Gaming on the iPhone 6 Plus: First Impressions Posted: 19 Sep 2014 12:09 PM PDT When Jared got his hands on the iPhone 6 Plus after the keynote, the games installed on it were fairly limited, leaving much up to the imagination on how high-end games would run on the device. I've spent some time playing a few recent games on it, and overall I'm pretty impressed. Most of what makes the iPhone 6 Plus awesome to game on is its increased size, as the performance and graphical fidelity improvement feels a lot like previous iPhone iterations- Stuff seems to run and look a little better, but, it's not like there's any massive night and day difference. The iPhone 5S still is a killer piece of kit, and until developers start building things for the iPhone's A8 processor and the 6/6 Plus screen sizes, I'm not sure there will be too many jaw-dropping demos.
There's also a few technical hurdles that make showing off these games a little weird. First off, there's the scaling "issue" (massive air quotes there as I'm not sure how much of an issue it even is). The iPhone 6/6S renders everything 3x internally, then downsamples for display. This means screenshots are 2208x1242 instead of 1920x1080, which only serves to further obscure how these games actually look on the device. When you look at the screenshots here, particularly of the 3D games, they look like a blurry mess... But when you are looking at that same image at the pixel density of the iPhone 6 Plus, it looks nuts. I really don't know the best way to reconcile all that. Additionally, it seems very obvious that some of these games aren't at all optimized for the new devices. It's understandable, and you can hardly fault developers for having games that run a little weird on hardware they weren't able to test on yet. Both Modern Combat 5 [$6.99] and Zen Garden [Free] suffer from similar stuttering issues when it's obvious that the game is loading something. For instance, when switching areas in Zen Garden, you'll have a pretty huge frame drop and then everything will be back to normal. MC5 is similar. It's nothing that is game breaking, but, it's there none the less.
MC5 has some other weird issues as well, like the sky will flicker at random. I'm sure that these sorts of things merely require minor tweaks to get working, and it wouldn't surprise me if developers were quick to release updates to address these unforseen problems. Like every year when a new iOS and hardware hits, there's loads of growing pains to be expected. In a nutshell, everything we speculated in previous posts about gaming on the larger screen of the iPhone XXL turned out to be true. It is a killer size for gaming. The big screen is incredibly dramatic in your hands, and with virtual controls it seems to strike a pretty perfect balance between having the screen totally obscured by your thumbs on the smaller iPhones to feeling like you need to weirdly stretch your thumbs to the corners of the iPad screen.
Even though there's all kinds of zany scaling going on under the hood, games that use pixel art still manage to look really crisp, which just goes to show how great the algorithms used to do all of this are. Typically when you're scaling anything that has hard pixel edges, the first thing that happens is those start to blur as you begin to go up and down in size. Not the case here. Oh, and it seems like the speaker volume in the iPhone 6 Plus got a hefty boost over what the iPhone 5S was capable of. It feels like ~60% volume on the iPhone 6 Plus is the rough equivalent to the 100% volume of the iPhone 5S. It's plenty loud to annoy everyone around you with whatever game you're playing.
My first impressions are incredibly positive with all this, as basically all of my suspicions were confirmed when it comes to gaming on the 6 Plus. While it might not fit in your pocket too well, in your hands it's amazing. I've yet to have time to do any serious battery stress testing yet, but playing through a bunch of games to write this up hasn't even put a dent in the amount of juice onboard the 6 Plus. I'm anxious to see what developers think of these new devices once they get them in their hands and begin tweaking their existing games to run better on them. All of the screenshots embedded here link out to the actual full size version, saved as JPEG in the highest quality possible. Stay tuned for more posts on the new hardware over the coming weeks as we start testing out inevitable iPhone 6/6 Plus updates that hit the App Store. |
iPhone 6 First Impressions - Wow, This Thing is… Slightly Larger Posted: 19 Sep 2014 10:39 AM PDT
First of all, the new rounded design is absolutely killer. We've been living in a hard-edged, boxy iPhone world since the iPhone 4, and it's nice to be back to the more curvy feel of the first few iPhones. An important difference, though, is that the iPhone 6 is still flat. Only the edges are curved, not the back, which I like a lot. Also, it's hard not to admire how the front glass curves down into the side edges so seamlessly. As with all iPhones, the iPhone 6 is just an all-around beautiful device. It has a nice weight to it, but it's not heavy at all, and it feels like its incredibly well-built. Perhaps most important of all, the lovely rounded edges of the iPhone 6 go a long ways towards making the device feel even less bulky than the iPhone 5s, despite it being an overall larger device.
