At the Gameloft hands on today we boarded their gaming bus, parked outside E3.
One of the games on show was a new platformer called Castle of magic. It reminded me of Super Mario for DS, and that’s a good thing. The environments look great, and the lead character actually has, well… Character! As apposed to the generic looks of many iPhone platformers.
You play as a young Magician on a quest to rescue your friends from the evil Nefastax. What I liked about the game were the various powerups on offer, similar to Mario’s racoon cap and fireball abilities. You can turn into a hunter complete with bow and arrows Robin hood style, where not only can you shoot enemies but also use the arrows as platforms, to reach hard to reach areas. A fire powerup gives you fireballs, and in an underwater level you can transform into a sword fish.
Controls use Gamelofts tried and tested analogue stick, as well as a d-pad option. But on playing we’d recommend the latter. Graphically it’s very colourful with some great character modeling and various enemies, which is all presented in a smooth 2.5D engine.
We were told that the game-time runs at a little over 3.5 hours, which, while short seems about right for the $5.99 price, and they are at least aiming for quality of quantity. You can rush through the game if wish, but there’s added replay value in collecting diamonds in the levels. Look out for Castle of Magic to hit the AppStore in June.
