Ash II Gold Edition Review (iOS)

Any game surreal enough to include a conversation based around hiding a crocodile in a tent wins points from me for having a unique sense of humour. Ash II is a new JRPG from Konami Digital featuring a band of adventurers setting forth to rid their land of the Corruption via Native Tribesmen, Sailors and Monks. Too much story later and I’m probably on the point of no return when it comes to understanding what’s actually happening. It really doesn’t seem to matter in this world though. All you have to do is trundle from one quest point to the next, laying waste to baddies as they blunder into your little band of derring-doers.

Visually speaking, Ash II has a lovely retro feel going on – think Zelda on the SNES but much more shiny around the edges. Movement is controlled by pressing the iPad’s screen in the direction you want to trudge or by selecting a D-Pad option in the Options system if fingerprint smears make you die a little inside. Combat is turn-based and you’re given a good range of abilities to play with, alongside the standard tank, healer, DPS group formation. Problem is, if you’re lazy (like me) you won’t bother going into the side menus to select the skills and you won’t need to. Even groups of enemies are easy to slay and as a whole the game just isn’t a challenge.

What could prove to be interesting is the Chapter release system being used to publish Ash II. Currently only Chapter One is available with later releases either being free if you purchase the Gold Edition or at 50% off if you purchase the Silver Edition for 69p on the iTunes App Store. I’m hoping they tweak the lacklustre parts like combat and the world map (which suffers from extreme vagueness) so that we’ll see a more satisfying Chapter Two.

It’s genuinely rare that I complain about a game being too easy; seldom do I wish there was a bit more risk involved; and infrequently have I spent three weeks trying to get through an iOS game because I was so bored of the fighting. For all its lovely graphics and snarky character dialogue, Ash II just lacks that “Ooh will I make it?!” tension that’s needed in games. While I can’t commit to saying that it’s great, I’m not writing it off yet. I’d say hold off unless you really like JRPG-style games. In these days of “iOS game overload” it’s encouraging to play a game that makes me laugh and I’m looking forward to the next instalment.