Games on Apple devices have always been something I have given small amounts of attention. Most of the games on these devices are catered to people who want to kill small amounts of time. People who are riding in the subway or people sitting in waiting rooms. These games are simple and are not something that I usually would spend a lot of time doing. I play games a lot, and these simple games usually are not my cup of tea, especially something that I would pay for.
There are a few that I did buy, and 3 out of 4 are worth mentioning. The first is called
Home Run Battle.
Home Run Battle is a home run Derby game. This game does a good job balancing the ease of use of a casual game, with the growth of skills that any persistent player would want. There are a few different ways that you can play. There is an arcade mode where you collect points by hitting signs or specialty pitches, and there is also a more classic approach where you just hit home runs.
The controls are also very simple. You tilt the device to move the little bat shaped icon, and you tap to hit the ball. That's it. It's loads of fun. When you first start out, you will probably only hit two or three home runs, but as you play and get better, you will be hitting over 20 in no time.
There is also an in game marketplace where you can upgrade your uniform with cosmetic changes, as well as bats that will make your stats better and make it easier to hit home runs. You make cash that you can buy items with by just playing the game, or you can drop an extra .99 cents for a uniform that will save you a lot of time and is really good.
Once you really get good at the game and you get some good stat upgrades from your bat and uniform, there is an online competitive mode. The people on the multiplayer are all really good, so make sure you practice a lot before trying it, or you may throw your iPod against the wall.
Home Run Battle is a lot of fun, and is a great way to kill any amount of time. Each round takes around 5 minutes to complete, perfect for the waiting room. It is a little hard to play in a moving vehicle, because the game does require some precise movement. The game costs $5.
Let's golf is another good time killer that I can pick up and play for a good amount of time.
The main reason that I was drawn to this game is I wanted a good old school style golf game. I wanted one with a three click swing. Click to start the swing, click at the peak, and click at the bottom. These days, every golf game has moved to an analog stick swing, which isn't my cup of tea. This is all it really is...it makes me reminisce of Mario Golf, which is what I really wanted. It is a solid golf game, and is easy to pick up. The game saves itself after every hole, so you can play a hole and go if you like.
There are a good amount of unlockables too. There are characters, clothing, and balls that all give you different stats when you equip them. You can also unlock all four courses by coming in first in an 18 hole tournament.
Let's Golf may be a little bit more of a niche game that not many people would like, but I sure do, and you can always download the demo if you want to try it out. It is also $5 in the app store.
Recently, a sequel was released called
Let's Golf 2. From what I have read in
reviews, the game is greater in every way, and has gotten very impressive praise.
So these games have been out for a while and they are a lot of fun...Recently though, there has been a huge rise in the Apple gaming platform, and there is tons of money being poured into these games. Games are starting to have legitimate budgets and are getting better all the time. I was very impressed with the tech demo release by epic games which showed the Unreal 3 engine running on the iPhone. It was called
Epic Citadel.
The visuals in this game is better than anything else that I have seen on any hand held game, let alone an iPod. You can still download this for free. It is just a tech demo, but you can walk around through the castle and the outer grounds.
About a month ago, a game came out using this software, it is called
Infinity Blade.
When I first played this game I was astounded by how good it looked, and the way that it played. Capturing sword play in any game has always been a little difficult. There really hasn't been any games that made it feel satisfying, other than
Mount N' Blade. This game had a lot of problems, even though I felt that the combat system had the best feel and control.
Infinity Blade's controls are not as complicated as Mount N' Blade, but it still gives you the same satisfying feeling. To swing your sword, you just slide your finger across the screen in different directions. The sword of your character follows. You can also dodge using the to arrows in the corner of the screen. The thing that really makes this game satisfying though is the parry system. If the enemy that you are facing swings from above, you must swing your sword from the bottom to the top of the screen, in an upward motion. If timed correctly, you will parry his attack. If you swing your sword in the wrong direction, or you don't time it correctly, you will get struck with the enemy's blade.
This is a very simple combat system that feels better than anything else that I have ever played. It is so fluent and responsive, and could not be recreated with a controller or a keyboard. As you become used to the game, and you progress through it, the enemies get harder, swing faster, and do more damage. It really starts to become fluent, like a real sword fight would be.
From a developer perspective, Chair, the creator of this game, had some ingenious ways of saving space in the game. iOS apps can only be a certain size, and this is relatively small. The recycling of gameplay in Infinity Blade is what makes the game feel like it is so long and immersive. You walk your way up a castle, fighting all of these enemies one on one all the way, and when you get to the top, you fight the God King. Whether you win or you lose, you start all over, with all of the items you have collected along the way. In text, this may seem like a turn off for this game, but it really isn't. There are dozens of weapons and armor that you can wear and collect, all with different attributes. There is also RPG elements involved. Your character levels up and you can add different attributes to your character, such as Health, attack, and Block. As you level up, the enemies get stronger.
I have gone through it over 20 times already, and starting over is still not a problem. This is mainly due to the mastering system. As you use an item, let's say a sword, it gains points towards mastery. As you gain mastery points, you also gain experience to level up your character. When you finally fill up the mastery bar of the sword, you will no longer gain experience towards your level. This forces you to master all the weapons in the game if you would like to reach the highest level available.
This game was originally supposed to come out for the Microsoft
Kinect, a skeletal mapping and reading system for the Xbox 360, but was later ported to iOS devices. Apparently, it is still a possibility that it would come out for Kinect, and if it does, I will definitely throw down the wad of cash for Kinect and Infinity Blade.
Infinity Blade is $5.99, and there are continuous updates promised in the near future, including online multiplayer. This is a must buy if you are looking for something that looks great, and has a little bit of a challenge to it. Unfortunately, it will not play on any 8GB iPod Touches, as they all have less memory than their higher storage capacity brothers.
If you are looking for something to play in your Apple devices, these are three great games that you should definitely look into. This is what I play on them the most, and they are the most fleshed out, and polished games out of the millions that you would have to sift through on the app store. If anything, check out Epic Citadel, so you can see what your devices can do. There is nothing that shows it better.
