Archive for the ‘.NET’ tag
‘Truckers Delight: Episode 1′ Review – This May Not Be a Realistic Portrayal of Truck Driving
Following on the heels of the recent rerelease of Edge [$2.99] comes next title, Truckers Delight: Episode 1 [$2.99], an episodic retro styled arcade racer. Based on an filled with pixel art, cartoon nudity, and many other potentially offensive things by director Jérémie Périn, Truckers Delight: Episode 1 seems to be based on just the first segment of the video in all of its 8-bit glory. Presumably, the other portions of the video will be coming as their own episodes in the future.
In Episode 1, you play as a truck driver chasing a girl in a sports car down the highway. The iTunes description mentions similarities to , which couldn't possibly serve as a better comparison. Tilting the phone controls your truck, and all you do is chase the girl, ramming her car whenever possible for points. A countdown timer is constantly ticking away which is refreshed by passing checkpoints, and during your pursuit you will need to fend off angry police, bikers, and avoid a constant onslaught of traffic that will slow you down.
Several power ups can be picked up during your adventure. So far I've come across three: A set of horns that allow you to ram other cars off the road easily, a rocket booster that sends you flying towards the next checkpoint, and a tongue attack point multiplier. You can also honk the horn of your truck, this doesn't seem to do anything, but I can't seem to help myself from doing it almost constantly.
Truckers Delight: Episode 1 includes an odd amount of cartoon nudity for a game on the App Store. Not only does it include the first portion of the original video, but when you pick up the power up to let your tongue fly, it quite literally results in an on-screen explosion of naked women.
I've actually had a surprising amount of fun with Truckers Delight. Mobigame did a great job of nailing the feel of endless retro racing games, and the difficulty ramps up nicely requiring quite a bit of concentration as you dart between oncoming cars in your 18 wheeler. Truckers Delight features online leaderboards which are already loaded with scores that are about twice as high as my best score, and it's hard to not get in to the catchy soundtrack included with the game.
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‘X2 Soccer 2010′ Takes the Field on the App Store
, makers of X2 Snowboarding [$1.99 / Free] and last year's X2 Soccer 2009 [$4.99 / Free] just released this year's version of their amazing full 3D soccer game, X2 Soccer 2010 [$6.99].
Soccer fans are going crazy over this year's iteration of X2 Soccer, and I've got to agree with the positive reactions forum members are having playing the game. X2 Games took everything that was great about the original X2 Soccer 2009 and added new game modes, even more teams and competitions, further refined controls, better graphics across the board as well as 3GS-specific optimizations, and even smarter AI.
On top of all that, X2 Soccer 2010 comes with a full suite of multiplayer options covering local WiFi or Bluetooth as well as online multiplayer which actually works shockingly well for a fast paced sports game. The in-game commentary is decent, there are different weather effects, and if something cool happens in your game you can even save the replay.
We'll have a full review up shortly, but in the meantime, it would be difficult for our initial impressions of X2 Soccer 2010 to be more positive.
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‘Highborn’ Preview — An Upcoming High Fantasy Strategy Game with an Emphasis on Funny.
We were fortunate to be given hands-on time with upcoming game, Highborn; a medieval turn-based strategy game with a blend of the traditional 2D map gameplay and a great looking 3D combat engine. To give some context, Jet Set Games is led by the original creators of the immensely popular RTS.
Much of Highborn clearly draws inspiration from popular PC titles such as . From the very first map Highborn's richly painted levels catch the eye. In fact, all the artwork we saw was exceptionally well drawn, from character designs to unit icons on the combat map– all had a grand cartoon-like style that we've really taken to.
This is true of the combat engine too. When you engage in combat, the screen transitions into a focused battlefield, akin to other popular TBS games such as Rogue Planet. Where Highborn differs is that attack moves are played out in full-3D. These 3D encounters are just as detailed and are terrifically animated; units are brought to life to look just as great as their 2D counterparts. The many different battlefield environments we saw were crafted to the same high standard, too.
The rich world created by Jet Set Games doesn't stop at the visuals though, as each character we encountered in our brief time with the game were larger-than-life and very self-aware. We appreciated the (often very funny) well-written banter between characters and the many instances where dialogue segues right through the fourth wall. It's been a long time since a game made us laugh, but Highborn promises to do just that.
