Gobliins 2 – Review – iOS

Point-and-click adventure games have been around for a long time. They were generally only on the PC so, growing up, I never knew about them since I mostly played consoles from the Atari and up. It wasn’t until a few years ago when point-and-click adventure games started to be re-made for handhelds, such as the Nintendo DS or surprisingly consoles like the Xbox 360, that I discovered the genre. From what I can tell, there are two types of point-and-click adventure games: first person where it looks like you are peering into a world through a window and clicking on objects and character controlled where you move a character that interacts with the world. Based on the few I have played, I haven’t seen the option of simultaneously controlling 2 characters, so with the iPhone re-release of the 1992 Amiga game Gobliins 2: The Prince Buffoon this mechanic was exciting to me.

Story: Two Goblins – one smart and shy, while the other dumb and brave – have been asked to rescue the King’s son, Prince Buffoon, who has been kidnapped by the evil Amoniak.

Gameplay: Gobliins 2 is an iPhone release of the 1992 Point-and-click adventure game where you have control over two strange, yet clever goblins as you help them on their quest to rescue the prince. From what I can tell, not much has changed apart from some modifications to the UI and controls for the iOS. Just like any point-and-click adventure game, a pointer is used to interact with objects and the environment. At first I found it hard to click on certain points especially for those near the edge of the screen or near the interface bar until I realized you can tap and drag anywhere on the screen to move and click the pointer freely. It’s a nice feature, especially for the iPhone, because it allows you to see the pointer without your thumb being in the way and the pointer rotates better this way as well. One thing I found interesting was that you control two characters. To switch between the two, you can either use the pointer to click and switch or you can use the character switcher in the top left corner. Although the touch controls work well, I found them to be frustrating at times. For instance, when your character is near a clickable point, you won’t be able to click on it until you move the character, even if you know you click on the circle for the item of interest. Second, I found it challenging to put an object back into the backpack when I finished using it and wanted to just tap to move. Often times the game would crash when I would have the backpack open, click on an item and then click the ground to close the backpack. This could have been a common bug that may have been fixed since I originally downloaded or issues with my older iPhone 3G device.

As mentioned earlier, you control two characters. In most point-and-click adventure games, at least for those that I have seen, you either control one character or it is a first person point of view. Each of the two playable characters does different things because of their personality. One is dumb, while the other is smart. So for instance, when trying to steal, interact with or use a certain object, you will have to figure out which goblin can use it best or when trying to talk to someone, the brave goblin will likely have no problem talking but say something stupid, while the smart goblin will know how to get an answer or distract someone. You will also have timed events where you must control both at the same time to complete the event; things like create a distraction while the other grabs an object or walks past someone to create a new path. Being able to control two characters was neat but it was also tricky or frustrating when trying to complete a task. Of course, this also adds to the challenge of the game as you try to figure out who is best at what so pretty quickly you should be able to know which character to use in each situation.

When I play point-and-click adventure games, I tend to refer to walkthroughs quite often. It’s not that I don’t know what to do. I usually know what I am to do, but most of the time something else, less obvious, must be done first. So luckily this game has a handy hint screen that will guide you along if you get stuck.

Graphics/audio: For nostalgic value, the same pixelated graphics, chip tune/midi music and click sound effects/voices remain the same. The animations are hilarious and add life to the half static screens. Dialog contains quite a bit of humour as well.

Overall: Gobliins 2: The Prince Buffoon is a challenging, quirky, and funny game. I missed it originally, but I am happy to have been able to play this re-release for the iOS with updated controls. I recommend this game for fans of the original game that just want to play it again and on the go, or for anyone thinking of getting into point-and-click adventure games because the animations, audio, and overall humour is well worth it.

Pros:
-Retains the graphics and audio from the original
-Hilarious characters, actions and dialog
-Hints that provide a handy little walkthrough

Cons:
-Crashes often on my iPhone 3G
-UI is not as smooth. Switching between objects in hand and moving is finicky. Pulling up the menu can be difficult

Overall score: 7.5/10

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