Let me first state that I am an old man who grew up playing Famicom. I could not finish the Saint Seiya cartoon without missing an episode. So when I saw this title, my first reaction was emotion, and my second reaction was vigilance. After all, for mobile games that carry the banner of genuine authorization, most likely they will be reskinned and drawn, and you will get free gameplay when you buy an IP. The monthly and weekly growth funds are clearly arranged for you.
But when I clicked in and saw, oh, the charging mode says "0"? ? ? Are there any free mobile games these days? I thought it was either a discovery of conscience, or a matryoshka doll of "free trial, in-app purchase hell". But in the spirit of seeking truth from facts, I bit the bullet and played for two hours, and found that...it's okay?
Not talking about drawing cards, not talking about combat power rankings, this game actually faithfully follows the plot flow of Galaxy Conflict, Golden Zodiac, Neptune Chapter, and Pluto Chapter. It's not the kind of PPT with a vertical picture and three sentences of text, but a horizontal version of the action where you can control the character to run around, fight, and kill. Seiya's Meteor Fist, Purple Dragon's Shoryuba, and Ikki's Phoenix Wings. The movements are quite decent, and even the dubbing sounds are the same as when they were kids. As soon as the music started, I got goosebumps.
You said it's a standalone machine? Not exactly. There are online friends and an arena, but no one will bother you if you complete the story and pass the levels by yourself. This experience is completely different from those current online games where "if you don't care, you can only be a sandbag". Online games make me anxious. This game reminds me of the afternoons when I was a child, waiting in front of a broken TV, waiting for the Five Little Strongmen to cheat.
I'm not saying it's awesome, after all, the action feel is passable at best, and the modeling is far from exquisite. But at least in terms of "forcing you to spend money", it surprised me by being so restrained. Sign in for seven days to get a Bronze Saint, and by pushing it to Chapter 6, you can gather the five strong men. There are also artifacts to collect later, but they are all dropped by completing levels, not just by earning gold. It's like a clumsy but sincere fan work that takes the original plot seriously and treats the players as normal people.
What is the charm of stand-alone? You can stop at any time without fear of not being able to keep up with the group. If you fail, you can load a new file and start again. If you feel better, try again, instead of being tied up by the guild leader battle and having to log in twice in the middle of the night. Although this game is not comparable to a true stand-alone game, its experience is already moving in that direction. At least I don't have to go online every day to collect stamina. If I don't collect it, I won't be able to keep up with the version. If I don't collect gold, I will be rubbed repeatedly.
To put it bluntly, the reason I posted this is to say, don't just cross it out as soon as you see “genuinely authorized” and “mobile game”. There are not many mobile games these days that can allow me, a single player, to play for two hours. This is one of them. Of course, if you insist that "Online games are interesting only when multiple people interact with each other," then we have nothing to talk about. All I know is that when we were children, we wanted to be Saints, not to top others in the rankings, but for the words "Burn, little universe."
In the end, I didn't spend any money on this game, and I wasn't chased around. Just for this, I give it a thumbs up. If you are also an old player who has been hurt by disgusting and bad mobile games, you can give it a try. It's free anyway, so it's not a loss. 😎