rpg

Squids for Windows Phone 8, an underwater adventure of tentacle proportions

Games

By George Ponder, Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 8:39 am

Squids is a relatively new Windows Phone 8 game that has you playing the role of various squids in an under sea action adventure.

The story line has your team of squids in danger of an infectious black ooze that is corrupting the sea. Naturally, it's your job to build a team of squids to defeat the enemies and save the day.

Squids is a fun game that does grow on you and is a nice addition to the Windows Phone gaming library.

Soul Gambler, an interactive way to risk your inner being

Games

By George Ponder, Thursday, Jan 24, 2013 at 8:53 am

Soul Gambler is a rather interesting role playing game for your Windows Phone. Not only in the game play itself but also in that game's future hinges on a Kickstarter project's success.

Soul Gambler is a interactive story game where you control the direction of the story and the fate of the main character. You play the role of Faust who is given a chance to sell his soul for the life of his dreams. The interactive comic is an interesting game and in a way a tease of things to come if the developer gets enough support from his Kickstarter campaign. Soul Gambler may not appeal to everyone but it does make for a unique Windows Phone game experience.

Indie Windows Phone RPG Doom & Destiny not only impresses, it's currently free

Games

By Paul Acevedo, Wednesday, Jan 16, 2013 at 12:08 pm

In our ‘Best Xbox games of 2012’ feature, I named the sole Xbox-branded RPG Final Fantasy as one of the year’s finest. This year we have the very RPG-like strategy game Skulls of the Shogun to look forward to, but another Xbox RPG seems unlikely at present. Thankfully an indie developer has come along to fill the void with Doom & Destiny from HeartBit Interactive. Previously available as an Xbox Live Indie Game on 360, Windows Phone gamers can take the game with them on the go…. And for free (at the moment)!

Check out our initial impressions and hands-on video after the break.

Windows Phone Xbox Live Review: Final Fantasy

Games

By Paul Acevedo, Wednesday, Jul 4, 2012 at 10:04 am

For more than a year, the Xbox Live lineup on Windows Phone languished without the presence of a single traditional RPG. Thankfully Japanese publishing giant Square Enix has finally tossed their hat into the Windows Phone arena with Final Fantasy, a remake of the original NES classic that vaulted their company to stardom. The first Final Fantasy may not have some of the finer trappings of its sequels, but it remains a vast and remarkable adventure that mobile gamers shouldn’t miss.

Head past the break for our extremely detailed review!

At last, Final Fantasy appears on the Windows Phone Marketplace

By Paul Acevedo, Wednesday, Jun 13, 2012 at 2:15 am

Final Fantasy, one of the most-anticipated Windows Phone games ever, is now on the Marketplace! Why so popular? First off, it’s the only straight-up RPG (or JRPG) in the mobile Xbox Live library. Besides, while the Final Fantasy series is extremely popular the world over, Final Fantasy (part I) is only the third entry for Microsoft platforms, the first two being Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 on Xbox 360 (if we count the online-only XI, that makes a total of four). Windows Phone gamers finally have a chance to experience the series’ origin.

While the first Final Fantasy initially appeared on the 8-bit NES system, the mobile version is based on 2007’s enhanced Playstation Portable remake. Players will assemble a party of four warriors from a pool of iconic classes and then set out to save the world from the surprisingly unhelpful Elemental Fiends. Overworld and underworld navigation utilizes a funky-looking virtual pad for movement while the battles are more tap-focused. Mainstay RPG elements like grinding for experience and money to purchase new equipment and a huge danger-filled world to explore promise hours of entertainment.

When we revealed the first screenshots of the Windows Phone version, we were slightly disappointed that the game still runs in the same aspect ratio as the iPhone game it was ported from as opposed to the wider ratio of the PSP and Windows Phone screens. The screen remains off-center, a seemingly odd decision – until you notice the clock occupying the black space. Tap that area and the phone’s battery life, wireless, and cellular signals appear as well. Considering the length and addictive nature of Final Fantasy, having instant access to the time and your phone’s battery life is actually quite useful.

