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Category: Fantasy RPG Adventure
Seller: Chillingo, Ltd.
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or later
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
File Size: 22.8MB
Version Reviewed: 2.0
Price: Free
Age Rating: 12+ (infrequent/mild cartoon or fantasy violence)

SEED 1: Rise of Darkness harkens back to the RPGs of the SNES days. It combines the time-tested and familiar conventions of fantasy RPGs (start as an unskilled apprentice, complete quests to improve your skills and acquire money for weapons, armor and spells, then save the world) with the modern convention of topping up your items with real money…if you want to, that is.

You’ve got this little emo dude, and you use the horrible virtual d-pad to move him around an impressive number of locations to talk to people, fight, find items and places, etc. I won’t fault CHGames, the developer, for the d-pad controls; they’re unavoidable on the iPhone. Your action, inventory and character controls are on the right of the screen. The buttons are a bit small, but usable. Making them any larger would’ve cluttered up the screen too much. Even now, it’s a bit crowded, but not in a way that harms the gameplay.

As with all RPGs, your character will grow throughout, preparing him for the tougher battles ahead. The vast array of skills and powers he can learn lead to some pretty cool visual effects and fun battles…until you find you’re not actually ready for those battles, that is.

As you equip your character, the visual changes are reflected in the game. It all comes together nicely, and is accented by real-time changes between night and day. You can see the sun fade into darkness, for example, and some quests can only be completed at certain times of day. It’s pretty cool, and certainly more than you would expect from an iPhone RPG.

Although not originally, SEED 1 is now free. Chillingo is likely hoping to make money off the in-app purchases, through which you can buy inventory items, Warp Gate Cards, etc. You don’t need to do this to complete the game, but it will make things easier. The interface for doing so is fairly well-implemented, so you don’t have to spend too much time away from the action to buy what you need. We’re likely going to be seeing more and more of this as time goes on, so it’s good to see developers getting it right from the start.

SEED 1: Rise of Darkness is a fun RPG, but be prepared for some standard flaws beyond the unavoidable control issues. There’s not much variety in the quests you’ll go on, and you’ll need to do some heavy level grinding to make sure you’re ready for the tougher fights ahead. Also, the load times are fairly ridiculous, but you’ll quickly forget about that once the game’s going.

Those faults aside, I had plenty of fun with this game after I got into the flow of it. I couldn’t shake the notion that I’d rather be playing it on my DS or Wii where the controls wouldn’t keep interfering with my enjoyment, but I’m just going to have to get used to that. Thankfully, there are games like SEED 1: Rise of Darkness that make this worth it.