Archive for the ‘design’ tag
‘Catball Eats It All’ Review – Physics Meets Fancy Feline Fun
At heart, Catball Eats It All [Free] does not have a unique premise. At all. At heart, all you do is battle physics with your thumbs to keep a fat cat rolling around big shapes and eating stuff. Sounds a bit boring, doesn’t it?
However, great execution is all about a clever take and excellent design, as fans of standout iOS titles will tell you. And if Catball Eats It All has anything nailed, it’s in presenting a title that looks so wacky that you can’t help but be drawn to its inherent weirdness and wonder what the gameplay will be like. It’s actually like someone chopped up a bunch of weird photos of animals on the internet and made playable levels out of them. And you get to play one too. You’re sold, right?
The game is very easy to pick up and play, with a basic tutorial that has you using your thumbs on the screen to move Catball left and right. Designed by Philadelphia artist , the levels are surreal, each made up of what looks like a series of images cut out of a magazine and coddled together for the weirdest results. You will roll over the surface of this hodgepodge object, collecting items and bouncing about (a simple press with one thumb while holding down the other button will make Catball inflate and fly around).
As you proceed, a small icon in the top right corner of the world will show you how much time you have left and how much eating you’re doing. If you don’t eat fast enough, a giant dog will appear and try to eat you. It’s a lot of fun to maneuver around these unique levels, and my only complaint was that the game didn’t offer motion control as an option, as I found myself tilting the phone when I went rolling this way or that reflexively, as if it would help me make it to that next platform.
Once or twice, Catball got stuck in a narrow passage. Could be a bug, I’m not sure, but each time I had to restart the level as I couldn’t seem to move. Mostly, the controls seems just fine, but it’s worth noting that it may happen to you too.
Especially considering it’s a free download at the time of this review, I’d say this title is a must-get for fans of platformers or something that looks a bit different from all the other ultra-cute stuff on the App store. It has that Katamari Damacy feel to it when it comes to eating everything, and I love that. I had a great deal of fun with it, and the Facebook and Game Center compatibility are a plus if you like social sharing when it comes to your scores.
The developers promise us new levels in the future (called “Courses, heh), and I have to say I am looking forward to the chance to spend more time with this unique title.
TouchArcade Rating: 
[]
‘MechWarrior: Tactical Command’ Coming to iOS Devices in 2012
It’s hard to come up with an IP I have more fond memories of than the MechWarrior family. Anyone remember the actual ? After spending a few hours in one of those, you basically become a MechWarrior fan for life. Anyway, MechWarrior: Tactical Command was announced mere moments ago, and is the first MechWarrior title designed for iOS. It’s apparently even been in development since 2009, and it utilizes touch controls to facilitate a real time tactics system of battling. Check out the trailer:
Over 30 mech options will be included, along with an advanced weapon system and all sorts of missions to complete. Details aside from that are vague right now, but we expect more information to start dribbling out next year as the game gets closer to release.
[via ]
[]
The OnLive iOS Client is Finally Arriving
At E3 back in June of this year, we got an impressive hands-on demo of the OnLive service running and playable on the iPad. In case you’re not familiar, OnLive is the cloud-based gaming service that allows you to play from a fairly large selection of console and PC games by way of streaming them to an OnLive client running on your computer or a specially designed set-top box that connects to your TV. In simpler terms, it’s a lot like instantly streaming movies over NetFlix, except it’s video games, and you get to actually play them in real time with minimal lag if you’re internet speeds are up to snuff.
Basically, the iPad demo at E3 showed off just how versatile the OnLive service is. They simply created a client for the iPad and it allows practically the exact same OnLive experience that you would get using the service on your computer or television. It really felt like the future, but today, the future is now! (Sorry, I’ve always wanted to say that). But on a serious note, the OnLive iPad client is scheduled to launch today, as in like right now, for FREE.
There is a catch, however, as the OnLive mobile app is currently only available in the US and UK. There’s no word yet on if or when the service may launch in other territories. As part of the mobile app’s support, more than 25 of the games available on OnLive have been outfitted with touch-specific controls, meaning they can be played directly on the device itself without any additional peripherals. Included in that lineup of 25 titles is Rockstar’s hugely successful LA Noire, as well as Lego Batman: The Videogame, which will actually be available for free for anybody to try out the service just by downloading the OnLive client.
