So, the king is dead, evil is blanketing the land, and the magical wand you stole to help you is
well narked off.
Welcome to
Orcs & Elves II. We were big fans of
the original game on mobile, and it's since made the leap to DS, where it also
won plaudits.
The brainchild of
Doom/
Quake luminary John Carmack, it's back for a second crack on mobile. And while the core gameplay retains the same turn-based dynamic, it looks to have enough new features to satisfy fans of the original.
We weren't joking about the wand, either. From the start of the game, it's grizzling at you, and it even refuses to be used to smash rubbish. It's a sign that the streak of humour running through the first game has returned for the sequel.
The idea is still to hack and slash your way through a series of levels, packed with orcs, skeletons and other monsters, while collecting potions and items to help in your quest.
However, one new inclusion is your familiar, a mouse called Bob that you can release and then control in first-person squeakovision (that's our term, but it will hopefully catch on). Good for getting into nooks and crannies that you can't.
We've restricted ourselves to the first three levels for this preview. The first is a starter dungeon that introduces you to the controls, while the second sees you wandering round a dwarven town, accepting mini-quests and kitting yourself out with weapons. You even get to haggle.
Meanwhile, the third level sees you battling giant wererats in the town burial grounds. The game looks good, and runs smoothly, while the turn-based action means you don't need to worry if you're all fingers and thumbs – there's still time to heal yourself or slug a potion mid-battle.
It's definitely an evolution rather than a revolution, but then with the original
Orcs & Elves being so fun, that's no bad thing. Click 'Track It!' for an alert when we review the final version, but in the meantime, feast your eyes on the screenshots above.
