Posts tagged game

Las Plagas Infects The App Store With ‘Resident Evil 4′

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Following the surprising early accidental release of Resident Evil 4 [App Store] in Japan a few weeks ago, iPhone owning Resident Evil fanatics have been anxiously anticipating its official release. The wait is over, but it will likely take a true Resident Evil fan to appreciate the mobile edition of the game (or, ironically, one who has never played the original).


An on-screen D-Pad controls your movement along with a array of buttons lining the right hand side of the screen that control all of your actions. Resident Evil 4 features a slight improvement to the control scheme in Resident Evil: Degeneration [App Store] that we reviewed previously. It seems like Leon moves a little bit faster, and double tapping on the D-Pad while aiming makes you take a step in that direction.

Since in a game like this controls are everything, I highly recommend giving Resident Evil: Degeneration Lite [App Store] a try before picking up Resident Evil 4. They take a lot of getting used to, and the inability to run and aim at the same time doesn’t translate particularly well to the virtual D-Pad either.

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The thing that gets me about this version of the game is that the console and PC versions of Resident Evil 4 are such amazing games. In fact, RE 4 saw so much critical acclaim that it a “Reception” section summarizing its awards in the Resident Evil 4 Wikipedia article. Many publications listed it as the 2005 game of the year, and Resident Evil 4 even ranked number 1 on the “IGN Readers’ Top 99 Games Of All Time” list.

Unfortunately, the iPhone version of the game (ported from BREW) seems so watered down that it’s barely even recognizable as Resident Evil 4. All of the amazing plot elements and cut scenes are replaced by brief text introductions to each of the twelve levels, all of the voice overs are gone, and overall this just really feels like what you would expect a cell phone game to be– which needless to say does not do justice to the original at all.

AppBank posted the following gameplay video of the Japanese version:

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

If you’re interested in the series or enjoyed Resident Evil: Degeneration, chances are you will still have fun with Resident Evil 4 despite its shortfalls. If you’re brand new to the game, however, I’d recommend starting with one of the other console versions if you can, but then again, you can’t exactly play your GameCube while sitting on the bus.

App Store Link: Resident Evil 4, $7.99

A Closer Look at ‘Touch KO’


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We gave some quick impressions of Touch KO immediately after its release, but have since been able to spend some time to play through the game. As we mentioned before, the game offers an impressive looking boxing game for your iPhone.

Touch KO‘s multi-touch controls are surprisingly comfortable and an in-game tutorial walks you through the moves. Tapping either the left or right side of the screen punches with that arm, and different gestures like swiping towards the center lets loose a hook, while swiping upwards throws an uppercut. Holding your thumb on either side of the screen blocks with that arm, and tilting the iPhone makes you dodge. The controls are rather easy to pick up and contribute to a rather immersive experience once you get comfortable.

In fact, I’d say that Touch KO’s controls are one of the best aspects of the game. In contrast, while the main boxing competitor in the App Store, Iron Fist Boxing [$3.99], seems to have “deeper” controls, I was never able to get as comfortable with its four-quadrant portrait oriented system. Ironically, though, Touch KO’s control’s simplicity has been one of the criticisms of the game as there are no body shots or lower punches possible.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

The game does have great controls, a high quality look and feel, and a lot of potential, but experienced gamers are finding the game to be too easy in its current form.

App Store Link: Touch KO, $2.99

Gameloft Live and Crystal SDK Offer New iPhone Social Networks

We were pretty excited when we first heard that developers were beginning to offer various Xbox Live-like social networks. These networks promise to offer players the ability to follow online achievements, play against friends, chat and more. Over time, however, the number of networks has blossomed with many of the major developers offering their own version. Chillingo and Gameloft are the latest companies to announce/launch their network.

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Just a couple of weeks ago, Chillingo announced CrystalSDK which is an open social network platform that promises “a host of innovative features”, though no specifics have been revealed. We asked Chillingo’s Chris Byatte how Crystal SDK is going to be different from existing networks. Byatte was unable to give details yet but said, “We’ve listened to player feedback and aim to bring new standards of usability plus we’ll be addressing the developer community with A1 support and feedback.”

Meanwhile, just tonight Gameloft released a version update to Uno [$4.99] which adds Push notifications as well as a much enhanced Gameloft Live feature which also offers friends, trophies, chat and personal messaging for players.

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Gameloft has made no announcements on whether or not they would open up their network to other developers, but we’d suspect not.

Meanwhile, we’ve been reluctant to offer much of an in depth analysis of each system since we don’t feel they actually affect consumer decisions yet. At this stage, no one is going choose one game over another based on the social network they support. Here’s a list of the various options available. (Crystal SDK is not yet available, and Nmogco’s PlusPlus is not yet open to 3rd party developers.)

The decision lies in developer’s hands at the moment, though some we’ve spoken to have been reluctant to make the “wrong” decision at this early stage. Meanwhile, many other developers have already taken steps to adopt one of the various networks available.

