As the latest Unreal Engine-powered iOS game, the hype behind Dark Meadow is expected. It’s less like Dragon’s Lair than Infinity Blade, and the artistry of its dilapidated setting is as sumptuously apparent as it is evocative. But at some point during the game’s creation, fully-fledged gameplay seems to have bottomed out – and what’s left is an astray, clumsy experience misguided by the intentions of a graphic adventure, which can’t quite shake the feeling of a glorified whack-a-mole sim.
As it stands, your explorations through an abandoned hospital involve killing an endless stream of monsters, and like Infinity Blade, attacks only do real damage when enemies are vulnerable. Tediously, the static combat is just a matter of wait-dodge-slash actions repeated ad nauseam.
You can gain the upper hand with costly new equipment, but even following upgrades, grinding quickly becomes a chore -- and any motivation to press on will diminish when you realize 90% of the experience is dull melee combat. Although the design eventually evens out a bit, cheap deaths and repeated gauntlet runs will quickly burn through most players’ patience.
The bottom line. Need an Unreal-powered showcase? Stick with Infinity Blade for now.
iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 3.1.3 or later
Gorgeous visuals, thanks to Unreal Engine. More action-oriented than Infinity Blade. Generally great dialogue and voice acting.
Deceptively shallow, with tedious, one-dimensional combat and cheap/uneven enemy difficulty spikes. Makes you start over from the origin spot with each death.
