Review: Caligo Chaser

OverviewOne subgenre on the App Store that is unique is the sidescrolling hack 'n slash RPG. Gamevil's Hybrid: Eternal Whisper has been dominating this genre, but that's not saying a lot as it is a somewhat barren subgenre. Now Com2uS, another Korea-based leading mobile developer, has brought their own take on the game to the App Store. With less pixellated graphics and brighter colors, the game looks entirely different from its competitor. However, the first releases of both these games have control issues. Features Caligo Chaser has a ton of item, weapon, and skill combinations. It also features a big map and actual cities to walk around in. While Hybrid: Eternal Whisper was more action-oriented, this seems to include not only the hack 'n slash aspect of things, but also the standard RPG fare. The Good Caligo Chaser does a surprising number of things better than its competitor. First off, the story is present through a series of short dialogues after completing certain quests, unlike Hybrid: Eternal Whisper, which presented you the background story of the game in large, blocky amounts of text that often took a few minutes to tap through without even reading it. Caligo Chaser's quest system is also something that is a good feature. You can walk around town and characters with an "!" above their heads will give you quests. Quests are actually part of the story, so if you don't do them you won't advance in the game. On the other hand, you can free roam and just kill monsters as you please, unlocking new areas all the while. The world in Caligo Chaser is pretty big, and it'll take you at least 10 hours to unlock all of them, not counting quests or other game time. This game has a lot of content, and replayability is high since there are so many areas you can just keep fighting in or going back to. The Bad Caligo Chaser does have more streamlined and accessible equip menus compared to its competitor, but that's not saying a lot since the menus in Hybrid: Eternal Whisper were horrendous. You navigate most of the menus with your D-Pad, since the icons would be too small to touch and select with your fingers. Making the entire menu full screen and tabs bigger would be much more convenient, not to mention the fact that it would make the words, stats, and skill point distribution much easier. Caligo Chaser also has some control problems. Right off the bat you'll notice that the controls are somewhat sticky and that you won't be able to move your character if your finger slides off of the d-pad. You can change the game speed to "fastest" in the options which makes the controls more accurate, but it still does have minor problems. Thankfully, Com2uS is addressing this problem in their next update to the game, which should be submitted in the near future. The graphics can be either good or bad depending on your view. In some areas they look pretty good, but in others the colors look washed out. A minor graphical tweak is also something that should be looked into. The Verdict At the $2.99 price point, Caligo Chaser may be a better alternative to Hybrid: Eternal Whisper, but it all comes down to opinion. If you're more into action-based hack 'n slash games, then go for Hybrid if you don't mind the massive amounts of text after a good fight. If you prefer a full RPG experience in addition to the fighting aspect, I'd recommend Caligo Chaser. It also seems that Caligo Chaser has more content, so it's directed at the more hardcore RPG gaming crowd of the App Store, while Hybrid: Eternal Whisper is for more casual gamers. All in all, they're both worth their respective $2.99 price points; it just depends on what you prefer

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