Aside from a few small issues, Fighting Fantasy offers up an entertaining action RPG adventure based on the classic book series.

Game Summary

Popzara Rating

While it may not break any new ground, those that enjoy a good dungeon romp with Western RPG mechanics will be quite happy with Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. The game stays true to its dungeon-crawling RPG roots, so those looking for a deeper story or strong character development might want to look elsewhere. Personally, I would love to see this game succeed, as the DS has not been one of the stronger platforms for Western RPGs. Despite its flaws, Developer Big Blue Bubble shows that you can make a fun, accessible, light and satisfying Western RPG for the Nintendo DS. Release Date: 11/23/2009 ESRB Rating: T Publisher: Aspyr

Written by Mike Henderson

In the early 1980's Steve Jackson Games created a series of books called Fighting Fantasy. These books combined pen-and-paper role playing games and Choose Your Own Adventure stories into one very successful package. Now, nearly 30 years later, the books are being published once again, and to coincide with the re-release of the books is the first in what will likely (if popular) be a series of games based on the books. Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is based on the story and world introduced in the first book. This Nintendo DS exclusive was created by Big Blue Bubble Software, a Canadian development house with a long history largely consisting of mobile phone titles. Though this is only their second title on the DS (their first being the 2006 turn-based strategy RPG Mage Knight: Destiny's Soldier), it's a very solid game.

First, it's important to note that this Fighting Fantasy game is based on the world and the base story of the first book, but it is not played in the same "choose your own story" way as the books. This game is a straight-up first-person action RPG -- it is played in the style of the Elder Scrolls titles. Obviously, the DS is not quite up to the task to bring Oblivion to your pocket, but Big Blue Bubble have done a great job bringing hack-n-slash old-school RPG mayhem to the DS.

The story is a bit simple, but serves its purpose - you are a solo adventurer looking to discover the secrets of the mysterious dwarven stronghold within Firetop mountain, which has been taken over by an evil warlock. You start by answering a series of behavioral profiling questions to allow the game to pick your starting character type: do you like to solve conflict with an axe? would you prefer to run and hide? would you prefer to talk your way out of trouble? The answers to these questions create your character's base stats. However, you can also customize those statistics to your liking. Once you've set up your character, you set off to become rich and famous.

As you might expect, the gameplay is rote dungeon-crawl/action-RPG. You explore the 3D world in first person perspective, seeing only your weapon and the world before you. Movement is controlled via the d-pad and the A/B/Y/X buttons, with one set moving your character, and the other your view (a-la a mouse and WASD on a PC). Attacks and other actions are performed by mapping large buttons on the touchscreen and both shoulder buttons on the DS. This mechanic can be a bit clumsy as you frantically attempt to maneuver, attack, use potions, etc. at the same time. However, the button mappings are customizable, and the touch controls are large enough to simply tap with your fingers as you play, so you won't need to fumble with the stylus during combat.

Combat, again, is in real-time. The game tracks your health, stamina, and magical energy. Potions and food items can recharge these when consumed during combat (which you can achieve by mapping them to on-screen buttons). While the control scheme is workable, it can become frenetic when fighting large groups of enemies, and you can (and will) get frustrated on occasion because there are moments when you'd really like three hands to work everything quickly. This mechanic actually adds an interesting angle to working your combat strategies -- plunging in head-first and slashing your way to victory rarely works well against two or more strong foes.

Character development is traditional for a Western RPG. After gaining a new level, you are given points to spend on attributes (4 basic types such as agility and luck) and abilities (e.g. schools of magic, combat skills). The quests in the game are all very basic and straight forward - they are generally either fetch quests or "kill x monsters" quests. Likewise, NPCs found throughout are fairly utilitarian and generic - they're there to give quests, provide basic quest information, or buy/sell items.

Visually, the game is well done. The graphics reminded me of early-1990's PC RPGs, and reminds others of DOOM in quality and style. The game world is rendered in 3D, but everything is covered with somewhat grainy (though well done) 2D bitmaps. As you move through the dungeons and swivel your head, the world glides around you nicely. Enemies are nice looking, but barely animated, usually with just a handful of positions that they bounce between. Audio is fairly simplistic - the sound effects are serviceable but very basic, and the musical score is rather generic and only plays on rare occasions.

While it may not break any new ground, those that enjoy a good dungeon romp with Western RPG mechanics will be quite happy with Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.  The game stays true to its dungeon-crawling RPG roots, so those looking for a deeper story or strong character development might want to look elsewhere. Personally, I would love to see this game succeed, as the DS has not been one of the stronger platforms for Western RPGs.  Despite its flaws, Developer Big Blue Bubble shows that you can make a fun, accessible, light and satisfying Western RPG for the Nintendo DS.