Fly for Fun

Game: Fly For Fun

Publisher: gPotato

Download or web based: Download

What you get if you pay: gPotatoes can be purchased and used to buy a large variety of items such as pets, skill and status boosts, and character costumes.

Review: Fly for Fun explores the world of Madrigal, starting on the island of Flaris. Despite the name, early exploring is accomplished by walking around the paths and fields on the island. Flight is easily accomplished after reaching level 20, and combat in the air is even possible.

Selecting enemies for combat is easy. By clicking on a foe its name and level appear, allowing for selection of targets in the right range to defeat without difficulty. Most enemies wandering the area are passive and won't attack unless provoked first. Those that are aggressive have their names in red, making them simple to spot and either avoid or take out first. Spawn times for basic monsters are low allowing for many players to kill in the same area with minimal downtime between fights.

Along with simple loot, monsters and enemies that carry quest items drop them regardless of whether or not the quest is active. This can make completing quests later simpler since the items can already be on hand, but it also clutters up a limited inventory space.

Appearance can be customized with costumes varying from sailor's suits to school uniforms. While not having much of an impact on stats the costumes do allow for a unique look.


Rating: 6/10 A slight cartoony look and feel. Combat is a breeze if a little repetitive. On hand inventory space appears quite large but can fill quickly.

Shadowtale

Game: Shadowtale

Publisher: Hyper Awesome Entertainment

Download or web based: Web

What you get if you pay: Various “Members Only” perks including exclusive weapons, areas, and quests.

Review: Shadowtale opens with a mysterious woman telling the player about them being a destined hero. A short tutorial quest follows explaining the basics of battle and movement.

The tutorial quest leaves off in the small village of Edgewood. Here many quests can be undertaken and equipment bought to start things off. Arrows on the main screen and a highlighted path on the mini-map make navigating to quest goals simple enough, even if defeating enemies or collecting items is more of a challenge. Enemies include boars, goblins, and some soldiers attacking a nearby castle.

Combat is a basic approach and attack style with free movement in the area and between areas. Using skills and casting spells increase experience in the job the skill is based in. For example, throwing a fireball at an offending blood wolf will increase points in wizardry whether the wolf is defeated with more fireballs or a slashing sword. While experience is gained with each foe defeated, a tone sounds and total experience required for the next level will be displayed when all on screen foes are defeated.

Rating: 7/10 Fairly simple game play in an open world and large number of quests. Graphics are decent for not requiring a download.