Elemental Knights Online for the Nintendo Switch Entertainment System is a fantasy MMORPG that was first released on mobile phones for free in 2008. The Switch version of Elemental Knights Online is not free and will cost you roughly $20 if it's not on sale. Before I go into the why's of this review I must say that this game isn't worth the price they are charging.
Elemental Knights Online (hereafter referred to as EKO) is your typical run-of-the-mill fantasy RPG setting It's filled with random NPC's you will only talk to once and first-tier monsters that you will see re-skinned ad-nauseum before you're even out of the tutorial. A tutorial that barely exists. Sure the game tells you what to do, but the English localization is so poor that it can be difficult and frustrating to figure out what to do. More on that later.
Luckily for the player, it does put a little red bubble on new items and skills so that you can level up your character. But without the game telling you properly what you're doing it becomes a new game unto itself; make the red dots disappear.
The rest of the game is simple fetch quests. Go here, talk to 'X.' Go there, kill 'Y' number of monsters then go talk to 'X.' Etc, etc. Very repetitive in nature, but a time-tested formula that keeps players engaged enough.
The graphics of EKO are nothing to write home about. The low polygon count characters and uninspired backgrounds are to be expected from a free 2008 mobile game, but are pretty inexcusable when you consider the developers are charging users $20+ for a lazy mobile port.
And speaking of a lazy mobile port, just look at my screens here! A good 35% of the screen is taken up by frivolous menus, some of which are direct links to microtransactions. Above are some basic buttons to help with chatting to other players, and below are the ever-present (and obviously a holdover from mobile) skill buttons.
The sounds and music of the game are generic in nature, but of good quality. Nothing really stood out to me about the sounds or music of the game, but they also weren't annoying and obnoxious. So that's a plus! I don't have much to say about this aspect of the game, but it's probably one of its best features. Oof!
The localization for EKO is absolutely atrocious and by far one of the worst translations I've ever seen. I think the developers just used google translate and didn't bother to proofread many of the text blocks. It's an explanation, but by no means is it an excuse! I haven't bothered to download the mobile version to see if the translations are the same, and just a holdover from that or a brand new addition for Nintendo Switch users. I took a few screenshots of some good examples of bad grammar. The first is a softball pitch, with the server login communication dialog box being a fixed size. After that are a bunch of photos taken while I was completing some of the first missions of the game! Take note of the level of my character in the top left of the screen.
Now, I know this isn't the best review of the day. Probably not even the best review released this hour, but look at this game. It didn't leave me feeling too inspired to sing its praises. In as few words as possible, do not buy Elemental Knights Online for the Nintendo Switch. Period. Not on sale, not with your free gold coins. Don't do it! Your money can be better spent elsewhere and you can play this game for free on other platforms. I bought the game (on sale for $0.99) so that you didn't have to.
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