Other design changes on the iPhone 6 include different volume buttons, which are now two oblong strips rather than two circles. Again, this is a nice throwback to the older iPhone generations. I can't really say if I prefer one or the other more, but I will say the iPhone 6 volume buttons feel more clicky and actually make a louder click noise than the volume buttons on the iPhone 5s. Another big change is the power/sleep button, which has always existed on the top of every iPhone device but is now nestled on the opposite side of the device from the volume and silent buttons. This… is going to take some getting used to. However, seeing as both the iPhone 6 and XXL models are larger devices, it makes sense to move the power button somewhere that's more convenient. I'm sure I'll be absent-mindedly pressing the top of the iPhone 6 trying to put it to sleep for months to come, but I think in the end it's a better design choice putting it on the side.
I'd have to say, of those three options, I'm happy with the way Apple went. I wouldn't want the iPhone 6 to be thicker, and I wouldn't want the camera to be lower-quality either. The lens bulging is a compromise, and one I'm totally OK with. That said, the bulge makes me nervous. I don't like using cases with my iPhone, and so I get extremely nervous laying the device down flat on a surface. It's not so bad laying it down on a wood coffee table or something, but I laid the iPhone 6 down on the flat part of my aluminum MacBook Air and it was scary. It made an audible metal-on-metal scraping noise, though it didn't leave a scratch. I can only imagine how scary it will be to lay my iPhone 6 down on a concrete picnic table or something. I think I'll just have to be extra mindful of stuff like that, but it can be tough. This is a device I use everyday for a multitude of things, so "where and how am I laying my iPhone down" isn't always at the forefront of my mind. I'll get used to it I'm sure, and like I said I'm happy Apple went this route, but I definitely don't love the bulging camera lens.
Overall I'm incredibly happy with my iPhone 6 purchase. It's still being set up with my old iPhone's backup, so I don't have any impressions on making calls or using any software, but the hardware itself is lovely. I'm very happy to have a larger screen, but even though the iPhone 6 is larger, it doesn't FEEL substantially larger than the iPhone 5s when it's in my hand or my pocket. In fact, I think the iPhone 6 is less noticeable when it's in my pocket than the iPhone 5s was. I'm very anxious to get some games on it and try those out with the gorgeous new "Retina HD" screen. Be sure to tune in later for some gaming impressions on both new iPhones from Eli and myself. In the meantime, if you picked up a new iPhone, which one did you get and how are you liking it? |
iPhone 6 Plus First Impressions: Wow, This Thing is Huge Posted: 19 Sep 2014 09:31 AM PDT Somewhere in between the keynote and the madness that was pre-ordering online last Friday, Jared and I decided what made the most sense was for TouchArcade to at minimum have one of each type of iPhone. With games like Galcon 2 doing different things with the iPhone 6 Plus, it'd be weird if we didn't have a way to test those games out, take screenshots, and things like that, right? Well, I volunteered to get the iPhone 6 Plus, or I've taken to calling, it, the iPhone XXL and... It's big. I mean, real big.
