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Last month we checked out the trailer for an upcoming platformer called Roboto from developer Fenix Fire Games, and thought it looked pretty promising. You play as a hoverboard riding robot who is chasing his female robot crush all across the galaxy, in an effort to win her affection. Gameplay appeared to fall somewhere in between a traditional platformer and a fast-paced endless running game, which seemed like a good combination.

Then last week, Roboto [$2.99] was released in the App Store, and after playing through the game it mostly delivers on all the promise that was expected from the trailer. The visuals and level design are the brightest points of Roboto, but a couple of technical shortcomings and less-than-ideal controls hold it back from true greatness. Fenix Fire is already in the process of addressing these issues though, and with just a small bit of post-release update love Roboto could be one of the finest platformers available on the entire iOS platform.

Right off the bat you’ll notice that Roboto is simply stunning visually. The crisp and colorful graphics look fantastic on the Retina Display, and there are loads of little details that give the game a great sense of character. Gameplay is strictly on a 2D plane, but the entire game is rendered in 3D and the usage of the foreground and background give a great sense of depth as you play. Killing an enemy might shoot a gear right into the screen when it explodes, and background elements like huge wrecking balls will swing into the foreground, looking like they might burst right through the screen.

Roboto’s moves consist of running left or right, jumping, hovering, and shooting. Holding down the jump button will cause Roboto to hover for a short period, a la Princess Toadstool in Super Mario Bros. 2. Roboto’s actions will expend an energy meter at the top of the screen, which can be replenished by collecting various energy pickups spread throughout the levels. If you run out of energy and come across a point where you need to hover over a gap, you’re pretty much screwed, so it’s best to keep a close eye on your supply and not overuse any of your moves.

The real brilliance of Roboto lies in its level designs. They are each designed to be completed speed run style if you choose, but if you slow down and take your time there are plenty of items to collect or enemies to defeat. At the end of each of the 30 levels in the game, your score is tallied based on completion time, enemies killed, remaining energy, and whether or not you collected each of the 3 gears hidden in the level. This gives Roboto great replay value, as after merely completing a level it can be a nice challenge to go back and try to get 100% for everything and land a huge score. Game Center integration for achievements and leaderboards adds to this as well.

My biggest gripe with Roboto is the absolutely terrible control stick used for moving your character in the game. The stick is seriously temperamental, and sometimes will drop whatever direction you’re moving without you even realizing it. This can make the game infinitely frustrating, as you’ll literally be hovering over a gap and will suddenly drop right into it due to no fault of your own. I’ve easily died more times from this one issue than from any enemy or challenge in the game. Luckily, Fenix Fire has posted on their Facebook page that an update will hit soon that adds separate left and right arrows for movement, which I think will be a much better option. But right at this moment, the control issue drives me absolutely bananas.

Another issue worth considering is that for such a graphically intense game, performance has been spotty for some players. It’s not really consistent, either, as I’ve had almost no issues running the game on my iPhone 4, except for very minor stutters when a ton of things happen onscreen at once. Conversely, some members in our forums cannot even play the game at all due to an abysmal frame rate grinding things to a halt or the game simply crashing on them. The developers also mention on their Facebook that performance optimization is coming in an update as well, but again, as of this writing you may or may not have any luck getting the game to run consistently well, or at all.

Roboto has all the makings of a classic platforming game. It’s one of the most visually impressive games I’ve seen in some time, and the gameplay itself is well designed and a lot of fun. If the controls and performance issues can be ironed out sufficiently, then Roboto will fall into the “must have” category of iOS platformers. Right now though, expect to be frustrated with the touchy control stick and potential for some technical hangups that might prevent your from playing the game. If you’re on the fence, it might be worth waiting to see how the update resolves these issues.

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On Monday, Gamasutra reported that Rubicon Development, creators of the excellent iOS strategy title Great Little War Game [$2.99/Lite], had posted over on the NeoGAF forums that they received several PlayStation Vita development kits from Sony for free, so that they could port Great Little War Game to that platform.

