Only One Review

Give a guy a sword and he’ll do his best to fight his way to the top. I’m not sure if anyone has actually been credited for saying something like that but it’s certainly applicable in Only One. This little dude is mighty tenacious!

Only One is essentially an arena combat/survival game in which players assume control of one very ambitious individual as he wields a magic sword and battles until he’s the last man standing. Or until he dies. Whichever comes first, really. The game uses a straightforward virtual stick and buttons control system, with more buttons appearing as players purchase new (upgradable) abilities. And they’ll need to make good use of those abilities if they’re to have even a slim chance of making it past the game’s 70 levels of baddies.

What’s truly great about Only One is how players can just jump right in and have a good time. They run, hit stuff with a sword, shove enemies to their death, possibly level-up, and even more possibly die themselves. Then they’ll inevitably want to dive back in for another round; picking up from the first level proceeding the last boss they’ve defeated. It’s no walk in the park either, as different enemies have different patterns and attacks that must be learned. Although I’m also quite fond of using the push ability to launch a fireball back into a wizard’s face. Stupid teleporting jerks.

I did run into a couple of problems that didn’t ruin my fun, but they did hamper it a little. First and foremost is the sword. It feels a little too short at times, which leads to attacks not alway connecting when I think they should. Movement also feels a bit stiff, and more than once my thumb has slipped off of the virtual stick - leaving my magic sword guy motionless and totally vulnerable. I’ve noticed that sometimes I’ll also miss tapping one of the buttons for the same reason, but moving has been a more consistent issue.

As I’ve said though, the issues I’ve come across aren’t so bad that they’ve ever kept me from having fun. And fun is definitely how I’d describe Only One. It’s a very well-contained arena survival RPG thing. I dunno if I’d call it the one and only, but it’s doing a good job of fighting for that top spot.

[gallery size=“thumbnail"]