Unison League

Unison League Review

By Herman Y.

Unison League is a free-to-play social RPG with cute, anime graphics developed and published by Ateam Inc. Originally in Japanese, Unison League was translated and released in English globally on May 16, 2015 for both Android and iOS devices. It features real-time, co-op multiplayer with people around the world as well as a light story. Players can choose one of five unique classes. The game offers satisfying gameplay for both casual and hardcore gamers. Unison League has many notable features that sets it apart from other similar online mobile RPGs.

Classes and Character Creation

When the game begins, players can choose between one of five classes: the tanky soldier, the powerful but fragile lancer, the all-rounded archer, the “glass cannon” mage, or the supportive cleric. All classes are useful in battle and have a different role to play. They use different weapons and start with their own elemental summons and abilities. Each class has numerous skills to unlock and two job changes to ascend to later in the game. Players can switch between classes at any time. Players can also choose their gender and customize their character’s appearance with a selection of different face and hair options.

Partying is Fun

Unlike Brave Frontier and other similar social RPGs, Unison League has a real-time party system that allows players to party up with other players in each stage. Upon selecting a stage in “Group Quests,” the game automatically connects players in the same stage. If there are no other players in that stage, players are matched up with computer (A.I.) teammates. Each stage holds a maximum of five people and players can communicate either through the built-in macros or by manually typing a message. Communication becomes very important at higher stages where focusing on certain targets and using the right ability and summon is crucial. Players can also select “Recommended Quests” to join stages already in progress or “Friend Quests” to party with friends.

The Gameplay

Unison League is a stage-based RPG. There’s hundreds of stages across a large map that players can travel through, one stage at a time. These stages, also known as “Group Quests,” are comprised of two to three waves of enemies and a boss battle. During each wave, players can choose from five actions, that can be customized to include actions such as attack, defend, cheer, and class skills. Attack will damage an enemy, defend increases defense stats, cheer increases Unison of party members, and skills can either damage, buff, or heal depending on the player’s class. Each action has a cooldown and party members can choose when to use each action so the game is more real-time than turn-based. After defeating every wave of enemies, players receive gold, experience, and loot that consists of weapons, armors, and summons. Players also receive one gem, the premium currency, after completing each stage.

Unison Attacks

Unison Attacks is one of the unique features of Unison League. As players attack the enemies, their Unison bar builds up and is usually full by the time they reach the boss. There is also an action called “Cheer” that gives party members a slight increase to their Unison bar. When the bar is full, pressing the “Unison” button and selecting one of the summons will trigger something called “Unison Chance.” Three other party members must also activate their Unison summons within the next couple seconds in order to achieve a “Unison Attack,” which, depending on the element combination of the summons, will cause large amounts of damage to enemies. Identical elements will create a more powerful “Unison Attack” while a mix-up of elements will create a weaker one.

Cash Shop/In-App Purchases

The In-App Purchases in Unison League mainly consist of randomized gear chests called “Spawns.” With 3 gems, players can open a chest containing a Rare or better piece of gear (weapon, armor, or summon). For 30 gems, players can obtain 10 pieces of gear, all Rare or higher, with one guaranteed SR (Super Rare) gear. Also for one time only, players can use 30 gems to open a special chest with 10 pieces of Rare or higher equipment with one guaranteed SSR (Super Super Rare) gear.

These chests are a gamble since the chance of gear above Rare is small and gear is not limited to your class, meaning Soldiers can receive Cleric gear, Archers can receive Mage gear, etc. However, Unison League is generous by giving out one free gem for the completion of a stage and on occasional events so spending money is not necessary. There is, however, an energy system that prevents players from playing stages nonstop and earning a lot of gems. The biggest con in Unison League is that guilds with paying members tend to have better gear than non-paying players in other guilds, giving them a slight advantage.

Guild Battles

One of Unison League’s most advertised features is their real-time 5v5 Guild Battles. Guild Battles are unique and interesting. There are different leagues that guilds participate in depending on their guild ranking and guild battles are automatically scheduled every day. The game matches up guilds and sets up a time for each guild battle to begin. Joining your guild’s battle allows players to control their character, rather than having a less active computer AI in their place. Although guilds can hold more than five members, only five players can represent their guild in each battle.

Each guild has a crystal to protect—reminiscent of the War of Emperium in Ragnarok Online. The guild that defeats the other guild’s crystal wins. However, in order to attack the other team’s crystal, your guild must first defeat all five members of the other guild. Afterwards, your team can pummel away at the crystal for 40 seconds before your opponents resurrect and start fighting again. Battles are intense and the team that manages to win about three to four times is able to fully destroy the crystal and win. Guilds with paying members tend to have better gear and an advantage over other guilds.

Final Verdict - Great

Unlike most other mobile social RPGs, Unison League features a fun, real-time party system with players all around the world. Combined with cute graphics, a unique Unison Attack and Guild Battle system, and reasonable in-app purchases, Unison League proves to be one of the more addictive games I’ve played. Although spending money provides some advantages in Guild Battles, the game as a whole is very fun, refreshing, and worth trying out.

Unison League Screenshots

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Unison League Videos

Unison League Links

Unison League Official Site
Unison League Google Play Store
Unison League Apple Store
Unison League Wikia [Database/Guides]

Unison League System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Operating System: Android 2.3.3 or later, iOS 6.0 or later

Unison League Music & Soundtrack

Coming Soon...

Unison League Additional Information

Developer: Ateam Inc.
Publisher: Ateam Inc.

Platforms: Android and iOS

Release Date: May 16, 2015

Development History / Background:

Unison League was developed and published by Ateam Inc., a Japan-based mobile gaming company that also operates consumer data websites. Best known for their mobile trading card games—Dark Summoner and War of Legions—Ateam Inc. is a growing Japanese company whose games have been featured in multiple “Top Free Games” listings in both North America and Japan. Unison League was released worldwide in 127 countries. Ateam Inc. has also developed the mystery horror puzzle game Ellie - Help me out, please… and the dark fantasy game Dark Summoner.