Handheld
(DS) Orcs & Elves
By George Damidas
Dec 12, 2007, 7 :05 am

The computer role-playing game (cRPG) is a seeming perpetually dying genre. The parental role-playing game for many of us is a dungeon crawler that features turn-based or quasi turn-based combat in a world that is free from androgynous teenage boys that begrudgingly accept their fate as savior of the world. I enjoy the typical Japanese role-playing game as much as the next fellow, but sometimes I just want to make my way through an underground maze while beating the hell out of giant rats.

Enter: Orcs & Elves, a delightful throwback role-playing title that drops a bunch of genre standards in favor of lightning fast progression and quick combat. Set in a suitably high fantasy world, you are Elli, the son of a famous Elven adventurer father and Valkyrie mother. You are also a friend to a sentient, and slightly cranky, wand named Ellon. Ellon is your sole companion on your quest to find out what happened to the king. It’s an adventure filled with dragons, orcs, and some extremely imaginative dungeons.

Despite the score and what will largely be a glowing review, I need to warn you that Orcs & Elves might not be the game for you. There is little depth to the game, save for the rudimentary puzzles, touchscreen spell system, and combat. This isn’t meant to be a grand adventure but a distilled treatment of the hack-and-slash subgenre that focuses on combat and timely progression over an open world and extensive problem solving. The game is simply going to be too simplistic for a lot of people, and that’s fine. For those of you that are looking for a something more akin to Dungeon Master than Baldur’s Gate, then you have found your game.

Orcs & Elves’ simplistic design isn’t surprising when considering its roots. Born from a mobile phone game, the DS version adds a 3D engine, some new enemies, potions, four new spells and touch screen support (for menu selection and casting spells), but it is largely the same game. Mobile phones aren’t known for their intuitive or comfortable controls, so a successful phone game has to be a straightforward affair that trims all but the bare necessities. This manages to translate well to the DS, with the game’s levels last around 15 to 20 minutes each, the small gameplay chunks work well for mobile gaming regardless of the platform. Even with the additions though, and knowing what the approach is, I still would have liked some sort of customization.

Trekking through the game’s 12 levels will take around 8-10 hours, depending on whether you’re going for the jugular of success or trying to track down all the hidden treasures and enemies for the additional completionist experience bonus. The game is actually turn-based, but it’s played in such a way that it doesn’t feel so. When enemies are encountered, combat can move at a very fast clip, depending on enemy count, lending the experience to one feeling more like action-adventure than role-playing game – not that that’s bad, mind you. This is also one of the few titles that demands full usage of all potions, because there will be some situations you are thrown in to that seem nearly impossible. With gold a scarcity and the best weapons costing in the thousands, it’s often up to the 40 large health potions and the trusty lower-end flame sword and crossbow to see you through the day. Oh, and to get armaments and potions, you must barter with a dragon – awesome! – using a rudimentary like-dislike mood system.

Throughout the various dungeons and caverns, the classic stand-by villains will require swift death: the armored and vicious orcs, the unimaginably horrible green blobs, and the always-dreadful giant rats. The graphics are actually nice, though there is some pixelation involved that I would swear is intentional, with some pretty neat effects showing up in a few of the puzzles (hazy screen when getting drunk with a dwarf, being shot around by geysers, etc.). The puzzles are actually good as well. Thanks to the bottom screen playing host to Elli’s belt that allows access to potions, weapons, a compass (links to an in-game menu), a quest log, and a map. The map is one of the handiest items in the game, because with it available at all times the problems of yesteryear’s role-playing games, having to hand draw out a dungeon less you want to go insane trying to find your way out, is solved and implemented in such a way that it fits in just right with the game’s faster pace. It's nice that some of the more convenient modern day sensibilities made their way in.

The wand sidekick schtick is interesting, and Ellon's presence does lead to some humorous situations. Its powerful spells, combined with the touch screen motions to activate them, add in enough of a variety with the more mundane weaponry to keep things interesting. The arsenal is quite small overall, though, and that really speaks to the game itself. There is very little that feels wasted in Orcs & Elves, as if it was completely understood that portable games can only last so long and that length necessitates that filler be kept at a minimum. I appreciate that approach, and so does my patience. The adventure might not be a terribly long or involved one, but it is one worth taking.

Overall: 8/10

I really need to stress that Orcs & Elves really isn’t for everybody. It is a throwback title with very few trappings of a modern role-playing game. The pace is quick, the system turn-based, and the setting an endless dungeon. It’s a barebones experience that will bring a smile to fans of older computer role-playing titles while absolutely boring others. If your leanings are towards the older SSI and Interplay titles of the ‘80s, albiet stripped down to fit in a portable format, then Orcs & Elves belongs in your DS.