1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (16 votes, average: 3.38 / 5)
Loading...

Age of Wushu Dynasty

Age of Wushu Dynasty is a hack-and-slash action MMORPG on mobile devices with an Ancient Chinese fantasy theme, high quality graphics, tactical action combat, instanced stages with persistent areas & towns, 4 different classes, lots of equipment to collect, open world PKing, and asynchronous Arena-based PVP.

Publisher: Snail Games
Playerbase: Medium
Type: Mobile MMORPG
Release Date: January 7, 2016
Pros: +High quality graphics. +Tactical, action combat. +Beautiful Chinese fantasy world.
Cons: -Repetitive gameplay. -Pay-to-win aspects. -Monotonous questing.

google-play-button app-store-button

Overview

Age of Wushu Dynasty Overview

Age of Wushu Dynasty is a 3D action MMORPG developed by Snail Games, the company behind the PC MMORPG, Age of Wushu, and the mobile MMORPG, Taichi Panda. Enter the Chinese fantasy world of Jianghu and become the greatest Kung Fu master that ever lived. Choose between one of four Martial Arts schools (Shaolin, Wudang, Emei, and Tangmen) and cultivate a variety of skills for combat. Defeat foes with fast-paced action combat featuring a Parry/Overt/Feint system that adds a tactical and strategic component to each battle. Complete hundreds of quests in a persistent town with instanced stages. Immerse yourself in beautiful graphics as you jump and glide along large cities and landscapes. Battle other players in the Arena or cut them down at any time with the open world PK system. Liberate Jianghu of foreign invaders and become the #1 Kung Fu master today!

Age of Wushu Dynasty Features:

  • High Quality Graphics – Experience beautiful 3D graphics with an Ancient Chinese fantasy theme in a world of Kung Fu and martial arts.
  • Instanced Stages – Fight through hundreds of instanced stages with many different environments, monsters, and bosses.
  • Persistent Town and Areas – Obtain quests and meet thousands of players online in the persistent town and quest areas with enemies to defeat.
  • Strategic, Action Combat – Defeat hundreds of different enemies and bosses with hack-and-slash combat featuring a Parry/Overt/Feint system that adds a strategic component to each battle.
  • Four Martial Arts Schools – Choose one of four classes represented by the Shaolin, Wudang, Emei, and Tangmen schools that all vary in combat, abilities, and playstyle.
  • Open World PVP & Arena – Watch your back or attack other players at any time with the open world PK system. Alternatively, there are organized 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, and guild battles in the PVP Arena.

Age of Wushu Dynasty Screenshots

no images were found

Age of Wushu Dynasty Featured Video

Age of Wushu Release Trailer

Full Review

Age of Wushu Dynasty Review

By, Herman Y.

Age of Wushu Dynasty is a free-to-play, 3D action MMORPG developed and published by Snail Games, a China-based game developer behind the original PC MMORPG, Age of Wushu, and the mobile MMORPG, Taichi Panda. Age of Wushu Dynasty was first announced at E3 2015 in June and after several rounds of closed beta testing, it launched globally on January 7, 2016. While many were hoping for a full-fledged open world MMORPG like the original Age of Wushu, it is unsurprising that Age of Wushu Dynasty is instead an instanced-based MMORPG, much like Taichi Panda. In fact, some may even consider Age of Wushu Dynasty to be a reskin of Taichi Panda due to their large similarities. While Age of Wushu does feel very generic in terms of its instanced/stage-based level designs and standard hack-and-slash combat system, it does feature a unique and beautiful Chinese fantasy world, some interesting combat mechanics, and lots of content that makes it worth trying out.

Character Creation and Classes
Upon starting the game, players can choose between four classes which are represented by four Martial Arts Schools, which include: Shaolin (gender-locked male), Wudang, Emei (gender-locked female), and Tangmen. Shaolins are “Shaolin Monk” type characters armed with a mighty staff that can deal long-ranged melee attacks as well as magical Chi/Force spells, Wudangs are Tai Chi sword-wielding warriors specialized in defense with strong recovery and survival skills, Emeis are balanced and well-rounded fighters armed with departing daggers with high control and burst damage, and Tangmen are offensive rogues also armed with daggers, but with poisonous skills and short-ranged attacks. Each class has a “Master” and “Disciple” version, which is basically an appearance option that allows players to look like an adult or a child, but other than that and choosing between male and female, there is unfortunately no appearance customization. Despite the different classes, each class generally plays the same in terms of combat, although the differences in skills and attack style still makes each class feel a little different, which offers some variety and replayability.