What’s interesting here is not just that an active iOS developer is porting a popular and previously iOS-only game to the Vita, but rather the stance Sony seems to be taking in regards to independent developers. You might also hear them referred to as “garage developers” by Nintendo, and the last time I checked, The Big N wanted nothing to do with these indies making games for their soon-to-be price-reduced 3DS console.

The thing is, independent and smaller scale studios account for some of the biggest success stories on the App Store and are a huge reason that iOS gaming, and even smartphone gaming in general, has surged so drastically in just the past few years. The barrier of entry is so low for Apple’s App Store that it allows new or risky ideas to be brought to life by almost anyone, sometimes even just one person working on a project in their down time from the tribulations of daily life.

Of course, with a user base of more than 200 million devices, the big boys have jumped onto the App Store bandwagon too, bringing many popular video game franchises to the touch screen. But by and large, it’s the independent developers who are responsible for creating the quirky and original experiences that just wouldn’t have been viable under the traditional video game creation model the industry had grown accustomed to.

So, the fact that Sony is embracing this idea and welcoming independent developers to the new Vita platform with open arms (and at least in some cases, free SDKs) is a good sign that the company is recognizing the importance of independent developers and the direction the game industry is heading. Digital distribution is the future, and it offers a significantly more even playing field where the little guys can sit on the virtual shelf right next to the big guys.

It’s unclear just how readily available the Vita SDK is to just any old person interested in making a game for the system, and Rubicon notes that their kits are only on loan and must be returned to Sony when the port is complete. But even still, if Sony can create an entry point to the Vita that is similar to the App Store’s, then they might be able to create the kind of 3rd party traction that the 3DS has been unable to attain thus far. With the Vita’s $250 starting price point and more technical bells and whistles than you can shake a stick at, it might actually become a real enticing alternative to mobile gamers currently satisfied with their iOS devices for on-the-go gaming.

It will be interesting to see how Sony plays their cards with the Vita and the digital download indie scene, and how it will affect Apple’s game (if at all). The Vita seems the most well-poised to give iOS a run for its money, and that sort of competition can only mean good things for all fans of portable gaming.

[Via Gamasutra]

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Just yesterday, we learned that developer Zeptolab had a sequel in the works for their astoundingly popular physics puzzler Cut the Rope [99¢/Lite/HD]. Given the huge success of that game, a sequel doesn’t come as a surprise at all, but the teaser images did pique our interest as to what changes the developers would be adding to their winning formula. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t any solid information to go along with the screens.

Now, TechCrunch has learned straight from Zeptolab themselves some new details on the title, which will be called Cut the Rope: Experiments. The premise this time around is that main character Om Nom arrives on the doorstep of a mad scientist, and like everybody who has played the original game, he wonders just what the heck Om Nom is. So, in order to get to the bottom of things, he begins performing various experiments on Om Nom, which we would presume act as the levels themselves.

TechCrunch has the first trailer for Cut the Rope: Experiments, which is a total teaser and doesn’t show any gameplay, but does reveal that the game is already launching on August 4th, which is basically later tonight here in the US. And indeed, the game is now live in the NZ App Store and early impressions are rolling into our forums. Interestingly, Cut the Rope: Experiments isn't being published by Chillingo as the first game was, and rather it's self-published by ZeptoLab themselves. If you remember, another popular Chillingo published title, Angry Birds, did the same thing with their two follow-up titles. I guess when you become practically a household name, it doesn't make sense to fork over part of your earnings to a publisher.

But more importantly, I'm curious to get my hands on Cut the Rope: Experiments tonight to see how it stacks up to the original, and you can bet we'll be back to let you know what we think of the title.

[Via TechCrunch]

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If you like the RPG genre, you’ve likely spent lots of time exploring old worlds populated with critters out to get you, unexplored bits of terrain mysteriously populated with treasure chests no one else has gotten to yet, and serious quests (Save the princess! Save the world! Save your mom!). And yet, there’s something endlessly appealing about the formula — it’s kept us playing for decades, after all. Nothing wrong with the serious formula, of course, but that’s not what you’ll get when you go for Quest Runner [$1.99], an cute little action RPG from Trident 3D that goes with cartoon-inspired 2D graphics and humorous writing to tell the story of your adventure to protect the town of Torma and keep its citizens safe and sound.

