TouchArcade.ru

Back in October we reported that, in what will surely be a dream-come-true for a sizable swath of oldschool iOS gamers, Tower Studios and Vivid Games, in association with The Bitmap Brothers, announced that future sports classic Speedball 2 would be making its way to the App Store in the form of Speedball 2: Evolution. We're happy to now be able to add a good bit of detail — along with screenshots and a trailer video — to this excellent news, thanks to a recent release by Tower Games.

The original Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe, which was first released for the Atari ST back in 1990, was just awesome. It was a sequel to the original, superb Speedball, that was just better in every way. (Some readers with fewer years of gaming under their belts might be familiar with the 2007 XBLA release of the title.) Speedball 2: Evolution, as the name might suggest, takes the game even farther, bringing quick-play, league and cup tournaments, a detailed career mode, along with multiplayer support.

"This is the best version of Speedball 2 since the original and the best remake of any classic title available on the App Store," creative director and Tower Games CEO John Hare, who earlier brought us Sensible Soccer, assures us.

"Speedball 2: Evolution is the most comprehensive game in the series, and a real programming masterpiece thanks to the amazing efforts of Vivid Games. To existing fans this is a classic remake, to the new generation this is a fantastic modern game in it’s own right. It marks the first arrival of a Bitmap Brothers classic to the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad – expect to see many more classic titles re-mastered and updated by us in the future."

Some of the Speedball 2: Evolution features, as listed by Tower Games:

• 336 individual players
• 22 achievements
• 20 power-ups and pick-ups
• 16 classic Speedball teams
• 12 new intergalactic teams
• 10 season career mode
• 10 single player modes
• 6 arenas on four different planets
• Player transfer market and upgrades

Speedball 2: Evolution will be available in the App Store later this month (price not yet determined). And, this is only the beginning of the retro goodness. Tower Games intends to release a series of remakes of classic Bitmap Brothers games for iOS gamers.

The Bitmap Brothers, in years past, also brought us Xenon II, Gods, The Chaos Engine, Cadaver, and Magic Pockets.

[source]

Flight Control [.99 / Free / HD] creator Firemint makes a fantastic argument with its Real Racing franchise for the iPad and iPod Touch: it says, “Hey, portable racing games can be good, too” and then proves it with sleek visuals and solid racing mechanics and design.

If you’re a fan of fast things that go fast or racing with a fast thing against other fast things that go fast, Real Racing games are definite must-haves in your App Store collection. And now you can grab them all on the cheap.

Over on its blog, Firemint has announced that it’s putting three of its racing games — Real Racing, Real Racing HD, and Real Racing 2 — on sale. For your convenience, here’s the original prices and what will become the new ones:

• Real Racing – $4.99 –> $1.99
• Real Racing HD – $9.99 –> $4.99
• Real Racing 2 – $9.99 –> $4.99

As Firemint notes in its post, the dev doesn’t often play the App Store “game” and screw with its prices in order to get temporary bumps on the charts, so don’t expect these games to hit rock bottom prices next month and then the next month after that, too. In other words, if you have had your eye on these pups, it might be best to grab them now because who knows when this'll happen again.

[source]

For a limited time, Rockstar Games is offering their iOS versions of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars at a 50% discount from the regular price of $9.99 to celebrate the Chinese New Year. GTA: Chinatown Wars was originally released for the Nintendo DS in March of 2009, and featured all of the essential components of a full-blown console GTA game but with toned down visuals and presented from a bird’s-eye view rather than the traditional third-person view. The title was a critical success, and later that year was ported over to the Sony PSP with greatly enhanced visuals.

In January of 2010, the entire game made its way onto the App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch. The iOS version falls somewhere in the middle of its portable console cousins, with visuals that are markedly improved over the DS version but fall a bit short when compared to the PSP version. It retains all of the content, however, and the virtual touch screen controls actually work much better than I ever could have expected, which we noted in our full review. Last September, a native iPad version was released with visual improvements that brought it nearly to the level of the PSP version and UI enhancements that catered to the larger screen.

GTA: Chinatown Wars has previously been on sale a few times during its lifespan, but it doesn’t happen terribly often. With a huge influx of new iOS device owners from the holidays, this is their first chance to grab the title at a discount in 2011. GTA: Chinatown Wars offers dozens upon dozens of hours of playtime given the lengthy story missions, numerous side quests and collectibles, and of course the endless hours you can spend aimlessly goofing around in the humongous sandbox world of Liberty City. If you own an iOS device and don’t yet have GTA: Chinatown Wars, it comes highly recommended, especially during this half-price sale that runs through this Sunday.

