Dragonfire by Redshift, $9.99
Reviewed January 2003

From Hungarian developer Redshift, Dragonfire is an RPG game that sets its landscape in the infamous Middle Earth, though the Orcs and Dragons are not the only ones you will fight. Even though there are a number of quests you have to complete, the most game play in Dragonfire is hacking monsters and exploring the map.

There are roughly three major different types of terrain on the world map in Dragonfire: grassland, swamp and desert. The world map is built in a grid and you don’t have to load separate files to explore the entire map. The number of quests is not large though some are very cleverly designed. Other than some errands like delivering flowers, collecting plants, most of the quests require you to kill monsters. You will see different monsters in each terrain ranging from Barbarians, Orcs, Amazons and Dwarves to vampires, skeletons and Mummies. The game doesn’t seem to have a re-spawning monster feature, though there are plenty to kill and gain levels with. Your hero will be equipped with swords, armor and spells, which you can either buy from the shops in one of the three towns or pick up in treasure chests scattered around the world.

The graphics look very good on a Clie SJ30. The environments are sharp and vibrant, littered with stylish structures and nicely done opening and ending flash images with rolling dialog. Every monster looks unique, showing artistic creativity. The interface is very easy to use with almost no learning curve. Other than the game window, you have easy access to your stats window as well as your possessions window, which allow you to equip weapons, armor or buy and sell items. You control the hero’s movement with your choice of the stylus or the hardware buttons, and use stylus to fight in the battle window. The battle engine is mainly a turn-based system, and the enemy AI level is right on target. There is no sound in this game. Dragonfire supports Palm OS versions 3.1 through OS 5. The program is a little over 2MB.

All in all, Dragonfire is a great little RPG for the Palm. The game play isn’t very long, running between 10-30 hours. The number of quests could be bigger and the attributes of the hero could be extended more. The great graphics and the structure of the game show tremendous potential. If the developer adds more features and a longer storyline, this could be one of the best RPG games for Palm.

Playing Hint and Tips

Save as often as you can remember to!!!

The beginning of the game is the toughest part. Kill bugs to gain levels before going any further. Stock up on the potions, you won’t need all that money later on in the game.

If you don’t have enough gold to buy higher-level weapons, walk around and look for chests. You might just pick up one.