The majority of OnLive’s nearly 200 other available titles will also be playable on iOS, but won’t have the virtual touch controls baked into them. For these games you can pair the Universal OnLive Wireless Controller with your device and play them just like you would on a traditional console, or as demonstrated in the E3 demo video. Not every title will be able to be played on every device, OnLive cautions, but it sounds like the vast majority of them will be fully playable using the controller or virtual button setup.
One cool thing about OnLive is that whether you purchase a game through their service on your iPad, computer, set-top unit, or whatever, it will be available on any of those devices, with full cloud-saving functionality. So, if you’re in the middle of an OnLive game on your TV, you can stop what you’re doing and seamlessly pick up where you left off on your iPad, for example. You’ll also have access to all the social features that are built into OnLive no matter which device you’re playing on.
While the OnLive iOS client hasn’t quite hit the App Store just yet, it is supposed to be arriving any time, and we’ll update this post with a link as soon as possible. Since it’s free and comes with a free game, there’s really no reason not to download it and check it out. If you’re interested in ordering a Universal OnLive Wireless Controller, those will be available sometime soon, and you’ll be able to get it in the for $49.99 or the for £39.99.
[]
Controller Update: More on the GameBone, A Bluetooth 4.0 Revelation
iPhone controller accessories have been generating a good bit of news, here lately. More and more existing iOS titles are gaining physical control options via updates, and just last week we detailed the upcoming Gametel Bluetooth controller that will soon become a game-enhancing iOS controller option, alongside the iCade and iControlPad. The more the merrier, true, but long time readers may recall yet another controller we covered over a year ago that has been off the radar ever since. Does anyone remember the GameBone?
Once again, Stuart Carnie of Manomio (whose C64 for iPhone just got iCade support) reached out and pinged me to share a bit of exciting tech he’s had his eye on, and I’m quite eager to fill the rest of you in.
Stuart showed me the following proof-of-concept video done by Jason Chan of Australian firm , the main man behind the GameBone controllers, depicting the venerable — a standard, 9-pin Atari-style joystick — tethered to a Bluetooth controller board, controlling Stuart’s retro iOS port of Flashback [App Store] via iCade emulation. It’s pretty awesome stuff.
I got in touch with Chan and inquired as to what his intentions are regarding this demonstrated technology, and also regarding the GameBone controller we last heard about so long ago.
Chan informs me that he and his team are currently deciding whether they should supply the GameBone Bluetooth Module (GBM) to game accessory manufacturers, to the general public as a DIY kit, or to both. As far as I’m concerned, even if I have to bring out the trusty old soldering iron, the prospect of using any Atari-style joystick I want with iCade-compatible games is a magical one, not to be missed. Chan also let us know that 22Moo is working with a PC / PS3 /XBOX 360 game accessory manufacturer to bring this technology forth in the form of both single- and dual-stick -style joystick boxes for iOS and Android devices.
That’s not the end of the GameBone news, however. Chan has made us aware of three coming devices that are currently in development and will be made available to iOS gamers in the future. The devices in question are:
- GameBone Racer – A desk-mounted steering-wheel accessory for the iPad that will enter the final prototype stage by week’s end (pictured).
- GameBone GSR – A device that attaches to two of the user’s fingers that allows him or her to effectively control games with their mind. The GSR uses biofeedback technology similar to that used in lie detectors. 22Moo is partnering with a Polish firm that has experience with this technology on the PC. The first prototype is completed and a second prototype is scheduled for February 2012
- GameBone VT / Virtual Touch – A system in the very early stages of development that allows users to attach tiny “fingers” to a device’s screen in order to simulate physical touch by way of push buttons on an external control device. The GBVT is designed to be integrated into classic gamepads and joysticks to allow them to work with games designed purely for touch.
These are all devices that we were, previously, unaware of. The GameBone device that we have heard of, the one that we spoke of back in September of last year, is now known as the GameBone Pro, and we can’t share what we’ve learned about it with readers just yet, unfortunately. News will come in time, however…
In the discussions with Stuart and Jason Chan, something else we were unaware of came to light. And, I’ve not seen this reported anywhere, and so I think many are in the dark on this — and it’s a pretty big thing for accessory makers.
