Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain for Nintendo DS Reviews by Gamers

This game is perfect for: Old-school RPG and dungeon crawl fans who miss the days when a game beat their face in, with the patience to learn a new control scheme.

This game brought me back to the old-school dungeon crawl days - back when TSR made games for D&D. These games were viciously difficult - unless you'd mastered playing the game before, or were a wiz at this sort of gaming, it would inevitably kill you and send you back to the beginning. Part of me (the part that keeps it in my DS) loved this kind of game, a kind I'd forgotten I miss. The other part of me (the part that wants to send the game back early so as to protect my DS) gets very frustrated with this sort of game. Younger players used to quicksaves, and people looking for a more casual experience need not apply here - unless you have an open mind, you will hate this game.

The part of the game that's exciting for me is the unique control scheme. The game plays like an old-school round of Daggerfall - it's a first person adventure, played in real time. In this regard, the game fails - the controls are very difficult to run, and require a strange mixture of the hardware buttons and the touch screen. This feature needed a lot more polish before saying this game got it right.

I won't be calling this game perfect, but any stretch of the imagination. It's difficulty is grueling, and the controls are lousy. But, if you remember the only dungeon days like I do, you might want to bring out your fighting gear for one more adventure.