The Battle for Wesnoth: Dead Water ($4.99) is Kyle Poole’s nicely ported, but not free, iPhone game version of the popular free open-source computer game. This single RPG iPhone game has converted me from an aversion to turn-based RPGs with it’s huge scope, classes, options and available scenarios.
Few RPGs I have played have the vastness of this game, yet it’s still easy to learn how the game is played. Gamers new to the turn-based genre should know that turn-based RPGs always feel a little slow at first; this was my main complaint about them. However, select the option in Preferences to “Skip AI Moves”, and that sped things up nicely.
When you can choose from “Campaign,” “Skirmish” or “Multi-player,” as well as “OpenFeint” to post your in-game accomplishments, what else could a fantasy iPhone gamer want? In “Campaign” mode, I counted 18 different campaigns, some with as many as 25 scenarios each, all with compelling stories. This gives some indication of the care that went into the game.
Initially disappointed that an open-source RPG game costs money, I changed my mind quickly upon experiencing the game itself. Many iPhone games come with a title that screams how addictive they are, but this one really holds up that banner for its genre.
In some sense, this game’s vastness is it’s only detrimental feature and I would have liked to have known some tips and tricks about how to speed up the game in my first play-throughs. It has an in-depth “Help” feature to make up for it, and I found it much easier to grasp tactics for the extensive campaigns by reading through these instructions.
