Avalon Code

Avalon Code is a quirky, highly original action adventure that will probably appeal most to fans of the Legend of Zelda series or Harvest Moon's relationship systems. The glaring interface issues detract from the experience somewhat, but for the most part aren't much more than a minor irritation and can be alleviated with a bit of storage management on the part of the player. There are also a handful of localization errors that make a small number of the recipes unusable, though.

Although it's a solid new IP on the DS, the control issue keeps Avalon Code from being something great. It's still decent and definitely worth checking out for RPG fans, but anyone who's not a big fan of the genre is going to get frustrated with the controls and code system.

Collecting codes and manipulating them is engaging, but the rest of the experience is merely functional.

Avalon Code is by no means a bad game, but due to some niggling issues, the game can’t be deemed as a must-have title.

The Book of Prophecy is poorly designed; it turns an innovative concept into an annoying, tedious, headache-inducing chore.

A fun, new, interesting experience that separates itself nicely from the rest of the crowd with the use of the Book of Prophecy.

In the end, Avalon Code is a unique game that is hamstrung by from some incredibly clunky interface and navigation issues.

Avalon Code's story props up the experience even if the game's combat feels punishing, bordering on unfair, and if you're an old school RPG scholar this one deserves some study.

Avalon Code has high production values and heart, but element-swapping really saps the fun out of the experience. There are better RPGs out there.

There are some great ideas at work here, but the game can't quite bind them into a successful whole.

As with so many boldly innovative games, Avalon proves that the main downside to new and untested ideas is that they've yet to be refined into something that works smoothly. There's a lot of quality content here for anyone with the patience to suffer through the clumsy implementation in which it's presented. Yet despite these incentives, Avalon ultimately feels like a promising prototype for a brilliant game that has yet to be created.

Avalon Code offers unique mechanics but ultimately fails to come together well.