Wizards – The Magical Concert Review

Wizards – The Magical Concert (out now, $2.99) is a sort of rhythm game, except it’s a more visual experience rather than musical.

The game starts off with a long monotonous story, which isn’t so much of a story as pointless dialogue between Javi (you) and Toto (a cat! not a dog). You can safely skip the entire dialogue and proceed to the tutorial, which itself is another long discourse between Javi and Toto.

screen480x480The main issue with the tutorial though is that it doesn’t teach enough. You are advised to hit the stars on time, but you aren’t immediately told how to get the timing right. So for the first part of the game, I was tapping at stars almost randomly, without knowing what made a good, poor, or perfect tap. It was only later, when I read a game loading screen that I learned we’re supposed to tap the stars when their white tails start to disappear. It is illustrated pictorially, so if you only read the text you’ll miss it.

Apart from stars, you’ll also be tapping on butterflies. Initially, the stars will just shoot up and drop down. Later, they’ll appear in other ways, such as in a circular cluster. Several stars will also shoot out simultaneously, and at a faster pace, so you’ll have to be alert and possibly use multiple fingers. Some special stars won’t erupt into fireworks immediately upon your first tap. They’ll jump from one spot to another after each tap before finally exploding. When you achieve several explosions at a go you’ll earn a combo score.

As you play you’ll be awarded starcoins, which you can use to purchase items in the in-game shop. Sometimes there may also be secrets hidden in the background. You can locate these by their glowing aura. By tapping on one of these spots, I unlocked One Tap Hero, a ghostly white character. I couldn’t figure out what I could do with him, however. The description says: “You tap him once, and he saves the day.” Question is, tap him where, when? Tapping him in the Secret area of the main menu gives this message, so I don’t know how he can be activated or what he does.

Wizards – The Magical Concert does offer some good challenges, but overall the game is a disappointment due to its poor tutorial and the lack of proper explanations.

iFanzine Verdict: I can’t recommend Wizards – The Magical Concert for those with retina devices due to the mediocre graphics (in terms of resolution). It doesn’t look as bad on my iPhone 5S, but it is terrible on my iPad Air. There’s no way I can admire the fireworks display, plus the blurriness makes it harder to determine when exactly to tap the stars. The game also gets repetitive after awhile so replay value is questionable. That said, if you’re a big fan of fantasy stories such as Harry Potter, maybe this might appeal to you. The music is a lot more enchanting than the artwork.