A Beautiful but Restricted Chinese Fantasy World
Although the original PC MMORPG, Age of Wushu, had a fully open and persistent world, Age of Wushu Dynasty is more instance-based similar to other mobile action RPGs. While there is a persistent town and some persistent quest areas with enemies to fight, the core gameplay takes place in instanced stages. In the persistent areas, players can socialize with other players, obtain quests, and fight enemies for certain quests (this will be explained more in the next section) which does give a sense of community and freedom. In the stages, however, players enter an instanced map where they have to navigate along a linear path defeating waves of enemies along the way. Enemies appear in large numbers, but due to the game’s action combat system, they can be taken down quickly. There is a boss at the end of each stage and completing stages gives silver (in-game currency), experience, and potentially new equipment, chest keys, recipes, and Cultivation stones (for upgrading skills). The various maps all differ in appearance and environments, and the world generally has a colorful and bright (although some maps are dark) Chinese fantasy feel to it that can be immersive to some and a turn-off for others, but for what they were going for, the world is quite beautiful.

Questing: Running, Talking, and More Running
Questing in Age of Wushu Dynasty is similar to that of traditional MMORPGs in which players go around talking to NPCs to obtain quests. The questing, however, is much more linear in Age of Wushu Dynasty, where there is only one main questline with no side-missions. To make things even simpler, there is also an auto-move feature that will automatically take players to their quest objectives, which are mainly NPCs to talk to. In fact, questing can be quite boring due to the automated quest movement and large amounts of NPCs to talk to. Between each instanced stage, players will have to run back and forth talking to NPCs many times, sometimes even for 5-10 minutes, before they can get to the next instanced stage. The questing is unfortunately very repetitive and uninspiring, and the main quest objectives consist of talking to NPCs, completing an instanced stage, defeating enemies in a persistent area (which is usually very quick), or collecting something which features more automated back and forth running.

The game’s story may make up for the repetitive questing for some people, but generally the story is not all that interesting either. The story mainly revolves around ninjas, bandits, and foreigners invading and plotting against the Chinese empire and somehow, it is up to the player to single-handedly defeat them. Meanwhile in the city, players will be given a linear set of missions ranging from investigating objects, to helping scouts, to helping two people in different cities communicate via 5 minutes of back and forth teleporting. There are, however, short cutscenes that play at the beginning and sometimes end of each stage that feature voice-acting and a cinematic experience. Oddly enough, for some reason, the English voice acted lines don’t match up with the English subtitles. It seems like the script given to the voice actors was not the same script translated from the Chinese version that they used as subtitles. There are no grammar errors; it’s just that the lines are completely different. For example, rather than saying “I’m not going to waste my time playing with you, imp,” as indicated by the subtitles, the character instead says “You fight like someone I know,” and pretty much every single voice-acted line is different from the subtitles. However, an hour into the game, the voice acting completely stops so it doesn’t really matter.

Martial Arts Combat with a Twist
In the Kung Fu world of Age of Wushu Dynasty, players can defeat their foes in style with Chinese martial arts. Having said that, the combat itself is very similar to Taichi Panda and other mobile action RPGs. Players have a virtual joystick to move around and have a main attack button with skills to use around it. However, the combat goes one step farther with a unique Parry/Overt/Feint system not seen in many other games. While the hack-and-slash style fighting remains the same, players and enemies have the option of parrying (as a skill) which, for the player, blocks and unleashes a counterattack if they parry before getting attacked (Parrying lasts for about 2 seconds). The enemies, on the other hand, can only block attacks by parrying and cannot counterattack. This is where the Parry/Overt/Feint rock-paper-scissors system comes into play. When the enemy is parrying, players have to use a Feint skill in order to break the opponent’s parry before they can attack them normally again. Overt refers to normal attacks and can interrupt and overcome a Feint skill attack. Players also have a powerful Rage skill that they can activate whenever their rage bar is full (from attacking enemies). Overall, the combat feels very similar to other hack-and-slash action RPGs but is slightly more in-depth with its Parry/Overt/Feint system. There is also an “Auto-combat” option that allows players’ characters to automatically attack but the “Auto-combat” is usually not as efficient as manual fighting.