What's curious about it is that using the device itself is amazing. It perfectly straddles what I love so much about the iPhone and the iPad mini. I love the iPhone because (obviously) it's everywhere I go, and I totally love the iPad mini because that additional screen space gives you so much more breathing room for actually doing stuff and playing games. My iPad mini has (essentially since the release of the original iPad mini) has become my "main" iOS device. It's only gotten better with the Retina Display. The iPhone XXL is really the best of both worlds there. Even just using it for basic tasks like finding an iMessage conversation thread or looking for an email, being able to see so much more on screen is incredibly nice. For instance, on the iPhone 5S you can see 8 iMessage conversations at once, on the iPhone XXL, you can see 11. Those kind of differences are everywhere in the standard iOS UI. The best comparison I can come up with is it's sort of like when you're on a flight and you luck into sitting in the emergency exit row. It's not like the flight is that much different, but having those few extra inches of leg room makes the overall experience more enjoyable. That being said, I'm definitely second guessing myself when it comes to getting the iPhone XXL just because of how physically large it is. I'm pretty weird about the jeans I wear, drinking lots of the dry denim Kool-Aid, and owning my fair share of skinny jeans. Not skin tight mind you, but definitely more form fitting than your typical pair of Levi's. The iPhone XXL doesn't really fit that well into any of my front pockets.
The main problem being, the phone is really tall, and while I can get the whole thing in my pocket, sitting down is a little weird because it pushes the top pretty hard into my leg/hip/whatever you call the area south of your belt on your leg. So, I'm definitely going to turn into one of those guys who takes their phone out of their pocket whenever they sit down. Additionally, I think the iPhone XXL might be the first iPhone that I go get some Ghost Armor for, just because the top corner of the screen is going to be sliding dangerously close to the jean pocket rivets, which just generally seems bad for business. But I love the idea of the gigantic battery that comes packing in the iPhone XXL. So much of the reason why I primarily game on my iPad mini is because of dead battery anxiety. With so much of what I do being closely tied to my iPhone, having a dead battery isn't great. I usually avoid playing many high-end 3D games on my iPhone, just because nothing seems to drink your battery faster. Playing a half hour of Modern Combat and then potentially missing a really important email just isn't worth it to me. Early reviews of the iPhone XXL have said people have been getting upwards of two days of use out of it without charging, which will go a long way to getting me to not caring quite so much about keeping my battery full while I'm out. The power button being moved to the side is taking a surprising amount of getting used to, with more than one audible "WTF" after pressing the top right corner a couple times trying to turn the screen off before being like, "Oh yeah." I also picked up the Apple leather case, which is really nice and has enough of a front bezel-like protrusion to have the phone sitting on its face without the screen being in contact with the surface you've got it on and enough thickness on the back to prevent the camera lens from rubbing when you set it down screen up.
I'm still waiting for my iCloud backup to restore itself on my iPhone XXL, so I don't really have any gaming impressions just yet, but I presume it'll be very similar to the previous iterations of the iPhone in that some games are broken and some run a little better. I think the days of massive leaps in performance (like the difference between the iPhone 3G and 3GS) are behind us, so it'll be interesting to see what kind of comparisons we can squeeze out later in the day. Overall, I like the iPhone XXL, I'm just not sure what I'm going to do about the whole pocket situation. Perhaps it's time I resign myself to getting a murse. It's 2014, after all. |
'FOTONICA' Review - A Running Riot Posted: 19 Sep 2014 08:30 AM PDT I'm going to take a guess, dear reader, and say that you have played an endless runner or two hundred. I don't think you've played anything on mobile quite like Fotonica [$2.99]. It's an auto-runner by way of Mirror's Edge [$0.99 / $9.99 (HD)] – not the side-scrolling game, but the original game, in first-person, all in a wireframe style. The entire game is played with one touch, but it's not tap-to-jump. Essentially, tapping and holding on the screen descends to the ground, and allows the runner to pick up speed, while letting go jumps in the air. When jumping, trying to land with this rapid descent is important to maintain speed, as bonus points are earned for running fast enough that the world turns gold.
I think the game is a much different, and even better experience, than it would be if it was just a side-scroller. There's something different about timing jumps when looking through the eyes of the runner, having to be cognizant of when the ledge is, and just making that jump? It's a special feeling. The subtle grunts of the runner go a long way, too: it's not just a distant, disconnected character, it's a person, it's you. I think it turns this game from an interesting runner into a special experience. Really, the whole game is about "just enough." The world is comprised of wireframes, but with just enough detail to provide some character. The game uses just enough color beyond its monochrome to give it vibrancy and not feel dull. The music is ambient, meant to provide texture to the world and not be distracting.
