Exitium: Saviors of Vardonia

Barely a week seems to pass without another new Korean mobile phone RPG appearing. Both the iPhone and Android marketplaces are being overrun by impossibly attractive, spiky-haired teen heroes.

This week, it’s the turn of Exitium: Saviors of Vardonia, a top-down action role-player set in your typically fractured and war-torn fantasy realm. It’s the kingdoms of Arkan and Abylon that are at each others' throats in this particular outing, and Exitium’s narrative is predictably packed with betrayal, sacrifice, and heroism.

In a unique twist, you can choose to see the story from either side of the conflict. There are four playable characters in Exitium - each one representing a different class, such as Mage and Paladin - two for each faction.

This allows you to experience both perspectives, and it also quadruples the amount of playing time available. The only problem is that the four characters never really feel as if they’re a real part of the conflict, and instead tend to float around the periphery while other non-playable individuals make all the choices.

This feeling of detatchment from the main story is reinforced by a trait that has become worryingly commonplace in most Korean mobile phone RPGs: the penchant for padding out gameplay with mind-numbing fetch-quests.

All too often you’ll be sent on seemingly pointless errands, such as collecting firewood, couriering items, and passing on messages.

Despite the apparent importance of each of Exitium’s four heroes, they're reduced to little more than lap dogs, dashing around the gameworld like mediaeval Boy Scouts. We half expected to come across a little old lady in need of assistance crossing a busy thoroughfare.

At least you’ll have something to look at during your seemingly endless do-gooding. The world of Exitium is a lush and vibrant one, boasting gorgeous hand-drawn backgrounds and characters. The game looks astonishing on our Galaxy Nexus’s HD screen, and our only quibble is that the sprites are a little too small.

Control is handled by an on-screen D-pad, and there are various quick-use buttons dotted around the screen (including a handy one that allows you to save your progress with a single tap, avoiding the need to drop out to a separate menu).

True to form, there are loads of items and weapons to acquire, and you can create and augment equipment using the in-game upgrade system, which involves attaching magical jewels.

Also of interest is the item mailbox, which allows you to exchange items with other players. This is a neat social element that neatly circumvents the game’s rather less appealing premium item shop, which lets you use real-world currency to purchase rare and desirable objects.

Exitium’s sharp visuals and surprisingly mature plot help elevate it above some of the slightly less serious examples of the genre, but we just can’t look past the repetitive fetch-quests which plague your every move.

It’s almost pointless to criticise Exitium for this, as it seems to be a staple of the vast majority of mobile action-RPGs. But the 16-bit titles from which the game extracts so much inspiration were much better at challenging the player, rather than transforming him into some kind of glorified courier.

Still, for the low asking price, Exitium offers hours and hours of gameplay. There are far worse ways to spend your commute to work. If you’ve savoured the likes of Destinia, Zenonia and Illusia, then Exitium is unlikely to disappoint - although it’s just as unlikely to surprise.