Loving Port of a Classic ‘80s RPG – DRAGON QUEST Review

You buy the game. You play it. No servers, no log-ins, no in-app purchases, no excessive layers of currencies and pay-to-win mechanics. I had nearly forgotten phone games could be this straightforward. I bought this on a whim after the release of “Hero” in Smash Bros. reminded me of the original game (which was called “Dragon Warrior” in the U.S., in case anyone is looking for that game). Very happy with the purchase. The game itself is very old school. You’ll be doing a lot of grinding, but the touch screen menus make that more tolerable and it’s a decent enough way to pass the time. Most phone games force you into grinding anyway, but suggest you pay money to skip it. In this one you’ll just have to slash away at slimes until you level up to take on better enemies like the old days. The overworld controls are a little goofy, like all phone d-pads, but they get the job done and finesse is not needed in this kind of game. I like the vertical orientation; it makes it easier to switch in and out of the app to do stuff on your phone without having to turn the whole phone. The updated graphics and music give the game a cool SNES vibe. I’d love the option to use the original graphics/music/screen resolution, but I can see how that might be infeasible given the phone layout. In any case, love has clearly been given to this port, and if you like ‘80s JRPGs, this is well worth your $3. I’ll probably play through the series and see if I can convince myself to check out DQ11 for Switch eventually.
Review by raleighmaestro on DRAGON QUEST.