Arcade mode is comprised of seven set levels, with paths that go higher and lower throughout them. The goal is not just to get up as high as possible in these levels, because of the dots that can earn extra points, they're spread all throughout the level, so finding optimal paths for dot collection, along with picking up and maintaining speed, is key to getting on the leaderboards. Each arcade mode level can be played in a split-screen versus mode on iPad, where the first person to the end wins.
Endless mode is a bit of a different beast, with three different levels that seem dull at first, because they lack the multi-tier design of the Arcade levels. But keep playing them, and their purpose becomes clear: the challenge is about the repetition, about not just making a jump from a lower height to a higher one, but about doing it twenty times, at high speeds. This mode also manages to teach players how to approach certain situations, like jumping not just at the end of the ledge to reach the next platform, but from the middle when necessary. It's interesting because it uses the exact same mechanics in a simpler way for something that's a different challenge.
What I enjoy in large part about Fotonica is that the game makes failing not feel so bad. It doesn't indicate that it's "game over" or any indication that you didn't beat the level. Nope, it just gives the score, and the ability to tap anywhere to start again. I've completed levels with lower scores than incomplete runs. Certainly, runs where I failed to complete them have scored higher than successful ones. Playing it safe doesn't necessarily have its benefits.
Really, I'm kind of surprised that this game wasn't on mobile earlier because it's so perfect for mobile. The one-touch gameplay is a natural fit. The score-centricity of the game is a match made for Game Center. Everyplay support makes sharing great runs a lot easier than it does on PC. The game supports portrait aspect ratios as well as landscape. And I think playing on a device you hold in your hands is just more intimate than sitting back and watching it on a screen. This might be the best way to play Fotonica yet.
Really, it's hard to find anything to complain about with Fotonica. It's such a cool experience, is masterfully crafted, and really rewards playing it again and again. Definitely check this one out. |
PSA: The MOGA Rebel and SteelSeries Stratus Aren't Working Properly on iOS 8 Posted: 19 Sep 2014 08:04 AM PDT Unfortunately, it looks like the iOS 8 update has a pretty nasty bug in it for owners of Bluetooth MFi gamepads. The MOGA Rebel and SteelSeries Stratus both are getting reports that they're experiencing laggy performance and showing up as two different controllers at once. I personally can confirm that the SteelSeries Stratus is getting these issues on the iPad Mini Retina – often after switching between games, or reconnecting after turning off the controller, performance suffers, and the gamepad shows up twice. Age of Zombies [$0.99], which just got an update with local co-op, demonstrates that a single Stratus can appear twice:
The cause of this appears to be, according to Gary Riches of Bouncing Ball Games, with the controller forwarding introduced in iOS 8, that should let you use a gamepad on an iPhone or iPad, and forward the input to another iPad or Mac. That feature appears to be causing Bluetooth gamepads to bug out, though there's only the Rebel and Stratus available at this moment. And unfortunately, a SteelSeries representative said that they're . So, it's likely going to take an iOS 8.0.1 update to fix this. The good news is that Lightning-based controllers appear unaffected. Still, hopefully this is something that gets fixed very soon. If you haven't updated to iOS 8 yet and own one of these gamepads, it might be worth holding off updating for now. |
'Hyper Trip' Review: A Trip That Loses Control Posted: 19 Sep 2014 07:00 AM PDT I am willing to admit that I have a soft spot for challenging, minimalist arcade games. The thing that fascinates me about something like a Super Hexagon [$2.99] or Flappy Bird is the way that such small concepts can be designed in such ways that they inspire constant replayability despite having such simple concepts. And in the case of Flappy Bird, it's possible for these games to succeed accidentally. It's an absolutely fascinating genre. So, seeing Hyper Trip [$1.99], I found myself curious to see if this could be something special, as I dug its concept of controlling a square through mazes, not unlike a Tron lightcycle. And certainly, it's a challenging game, requiring quick reactions to avoid the maze walls that pop up, with four modes the feature increasingly-challenging layouts. Certainly, it falls into my line of interest, but it left me not as satisfied as I hoped.