Open World Player Killing and Organized PVP
Age of Wushu Dynasty has a full-on open world player killing system as well as an Arena for organized PVP battles. Although the game is not fully open world, there is an “open world PK” system that allows players to attack and kill anyone at any time in the persistent areas including towns. The system is a bit odd since it doesn’t really seem to fit in the game and there aren’t really any benefits to killing other players. Players gain 4 infamy for each player they kill, for a maximum of 20 infamy, and if they are killed, they are placed in jail for 1 minute per infamy until the infamy is all gone. That is pretty much it. As of this review, players don’t gain anything from killing other players, and the players that are killed must respawn in town or nearby which is only a minor inconvenience since movement is very quick in this game. Still, it can be annoying when a high level player decides to go on a random killing spree in town or in a nearby quest area with little to no consequences. Although the open world PK system had a greater role in the PC MMORPG, Age of Wushu, it is not very well implemented in Age of Wushu Dynasty.

In addition to the open world PKing, the game also has an arena for organized PVP matches. The Arena battles, however, are fully asynchronous so players will be facing off against AI versions of other players’ characters. There are 1 vs 1 matches, 2 vs 2 matches, and guild battles. Players can choose an opponent from a randomized list to face off against, and can choose either to use manual or auto-combat, with the exception of the first PVP mode (under lvl 20) which can only be in auto-combat. Players can participate in a limited number of battles a day and can obtain silver as well as PVP badges to exchange for certain rewards. Unsurprisingly, the PVP battles are not very interesting due to the asynchronous matchmaking and “automated-ness” of the battles. Even though players can have manual control over the combat, it ends up feeling like senseless button mashing, and each side has quite a lot of HP so each match is very long and dragged on. While these kinds of PVP battles are the norm for most mobile RPGs, it is still disappointing for an action MMORPG like Age of Wushu Dynasty to use this system considering the open PK system features real-time battles.

Cash Shop/In-App Purchases (IAP)
Age of Wushu Dynasty has many in-app purchases which offer a wide range of different items and advantages. Firstly, it has a Top Up feature that replaces the typical V.I.P. system, although they are intrinsically the same thing. By purchasing Gold (premium currency), known of topping up Gold, players not only purchase the Gold but also obtain special rewards for the amount that they purchase. These rewards include special equipment, crafting materials, silver (in-game currency), chest keys, and more. Players can also purchase deals that give Gold every day for 1 month, 3 months, or 1 year. With Gold, players can purchase high level equipment upgrade material, special equipment and weapon chests, silver, crafting enhancers, Cultivation stones (for upgrading skills), chest keys, Vigor pills (for more energy) and more. Players will also receive special V.I.P. advantages such as increased daily purchase limits and instance limits. Overall, the game offers a lot of useful advantages to paying players, and although it may be possible to reach the “end-game” without paying, the advantages in better equipment and leveling speed from spending money are undeniable.

Final Verdict – Good
Although Age of Wushu Dynasty is a very generic instance-based MMORPG resembling mobile action RPGs rather than the open world PC MMORPG people were expecting, it still has reasonably in-depth action combat, beautiful artwork, and lots of content to be discovered. Minus the lackluster questing and PVP, Age of Wushu Dynasty is a relatively good game that casual gamers, action RPG fans, and MMORPG enthusiasts should give a try.

Screenshots

Age of Wushu Dynasty Screenshots

Videos

Age of Wushu Dynasty Videos

Age of Wushu Release Trailer

System Requirements

Age of Wushu Dynasty Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Android 2.3.3 and up / iOS 6.0 or later

Music

Age of Wushu Dynasty Music & Soundtrack

Additional Information

Age of Wushu Dynasty Additional Information

Developer: Snail Games
Publisher: Snail Games
Platforms: Android, iOS
Release Date: January 7, 2016

Age of Wushu Dynasty was developed and published by Snail Games, a China-based game developer behind the PC MMORPG, Age of Wushu, and the mobile MMORPG, Taichi Panda. Age of Wushu Dynasty was first announced at E3 2015 in June and was a mobile spin-off to their PC MMORPG, Age of Wushu. Unlike the PC version, Age of Wushu Dynasty is more instanced-oriented like Snail Game’s mobile game, Taichi Panda, rather than the PC MMORPG. Snail Games is also the developer of the popular PC online games, Black Gold Online and 5Street, as well the 3D smartphone, W 3D, and the Android gaming console, OBox.