I had never heard of Netease Games prior to receiving their invitation to play their games at PAX, but a quick Google search showed just how big a company they are, just not yet in the West. According to AppAnnie, Netease are the fifth largest mobile developer by revenue, but up until recently they only released their games in China. At PAX I got the chance to play 3 of Netease’s games for iOS, Speedy Ninja, Eternal Arena and Tome of the Sun.

Speedy Ninja

Speedy Ninja is a competitive, high score focused 2D endless runner with a focus on going fast. As opposed to most endless runners that have you jumping over obstacles, Speedy Ninja has you running along a rope, switching between running on top or below it to dodge obstacles and monsters, as well as collecting coins. Speedy Ninja doesn’t waste much time throwing the action at you, with a quick ramp up in speed that has you frantically flinging your character up and down as soon as you start. Obstacles are frequently thrown at you and in great number, leading to you dying often, but also meaning that runs are quick and not too time consuming.

As you go through runs, you can run through a pick up that gives you a single use special ability. These can range from a simple shield to shooting icicles ahead of you to destroy any obstacles in your path. You’re invulnerable for a short period of time after you use your special ability, so these can act as a quick out when you come into a particularly difficult part of a run. As well as special abilities, if you last long enough you jump onto the back of a giant dragon, where you get to quickly fly through a large number of coins, quickly increasing the score of your run.

As well as obstacles and monsters, you will also find yourself passing your fellow Ninja as you go through your runs. As you pass these other Ninja, you cut them down, suitably showing your superiority. It can be pretty satisfying to beat your friends high score by sticking a sword through their back as your run past them. Friends are also good for something else in Speedy Ninja; when you die you can use a friend’s Ninja to extend your run from beyond the grave.

Speedy Ninja is a stylish little endless runner that can become addictive if you get into the competitive scene. It’s definitely worth taking a look at, considering its price of $0.

Eternal Arena

Eternal Arena is Netease’s entrance into the mobile-MOBA scene. Unlike most MOBAs, however, Eternal Arena also comes with a story mode in addition to the many competitive modes that are included in the game. It also comes with a fairly wide variety of heroes, with over 35 currently available in the game.

My time with Eternal Arena focused on a few of the different story missions that are found in the game. The first mission I played was a relatively straightforward 3v3 MOBA-style battle that took place along a single lane. Mobs ran towards my towers as I attempted to brute force my way down to the enemy’s towers and destroy them completely.  It wasn’t particularly difficult to do this, however as I found out at the end of the mission, getting all of the stars for each mission would be significantly more difficult.

The other mission I was able to play was a large boss battle. Again, the combat itself was fairly straightforward and amounted to me simply wailing on the boss until it went down, however it was again apparent that gaining all 3 stars for this mission would require much more calculated play than how I was playing.

Controls are fairly simple in Eternal Arena, with a virtual joystick to move and buttons to hit to use special attacks or swap between hero characters. Combat is fairly straight forward and accessible as well, although it can feel a tad on the slow side at times.

Tome of the Sun

Tome of the Sun was my favourite of the games I played at the Netease booth, and that’s because it wasn’t your run-of-the-mill simple mobile game. Tome of the Sun is action-RPG with a lot of features that you would find in most MMOs: Pets, guilds, resources and more. I had the chance to play through the tutorial, as well as the first few quests within the game.

Tome of the Sun can be controlled manually, running around the screen and attacking enemies, or you can go with the semi-auto controls where your character automatically attacks and you just dodge and unleash your special attacks. Combat is fairly fast paced, with popping off flashy special attacks at a pretty quick clip as you battle your way through lowly enemies, as well as larger bosses. The auto mode also means that you can easily play the game while also watching TV or doing something else, which works well considering that the game isn’t always playable in bite-sized chunks.

The quests I was able to play had me running through dungeons, fighting enemies as I went through, and ending with a larger boss battle towards the end. It felt a little bit like other dungeon-based games such as Diablo and Torchlight, but with a larger focus on fast paced combat and a little less on depth and strategy.

Graphically, the game is pretty great to look at. The bright colours used throughout the game go well with the chibi-anime art style of the game and set it apart compared to other mobile games. Every piece of equipment in the game alters how your character looks, which can lead to some pretty varied character appearances.

The most impressive part of Tome of the Sun is the willingness of Netease to take on player feedback and alter the game where necessary. Tome of the Sun was actually released in a beta phase earlier in the year, and after receiving some less than glowing feedback, Netease took the game back to the drawing board and reworked it. It speaks volumes for a developer to do this, and shows that they’re interested in long term success, and not just short term gains.

Tome of the Sun is highly recommended, and has recently been soft-launched in Australia, meaning it’s available to play right now.