The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Review

Costas Stephanides’s Review

It's tough being heir to the throne

Summertime is here and that can only mean one thing. Lots of irritating kids on the street when they should be in summer school learning about morals and virtues. Clearly that's not going to happen so lets send them to the cinema, get fat on pick n mix and maybe, just maybe, buy the mobile game of the film they just watched. At least, that's what Disney is hoping for with their big hit sequel to Narnia.

Portals are funny little things and what seems likely a few months to you on one side of the portal could be centuries for the other side. That's the concept that Prince Caspian takes and delivers a Narnia set far into the future although swords and magic still rule.

The game lets you take the role of Prince Caspian as seeks to overturn his uncle's impending revolution. The game seems to follow the film pretty closely as you escape the castle and rally the rebellion. There is almost a casual flavour to the gameplay; the magic and xp portions are minimal. There is just a hint of fantasy about the game so it should appeal to the masses. The game is predominantly played in that quasi 3D overhead view that we love to hate. We're not big fans of this angle but it gets the job done and it will suffice until 3D mobile screens are a reality.

There is the occasional hint of a puzzle or two but mostly it's just a case of reading the dialogue and let the plot take over as you follow the handy arrows to your next location. Mini quests are available but it's not always clear when they have been completed. To try to keep things fresh, there is plenty of fighting involved. If you walk too close to a soldier, the game will cut from the overhead view to a 2D Streetfighter-esque view. The sword fight is a fairly gentle affair and is more about timing than big brutality. There are three attacks; light, medium and heavy - each allocated their own button. If the first strike connects, you can chain a further two strikes if you time it correctly with the attack bar at the bottom of the screen. You can also block and counter if you are quick enough. As you advance through the game, you gain a spirit bar which fills whenever you get hit or your strike is blocked. Calling a spirit requires a few simple presses on the D pad and some guaranteed damage will be dealt to your opponent.

The graphics are not going to break the mould but the sprites are large and the backgrounds detailed. There are even a few special effects for the spirits as well.

Mobile gaming has come a long way when you can successfully combine an adventure game with fighting in equal measures as Prince Caspian has -and its a movie based game!