Play Dragon Quest V on your iPhone while at work or on the go!
I recently received a review copy of Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride for the iPhone. I don’t play mobile games too often but when I saw one of the Dragon Quest games coming to the iPhone, I knew it would be something to enjoy. You start off your journey with your father at sea and you learn the gist of the controls, such as learning how to smash barrels and talk/interact with people.
The game looks fantastic for an iPhone game. If you didn’t know it was an iPhone game, the game could pass for a Game Boy Advance game or a DS game. I was blown away by the graphics because I didn’t think a mobile game could look this good. You have the ability to turn the camera in all directions as well as move the control stick from side to side at the bottom of the screen. I had an issue with the touch screen controls because it wasn’t as responsive as it should be. It might have been that I’m not used to touch controls but they could have been tighter.
The touch screen controls make scrolling through dialogue easy as pie. The touch screen also makes equipping things and using items as simple as touching the item and selecting who you want to use it. The writing was a little too small for me but it’s on a small phone screen so beggars can’t be choosers on that issue.
Early on in your adventure, your father, Pankraz controls your movements and can heal you after every fight. You’re a young kid at the start and your father needs to look out for you in the wilderness. Games like this have repetition sneak into them and Dragon Quest V is no different. You need to go into the game with this in mind.
With the right mindset, the many battles to level up your characters or going on quest after quest won’t feel like repetition, it would feel like a means to an end, something that you need to do. Battles remind me of Earthbound where you can only see the monsters and their actions. Monsters have attack animations which add to the fights and takes repetition out by giving each monster a different attack animation.
One of the mainstay features in the Dragon Quest series is that the church in the different towns allow you to save your game. The church also acts as the place to heal your fallen comrades or poisoned allies. The organ that accompanies the various actions in the church is a nice touch for a game full of nice touches. You can compare the church to the Pokémon center in the Pokémon games with the two being vital parts of your journey.
While you go on your journey, you gain allies to help fight your battles. Characters have different abilities and magic attacks they can use while they fight. Being able to create the perfect fighting team is key to surviving. You can also find items, weapons, and gold along the way during your journey.
To recap, Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride brings back memories of the classic Dragon Quest franchise. The game looks fantastic for an iPhone game and the best comparison I can come up with is a Game Boy Advance game or a DS game. Touch controls could be tighter and more responsive at times but the added features like the church organ and the monster’s attack animations give the game the charm it needs. I don’t play iPhone games too often but Dragon Quest V is one of the better-looking games I’ve seen because of the music and the graphics.
It’s these reasons that I’m giving Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride for the iPhone an 8.5 out of 10.
Score: 8.5 / 10
