'80s classic Archon gets a mobile makeover

Rose-tinted spectacles can be a wonderful thing. Back in the 1980s, a schoolfriend had a game for his Amstrad CPC computer called Archon, which was a bit like chess, except played with monsters who fought each other to see which pieces got taken.

It was amazing. At least, that's how I remember it, mainly because I didn't own it, so it was a treat to go round and play it at this mate's house. The whole class felt the same, actually. Heaven knows what his mum must've made of us all trooping in.

Anyway, this is a long and rambly introduction to the fact that Archon is now coming out on mobile, courtesy of Breakpoint Games and Viva La Mobile. And it looks like a pretty accurate conversion, with the aim being to capture 'Power Points' (nothing to do with spreadsheets) on the board.

You move your monsters on the Strategy screen, which is basically a chessboard, but when you try to take a piece, you switch to the Battle screen, where you have to run around fighting the other piece. Each monster has its own special attacks, and your chances of success are boosted or lowered according to what colour square you're fighting on.

Who knows, Archon might have been rubbish in the first place, which is where those rose-tinted specs come in handy. But if not, it could bring a warm glow to any gamer who remembers the original.

And you won't have to pile round to the house of someone with a better handset than you to play it.