Posts Tagged ‘iPhone games’
iPhone review: geoDefense
March 18th, 2009 • 1 comment
Tags: games, Gaming, iphone game, iPhone games, review, tower defense
There was a short period of about a month just after the app store went live that there were no tower defense games whatsoever. Now, that space is much more crowded and with good reason. The iPhone is a gaming platform excellently equipped for the tower defense genre of which geoDefense is a solid example.
There are two basic variations of the genre. Some games allow you to place towers anywhere, and the towers form the path the creeps will traverse (e.g. Fieldrunners). Others like geoDefense lay out a path for the creeps and allow placement of towers anywhere except on the path. This is my favored style. I prefer to concentrate on the strategy involved in placing towers rather than placing towers and constructing the most effective path.
The place where geoDefense does the best at differentiating from other tower defense titles is its look. The graphics harken back to the vector graphics of old arcade games like Asteroids and Battlezone. This is an often used style, but the explosions in this game are really a sight to behold. At its more frenetic moments, the player will be treated to hundreds of colored particles exploding around the screen as he lays waste to hordes of creeps.
Unfortunately, the game takes few chances overall. There are a few new towers I haven’t seen in previous TD games (like a tower that collects energy from creep explosions feeding it back to towers for more powerful shots), but this does little to provide incentive to purchase this title over and above similar games on the app store. Towers are sometime introduced (and taken away) for particular missions which adds another layer of strategy to the game.
Disclosure: I am not and will not ever be competing on the pro circuit in strategy games. That said, I found this game more difficult than most. This is not a bad thing. Usually, I expect to coast through several waves of creeps in a new TD game. In geoDefense, I found myself scraping by even in the early levels on easy mode. I then tried the medium levels and found that they were very similarly difficult. The feeling ov even difficulty across easy and medium difficulties could have been because I became more skilled playing the easy levels and was better prepared to play on medium. The hard levels do feel significantly more difficult. This is where I first experienced the game actually removing access to a tower. It certainly achieved its desired effect.
In short, geoDefense is an excellent example of what it is: a simple tower defense game with excellent graphics. I would love to recommend it more highly because I really do think it is an excellent game. However, it takes virtually no risk and sticks to well-established conventions of tower defense games. I don’t necessarily need genres to be blended or anything like that, but I think there are some simple elements that could be added to make the game more compelling. I would love to see some sort of progression where it feels that my play in one scenario will actually affect my standing in the next. That would be a relatively simple feature that, if balanced properly, could really provide some incentive for reply.
iPhone review: Zen Bound
March 13th, 2009 •
Tags: games, Gaming, iPhone, iPhone games, mobile, relaxation, Zen Bound
As soon as you launch Zen Bound, you’re going to realize you’ve stumbled into something really special. True to it’s name, the game is really a zen experience. The feelings I get playing this game are very close to those I get playing Flower on the PS3. I’m sure it’s much easier to sell a game if you stick guns and blood into it, but bravo to brave developers willing to stretch the definition of gaming even if it makes the marketing a bit more labored.
Zen Bound allows the player to manipulate a wooden object by way of touch control. A rope is stretched from the screen to the object at an angle determined by the accelerometer. Players twist and turn the object to wrap the rope around it. The goal is to touch as much of the object with the rope as possible while soothing music plays in wonderfully separated stereo. There are two modes. As best I can tell, the difference is in the types of objects you are given to bind. The Tree of Reflection presents the player with a series of representative objects (usually animals carved from wood) while the Tree of Challenge contains more abstract and geometric shapes. As you bind the objects, they become “painted” a different color. The unpainted portions are those still left to touch.
It sounds like a very simple concept but there is really a lot of strategy involved. I can’t just string my rope anywhere as I might bridge the rope over portions of the object that I will then be unable to touch later. Also, you are limited to a length of rope for each object forcing you to be economical with your use of it. Each stage has three flowers the can be attained. The first at 70% coverage, the second at 85%, and the third at 99%. It is possible to obtain all three at once by achieving 99% on your first completion of a level. Flowers accumulate to grant access to new stages higher up each tree. A level is completed by tying a second nail that begins glowing when you have reached the first completion level (70%). This adds another level of challenge as the level will end as soon as the rope makes contact with the nail after reaching at least 70%. If you want to achieve the second or third level of completion, you will have to avoid the second nail until you reach your desired coverage.
