Archibald and Remus Minor Lords Review: Tablet Strategy Done Right

June 18, 2012 Patrick Hickey Jr. Video Game Reviews, Video Games 0

The iPad screen is perfect for strategy games. Easy to navigate and able to beautifully display a plethora of colors, it’s a wonder why there aren’t more simulation titles out there.

7Sixty’s “Archibald and Remus Minor Lords” is proof that tried and true gameplay has a place on the device. With its simple and intuitive layout and cartoony, charming graphics, it’s able to steal both minutes and hours of your time. While the game has its blemishes, it’s the type of game that offers more of a console game experience than titles such as “Temple Run” or “Angry Birds” do. At the same time, it is equally as fun on a bus or a train.

Part castle protector, part strategy game, this title hardens back to classic strategy gems of the past. Simple to jump in and play, the action is easy at first, but picks up nicely. Like any solid strategy game, it definitely has its moments where it induces frustration and satisfaction. The tower options are also a main draw. Aside from shooting cows and chickens at your enemies, you can also burn, explode or shoot glass shards at them. The amount of pleasure these weapons induce during gameplay rivals any experience you can have on the iPad.

Combining a nice level of difficulty with a hearty helping of unlockables, “Archibald and Remus Minor Lords” is one of the best games currently available on the iPad. It may not be as sexy as “GTA 3” or as pretty as “Squids” or “Angry Birds,” but it satisfies and does exactly what it’s supposed to.

The story of “Archibald and Remus Minor Lords” however is inconsequential. While the characters try to draw you in, you’ll most likely skip past the dialogue. This has a lot to do with the fact that the story and extra bells and whistles lack the same polish as the main game. While there aren’t any glitches and bugs when in the middle of a game, in between levels feels rushed.

For example, the voice-overs sound like they were done in a public rest room and later edited on Audacity. The story, while making an attempt at humor, isn’t funny at all. Think “Monty Python” meets “South Park.”

These hiccups don’t make the game any less fun though. Cheeky castle defense with a twist, “Archibald and Remus Minor Lords” won’t get the press bigger name games will get, but that doesn’t mean it can’t hang with them.

And shoot some glass shards, or possibly a cow at them too.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13883 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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