A few months ago, I purchased an iPod Touch, which gave me immediate access to all of the highs and lows of the iTunes App Store.  One thing I started noticing, almost immediately, was the number of Windows Mobile developers doing double duty in the App Store.  The second thing I noticed was how much better the iPhone versions tended to be when compared with the Windows Mobile version.  Almost across the board, the iPhone versions were knocking the socks off their Windows Mobile counterparts in terms of graphics, animation, and controls.  Until now.

Last week, Pocket More Games brought Orions: Legend of Wizards to the iPhone.  Now, I have long maintained that this is one of the best – if not the number 1 – Windows Mobile game around.  I loved just about everything Pocket More Games had done, and they only made it better with the Second Age and Deck Masters expansion packs. 

Even after I got my iPod Touch, my mind kept wandering back to Orions on my Windows Mobile device.  What a great game this could be on the iPod Touch.  The finger friendly controls almost seemed tailor made for the iPhone/iPod Touch.  So, when I learned earlier this week that the original Orions would be coming to the iTunes App Store, I raced over to download it.  Sadly, I almost wish I had waited.

Let’s start with what was good here.  Orions offered the same fantastic gameplay as the original Windows Mobile game.  I won’t go into the details of the gameplay here, you can check out this review for the full overview.  I will say, however, that the iPhone offers the same two modes of play.  Enjoy the full game in campaign mode, in which you will use your cards to battle for control of the “Orions”; or choose duel mode, to battle head to head with a random deck of cards.   Unfortunately, that is where most of the similarities will end.

The first thing I noticed was that the online multiplayer game is missing.  In the Windows Mobile version,  you could duel against the computer, duel against another player on the same machine, or duel against another player via Wifi.  Oddly, that last option was missing from the iPhone version.  

My second disappointment on the iPhone version came from the graphics.  The graphics and animation were one of the great strengths of the Windows Mobile version.  And while they used the same images, they were hardly the same graphics.  That is the iPhone version on the left and Windows Mobile on the right.  Can you see how the icons just look better proportioned, so they fit more naturally on the screen in the Windows Mobile version?  The iphone version lacked this polish (when is the last time you heard that?)  In fact, it looked a lot like Pocket More Games did little more than transfer the QVGA images to the iPhone.  The result is that the graphics often seem mismatched for the screen, with some images using too much space on the screen, and others actually running into other images.

The other thing I found was an imprecision of the touch controls.  This really threw me for a loop, because I had never experienced this with the iPhone before.  However, I consistently found that when placing buildings, the structures typically ended up landing a few spaces from where I had intended…almost every time.  I got used to this imprecision and was able to compensate for it.  But in the end, I just shouldn’t have to do so.

The other oddity with the controls comes from casting spell cards.  Unlike the Windows Mobile version, you can only cast a spell card if you have an open space on the board.  If your playing area is full then spell cards will not cast, resulting in your essential forfeit of the turn.  I certainly hope this was not an intentional change in the rules as it made little sense, and took away the ability to make powerful attacks at opportune moments.

Overall, while I still love this game, I found that it simply lacked the polish of the Windows Mobile version.  I am almost as shocked as you will be, but I have finally found a game in which the iPhone version simply does not stand up against the Windows Mobile version.  Toss in the expansion packs, and the Windows Mobile version ends up being far superior to the iPhone game.  Hopefully, Pocket More Games will issue an update soon with improved graphics and controls. And I also have it on good authority that both expansion packs will be coming to the iPhone.  So, stay tuned.  The Windows Mobile version is definitely the more polished game for now, but Pocket More Games is apparently far from finished with this one.  Hopefully, much more to come…

What I Liked:

• Same fantastic gameplay that I loved from the Windows Mobile version
• Price

What Needs Improvement:

• Graphics do not fit properly with the iPhone screen and screen resolution
• Touch screen imprecision
• Can’t cast spells when you have a full board
• No multiplayer networked game

Developer: Pocket More Games

Price: $1.99 (presumably for a limited time only)

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