The graphics are simple but beautiful. Granted, this isn’t a game with high polygon count models, but the models are beautiful and serve the purpose perfectly. The style of the art is complementary of the music. Everything feels relaxing and very… well, zen. The game opens with a text message which says that it is designed for use with headphones. Please take this to heart because the iPhone speaker does not do justice to the wonderful music in this game.
There are currently 6,000 games on the app store. Far less than 1% of those are entertaining. Less than 1% of those are unique. This game is in that 1% of 1%. I implore you to reward developers that think outside the box and toss out the tropes of gaming that have been established over the past 30 years. Zen Bound is an incredibly unique and rewarding experience that should appeal to nearly everyone.
iPhone review: Vector Tanks
February 25th, 2009 •
Tags: iPhone games, iphone gaming, reviews, Vector Tanks
Vector Tanks is an iPhone game that seems to appeal to the nostalgia of former Battlezone players. I have very little connection to the source material here so I look at it through a different lens than would a player of the original Battlezone. It was released about three years before my birth, and, although Wikipedia says its popularity was enduring due to the innovative nature of the graphics and perspective, it had long since been retired into gaming lore by the time I began my illustrious career as a gamer. Vector graphics were a fad that didn’t endure (although the style was revived for the Geometry Wars series).
It has a look very authentic to that of it’s inspiration. In fact, the presentation is slightly improved. It is more colorful, and the lines have sort of a glow about them which is a pretty cool effect. Explosions are cool and feel large with the entire view shaking as an enemy tank explodes.
The control scheme has been well-adapted to the platform. I can’t imagine a better way to translate the controls of the original. The extreme left and right edges of the screen control movement of the left and right tracks. The middle of the screen on each edge is neutral—no movement is taking place. Slide either side to the top and that track will move forward; slide to the bottom and that side moves backward. It’s a pretty intuitive system. I have to say that, even though authenticity is not compromised, the controls are not entirely satisfying. It seems that sometimes the tracks do not move even though my fingers are tracing up and down the sides. This two-finger movement scheme is also problematic when it comes time to fire. Firing is accomplished by tapping the middle of the screen at the aiming reticule. In order to fire while moving, you must snake an extra finger (since your thumbs are occupied) around to the screen and tap on the center. Not only is this difficult to do, but it obscures much of the screen from view while firing is taking place. I guess this control setup was the best way to please the purists, but, on its own, the controls don’t hold up to much extended play.
Be prepared to see this screen quite a lot.
There is no narrative and no progression to the game that I can find. In the style of older games (and even still with newer arcade games) you are merely presented with a simple gameplay mechanic and given an opportunity to repeat it until you run out of patience (quarters being the arcade analog). This leaves a shallow gaming experience with no “carrot-on-a-stick” to keep me coming back.
I’m certainly glad I got to try this game. It has an undeniably cool and retro look. I imagine players of the original will enjoy the ability to play an old favorite on the go. Also, unlike many retro titles, Battlezone is a well that has not been tapped very often leaving the experience feeling fresh. It’s unfortunate that the controls seem to get in the way of enjoying the game. It’s doubly unfortunate that there seems to be no reason to continue playing unless you find the play mechanics themselves particularly satisfying. Some games are perfect for adaptation to the iPhone platform. Others like Vector Tanks are best left elsewhere.
iPhone review: iDracula
February 21st, 2009 •
Tags: games, Gaming, iDracula, iPhone, iPhone games, mobile
At first glance, iDracula is visually reminiscent of the Diablo series (no, not the new rainbow/unicorn-riddled Diablo 3). Imagine my surprise when I fired up the game to find it has both feet firmly planted in a genre resurrected by Geometry Wars: the twin-stick shooter. For anyone unfamiliar with this type of game, it utilizes two different directional inputs—the first for traversing the arena and the second for controlling the direction of fire. In this implementation of the genre, you are a vampire hunter fighting wave after wave of monsters, picking up weapons and skills along the way to help you deal with the ever-encroaching onslaught.
