Fantasy Warrior: Legends

Fantasy Warrior: Legends – Anything but legendary

As a huge fan of Zelda type games, it always feels like taking a journey home as soon as I switch on the game and watch the intro kick in, knowing that the top-down slash, dash and collect objects type game is going to kick in at any minute. Unfortunately this title isn’t quite in the same league, but it shouldn’t be written off entirely.

You of course play the role of the hero who starts off telling you just how much of a lovely day it is (whilst brandishing a sword?!)... err, like you do. Suddenly, you discover that bandits have ransacked your town and it’s down to you to find your brother, the mayor and inform and protect the king and the kingdom through battling your way around the maze.

Unlike some games of this type, the controls and action is very simplistic. Moving around the screen is just a case of up, down, left and right. Attacking someone is also simply pressing the corresponding key in the direction you are being attacked from/would like to attack. As you roam around the levels you will stumble upon various objects which help you along your way. A glowing pouch provides you with either health (replacing any lost in battle) or gold (five gold coins gives you +1 XP).

After each successful mission your score is summarised, detailing any improvements achieved and also if you missed any hidden boosts. As you would expect, the more XP you gain the better you are at fighting and avoiding being hit.

Unfortunately, no matter how much XP you gain it will never improve the crippling effect the basic controls offer. I lost track of the number of times I found my character stuck behind a tree (which seemed to be out of the way), or unable to collect objects quickly and easily due to getting jammed on some invisible wall.

I will say in its defence, this game does have quite an interesting story to keep you muddling your way through. Also for the more junior players, it will no doubt give quite a bit of entertainment. For the more advanced player, the challenge is quite rewarding especially due to overcoming the control issues.

Rating 55%

Positives

Engaging story

Quite a basic but pretty game to look at

Plenty of levels to play your way through

Unlimited continues

Negatives

The controls are quite dreadful and the bugs to get through are frustrating to say the least

The maze-like courses are pretty one dimensional and force you to follow the linear story of the game

Your hero’s abilities never really improve with the XP upgrades

Long hanging time for loading

Screen doesn’t dim – could waste battery if you forget to switch off