Torchlight Mobile Previews
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Perfect World and Fedeen Games' Torchlight Mobile made its debut at this year's E3, so it comes as no surprise that several outlets have whipped up some hands-on previews of the device-focused installment to the action RPG franchise.
GameRevolution:
Since I played both a low-level and a high-level character, I was able to see the differences in my demo character's power thanks to deep customization and character progression. The final version will offer extensive weapon and gear customization and four classes to play. My low-level Engineer had only one special attack while my high-level Engineer had his basic attack plus four special attacks at his disposal. After taking a few moments to familiarize myself with his abilities, fighting a boss enemy was enjoyable and provided much more of a challenge than his minions.
Zam:
Torchlight Mobile features classes and races never before seen in the Torchlight universe. The story takes place following Torchlight and runs parallel with the events of Torchlight II, but new players to the series will be able to follow along easily. In a different land, Ember is still being harvested by civilizations, and the player can choose one of three new classes that will take on the helm of fighting off corruption with the help of a companion pet.
There's also a seemingly robust character and item progression system, but this is also tied to your character's level, and in my build my character wasn't leveled up enough to really investigate any of that. However, expect to upgrade and fuse together weapons and armors for your character. There's also four different classes to play as (I opted for the Engineer) as well as pets to accompany you on your adventures (mine was a panda), but some of those elements weren't quite fleshed out yet in this demo build.
Most games on mobile devices have had a hard time emulating controls in three dimensions. Fedeen has done a spectacular job in creating a control scheme that is both intuitive and easy to use on both tablets and smart phones. It's as simple as putting your left thumb on the screen and pressing whichever direction you wish and it will adapt as you move. The touchscreen user interface is sizable so you won't be accidentally press the wrong buttons, while at the same time maintain a strong article design. As for content, again, this isn't Fedeen copy and pasting the content from Runic Games' Torchlight, but creating new experiences that fit in the mobile space. For example, there will be levels that don't rely on the isometric camera angle and will be more of a 2D side scroller. In addition, there are three different sections of the game to progress through, but once you finish one, a hard mode will be unlocked, allowing players to obtain more experience and get better gear.
And then RPGamer does a two-part preview here and here:
here is no combat outside of dungeons: instead there is a number of quick menus corresponding to vendors and locations in the hub world. Players can sell items they've collected, shop for new items, and go fishing; the caught fish being used to feed to the player's pet to increase its strength. The release version of the game will have twenty-five pets, which act as helpful allies in missions. Other than that, the hub world is there to bring you back into more dungeons.
