Undercroft

I picked up Undercroft for the iPhone, under the good advice from a friend at work. He recommended it because I had mentioned that I really liked Legend of Grimrock with the grid maps, fights, and puzzles.

The fights in Undercroft are more tactical and less reflexes required. It`s also not as much of a puzzle game, but it works well enough.

The game is a turn based RPG, where you explore and quest in on a grid map. Each turn is either a movement, or an attack/special move. Some special moves can move you as well.

There are a few places where having an AOE attack is really critical, so I recommend picking up at least one. The main attack I used was the warrior`s totem of pain, which is horrendously overpowered if you can get life or mana leach on it. The other major attack power I got was from leveling up retrieve on an assassin so I could throw or shoot at enemies without losing quantity on the projeciles.

I found that a mage could dish out a ton of damage for the cost of chugging mana potions. The damage for a melee assassin was so much lower than a ranged (described above) and also was less useful.

The story is quite simple, and nothing to brag about. It paces the game, and that`s about it.

I`m glad to have a quest tracking system, although it's just a basic system.

Overall it was a great deal for a free game, and a great game when I needed to kill time. The game boots fast, and saving/loading is almost instantaneous. Just like Legend of Grimrock, I'd recommend planning you party well in advance, because after a few chapters in, you really don't want to reroll characters.