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It isn’t a surprise to us that 60beat’s new GamePad controller made some major waves last week. It’s a proper, corded controller with a full range of button and joysticks. Also, it requires zero technical savvy. Just plug it in and go.

This all sounds great… but since we still don’t have a GamePad in our hands, we decided to quiz Pangea Software’s Brian Greenstone about it. Pangea is behind Bugdom 2 [$2.99], which is one of the two games currently supporting the controller.

I asked him three questions. The first was what it was like to develop for the device, and if it was easy or hard. Greenstone’s answer leaves us hopeful that other studios will pick up support, provided the GamePad sells well enough.

“It was very easy. All I had to do was add their SDK to my project, change my Audio Session type, and then make some basic calls to start the data flowing. Bugdom 2 already used a virtual gamepad in the game itself, so the code to work with that kind of control scheme was already in place which made things very easy.

I had it all up and running in less than an hour.”

There are no developer  or game limitations, by the way — all the buttons and directional control work, straight-up. It sounds like voice-chat support is out, though, when the device is plugged in.

“No developer limitations other than the forced use of a particular Audio Session mode, but I don’t think that would affect most games, unless there are games that require the microphone to be working. So, probably no voice-chat games.

The user limitation is just that having the gamepad plugged in causes the audio on the iPhone / iPad to go thru the audio jack. That means that you have to use the supplied splitter and listen to the game with headphones.”

Greenstone said Pangea will continue to support the device if its successful and Bugdom 2 sees a sharp spike in sales. That sounds pretty reasonable.

We’re looking forward to telling you all about this thing first-hand in the coming days. Come on, Mr. Postman!

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If the golden days of Lucasarts adventure titles such as Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle and Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders recall fond memories, there’s a good chance you’re destined to love any and everything about Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World [Free / HD]. After all, who didn’t get a perverse joy out of wandering aimlessly and trying to figure out puzzles that were so odd that using basic logic on them meant you would never advance?

Those types of puzzles make their appearances here, but so does a lot of solid gameplay. Kaptain Brawe opens up with an intro to the title character, a big goofy dude who somehow managed to get hired as a space officer despite the fact he’s clearly not the brightest bulb in the room. Already, we have a recipe for some laughs — that’s what adventure game fans are used to. You’ll start out solo, but eventually meet new characters like Row Boat (a robot of few words) and Luna (a bit of a mystery all around) who you can swap between at different points in the game, offering a bit of new perspective.

What starts out as a basic exploration of a ship on a deserted island segways into Brawe stumbling headfirst into a complex conspiracy that will send him across the galaxy searching for answers. It’s a proper adventure game story, and it never failed to entertain. The humor of the game is pretty spot-on, although I felt it fell a little short from time to time (but in that cheesy way that all adventure games seem to touch on at one time or another.)

Speaking of genre tropes, one thing that Kaptain Brawe also has nailed when it comes to adventure game homage is the difficulty level of the puzzle solving. While there are options here (Casual and Hardcore), some of the solutions to puzzles are so downright ridiculous that it reminded me of playing Myst back in the day. A hint system proves helpful if you get really stuck (Lord knows we never had THOSE back in the day), but there are times when it won’t reveal missing something very small and you will just kind of be sitting there without a clue on how to proceed. In other words, get ready touse your noggin in the most creative of ways.

The interface and controls are pretty basic — an icon rests in each corner of the screen, and all movement is produced by the touch of a fingertip. It makes the game easy to get lost in, but the visuals also take a hand in that, and they do a grand job. The game has a sweeping cartoon feel, but the style is very distinct and memorable. 2D backgrounds and 3D characters work together nicely, and there’s a lot of locations to explore, all of them rendered in loving detail. I personally loved the world of Kaptain Brawe, as it offered a tone and setting that you can mostly only find in Telltale Games titles these days.

While Kaptain Brawe may not be the perfect intro to the genre due to its difficulty levels, it does offer an excellent story and clever writing that ought to draw longtime fans of adventure games into its clutches quickly. There’s no denying the retro appeal, but overall this is a solid title even by today’s standards. If you like the taste offered by the initial free download, you can unlock the full game via IAP, which will set you back $4.99 on iPhone and $6.99 on iPad. If you ever passed time on a game like Leisure Suit Larry or Space Quest, you will adore Kaptain Brawe and all of his fumbling attempts at saving the galaxy.

TouchArcade Rating:

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There’s something about puzzle games that seem to attract the cutest, most vibrant visuals to the genre and SubTub [$0.99] is no exception. However, despite the bright and cheery graphics, this action-puzzler is no slouch when it comes to difficulty. In fact, if you can get past some control issues and bouts of shallow gameplay, SubTub has enough content and challenge for completionists to possibly be worth checking out.

SubTub is a game of naval superiority. You control a cute red sub through four sets of 18 missions that have you destroying the opposition on the open sea. In the case of SubTub, the open sea is a 6×9 grid of blue filled with other subs, aircraft carriers and more. Your weapons are underwater mines that are placed on the grid. While you have an unlimited amount of mines, each one has a fixed timer and a range slightly more than a single square. Complicating matters are a variety of other seafaring units, such as the rubber ducky, a ‘friendly’ unit that you can’t blow up with your mines (or touch on the grid, for that matter). In addition, mines are chainable, adding to the overall strategy.

Players are scored simply by the amount of time it takes to complete each level, with three tiers of medals available depending on how fast you are (you can also simply ‘pass’ the level if you take long enough). While SubTub’s gameplay foundation is sound, there just isn’t a lot of depth to the game, even when you take into account the different enemies you encounter. Your sub doesn’t gain any new weapons or upgrades, which may make your sense of progression seem a bit passive compared to other titles. In addition, the majority of the new enemies you encounter in later levels don’t add much other than slight variations and different skins.

Despite its cuddly exterior appearance, SubTub is actually a pretty challenging game, especially for folks that like to show their supremacy by collecting medals. Once I got passed the first set of missions, I found myself taking too long to even get the lowest tier medal. Granted, for those looking to simply try and pass the levels, SubTub is somewhat lenient as most levels can eventually be completed with patience and some timing. However, if you really want to earn the medals, you’re going to be doing a bit of practice on each level. This is the sort of balance I actually like to see in puzzlers – providing ample opportunity for casual players to pass levels, while still preserving the challenge for those that want it.

One complaint I have with SubTub is with its controls. Specifically, the swipe mechanism for controlling movement isn’t as precise as I’d like, particularly when it comes to sprinting (which is a double swipe in the direction you want to go). This is especially true if you’re trying to go for the medals, which require both pattern memorization and precise timing. Granted, it’s relatively easy to compensate with enough practice, but it’s still annoying nonetheless.

Don’t let SubTub fool you as this puzzler certainly has enough content and difficulty to keep genre fans occupied. On the other hand, casual gamers that may be looking to purchase SubTub simply from its visuals may be surprised at the difficulty of the title. Regardless, if you’re looking for a puzzler with some bite and don’t mind the cartoony visuals or occasional control issues, I’d recommend checking out SubTub for a quick fix.

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