Castle of Magic Review

The platformer genre has been home to many of gaming’s most iconic characters, including Mario, Sonic and countless others. Every gaming system also has one platformer that stands out from the rest. For the iPhone, this standout is Castle of Magic.

In this side-scroller, you play as a young kid who has fallen into a dimensional gap and turned into a wizard. His goal is to defeat an evil magician who has taken his sister captive.

Ok, so the story isn’t anything new, but what is new are the five creative and immersive worlds that he must brave through. These range from heaps of sweets to icy caverns and outer space, and each brings devious new enemies as well as extra powerups that change the gameplay.

For example, eating an ice cream cone in the sweets level will turn you fat, allowing you to eat your way through, while entering a strange machine in another gives you a negative charge that reverses the orientation of the game.

Great 3D graphics, interesting backgrounds, and excellent sound complement the game's creativity. These change continually, keeping things interesting. Each level also plays a bit differently from the last, and the numerous boss battles shake up the normal formula just enough to make it count. Suffice to say, through our time with the game there was not a single moment where the excitement of discovery was lacking.

Plus, Castle of Magic has a tried-and-true control scheme, which is well-implemented. It consists of a D-Pad, jump button, attack button, and action button that appears only when necessary. Even though there were times when things got a little touchy, the controls usually worked out just as one would expect, making the game very easy to enjoy.

Castle of Magic offers around three hours of gameplay for a full run-through, which is a bit short when compared to the normal length of platformers these days. Luckily, the game uses a star system that adds replay value for completists. Each level contains three hidden stars, most of which are difficult to reach. This helps to justify the game’s current asking price of $5.99.

Castle of Magic is a platformer that just about everybody can enjoy. If you are looking for an experience on your iPhone like none other, we recommend you pick this game up.