Of course, the iPhone does not have the “twin sticks” from which the genre derives it’s name. Instead, like others that have come before, the developer had to devise another control mechanism. iDracula uses two on-screen directional controls giving it razor-accurate response. Per convention, the left side controls your character’s movement while the right side controls firing. The controls are rarely obtrusive and are positioned to still allow for a large play area while still being large enough to facilitate intuitive controls. It’s easy to find where your thumb needs to be to move and/or fire in any given direction.
The game comes with two modes: “Rush” and “Survival.” Rush mode throws you right into the fray. At all times, you’ll be surrounded by tons of monsters, and, armed with your machine gun and unlimited ammo, you’re tasked with mowing down as many as possible. This is the game mode for a quick play session. If you just have a minute or two to play, fire up “Rush” mode to dispense with all the foreplay. Throughout my play in this mode, there isn’t really any progression. That’s where “Survival” mode comes in.
“Survival” mode is the meat of the game. This mode couples the frantic arena shooting with RPG-like progression to give players a surprisingly robust experience. The mechanics are identical, but there is real progression here and incentive to play for more than a few minutes. You start with a handgun, and you’re looking at two or three shots to kill the weakest enemies. Luckily, the enemies will trickle in slowly at first to ease you into the action. Before long, the pace will pick up, new and stronger enemies will be introduced, and you’ll most likely have found a better weapon just about the time you were thinking you weren’t going to hold up much longer with just the pistol. The game seems to be intelligent about when new weapons are dropped so that you never feel like you are either underpowered or overpowered. You also have to manage ammo, but, honestly, once you start getting new weapons, ammo is not tough to find either although you may not necessarily find ammo for the particular weapon you want to use.
The progression comes in other forms as well. Perks are iDracula’s analog to leveling and learning new spells in an RPG. After a number of kills, you will see the perks icon light up in the top-right of the screen. Tap it to access a menu with four randomly selected upgrades like the ability to do more damage when your life gets low or a greater maximum health. These upgrades are persistent throughout your play session. In addition, you will periodically encounter Dracula. He is much tougher than the other enemies. If you defeat him, you are awarded with a shard. Collect shards to advance in rank. Unfortunately, rank is purely superficial; it’s nothing more than a word displayed at the end of the statistics screen displayed when you die leaving little incentive to strive for higher rank.
Now this is sounding like more of a timesink, right? Luckily, the developer considered the habits of mobile gamers and included an autosave that will allow you to resume your game after you have closed the game (or received a call). There is an in-game pause button as well, which is also convenient from time-to-time.
My complaints are few and minor. The character’s lower body moves completely independent of the upper body which creates some wacky-looking scenarios such as running full-speed forward away from monsters while your torso is facing and aiming in the exact opposite direction. The character’s feet should always be within a 90° radius of the direction of his face, but that is not necessarily the case here. I would love to see some sort of narrative and a progression through that narrative although that is a bit much to ask of a game at this price-point. (Maybe in the sequel?) 
An audio cue for perks would be nice. I often don’t know until I glance at the top-right of the screen that I have perks available. Finally, it is somewhat difficult to switch weapons in the game. The task itself is simple, but it requires diverting one of your thumbs from a directional control to execute. This is often dangerous by the time you might want to switch weapons because of the frantic pace of the game. To halt either firing or moving at these times is virtually suicide.
I’m really excited to see more from this developer. This is a near-perfect mobile gaming experience for players craving a bit more in the realm of hardcore gaming experiences on the iPhone. It is a genre-bending title that expertly melds a game well-suited to short, quick play sessions with some elements that make it worth coming back to. The game is currently $.99 at the time this review is published and will be for a little while longer. The developer is also promising some meaty additions (like a new game mode) in an upcoming update. The regular price is $2.99. It’s an incredible value at either price, and I’m sure iDracula will remain on my home screen for some time to come.
