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Inotia 4: Assassin of Berkel neatly encapsulates the worst of the RPG genre together with the
worst of mobile gaming. Ropey localisation results in a flat group of characters, while
the ever-present spectre of in-app purchases limits your progress.
Starting out, you choose from six different classes. As is traditional, these will give
you different starting stats as well as limiting the weapons you can equip.
No matter which class you choose, you'll still be playing as Kiyan, a young man in the Shadow
Tribe sent on a mysterious quest to hinder two factions about to go to war.
The combat is enjoyably simple - level-up your chosen skills and push buttons in rotation
until one or the other of you is dead.
Mobs will drop mana blobs and loot for the crafting system. However, the fusion machines
required for crafting are few and far between, resulting in the components nicely filling
your inventory and encouraging you to purchase a bag upgrade.
You can bring up to two mercenaries in your party, and have 16 more on stand-by. These
are crucial for boss battles. While they'll happily keep fighting once you hit a target,
your mercenaries won't initiate a fight even in self defence, and nor will they take potions
automatically.
You have six hotkey slots for skills and equipment, a virtual D-pad on the left, and a 'use' button
on the right. Annoyingly for iPad gamers, Com2uS hasn't learned from the previous game
in the series, and so this interface is clearly designed for a much smaller screen.
There's no contortion in which you can safely hold your iPad and reach all the buttons you
need. It's particularly stressful when you're in a tough boss fight and find yourself walking
in squares around the all-important mana pick-ups instead of replenishing your supply.
Every character in the game speaks in a charmingly modern tone. This doesn't make up for the
terribly slow expositional exchanges in which Kiyan and Eara (also known as The Channel)
will talk about how Kiyan is here to save Eara because she is The Channel and therefore
everyone wants her power and she can't go back because she is The Channel and there's
going to be a war because she's The Channel and so on ad nauseum.
Fortunately, there's a 'skip' button for almost all of the dialogue, leaving you free to get
back to your skill rotations and inventory-management.
Inotia 4 on the iPad has all the hallmarks of a decent linear RPG. Sadly, it lacks the
writing, character development, and combat depth of a good one.