Vay

You can have a gaming platform, but if it doesn't have a role-playing game it isn't kosher. Vay fills that void on iPhone early on, blessing the device with old-skool-style adventuring. Too bad an over-reliance on the touchscreen and antiquated design end up making Vay more a curse than blessing. While it fills the need for role-playing, it does so poorly, and as such doesn't even round out our quality-controlled buyer's guide to the best iPhone games.

Wedding bells signal the start of Vay and herald a surprise attack from a powerful mechanical enemy. The groom, Prince Heilbelger, survives the attack to see the death of his parents – king and queen, naturally – as well as the abduction of his bride-to-be. Ascending to the throne, Heilbelger commits to defeating the forces of darkness and recover his future queen. It's a prototypical role-playing experience and with good reason. Originally released 14 years ago for the Sega Mega-CD, it's now a touch-tastic iPhone adventure.

The mechanics of the game are extraordinarily simple, which works well given the portable nature of the iPhone. Traipsing across the world involves mingling with locals to gain vital information pertinent to your quest and battling all manner of beast in turn-based combat. Earning experience through battle allows you to develop your characters although new abilities and attribute upgrades are handled automatically.

Equipment stands as the only way to customize your party. Using money earned from combat, you can purchase new weapons, armour, and items. Unfortunately, the game doesn't inform you how a piece of equipment impacts performance before purchase. While most role-playing games signify whether a new sword increases or decreases your attack rating, for example, that information is omitted here.

Figuring out if an item is worthwhile means buying it and then equipping it to see if it boosts a character's abilities. You're forced to rifle through ugly menus to compare statistics and figure out equipment configurations. Even worse is when you discover you just wasted hundreds of gold pieces on a new weapon that offers no benefit or isn't even usable by certain party members.

The problem with Vay lies not so much in its old-skool approach (although that does explain the lack of sophistication), but in its ill-conceived utilization of the touchscreen. Basic actions such as moving your party in the field and targeting enemies in battle are handled easily enough. Executing precise commands, however, is an exercise in trial and error.

Interacting with characters and objects in the surrounding environment requires tapping the desired target. The concept is simple, yet fails to be functional. Tap a character to initiate conversation and your hero is more likely to walk around the person than spark a discussion. Small sprites make it extremely challenging to select characters and objects, which in turn means you're left repeatedly tapping the screen to get what you want. Including a zoom function would have addressed the problem, but Vay cements the view.

The annoying repetition of tapping multiple times just to get a few lines of dialogue from a character spells bad news. Conversation is the crux of any role-playing game; without which the experience is empty. Vay discourages interaction with characters because it's such a hassle. As a result, you end up wanting to avoid conversations which are vital to immersing yourself in the game's already hollow plot. The developer could learn a lot from iPhone titles with more polished controls like Kroll.

Adorable graphics and a nice set of tunes ease the pain, at least. Sprites scamper across the screen for a nostalgic appeal that will warm the heart of any role-playing aficionado. Animated cinematics certainly add flair to the experience as well. It's not enough, however, to counter the game's major flaws.

Poor use of the touchscreen and an egregious lack of basic features make Vay a game to avoid. Look elsewhere for better iPhone games.