‘Dexter’ Media Emerges From San Diego Comic Con

A strange amount of video game news is coming out of San Diego Comic Con this year. Aside from some Halo and XBOX 360 news, a new Dexter trailer was shown yesterday. Originally revealed during a panel at last year’s Comic Con, the game is still in the works and hopefully is released sometime soon.

We also received a handful of new screenshots which have been exported at a higher resolution than the iPhone is capable of dislaying, but otherwise the screens are said to reflect the graphics of the iPhone game.

Screenshots of Chillingo’s Upcoming ‘Inkvaders’

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Chillingo has released screenshots of their upcoming Inkvaders game which bears a strong resemblance to Zombieville and the many other similarly-styled shooters. The premise of this game explains the seemingly simple graphics and the title Inkvaders:

The game will come with 3 levels of difficulty, ammo management and various types of weapons including single shot weapons, multi-shot weapons, beam weapons, and rocket launchers. Both a Story mode (30 levels of 3 unique locations) and an Endurance mode is offered.

It’s hard to tell the quality of the game from screenshots alone, and these types of games depend greatly on gameplay feel and balance, so we’ll have to see how this one plays.

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An extensive gallery of images is provided after the jump. The game is expected to be submitted in about two weeks.

Hands-On Preview and Video of ‘Gangstar: West Coast Hustle’

The iPhone has so far seen both 2D (Car Jack Streets) and 2.5D (Payback) GTA-clones but, as yet, iPhone gamers have not had a fully 3D world in which to wreak the particular sort of inner-city mayhem that has made the genre so popular. Thanks to Gameloft, that’s about to change.

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Yesterday Touch Arcade visited Gameloft’s Manhattan studio to have a look at a preview build of their upcoming Grand Theft Auto-like iPhone title Gangstar: West Coast Hustle.

The studio’s forthcoming Gangstar, which is an enhanced port of their 2006 mobile handset title, is a fully 3D take on the formula, set in an expansive world (Los Angeles) that strives to bring the modern, home console GTA experience to iPhone gamers.

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The story goes something like this: Our hero, Pedro, has recently been released from a Mexican prison and has crossed the border into the U.S., arriving in LA, where he meets up with his friend Juan’s cousin who recruits Pedro to get revenge on the rival Los Matadors gang. Missions to this end include collecting guns, killing people, even helping people — but mostly killing people. There are mini or side missions to keep things varied as well, such as heading across town to pick up a gun at a friend’s house.

While unquestionably a GTA-inspired title, Gangstar departs somewhat from the formula of the original by not including any missions dealing with the drug trade or prostitution. There is no money to be made in selling jacked cars to chop shops, either. In Gangstar, it’s killing people that gets you the cash. Whether by close fist combat, machine gun, or just a good old fashion squish-and-run, murder is the currency of the game. As such, Gameloft expects the game to receive a “16+” ESRB rating.

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The game is a free-roam sandbox affair, with LA being the sandbox. And the game world is actually modeled after LA with some accuracy. Hollywood, Santa Monica, South Central, and other well-known areas of the city are represented with many distinguishing characteristics in place. Portions of the game are also played through sequences that are flashbacks to Pedro’s time in the Mexican pen.

The game is rather cut-scene heavy, with most of the back-story and missions being laid out in on-screen text dialog during the in-engine scenes in question. Happily, the frequent cut-scenes can be quickly tapped-through and are generally to-the-point, without lavish theatrics that might slow down gameplay.

Most any car in the game world can be jacked for transportation, and certain vehicles are presented during cut-scenes to be used to complete various missions. Certain vehicles must be unlocked through play progress before they are accessible, however.

All that killing and jacking and general mayhem will, of course, get the attention of the police before long. Cops in this game are pretty aggressive, but luckily there are ways to work through it. When you’re the target of an APB, various police badges appear around the city, shown on the on-screen map. Each one you pick up reduces the cops’ alert level. But grab them fast. And if that doesn’t quite work out for you, it’s possible to “corrupt” cops and bribe your way out of a sticky situation — but it’ll cost you.

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When on foot, an on-screen stick is used to control Pedro, with a set of contextual tap buttons to perform actions. Vehicles are controlled through a choice of any of three different controls methods: stick (which is a left / right slider for steering), on-screen steering wheel, and tilt-based control. When fighting (with fists or guns), a tap to the enemy of choice will lock onto him, directing all attacks directly at him. I tried out all control methods save tilt and found them to work very well.

On the audio front, Gameloft definitely didn’t skimp. A total of four different radio stations can be accessed with each vehicle’s radio: rock, latino, techno, and hip-hop. Each station delivers all-original music as well as DJ commentary. A very nice feature of the game that utilizes iPhone OS 3.0 is the ability for players to listen to their own music instead of the on-air radio (using OS 3.0 devices).

There is currently no online gameplay or scoreboard component, but Gameloft indicates that they are now in the process of planning upgrades that will be released over time, adding features to the title.