Strategy

Since many of you are new to this installment of Final Fantasy, we’ve got a few tips to get you started. The first decision you make upon starting a new game, that of which character classes to take along, is very important as you’re stuck with those for the rest of the game. Choose poorly and you’ll face a much greater challenge. The default selection (Fighter, Thief, White Mage, Black Mage) is actually one of the best parties to go with. At any rate, you absolutely must have a single White Mage or Red mage on hand to heal the rest of the party.

Saving is another important area to wrap your head around. Whenever you exit to the title screen, press the Home button, etcetera, that creates a temporary save file. To start back where you left off, simply pick Resume from the title screen. The file is temporary though, as resuming, choosing to Continue a permanent file, or starting a New Game will overwrite it. To create permanent saves, simply enter the menu by tapping the names of your party in the lower-right corner of the screen while outside of battle. Then choose the Save option at the bottom of the screen. (Thanks to Cadwr for the correction!)

One last thing - pressing and holding on the party status indicator in the lower-right corner of the screen while outside of battle brings up the overworld map. You'll need it!

For more Final Fantasy tips, check out the following resources:

StrategyWiki – An excellent place to learn about character classes and much more
Final Fantasy Kingdom - Overworld map, shrine maps, and more
Retri Walkthroughs: Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy Wikia - Labyrinth of Time
GameFAQs - Provides several detailed walkthroughs
Windows Phone Central's Final Fantasy Achievement Guide

Now that you're prepared...

Final Fantasy costs $6.99 and there is a free trial. It clocks in at a whopping 91 MB. If you love RPGs, don’t wait for a sale. Head over here to the Marketplace and start adventuring!

Final Fantasy becomes the first Xbox Live RPG on Windows Phone next week

Games

By Paul Acevedo, Friday, Jun 8, 2012 at 5:06 pm

Battling the Kraken

The mobile Xbox Live lineup is getting better and better lately. This week we got Battleship, the first Live game with true online multiplayer, and next week’s game… Wait for it… Final Fantasy I from Square Enix! Why Microsoft chose not to demo the game at E3, we’ll never know.

Final Fantasy will be the first traditional RPG in the Windows Phone lineup. A direct port of the iPhone game which was a port of the PSP game which was a remake of the original Famicom version – it’s like seven degrees of Kevin Bacon but with black mages and imps. Players will assemble a party of four warriors from a pool of iconic classes and then set out to save the world from the dastardly Elemental Fiends. Overworld and underworld navigation utilizes a funky-looking virtual pad for movement while the battles are more tap-focused. Numerous hours of role-playing goodness will ensue.

Windows Phone Central received these exclusive first screenshots of the mobile Xbox Live version of Final Fantasy I in action. You might be wondering about the black bars on the sides of the screens... It seems that Square Enix simply increased the lower resolution iPhone version of the game to match Windows Phone 7's vertical resolution without tweaking the the aspect ratio or UI elements for a wider display (I even did some resolution tests to confirm this). In other words, the original game ran at 480 x 320. The Windows Phone game's display has been resized to 720 x 480, leaving 80 pixels of dead space. Let's hope the screen will at least be centered in the final build - we'll find out in less than a week.

Final Fantasy I launches on Wednesday, June 13th and will cost $6.99 (two dollars less than on iPhone).

Garland the rogue knight has kidnapped princess Sarah.

Deal Alert: Dragon's Blade goes on sale, now $.99

Games

By George Ponder, Thursday, May 31, 2012 at 7:52 pm

The popular Windows Phone RPG game Dragon's Blade has seen it's price slashed from $6.99 to $.99. We aren't sure how long this sale will last but it's not a bad deal on a decent little RPG game.

You create a party from seven classes that includes warriors, templars, thieves, juggernauts, archers, sorcerers and clerics. Once you have your team assembled you explore the lands to discover treasure, explore dungeons and battle monsters.

There is also an online mode where you can chat with others in your area, backup your gaming progress online, and play mini-games within the game such as blackjack.

Graphics and animations are nice and if you've been on the fence about buying the full version of Dragon's Blade now may be the time to act. You can find an ad supported, free version of Dragon's Blade here and the ad-free version of Dragon's Blade DX (currently $.99) can be snatched up here at the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Thanks, Jonas, for the tip!

