Orcs and Elves Impressions

Before the advent of today’s RPG tropes, gamers enjoyed the ‘dungeon
crawl’. Arguably, the truer translation of Dungeons and Dragons, these games
were turn-based, graphically simplistic, and slightly more cerebral than other D&D
interpretations. One couldn’t think of a better platform to revisit these
nearly-forgotten journeys than the Nintendo DS.

Which is why a smile came across our faces when we received
a copy of Orcs and Elves, an enhanced port of Id Software’s cell-phone game.  Orcs and Elves features a decent engine, depicting
the halls of a dungeon from a first person perspective. While objects in the distance
are pleasing the eye, foreground details can be a bit pixilated. Orcs also
makes great use of the DS’s bottom screen; the stylus can be used to instantly
select items from the player’s inventory. There’s a variety of weapons, spells
and monsters in the game’s twelve levels to keep player’s quests interesting
throughout.

We just wish the story was a bit more interesting. Although
EA’s site claims the story was award-winning, we beg to differ. Dialogue is
used to move the story along, and doesn’t really create a sense of danger, nor interest
in the quest. Thankfully, the gameplay is enough the keep the old-school gamer
interested for about ten hours.