Shadowgun: Legends

Spanning from days gone by, when Google first brought out a 7 inch tablet called the "Nexus 7"... There was a 3rd person shooter that tried very much to be the mobile version of Gears of War. It was good, but not Gears of War good. Still, it left an impression on many people and continued to gain quite a following! The following years brought out a newer versions like Shadowgun: Deadzone (officially ending March 31, 2019) but nothing compared to what the team has brought to the table!

Launching into the main game hub.

Originally announced in August 2016, Madfinger Games did a soft release in November 2017. As the game made its way across the internet, it seems that the biggest departure was moving from 3rd person to a first person perspective! But wait... There's more! Now instead of the game being locked into a linear story, it is now run as a looter-shooter VERY akin to Destiny! There's a central hub where you talk to key characters, buy and sell loot, eat and drink, setup your PVP and special PVE arena matches, and a variety of other modes.

Inventory and loadout screen.

Graphically, as a mobile game, the game is pretty. So pretty. Models and textures are all well thought out to keep the balance of detail and rendering speed so nothing looks super jaggy or your device chugs due to too many intricacies. All of the gun models, within their same class of guns, are similar and change looks with their rarity. Another nice touch is being able to add stickers and custom colors to almost all your gear! The coloring can be done on individual pieces with a spray paint can or you can do your whole getup with a paint can.

My current setup in the game

With how much heft this game is offering, you might think that it will just choke and die on your mobile device. Well it just may. But there is hope! Within the menus, you have the ability to adjust the render detail as well as the frames per second. On both my Dell e7470 running PrimeOS and Xiaomi Blackshark, I am able to put the game into ultra detail and 60fps and it never chokes or stutters. My laptop will ramp up the fan and my cooling on the phone will get exceptionally warm but not to the point where it will run the thermal safety shutdown.

In App Purchases:

Gotta get that sweet gold ring action!

Yeah, we can't talk about modern day mobile gaming without having some sort of IAP in it. Especially with the depth that this game has as a freemium/free to play model, it needs to be there. You biggest pain point will be the amount of inventory and backpack slots you get right away. You will quickly run out out of space and a good percentage will get eaten up by forced loot boxes that you can't open without spending IRL money for box keys. On top of that, there are 2 different levels of boxes too, so there are two tiers of key pricing too! With that aside, you can spend a very small amount of cash to unlock a massive amount of inventory space! (That and you get to be a proud owner a massive gold ring!) Other than the IAP angle, the game is completely playable as-is, without paying into the game.

All-in-all, this game is pretty good! While it doesn't seem to be anything new with the Destiny-esque looter-shooter genre, it is definitely head and shoulders above any other offerings on mobile platforms. Their attention to how the players will want to play is pretty expansive and ability to use a variety of controllers is a testament to the company listening to their player base. With new content and game modes always on the way out, you should give this one a try!