Highborn also promises asynchronous multiplayer via Facebook, where you can send challenges to your friends and play against each other on selected multiplayer maps. We had a chance to test this, and we're pleased to say it works really well. You can even have multiple games going at once, meaning time spent waiting for your friends to move can be kept at a minimum. Thoughtfully, the game icon also displays the number of multiplayer games currently awaiting your attention.
Highborn is shaping up to be an excellent turn-based strategy with a storyline worth caring about. It's a breathe of fresh air to see time and effort devoted to good dialogue writing, and it seems to pay off in what we've seen so far. We're eagerly awaiting Highborn's release (which is still slated as 'Coming Soon' by the developers) to see what more fun Jet Set Games have in store for us.
In the interim, whet your appetites by checking out our video above of the opening mission. Be sure to watch it in HD, as you'll get a better feel for the game by reading the mission dialogue.
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Classic Fighter ‘Karate Champ’ Gameplay Video Released
When the App Store first launched, I don't think anyone imagined that the iPhone would be such a marvelous platform for retro gamers. The amount of games out there that are either direct ports or heavily inspired by classic titles has been absolutely awesome both for fans of these vintage games and newcomers who are getting to experience the roots of video gaming for the first time.
, the guys behind the phenomenal port of the LaserDisc arcade game Cobra Command [$2.99] just revealed a video of their next game, Karate Champ. The attention to detail is absolutely astounding, between the arcade style cabinet controls, the gameplay itself, and even the announcer voice which is a dead ringer for the voice.
Released to arcades in 1984, Karate Champ was one of the first fighting games. It later made its way to the Apple II, the Commodore 64, and the NES among other platforms. According to Revolutionary Concepts, it will be submitted to Apple this week and it will launch at $1.99 as soon as it is approved.
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Gaikai Co-founder Shows Photo of ‘World of Warcraft’ Running on an iPad
Perhaps our iPads aren't as tied to the App Store's selection of games as some of us might have come to believe. Leave it to , founder of Shiny Entertainment, to change our perception.
In a , the Gaikai co-founder revealed a picture of a prototype version of his browser-based streaming service working on an iPad. The game he chose to show off with it? Blizzard Entertainment's ever-popular PC MMO World of Warcraft.
Gaikai proper is a . The goal is to move consumers away from installs and having to upgrade their computers with parts. Gaikai's servers hosts the game, and all of its files, and streams them into browsers. This allows users to get the full game experience without hassle.
Gaikai is currently in beta.
Speaking with about the image of World of Warcraft running on the new Apple device, Perry revealed that it's running in 1024-by-768. He also revealed other details, and called the picture a "teaser."
"All iPad inputs are streamed through a translation system to the server, so we can re-map anything to anything in real-time. We hide a virtual keyboard off to the side, so you can type as well (like to login). It's just a teaser as the iPad just arrived, once they are done with the video optimization we will show it off."
This isn't the first time we've seen World of Warcraft running on an Apple handheld. Last year we watched a video of the MMO running on an iPhone courtesy of the Vollee client which promises to be able to do what Gaikai will do for PCs, but in our phones instead.
According to Digital Foundry, Gaikai for the iPad is a ground-up, HTML5-designed effort. If Gaikai, as an app, ever progresses beyond this tantalizing prototype stage, it's hard to tell if Apple will clear it as an App Store purchase. We don't need to lick a frog to predict that it'll at least experience some sort of scrutiny.
"I'd prefer to play World of Warcraft on my iPad more than just about any app they (Apple) permit. I'm not sure blocking great stuff is a good strategy," Perry told in a recent chat.
"I guess the point is that once we get our player written for iPad, we can run absolutely anything on it that same day."
Until that fateful day, though, we can just drool and wish.
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‘Jet Grind Radio’ Coming to… Well, at least XBLA in 2010
that Sega may be reviving Jet Grind Radio / Jet Set Radio this year for the Xbox Live Arcade.
So what, you ask?
