The Lost City, a myst-clone by Fire Maple Games for mobile

[namekuseijin]

hey folks, long time no see. Been playing on smartphones lately and text adventuring really doesn’t cut here. But point-n-click? Touchscreens simply deserve it. Can I talk about them here? well, I’ll shoot and ask later…

This is a well-implemented myst-alike for smartphones. I’ve been obssessively playing it for 2 days and despite seemingly already getting to the end it’s well-worth the measly $0.99. Lots of eye candy in the scenery, not entirely static and featuring atmospheric effects and whatnot, plus packed full with fun puzzle solving, scattered items and exploration. Puzzle solving with the many different itens is mostly fair and logic, specially for people used to Zork.

Grandma was right.

Nobody really believed her. Not even you, her favorite grandchild.

But she was right. And more so than you could ever imagine.

The city before you, deep in the mist shrouded forest, can’t be found on any map. It shouldn’t even exist. Though it’s been asleep for a long time, you feel a mysterious power begin to awaken from the ruins around you.

Legend has it the civilization that built this place could somehow control the seasons. But nobody listens to legends.

Nobody except Grandma.

And she was right.

You look again at the artifact she gave you. Close to this lost city, it almost seems alive in your hand.

The city does exist. It’s real.

like zork or myst indeed it doesn’t really strive for a plot, story or prose, but is very polished for a smartphone game.

cool, huh? It’s not just images and the textual descriptions when clicking on things go a long way providing subtle hints.

Have to say this is one of the few smartphone games I played that is really worth anything, specially without lame virtual controls. besides, one can’t live on a diet of Angry Birds alone…

anyone else played it?

[Ghalev]

@namekuseijin

anyone else played it?

Not yet, but I’m tempted! Looks like they’ve done two such game so far? The other one any good?

[namekuseijin]

yeah, I know. a mistery in a manor. They’re doing the stereotypes so far, but if implementation is as smooth as this one, another winner. I’ve finished The Lost City BTW. What counts is the journey, sure. After the puzzles and exploration are solved, you can see it’s just a couple of hours game – then again, it’s the same for all games if you know the solution, I guess. Still well worth the money though.

I’ll try their other game when I’m tired of Cartoon Wars, an addictive tower defense by Gamevil. BTW, this is another developer who’ve played mostly by console game standards so far, as their premier Zenonia action RPG shows. But it seems the success with the standards has led to more research&development towards more touch-friendly games. Cartoon Wars is one such result and the new Epic Raiders is proof they’ve been putting lots of efforts in this area with polished touch control interfaces and addictive gameplay that is far more than “run as long as you can” that is the standard fare of touchscreen games.