Dragon Realms review: Hard to get into, harder to get out of

Mobile RPG Dragon Realms from GREE is an interesting game. You take control of a party of nine (strange number) and battle your way through a fantasy realm inhabited by all sorts of fantastical creatures. Along the way, your party leader — chosen from one of three factions available — levels up and earns talent points that benefit the rest of your crew. The entire party, however, can be made more powerful in different ways.

The premise of Dragon Realms is simple. Devoid of too much context, the game tosses you into a quick combat and levelling tutorial, then throws you onto a patch of land that will grow to become your kingdom. Once your city has been set on its route to prosperity, you can venture out into the wilderness on quests that award you new heroes, gold coins, and experience points. The focus of Dragon Realms could be said to be part combat, part questing, and part city development; all three put together make for an economical use of your time in the app.

However that is not to say Dragon Realms is a stellar game in all aspects. We’ll be breaking it down for you so you can see if it truly tickles your fancy.

Gameplay

Contrary to what the tutorial has you believe, you control a party of nine in Dragon Realms. While only your ‘main’ or first character can be levelled up individually, the rest can be upgraded to a maximum score of 40 by consuming other hero units you pick up in your adventures. Hero units drop like fruit flies in a tropical country, so you never run short. Multiple hero units of the same type can be combined to form a more powerful, or better evolved, creature. This levelling system requires a bit of exploration and getting used to, and it’s helpful that the game doesn’t happen in real time.

In my experience, Dragon Realms didn’t give me much in way of a story (although I could be at fault for tapping my way through all their tooltips). You are, however, given a choice of three factions to choose from: the Silver Alliance, the Feral Horde, and the Undead Legion. The only consequence of picking a particular faction is the skill tree you have access to. It will naturally benefit hero units from the same faction.

Combat in Dragon Realms takes place on small fantasy-themed maps. Names such as Norstol and Redvale Woods are commonplace, as are enemy creatures like Drider Queens, Giants, Harpies, and Orcs. Players take these creatures on in one-on-one combat that involves double tapping them. Because the creatures roam the map and frequently walk over or into each other, the first tap stops them in their tracks, and the second confirms the attack. It’s a smart little mechanic that keeps you from attacking the wrong monsters too frequently.

However, that mechanic is not foolproof. Dragon Realms seems to have no collision detection installed and it gets tiring watching mobs you’d like to destroy walk into each other, and then walk together so you can’t attack one without hitting the other. It’s something easily overlooked if you have patience, but I’m an impatient person.

GREE seems to have read my mind a little there, though. Although the enemy units move slow and ponderously, many of the lower-tiered ones take up little Energy to attack, and Energy replenishes pretty quickly. You can also earn free Energy Potions via quests, and regain a full Energy bar whenever you level up. Another great thing about Dragon Realms is that your character doesn’t take any health damage, so you can prance about the combat field for as long as your Energy holds out.

Quests