This hands-on video shows the game in action on a 2nd Gen iPod Touch. An earlier video was also shown when the game was first announced, but that was not shown running on an actual device.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

Gangstar: West Coast Hustle looks like a very solid take on the GTA formula that, even in my short time with the game, impressed me with its large, sprawling game world. This, coupled with the choose-your-mission nature of the title, should make for very significant playtime. We’ll take a much closer look when the game goes live in August but, from what I’ve seen so far, Gangstar might just provide iPhone gamers the most potent GTA fix in the App Store.

Two ‘Doodle Jump’ Inspired Games: ‘A Doodle Flight’ and ’321 Jump!’

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A Doodle Flight [$0.99 / Lite] from j2sighte adopts the nice hand drawn “doodle” art style and applies to a vertical shooter. The game offers both tilt and touch controls to navigate the 8 levels, each with their own boss enemy as well as weapon upgrades.

The game starts off pretty easy but later boss levels start throwing out a barrage of shots rRootage-style (Boss 4 video).

App Store Link: A Doodle Flight, $0.99, A Doodle Flight Lite, Free

A Duo of Drawing Games: ‘Draw Race’ and ‘FlyLoop’

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Drawing games are becoming more and more popular, and for good reason. Out of all the different control methods on the iPhone, few are more natural than simply drawing on the screen.

Draw Race [App Store] takes a unique approach on racing games. Employing the familiar drawing mechanic, you literally draw your racing line around the track. The speed of your finger controls how fast or slow you go and once the race starts your car tries as hard as it can to stay on the line.

If you draw too fast around a corner your car can spin out so there is a small skill curve to the game as you get a feel for how fast you need to draw compared to the handling capabilities of your car. Currently included in the game are 20 tracks, and once you complete a race in the single player mode you’ll be able to race other people online and compete in time trials.

The developer released the following trailer:

Flyloop [App Store] utilizes a similar drawing mechanic, only this time you’re drawing circles around butterflies to catch them as they fly across the screen.

What initially appears as a tranquil game of catching butterflies in a field quickly escalates in to frantically drawing circles trying to match pairs. The game has an acoustic guitar soundtrack, and global high scores if you’re in to that kind of thing.

Watch the trailer for Flyloop to see it in action:

Both of these games use screen drawing in different ways to create entirely different gameplay experiences. Draw Race and Flyloop are both worth checking out if you want a couple of simple fun games without needing to use virtual D-pads or tilt controls.

App Store Link: Draw Race, 99¢Flyloop, 99¢

‘Real Racing’ Updates with 6-Player Wi-Fi, New Cars, and More

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Firemint has released a major update to their Real Racing game today. Aside from the usual bug fixes, Firemint has added a number of new features:

  • 6-player multiplayer over local WiFi network (previously 2 player only).
  • New vehicle class with a distinct roar of a V12 engine with “unsurpassed speed and control with 12 new exotic vehicles”
  • New game soundtrack with 10 original music tracks
  • Career Mode additions: exotic vehicle qualifier and two new championships
  • OS 3.0 iTunes Music Library picker
  • New Control Method: Touch-Wheel-to-Steer, Manual Accelerate and Manual Brake.

The game originally came out in June and we loved it:

Real Racing sets a new standard for what to expect of racing games on the iPhone. Great graphics combined with a solid framerate make for an action-packed racing experience.

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App Store Link: Real Racing, $9.99

Streets of Rage’ – More Disappointment From Sega

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Sega released the 1991 classic Genesis game Streets of Rage [App Store] tonight, adding yet another port to their increasingly disappointing lineup of $4.99 Genesis games.

Sega started churning out ports with Sonic the Hedgehog [App Store], which was playable, but performance problems made the game lose its luster as soon as your sixteen bit nostalgia was quenched. In our first look at the game we liked what we saw, but pleaded with Sega that they do something to optimize the emulator as we realized the full potential of the Genesis catalog on the iPhone.

A while later, Golden Axe [App Store] was released. When we checked out the game we noticed this iteration of the emulator was slightly improved with the addition of an accelerometer-based control method, although, in the end, for many it wasn’t very much fun to play after the nostalgia factor wore off due to similar performance levels as Sonic.

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Enter Streets of Rage, between these three games you have the makings of a very solid “best of” collection representing some of the true classics of early sixteen bit gaming. Again, the same mediocre emulator, but this time with a performance issue/bug that makes the game unplayable on the 3GS.

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I want to appreciate Sega’s efforts on the iPhone, I really do. Growing up I was the worst console warrior Sega fanboy on my school bus, and was proud to announce the superiority of blast processing, as well as listing off all the things Sega does that Nintendon’t. I was one of the few people to actually own a Sega CD, I even had a 32X. I just can’t get behind this continuing trend of releasing unoptimized ports that run at low frame rates (or worse if you’re a 3GS owner).

As I said with the release of Sonic, Sega is sitting on a gold mine here. But instead of releasing games that actually stand up to the performance of other similar games on the platform, this is what we get. I really don’t know what to do anymore other than shake my head.

App Store Link: Streets of Rage, $4.99