App Store will celebrate its 11th birthday on July 10th. At the moment, Steve Job’s iOS has risen upon many consoles and handhelds to be among the longest-standing platforms out there. App Store has become an extremely viable platform for iPhone gaming to develop throughout the years without a certain “killer app”. Apple is working nonstop to modernize the platform, putting spotlights onto many influential titles that both old and new gamers can experience. Rolando: Royal Edition is a perfect example of how an iOS classic can rise up and become a “flag bearer”.
Here’s the trailer of Rolando Royal Edition, available now!
First impressions of Rolando: Royal Edition
The original Rolando came out on the App Store 11 years ago, in 2008. App Store has changed drastically throughout those years but the 2019 Rolando is still as captivating as it was over a decade ago.
Looking at Rolando, we feel the sense of charm and magic in every character and in the inspirational narrative. The charming and distinct 2.5D environment gives us a magical feeling while dashing through the meticulously-crafted levels. Moreover, the stunning world map and adorable theme music make it fun and comfortable to experience the hardest puzzles.
The innovative work in Rolando shows the freedom and creativity that has been around the App Store since its early days.
How graphics suit the gameplay
In fact, all these factors are extremely relevant when experiencing Rolando. Over the long course of Rolando gameplay, you’ll be doing a lot of swiping, tapping and tilting your character. Yes, you’ll be using every input available on your iPhone device. Previously, it was kind of a negative thing to always be on the move and you needed to be relatively stationary to do all the jumping.
Rolando, on the other hand, made motion controls mandatory and made it perfect to use these interesting and intuitive control scheme. For example, many bonus levels in Rolando make you feel like playing a classic iOS labyrinth game. In here, you need to tilt your device upside-down to be sure that the ball bearing actually makes it through the end. For players having an iPad Pro, it could feel ridiculously painful if you do this in public places, such as a coffee shop. But my guess is when you’re having that much fun playing a game, there’s probably no time to complain.
In-game levels are designed to utilize various control inputs. Some of the best ones require more than one Rolando to handle different tasks. New Rolandos like the sticky Commando are there with distinct attributes. They’re available for some challenges within certain levels and sometimes create scenarios with multiple solutions to deal with it.
An amazing UI design
As a matter of fact, the UI design of Rolando really makes the game incredibly special. It is possible to drag the yellow platforms around and select groups of characters by swiping down. It’s unbelievably effortless and intuitive, alongside highly subtle audio cues. It works so well with Rolando’s new HD, 2.5D aesthetic design.
There’s a perfect example to portrait the smooth movement of the game. In a level with exuberant Prince, players can’t directly control the guy, who is constantly rolling around all terrain and. To prevent him from a painful death, players must manipulate the environment by sliding, spinning to stop the platforms at the same time with the Prince’s movement. It feels like you’re operating an intricate clockwork machine, due to the amazing control of the game and how it works so well in practice.
Some minor drawbacks
Despite the prominence of Rolando’s strengths, the game apparently doesn’t take advantage of them all sometimes. For example, the Lemmings-inspired concept requires more than one character to pass some certain levels. However, there are many levels can be easily completed with just one Rolando and working on it with multiple Rolandos is just unnecessary.
Especially, there’s a medal involves keeping every Rolando alive to earn it. Imagine the frustration you’d feel when your Rolandos keep dying! Checkpoints, however, can be such a relief in this type of game. Nonetheless, it doesn’t stop impatient gamers from getting crazy after a few unfortunate roll or jump.
Flexibility in different play styles
On the other hand, Rolando actually provides lots of flexibility to many distinct play styles. It’s pretty easy to make a full run through all the 4 worlds available in just a couple hours. I’m saying this because some levels require only a few characters to cross the final finish line. Then again, feel free to be a completionist and aim for all three medals in each level.
To obtain the first one, you must finish a stage in a certain amount of time. The second one requires you to collect all hidden diamonds within the level. Meanwhile, to obtain the third one and probably the hardest one, you must guide the whole cast towards the finish line.
To plot the fastest path in each level or to look for hidden diamonds, zooming out to observe the whole stage is essential. This is true even for casual play-throughs, as you’ll soon suffer early demise without checking the upcoming path ahead. A purpose is there for each part in a level of Rolando, just to further elevate this iOS puzzle platformer.
In summary
The original Rolando game was the one to get many people into iPhone gaming for sure. Hence, whoever was there when the 2008 Rolando came out can feel a bit worried about this brand-new remaster release. However, after playing the Royal Edition of Rolando, it’s immensely delightful to see how the game turns out. Rolando not only meets the modern standards of gaming but somehow even rises above it as well.
Rolando: Royal Edition is no doubt a rare example for a game to feel timeless and truly anyone’s recommendation. Welcome back to the App Store, Rolando, it’s been a while!
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