IPHONE GAME REVIEW
Ravensword: The Fallen KingQuoth the Ravensword, nevermore |
 |
Ravensword unsheathes big, bold fantasy role-playing dulled by a few shortcomings. Limited character customisation and a small set of abilities prevent it from being truly epic. Despite opting for accessibility over depth, however, Ravensword remains just sharp enough to be enjoyable.
As an amnesiac who wakes up in a small village outside the massive Castle Ravengard, you're given no other choice but to hunt down the Demon Lord who has ensnared the kingdom with evil. He's ultimately responsible for your lost memory, and recovering your identity means finding the titular weapon and wielding it against the malevolent lord.
It's a big adventure matched by equally ambitious gameplay. Ravensword delivers compelling exploration and combat, yet the desire to make the game accessible dulls the experience.
Level-groaning
Chief among concerns is disappointingly shallow character development. Acquiring experience by dispatching enemies levels you up, upon which your attributes are automatically enhanced. No freedom is granted over which attributes are raised and there are no skills or abilities to learn.
Automatic levelling would have been fine if it was complemented by a customisable skill tree. Through the entire adventure, you're never given the opportunity to learn new combat abilities, skills, or spells. This makes for bland role-playing - even an adventure game like The Legend of Zelda is driven forward by the discovery of items that lend exciting new abilities.
Alternatively, providing automatic levelling as an option to be toggled in case you're uninterested in toying with skill points and attributes would have been preferable. In fact, most of the role-playing games from which Ravensword draws inspiration do this.
Unfortunately, neither option is provided and the resulting character development is shallow.
Chink in the armour
You're afforded the liberty of managing a stock of armour and weapons, but there's a curious lack of variety. Only a handful of weapons exists within the game. Even worse, a paltry two armour sets can be purchased from the town blacksmith.
While price hints at each item's relative strength, the omission of any sort of statistical data for weapons and armour prevents easy comparison. How do you know whether the mace is stronger than the sword, for example? Only by wielding a weapon against an enemy and checking how much damage it does to it are you able to deduce its strength.
Regardless of what you equip, tricky targeting tarnishes combat. Tapping an enemy triggers a lock-on, though it regularly takes several taps before targeting activates. Once you've got a lock the action is good, but it's regularly a hassle wrangling a target.
Discovery channel
Cutting across these flaws is a sense of discovery and adventure. Ravensword is saved from the shortcomings of its rudimentary role-playing by this sense of excitement. You're driven to level up not because you get to customise your hero and unlock cool new skills, but because it refills your health and lets you continue exploring the far reaches of the kingdom.
From fighting lizardmen on the banks of lava flows in Sytheria to old skool hip hop references shouted by the townsfolk, the game possess an alluring charm. Without greater depth though, Ravensword ends up sacrificing its charm for the sake of accessibility, even though it remains just sharp enough to be fun.
Ravensword: The Fallen King |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
Limited character customisation dulls Ravensword: The Fallen King, a trade between accessibility and depth preventing this enjoyable adventure from being truly epic
|
| |
|
MasterSponge | 17 November 2009
Rather terrible review, only talking about the down points of a game. I think you need to revise the review a fair bit.
Goose | 17 November 2009
Pah, poor review. The best game by legions for the iPhone, and you have to focus only upon the negatives. I suggest you update this review to point out the truths. Also, the developers have pointed out several times that this game is meant to play more like zelda than oblivion, so character customization was always going to be on the back burner, in the expac.
Sigh, shameful review.
Hoski | 17 November 2009
Whoa!! Did u even play it....u keep repeating words in the review and the whole review has a negative aspect to it thruout, which makes one feel like its a 5-pointer or something....but in the end u explain a line about discovery and enjoyment and give it a 7 point.....
whats the logic?...either the gameplay is enjoyable or not..simple....make that clear first...thats not clear...
also is the game worth the price...7dollars? how long is the game? 3-4hours? or 7hour epic? is it value for money? No word on this....
Brian | 17 November 2009
Sigh, another terrible review by Pocket Gamer.
Please fire your staff and hire people who actually know how to write.
Joined:
Jul 2008
Post count:
393
Just because it's not a gushing review doesn't mean it's bad. I found Tracy's review to be perfectly informative, and seven is still a good score - it's not like Ravensword took a panning here.
And he's spent a lot of time playing it, too. Given that it was only released a few hours ago, he's got more experience on Ravensword than most.
Chaz0r | 17 November 2009
Yes, very bad review. You are only pointing the bad.
Zemar | 17 November 2009
Very Very Poor Review. You guys rated Call of Duty with 9 yesterday! Call of Duty is too expensive and it contains a tiny map with only zombies. If that's a 9/10 then Ravensword is absolutly a 10/10 game.
I think you should re-review this game! I think Ravensword is one of the top 5 games released for iPhone.
Joined:
Oct 2006
Post count:
682
You guys. So funny. How many iPhone games have been released and someone says this is in the top 5 of 8.000? It's a review. If people love it enough to buy it - like Call of Duty Zombies - it will turn up in the charts.
As for sacking the best iPhone journos on the web - oh pleaze!
Twist | 17 November 2009
I agree with the review! And if I had red it before I bought the game I woyld have saved some money! It is not the RPG it is trying to be sadly... its just an adventure game without the fun of building a character... big disappointment!
Zwack | 17 November 2009
how come I cant even get out of the first room? the interface is soo NOT intuitive its a joke! 10 mins in the room with the door with the green arrow at the door and nothing to interact with to open it! Who did the playability testing on this one?!?! How do you leave that room?!!?!
