Even with all the praise the Infinity Blade series has gotten since its introduction, there’s usually one major complaint people have: there’s no freedom of movement. A rather silly gripe seeing as open-world style exploration isn’t the point (plus it would be ridiculously taxing on the hardware with those graphics), but it’s still probably the most common one seen in user reviews and the like. Infinity Blade: Dungeons has no such movement restrictions. It’s also a fairly major departure from the gameplay series fans are used to.

Infinity Blade: Dungeons takes place thousands of years before the events in the first game, with players taking control of a weaponsmith on a quest to forge the legendary sword that’s at the center of it all. At its core, it’s a dungeon crawler. No more tapping from point-to-point and watching cutscenes and no more one-on-one bouts. Enemies can and will swarm and the player character can and will destroy them mightily with plenty of fast-paced combat and AOE (area of effect) strikes. And of course, being a weaponsmith means there will also be crafting. No word yet on what that would entail, specifically, but it’s going to be in there.

Infinity Blade: Dungeons is due out later this year (no specific date or price, naturally). It’s looking like it’ll be available across most iOS platforms, but will look its best on the iPad 2 as expected.

$5.99

Infinity Blade

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2010-12-09 :: Category: Games

$6.99

Infinity Blade II

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-12-01 :: Category: Games

Fun Vault Games has just released Doodle Dungeon on an unsuspecting App Store. And while it may be a little too obvious with its inspirations (read: it’s Gauntlet with doodles), it also captures the essence as well or even better than most other iOS attempts. That and it doesn’t cost a dime.

Now when I say it’s “a little too obvious,” I don’t just mean that it uses the same top-down perspective. It also features the same four classes (warrior, wizard, Valkyrie and ranger/elf), the same floor-to-floor progression, the same mobs of enemies pouring out of destructible generators and even the same level layouts in a few places. I’m not crying foul or anything, because it doesn’t attempt to hide any of this, but it’s something worth noting. For better or worse.

I’m inclined to think it’s for the better though, seeing as there’s no official iOS release (of Gauntlet) available right now. It’s bound to excite anyone who’s poured hours into any of the original game’s iterations, from the arcade to the PlayStation Network store. Doodle Dungeon is available right now, and I reiterate: it’s totally free.

$0.99

Doodle Dungeon

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-08-20 :: Category: Games