Horn Brings Original Storyline, Gorgeous Visuals To iPad, iPhone, And iPod Touch

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HorniPad2

Developer Phosphor Games knocks it out of the park with a new, beautiful iOS game named after protagonist, Horn. The game uses the Unreal Engine and multitouch-based gestures to a third-person action adventure game. While the technology, visual style and swipe-based combat in Horn bring to mind Infinity Blade, it’s clear from the start that this is something different.

From the App description:

You play as a young blacksmith’s apprentice named Horn who wakes up to find your village and lands over run by large fantastic, and sometimes humorous, monsters. It is revealed these creatures are actually the people and animals from your village transformed by a curse, and you alone have the power to free them. On your incredible adventure you carry the loud-mouthed head of one such fantastic creature with you – a somewhat uncooperative and ill-tempered but grudgingly helpful sidekick. Along with this new companion you must use your sword, crossbow, trusty musical horn, and wits to explore the lands, defeat the enemies, and solve puzzles in your quest to undo the curse that engulfs your homeland.

The first tutorial level shows players how to control Horn and sets up some story line, including the above. The gameplay in this first section is mostly about navigating the lush environments, learning how to move, jump, engage in combat, and the like. There are some neat little Zelda-esque touches, like the horn (the musical instrument, not the hero) used to clear areas in the dungeons Horn is exploring.

There are three different lands to discover, a rising level of difficulty, extra side content, and a score by Austin Wintory, the composer behind the score of indie-hit Journey on the PlayStation 3. The game (published by Zynga, of all things) will run you $6.99 but nets a universal app, so you’ll be able to download and play it on any iOS devices you own, though it doesn’t seem as if cloud-sync is available, yet.

The game (published by Zynga, of all things) will run you $6.99 but nets a universal app, so you’ll be able to download and play it on any iOS devices you own, though it doesn’t seem as if cloud-sync is available, yet. It’s probable that the price will go down at some point in the near future, of course, but I feel like the seven bucks is worth it for such a high-quality gaming experience on any platform.

Source: iTunes App Store

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