[iPhone/iPad/Windows Phone 7] - Babylonian Twins Review

Babylonian Twins was originally planned to be released on the Commodore Amiga and although it has undergone many changes to be released on the mobile device platform it's origins can still be seen.

You play as the twin princes Nasir and Blasir, one with a sword and shield the other with a mace. The mace ability allows you to smash open jars which can contain palm fronds, points, or sometimes a snake or scorpion. It is impossible to avoid the snake and this trick is used OFTEN. I guess it is all about learning the level by heart but I find traps like this annoying especially when it is repeated so many times. This type of thing was very common for games of the Commodore Amiga day and whilst to some it may be annoying it does give it that retro feel. I reviewed this on the iPhone 4 and I found some of the enemies to be quite hard to see as they are so small. This problem is probably alleviated on the iPad due to it's larger screen. Also in a throw back to the retro days, some enemies can only be stunned, not destroyed which gets a bit annoying as you go over a level trying to figure out what to do next.

One of your characters can smash through walls, whilst the other can smash through floors and these abilities form a major part of the puzzle solving. When your other character is not in use he will turn to stone and this can aid you in jumping to higher platforms. I forget who is who, but the character with the sword can jump much higher than the character with the mace, so you will be made to constantly switch back and forth just to get your mace friend up into an area. This seemed cool at first but it got a little too repetitive for my liking.

The game seems to feature many bugs and is in need of a patch. It crashed on loading the third level though all it took was a restart. At one point I could not use the control pad at all, then I could use it but only whilst jumping. This issue managed to resolve itself but the developers obviously have their work cut out for them in terms of squashing bugs. At other times I experienced huge amounts of slow down for no good reason and the sound occasionally cut out.

Yet despite these problems it is very rewarding when you finally do finish a level. Finishing a level requires focus and I find it is best done in one sitting, as you need to remember the layout of the level. Unfortunately this isn't exactly what you want from a game on your phone, as the distractions of it being your phone, such as receiving a call, can take you away from the all important completion of the level. 6.5/10