Torn (iOS) Review

From the outset, a master thief in George is more than willing to assist newbies with getting started, in the form of a lengthy tutorial. Dubbed as 'George's Tutorial Missions,' these quests are designed to showcase all of the key areas that are required to grow and stat-build. With an expansive city and heaps of options to undertake, and many different paths to take, this is one experience that rewards extreme patience, and it can take a while to finally get into the gist of how things work. This entire experience is text-based, so there is minimal art design or picturesque game design. This is solely a menu-based adventure with a lot of text and systems, so it will only be accessible to a niche group.

Torn is a flexible experience where beyond the tutorial, there are no missions to direct the characters towards specific goals. There is a gym available to increase statistics, such as strength, defence, dexterity and speed - these play a vital role when it comes to winning fights against opponents. Fight other players' characters online and be sure to win, as a loss can result in the character ending up inside the hospital for a specified amount of real-time. Going to the gym expends 'energy,' which refills after some time.

One of the unique portions of this adventure is that the character needs to get a job to keep up with a daily income. Starting out, the character will earn peanuts. However, upon going to university, enrolling into a degree, and completing courses, the character can increase their 'intelligence,' 'endurance' and 'manual labour' stats. By earning enough points in these stats, you can earn promotions to raise the ranks of your industry. This allows for opportunities to earn more money to purchase properties, which can subsequently be leased out for further income or lived in. Upon meeting others online, churches conduct wedding ceremonies for those who wish to put a ring on the finger of someone they have met.

Torn is quite a vast and expansive experience that requires a lot of patience to get going. For example, completing a course to increase the work stats can take 14 real-life days - completing two courses takes a month. However, a complete module can consist of ten courses, so there is a huge time investment required to burn through modules. The modules consist of education in 'Law,' 'Combat Training,' 'Business Management,' 'Health & Fitness,' 'Self-Defense,' and more. Each course and module provides its own unique benefits to help mould the character into whichever person they want to be.

Of course, if living the life of going to university to earn a respectable job doesn't sound like fun, then the character can opt to become a career criminal. Rob stores and banks, create and spread computer viruses, or be a hacker, an assassin, or a kidnapper for a living. Torn leaves the role-playing and character evolution completely up to personal preference. Of course, there is a jail to house those who are incompetent at committing crimes; which leaves the character in prison for a short time until they are released.

Torn contains a lot of depth within its world, and can take weeks and months to fully pore through. One of the key factors that won't interest everyone is that it can take a long time to achieve things. As previously mentioned, completing modules in university takes 14 days, so trying to complete a course in full means a lot of time investment. Having a lot of patience can be rewarding in the long run, but there is a lot of water that needs to go under the bridge for that to happen. Even going to the gym to work on personal attributes takes a lot of time and energy to even feel like anything is improving. However, once it does open up, Torn is then a fulfilling experience, and events finally feel like they are beginning to move quicker.