Gobliiins Review

Gobliiins is rather difficult to remember how to spell. It's also an iPhone conversion of a point and click adventure game from the early 1990s. Who'd have thought one day that a game that required a huge lumbering PC, could one day be played on a phone? Regardless of this brief dose of nostalgia, Gobliiins makes for a quite sound purchase, even if it is occasionally a little confusing as to what you need to do next.

You control three goblins who have set out to find a cure for the mad king. Ultimately you probably won't be too bothered about what the plotline is. It's not really that important in the grand scheme of things. What's more important is solving each puzzle that comes your way.

Each of the goblins has their own unique abilities. One goblin is a technician so can pick up and use items, while the second goblin is a warrior who can punch and climb, and the third is a magician who can cast spells. Each of these skills come in handy to solve the variety of puzzles that you'll come across in the 22 different levels. The puzzles themselves are for the most pat interesting with some requiring you to escape the screen while others needing you to collect a certain hidden object. The flaw lies in the fact that many of them aren't as obviously solved as you'd think.

Point and click games from the 1990s were notoriously obtuse and this time it's no different. Fortunately, there is a very handy hint system which helps you throughout the game but it does slightly ruin the point when you find yourself relying on it because you have simply no idea what you're meant to do next. I found this particularly noticeable when it came to certain puzzles that required very precise timing - these felt more like a matter of trial and error than anything else.

Despite this though, I had a lot of fun with Gobliiins. The characters are charming thanks to the hand drawn visuals and it was satisfying to progress through the game. Unlike a title such as Broken Sword: The Director's Cut, I felt no urge to keep playing for the sake of the storyline - I just liked having a new puzzle to solve. It's not brilliant but it is fun at times.