Some time back, we explained that the reason the iCade emulates a keyboard — and that the reason, until recently, that no analog sticks would work under standard iOS — is due to restrictions Apple places on the type of Bluetooth connection that an accessory can make with an iOS device. That is indeed the case for Bluetooth 2.x, which is the standard protocol on all iOS devices. There is one iOS device, however, that is capable of communicating via Bluetooth 4.0 LE (low-energy): the iPhone 4S. No other iOS device — not even the iPad 2 — is able to utilize this protocol. The exciting thing about this is that an accessory can, right now, connect to an iPhone 4S via Bluetooth 4.0 LE in a manner that provides the roomy datastream that can easily and properly accommodate things like multiple analog sticks — and without the need of any sort of approval from, or cooperation with, Apple.
So, there it is. There’s nothing in the way of vendors creating and selling full-featured controllers with zero latency, other than the want of the protocol on more (future) iOS devices. Of course, Apple could always choose to open up Bluetooth 2.x and allow all iOS devices to support such high-bandwidth connection profiles, but it’s unclear if they ever will.
Stay tuned for more details on the upcoming line of GameBone accessories from 22Moo as well as any of the other accessory makers out there.
[ Chan will be providing us a more detailed video demonstrating the GameBone Bluetooth Module later in the day, at which point we will update this story, so stay tuned. ]
[]
Best iOS Games November 2011
Our ratings for games we reviewed in November are now in place, and we now present to you the ones that are on the top of the heap. Each game reviewed receives a 1-5 star rating relative to the other games from that month. Generally, a three-star or higher is considered a “good” rating.
Our final scores are not the product of any traditionally objective measures such as graphics or sound, but simply reflect the games we would most recommend to others. Keep in mind, this listing is comprised of games we reviewed in November, and not necessarily games that were specifically released in November.
5 Stars
Infinity Blade II, $6.99 – [Review] – [] – We put incredibly powerful devices in our pockets and on our laps daily, but rarely do we see games that utterly embrace this like Infinity Blade 2 has. It’s a showcase piece; a technically and visually gifted game that consistently delivers eye-popping stuff. The gameplay is great, too.
Zombieville USA 2, $0.99 – [Review] – [] – Tightly-constructed, well-executed, charming, different and entertaining are all words we freely use when describing Zombieville 2. It’s a near perfect iterative entry to the franchise, as it artfully hones in on and turns up the volume on the two best parts of the original: the shooting and upgrade models.
4.5 Stars
Rebuild, $2.99 – [Review] – [] – Rebuild can ruin a life like only a Civilization can. Don’t mistake us; that’s huge praise for Northway Games’s atmospheric and engaging strategy game, which has you building and managing a city while zombies bump in the day or night. iPad 2 exclusive — for now, at least.
Saving Yello, Free – [Review] – [] – Tactile Entertainment’s Saving Yello and is a hip, fresh, and adorable physics-based puzzler about a pet goldfish named ‘Yello’. Tons of well-designed levels and environments, as well as wonderful production values make this a stand-out.
Space Tripper, $3.99 – [Review] – [] – After being released on various other platforms over the past decade, it’s finally our turn for an iOS port of this top-down arena-based shoot’em-up, which features a main campaign plus score attack and challenge modes to unlock. And heads up: it was worth the wait.
SpellTower, $1.99 – [Review] – [] – Word games can still be fun. Elegant, clever and fun, SpellTower a complete package, brought together by Gage’s trademark use of cheerful colors, simple patterns and elegant typography.
RAVENMARK: Scourge of Estellion, $2.99 – [Review] – [] – Delivered in a visual novel-esque manner, this strategy game’s greatest strength lies in the fact it is not pretentious. The protagonists are not larger-than-life heroes; they’re men. And you’ll care, maybe just as the developers seemed to judging by the outrageously solid presentation and overall direction.
Aquaria, $4.99 – [Review] – [] – Imagine if a Metroidvania went underwater. That’s what Aquaria is in a nutshell, but you’ve got to appreciate its fine touches and vision even if its formula doesn’t jive with you.
Chocohero, $0.99 – [Review] – [] – Chocohero is certainly not the only “falling platformer” out there, but it’s definitely one of the best designed. In addition to tight controls and well-designed levels, the art style and music are perfectly complementary. Also, it’s super-adorable).