Console-quality iPhone games
February 17th, 2009 • 1 comment
Tags: ExZeus, Gaming, I Love Katamari, iPhone games, mobile gaming, Payback, Rolando, SimCity
Apple’s launch of the app store last year was an amazing success with games making up a large part of the catalog. However, with rumors of iPhone Flash getting hot and heavy, the need for 100 native Sudoku apps, 20 solitaire apps, and probably 1,000 variations of sliding block puzzles will diminish quickly. My suggestion is to insure that the $10 game you buy today is not going to be trumped in three months by a free Flash game three months down the line. In light of that, here are some iPhone games that really make the phone feel like a full-fledged gaming console rather than just a place I can go to pay for games that are free online.
Payback ($6.99)- Payback is a very true-to-the-original GTA clone. I’m sure many of you are only familiar with the GTA series since the third game in the series was released for PS2. This is a little different. This game is very similar to the first two GTA titles for PC (also for PSOne, I believe). The perspective is top-down. You go to phone booths, pickup missions, and complete them for points. Once you reach the point goal, you can move on to the next area. I have a couple of minor complaints. The light poles in the game do not come down even if you hit them with a tank… literally. Not only that, but they stop your vehicle immediately and completely upon impact. The cops in the game are very nonchalant. You can often steal another car in front of them, run over someone, or run into their cop car with your vehicle without raising their suspicions that you might be up to no good. In spite of this minor gripe, this game is definitely a steal. There is spoken dialog and a cool radio just like modern GTA games!
ExZeus ($5.99)- This game comes straight from Japanese arcades. The PS2 version was released only in Europe. The Dreamcast also saw a version at some point in time (probably on a continent on which I do not reside). This is a shoot ‘em up that puts the camera behind a giant mech which you move on the x and y axes using tilt control. Attacks are executed using a number of tapping gestures on the right side of the screen. Tapping the left side of the screen locks enemies for a homing-rocket attacks. It’s great fun and and very polished especially well under the $10 price point.
I Love Katamari ($7.99)- The Katamari series has held a special place in my heart since the original Katamari Damacy for PS2. This particular version was destroyed by critics upon release because of some major slowdown issues, but those were fixed shortly after with the first update. For anyone unfamiliar with the series, you play as the Prince who is sent to earth by his father, the King of the Cosmos, to roll around a giant sticky ball called a katamari and pick up objects. These objects range from paperclips and matchboxes to tables, people, and much larger objects still. While the katamari is small, it can only pick up small objects, but, as it gains mass, it can pick up much larger objects. There are a number of modes including the story mode in which the King asks you to roll up a specific object in each level and a mode which has you trying to stop rolling when your katamari reaches a given size. It is wacky, but it is simple addictive fun.
Rolando ($5.99)- Here we have a super-cute and complete platformer that uses the accelerometer to great effect. The graphics could probably be duplicated in Flash, but the tilt control upon which the game is built is uniquely its own. It also contains a level of polish that few Flash games ever achieve. Roll your Rolandos through each stage solving puzzles and overcoming obstacles to reach the exit. Some stages also have elements that you interact with directly by touch. Each Rolando has a unique personality which makes the game more endearing than most you will play on this platform. Start with the lite version and see if you like it.
SimCity ($7.99)- This is SimCity 3000 adapted for the iPhone. It is an excellent and complete version of the game. Amazing to me is that the game was not watered down for the mobile platform. This isn’t SimCity “Lite.” You’re out there zoning, placing roads and water lines, and talking with advisors just like its desktop counterpart. Maybe this experience could be reproduced in Flash, but it never has to my knowledge.
This list is not meant to be comprehensive. Nor am I trying to suggest that you should not buy simpler games on the platform; they certainly fill a need as well. However, as a hardcore gamer, there is a thirst in me that no quantity of puzzle and card games can ever quench. Lucky for me (and those like me), the iPhone offers a powerful gaming platform that developers (like those of the aforementioned titles) have really begun to exploit to the fullest. These are some of the finest examples of exactly what the iPhone is capable of in the mobile gaming space.
iPhone review: Heavy Mach.