Yes, well, we're not sure that means anything for us iPhone-toting gamers, but it does provide some closure to 2008 rumors we reported on that Sega was indeed reviving this classic game. At that time, a trademark filing revived the Jet Grind Radio trademark to include games for "mobile phones" as well as "downloadable game programs" which had given us some hope for an iPhone port. Of course, SEGA's sub-par iPhone gaming releases since that time have left us far less hopeful that we'll see a proper Jet Grind Radio game in the App Store.
Jet Grind Radio (known as Jet Set Radio outside of North America) was a highly rated Dreamcast game with distinctive, visually impressive cel-shaded rendering. There are the official Jet Grind Radio announcement will come at E3 2010. Hopefully, at that time we'll find out if this will be an Xbox-exclusive title or we'll be seeing it grace other platforms.
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Cammy Coming to ‘Street Fighter IV’ in a Free Update
While we were , Capcom released their iPhone version of Street Fighter IV [App Store] for the iPhone. It's a lightweight port of the highly respected arcade release that does an admirable job of putting that arcade experience in your pocket.
The iPhone version delivers eight characters from the various Street Fighter titles: Abel, Blanka, Chun Li, Ryu, Bison, Dhalsim, Guile and Ken. And while this selection allows for some decently varied combat, everyone has their favorite character, and given the size of the Street Fighter universe, many saw their favorite fighter overlooked.
Well, recent news from Capcom should put a smile on the face of at least some of the bereft Street Fighter fans out there. The studio will be adding one more character to the mix in a coming, free update to Street Fighter IV for the iPhone. , who was introduced in Super Street Fighter II, will soon fall in line as the ninth fighter in the iPhone release. A nice choice, as she is a particular favorite .
See Capcom's video of Cammy in action.
No solid date has been indicated for the update that will add Cammy to the game's lineup.
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TouchArcade 360iDev Game Jam – A Night to Remember
Late last night the TouchArcade Game Jam at 360iDev brought a room full of developers together to build a game in twelve hours with only a single word as the inspiration: "Tiny". After a few cases of Red Bull, a truck load of Doritos, and some Franzia, each participating developer slowly formed workable prototypes for game ideas thought up on the fly. Some people worked in teams, others went solo, but I feel confident in saying that everyone had a good time.
To track the progress of the developers, we opened up a that they used to post screenshots and get ideas from the TouchArcade community. Ordered by the number of responses each game got, here are the products of the Game Jam:
From and comes a tilt to shoot game where you must defend a cake from …cake lovers? Various power ups are included, my personal favorite being the multi-cake shot seen in the above screenshot.
and teamed up to build this molecular line drawing game where you chain together atoms to clear the screen. Different atoms have various numerical values to them, and matching them together creates huge molecules for massive points.
The Pollinator is less of a game and more of a zen garden app, as it is played by tapping the flowers as bees fly by to pollinate the plants to keep them alive. (As the title may hint.)
built a Canabalt-like side scrolling survival game where you play as a pretty little unicorn. The game's thread is worth checking out to see the iterations the art style went through.
Jason and Jakob of built a chalkboard battle game they're describing as "It's like iShoot meets Warheads for your chalkboard!" Check out the above video to see the game in motion.
This collaboration between and is said to offer Canabalt-style survival gameplay where you dodge things in the game world by pinching to zoom the game world in and out.
A team of three guys form worked through the night to build this game which involves gliding through the air and grappling the terrain to fling yourself forward while avoiding crashing in to the hills.
This oddly beautiful game by involves guiding a particle (named Owen) through a field of magnets. The polarity of the magnets can be switched around to guide said particle through the magnetic field without touching any other magnets.
While I'm not entirely sure if Serban from ever finished his game, the concept art alone is worth showing off. Since the theme of the Game Jam was tiny, his game is about sharks with tiny lasers.
Participating remotely via web cam was who built a tiny (and accurately named) space shooter game.