Junk Jack, $2.99 – [Review] – [] – While there are any number of blatant Minecraft knockoffs on the App Store, Junk Jack distinguishes itself in nearly every category. It’s fun, bright, and pretty mind-numbingly awesome.
Elder Sign: Omens, $3.99 – [Review] – [] – Elder Sign is a board game crossover that takes the Lovecraftian horror of Arkham Horror and distills it down to about half the time and only 200 pieces or so. More importantly, it works brilliantly on a touch screen.
Oh! Edo Towns, $1.99 – [Review] – [] – If you’re fond of Kairosoft’s other, much more grand strategy simulation games, you’ll probably dig this one. It’s basically old-school SimCity, but re-envisioned with Kairosoft’s signature cutesy art, formula, direction and style.
Greed Corp HD, $4.99 – [Review] – [] – This is a strategy board game that feels right at home on iPad, and it outdoes much of its competition on the platform. We wouldn’t get it solely for online multiplayer, but with a vast single-player campaign and support for up to four local players, it’s a gem of a game for any other purpose.
The rest of the game ratings can be seen in their respective rating categories (also found in the sidebar navigation): 5 Stars, 4.5 Stars, 4 Stars, 3.5 Stars, 3 Stars, and 2 Stars.
As always, we expect there will be some debate about relative scores, but keep in mind that everyone’s personal ratings may vary based on individual tastes.
For more of our favorite iOS games, check out our “Best iPhone Games” category which includes all of these monthly posts as well as other special compilations of the greatest games the App Store has to offer:
- So You Just Got an iPhone 4S… Here’s What You Need to Know!
- So You Just Got a Verizon iPhone… Let’s Get You Up To Speed!
- – An App Store Gaming Guide
- Best iPod Touch and iPhone Games: 2010 Buyer’s Guide
- 2010: TouchArcade Staff Favorites – Eli
- 2010: TouchArcade Staff Favorites – Blake
- 2010: TouchArcade Staff Favorites – Brad
- 2010: TouchArcade Staff Favorites – Jared
- Best iPod Touch and iPhone Games: 2009 Buyer’s Guide
[]
‘Don’t Run With a Plasma Sword’ Review – Sidescrolling Sci-Fi and More
As I write, I often consider whether or not my take on a game might be biased. For instance, I am clearly going to adore the idea of a game where I get to pilot a flying catmobile that spits screaming mice at grumbly enemies over a real-time war simulation. On that note, Don’t Run With a Plasma Sword [$0.99] is clearly the kind of game that I gravitate towards — its comic-inspired, it features an alien invasion, I’m basically running around with a lightsaber, and its got that modern retro feeling. In other words, I’m already smiling at the prospect. Biased? Maybe just a bit.
That being said, if a game sucks, it doesn’t get my stamp of approval no matter how many hallmarks of my tastes it contains. I’m happy to report that Don’t Run With a Plasma Sword not only features really cool, kitschy themes and humor, but it’s actually a hell of a lot of fun to play as well.
You play the role of Cornelius in this side-scroller, a comic store employee who is suddenly faced with an alien invasion. What better time than now to fulfill his dream of becoming a hero? And so, trusty plasma sword in hand, he goes bounding through the world taking out robots and saving the world. Not such a bad career, although the pay is more about looking cool than rolling in the greenbacks.
The game is on rails, so your only responsibilities will be to make Cornelius jump, slide and swing his sword as he runs through each level. Doing so is very pleasant as the buttons along the sides of your screen are very responsive, and you’ll lose yourself right into the action as you jam out to the appropriately wacky “alien invasion” music. Each level has lots of stuff to dodge and also lots of cool powerups, which will you give you powers like a shield so you can take an extra hit or a sword powerup that lets you fling a charge attack at the robots.
By adding levels and bosses to the basic endless running formula, Don’t Run With a Plasma Sword turns out a pretty appealing package. As you make your way through the city and the factory levels to finally reach the mothership , you’ll collect stars which give you XP (along with killing enemies and completing levels). When you finally die, you will get a chance to use the XP points you earn to level up your skills, unlock story and endless levels early if you like, or even buying snazzy clothes for your character. This system gives you a bit of a reward after you die, so instead of that feeling of drudgery you get when playing other running games and dying over and over, this one weathers that out well by giving you a little break before you get back to it.
