Game Review: Elsword Online

Elsword Online is yet another game I have found and gotten into. And so far, it's great! It's a lot like Grand Chase, but better in my opinion. With Grand Chase you're only allowed three starting characters and don't have as much of an option to move around unlike with Elsword. With this game, you have a total of five starting characters as of current, and while it's still a bit of a side-scroller, you literally move your own character from to town instead of just clicking and appear there.

By now I assume you're wondering about the characters. Oh, they're delightful alright. And here is just a bit about them:

1. Eve- An upper-class Nasod who was, at one point, the queen of her people. She uses these floating robot type things (I can't find the name of them for the life of me, sadly) as her main weapons. There are two of them. Her strengths include gliding ability, summons Nasods, great evasive ability, melee attacks have range, and party support buffs.
   Job Promotions- Level 15 [Code Architecture and Code Exotic]
   Level 35 [Code Empress and Code Nemesis]
2. Raven- A human commoner who became the captain of the Crow Mercenary Knights. Jealousy from others inevitable destroyed all he loved. And were it not for a mysterious Nasod having rescued him in the nick of time and threw him into a special capsule, then he'd be dead. He uses a Nasod arm and blade as his weapons. His strengths are fast melee attacking class, dual weapon user- Nasod arm and blade, powerful Nasod arm that deals heavy damage, great evasive skills, easy to chain combos, and heavy attack 'x' does not consume much MP.
   Job Promotions- Level 15 [Over Taker and Sword Taker]
   Level 35 [Reckless Fist and Blade Master]
3. Elsword- Hot headed swordsman who is ambitious. Trained by the leader of the Red Knights, his sister Elsa. Elsa sent him on a mission to hunt for two things- El, the gem that powers his kingdom, and his lost sister. His strengths are high physical attack damage, higher MP absorption when attacking the enemy physically, quick dash skill, multiple aerial combo, high physical defense, and ability to use counter attack.
   Job Promotions- Level 15 [Sword Knight and Magic Knight]
   Level 35 [Lord Knight and Rune Slayer]
4. Aisha- Mage of the highest order at 12 years of age until a ring of sinister power absorbed her abilities. Is now on a journey to relearn all she has lost. Her strengths are highest magical defense, ability to glide in the air, AOE magic damage, long range magic attacks, MP recovery while not moving, and AOE support buffs.
   Job Promotions- Level 15 [Dark Magician and High Magician]
   Level 35 [Void Princess and Elemental Master]
5. Rena- An elf ranger whose place in the mortal world is in danger due to the El shards weakening. This is because not only do the shards power everything, but they keep her home world and the mortal world connected. Without them, that connection is lost, and so long as she is in the mortal world, she too will cease to exist. Her strengths are high physical and magical attack damage, fast combat combos, can keep opponents in the air leaving them defenseless, powerful 'x' attacks, and double jump.
   Job Promotions- Level 15 [Combat Ranger and Sniping Ranger]
   Level 35 [Wind Sneaker and Grand Archer]

You do get pets in this game. Of course, you have to be level 10 first. Add to that the fact that you have to complete a quest series. When you finish the series, you'll be rewarded a Pocket Phoru Life Crystal and 10 El Tree Seeds. Once you right click the crystal, you can name the pet and upon naming it are the official owner of that pet. They do evolve in stages- infant, teen, and adult. Once they become an adult, they cannot evolve any further but they can activate a special state if it is available for that pet type.

All in all, it is a fun game. I find the graphics are very nice and the gameplay fairly easy to get use to. There isn't really a need for more than a touch pad if you're on say a laptop because it more so relies on the keyboard. Lastly, this is a game you have to download. Of course, it is free, so no worries there. Well, free unless you want the really awesome stuff. If you want that, then be prepared to either shell out some money or earn it through whatever they allow you to do in order to earn the premium currency.

Now for the download specifications:

Minimum

• OS: Windows 2000
• CPU: P3 800HZ
• Memory: RAM 256M
• Graphics Card: GeForce MX400(32M)
• DirectX Version: 9.0C 2006 Aug or higher .Net FrameWork 2.0
• Hard Disk: 1.3 GB Space in the hard disk

Recommended

• OS: Windows XP
• CPU: P4 2.7 GHZ
• Memory: RAM 512M
• Graphics Card: GeForce FX5700/ATI Radeon 9600(128M)
• DirectX Version: 9.0C 2006 Aug or higher .Net FrameWork 2.0
• Hard Disk: 1.3 GB Space in the hard disk