David Whatley of and 360iDev keynote speaker was working on a game entitled The Will of Steve. I'm not entirely sure what the plan was with the gameplay, but if I know David, it likely involved Steve doing something silly with that iPad.
put together this top down kayak racer and was one of the few people to also fulfill the bonus "Owen Goss" theme. Your kayak is controlled by swiping down both sides of the screen, and the game was just barely finished in time with 25 minutes to spare.
put together a match three based on body parts being dumped in to an open grave. They didn't quite get all the matching logic working, they have plans to finish the game over the next week.
came up with this zombie infection game that features user-modifiable graphics. You can either save the world from zombies, or, if you prefer, save the world from Owen Goss.
and put together this bacon-powered game where you play as a monkey in space with an insatiable love for cured pork products. Shoot monkey cages to free your friends and pick up Slim Fast to, well, go faster.
came up with this amazing side scrolling shooter. I'd summarize the game, but they already did it perfectly:
The unthinkable has happened. After numerous jokes about snow and hockey, our neighbors to the north have unleashed an aerial invasion, loading up tons of cargo planes with… bacon. You play as the fighter ace with a trusty P-51 mustang, who must shoot down the cargo planes with your trusty WWII plane… armed with heat seeking missiles.
This mysterious developer known only as "Rob" or "themuller" on our forums put together a game with a shockingly accurate title. A face scrolls down the screen, and, well, you mini-gun it.
Markus from put together this simple game that involves tapping the screen to leave food for the black dot to eat while you avoid the red dot. Graphics are extremely preliminary right now, but the game itself is fully functional.
I'm not entirely sure if this game turned in to anything more than this mock up screenshot put together by or not, but it's hard to not get behind anything that involves orbiting cats with laser eyes.
put together a concept for a ball rolling game where you suck up other red balls by rolling over them. The catch is, you have to avoid the pillars which becomes increasingly difficult as your red ball grows in size.
Finally, , a picnic raiding game, was posted about in our Game Jam forum but without any screenshots or details aside from the concept of playing two player with opposing armies of ants stealing food from a picnic. Hopefully we hear some more on this one.
And of course, thanks to everyone who came to the Game Jam. The vibe in the room was fantastic, and it's always great hanging around creative people bouncing ideas off one another… Especially when those ideas have to do with rapidly developed iPhone games and Owen Goss. We'll post a followup as we hear from more of these developers regarding the fate of their Game Jam games. I went through and listed everyone who posted anything in the in this article, so if your game is missing, it's not too late to post a thread!
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A Look at Upcoming ‘Galaxy on Fire 2′ for iPhone and iPad
iPad users striving for the Elite experience on the iPad will soon have an alternative to Warpgate HD, thanks to FishLabs' upcoming space commerce shooter Galaxy on Fire 2, sequel to one of my favorite iPhone titles, Galaxy on Fire [App Store].
Currently available as , Galaxy on Fire 2 is making its way to the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, taking full advantage of each target platform.
Along with a complete reworking of the graphics, the in-house ABYSS game engine has been adapted to the functionality of the modern smartphones. In the new for GoF 2, lead developer Hans-Christian Kühl extensively describes the changes so far to the original Java version in the port. The new Galaxy on FireTM 2, which previously only required approximately 1 MB of memory for technical reasons, will have over 120 MB of pure game data in the final version.
While there are not a great deal of bullet-point feature details available at the moment, we do have alpha-stage screenshots of both the iPhone and iPad versions of the game.
Have a look. The first row is iPad screenshots, the rest are shots of the upcoming iPhone version of the game.
FishLabs has dedicated a full year to the development of Galaxy on Fire 2 and we're quite anxious to find out more about what's certain to be a rather worthwhile release. Stay tuned for more info as we get it.
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‘Babylonian Twins’ & ‘Babylonian Twins HD’– A Puzzle/Platformer Milestone 16 Years in the Making
Sixteen years ago, as the developers tell the tale, Rabah Shihab led a team at Baghdad University, Iraq to develop an original puzzle/platformer for the Amiga, inspired by what he saw of other games' depiction of his home country.
As he explained in with Amiga Games That Weren't,
…My real dedication for this theme came during the early nineties after I saw a computer game in which you control a warplane with the goal of bombing Iraq. Putting the bombing aside (I was in Baghdad during the first gulf war and I saw the human suffering that resulted from the real bombing ), I didn't like the way they depicted Iraq in the game, as a primitive and uncivilized place. I wanted to build a game that counter that image, a game that shows the vibrant history of Mesopotamia. In Babylonian Twins, the game takes you to different historical places, from Babylon to Assyria. We relied on authentic history books to design many of the graphics in the game.
