If you’re going to play Zelda on iOS, you’ll get as close to it as possible by playing Horn. The title is priced at $7, but sometimes it drops to $1 if you’re lucky. The game was released in 2012 and it still holds its own in a world filled with Flappy Bird clones and Temple Run wannabes.
We played it on the iPhone 5 and I have to let you know that this game takes up over 1 GB of space, so it’s quite hefty. The last update was offered in December 2013 and we’ve got great graphics here, as well as a great soundtrack. This is a third person adventure game, that reminds me of Zelda and a bit of the PlayStation 1 title Vagrant Story from Square. The main character is a young blacksmith apprentice named Horn.
His world was taken by storm by creatures, who are in fact the persons and animals of that world turned into monsters. Once you fight them, they turn back to normal. You also have a sidekick, a talking head who is often ironic and delivers cute punchlines. The dialogs are actually pretty good, but the levels are linear here, so don’t go expecting an open world environment. Horn can use a crossbow, a sword, a dagger, an axe and a few other weapons to fight.
There are also other items you can use and forge, by the way. You can open up chests to find items, collect money for upgrades and get potions. You have to double tap to walk and combat takes place pretty much in Infinity Blade style: you swipe to hit the enemy, dodge and rotate around him to find a weak spot and try to evade his special moves. There’s a bit of exploration included here as well, plus some minor puzzles, that are easily solved by blowing a horn or creating a song using a special pattern for example.
The background is made up by forests and deserted medieval cities and it’s all very nicely rendered. Overall, Horn is a slightly repetitive adventure, but a superb one and a must play title. We give it a 9.7 out of 10 and you can download it here.
