Archive for the ‘security’ tag
‘Prisoner 84′ Review – I Suggest Playing This 3rd Person Horror Game With The Light On
When playing games or watching films, I'm not typically the type to get scared. Those surprise moments that are designed to make you jump don't even draw a flinch from me, and horror movies in general usually elicit more laughter than fear. So I was certainly taken aback when I found that a little iPhone game, Prisoner 84 from Hidden Games to be exact, actually had me on the edge of my seat with paranoia due to its unsettling atmosphere. As far as gameplay is concerned, there's nothing utterly mind blowing as on a whole it's rather simplistic, although certainly above average. But based on the overall feelings Prisoner 84 can invoke and how well suited to the iPhone it is, it's an experience that really captures your imagination.
The game takes place on an offshore prison where you play as prisoner 84. You awaken in solitary confinement to find that everyone in the prison is either dead or has become some form of undead. Gruesome and disturbing images wait for you around every corner. Your goal is to escape the prison, and along the way find out about your past and why exactly you've been sent to this prison. If you were to judge the game based on screenshots alone, you would likely not be impressed. The character models are blocky and lack detail, but for good reason. Every enemy has a complete skeletal structure underneath their outer skin and clothing. So blasting away at them will slowly chip off pieces of their flesh, exposing parts of their skeleton until they're finally put down for good. It's a really satisfying and neat effect, but at the expense of detailed character visuals.
The environments are a different story, and are what really makes Prisoner 84 shine. The standout feature is the lighting system, which creates a stark contrast of shadows throughout the game. Every light source reflects accurately on prisoner 84 as he makes his way through the maze-like prison, and the lighting does wonders to make you forget that the character models are less than stellar. Of equally high quality is the sound design, and while there's no music playing during the game, the soundtrack is comprised of haunting audio effects that fit the game perfectly. Distant moans or mechanical banging will come out of nowhere, and footsteps change from sharp and echoing to sticky and gross as you walk through a trail of blood.
This exceptional atmosphere that Prisoner 84 creates would be nothing without gameplay to go with it, and the game delivers fairly well on this front. From a third-person perspective, you control 84 with a small d-pad for movement and swipe the screen to aim. The d-pad is serviceable, albeit kind of funky, but the swipe to aim is nearly flawless. 84's movement is deliberately slow, but a quick double-tap of the forward arrow makes him move at a faster pace. There's a single button for firing your weapon, and a context sensitive button that will appear if you are next to something in the environment that can be interacted with. An inventory button resides in the upper corner and takes you to a screen where you can keep tabs on the puzzle items you've obtained and the weapons, outfits, and other collectible items that are in the game.
One of the things that really draws you into Prisoner 84 is the minimalist approach to the UI and other traditional game elements. There's no aiming reticule, rather where the barrel of your gun points is the direction you'll fire. Also there isn't any life indicator other than your character's diminishing appearance as he has damage inflicted upon him. Other nice touches really make you feel as though you're playing the game through 84's perspective, like actually touching and dragging a security card through a terminal or placing a key in the keyhole and turning it to unlock doors and lockers. Some may call this gimmicky, but to me it's a refreshing change from the by-the-numbers approach of similar games, and shows some ingenuity on the part of the developer for making the most of the touch screen interface.
With all my praise for Prisoner 84, it certainly does have drawbacks. I can accept the low poly characters since it allows for the skeletal damage system, as well as ensuring the game runs smoothly on all devices, but they do stick out like a sore thumb. The puzzles in the game are really basic, mostly consisting of collecting an item that has an obvious use later in the game. And as far as enemy AI is concerned, well, it barely exists. You can be blasting away at a baddie, with another a mere couple feet away that stands like a statue as if nothing were going on right next to him. But the game's focus is squarely on exploration and discovery, with the combat and puzzle elements taking somewhat of a backseat. In this way Prisoner 84 still succeeds as an enjoyable experience in spite of the negatives.
In regards to the horror game genre, Prisoner 84 really nails the important points, which is mainly a bone chilling atmosphere. It's certainly not the greatest action or puzzle game there is, but the exploration factor is truly compelling. As such, it certainly won't appeal to everybody, and I know for a fact that some people just don't dig these types of slow paced games. But for me, it's one of the most interesting and unique experiences I've had on the iPhone, and the are overwhelmingly positive. The fact that the entire game was created by a two man development team makes it all the more impressive, and they obviously have a very clear vision of what games like this are supposed to be like. Quibbles aside, Prisoner 84 offers a great amount of entertainment for the price, and proves that you don't need a big screen or a big budget to bring a scary good time to players.