In-App purchases are also an option, but they are in the game in a very low key way (they are accessible in the same menu where you can buy power-ups with your XP). What I liked most about the way this was presented was that you didn’t feel like you were losing out if you didn’t spend real life money, because in the same menu there was all this other stuff to choose from that you could earn from actual gameplay.
Now, that’s just Story Mode. Endless Mode is also available, and adds in little missions that challenge you to run a certain distance or that sort of thing. I had more fun in story mode, but overall I still found this mode challenging and worthwhile as well. Don’t Run With a Plasma Sword is also compatible with OpenFeint, Game Center, Facebook and Twitter, so you pretty much have every way you can possibly think of to share your scores with your friends at your fingertips.
From presentation to gameplay to overall fun factor, Don’t Run With a Plasma Sword simply shines. It’s got distinctive character and a great sense of humor. It’s also a treat to look at — great design, excellent color. Do I sound biased now, or what? Seriously, though, that whole Mars Attacks formula really works here, especially with a dash of comic book inspiration thrown in. I have a feeling you’ll be enjoying this title for some time, and it’ll be one of those that you keep on coming back to.
TouchArcade Rating: 
[]
Developers Come Together To Give In "12 Indie Apps For Christmas"
The and other gigantic collections of PC indie titles are all the rage nowadays for a lot of reasons, but starting now, there’s a feel-good App Store equivalent. A collection of twelve developers have come together for “12 Indie Apps For Christmas.” It’s but the bottom-line is that 25 percent of each individual sale of one of its games, post-Apple cut, will go to or throughout the rest of December.
The official rundown , so do check that out if you plan to get your humanitarian on. The developers involved are all pretty hip, and the games are pretty bangin’, too. Here’s a break-down:
Christmas Air Hockey, $0.99 – [] – This is what you think it is — no surprises, it appears. On the other hand, this is definitely festive Air Hockey at its finest, as it includes tons of Christmas trimmings including snowmen, snow, and Santa sounds.
Galcon Labs, $1.99 – [] – Galcon, a real-time space strategy game fusion, has received a ton of updates over its life. At one point, Penny Arcade said that it’s a “must,” and we basically agree with that sentiment.
Harbor Master, $1.99 – [] – Harbor Master was one of those titles original that kinda validated the App Store game section, and it still rocks. Direct boats, move them into port, and get them away safely — this is a “light” strategy game that moves pretty fast, but does require a careful eye.
Smiles HD, $3.99 – [] – Smiles HD incorporates two different matching and strategic puzzle games. It probably won’t blow you away, but it’s a sharp and well-designed package that has a ton of charm
Disc Drivin’, $1.99 – [Review] – [] – Turn-based racing sounds a little abstract, but Disc Drivin’ is a fantastic time-waster that pairs hardcore flick action with asynchronous play. The Bearded One enjoys this so much, he’s practically physically bonded with it.
Full Deck Word Games, Free – [Review] – [] – If you’re looking for the next Words With Friends, you won’t find that depth of multiplayer here. But as an inexpensive way to entertain yourself while chatting with a friend, Full Deck Word Games will more than do the job.
iBlast Moki, $2.99 – [Review] – [] – iBlast Moki is a fun, high quality physics puzzler with intuitive controls and a full level creation and online sharing system. We highly recommend it, and people still seem to love it.
Red Nova, $0.99 – [Review] – [] – Red Nova actually does quite a few things to set itself apart from the pack. It has an interesting premise, one of the smartest control schemes I’ve seen, Game Center integration for high score bragging rights, and above all else it’s just a blast to play.
Sword of Fargoal, $1.99 – [Review] – [] – But, really, what makes the game so well suited for the iPhone is its casual nature as compared to the typical roguelike. Those who’ve never played a dungeon crawler before might just find themselves drawn in to Sword of Fargoal.
Tilt to Live, $2.99 – [Review] – [] – It is said that the best ideas are often the most simple ones, and there doesn’t seem to be anything quite as simple as the dot. Developers One Man Left seem to agree, as they’ve staked their entire game, Tilt to Live, on the premise of our beloved period; albeit the rapacious, hell-bent variety.