[source]

If you've been following TouchArcade, you've seen that we've been closely keeping up on Gameloft's Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden [Free] since before it even had a title. Early on we suspected it to be an action oriented game with Zelda-like mechanics, and that turned out to be true. I also mentioned that I'll play any Zelda game and any game that vaguely resembles a Zelda game without issue, regardless of how good or bad it is. So, I've fulfilled that blood oath by spending a ridiculous amount of time yesterday and today powering through Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden.

Before I get carried away, it's probably a good idea to discuss Gameloft's new approach to how they're selling their games now. They're labeling it "freemium", which seems to differ from everyone else's definition of the word. Instead, it seems more along the lines of a demoware, with the rest of the game available via a single in-app purchase. Basically, now instead of a paid and lite version of the game, there's a single version. In Sacred Odyssey, you're able to play through the first few missions (which more or less amounts to the tutorial) and get a good handle on what's coming in the rest of the game. This takes about 15 minutes. After that, a screen comes up asking you to make a one-time in-app purchase of $6.99 to continue.

Reactions on our forums have varied wildly from people who think this is an interesting approach to people frothing with rage. Personally, this kind of thing is what I always hoped for when I first heard about in-app purchasing coming to the App Store. The benefits of this are massive. Instead of downloading a lite version, getting 15 minutes in, hitting the end of it, and downloading the full version only to do that 15 minutes over again you can just keep on truckin' after making your IAP. It also helps to remove clutter from the App Store since separate lite and paid versions of Sacred Odyssey aren't needed. Sure, the download size may be a little bigger than your average lite version, but you're actually saving time and bandwidth by not needing to download a second game if you decide you like it.

The opening of Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden takes a cue from many other RPG's and begins with a dream sequence where a mysterious princess is calling out to you. After doing some dirty work around your village, you start off on your adventure, and believe it or not actually end up meeting this mysterious princess inside the first 15 minutes of playing the game. She sends you off on your first task which involves visiting the first dungeon, snagging your first piece of loot, fighting the first boss, and discovering that you're not just some mild-mannered townsperson– You're a grail seeker. You then return back to your home town only to find it ravaged by orcs and burnt to the ground. From here, the plot takes a curious turn down Star Wars street, and if this cut scene doesn't remind you of Luke returning to Uncle Owen's farm on Tatooine, nothing will.

This brings me to my first issue with Sacred Odyssey– It's like the writers couldn't really decide if this is supposed to be a serious fantasy game, a pop culture parody game, or a comedy game. Dialog varies wildly from heavy-handed RPG cliches of foretold prophecies, to your fairy companion telling you that a mythical sword of the gods is "uber-sharp" and "begging to slice and dice". Meanwhile, you've got two horses, "Maya" and "Moto." It feels incredibly disjointed. The good news is, Gameloft's voice acting seems significantly better than previous offerings, so even though dialog is cringe-worthy at times, at least it's voiced well.

Solid dialog and plot lines have never been Gameloft's strong points, but thankfully, the actual gameplay in Sacred Odyssey is awesome. The game is controlled using a virtual joystick and variety of virtual buttons. Like most Gameloft games, these are all completely configurable, although I've had no issue with the defaults. Fighting works well, and unsurprisingly has a Hero of Sparta feel to it, with virtual buttons for swinging your sword as well as blocking or dodging if you hit the block button while holding the virtual joystick in the direction you'd like to roll. Combat is actually really fun, and you'll often find yourself in situations where you'll need to be evasive and defensive instead of just mindlessly mashing your attack as if it were an "I Win!" button.

Progressing through the main storyline involves taking various quests, which inevitably lead you to people who have other quests, and then eventually a dungeon. These dungeons often have puzzles which much like other Zelda-esque games involve sliding blocks around or using whatever item you just received to overcome obstacles. Of course no dungeon would be complete without loads of bad guys, and a massive boss at the end, two things you'll also find in Sacred Odyssey. Boss battles are a lot of fun, even though they can sometimes feel like going through the motions of "Oh hey, I just got this ability, time to use it over and over on this dude until he dies," but that seems to be the case for any game following this formula.

