Review written by Eric Pankoke

For all you old school gamers out there (circa Dragon Warrior I), this is an RPG dream come true. Excellent graphics, easy game play, and some witty dialog and narration combine to form one of the best RPG experiences for the Pocket PC that this reviewer has had to date.

Graphics Description:

The graphics are wonderful. The overhead maps take the perspective of games such as the early Final Fantasies and Dragon Warriors and update them to today's portable standards. Such things as flickering lights, banners that blow in the breeze and more make the surroundings come to life. The portraits for each of the NPCs and the player are a delight as well. The have a stylistic anime feel to them, and give great character to the dialogs, as you can more vividly imagine the conversations that are taking place.

The real joy, however, is in the combat sequences. Combat is one on one with the current villain, and each monster has been lovingly animated to suit their evil ways. The spells are also very well done, rivaling most sprite based offerings on a full sized PC. One of my personal favorites to this point is the soul stealer, where you see a ghostly image of yourself ripped from your body. Impressive indeed!

Sound Description:

As with the graphics, the sound is very well done. So far I have discovered 3-4 different tracks, and the developers promise a whopping 17 throughout the course of the game. The music reminds me very much of the old Nintendo / Super Nintendo classics, which is just fine with me. The sound effects are also very well done, and for the most part match with what is taking place. There are certain oddities, like the charging of a poison dagger, that just don't seem to fit well. Overall, though, the sound effects are right on target.

Gameplay Description:

If you think I was gushing in the previous two sections, you might want to just skip to the summary. As much as I enjoy team based, multi monster melees, and at times the trigger happy real time nature of modern “adventure / RPG” games, Arvale is where it's at for me in terms of portable RPG play. The basics of the game are like that of most RPGs: visit towns to accumulate quests, gather knowledge of your overall mission, and buy supplies for the journey ahead. You will meet a variety of interesting people, engage in moderately useful and often witty dialog, and generally do the things a good adventurer does. Then there's the combat. Whether you're surprised by the all-too-familiar random encounter, or just decide to bump into one of the evil NPCs you see wandering around the overhead map, you will be taken to a screen where you can engage this NPC in combat. The system is quite simple. You have 4 options: attack with a weapon, cast a magical spell, use an item, or flee (which of course, no respectable adventurer would do). For each of the first three options, you can cycle through all of your available options without leaving the combat screen. This is a really nice option, and should be employed in more games. Combat is played out like a glorified game of rock / paper / scissors. There are three main types of weapons and magic, and each one is better than another and worse than the third. The beauty of the interface is that there is a little symbol at the top of the screen with a +, - or = sign in it, indicating how your selected item or magical weapon will fair against the current adversary. It's nice of them not to make you remember what beats what. When you win a fight, you are treated to gold or an item, as well as some experience points.

Your character has three stats (Strength, Dexterity, and Knowledge), and you can increase one of these each time you go up a level, which is achieved by earning a certain number of experience points. There are also two statistics, Resistance (less damage by magic attacks), and Defense (less damage by physical attacks), that go up automatically each level based on certain criteria. Defense can also be boosted by armor.

The final thing I would mention about the gameplay besides interface (and the one that I don't particularly care for), is the depreciation of equipment. I realize that games do this to add a bit more challenge, but I really don't like having to worry about how many units of “wear” my armor has before I need to get a new piece. But, in the scheme of things this is just a minor quibble (at least they don't make me look for food and water). In fact, the game is kind enough to remind you that your armor has worn out, and prompts you to switch to something new (if you have it). Moral of the story: always keep spares on hand.

The interface is very intuitive. Everything can be driven by the stylus, so if you are a pointer type of person, you never have to use the hardware buttons. The developers have done a good job making sure they take advantage of the small screen real estate without making things too crowded. On the other hand, if you are more of a D-Pad kind of player, you'll find everything readily accessible as well. There are a couple of things that aren't quite clear, such as using the central press of the D-Pad to select items from the main menu, but once you are aware of these quirks, you can tuck that stylus away and not worry about it during the course of the game.

Pros:

• Excellent graphics

• Well orchestrated music

• Gameplay is nearly perfect

Cons:

• Player / NPC graphics on overhead map are kind of cheesy

• Sound effects don’t always match what’s going on

• Don’t care for the “wearing out” factor of weapons and armor

If you are looking for a new RPG fix for your Pocket PC, you’ve found it in Arvale. If the thought of 2D overhead graphics or one on one turn based combat makes you hesitate, don’t let that stop you. This is a game not to be missed. Arvale: Journey of Illusion receives a score of 9 out of 10.

Score-by-score breakdown

Gameplay:  90%
Graphics:  100%
Sound:  90%

Overall:  90%

Please note that the overall score is more than simply an average of the individual ratings.  Many thanks to PDAmill for providing our review copy.

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