February 16th, 2009 •
Tags: action games, arcade games, heavy mach, iPhone games, iphone gaming
I picked Heavy Mach. up after seeing the review over at TouchArcade. It illustrates one of the most fantastic aspects of the iPhone gaming marketplace in the app store: a small-time developer can make a game that, while it is obviously a high-quality game, is very simple relative to the console games of today, put a $3-$7 price on it, sell a ton of copies, and make a healthy profit to maintain a viable business. As a consumer, I don’t really have to do a lot of deliberating to decide if I should spend $3 on a game. I check the reviews on iTunes. If they are largely positive, I may look at a couple of the negative reviews first to see if the reviewer is coherent, second to see if they have a complaint I could see myself sharing. If not, I’m probably hitting the “Buy” button.
This is one such case: a game that launched to a number of good reviews including the aforementioned TouchArcade review. It looked cool enough—even slightly reminiscent of Metal Slug. If you like action arcade games, you should own this game especially considering the bargain price.
There are a number of good things to say about the game, but I will start with a few minor complaints. I believe the game could use a little more guidance. It actually took a while before I realized I was controlling the movement of the tank. The game seems to calibrate the acceleromter control such that holding the phone level moves the tank forward to the right. I thought the game was just setup so that the tank proceeded through the level automatically. It wasn’t until I reached a boss that I could not defeat in the time it would have taken me to proceed past him that I realized I could tilt to move backward or maintain my position. It also took a while to figure out how to jump. I knew I could jump after watching a video of the game in action, but it took a bit of fiddling to realize I needed to tap the lever. It also isn’t immediately obvious that the position of your tap on the screen controls the trajectory of your shot since most players will naturally tap in the direction of enemies anyway. Also, I recently discovered I have a double-jump. I discovered this after upgrading my movement so I’m not sure if this was a feature added in the upgrade or if I had just missed it before.
My only other substantive complaint is that it is a bit difficult to change weapons in the heat of battle. As it stands, the player taps on the weapon icon on the HUD to scroll through the available weapons. You can gain access to quite a few weapons at a time which makes it a bit tedious to scroll all the way through the options while also dodging fire from three or four on-screen enemies.
Others have mentioned that the in-game “Menu” button does not work which I’m sure will be fixed soon. It doesn’t really have a profound effect on the game although it would be nice to have a way to pause the action which I’m sure this button would provide.
There are far more good things to say about this game. As I mentioned, the game seems to calibrate so that holding the phone level advances your tank. You will find yourself moving forward more often than not so it is helpful to be able to hold the phone in the neutral position to accomplish this. Even the acceleromter controls are very tight. This comes from the fact that there are only three states: moving left, moving right, and not moving. It’s very easy to move around. The rest of the controls are simple. I found myself sometimes having trouble finding the jump lever while also watching the action on the screen, but this was rare.
There are two basic mechanics in the game: shooting enemies and dodging enemy fire. Shooting is simple to execute by tapping in the direction you wish to fire. Dodging is very challenging because there are often multiple enemies firing shots that take different trajectories. Although this can get a little hairy at times, it never feels cheap. You can almost always escape death by manuvering with skill. Some enemies also drop crates that contain weapons, powerups, or health pickups to get you through the tough parts.
The sound effects in the game are satisfying. Explosions, bullets, and missles all feel “large” as they should. The game doesn’t have music which makes it a bit of a bummer that it stops the music from the iPod app when you launch the game.
This is currently one of my favorite action games on the platform alongside Chopper, 2079, and Blue Attack. If you’re looking for a quick and satisfying action experience on the go, I can’t imagine Heavy Mach. would disappoint you. New levels are promised in a free update to this game that already oozes value from every orifice. Tomorrow morning, ditch Starbucks for the local convenient store coffee and spend the savings on this!
Game|Life’s 10 iPhone games you must own
January 26th, 2009 • 1 comment
Tags: games, iPhone, iPhone games, wired
Wired‘s Game|Life blog has posted an interesting article listing 10 of their favorite iPhone games. I can agree with a lot of the list, but there are a few I haven’t even tried. (I would really love to try out Crayon Physics Deluxe!) What iPhone games are your favorites? Post a comment to let me know.