The problem with Hyper Trip starts at the controls. Yes, it's just a matter of tapping on either side of the screen to turn in that direction, but the problem comes with making two turns in succession. Double-tapping instantly will not turn right away, which leads to situations where you will have put in the correct input, just not spaced apart long enough. Why should this be? Mikey Shorts [$1.99] et al do a little bit of prediction around the ledges so that tapping jump or slide doesn't have to be timed exactly, but this goes a long, long way toward helping the game feel like it controls perfectly. If Hyper Trip did the same thing, it would improve the experience tremendously.
But why does this situation exist? It's because the very concept of the game is built around where control fuzziness is necessary. Because it's about a square travel ling through mazes of squares of the same size, the game requires that it do something to not require impossibly-tight timing windows. So it requires some fuzziness like the Mikey games have in order to mitigate some of the challenge, and to make the player perform as well as they feel they're performing. Hyper Trip does some of this – I have definitely tapped to make turns that the game didn't let me make as I'd be turning straight into my doom – but it doesn't do enough in this regard.
And the thing is that the game is hard enough! It requires speedy reflexes, and has a maze that's constantly changing. The least the game could do is to throw me a bone by making it so that the challenge comes from the concept itself, and not me trying to play it. This is especially so when the game starts including levels that twist and turn around. I wasn't a big fan of shifting the game board around in Wave Wave [$2.99] for the same reason I'm annoyed by it here: the game's hard enough as it is when I know where everything is! Throwing in a literal twist is too much. Of course, Super Hexagon does much the same thing, but that game does a great job at making its spinning obstacles an innate part of the game. In Hyper Trip, they're just there to trip you up.
It's all just a shame because I like a lot about Hyper Trip. I like the idea of taking that Tron and Snake concept and putting it into a fast-paced survival game. I still love minimalist games with glowy visuals, I still do. I think the 'attempts' counter is a devious addition. And this game remained so intriguingly infuriating that I just had to keep playing to see if I was wrong about it, if maybe I was just awful at it. But after countless deaths, I'm convinced that it's not just me, that there are flaws with Hyper Trip that mar the game's appealing concept. |
'Chronology: Time Changes Everything' Review - Can we Coin the Term Braid-like? Posted: 19 Sep 2014 06:30 AM PDT Developer Osao dropped Chronology: Time Changes Everything [Free] on the App Store last week. If the title didn't give it away, Chronology is a platform game that grants you, the player, the ability to manipulate time. Straddling the time periods directly before and after an apocalyptic event, it's up to you to discover the cause and ultimately try to prevent the disaster. Born from a sketch of a snail and a man with a fez, this game has a quirky sense of humor that should prove to have a pretty wide appeal. I was drawn to this game as soon as I slapped eyes on it. Each time period feels very authentic and austere. The theme switching of the 'before' and 'after' is a really clever twist on time control mechanics popularized by Braid and the narrative style is reminiscent of Bastion's[$4.99] step by step monologue. With those two games in the back of my mind, you could probably elicit less excitement from a kid if you told them Christmas and Halloween were going to be combining forces to make a new holiday.
I was stoked to play it and had a good time, but I'm not 100% sure it lived up to the hype I built up in my mind. Screen shots look better than how the game performs, I noticed some frame skipping on my iPad 3 and while it was not enough to interrupt gameplay, I felt drawn out of the otherwise inviting visuals. With three chapters for free and just a single IAP to unlock the other 5 chapters, you can download and see how well it performs for you before you buy. You start adventuring as a solitary old man but are soon joined by a chipper young snail. Once your party is formed, obstacles will require you to orchestrate some teamwork to surpass. The old man controls which time line is currently in the present, and the snail can freeze time. With these two abilities there are some very complex and clever tricks your intrepid duo are capable of. Chronology does a lot of things right, but I have to say the controls are slippery. Having just completed the fantastic Goblin Sword [$0.99], maybe my expectations are too high, but I definitely feel like there is a bit of input lag. The combination of frame skipping and input lag are, I think, a byproduct of the fact that this game is a port. While I love that we get a version of this game to play on iOS, you can tell it wasn't originally optimized for our platform.
