Perfect World Mobile & Perfect World International 12-Year Comparison Video Review

12 years, can you believe it? It’s been 12 years since Perfect World International launched on PC, to the delight of millions of players worldwide. This is a game that brings back fond memories and a few players may eventually shed a tear or two when they recollect their experiences from one of the first major MMORPGs. And now, with the upcoming release of Perfect World Mobile, feels are going to hit hard and fast.

You can pre-register for Perfect World Mobile right now at the official website, so that you don’t miss any updates. By doing so you are pitching in to a tiered gift system where players will earn rewards such as in-game currency, packs and a mount.

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It’s impressive to see how Perfect World International still stands up today, over a decade after its release. It’s a full-fledged MMORPG with amazing depth and gameplay that in many ways isn’t inferior to what you see nowadays in many games. Sure, it’s a bit rough around the edges, but with all the recent craze over classic gaming and vanilla MMORPGs, that sounds like a perfect fit – Perfect World International remains immensely playable and entertaining nowadays.

Perfect World Mobile isn’t a sequel or a spin-off; in fact, it’s not that easy to accurately describe it, but remake is probably the closest that we can get. Bear with me for a far-fetched analogy that may help you to get the idea – Perfect World Mobile is like one of those Hollywood remakes where the original work merely serves as inspiration and reference for a game that ends up being its very own thing. Think Stephen King’s It or Jumanji, for example: great movies that hold up on their own without entirely resorting to a step-by-step recreation of the originals.

Perfect World Mobile is just like that – it offers the same classes, flying mounts and iconic locations, but entirely revamps it for the current generation. The landscape is utterly different, more organic and natural, combat is far more exciting and skillful, and the graphics are stunning.

Everything starts with the class selection. In Perfect World Mobile we get five classes for now, with more coming down the line. You can pick from three races: Humans, Winged Elves and Untamed. Humans have two classes, Wizard and Blademaster; Elves come in Cleric and Archer varieties; the Untamed is solely focused on the animalesque Barbarian class.

Each class is introduced via a magnificent animation that will make you realize just how great it would be if you could do that stuff in real life. But you can’t, so let’s move on. Personally, I find the Untamed to be one of the most interesting classes, although I usually go for the Archer or other ranged classes. For the Untamed you don’t get to pick the gender, as every creature is male, but you can choose between your favorite animal: will you go for the crouching tiger or the hidden deer? I decided to go for the Kung Fu Panda – by the way, these are just silly movie references, so please pay no attention. The great thing about the Untamed Barbarians is that they can shapeshift into a tiger, for a completely different set of stats and skills.

Perfect World International is also known for its incredible character creation system. You have sliders for everything, and you can create the most freakish abomination as much as you can produce a beautiful human character. It all depends on your skills and patience, or in finding favor with the goddess of random. Perfect World Mobile shares a similarly detailed customization system, with several sliders and the ability to change pretty much every aspect of your character, including the head, torso, arms and legs size, among others. A great addition is that now you can even customize the beast form of the Barbarian class to a nice extent. And just look at those graphics, aren’t they quite impressive?

The beginning of the adventure is a frantic affair where all hell breaks loose. Unlike the original, where you peacefully start your mission, you are placed in the middle of a conflict designed to teach you the basic movement, combat and flying mechanics. Soon after, you arrive in your main town, ready for adventure and to tame your first mount, a horse, via a short mini-game comprised of quick-time events.

The UI was remade from scratch to fit both the current player demands and mobile accessibility. Let’s be honest, the original Perfect World UI now feels a tad cluttered, with many submenus and several clicks required for simple actions. Perfect World Mobile tidies things up, with a clean look and easily accessible skills, but most importantly, additional options are arranged under a collapsible menu so that they don’t get in the way.

Having tried all the races in Perfect World Mobile, I can confidently say that the improvements are significant. It’s not just about movement and how each race looks and plays differently; it’s how the skill system was reworked and feels notoriously easier to use. Cooldown times are short to keep players engaged and the battles flowing in an action-combat style. Some skills require you to control your character for additional damage, such as the Barbarian’s spinning firestorm attack. Combat takes place on land, but also in the air or underwater, but the core mechanics remain the same throughout.

Combat visuals were heftily improved, with some impressive animations and effects during combat. Wizards impress with their hailstorm and flaming phoenix, while the Untamed amazes with his stun attack. It’s flashy and compelling at the same time.

When your class reaches level 15 the flying mount is unlocked. You get a nice jump and dash ability when you start your adventure, but it’s only when you get to enjoy Perfect World Mobile’s flying system that you can truly enjoy the massive game world, with over 60,000 square kilometers to explore. There’s even a giant King Kong lookalike that I’m guessing we’ll eventually have to face sometime.

At level 15, the Winged Elves unlock their wings – obviously –, Humans prefer to fly on top of giant swords, and the Untamed start with a giant bird.

Flying feels smooth and there isn’t the issue with Perfect World International’s altitude slider – here you can simply ascend or descend via a couple of buttons. Thankfully, the pathfinding is mostly efficient here – you might recall that this mechanic on the original PC game was tricky, with your character running headfirst into any obstacle and staying there until you intervened.

Graphics in Perfect World Mobile are a far cry from the original game, and you can clearly see that for yourself when you explore some of the main cities. The design is based on the classic cities, but the graphics are completely superior and the cities feel more lively and detailed. Take Archosaur City, with its amazing oriental architecture and those colossal statues looming over the city, acting as guardians of the region. Or the City of the Plume, home to the elf race with its exquisite design that puts you right in the middle of the Lord of the Rings movies. The City of the Lost is a more arid territory but still impresses with its quaint looks and that massive Untamed head carved in stone. Etherblade, on the other hand, is a city with a prominent oriental theme. Luckily, you can teleport anytime to faraway cities – the original game had a teleporter NPC –, so you won’t have to go through the trouble of flying for long periods of time.

Graphics in Perfect World Mobile range from good to impressive. The character classes are the highlight, but this is perceptible in other aspects, such as the cities. You can also notice that in some details such as the underwater sections, with lovely fishes positively capturing your attention while you should be worrying about your quest or combat. The original game hasn’t aged terribly, but the art in the new release is tremendously superior in all regards.

Going back to the beginning of this video, Perfect World Mobile is a new game that takes the more popular core systems from Perfect World International and improves them in every way, while adding a few twists such as minigames and multiple-choice questions. Character design, flying, combat, gameplay, everything was upgraded for a better experience. While some of you may remain loyal to the original, this remake will feel like an entirely new game with a cozy and familiar touch to it.

Don’t forget that you can pre-register for Perfect World Mobile at the official website so that you know when you can play. Until next time!