Fantasy Warrior 2: Evil Preview

The original Fantasy Warrior starred Rento, a blue-haired hero whose mission was to generally annoy evildoers. This time around, you can choose to once again play as Rento, or you can opt to quest as his adversary, Vera the vampire. Sumea has split its Zelda-inspired adventure into two parts, respectively titled Fantasy Warrior 2: Good and Fantasy Warrior 2: Evil. The lawful-evil skew of the game is looking sharp, with interesting action role-playing-game elements set in a gorgeous two-dimensional realm.

When the game opens, Vera has been awakened from, presumably, hundreds of years of slumber to serve the recently revived Devin the demonlord, who'd apparently been dozing for even longer than Vera. She is then sent on a linear series of quests to help her master thwart the efforts of the goody-two-shoes adventurer who ironically restored Devin to the realm of the living. We are speaking, of course, of Rento, who can be played in the "Good" version of the game. One of Vera's missions involves killing blood-sucking insects who are menacing the poor, oppressed undead near her graveyard village.

Fantasy Warrior's combat sequences are initiated when you run into an enemy who's patrolling the world map or a dungeon. Although the game's damage dealing relies on a standard RPG stat system, confrontations are executed in real time. Often facing off against multiple enemies, Vera must dodge and charge with equal facility to succeed. Secondary weapons, such as Vera's bear trap, can be used periodically to either stun or deal damage to enemy units. The simple addition of these weapons adds infinitely to the game's depth.

We played a build of the game on Motorola's V400. As compared to the slim selection of adventure games available for that handset, only Gameloft's Might and Magic trumps Fantasy Warrior 2's impressive audiovisual chops. The game is bright and colorful, despite the fact that Vera is nocturnal and cannot quest in daylight, and it features what seems like some of the best and most varied music on mobile. Suffice it to say, this is a technical effort worthy of notice.

While it seems like most players will want to purchase both versions of the game to experience the adventure in its entirety, Fantasy Warrior 2: Evil looks to be a strong enough offering to stand alone on its own merits. The same can be said about the "Good" version (In fact, we say it!), which we've also previewed.