Quest Runner starts out allowing you to pick your own character and customise it a bit, which feels a little limited when it comes to options. You can only play as a male (boo! Where’s the ladies at?), but at least you can choose some cool costumes, and in homage to retro games, you can even wear costumes that you may remember some of your old favorite characters donning back in the day. In fact, the game is peppered with tongue in cheek references to lots of wonderful classic games such as Zelda, Sonic, Prince of Persia and more. The developers wanted you to know that they’re loved videogames for a long time, and it shows — it’s a little dash of fun that put a smile on my face.

Gameplay is easy enough to navigate. The action is sidescrolling, and there’s no directional pad to clutter up your screen, which seems like a good idea but left me feeling as if my fingers were blocking the action more than I’d like. You just tap the direction you want your hero to move in and off he goes. The bottom of the screen offers easy access buttons for your potion supply, basic attack and special attack, all accessible with a single tap, and tiny icons on the top right keep track of your quests and your current status. They did a good job with managing the tiny bit of screen space offered on the iPhone, and there’s no excess clutter, making the action easy to enjoy — as long as you don’t mind peering around your fingertips a bit.

It won’t be long before you make your way into town and realize how many options are at your disposal. Sure, there’s the usual merchants and vendors, but what makes Quest Runner really cool is the ability to hire mercenaries to assist you in your quest. These are colorful personalities, and you’ll find yourself wanting to try them all out. As the difficulty ramps up, you’ll find these guys to be truly helpful to your cause too. You can also get pets to help you, but you’ll need to remember to feed them or they won’t stick around. Don’t be a neglectful hero — feed your four legged friend!

You’ll get basic quests from NPCs in town that will guide you along in your adventure, allowing you to explore the terrain as you go and gain levels in the process. Your interactions with these characters remain consistently funny, and you’ll find yourself giggling as you complain about the lazy commander who can’t be bothered to give you a hand. What a jerk.

Quest Runner is Game Center enabled as well, so you’ll be able to get achievements for your gameplay time, which makes it a bit more challenging and gives you some goals to meet. A total of 35 are available, and many focus on killing a quantity of monsters, so you may want to spend some extra time in the field instead of hurrying to your next quest if you want to get them all.

Quest Runner has that great casual feel, so it can be played in bits and pieces whenever you have free time for it, and it’s easy to come back to the adventure at anytime. There’s a bit of grinding involved, but if you’re the type that hates having to spend hours in the field just to be at the right level to buy that one sword, you won’t have to cope with that type of thing in Quest Runner.

Overall, it’s a fun experience, and players in our forums seem to be enjoying it as well. While it doesn’t break any startling new ground in the genre, it executes the humorous action RPG formula very well. If you want to laugh while you play an RPG instead of furrowing your brow and trying to shoulder the weight of the world, this one’s for you.

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Remember Star Command that we posted about a few months ago? No? Well here's the deal– War Balloon Games took note of the success of simulations like Game Dev Story and decided to take a crack at releasing something similar, only with a Star Trek-like theme to it. Here's the developer's own description from the original unveiling on Reddit:

Players can build their vessel in their own image – if you prefer a scientific, peace oriented game style you can build long rang scanners and diplomatic facilities to encourage peace and information exchange. Players more focused on settling disputes through force can build their Starship with multiple weapon bays and reinforced hull to absorb heavy damage.
Throughout the game players can hire and manage their crew. Crew members have a variety of skill sets and each of these comes into play when performing tasks on board like research, tactical, engineering and more. Crew members gain new skills as the game progresses making them more and more valuable.

Players can explore the universe, discovering black holes, nebula’s, new planets and eventually make contact with new races. Diplomacy comes into play as some species are naturally drawn to combat while others may be more willing to join you – even exchanging officers on your crew.

Anyway, here's the three new screenshots to prove the dev team is "still alive and working":

Needless to say, I'm super excited for this. We're huge fans of the Kairosoft formula around here, and really can't wait to see a game that takes those same basic ideas and applies them to something entirely new and original instead of poorly translated ports of existing mobile phone games. If you want to know more about the game, the developers are actively posting in our forums.