Aside from the main quest line, there are an ample amount of side quests too, although none of them that I've come across have been particularly engaging or offer good rewards. Still, it's cool that they're there, as they provide a bit of a distraction from just running from dungeon to dungeon. Along the way you'll also collect blue orbs, as seemingly everything spews them. These are used to purchase things from a vendor who follows you around. You can buy everything from simple potions, to potions that heal a larger amount of life, to extremely expensive power-ups.

While Gameloft isn't treading on any kind of new or original territory (as at times, Sacred Odyssey feels like a direct carbon copy of Zelda, Darksiders, or both) but there just isn't anything else like this on the App Store. We'll likely never see a real Zelda game either, so I suppose I don't really mind playing Gameloft's "highly inspired" version of it. If you love Zelda-style games, this isn't one you should pass up, especially to see what you think of Gameloft's new payment method.

What's going to be fun to watch is where Gameloft goes from here, as although I had a bunch of fun with Sacred Odyssey, it's hard to dispute the fact that the graphics do look a bit dated compared to more recent releases– Especially those utilizing the Unreal Engine. Also, it will be curious to see whether or not Gameloft sticks with this payment method for several reasons: They're now competing on the free charts, which is substantially more competitive than the paid charts. Sites like AppShopper don't (and can't) track sales of items purchased via IAP, as Apple doesn't offer this data as part of their third party App Store API. This means that all the people who save Gameloft games to a wishlist and wait for sales aren't going to get any notification. Last, but certainly not least, the IAP transaction requires an active internet connection on your device, which may be an issue for iPod touch users.

Regardless, I had a ton of fun with Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden, and highly recommend any Zelda fan give it a try. You'll have a great idea of whether or not you want to continue by the time you hit the pay wall, and hopefully you're somewhere with connectivity so you can proceed past it.

[source]

A few weeks ago, Bit Developers announced their newest iOS project called Bit Breaker. With so many brick breaking games released in the App Store over the past few years, there would have to be a pretty unique twist included in any new game for me to take notice. Bit Breaker appears to have such a twist. It’s a brick breaking game built around the idea of two players within the same play area, one at top and one at bottom, where the goal is to earn points by breaking bricks and outscore your opponent by the time all bricks are eliminated.

The way this works is by “claiming” a ball by bouncing it off of your paddle. All bricks that are then broken with your claimed ball will earn you points. You can also claim your opponents ball and have multiple balls working for you, and your opponent can do this to you as well. Also, instead of having a void behind the paddles where you lose a ball forever, each opponent has a wall they must protect. Hitting your opponent’s wall with your ball adds a multiplier to your score and subtracts one from theirs, and again this can work the other way against you as well.

It all sounds really clever, and as with many things it makes a lot more sense seeing it visually. Yesterday, Bit Developers released the below video that explains the gameplay fairly in-depth, though you can also check out this shorter trailer for Bit Breaker that shows how frantic the action can get:

There is currently no set release date or pricing information for Bit Breaker, though it seems to be coming along nicely based on the trailers. I’m also curious to know if it will have online multiplayer using something like Game Center, or if it will be local or same device only. This seems like the sort of game that is perfectly suited to same device iPad play, but as of right now it appears that Bit Breaker is only slated for the iPhone and iPod touch platforms. The developers are posting about the game in our forums, so check there for the latest scoop on things, and we’ll be looking forward to checking out more of Bit Breaker in the future.

[source]

Paradox Interactive is targeting multiple high-profile platforms for the release of its tower defense game Defenders of Ardania: Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, PC, and… the iPad?

Yeah, that’s right — the iPad. We don't know too much about Defenders of Ardania yet, but this type of development illustrates the ever-growing pull Apple has on the digital market. You see, games that are usually slated for "major platforms" (which generally consist of the PS3, Xbox 360, and sometimes the PC) typically don’t see an immediate release on the iPad. Or at least, the iOS version isn’t mentioned in the same breath as these other, I guess you could say, “more important” platforms. So, score one for Apple here as it continues to shoulder its way into core development plans.

Oddly enough, this doesn't seem that out of the ordinary anymore. We’re seeing quite a few developers bringing substantial ports to iOS. Telltale Games, for example, is queuing up iPad versions of its popular properties. We’ve seen the release of the first chapter of Tales of Monkey Island and will eventually see a release of the Back to the Future series on the platform. Games like Dungeon Defenders not only run on multiple platforms, but soon will support multiplayer between all of them as well.

