Merlin’s Legacy: Not like Harry Potter at all.

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I know I shouldn’t have expected this game to have anything in common with my favorite wizarding world, but when I heard about this app’s constant wizard duels, my mind immediately flashed to “Harry Potter.”

In truth, though, Merlin’s Legacy is more akin to the shelves upon shelves of other fantasy fiction out there. It’s a kind of storybook that pulls you from wizard face-off to wizard face-off.

The main premise is this: Merlin has been killed, and as his apprentice, it’s your responsibility to track down his killer and bring him or her to justice.

To be completely honest, the story here is little more than window dressing–simple (though often over-written) text that does little more than give you a little background and pull you into the next battle. If you’re looking for a great choose-your-own adventure game, this one isn’t for you.

What the game really centers on is the battles. They start simple with your apprentice character facing off against another wizard with only a few spells in his bag of tricks. As the levels progress, your wizard learns new spells that are more “difficult” to cast (meaning they deplete your “magic meter” much faster).

Spells include protective barriers, enchanted creatures, and what I like to call “magic torpedos”…you know, those little glowing orbs every wizard seems to be able to conjure from thin air and hurl at his opponent?

At first I was unimpressed with the gameplay, but after a while it grew on me. There is a definite strategy to it, and figuring out the best way to cast spells in what order to best defeat your opponent is kind of a charge.

But there is a huge problem with this game: it’s too easy to beat.

Once you get the hang of what you’re doing, every wizard, including the bosses, are easy to defeat. In playing through the game’s twenty levels, I lost only once, and this was because my opponent pulled out a spell for which I was unprepared.

Really, I’m not that good at these types of games. If I’m able to breeze through it, the average gamer is going to get bored easily.

I must admit, though, that it kept my attention the whole way through. Plus there is a tournament mode if you are really into the game, and this can prove somewhat more challenging than the quest mode. The graphics are a little crude, but the overall structure of gameplay is fairly fun.

Add a few more quests with some more challenging wizards and a more interesting storyline, and I’m sold. As is, though, I can’t recommend this one for its price tag of $2.99. There is, however, a free version of the game that would be worth checking out if you’re into this kind of thing.

Buy Merlin’s Legacy HERE.

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