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Every time I dip my head into the hardcore world of chess I feel like an idiot that has stumbled into a Mensa meeting. I'm not referring to actually playing the game of chess, but all the crazy competitions and other events which surround the game to take it to whole new levels. Today, I'm specifically speaking of the World Microcomputer Chess Championship, the World Computer Chess Championship, the World Chess Software Championship, and the World Computer Speed Chess Championship. All of these events are different flavors of the same type of event where hardcore Chess AI developers all bring their electronic chess-playing babies to compete for fame, fortune, and I assume a heck of a lot of bragging rights amongst certain circles.

Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, seen in the photo above, first brought Shredder Chess [$7.99 / Lite / HD] online in 1993, and since then has placed first at twelve of the various world chess software tournaments, doing particularly well at the speed-centric variety. The iOS version is no slouch either, with tons of functionality that will both provide some significant challenge if you're adept, as well as help you be a better player if you've got a smarmy older cousin like me who always insisted on beating you at every family gathering with a chess set nearby.

It does this through a shockingly adjustable AI engine that adjusts its strengths to yours, calculating your Elo rating along the way. If you're just starting out, you can even move the difficulty slider all the way down and Shredder will even make deliberate novice mistakes. Aside from that, there's a coaching functionality which allows you to analyze your games to see and learn from the mistakes you've made. My favorite feature is the little gauge at the bottom (seen in the screenshots) which shows what Shredder thinks the current winner will be, with some crazy accuracy, regardless of how hard I try to prove it wrong.

In addition, there are 1000 different chess puzzles, the ability to load and save games, and even export these games via the open "Portable Game Notation" format which is email-centric, and can be opened in full-fledged versions of Shredder. Also, by buying the iOS version you get a $10 off coupon which can be put towards the Mac/PC/Linux version which sells for €49.99 or €99.99 depending on whether you spring for the standard or the "Deep" variety.

Sure, there's tons of cheaper (or free-er) chess apps available on the App Store. And really, if all you want to do is play some casual games with friends, Chess With Friends [Free / $2.99] fits the bill perfectly. However, if you're a expert in need of a challenge or a novice actively looking to improve your game, Shredder Chess is where it's at, and has a shelf full of real-world trophies to prove it.

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Kids vs. Goblins is an upcoming tactical action RPG being developed by Stolen Couch Games and being published by Crescent Moon. The crux of the gameplay revolves around controlling the 3 different main characters in the game and utilizing each of their unique sets of magic spells. There will be more than 80 spells in the game, and different situations that arise as you travel across the 7 locations in the game will call for the use of specific spells or tactics.

Stolen Couch has said in our forums that they took a cue from Mika Mobile’s Battleheart [$2.99] in regards to controls in Kids vs. Goblins, with what appears to be a similar line drawing-esque approach to moving and dishing out commands. Since Battleheart is one of the finest games around, I fully endorse this decision. It also employs similar real-time combat, and I’m looking forward to seeing just how deep the magic system is and how extensive the RPG elements are.

At the very least the 3D graphics are sure looking nice, and I’m really liking the general art style and character design used in the game. The developers plan on releasing Kids vs. Goblins in September, and I’m sure we’ll be bringing you plenty more details about the game in the weeks to come.

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Back in March, Bow Mobile and Brizo Interactive released their remake of the classic arcade beat ‘em up DoubleDragon [$1.99]. As a huge fan of these kinds of games for most of my life, I actually really enjoyed this new DoubleDragon quite a bit in our review. In fact, the biggest negative for me was the poorly thought out virtual control area that was basically an unnecessary gigantic panel that blocked about a third of the screen. My other problem was the fact that the Game Center integration in the game didn’t seem to be working at all.

Well, several months later and DoubleDragon has received its first update, and at least one of these problems has been partially corrected. Game Center still seems to be defective, but the developers have tweaked the obnoxious control area to be just slightly less obnoxious. The default setting now has the same control panel but it’s translucent, so enemies or deadly pits can still be seen if they’re at the bottom of the screen.

