Harkening back to the good old days of paper and pencil role-playing
games, Urban Legions is a text based online game. While the
interaction of traditional role playing games is not as evident,
there is still a level of stimulating the brain and creativity on
the players part. There is of course like any good game to get the
player acclimated, a tutorial. Checking out the tutorial is
recommended. Playing the tutorial, you get a run down of how to play
the game. Here is where you learn that there are other events that
give way to other story arcs.
The front end of the game system is straightforward and provides all
the pertinent information on screen while gaming.
Some of the things you will have access to while in game are Current
account status, this shows in the upper right. You can see how many
turns left, money and your time in the game. Major statistics of the
character being played are found in the bottom right of the screen.
Clicking on the VIEW link brings up the character page. In this page
you can equip items, use the abilities amongst other things.
The bottom left of the screen is where the player will be given
important messages, looking here gives the player details on what
they did and how the world reacts to them. In the middle of the
screen, to the left or right will either have a map and or a list of
places to go, or things the player can do.
During game play as events present themselves there are times where
the descriptions can be rather annoying and juvenile, lacking any
imagination, or ability to invoke any feeling in the reader. In
simpler terms, a writer tells a story and we assume that the reader
will relate in some way, or that the story or description will draw
them in. While there are some good descriptions sprinkled through
out the game, some just fall flat. Never fear though, the game gets
across what it intends, some entertainment.
"Welcome to Macropolis!" appears in bold letters. Urban Legions
starts off with something we could relate to when we travel with
strangers: the annoying kid, the old woman who won't stop talking,
and of course the snoring man who just happens to be sitting next to
you. The little man who greets you upon arrival offers that you can
skip orientation, and so the options on the side are there so you
can either attend it or not.
At the orientation you learn how to use things and how to get around
basically. It doesn't take long at all to find your way around. If
you find yourself with questions burning in your noggin, there is a
section at the orientation to ask them. Go to the training rooms to
gain experience, and before you know it, orientation is over.
That wasn't so hard, was it?
Urban Legions is a game with entertaining visuals all acquired by
reading the text. After the orientation, you see a colored map of
Macropolis. Scrolling over it, you find that there are many areas of
the city you can go wander. But wait! Make sure to pay attention to
the exclamation marks, because those draw attention to important
things that need to be done (obviously...). Along the way to your
destinations, random things can happen, like coming across a
stray dog to finding a scratch-off ticket. These situations
sometimes have just one available action, but most have a few,
ranging from ignoring that scratch-off ticket to fainting from
the sight of a needle.
Your character sheet has several critical things: your statistics,
equipment, ability, inventory, and quests. I could go into all of
the details of these, but that would kind of render the purpose of
this game useless, hence the "text-based online role-playing game."
I don't want to give you everything you're just going to read for
yourself! So go and give this game a try! Beware though, it can get
addictive. It's so easy to just keep on hitting those action buttons
to keep the game moving along . . .
Jump on into the game here
http://www.urbanlegions.net/Pages/Welcome.aspx
Sit back, relax
Let’s play
Shael Millheim