Trainyard, $0.99 – [Review] – [] – This, unsurprisingly, is a game about trains and routing them. And while that premise is simple, don’t let that fool you: this is one of those deceptively complex games with some mind-bending puzzles and a fantastic user-creation element.
Velocispider, $1.99 – [Review] – [] – If you’re anything like us, the thrill of fighting off waves of aquatic-robot monsters with a well armed half-spider, half-velociraptor Araknasaur makes Velocispider an extremely easy buy. Fortunately, it’s also a challenging top-down shooter that’ll keep you scrabbling for a high score.
[]
‘Mad Chef’ Review – Top-Notch Tapping Through the Restaurant World
Restaurant games on iOS tend to follow a certain template. They’re time management titles, all about organizing customers and orders for maximum profits. Sometimes they’re freemium, sometimes not, but they all fall in line, and that line is getting a bit stale. They are certainly not about wildly flinging knives at customers to spear ingredients for their meals in midair. And yet here we find ourselves with Mad Chef [$0.99], a frantic, imaginative take on the restaurant gig from Foursaken Media, the folks behind the outstanding Bug Heroes series.
Mad Chef doesn’t quite meet the epic scale of Bug Heroes, being both far more casual and far less strategic, but it exhibits the same thoughtful design and attention to detail we’ve come to expect from Foursaken Media. The game centers around frantic tapping, so you’ll have to get behind that mechanic in a big way. Once you do there’s a boatload of entertaining content to work through.
I can’t be sure if this game is going for the stereotype of the slightly unhinged artist, or if you’re intended to be in charge of someone who poses a significant danger to others. As your customers (who hunger for dishes like Pigeon Pot Pie and Ratwurst) line up, your sous chef tosses out a huge assortment of ingredients. Your job is to tap the ingredients needed for each recipe and throw knives at them. If you miss, you stab your customers or sous chef instead. Is this where our craze for creative food carts has gotten us?
For the most part, though, your customers are into it. It’s a rough life building your way up in the restaurant scene with nothing but Roach Bran and willpower, but each time you play you make yourself a little more money and hopefully earn a bit more reputation.
Once you hit certain reputation milestones, you can open four more restaurants, each quicker and harder to play than the last. That doesn’t mean you’re done with the old ones, though. Managing a culinary empire requires a personal touch. But the more restaurants you have, the more money you earn while you’re away — a mechanic that translates nicely from the freemium market to this premium game.
Mad Chef takes another step into freemium-style with purchasable packs of cash and reputation. They’re not necessary, by any means. You can work your way through the game normally, playing at your own pace without ever making a purchase. But the early restaurants are easy, and earning enough rep to open the later, more difficult restaurants takes either a lot of grinding or reasonably large cash investment. I can’t help but feel like the difficulty curve would have been better had Foursaken Media not been planning for an IAP option.
Thankfully, this is balanced by an upgrade system that does a great job of making the grind feel a little less grindy. As you earn cash, you can invest it back into your restaurants. You unlock new recipes, an improved sous chef, and more. These improve your returns, and your customers grow more demanding. The food cart, for instance, starts off slow — one order to fill while ingredients meander their way across the screen. By the time you max it out, you’ll be managing four simultaneous orders with an ever-changing list of ingredients, and you’ll also have to watch out for spices that increase the bill. It’s frantic, and each restaurant gets more and more insane by the time you reach their top ends.
There’s only one problem with that — the time the knives take to fly to their targets, and the related trouble of hitting overlapping items. The game is generous about awarding you hits for the right item if it can choose between one right and one wrong, but if both options are valid you might end up tossing knives at multiple ingredients only to have the game choose something unexpected, messing up the other knives you have in the air. It’s only an occasional problem, but in a game that rewards perfection it’s a frustrating one.
If you want to mix things up a bit, you have options. The Take Out restaurant is always available, and it offers an endless mode that has you toss knives at ingredients by category. It’s a good way to earn a little cash in a hurry. Every so often, you’ll also get a rush of customers. For these Rush Hour specials, you can forget about recipes — it’s all about spearing every ingredient that flies across the screen for huge combos, and hoping you don’t end up spearing a customer.
