Excalibur Review

Excalibur entrusts players with the power of the legendary sword, but only some in the kingdom are worthy of such power. Taking the role of young Arthur, the mission is to protect the princess from all evil as one uses the sword of Excalibur to defeat all demons who dare approach her.

The game plays out by having players guide Arthur along a path in a medieval kingdom littered with demon battlegrounds. Entering one of these battlegrounds will see Arthur have to defend the princess from the approaching darkness. There are a number of ways this can be carried out. One can either use the items available to one in their inventory, or, if Arthur is flat out of weapons and protection demons, he must then resort to the internal power of Excalibur. But be warned; magic is not an easy craft to master, and in order to slay demons from the underworld one must first learn how to wield it.

Each point present on Arthur's predefined path to victory includes a certain amount of demon spirits that must be overcome if he is to progress. Tapping on each demonic entity will see Arthur assigned a button combination to perform in order to successfully swoop in and send it back from whence it came. Players may stop off every now and then at Bob's shop to collect weapons to add to one's growing inventory - all of which are available for free, initially. However, the sword of excalibur gives its bearer just three lives. Once these lives are used up, one has the choice of waiting an amount of time for them to restore or simply buying more. Restoring Arthur's lives costs $1.99.

While I'm not particularly a fan of the freemium model, I have to respect the way Excalibur implements its in-app options. The use of pixel-accurate visuals and the introduction of other enemies such as bears and dragons also made the experience feel all the more authentic. The game will surely provide some nostalgic value for those fans of other action role-playing games, like Zenonia. Whether or not Excalibur will manage to keep one's attention beyond that is debatable, though.