Solomon's Keep

Solomon's Keep
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/solomons-keep/id365183754?mt=8#
Cost: Free!
Developed by Raptisoft
Last Updated on June 2nd 2011

In Solomon's Keep you play a young wizard about to graduate from Wizarding College. Known as Sirius, your teachers have given you one final test. To defeat Solomon Dark, one of the greatest wizards to ever live. Your quest will be fraught with death, peril, skeletons, and bad RPG jokes.

The Story Begins

When you first enter the game you are in the town of Dead Hawg, the towns inhabitants include Sirius (you), and four professors from the Wizarding College. The professors are there to offer aid during your quest. They sell equipment, potions, experience and a number of other things. They can also offer advice.

I feel that a lot more could have been done with the professors. They could have offered side-quests, challenges etc. Hopefully this area will be expanded upon in later patches.

The Professors of Wizarding College

Combat

When they made Solomon's Keep, Raptisoft went for a fairly simplistic combat system. You have one primary spell which will be your main damage dealer. This spell is controlled by the bottom right virtual analog stick. You can also have as many as 2 secondary spells, which can be activated by pressing their icons along the right side of the screen.

Game Control Scheme

The true genius of Solomon's Keeps combat system is your ability to upgrade and combine spells. When you level up you are presented with three upgrade options. These options could be a new spell, increased mana or health regeneration, increased gold or xp, and spell upgrades.

Your Main Spells

Spell upgrades are where I really got a lot of enjoyment out of the game. You can upgrade your spells to slow enemies, to jump from target to target, to do splash damage or damage over time, and many many more. I was able to upgrade my lightning bolt attack to the point where I was able to hit every monster in a room instantly. Having a couple dozen monsters explode all at the same time is extremely satisfying.

Upgrade Menu

 One area where I found the game lacking was in gear and item upgrading. In Solomon's Keep you have three item slots; one staff and two rings. Options for these items are severely limited and I found myself wanting more variety and customizability, similar to how the spell upgrading system was done. I think that the addition of more gear slots, like robes, necklaces etc. would have added addition depth to the game.


Conclusion

The Good

• Excellent spell and skill upgrading system.
• Fairly simplistic combat system leaves more room for fun.
• The game doesn't take itself too seriously and pokes fun the the whole fantasy genre.

The Bad

• Lack of side-quests or story leaves little motivation to complete the game.
• Lack of gear customizability is a letdown, especially after the spell upgrade system.

Should I Buy It?

Solomon's Keep is a fantastic game and continues to provide me with many hours of gaming pleasure. The spell upgrade system is tonnes of fun to play and experiment with. The combat mechanics at times feels somewhat bland but yelling "Lightning Bolt!" while exploding enemies somewhat makes up for it. Also, since its free you've got nothing to lose. Download it!

Sword and Board Rating: 4/5

Thanks for reading!