Mad Chef is an immense game, once you settle in and look around a bit. It’s also lovingly crafted. Take a look at the in-game achievement system if you want to see why I say that: the Game Center achievements are presented as awards on the wall of your home, and the more you earn the nicer your digs get. It’s a little, unnecessary touch that makes progressing all that much more rewarding, and that’s reflected in the rest of the game. There is often unexpected charm to be found.
In the end Mad Chef lives or dies on the joy of tapping. It does a great job with its simple mechanic, veering away from simple spamming to something that takes a lot of thought and attention. And, you know, crazy-fast tapping. It’s a lot of game for your buck, so check it out. Then swing by our to let us know what you think.
TouchArcade Rating: 
[]
‘Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies’ Review – A Fun, if Premature, Reanimation
When Call of Duty: Zombies hit the iOS app store way back when we praised it for what was, at the time, a great adaptation of the console secondary game mode. Now, over two years later, the zombies have finally returned with Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies [$6.99], the first true sequel to iOS CoD Zombies (strange psuedo-sequel notwithstanding). While Black Ops Zombies does succeed in providing improved visuals and extra variety in the addition of the excellent Dead-Ops mode, a frustrating selection of controls, spotty multiplayer, and a very limited map selection on the onset may make some fans hesitant to purchase now.
For the uninitiated, Black Ops Zombies is a first person shooter zombie survival game based off of the survival mode found on some console versions of Call of Duty. Zombies is map-based, with each map typically featuring numerous rooms and weapons that must be unlocked in order to provide the player with better weapons and defense. There are some small secondary objectives, but the primary goal of each play through is to simply survive as long as you can. Zombies come at you in waves, and you earn money for each one you take down, giving you the currency needed to unlock everything. There are also power-ups, such as extra ammo or double currency, which can randomly drop from the slain undead.
If you do a side-by-side comparison between Black Ops Zombie and its predecessor, you’ll see a definite upgrade in visual quality and presentation. The graphics look much better, especially on the most recent iOS devices. Even the menu system looks great and offers personality that isn’t normally found in something of that low a priority in game design. Granted, it’s certainly not the best looking game we’ve seen on iOS, but it’s an improvement nonetheless. Surprisingly, I did encounter the occasional slowdown on my 4S, which seemed odd.
One of the most important questions in my book in regards to first person shooters is its controls. Black Ops Zombies adds additional control functions, such as crouching and sprinting into the mix. In addition, Black Ops Zombies brings back the same three control options (joystick, swap, and tilt) from its predecessor. Each one offers some advantage over the other, but I never found any of them to fully satisfy my expectations and not make me feel like I was compensating for playing on a touch screen. Extras such as various difficulties and auto-aim try to alleviate the problem, but it doesn’t fix it all the way. Also there were some questionable design decisions, such as not having a fire button on the screen and forcing the players to double tap to fire. While this may work on paper, I can’t count the amount of times I wasn’t able to fire my gun when I wanted to.
Another design choice I really don’t understand is the limited map selection in Black Ops Zombies. Basically, as of release, you have access to one map, Kino Der Toten. While it’s certainly a good map, the fact that players only have access to one map at the onset is a little ridiculous. We have confirmation that there is at least one more map coming in a future update to Black Ops Zombies, but until then, expect to get tired of Kino Der Toten until that happens.
Thankfully, some of the potential tedium is addressed with the inclusion of Dead-Ops Arcade mode, a top-down arcade shooter with dual stick controls. The premise is very simple in Dead-Ops: enter rooms, kill zombies, collect weapon upgrades and score enhancing gems, move into next room, repeat. Even still, I had a blast with Dead-Ops and thought it was a perfect game fit for iOS controls. The weapon variety, fast paced gameplay, and nice graphics all work in tandem to create an incredible experience. In fact, with some modifications, it probably could have survived just fine as a standalone release. Still, I appreciate that it was included with Black Ops Zombies, especially with the current lack of map variety.
