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Solomon’s Keep : iOS
Games for iOS keep coming and coming but every now and then one pops onto your radar and is a little gem. So it was for me and Solomon’s Keep. It’s a simple game where you play a little wizard who wanders around a tower using his magic to destroy a bunch ton of skeletons, collecting gold and levelling up on the way. There’s not much to say about the format, it’s kind of Diablo-lite, but the thing that struck me about Solomon’s Keep, other than the cute graphics, was the really rather excellent levelling up system.
The way this works is that you pick a beginning spell and every time you level up you are given three choices of what to improve or learn out of a large pool. Those three choices are semi-random and really define what type of character you are playing, to the extent that I’ve played through the game twice and had two very different experiences (well, I say ‘very different’ and ‘very’ might be pushing it, but ‘different’ is definitely the right word). You get one off side spells to add to your arsenal or a main blasting spell and the pretty graphics do good justice to whatever you picked. It’s a great system which provides fun and satisfaction in large amounts.
Solomon’s Keep also knows where its roots are (*cough* Gauntlet *cough*) and plays homage to that great game in such a way that you love it for doing so. When it actually came out with “Blue Wizard needs a potion badly,” I nearly choked on my coke. Maybe such a touch only appeals to a select few, but I’m in that group.
For 59p, Solomon’s Keep is an excellent addition to your iOS game list. Sure, you’ll complete it within a few hours, and you might not ever return to it, but that’s about 15p an hour, and no one complains at that return on entertainment investment. In searching out pictures for this review, I learned that there’s a prequel and as soon as I’m done posting, I’m off to get it. Great stuff.
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tekkani posted this