Windows Phone Xbox Live Review: Puzzle Quest 2

Games

By Paul Acevedo, Friday, Jan 20, 2012 at 8:35 am

Puzzles games often feature enjoyable gameplay, but they rarely give users a reason to keep on playing beyond chasing high scores (or Achievements). That’s what made the original Puzzle Quest so special. Australian developer Infinite Interactive (later bought out by Firemint) had the revolutionary idea of combining the core gameplay of a puzzle game with a sizable RPG adventure. Naturally a slightly less-inspired sequel followed, this time branching out to even more platforms. Namco handled the Windows Phone port of Puzzle Quest 2, squeezing the lengthy console game into a tiny mobile package.

Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night returns as the Xbox Live Deal of the Week

Games

By Paul Acevedo, Wednesday, Nov 9, 2011 at 8:03 am

If you’ll pardon the pun, Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night is a hidden gem in the mobile Xbox Live lineup. The $6.99 price has kept many gamers from entering Dracula’s labyrinthine castle… Until now! Castlevania Puzzle is finally on sale for $4.99 this week. Encore of the Night reworks Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the most beloved entry in the Castlevania franchise, as a puzzle RPG. It offers 15-20 hours of adventuring, a fine story, and some of the best music of any Windows Phone game, hands down. Puzzle Quest 2 fans will find Castlevania’s puzzle battles are much more frantic and challenging since here your pieces never stop dropping, nor do the enemy’s. For an in-depth look at the puzzle and RPG mechanics, check out our full review. Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night is on sale for one week only. Grab it here on the Marketplace

If you’ll pardon the pun, Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night is a hidden gem in the mobile Xbox Live lineup. The $6.99 price has kept many gamers from entering Dracula’s labyrinthine castle… Until now! Castlevania Puzzle is finally on sale for $4.99 this week.

Encore of the Night reworks Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the most beloved entry in the Castlevania franchise, as a puzzle RPG. It offers 15-20 hours of adventuring, a fine story, and some of the best music of any Windows Phone game, hands down. Puzzle Quest 2 fans will find Castlevania’s puzzle battles are much more frantic and challenging since here your pieces never stop dropping, nor do the enemy’s. For an in-depth look at the puzzle and RPG mechanics, check out our full review.

Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night is on sale for one week only. Grab it here on the Marketplace.

Dungeon Stalker brings dungeon crawling to Windows Phone

Games

By Paul Acevedo, Sunday, May 29, 2011 at 3:05 pm

Windows Phone isn’t exactly crawling with RPGs. They take a lot of time to make and the platform is still young. Enter Pansoft’s Dungeon Stalker, filling the niche of old-school dungeon crawler. Rather than focusing on a story, this game’s all about exploring a multi-leveled dungeon. A compass and an automap greatly assist with navigation. Players will find equipment, learn spells, and battle plenty of enemies along the way.

Dungeon Stalker features a unique magic system in which players select sequences of three runes in order to cast spells. You have to memorize the sequences though, which seems like way more trouble than it’s worth. Luckily melee combat is always an option.

Having played Dungeon Stalker for a short while, I think the game has lots of promise. It’s a little rough looking and crashes kind of frequently, but hopefully the developer will continue to refine it. We need all the RPGs we can get!

Dungeon Stalker costs only 99 cents and there is a free trial. Adventurers will find it here (Zune link) in the Marketplace.

Follow the jump for a trailer and Pansoft’s full press release.

The Harvest is the Xbox Live Deal of the Week. That's more like it!

Games

By Paul Acevedo, Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 11:00 pm

Guitar Hero 5 sales not exciting enough for you? Here’s an Xbox Live Deal of the Week we can really sink our teeth into: The Harvest is going on sale for $4.99, down from $6.99.

The Harvest is an action-RPG set in a distant future in which aliens have conquered humanity. Thanks to the development of armored mech suits, the remaining pockets of humans finally have a chance to fight back. Our review praises the game’s beautiful 3D graphics, easy controls, multiple playable characters, and diversity of upgrade options.

The Harvest is that rare thing – a really impressive Windows Phone-exclusive game. But many gamers passed over it or don’t know about it due to the dreaded $6.99 price point. The sale price should help Luma Arcade’s action-RPG finally get its due.

The Harvest’s $4.99 sale begins Wednesday and will last one for week. Buy it or try the demo here (Zune link) at the Marketplace.