The second option does away with the decorative panel altogether, and just shows translucent buttons only. There’s still about a third of the screen that is basically dead space, most likely to keep a certain aspect ratio of the gameplay screen, but both of these options are much better than they were originally. You can see the new translucent controls in the left screen below, compared to how it was originally on the right. The "no overlay" option can be seen in the large screen above.

Another nice change is an increased hit box for the whip, which actually makes it a usable weapon now. Before it was nearly impossible to line up with an enemy correctly to hit them with the whip, but now, especially with its reach, the whip is a formidable weapon. There are a couple of other minor fixes to round out this update, but the improved control display is definitely the big one. It would really be nice if Game Center could get fixed too, but at least the game keeps track of your high scores and achievements in-game too so you can still get some enjoyment out of them.

If you are a fan of beat ‘em ups and haven’t checked out DoubleDragon yet, now would be a good time as it’s currently on sale for half off at $1.99. Hardcore purists may scoff at the new graphics, but the brawler gameplay is actually really solid and is worth having a look at if you're a fan of the genre.

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If you haven't been following general gaming news lately, Nintendo recently shocked 3DS early adopters with a significant price cut to the system in the wake of troubling hardware sales figures in their recent earnings report. Globally, both Wii and DS sales are down 50%, which wouldn't be that big of a deal if the 3DS was flying off shelves. However, in the previous quarter, Nintendo has only managed to move 710,000 3DS units, worldwide. Total, they've sold less than 1 million units in the USA, which traditionally has always been a massive market for the gaming juggernaut. Taking full responsibility for the 3DS, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has taken a 50% pay cut with other executives taking similar 20-30% pay cuts.

But surely you're asking yourself, "Why is this relevant on TouchArcade," as you mentally prepare your scathing comment to this story. Well, as we discuss in this week's podcast (which will be posted shortly) we're reaching a point where comparing the portable iOS family to dedicated gaming devices is totally appropriate. The era of the App Store where games were described as "good" with the requisite suffix of "for a cell phone game" is over. This last year has been filled with incredible game release after incredible game release. Unity and similar engines are advancing at incredible rates, and through the Unreal Engine we're even starting to see games simultaneously releasing on the PC as well as iOS devices.

So let's look at what's going on with the big N. The 3DS launched with what initially seemed like a strong game lineup that was oddly devoid of first party titles, which historically have amounted to the "system sellers" of the Nintendo hardware family. In fact, the closest thing to a "system seller" to many core gamers was the port of Ocarina of Time, a 1998 Nintendo 64 game, which came months after the launch and wasn't even developed in house. Since then, the 3DS has been plagued with delays and cancellations from third party developers, instilling even further doubt in the platform.

Further yet, Nintendo has taken an incredibly puzzling stance towards indie developers, with Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime flat out saying that they have no intention of doing business with "garage developers." Comparatively, Apple has fully embraced the so called "garage developer," and for $99 a year has facilitated titles like Tiny Wings [99¢] and Doodle Jump [99¢] that have gone on to make millions upon millions of dollars while still providing a place for high-end show pieces like Infinity Blade [$4.99] to thrive.

The era of "traditional" portable gaming as dictated by Nintendo's vision seems like it could be coming to a close if they don't begin to adapt to what the instant accessibility of both development and distribution of current mobile games has provided gamers. While the 3DS's new $170 price tag is undoubtedly cheaper than even a refurbished iPod touch, the $40 price point of 3DS games flat out feels archaic in comparison. Wired's Chris Kohler raises a point that I could not agree with more: Once you've gotten a taste of the App Store, $40 is not a price point where you'll ever say to yourself, "Eh, what the hell, I'll try it."

Furthermore, as a kid, that price point means getting games only on special occasion. Birthdays, Christmases, or even as Kohler suggests, "maybe after getting a root canal if you cry enough." Comparatively, a pair of $20 iTunes gift cards could potentially buy 40 different games. Not only that, but non-stop freebie promotions has turned the iPod Touch into a portable gaming system with so much content that's available for free that it's an impossible task to download and play it all.

