Chain Chronicle Review

You'd need a lot of fingers and toes to count up the number of tower defense games currently available for mobile. The same goes for anyone wanting to tally up how many RPGs, strategy games, or card-collecting titles. Is there any hope we'll see an innovative game idea again, especially amongst the reams of free-to-play distractions out there?

Actually, yes. Chain Chronicle from Gumi and Sega is a deep and satisfying offering that isn't quite like anything else out there – and its fresh scent is a result of its creators picking and mixing traits from threadbare genres.

Chain Chronicle takes place in the mythical world of Yggra, which is being invaded by the monstrous warriors of the Black Army. You need to beat back the army's advance by recruiting soldiers and completing quests related to the story (as well as side quests that earn you cool rewards and more recruitable characters).

There are five classes in Chain Chronicle, and each one gets its chance to shine on the grid-based battlefield. Soldiers and Knights take the front lines with their high hit points and devastating special attacks. Wizards, clerics, and archers lend assistance from afar.

Up to four fighters can be on the field at one time, and they can be shifted around as necessary while bad guys advance inexorably from the left. Special attacks are powered by different colors of mana (with each color matching up to a class), which the player rolls for at the start of each turn.

Though it may seem complicated at first, Chain Chronicle is actually very easy to get the hang of. The extensive (and optional!) tutorial lays things out nicely, and the actual game brings you into the world through a gentle learning curve.

Chain Chronicle is a free-to-play game, however, which means your best chances for rare an powerful fighters comes from draws that function on purchasable premium currency. But it's also quite possible to save up whatever you earn from bonuses and the like, since the game waits a while before introducing you to any sweat-worthy challenges.

Despite its appealing gameplay and generally fair free-to-play system, players who are thoroughly fed up with free online social games won't want to dive into yet another round of warrior-training and card-finding. Chain Chronicle is still definitely among the more well thought-out and polished social online games, and its attempts to mix genres generally pays off. It's worth taking on a quest or two.