It's really cool seeing iOS devices considered a "major platform" by more and more game developers. What's going to be even cooler to see is what happens in the future as the next generation of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch are released which will inevitably close the performance gap even more between portable devices and home consoles. I can't wait.

[source]

When Sony unveiled the NGP and talked about its PlayStation Suite initiative for the first time earlier last week, you may remember that the publisher didn’t use the magical word “exclusive” when describing the PSS’ connection to Android. That was a deliberate move so it could keep the communication and creative channels open — a point that SCE CEO Kaz “Ridge Racer” Hirai talked around in a roundtable discussion after the event.

"We have a completely open stance. With carriers and with hand set makers,” Hirai said according to Andriasang.com. "There are a variety of OSes,” he said. “But we're focusing first on Android. There's also Windows, iOS and so forth, but we don't have the resources to make it compatible with everything from the start."

This is the NGP, FYI.

We speculated that Sony could bring PSS to iOS, and while this isn’t anywhere near a confirmation, we’re more aware now that Sony is willing to, at least, entertain the idea of doing so. But there are a few stumbling blocks.

First, all games that go through PSS will be certified by Sony and funneled through its own closed system, presumably similar to iTunes in theory. Apple, of course, already certifies its own stuff and has its own digital delivery system. I can’t see Apple being fans of having a system on top of a system, so that’s block one.

Block two is that devices that will use PSS will need to be PlayStation Certified. There are a billion Android handsets out there, so this helps Sony keep the amount of SKUs it needs to certify games for down (probably way, way down). It also gives Sony a measure of control over what needs to be on a phone. I can’t see Apple playing ball with this either. Can you imagine a flip iPhone or iPod Touch that has a PlayStation d-pad? Yeah, me neither.

Still, this is interesting to hear from Hirai and we’ll no doubt keep our eyes on this initiative as it blossoms into a beautiful flower. A lot of you, including me, don’t think PSS will ever come to the iOS, but hey, we live in a world where a lot of crazier stuff has happened. Can you believe that, like, 300 Spartans kept an entire army at bay for a couple of days? Insane!

[source]

So there's these oranges… They're just hanging out amidst wooden blocks and platforms of various sizes, against the backdrop of numerous lovely pastoral landscapes. It's about all an orange could ask for, really. Well, it would be about all an orange could ask for, were it not for this pesky and dangerous cloud that keeps blowing about, precipitating deadly poisonous rain and spelling gruesome death for said oranges. Poor, poor oranges!

Such is the dilemma in FDG Entertainment's iOS physics puzzler Cover Orange [App Store]. But, fret not — there is something you can do…

Cover Orange presents you with level after platform-filled level of cute little vulnerable oranges, and it's your mission to protect them — to cover them, if you will — from the aforementioned cloud's deadly rain. This is done by strategically dragging and dropping the various objects at your disposal (each level presents you with a different mix) onto the platforms where the oranges are resting. This might mean filling a gap between two platforms with a crate to provide cover, or nudging an orange towards the safety of an overhang with a wagon wheel, or dropping in barrels and a crate to build a makeshift house, of sorts, for a helpless orange.

As you progress through the levels, the platform arrangements grow more elaborate. You may need to drop a barrel onto one end of a lever platform to catapult an orange across the screen, or nudge a hinged hammer into motion to get things flying about the level properly. Whatever the case, the end goal is to keep the bouncing droplets (more like pellets, really) of rain from contacting any orange on the screen when the cloud comes passing by.

A realistic physics system acts upon every object onscreen, including each raindrop, which brings with it a bit of collision chaos that inserts a bit of chance as to whether your particular arrangement of objects will get the job done. In short, there is no single, right solution in many cases, and it feels like luck plays a role, as well.

My only real gripe with the game is to do with the scaling of difficulty as the levels advance. The difficulty does increase with the level number, in general, but there are several instances where you may still be patting yourself on the back for completing so complex a level arrangement, when faced with a follow-up level that's quite basic and easy to complete. Additionally, I have heard comments from one or two gamers who dislike the feeling of luck being a party of things, that I described earlier. It's hard to articulate, but there's definitely a feeling that, where you thought you placed your objects well and still failed, another round of the same arrangement might yield success. It's to do with the chaos introduced by the physics system. It may leave a sour taste in your mouth, but it bothers me not at all (because, while it sometimes hurts, it sometimes helps).

