Everyone who knows me knows I’m a sucker for classic video games from the 80s. Long were the hours I spent gaming on my Commodore 64 back in the day…
As such, I was fired up when I heard React Games had brought Archon to the iPhone. Archon was a hit from Electronic Arts way back in 1983. In the game, a Light team battles a Dark team in what amounts to an animated game of chess (for all you Star Wars fans out there, think of the chess game you saw being played on The Falcon). This makes for interesting game play as the player’s skill at controlling the pieces in battle is of critical importance.
As for the quality of the adaptation, React did a nice job adapting to the iPhone platform. As would be expected, the graphics are light years ahead of the original Archon. The game play is quite close to that of the 8-bit original. Kudos to React Games for not attempting to stamp a classic game as their own by adding loads of uncalled for changes.
Arena combat is a fun test of speed and skill as you control the Knight, the Golem, the Phoenix, or the Unicorn each with its own attack method. I found controlling the characters to be easy, but initiating an attack to be a little bit challenging (but it didn’t stop me from winning!).
As for the audio, it has been updated, but hasn’t gone over the top. You will find it to be a nice accompaniment to the game, but not distracting.
Archon Classic
Archon Classic Screen Shots
Archon Classic Video
