There are a few RPG games in the store, but one stands out from the rest. Thanks mainly to it’s 3D presentation that is the game’s main propeller.

The Quest ($5.99)

Most iTunes success stories involve games which gameplays are simple and tweaked to suit the phone. Some just redefines a genre and introduces something new to the crowd. The Quest is a solid RPG game on the iPhone, one that doesn’t need any finagling of its grainy graphics. Why? Because the gameplay and the graphics complement each other that messing with it in any way or form should be considered illegal.

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Rich Depth

The game boasts with an engaging story into a world full of mystery and magic. The Quest starts off with a haunting 4 or 5 page introduction showing a kingdom in jeopardy.

You get to choose your own race, set of skills, name of character and face type among the few:

There are 5 races in the game: Rasvim (undead), Etherim (default race + hunters), Seiry (thieves and assasins), Derth (teachers and scholars),  and Nogur (natural warriors). You start from different worlds and different equipments depending on the race you choose.

You can also select your skills based on a predefined classes that include: Fighter, Thief, Mage, Battlemage, Ranger, and Priest. Secondary skills can be developed and honed as you progress in the game.

Other basic RPG elements are included from item selection/changes/level ups, armor customizations, magic spells etc.

Controls And Basics

We highly suggest you read the 38 page pdf manual posted by Redshift. We’ll tell you some of the basics that we think should get you going, but a 100% understanding of the ins and outs of The Quest is highly recommended.

The game comes in both landscape and portrait modes. You’d see us interchange screenshots using both modes. The control layouts change with your orientation.

You have the regular move and turn left/right, forward/back buttons. You can use this or  to make your lives easier, tap and hold anywhere on the game screen to direct your character. Please note that the character moves at 90 degree angles, so precision might take a little practice.

The red and blue bars seen below your character are your spell and health points. Make sure you maintain full bars by taking a rest or drinking potions. Tapping the bottle, let’s you drink potion, tent = rest, swords = fight, stars = magic… get it? Now you also have a mini map on screen which shows your current direction. Tapping on the mini map brings a bigger map where you can orient yourself of your location in a well, bigger picture.

Talking to people is easy by just tapping the surrounding characters.

You then explore your town and look for people that’ll give you mini missions and/or quests some of which involve card games, fights etc.

Conclusion

The game is near perfect and includes the basic elements of a great RPG game (and then some). Our only problem is the way the character moves in 90 degree angles. Also, a control implementation similar to the iDracula, another Chillingo publication, will be great… at least the way you move your character around.

Other than that, The Quest more than delivers what it promises. In a world polluted with crisp smooth 3D graphics where the gameplays are mostly crap anyway, it’s great to find solace in a game with not so advanced graphics yet manages to be extremely fun, entertaining and well suited for the platform it’s on.