Nintendo is even dissuading customers further from buying these full-priced 3DS titles by bolstering their eShop with a full array of NES and Gameboy Advance games which likely will all sell for less than $10. Furthermore, they even seem to be distancing themselves from 3D with Nintendo's chief game maker Shigeru Miyamoto quoted as saying that playing with 3D disabled is "a perfectly acceptable way to play the games."

With previously successful hardware platform sales down 50%, their new flagship portable struggling to gain any significant marketshare and Nintendo executives taking pay cuts, it's safe to say that Nintendo is in dire straits. As Kotaku's Stephen Totilo puts it, "the 3DS era may not be over, but the era of untouchable Nintendo handhelds is now a thing of the past." Despite all this, Nintendo's Iwata has reiterated that Nintendo has no plans to sell its games to other non-Nintendo platforms.

Sega said the same thing.

I'm not sure anyone (including Nintendo) truly can predict the fate of the 3DS and Nintendo's future portable hardware, but it seems like this is the time for Nintendo to react to the App Store instead of dismissing it at every opportunity. As the lines between smartphones and "dedicated" gaming handhelds blur to near non-existence, Nintendo is going to need to take drastic measures. The 3DS price drop seems to be the first, and as a life-long Nintendo fan I can't wait to see what they do next.

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Emotional Robots’ Warm Gun will pull your eyeballs out of your head at first glance. It’s got a unique look: it’s a sci-fi, class-based FPS set in a post-apocalyptic second coming of the wild, wild west. Think Red Dead Redemption meets Borderlands, except the Borderlands part is just icing on the grit-and-sand cake. The game first hit our radar earlier this year when it was announced for an iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch release alongside its PC launch. At the time of that report, we didn’t have a release. And while we still don’t have an exact one, we do have a window now: August, so says a studio rep.

We’ve also since seen the first footage of the iOS version, too. Just the other day, actually, the studio dropped a pretty stellar teaser trailer of the game running natively on the platforms. And if you can’t already tell, yeah, this is an Unreal Engine 3 joint.

To hear Emotional Robots explain it, the decision to port the game had a lot to do growth and popularity as a studio and for the game. Emotional Robots took the opportunity that Epic has given developers with UDK as a challenge and as a way to “break into the industry and get gamers familiar with Warm Gun.” At the end of the day, it believes its created not just one, but two unique experiences for PC and for mobile respectively.

It'll be interesting seeing how the iOS counterparts play, as a keyboard and mouse is arguably the ideal way to play a FPS. In an e-mail chat, the studio addressed my concerns to some degree, stating that the controls on iOS devices are definitely a key point of interest and it’s creating multiple schemes for players to get comfortable with.

“We are constantly updating and tweaking the controls and will be offering multiple control schemes,” executive producer Zach Lehman said. “ We realize that using touch screen to control a FPS is limited in some ways, so we are trying to cover as many bases as possible by doing extensive testing and offering customization where we can.” He also mentioned that users will have a hand in the future of the controls — as I was reminded several times, it wants feedback from enthusiasts.

The fact that Warm Gun iOS will be a port of a promising, technically-cool property that was once scheduled to hit a standard platform doesn't come as the same kind of surprise as it used to. We see this happening a lot as mobile devices in general are increasingly becoming more legitimate platforms in 'traditional' video game makers' eyes. Lord knows they've demanded the market share for awhile.

“Warm Gun's level of graphics combined with the freedom given by an FPS that isn't 'on rails' is still rather unique to the market,” Lehman told us when we asked what differentiated the title from others. “In the past, we've had a lot of comments regarding our art style (and it being compared to games like Borderlands or Red Dead Redemption). While we recognize the similarities in atmosphere, that's pretty much where it ends.”

“Warm Gun offers a fast paced, gun-slinging experience with 12 unique weapons, 4 unique characters and 5 very different maps. We will also have achievements and honors that you can flaunt in front of your friends after you dominate them in a match.”

No word on price yet, but we'll pay whatever for the promise of Warm Gun.

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