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Black Desert Mobile Review: Barren Wasteland
And for all extents and purposes, that’s just about what we’ve got. While I haven’t put that a lot of hours into the PC and console version of Black Desert, I’ve played enough to recognise that the main features are here: action-packed combat, big variety of classes, combat progression revolving around world boss fights, PvP, and a lot of non-combat skills like gathering resources, taming horses, farming crops, and fishing.
However, it isn’t long before you begin to note the mobile version’s shortcomings. All of the classes are gender-locked, questing borrows from Lineage 2: Revolution therein it’s almost entirely automated, and therefore the touchscreen controls are tons more fiddly than its PC and console counterpart. twiddling with a controller does mitigate this somewhat but everything outside of combat still requires a faucet or two, so it’s not really a real solution.
So what can we like about Black Desert Mobile? Well, the combat is that the initial highlight. It’s basically just like the most version of Black Desert, with a good sort of skills to unlock and chain together to make massive, action-packed combos. We played as a Warrior, and were surprised to ascertain many returning skills and animations – it genuinely felt sort of a miniature version of Black Desert.
Black Desert Mobile Promised to be a well-known Experience to the first , but it Isn’t Long Until You Experience its Shortcomings
Also, despite the sheer amount of automation we do just like the progression system. As you complete quests, battle monsters, and greet new NPCs you’ll refill a neighborhood completion percentage bar. At any moment you'll pop into the ‘Knowledge’ section of the menu and see how far you’ve come, or find a couple of new things to check and convey you closer to 100%. It really pleases our inner completionist, which gets a kick out of ticking things off an inventory .
Building your base camp also gives us similar kicks. you'll build a spread of buildings out of the resources you gather while wandering the planet , which, in turn, produce even more resources for you. you'll also send your workers, which you’ll hire as you quest, to collect resources for you, you'll plant crops in your farm, or fish on your pier – there’s loads to try to to in your base camp that doesn’t involve fighting, and it’s a pleasant change of pace.
Unfortunately though, the quantity we dislike about Black Desert Mobile far outweighs the great . Our biggest red flag is simply how ugly it's , which is unforgivable once you consider how poorly it performs on a technical level. For reference, we’re playing on a 3rd generation iPad Pro 12.9inch, which is one among the more powerful mobile devices currently out there, so if it’s struggling this much on this, we’d hate to experience it on lower end devices.
But why is it so ugly? Well, for one, the resolution is extremely low – even when set to maximum within the settings. The result's a really blurry experience, which, when combined with the weird shiny effect on everything, gives off the impression that you’ve smeared Vasoline over your phone or tablet. Couple that with texture pop-in, that poor frame rate, and jagged edges literally everywhere and therefore the result's a hideously ugly mobile game that plays worse.
It’s a Hideously Ugly Experience Too, With a coffee Resolution, Low Frame Rate, and Nasty Texture Pop-in
When we say play, we mean it within the loosest sense of the term too. While the combat is terrific, the remainder of the experience generally involves watching your character automatically move between quest markers, chatting to NPCs that bombard you with painfully written dialogue and even worse voice acting. once you do get into a fight, it’s often over as soon because it began too, with little or no challenge ever truly on offer.
However, when the challenge is there – once you fight bosses, for instance – the screen is typically such a multitude of blurry colours that you simply can barely figure out what’s happening . Good luck dodging powerful enemy attacks which will eat half your health pool – it’s basically impossible to identify them.
Then there’s the pay to win, which is sprinkled liberally on top of the experience. The cash shop is filled with cosmetics, granted, but there are a lot of ways to shop for power, including skill and kit enhancements. On top of that, there are two different bi-weekly subscriptions that drastically speed up your progress. To grab both, you’ll be spending on the average about $20 per month, and that’s without buying any of the opposite potentially necessary upgrade items.
Overall, we’re thoroughly disappointed in Black Desert Mobile. It’s a hideously ugly experience that runs even worse than it's , is filled with pay to win and autoplay, and features a bunch of frustrating decisions like gender-locked classes. It’s 2019 – that ought to not be happening during this day and age.
Old School RuneScape needn't Worry
Old School RuneScape is under no threat whatsoever from losing its crown as best mobile MMORPG, and people that really don’t mind autoplay experiences are much better off playing Lineage 2: Revolution, which is just a far better version of this garbage in every single way.
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