What's worse is that with all the rounded edges in this game, you want your little professor to have sticky feet. Unfortunately he slides off almost every rounded edge making launching and sticking jumps a precarious proposition. The game does not require you to make a huge amount of precision jumps but the overall feel just isn't there for me. Another control issue I have is that jumping momentum continues even if you let off of a direction input. This can cause issues when you have to wiggle the d-pad back and forth just to keep your Y coordinate steady. They may seem like small things, but it's these types of differences that you may not even realize are missing until you play a game that is spectacular rather than just good. I have to give props to the developers, they managed to squeeze a patch in before I finished my review. The final chapter is now accessible. The plot is kind of straight forward and a touch bland compared to Bastion. I was hoping while I waited for the final chapter to be released that there would be a strong finish to the plot line, but the protagonist basically reads through his history much like an instruction manual. This could still possibly change in later updates but for now I can't say the story telling is one of the more alluring features to the game.
The challenge seems very back-ended. The game has some jumping/timing puzzles as well as some logic puzzles. They are fun and challenging. The problem is that the vast majority of the difficult content is in the second to last chapter. I would have liked to see the difficulty ramp up after the first chapter but it really didn't for almost the entire game. The game does establish a good balance between twitch-reaction based jumping puzzles and order of operation logic puzzles. I never felt too taxed by either type to press onward to the next challenge. Chronology is a great game on paper and has hit some bumps along the way into implementation on iOS. From the activity the devs have shown in our forums thread and with a quickly released fix patch, they have managed to smooth out some of the edges. In the meantime, I still love the time control mechanics and overall look of the game. I had fun so far in my trip through Chronology and I am looking forward to continuing my adventure. The game is a good grab for anyone looking to jump through time and solve a few puzzles. |
Posted: 19 Sep 2014 05:00 AM PDT
Now that folks are getting their hands on the new iPhones, of course they're getting torn apart and dropped. iFixIt has a great teardown of the 6 Plus with some ridiculously high resolution photos of the internals. Of particular note is the massive battery which is double the size of the iPhone 5s. The 6 Plus has the same 1GB of RAM in it as the iPhone 6, as many people were speculating that the bigger iPhone could potentially have more onboard RAM than the smaller one. The first drop tests are in as well, although admittedly, they're not very scientific:
Both the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus break when dropped without a case. I'm not sure that's a surprise to anyone. Based on this single test the iPhone 6 family seems to do worse than the iPhone 5 family when it comes to being dropped, so it's probably not a bad idea to pick up a case with your phone. Once we get back from our respective Apple Store lines, Jared and I will be posting overall impressions on the iPhone 6 (and 6 Plus) as we install various games onto it that weren't available during the Apple demo. When that will happen is entirely up to the Apple Store line gods. |
'Kapsula' Review - In Soviet Russia, Blocks Match You Posted: 18 Sep 2014 05:39 PM PDT Yes, I went for the low-hanging fruit with the review title. Let's just try to move past that and get to the game I want to tell you about today, Kapsula [$1.99]. This is a pretty unusual game. If it wasn't so utterly out there with its theme, I'd almost think it was the product of some bizarre marketing meeting. This is basically a lane-based endless runner mixed with a match-3 puzzle game, and I'll let you try to hash out how that might work for a second before I spoil it all for you. Okay, so it's a futuristic racer that takes place in a dystopian future Soviet Russia. You drive your car down the endless multi-lane road at high speeds as you zoom past other different-colored cars. Gems lay all over the track, and you're going to want to pick those up since you can spend them to buy useful upgrades. Avoid colliding with other cars, because a single impact will be the end of your run. Pretty standard endless runner stuff so far, but there's a funny little trick to those cars you're driving past. If you happen to drive past one in an adjacent lane, it will stick to the side of your car, and suddenly, you are twice the target you once were. You can get rid of your little hitchhiker in one of two ways. First, you can position yourself so that your little friend collides with another car of the same color, or alternatively, you can smash it into the guard rails, provided said rails are of a matching color. Doing so will boost your multiplier and is actually essential to racking up a good score in Kapsula.