Finally we get to the multiplayer, which really is the main draw for Call of Duty zombie games. Black Ops Zombies brings back four player coop mode and ups the ante with support for voice chat. When you manage to get a game going and everything is smooth, multiplayer simply increases the amount of fun exponentially and is well worth the ticket price. Unfortunately for me, I found the majority of my games to be filled with lag and frame rate jerkiness, even when lowering the detail slider. I know it has something to do with the net code, because as soon as my companions would inevitably drop out, the game would run fine. Lag on its own wouldn’t necessarily be a big deal, but when you combine it with the spotty controls, the problems just seem to compound. The included voice chat is nice, but in practice I’d usually end up muting my companions because I would just hear a lot of loud noise and static coming from their end. Dead-Ops multiplayer fared somewhat better, but I still encountered some significant lag, which is disappointing.
World at War Zombies was simply revolutionary for its time and, while Black Ops Zombies certainly improves on nearly every aspect of its predecessor, our expectations of what makes a great game have certainly changed. It’s not enough to simply add a new map and a better visual paintjob and call it a day. Yet, outside of Dead-Ops, that’s the sort of feeling I get while playing Black Ops Zombies. I think this feeling would have been far less prevalent if the game launched with just a bit more content than one map or if multiplayer wasn’t so laggy. In any case, if you were a fan of World at War Zombies, and you’re willing to be patient with content releases, you’ll love this sequel. For others looking for improvements in the general gameplay (or control schemes for that matter), you may want to wait for a content update or two.
TouchArcade Rating: 
[]
‘Judge Dredd vs. Zombies’ Review – Guys, Dredd Is The Law
Judge Dredd vs. Zombies [$.99] is what you think it is, which is to say, it’s an over-the-top dual-stick shooter that pits the equally over-the-top dystopian cop against hordes and hordes of the undead. Despite all signs of the End Times have come pointing to “Yes,” Dredd is as moronically meat-headed as ever. The slick , line-slinging judge, jury, and executioner has his hands full with himself throughout the entire experience. It’s as if, in a weird twist, this game is more about Dredd’s need to stroke his own ego than his desire to purge his precious and pure Mega-City One of zombies.
Hearing “I am the law” or some other ridiculously chest-puffing line every 15 seconds isn’t this game’s biggest problem, though — the free-to-play model is. It comes across as much too pushy and needed and, as a result, it consistently strikes me as gross.
Sure, you can upgrade your weapons and bring along “special equipment” like “Instant Reload” or “Body Armor” using in-game credits, but they quickly end up costing too much in comparison to the amounts you can earn. The difficulty curve on zombie damage models are pretty sharp, too, so you’ll feel naked in short order — and grinding on previous levels, for whatever reason, won’t net you any extra credits.
Dredd sure doesn’t seem to mind. Like a 50-year-old wrestler who keeps taking bumps because he filed bankruptcy one too many times and still has a camper on a line of credit, an under equipped Dredd is consistently revved to keep battling against increasingly bad odds. His confidence and enthusiasm are off the wall.
What really salvages this entire experience is its combat model. It’s really, really enjoyable. Movement is a snap, while the shooting in particular is great. There’s a brilliant auto-aim mechanic that flawlessly moves from threat to threat as smoothly and intelligently as if you were the one making the choice. And even when you do want to control where you shoot, you can just tap on the screen to target.
A combo system, the reload mechanisms, and item pick-ups alter the pacing of the combat in consistently entertaining ways. As you kill, you’ll steadily earn more bonus points as a combo meter builds. The catch is that, whenever you stop to reload, the meter has a chance kick back to zero by virtue of inactivity. This is where the Dredd badge pick-ups littering the game come in: not only do they give you points, but they also keep that combo meter going when you’re not actively blasting zombies into re-oblivion.
This isn’t ground-breaking stuff, but it works and it works really well. Dredd’s other constituent parts, on the other hand, are merely competent: the UI is inelegant but alright, the level selection and rating system are industry standard, and the visuals are OK. Nothing outside of the shooting feels particularly inspired. The lackluster and oftentimes barren level, sound, and presentation design leave a lot to be desired.
But… as far as fundamentals go, the fact that Judge Dredd vs. Zombies’s combat rocks is a pretty big boon to what is otherwise a fairly competent, yet occasionally annoying game. The bad parts, and particularly the greedy free-to-play hooks and the barrage of Dredd-isms, are the big stains. The shooting makes up for a lot of this, but there’s a whole lot of ugly to wade through before you get to the good.
TouchArcade Rating: 
[]
