The once peaceful land is suddenly being flooded by strange monsters, and the only way to investigate the situation is to send out groups of armed warriors to slice and dice through the hordes until all is right with the world once again. True, the plot and premise of Knights of the Phantom Castle are about as vanilla as they come, but juggling groups of warriors in strategic, real-time battle missions is gripping enough to make up for game's general meatheadedness in the storytelling department.
Sending small parties of adventurers into the fray requires dexterous fingers, since you'll conduct up to four different heroes at once with a mix of taps, drags, and flips. While awkward at times, this is where the strategy-infused action pleasantly heats up. Different classes of units have unique abilities that prove useful on the battlefield in various ways, and picking the right combo for each stage is crucial to victory.
From casting healing magic and sending fireballs spewing at foes to holding the defensive line and sneaking past guards to stab at them from behind, you can do a lot with the handful of cool abilities found amongst the limited batch of heroes at your disposal. With a ton of stages featuring ever-changing objectives, there's a lot of mileage for your fingertips packed into this portable powerhouse.
Nov 9, 2010