It seems like it wouldn't be too much to manage since the road is fairly wide, but it's all too easy to pick up another car while you're trying to get rid of the first, and filling up half of the road's width isn't terribly promising for your long-term health, since it becomes even easier to pick up still more cars. Kapsula requires a certain rhythm quite unlike just about any endless runner I've played. We're all used to trying to make near-misses for extra points at this stage, but imagine that object you just got out of the way of is now stuck to you and you need to dispose of it. It's pretty tense stuff, and makes for a very difficult game, especially in the early going. Still, I can't say I've played anything quite like it, and that's not something I get to say often when I'm writing about a runner. Adding to its merits are the powerful visual style and pumping electronic soundtrack. The game uses bold colors that change up depending on the time of the day you're playing, producing several distinct looks. It looks great while simultaneously being relatively lean on the polygon budget, resulting in a fast, smooth experience. The soundtrack has a bit of variety to it as well, and all of the tunes are worthy companion pieces to the game's unique style. That style extends to the game's UI, which imitates the look of old Soviet propaganda to excellent effect. I'm not sure if this game's presentation is going to click with everyone, but I personally found it hard to take my eyes and ears off of it.
The controls are very simple and work well. All you do is tap either side of the screen to shift one lane in that direction. That's really all there is to it, which is good since the actual work of playing the game is more than enough for a person's brain to sort out. The game moves very fast by default, but your car changes lanes swiftly when you prompt it to, so it's pretty easy to get from one side of the road to the other as long as you count your taps out correctly. After you've collected a good chunk of gems, you can buy some power-ups that will extend your survivability, such as a shield or a special fever mode, but they're quite costly so you'll have plenty of time to come to grips with the game's core mechanics before it starts spoiling you. Kapsula also includes Game Center support for leaderboards and achievements. There are two leaderboards, one for distance traveled and the other for the highest multiplier, and both of those goals require a very different style of play. The game also includes a small set of achievements, half of them pretty easy to earn, and the other half, quite difficult. Apart from a tutorial and very basic audio options, that's about all the bells and whistles you'll find in this game, though the title screen does offer up a different bizarre message each time you view it. It's a little thing that adds to the game's consistent motif. Oh, and there's no IAP in the game at all, in case you worried about that.
The game's biggest problem might be that it's just a bit too involved at times. Learning how to play Kapsula effectively is pretty difficult and involves rewiring some well-worn habits that you may have picked up in other lane-based runners. The grind for power-ups is also a bit lengthier than I feel like it should be. People like to get a chance to play with the toys as soon as possible, and while I can see the potential argument for making people get nice and comfortable with the game first, it would be nice to get a helping hand just a little bit sooner. That said, if you're looking for something truly unique and don't mind taxing your brain and reflexes in a slightly different way than you might be used to, Kapsula is a very solid and worthy pick-up. |
'Undefeated' is the First Official Mobile Port of an RPG Maker VX Ace Game, Coming October 3rd Posted: 18 Sep 2014 02:02 PM PDT RPG Maker is a software solution that's been around for decades, and unsurprisingly, its purpose is to make it easy for game designers to create role-playing games. This week, it was announced that the first official mobile port of an RPG Maker game is coming on October 3rd. The game is called Undefeated, and although I don't follow the RPG Maker scene or really RPGs in general, it seems to be considered one of the better RPG Maker games around. Check out the trailer.
While I don't intently follow the RPG Maker scene, one thing I have noticed is that almost all the games made with that particular software look fairly "samey." Which is fine, actually, as that's what the software allows you to do so easily. However, with tools like RPG Maker, it's all about how you use them to differentiate yourself from the pack. Just from that brief trailer, I can tell Undefeated has a good bit of self-referential humor and a great soundtrack, which has me interested to check it out. No pricing information was given, but look for Undefeated to hit the App Store on October 3rd. |
Well, today is the day of the iPhone 6 (and 6 Plus) launch. If you're not already in line for one or have a tracking numbers that's out for delivery, it's probably going to be a while before you get your hands on one. Like most iPhone launches, supply seems to be tight- Particularly when it comes to the iPhone 6 Plus. Jared and I will be spending our mornings picking up our reserved iPhones from local Apple stores which hopefully results in a quick and painless process… But, we'll see.
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