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Last King of Africa 2
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Graphics & Sound:
Last King of Africa 2 is the second of three parts to the re-release of the classic Benoit Sokal (mostly known for Syberia among adventure gamers) game originally called Paradise. While we at Game Vortex got the chance to review the first part on the iPad, and more-or-less enjoyed the experience, the question is, how does the second part handle the lower-resolution and smaller screen of the iPhone?
The problem is, that's the biggest issue I had with Last King of Africa 2, the game just doesn't look all that good and doesn't feel right (but more on that part later). The locations in this game seem like they have the potential to look great. I can tell that there is a lot of detail on each screen, but it really doesn't come through as all that impressive on the iPhone. While there is enough detail there for you to get through the game, there is a definite sense that you should be able to see more and that some of the problems you might encounter with finding inventory items or finding the right screen-locations to interact with shouldn't be present. In other words, the game was obviously designed with PC monitors in mind, and not small hand-held devices.
Quite frankly, this is one of the biggest problems I've seen with older adventure titles being re-released on the iPhone in general. The iPad might be better because of its bigger screen, but these games just typically don't impress on the smaller system.
Last King of Africa 2's audio is about the same as the graphics. There is a constant background-tune playing as you move from screen to screen, as well as the occasional sound effect, but never anything too impressive. I would say you could safely play the game with the sound off, except that there is a narrative during the cut scenes, and no way of going back to replay those videos in order to hear what you might have missed (yup, that's experience talking there).
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Gameplay:
Last King of Africa 2 starts off right were the first one ended. You are playing Ann Smith, the daughter of King Rodon. Rodon is the dictator of the African country of Maurania, and when Ann found out that her father was sick, she rushed home from Europe only to be shot down by rebels and awaken to have her memory lost.
This second part of Last King of Africa starts off with Ann having retrieved a leopard, but getting into a car accident where the cat has gotten away. It turns out, the escaped creature has also caused a bit of a political issue for Ann. When she finds where the leopard has skulked off to, she learns that it killed a riding animal that was carrying a local tribal-prince. This particular tribe lives in the treetops and never allows their feet to touch the ground. When the leopard attacked, the prince fell from his mount and is now disgraced. It is up to Ann to not only find a way to regain the prince's honor, but also find, trap, and leave with the leopard before the tribal-hunters track it down and get vengeance.
As with most of Sokal's games, the story is quite interesting. There are just a few aspects of the game itself which end up being a bit troublesome, and again, a lot of that has to do with the smaller iPhone screen. One of these is the fact that you are tasked with collecting green gems throughout the game. There is no real need to do this, its just a side item that will keep you busy as you go from screen to screen, but when you have a completist mentality, the desire to find all of them is strong, and a lot of times, they are hard to find. Again, this isn't a necessary venture for the game, but it is one you are asked to do, so I felt compelled to do it, and I get the feeling it would have been a lot easier on a larger screen.
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Difficulty:
Last King of Africa 2's puzzles have a fairly good range of difficulty. Some tasks are easier than others and some are made harder than they need to be. What is a bit irksome though is that, for the most part, they don't feel actually necessary.
In one early puzzle, you have to make your way across a pond. You must go from lily pad to lily pad (those must be some strong lily pads), but as you step on each one, some of the pads around you will disappear. As a result, there is actually only one path across the pond, oh and you have a limited number of steps (why? no idea), so expect to reset the puzzle often. There are a couple of problems I had with this, besides the absurdity of crossing a pond on floating-leaves, that is. One is the fact that it simply feels cheap. It's like going through a bird's-eye-view maze where you can only see the walls that are directly next to you. The other problem I had was that I had no indication as to where I was trying to get to. There wasn't a marked exit location. I spent a lot of time trying to get to the top of the screen, only to find out the magical lily pad was on the right side of the maze. A bit frustrating to say the least.
Another example of the needless puzzles includes one where you must take an exact amount of a medicine. Most adventure gamers will be familiar with this type of setup. In this case, you must take exactly four centiliters (cl) of the liquid and all the medicine man has is a bottle that can hold three cl and one that can hold five cl. Fine, I get it. You fill up, empty and swap the liquid between the two flasks until you have the right amount. That's not the part that is absurd; okay it kind of is, given the situation. What makes things bad is the fact that the two jars you are using have marks on them at each cl. So, why don't you just fill up the bigger one until you reach the fourth line instead of the fifth?
I'm all for tough puzzles or even classic tried-and-true ones that I've seen in different forms throughout the years, but at least have them make sense and fit the story.
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Game Mechanics:
I would say that most of Last King of Africa 2's issues would be resolved if it weren't for the size of the screen. The game would be much more enjoyable on the PC or, maybe even the iPad, but there are still a few flaws inherent in the game that make me wonder how much a higher-resolution version would improve things.
The main aspect is the user interface. The game has a Menu along the left side of the screen. This primarily shows the inventory item you've selected and your current gem count. Tapping the inventory item pulls out a list of what you are carrying, and tapping the gem-counter will tell you what your current goal is, though it doesn't really give you any kind of details, so don't leave the game alone for too long, else you might no remember what you are supposed to be doing.
I'm not sure if the original Paradise used this U.I., or if it was part of the redesign for a touch-screen based device, but it just doesn't feel right. I'm not sure of a better solution, but it feels like it is taking up precious screen real estate and most of what it shows you isn't really necessary most of the time. Maybe an area you could tap that would cause this Menu to slide from off screen or something, but with the precious little space the iPhone gives you, any screen-clutter hinders the game.
A detail that I felt the game actually did a good job on was the point-and-click aspect of the input. Your finger has an area-of-effect designated by a circle. If you tap the screen and there is something you can do within that circle, an icon appears that lets you know what actions you can perform. The only issue I would ever see with this was the fact that I wouldn't always be able to pick up the object I was tapping on. I don't know if it was an issue with the system recognizing where I was tapping, or if the math to figure out what was in my finger's circle was a bit off. In either case, I can imagine this little issue being easily resolved on the iPad.
Last King of Africa 2 feels generally mediocre. While I understand the business model behind porting older adventure titles to the iPhone and iPad, after all, the development investment must be far cheaper than developing a whole new title, some games just make the transition better than others. I don't think Last King of Africa 2 ports all that well to the iPhone. If you are really jonesing to play this game, either again or for the first time, you might want to find a way to do it on a bigger screen. It just doesn't feel all that good on the iPhone. |
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-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer |
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