Note: There is a known crashing bug at a couple points in the game when inputing a 3 digit security code into a computer by way of sliding each number in place for 3 seconds. The game has a tendency to crash during this event, but since the game automatically saves each time you enter a new room, you won't lose much progress. Repeating the code entry will get it to eventually work, so it shouldn't impede your progress, and the developer is already working on a fix for this.
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‘Prisoner 84′ Review – I Suggest Playing This 3rd Person Horror Game With The Light On
When playing games or watching films, I'm not typically the type to get scared. Those surprise moments that are designed to make you jump don't even draw a flinch from me, and horror movies in general usually elicit more laughter than fear. So I was certainly taken aback when I found that a little iPhone game, Prisoner 84 from Hidden Games to be exact, actually had me on the edge of my seat with paranoia due to its unsettling atmosphere. As far as gameplay is concerned, there's nothing utterly mind blowing as on a whole it's rather simplistic, although certainly above average. But based on the overall feelings Prisoner 84 can invoke and how well suited to the iPhone it is, it's an experience that really captures your imagination.
The game takes place on an offshore prison where you play as prisoner 84. You awaken in solitary confinement to find that everyone in the prison is either dead or has become some form of undead. Gruesome and disturbing images wait for you around every corner. Your goal is to escape the prison, and along the way find out about your past and why exactly you've been sent to this prison. If you were to judge the game based on screenshots alone, you would likely not be impressed. The character models are blocky and lack detail, but for good reason. Every enemy has a complete skeletal structure underneath their outer skin and clothing. So blasting away at them will slowly chip off pieces of their flesh, exposing parts of their skeleton until they're finally put down for good. It's a really satisfying and neat effect, but at the expense of detailed character visuals.
The environments are a different story, and are what really makes Prisoner 84 shine. The standout feature is the lighting system, which creates a stark contrast of shadows throughout the game. Every light source reflects accurately on prisoner 84 as he makes his way through the maze-like prison, and the lighting does wonders to make you forget that the character models are less than stellar. Of equally high quality is the sound design, and while there's no music playing during the game, the soundtrack is comprised of haunting audio effects that fit the game perfectly. Distant moans or mechanical banging will come out of nowhere, and footsteps change from sharp and echoing to sticky and gross as you walk through a trail of blood.
This exceptional atmosphere that Prisoner 84 creates would be nothing without gameplay to go with it, and the game delivers fairly well on this front. From a third-person perspective, you control 84 with a small d-pad for movement and swipe the screen to aim. The d-pad is serviceable, albeit kind of funky, but the swipe to aim is nearly flawless. 84's movement is deliberately slow, but a quick double-tap of the forward arrow makes him move at a faster pace. There's a single button for firing your weapon, and a context sensitive button that will appear if you are next to something in the environment that can be interacted with. An inventory button resides in the upper corner and takes you to a screen where you can keep tabs on the puzzle items you've obtained and the weapons, outfits, and other collectible items that are in the game.
One of the things that really draws you into Prisoner 84 is the minimalist approach to the UI and other traditional game elements. There's no aiming reticule, rather where the barrel of your gun points is the direction you'll fire. Also there isn't any life indicator other than your character's diminishing appearance as he has damage inflicted upon him. Other nice touches really make you feel as though you're playing the game through 84's perspective, like actually touching and dragging a security card through a terminal or placing a key in the keyhole and turning it to unlock doors and lockers. Some may call this gimmicky, but to me it's a refreshing change from the by-the-numbers approach of similar games, and shows some ingenuity on the part of the developer for making the most of the touch screen interface.
With all my praise for Prisoner 84, it certainly does have drawbacks. I can accept the low poly characters since it allows for the skeletal damage system, as well as ensuring the game runs smoothly on all devices, but they do stick out like a sore thumb. The puzzles in the game are really basic, mostly consisting of collecting an item that has an obvious use later in the game. And as far as enemy AI is concerned, well, it barely exists. You can be blasting away at a baddie, with another a mere couple feet away that stands like a statue as if nothing were going on right next to him. But the game's focus is squarely on exploration and discovery, with the combat and puzzle elements taking somewhat of a backseat. In this way Prisoner 84 still succeeds as an enjoyable experience in spite of the negatives.
