Vendetta Online Review

Online games are lucky to maintain a fan base for weeks, let alone for months, or even years. In the case of the interstellar MMO Vendetta Online, the game has managed to feed a thriving fan base since 1998. For those of you keeping track at home, that is a whopping fifteen years! Now that the game has managed to conquer most major platforms including the likes of PC, Mac and Android, the company has now set its sights on iPad. Can this massive experience make the jump to iOS, or will the gigantic scope overwhelm the more mobile-minded gamer?

Everyone who has ever complained about the lack of a significant PC-centric MMO experience on iOS now has permission to sit down. Vendetta Online has somehow managed to port its entire online platform to iPad in a way that would seem impossibly succinct given the depth of the experience, yet just as fully featured as its big brother counterparts on Mac and PC. If it sounds too good to be true, rest assured, it isn’t. Just know that depth comes at the cost of a steep learning curve.

It is hard not to think of Vendetta Online without the phrase “old-school” coming to mind. Everything from the tutorials to mission overviews are accompanied with huge chunks of scrolling text. In many cases, these are tidbits of information that are directly related to in-game objectives and are not to be passed off as idle filler. Also, players can expect to spend a good portion of the early game digging through the substantial yet complex menu system. Fortunately, the actual space combat aspects are far more streamlined, yet lack the finesse found in a peer like the Galaxy on Fire franchise.

Players can expect to be locked into interstellar action for countless hours, with only a single $0.99 monthly subscription. In the broad scheme of things, this is chump change compared to other MMOs, and includes the ability to play seamlessly with other platforms to boot. When an experience is this meaty, it is an easy purchase to justify. Whether players are exploring the galaxy or simply grinding to snag upgrades for their ship, there will never be a lack of things to do. EVER.

While not a perfect MMO experience for iPad, Vendetta Online is without question the most ambitious and substantial to date. Thanks to a low cost barrier to entry and a developer dedicated to catering to the hardcore iPad gamer, Vendetta Online should be a major player in the iOS gaming scene for years to come.

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