Punch Quest Review – Conan, Is That You?

If you are struggling to understand the term, ” blast from the past”, most likely you have yet to get Punch Quest on your Apple device. This insane, stamina hyper rejuvenating, punch flinging caveman reminded us so much of Conan the barbarian. But can this game by Rocketcat Games match up to that resemblance?

If you have played with games like Jetpack Joyride, this game will be a breeze for you.  Players will explore a haunted dungeon filled with ancient pots, sack of gems and treasure chests. But, in order to be able to get rich, players will have to fight against the dungeon defenders, which army is made up of ghosts, ghouls, evil flying imps and skeleton guards. To pulverize this hateful critters, players taps the bottom of the left screen to execute an upper-cut which even Ken from Street Fighter will be proud of, and tapping on the bottom right of the screen will get your character to jab punches. The idea of making most obstacles destroyable fits the theme so perfectly as this became an excellent outlet for Rocketcat to throw in cheesy, retro, bit effects with nonsensical sound effects.

Players have to rely heavily on unlockable skills in order to complete some of the in-game quests. However, not many of these skills are directly useful in the overall game play. Perhaps the more important skills include the ability to block, or increasing the time in the air by executing jab punches right after an upper cut. We were left pretty lost to how could we fully capitalize on the number of skills available. Well, of course, you guys can feel free to leave some witty and creative suggestion at the comment section below. Well, one good use, which I can think of, is to actually play around with the names when you develop your own action arcade game.

Rocketcat Games had planted quite a number of Easter eggs.  Players will get to ride on raptors, or even transform into a gnome upon shattering randomly spawned giant eggs. Because of the nature of such retro arcade graphics, vaporizing ghouls with your laser blasting raptor feels so much like Super Mario.

Another quite unexpected move by Rocketcat was to plant a couple of bosses to break the monotony of the game. Quirky as usual, we got to throw punches on metallic Cyclops and Giant Skulls before swimming through barrel loads of coins. Because players don’t get to control the direction of the character’s movement, it is inevitable that the challenge was heightened and players will need to accurate plan when to plant their punches to achieve maximum effectiveness.But robotic Cyclops in a dungeon? Tony Stark, where are you?

Seen from the screenshots used to decorate this post, I believe none of you will disagree that Punch Quest probably came the closest to replicating retro dungeon arcade games. We couldn’t help but to have flashback of the times when we were kids, slamming my keyboard while completing Golden Axe. The colors and setting that made up this stunning game are absolutely mind blowing. This is, by far, the best, original retro game we have played on our Apple devices so far.

Verdict

Truly captivating. Punch quest is probably one of the rare treasure among the free games. The game is so awesome, it makes your iPhone feels like a SEGA cartridge console.

Graphics- 5/5

Sound- 3.5/5

Gameplay – 4/5

Playability – 4/5

Originality –  3.5/5

Overall-4/5

Download

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/punch-quest/id554223561?mt=8

Related posts:

• Monsterzzz Review: Does it Put You to Sleep?
• Gotta Feed Garp Review: Let’s Feed Him!
• Storm The Train Review - Inspiration For Movies