Every corner of this dirty little ball we live on has been mapped and uploaded to the internet. Now it’s time to play with it. Life is Magic gives players the chance to team up and take over a fantasy version of the real world, one city at a time.
Once you choose one of the three character classes available in Red Robot Labs’ Life is Magic — mage, machinist or monk — the game presents you with a map of your location, only instead of asphalt streets and concrete builds there are trees, dirt paths, inns and shops straight out of a fantasy novel. This is your world transformed.
Depending on where you live, your local map might be peppered with shops and criss-crossed with paths bearing the names of the streets you walk every day. If you live in a more rural area the effect won’t be quite as impressive, but that’s what zooming out and teleporting is for.
The world map is where the action is. Elemental dungeons dot the landscape, hungry for foolhardy adventurers to brave their depths. Other players appear on the map as well, waiting to be invited into your adventuring party. Up to three players can form an alliance, lending their particular talents in turn-based battles against fierce fantasy foes. Each dungeon level ends with a choice — leave and keep your loot, or delve deeper and chance losing it all to more fearsome beasts?
Players gain levels as they adventure, powering up towards the ultimate goal — conquering the tower that represents a major city. No one in my area has grown powerful enough to take Atlanta yet. I ventured into the tower and was slain in a single round. More grinding is in order. Luckily this is a persistent alternate world, and the tower will still be there when I am ready.
Location-based games are a passion of mine, even if my location seems to always get the short end of the stick. Limited teleportation allows me to visit bustling cities like New York…
…but when I get home, this is what I see.
[clear] The downside to living in a sparsely-populated area is there is only one shop in town to influence — The Coca-Cola Employees Federal Credit Union (yes, real-world names on fantasy places). The upside? I own that credit union. It’s all mine. Feel free to grab the game and try to take it from me.
Life is Magic — Free [iTunes]
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