Rise from the Ashes
Legend of the Phoenix is a recently released Otome Android game from MODO Global. Breathtaking visuals combine with action-packed storylines to immerse you in the history of the Qing dynasty of China. Your character gets a second shot at life—She must change destiny by stopping the Crown Prince before his rise to power as Emperor. Your character’s journey up the caste system of the dynasty allows you to meet new friends and enemies along the way towards changing destiny and finding new love.
New Life, Same Memories
When you start Legend of the Phoenix, you learn about the background of your character. She married the Crown Prince who became Emperor with the help of her family’s money. He then repays her by, you know, murdering her and her whole family. Upon her death, she vows revenge. She gets the chance to fix everything and stop the Crown Prince to save the dynasty. A unique comic-style cut-scene tells the backstory. Each panel of the comic is animated as the story moves along. The graphics in this game are stunning. The details are extensive while the colors are bright. As I stated before, this is an Otome game—a text-based game focusing on romance aimed at girls. You follow along with the main storyline that is divided into chapters while doing other tasks that are essential to completing each chapter.
Fight to the Finish
The game opens with your character as a maid at the kingdom, the lowest in the caste system, with no authority or reputation. You increase your character’s experience by completing the chapters. In order to complete the sections, you have to level the partners that you will find along the way through quests. Each chapter of the story separates into a various number of sections. After each section, you enter a battle. The turn-based battles are like Pokémon, but instead of cool attacks…it’s just lame insults. Proceeding to the next section requires winning the battle. The partners have to be high enough level to defeat the opponent. This part of the game is very confusing. It is difficult to figure out if you will win the fight because the stats don’t always match the outcome. Authority matters in these battles, but the character’s number doesn’t always grant her the win. It’s a unique feature in a story-based game, but many of its elements don’t fit as well as I think the developers hoped.
Foster the People and the Children
The main feature of the game delivers exciting chapters. The main storyline along with the romantic elements are done well. Not only are the visuals great, but the voice acting is helpful and keeps story progression entertaining. The more features you unlock, the easier it is to become overwhelmed.
There are a lot of things going on in this free Android game. Maybe too many. Each time I started to get the swing of things, this game unlocked another mechanic or gameplay mode. For example, there are several quest-based rewards available at once. Likewise, there are many currencies and items that additionally complicate the process of advancing your skills and your partners’ levels. All these aspects take away from the title’s focus: the story that you get to choose how your character reacts to problems and interacts with other characters.
One mechanic in this game is fostering children with your companions, the characters you can date (these differ from the partners that you use to battle). You spend time training them, then marrying them off to other player’s foster children. Honestly, I am not sure why this is a feature or if it provides you with any rewards. At some point, your character is an unmarried maid with 6 foster children from 3 different men and the other maids are judging her harshly (they are spreading rumors after all).
Destiny of the Phoenix
Legend of the Phoenix for Android hits the mark in some areas while missing in others. Beautiful designs enhance the engaging narrative but compete with over complicated aspects and out-of-place features. The realistic historical background to this game adds to its charm (most, if not all, the characters are based on and named after real people in the Qing dynasty). There are no ads, even though the game’s free. The developers instead rely heavily on the game’s cash shop.
Simply put, there are way too many features in the game. The title often plays more like a Facebook game with the daily bonuses and the need to add friends to complete certain events. That said, the features can be enjoyed without spending any money and only add to playability. I was surprised by how long I could play this game consistently. Other free Otome games often utilize energy mechanics, soft-locking you from progress. This game, on the other hand, gives you hours of immersive historical adventure.
Hardcore?
Yes.
A free, unique, beautifully designed text-based romance that seizes your attention. The confusing features are abundant and pull you out of the immersion they easily crafted. However, the well-written story and intriguing cast of characters make you come back for more.
