In the late 1980s Hudson Soft released the Adventure Island titles, a series of action games featuring a half-clothed caveman jumping and running around palm trees and caves, sort of like a stripped-down Super Mario Bros. While not exactly brain surgery (Throw axes. Jump on platforms. Run from monsters. Repeat.), the series was mildly addictive at the time.
Macrospace's Dragon Island is very similar to Hudson Soft's series. Unfortunately, Dragon Island hasn't really improved on the basic, bare-bones concept.
There is a bit of a storyline involving a warrior slaying a dragon to save the kingdom, but the game itself simply consists of jumping from platform to platform, collecting fruit (another nod to Adventure Island) and throwing an axe at the occasional aqua-beast.
Dragon Island is fairly challenging for a platformer--tricky jumps and such--but part of the challenge lies in the wonky controls. The joystick works fine, but there are three different jump buttons: 1, 3 and 5 are left jump, vertical jump and right jump, respectively. And, for some reason, 0 is the axe. I found myself switching finger positions to get comfortable, holding the phone one way in jumping areas and another way in fighting areas.
On the plus side, the graphics are solid, and armor can be found to stop your warrior from ending up a one-hit wonder. However, there are plenty more interesting (and innovative) games to grab on the cell that truly move the platform forward. At the end of the proverbial day, Dragon Island is just a throwback.
