I began playing Shin Na Zuki, a free mobile JRPG featuring summoning mechanics in a beautiful fantasy anime setting.
What I like about the game:
- Full voice acting and beautiful music
- Cute characters
- Pretty graphics
- Summoning
- Costumes
- And most of all a really interesting story that feels like it could even be straight out of a console JRPG.
What I dislike about this game:
- Not enough characters to collect for a summoning type game
- Gameplay especially in combat is boring
- Crafting is also boring/mindless
- Stupid people in the chat rooms. So bad I disabled the comments.
- Couple of small typos/translation errors like using the word buy instead of but, etc
- Also dunno what’s up with the seemingly excessive swear words in the dialogue lol.
Now let’s look at the review….
Title: Shin Na Zuki
Platform: Mobile
Price: Free
Publisher: Wonder
Where to get: https://swy.wonderent.net
Geeky: 3/5 There is definitely some retro JRPG console influences in this mobile game. The story feels really solid so far, The music is by a Final Fantasy Composer, The game is fully voiced by talented Japanese Voice Actors, and the graphics are really nice too! But the combat is slow and dull, and overall pace and feel of the game tedious at times.
Sweetie: 3/5 3 points for all of the good things above, story, voice overs, graphics, retro JRPG vibe, music, etc. However, loses points for not enough heroes to collect. There’s maybe like 20, when most games like this have around 500… There are different costumes you can get for the heroes though which is a cute plus. And the heroes are all so cute.
Overall: 64/80 80% B- Very Good Game for Girls
Gameplay: 3/10 I’m not really loving the gameplay so far. The combat is slow and clunky and doesn’t present much opportunity for strategy nor challenge. There does appear to be a lot to do in the game as it combines card collecting with traditional JRPG elements and later in the game it seems there are raids and large scale battles but I have not gotten that far yet.
Story: 10/10 I’m really into the story which is rare for me in a mobile game. I was hooked right by the opening video with fully voiced narration. The story is about how god was angry and destroyed and divided the world. There are basically two factions now, those who still worship their gods, and those who have turned away from god in favor of technology. Those who seek power turn into demons and the more powerful they become, their appearance changes as well. However there is a lot of mystery and misconceptions about these creatures. When the game opens, our hero encounters one such creature who helps him and saves his life. He then ponders if they are really demonic or if his beliefs are a lie.
Characters: 10/10 The characters are cute and their stories are interesting and exciting. The mystery and suspense make for strong character development and interaction. Each character has a different role and different strengths and weaknesses in combat as well making it useful to collect them all.
Graphics: 10/10 For a mobile game these graphics are quite pretty and I love the chibi anime look of each of the characters. There are dramatic special combat moves that are really fun to watch, and a lot of beautiful backgrounds as well. There are also limited edition heroes to collect from crossover anime/games such as currently a vocaloid Hatsune Miku collaboration. Sure, the graphics aren’t as good as a PC or console game, but for a mobile game they’re pretty incredible.
Music: 10/10 Composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto who has scored numerous JRPG such as Final Fantasy Tactics, Ogre Battle, Shin Megumi Tensei, Dragon Quest, and best known for his work in Final Fantasy 12, Hitoshi lends his incredible talents to this mobile RPG increasing the retro Consoke JRPG feelings that this title evokes.
Voice Acting: 10/10. The game is FULLY voiced. Every Line. And the voice acting is top notch. The Voice Acting and Great music make this a game to play at max volume. And this coming from a girl who typically plays her mobile games on mute lol. I’m really impressed with the music and voice acting and story in this game. It is if console quality.
Replay Value: 5/10. There’s lots to do and lots to collect, but the gameplay is so weak that it detracts from all of the positive points. The story is worth sticking through the poor gameplay. Maybe they will improve it so that it is more fun and fluid, until then, this is a game I only envision playing until I’ve completed the story and then occasionally logging in to check out new events for new costumes and new heroes.
Overall: 64/80 80% B- Very Good Game for Girls
