 Games on location
By Theo Boshoff
Legends of Echo is a multiplayer social game, made for mobile phones, allowing players to trade, battle and communicate with each other across South Africa, using a player’s physical location as the key element in playing.
This game has just been launched by The Grid, South Africa’s location-based mobile social network.
The game uses Vodacom’s location-based services (LBS) to determine the player’s physical location and based on this real-time information, players can explore their immediate surroundings or move anywhere in the country - virtually, of course - to interact with other players.
In short, Legends of Echo is like a parallel universe of South Africa, but cities have been replaced by natural land with fields, rocky outcrops and valleys to explore and for players to establish their bases. Players aim to become a legend and get the highest score by battling others, finding weapons and other stuff by exploration or simply trading them with other players.
For navigational purposes there are still similarities to modern-day South Africa. Everyday place names and current street maps also remain to assist players in navigating through the game to go and battle other players. Players can, for instance, teleport from Cape Town to Johannesburg and fight their battles there. The game also features an in-game instant messaging service to allow players to be in constant communication with each other, similar to that of what The Grid already offer consumers.
Vodacom has made the game available as a free download for cellphones. There is no cost for playing Legends of Echo, but standard data rates apply, so be careful how long you spend playing. You might just get the shock of your life when the cellphone bill comes at the end of the month.
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