Last King of Africa Review
PROS
- Intriguing adventure storyline.
- Relatively simple puzzles.
- Simple smart-touch controlled interface.
CONS
- Object interaction can be difficult.
- Static visuals cut the artistic style at the knees.
- Abridged storyline.
VERDICT
It would have been lovely to see The Last King of Africa (Paradise) showing its full colors for the iPhone, however it'll take a hardcore genre fan to forgive the majority of its flaws in this release.
- Full Review
- App Store Info
It must be Christmas in July because Adventure-genre fans have had a pick of some great titles lately and now followers of prominent game developer Benoît Sokal can play The Last King of Africa on their iDevices. This game started its life under the commonly known title of 'Paradise' in 2006 and has now been published by Bulkypix on the App Store.
The traditional point-and-click interface of most adventure titles has been swapped with a basic smart-touch system in this release. While it is certainly easier to identify most interactive objects this way, there are some issues in selecting specific items including differentiating between different useable features of an interactive object.
Players take the place of a young woman who has lost her memory after a plane accident in Maurania. Artistically, a lot has been lost for this title as the beautiful interactive 3D environments have been replaced by statically rendered set pieces that lack a lot of the vibrant other-worldly energy of the original release. The story is slow to start, but definitely packs a punch at the end, but again it's not hard to feel cheated when the narrative is played out mainly through text boxes.
The Last King of Africa is a beautiful adventure title that suffers from poor controls and cut-back visuals, but genre fans might still forgive these for a chance to try a Benoît Sokal game on their iDevice.
Screenshots
$2.99