Under the extraordinary conditions caused by the economic sanctions of Iraq at that time, the first Iraqi-developed game never came to be; a well-loved, early Amiga was all we ever saw. Last week however, saw the arrival of Babylonian Twins — The Quest for Peace in Ancient Iraq [AppStore] and Babylonian Twins HD [AppStore] to the iPhone and iPad respectively, the result of a re-union of that development team.
Babylonian Twins is both a port and re-imagination of that original Amiga title. All the artwork has been re-done from scratch in rich, high definition and the original, middle eastern score and gameplay elements have all been improved. It is obvious that this has all been attended to with the utmost care, as there are no outward signs that this is in fact a port, beyond a grand style of gameplay that harkens back to the golden age of the Amiga.
The story begins with the plight of the twin princes of Babylon, imprisoned by an evil sorcerer who has cursed the city in which they live. It is a thread-bare tale told merely to give some context to the unique gameplay elements herein, foremost of which is the ability to control two protagonists with differing abilities. Blasir is able to jump higher than his brother, and is able to Dash mid-air to access hidden locations or break through weakened walls. Nasir on the other hand, has a mace capable of breaking objects and a Drill ability that destroys broken ground underfoot. Movement and attacks are handled with the standard platformer on-screen D-Pad and thumb buttons.
Nasir and Blasir are played interdependently, relying on each other's strengths to reach otherwise inaccessible locations, though only one twin is under your immediate control at any given time. When this happens, the other freezes into a statue, providing an oft-used height boost for out-of-reach areas or a weight to trigger pressure switches. In some ways this co-operative gameplay is reminiscent of another Amiga classic, The Lost Vikings, one of Blizzard's earliest titles (when they were known as Silicon and Synapse).
These simple gameplay features form the premise for some of the most interesting and expansive level designs that we have seen to date on the platform. In many ways, Babylonian Twins does away with contemporary trends in gaming, and re-instates the old-school values of a challenging, explorative platformer that refuses to hold you by the hand. There are no directional arrows or maps to point you towards the golden palm trees you must collect each level. In fact, even crucial objects such as the aforementioned broken walls and floors are easily missed unless you're paying attention. And each level is enormous– an adventure in and of itself– many of our completion times clocking in at around 30 minutes each.
To some, this may seem overbearing, but we thoroughly appreciated the breathe of fresh air that comes with a game that respects its players, and isn't just another title that can be waltzed through with minimal effort. Much of our time was spent exploring the colorful, wonderfully crafted middle-eastern environments; not to take in the vistas, but to puzzle out what path we had yet to take, and what vital element we were missing that was stalling our progress. That and avoiding the many pitfalls and enemies peppered across each landscape.
Babylonian Twins isn't completely unforgiving, having both a generous health bar for each twin and three lives between them to ease enemy encounters. That said, we expected that it would be replete with a checkpoint system and a resume feature to handle call-interruption. Unfortunately, these are not included to the extent they should, the latter proving especially frustrating on one occasion when 25 minutes of gameplay was wiped with the end in sight. Fortunately, the developer that this is being looked into, and that further checkpoints may be added in future versions.
This shouldn't be reason though to miss one of the most engaging platformers that we have had the pleasure of playing in a long while. While the artwork is stunning (apparently there was significant historical research behind much of the environment) and the terrific accompanying score both retro and authentically middle-eastern, the real selling point is the core gameplay. OpenFeint high scores and achievements (which include a near-impossible to find hidden trove of treasures) only accentuate a style of play that is heavy on exploration and puzzles designed to really challenge you. This won't be a game breezed through in a few short hours, but will require dedication to learn and reasoning to execute.
In true puzzle fashion, when your synapses are firing and each of the dozen levels are finally completed, your efforts pay off with a feeling of satisfaction and achievement that's second to none. That's when Babylonian Twins again shows its nature, offering two secret, additional levels when further time and life challenges are met. This is certainly a game that will remain on our iPhones and iPads for a long time to come, a sentiment shared by many of our readers who are posting their own impressions in our .
App Store Link: Babylonian Twins, $2.99, Babylonian Twins HD, $4.99
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