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.

About Robert Allen

Since being a toddler, Robert Allen has been immersed in video games, anime, and tokusatsu. Currently, his days are spent teaching at two southern California colleges. But his evenings and weekends are filled with STGs, RPGs, and action titles and well at writing for Tech-Gaming since 2007.