Cover Orange for iOS is a port of an existing Flash title, but with notable scenery enhancements. FDG released both Cover Orange [link] for the iPhone / iPod touch and Cover Orange HD [link] for the iPad in mid-December and in the month and a half since, the game has become quite popular, seeing over 2 million downloads.

In the time I've spent with Cover Orange so far, I've definitely felt that "ok, just one more level" draw that a clever puzzler will inspire, making it tough to walk away from. And, while I've not run through all 120 levels (and 20 more are on the way at the time of this writing), I expect I will soon enough.

I know it's not the same sort of game, but if you like Angry Birds and its ilk, I think Cover Orange will be worth your while — there's just a spiritual similarity of sorts going on there. At any rate, at least give the Flash version a whirl or check out the lite version of Cover Orange HD [link].

[source]

Cyan Worlds is currently running a limited time, half price sale on Riven [App Store] for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Riven, the best selling game of 1997, the year of its release, is, as its name suggests, a followup to Cyan's famed 1993 surreal graphical adventure Myst (which is also available in the App Store [link]).

In Riven, the player resumes the role of the first game's protagonist, The Stranger. Atrus, author of the linking books that provide access to the various Ages, needs The Stranger's help in rescuing Catherine, his wife, who is held captive by the evil Ghen in the dying Age of Riven.

Like Myst that came before it, Riven is a point-and-click adventure, but with far more lush scenery and animations. The iOS version of the game features Cyan's new "Shake-A-Hint" system, that highlights action points to help the stuck player along.

Riven HD, a native iPad version of the game, is expected to be released sometime later.

[source]

One of the best run-and-jump fighters I've ever played is Sega's 1987 coin-op release, Shinobi. Several of us here at Touch Arcade spent hours in the local arcade together way back when, shoveling quarter after quarter into that Shinobi cabinet. We grabbed various home versions of the game, but none lived up to the excellent arcade experience. Happily, a number of sequels followed that targeted consoles specifically, and they provided some great ninja slashing action. The best of the lot in the eyes of many, myself included, is Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master. It was originally released for the Genesis / Mega Drive back in 1993, and tonight Sega has released the game, wrapped in their iOS Genesis emulator we've seen before, through the App Store [link].

In Shinobi III, you're back in the role of ninja warrior Joe Musashi as he fights to defeat the evil organization Neo Zeed, which is bent on world domination. You move through seven rounds of carnage, laying waste to scads of other ninjas with your shinobigatana, shurikens, and four magical ninjutsu techniques. You must brave a variety of hostile environments, including forests, caves, cities, laboratories, and factories. You even ride a horse. And surf! It's a harrowing affair, but the game is actually a bit more forgiving than the first in the series, employing a life meter that allows for accumulated damage as opposed to one hit kills, as did Revenge of Shinobi which preceded it. It's a great game — a bit short on play time, but full of action.

…on the Genesis (and Wii Virtual Console), that is. Sadly, as has been the case with numerous straight arcade / console conversion from Sega and others in the past, much of the great experience of the original has been lost in translation to the iPhone. There is nothing to complain about as far as performance from the emulator — it seems Sega has been steadily improving it, and things run smoothly and at full speed for all intents and purposes on an iPhone 4 test device. The issue is with the controls, their arrangement and inflexibility.

Like other Sega iOS releases running in their emulator, there is both a full screen and a windowed view. The fullscreen mode, with its larger image, is the most desirable play mode, I would say, but it suffers from the fixed arrangement of the onscreen D-pad and three action buttons; very often a thumb on either completely obscures your character, making gameplay highly awkward. This can be avoided by using the windowed view which renders the game at it's native resolution (fullscreen is a scale-up, not the other way around) with D-pad and buttons below, but on a screen with a pixel density as high as any iPhone or iPod touch device, it's a strain to behold. It's possible that an option to reposition the touch points would help matters but, frankly, I can't imagine an arrangement that would be truly acceptable. As is, the gameplay will leave you longing for your old Genesis.

See a gameplay video of the original console version.

And so, again we have a truly excellent console title that falls sadly short of the mark in making its way to the iPhone. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master is likely an App Store purchase that only the true Shinobi devotee could make with satisfaction.

[source]