Some gaming news / thoughts: Archon; heavy Knights Onrush rebate

As usual, there have been several great game releases lately. Of them, let me elaborate on Archon and Knights Onrush.

1. As far as Archon is concerned, first and foremost, I recommend reading THESE first impressions.

I’ve really enjoyed playing on my C64 in the eighties and was pleasantly surprised to see the quality of the iPhone version.

The pros, compared to the original C64 version:

- It has stereo in-battle music, which sounds great
- You don’t need an emulator (or an original C64) to run it
- You can play it right on your iPhone - while, so far, one had to resort to running Pocket C64 on Windows Mobile to do it on a mobile platform. (Note that the native Palm OS version is really-really sub-par; for example, its resolution is 160*160 only)

Cons:
- No multiplayer as yet. You still need to resort to emulators on other platforms (including Pocket C64 version 3, which already allows IP-based, that is, pretty dynamic and flexible multiplayer on Windows Mobile; see review HERE) if you do need multiplayer Archon gaming on some mobile platform.
- The lack of a hardware D-pad makes playing much-much harder than on platforms with one (or, naturally, the “real” c64 with real joysticks), including better Windows Mobile devices running Archon under Pocket C64. I really hope either Apple or a third-party manufacturer comes up with a decent game controller for the iPhone – preferably a “snap on” one so that the experience will be similar to that of the PSP and similar gaming platforms. Of course, even a two-hand solution like the Zeemote (see review HERE), for which an iPhone driver is promised to be released.
- The machine opponent is very easy to beat in the two easiest levels. In the rookie level, I’ve managed to beat the AI in few steps only:

1. Move Archer from 2,8 to 5,8 and 2,1 to 5,1. (That is, the bottom-most and top-most characters to the Power Point just in front of them)
2. Move Knight from 2,5 to 5,5 (That is, the figher in front of your Wizard to the center)
3. Teleport Unicorn from either 1,3 or 1,7 to Dragon at 8,6 (by now, it’ll stand on an almost-white ground). Kill it.
4. If you do succeed, use the same Unicorn to attack Sorceress just above it (the enemy wizard).

You’ll, in the meantime, will surely be attacked by the AI in the three magic points in the center. As the background will be getting whiter and whiter all the time (for your advantage), you most probably will win. If you don’t (that is, lose a battle) and still want to win, you may want to counter-attack at once. If too many steps are lost and the background gets too dark, don’t be afraid of using the Shift time (well before the background changes to black; after that, it’d be controversial to use it) spell to reverse the flow of the time.

A screenshot showing how easy it was for me to beat the AI (and gain the highest level medal; that is, “Archon”):



You may also want to read the quick tips HERE for more info on the fighters, their abilities etc.

2. I’d also want to recommend Knights Onrush, which, now, only costs $.99 (the original price was $4.99). It’s been developed by the same folks as Orions, probably the best card / strategy game for both Windows Mobile and the iPhone (see my WinMo remarks HERE and my iPhone news post HERE) . You’ll find a lot of additional info HERE.

In a nutshell, it’s a Castle Defense game, involving a great deal of frantic swiping. Give it a try: particularly at its present price, which is a steal.

 

Thanks guys, fixed it