Runes Quest

Runes Quest – Let’s look to the stones for the answers...

Over time there have been many mystic practices which have come and gone, only to come back again in a variety of different ways. In the most part, many of these secretive rites are lost to the confines of time and it’s left to various scholars to interpret and present their findings as fact. Take runes for example, the mystic symbols carved onto stones.

No doubt the game Runes Quest surpasses the various efforts and lengths that scholars have gone to bring this dormant language and practices to us today. Although this game doesn’t do much in the way of teach us anything about runes, it does make for a highly addictive game (if only all lessons could be this fun!)

By using your cunning, alertness and strategy, you must collect groups of runes of the same colour displayed on the screen. To do this, you must use either the d-pad or keypad to move the cursor around the screen and tap the action key to get the runes to disappear.

The game itself splits into three modes; arcade, puzzle and story. Arcade of course is the puzzle game in its simplest element where you have to eliminate the runes by matching the coloured stones whilst increasing the level of difficulty. Almost as quick as you can eliminate a row of stones, another line of stones appears from the top of the screen to keep you on your toes. The game ends when the runes reach the top of the screen.

Puzzle mode tests your perception more by letting you remove as many runes as possible from the game board. There are a few bonuses also to use whenever you deem it necessary. You are rewarded by being able to clear the screen of all the runes, and you lose points for leaving any un-paired runes on the screen. The bonuses allow you to do a range of special moves which can help or hinder you e.g. rotating the runes around. If you use this special ability correctly, you’ll get a step closer to clearing the screen, get it wrong and you will have some pretty interesting results.

Story mode lets you harness the power of the stones in a quest to save the world from dark forces. Every time the runes reach the top of the screen you lose manna, and when you lose all of your manna it’s the end of your game. Fortunately, you can pick up where you left off if this happens. The difficulty of this mode is the effect the dark forces have, causing stones you can’t eliminate and slowing your moves down.

In the end, this is a very enjoyable puzzle solving game and definitely something you should download and play today. It’s challenging, incredibly addictive and entertaining no matter what your age.

Rating 88%

Positives

Great graphics

Simple and enjoyable

Challenging and highly addictive

Negatives

Controls get a little sluggish in story mode as you progress

No mini-games