iPhone Reviews 2.0

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HYBRID: Eternal Whisper is a RPG by Gamevil. $5.99

[This is a modified post from TheAppEra]

Earlier this year the iPhone community went RPG-crazy when the excellent Zenonia was brought onto the App Store by Gamevil. This Fall, Gamevil unleashes their next hit (?). Can Gamevil possibly bring out another big hit game? Read on to find out.

Hybrid has seemed to have grown on me after a few hours playing this game, as the storyline really gets you involved unlike so many failed attempts before it. This game seems to be alot more story orientated with large cut scenes between fights with some story to why the next fight is happening.

It is possible to skip the cut scenes but then the game is really a bunch of random fights that have no meaning what so ever. Overall though as long as you follow the storyline as it is designed to be followed then you will have an enjoyable and engaging experience learning about this mystical world.

Hybrid: Eternal Whisper has taken a different path to Zenonia, which had some outstanding graphics that would do itself proud on many platforms. Instead Hybrid has used quite old school graphics, which I usually frown upon on a great device like this. For Hybrid however, I don't mind them too much as they still look quite good.

This game basically has graphics that would look something like Chronicles of Inotia by Com2Us mixed with Dungeon & Hero by Chillingo. The animations in this game are very smooth which are much needed since this is another serious button masher. The game reacts quickly to any buttons you press and I have found no lag, glitches or crashing of the game so far.

This game is all about the fighting, hence a game like this requires quite a lot button mashing and even more greasy finger smudges if you don't use a screen protector on your iDevice. It's all about the on screen buttons, with no special swipes or tilts. I am not certain if this is a port of a previous game but even if it isn't, there isn't much point having difficult controls for a game such as Hybrid.

On the left side of the screen there is a D-Pad that is used to control your character and an attack button on the right side of the screen to use your sword. Next to the attack button is a way to swap how you are holding your sword and this will affect how you are fighting. Sometimes it is better to use one method instead of the other and to build combos by switching the two grips.

HYBRID is a very story orientated game that is split apart by over 70 battles. The game's all about the fighting, but most importantly how you get to the fighting. You take on the role of Grey, a very confused teenager who does not know very much about the world.

You find him looking for the mysterious 'Fairy' before you and your brother must fight off some dark creatures that have apparently evolved from other creatures called 'Hybrids'. These were created about the time as some, what appears to be, evil king left their world. Yes as you can tell I can go on forever about this very complicated storyline, which is unraveled to you as you progress through the game.

How do you exactly progress through what could be an open book story? Well all the cut scenes lead to some reason or another to put your life on the line against some very dangerous monsters. These range from large groups who will try to defeat you with their large weight in numbers to large boss monsters that will require some great skill and timely spells to save your bacon.

This sounds pretty easy I bet you are saying. From what you have experienced from other hack n slash games is that if you slam that button enough times they will just cark it and you will end up the victor. Not in this game however. From the very first few fights I was being forced to squirm around the screen trying to avoid the enemies while landing timely blows.

There is a bit of an RPG element in all this fighting and storytelling also. As you continue fighting you will find yourself increasing your level and hence getting points to improve your spellcasting, defence, attack and speed etc. Adding this element to the game keeps spicing things up as you get to choose how your character will fight. Will they be about super strong attacks or are they well rounded? The path of the game isn't up to you.. but almost.

Gamevil certainly knows how to make a great RPG game and have almost hit the jackpot again with this game. I would have liked this game to be a bit more hack and slash instead of all the very long cut scenes.

Hybrid is not a pick and play game and will require hard core gaming hours. Depending on who you ask, that can be a great or bad thing. A great game in general and good to see that Gamevil continues to explore untapped AppStore waters.