Hands on with Zenonia 2: Lost Memories on iPhone

Time is kind to the past. Nostalgia has a way of dulling quirks and criticisms so that pleasant memories override any past concerns.

Despite ample room for improvement, the irresistible appeal of classic role-playing earned Gamevil's Zenonia much praise and it's being called forth once again to create interest in its sequel.

Zenonia 2: Lost Memories waxes nostalgic with gameplay that puts The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past to shame. Yet, a thorough hands on with this anticipated sequel highlights the challenges facing a game not build specifically for iPhone and iPod touch. It was originally released on mobile.

While the concept of Zenonia 2 is compelling, much work needs to be done to ensure it can live up to expectations.

Gamevil knows this and is committed to crafting the best iPhone and iPod touch adaptation possible.

The interface and menu system have been completely overhauled to take advantage of the touchscreen - a critical element missing from the first game. Even better, the interface is customisable; you're free to adjust the size and position of the virtual directional pad, action buttons, and more.

These improvements ensure that the game feels more at home on your handset, yet there are other considerations.

Traipsing about the darkened basement of Deva Castle, for instance, wasn't the smoothest of experiences. The directional pad is clunky and needs serious fine-tuning. Movement is staccato, often jerky. It's a problem because of the game's real-time combat system that makes it easy to bump into enemies and get hacked to pieces (as I did twice).

Of course, you can slash right back with an array of abilities. The skill system is shaping up to be one of the game's strongest points.

Each of the four protagonists - swordsman Lu, female gunslinger Ecne, the magician Morphice, and martial artist Daza - can access a branching skill tree packed with class-specific abilities. Gun Hawk, for example, executes mid-air attack when playing as Ecne, whereas the Blinding Fire skill confuses enemies with a shot from her gun.

What's great is that you're give free reign to choose which skills you acquire based on how you spend points earned with each new level. In this way, you're able to customise your hero within the parameters of their class. It ensures Zenonia 2 lets you play the role of your chosen character rather than presenting a linear progression path.

It also helps that much of the level grinding that filled the gaps between story sequences in the original are being axed in the sequel.

That said, one of the missions I completed in my session involved cutting down walking Elder Wood trees in order to collect a bundle of willow branches. To be fair, it was early in the game when such chores are meant as a role-playing rite of passage.

Developing your hero will be important outside the single player story thanks to the introduction of new online multiplayer battles. Working over wi-fi and 3G/Edge networks, you can compete against other players. Visiting arena officials camped out in major towns grants access to the online arena where you can fight for prestige. Naturally, leaderboards and statistical tracking is planned.

One cool feature is the ability to save death notes, which act as vengeance markers that tag a player that beat you. Using these death notes, you can beef up and then track down that character for a rematch. It's a clever idea because it instills a rather shallow combat mode with some long term competitive dimension.

Even if you're not interested in partaking of online battles, replay value exists in a trio of difficulty modes - normal, hard, and Hell.

Start up a new game in Hell mode and bonus missions and scenarios for each of the characters become available. This is the sort of depth of play and thoughtful design that has the potential to make Zenonia 2 a hit.

Still, this attention to detail needs to be directed to more fundamental aspects of the game, namely control and presentation. Tighter controls and cleaning up the sometimes blurry graphics are high on our list of desired improvements.