Icarus M: Riders of Icarus offers lovely graphics and a few cool combat moves. However, the title lacks depth and you’ll quickly find yourself just going through the motions. With a bland plot, repetitive combat and an autoplay feature that just won’t turn off, Icarus M: Riders of Icarus is better left idling on Google Play store.