Praetor - App Spotlight

Games

By George Ponder, Wednesday, Apr 6, 2011 at 1:56 am

In the spirit of classic role playing board games, Random Software Games is offering the Windows Phone 7 game Praetor. Praetor is a RPG board game that relies more on strategy than flashy graphics (not that flashy graphics are a bad thing).

The storyline goes that you, a member of the Roman Army, are shipwrecked on an island far from the heart of the Roman Empire. You command what remains of your troops to explore the island and conquer what you can.

Characters and equipment in this turn based game are represented by a colored disc (with appropriate symbol). Praetor allows for character name customization (default name is Scipio) as well as character paths (warrior, sorcerer, etc). You also have a choice of what color/style game piece you'll be using. The game is well narrated and has a rather appealing, nostalgic look to it. All that is missing is a a pair of die.

When you first start playing Praetor, a tutorial will guide you through the first few moves. As you progress through the game you will earn more strength and skills that will help you conquer the land. Game play is decently paced and full of challenges. You get to battle wild boars, war hounds, and other vicious creatures.

If you like strategy, role-playing board games Praetor is worth looking into. There is a free trail version available and the full version runs $.99. Both can be found here (opens Zune) at the Marketplace.

Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night - Review

Games

By Paul Acevedo, Friday, Mar 4, 2011 at 11:01 pm

Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 already has a puzzle RPG game, Namco’s Puzzle Quest 2. But that game is riddled with bugs and really wasn’t optimized for mobile platforms. Thankfully Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night from Konami shows a lot more care in making a quality puzzle RPG. In fact, it may be the best Xbox Live title released for Windows Phone 7 so far.

Castlevania has a long, proud history. The first title was released on the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System way back in 1987. Castlevania games tend to be action-platformers; after 1997’s Symphony of the Night, strong RPG elements became standard as well. In adapting the series to mobile platforms, Konami realized that action games don’t usually work well with touch screen controls. Prudently, Encore of the Night replaces the traditional platform jumping and battles with something new to Castlevania: puzzle battles. Role-playing elements haven’t fallen by the wayside, though, resulting in a game that is at once familiar and fresh to series veterans.

Head past the jump for our in-depth review.

Haypi Kingdom, the first MMO for Windows Phone 7 now available

By Paul Acevedo, Friday, Feb 11, 2011 at 12:34 am

While Xbox Live games for Windows Phone 7 continue to remain online-only affairs, that hasn’t stopped indie developers from creating games with online play. Lately we saw Broiled Earth, a competitive artillery game, and now thanks to Haypi Kingdom, Microsoft’s mobile platform has its first MMO (Massively-Multiplayer Online game).

The game's description, according to Haypi Kingdom’s official website:

Haypi Kingdom is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). You will be a general directing an ancient kingdom in a strategic game - boosting resource production, adventuring in extensive wild land, reaping legendary treasures, equipping your troops with advanced abilities and fighting against enemies - with the ultimate goal of becoming the strongest kingdom in the ancient world. Your general can get higher title and more advanced attributes as he joins more and more battles. His attributes will be shared among his troops as well.

You won't play alone. In this massive multiplayer online game you will be able to interact with thousands of players from all over the world in a competition for fame, power, wealth and glory. What's more, there are plenty of possibilities to interact with others - Not only offense and defense, but also trade, alliance, mail system, chat system, etc.

Of special note is Haypi Kingdom’s revenue model. The game is free to play, but players can purchase in-game coins through optional microtransactions.

Coins can be used to speed up upgrades, enhance resource production, buy VIP time to add upgrading slots, buy resource or treasures, call back troops, and enhance your city loyalty immediately, etc. Coins can only [be] purchased with real money at "SHOP". Each player is awarded 30 coins when they first play the game.

Basically, coins allow impatient players to speed up various processes in the game. Smurf Village on iPhone and of course Farmville use similar payment models.

We previously heard from another developer that microtransactions were prohibited on Microsoft's mobile platform, so it’s surprising to see that may not be the case. Micro payments would certainly open up the door for more popular online games to come to WP7.

Gamers who are interested in a social role-playing experience on Windows Phone 7 can get Haypi Kingdom for free here (opens a link to your Zune software) on the Marketplace. We’ll have a full review of the game soon.