Game Reviews

Anodyne Mobile

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iOS
| Anodyne Mobile
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Anodyne Mobile
|
iOS
| Anodyne Mobile

Anodyne Mobile is yet another PC Flash game that has made the leap from web to iOS, and is sure to receive plenty of attention thanks to its striking similarity to Nintendo's classic Zelda series - it even features a Link-like character in a surprisingly emotional cameo role.

However, while the game is well worth a look, the rather lazy conversion saps away some of the satisfaction.

Anodyne Mobile may attempt to mimic one of the world's most famous action-RPGs, but it doesn't take itself as seriously as Shigeru Miyamoto's long-running franchise.

Link's awakening

The storyline is irreverent and packed with humorous touches, and the visuals - while evocative of Link's 2D adventures - have a more lighthearted feel.

In fact, presentation is one of Anodyne Mobile's strong points. The intentionally humble pixel-based graphics are actually very attractive at times, and the music is both eerie and atmospheric.

But problems occur when you spend a prolonged amount of time with the game's controls, which feel slightly bodged to us.

Ominously, the game even tells you at the start that you may have to restart it to get the controls to function properly. Predictably, our first few games were affected by problems - the main character would continue to walk in a certain direction even after we'd lifted our finger from the virtual D-pad, and there was a noticeable amount of input lag.

When you come to the later stages of the game - which involve pixel-perfect platforming skill - the shortcomings of the controls reach breaking point.

Fingers and thumbs

Such interface issues are presumably a side-effect of the rushed nature of the port, which even goes as far as to list the two action buttons as 'X' and 'C' - the keyboard buttons used on the browser-based edition of the game.

Of course, this is a problem which can be rectified in a future update, but it's annoying all the same - and renders Anodyne Mobile almost unplayable at times. Having to exit out of the game every time the controls get a bit ropey is irksome to say the least.

Despite this, Anodyne Mobile still offers plenty of entertainment for fans of 16-bit action adventures, and remains a lovingly crafted and astutely written tribute to the Zelda lineage - it's just a shame that more effort couldn't have been made to ensure the mobile version matches the PC edition.

Anodyne Mobile

An often-amusing love letter to the Zelda series, Anodyne Mobile offers plenty of 2D fun but is handicapped by the rushed nature of the port, which has resulted in faulty controls
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Damien  McFerran
Damien McFerran
Damien's mum hoped he would grow out of playing silly video games and gain respectable employment. Perhaps become a teacher or a scientist, that kind of thing. Needless to say she now weeps openly whenever anyone asks how her son's getting on these days.