In regards to the horror game genre, Prisoner 84 really nails the important points, which is mainly a bone chilling atmosphere. It's certainly not the greatest action or puzzle game there is, but the exploration factor is truly compelling. As such, it certainly won't appeal to everybody, and I know for a fact that some people just don't dig these types of slow paced games. But for me, it's one of the most interesting and unique experiences I've had on the iPhone, and the are overwhelmingly positive. The fact that the entire game was created by a two man development team makes it all the more impressive, and they obviously have a very clear vision of what games like this are supposed to be like. Quibbles aside, Prisoner 84 offers a great amount of entertainment for the price, and proves that you don't need a big screen or a big budget to bring a scary good time to players.
Note: There is a known crashing bug at a couple points in the game when inputing a 3 digit security code into a computer by way of sliding each number in place for 3 seconds. The game has a tendency to crash during this event, but since the game automatically saves each time you enter a new room, you won't lose much progress. Repeating the code entry will get it to eventually work, so it shouldn't impede your progress, and the developer is already working on a fix for this.
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Digitoys Releases Info on ‘The Tower’… in Japanese
Digitoys / Yoot Saito has on their upcoming iPad game The Tower… but it's entirely in Japanese. Google translator offers us .
You, as the chief executive of the Bill to extend the building is the only person allowed in the building and see all the information. Your mission is to extend the building while residents pay attention to their stress, is to increase the population goes. Residents in the building is sensitive to stress. The building will go out with higher stress. Set up tenant offices and restaurants, elevators and moving equipment set up, equipment is arranged to move stress-free building is available to residents, please environmental facilities and maintenance rooms and even the security station.
Up a little more residents in the building environment to provide a satisfactory their grade goes up. Population of 15,000 building your personality over time. "Cathedral" to set up 100 ground floor, a holiday, a wedding will be here on a pair of couples. Then you is the best title "TOWER" won will witness the miracle of sight and.
Yeah, so far we're not getting much of a "this is going to be available in English" vibe. We've dropped them a line to get more information. In the meanwhile, here's a gameplay video they've also posted:
The company has also an Air Hockey game for the iPad called 4 Strikers Hockey. We'll let you know more if they get back to us.
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‘Warpgate HD’ – The Game I’ve Been Waiting For
At this point we've posted about Freeverse's Warpgate so many times that linking to the various previews over the last year just seems excessive. From its very beginnings at WWDC '09, Warpgate piqued my interest, and as information slowly leaked out of Freeverse regarding the game's development, it seemed like it was set to exceed even my wildest expectations– Provided they could live up to nearly a year of pre-release hype.
Warpgate HD [App Store] was among the initial batch of games available along side the launch of the iPad, and was the first game I loaded up following unboxing mine after waiting what seemed like an eternity to sync. Since then, Warpgate has sucked me in in the worst way. Describing games as "addicting" or "addictive" has become the absolute worst cliche of the App Store, both in descriptions and game reviews, but I'm having a hard time coming up with a better way to describe my attraction to this game.
To give some perspective, things I love in video games in no particular order includes anything to do with space, massive game worlds, warring factions you can take part in, an impressive sense of scale, and as much randomization as possible to provide endless replay value. Warpgate has all of these things and more.
Obviously set in space, Warpgate is host to a gigantic galaxy map that you slowly explore through a seamless set of campaign missions. Once you complete the initial tutorial, and start in on the "real" game, procedurally generated missions begin appearing that have you flying places, delivering things, getting in to battles with other ships, and other objectives. Because of this, the game never technically ends.
Warpgate is remarkably open, so much so that if you're the kind of gamer that requires a rigid goal structure with a concrete "end" to a game, it might just drive you crazy. The end goal of Warpgate is whatever you want it to be. If that means grinding up reputation with the space pirates and piloting the biggest, baddest battleship in the entire galaxy, killing everything in your path, you can. Or, on the opposite side of things, you can be completely lawful and play your cards so you're in good standing with all the factions of space.
Or, if you don't care about that, and you just want to have billions and billions of space bucks, Warpgate is conducive to that play style too. There's an entire dynamic economy in game and if all you want to do is ferry around commodities between planets selling low and buying high, you can. In-game news feeds will help you keep an eye on the pulse of the universe, and you can often make an insane profit by quickly delivering huge loads of much needed cargo to planets that show up in the news.
If you don't like power gaming these kinds of games, and just want to have fun in space, that works too. Warpgate seems to be balanced in a way that both rewards power gaming the economy and in-game faction system as well as being conducive to casual gamers just bouncing between campaign missions without getting too involved in the other parts of the game. Mostly, playing the in-game markets is optional, and you might only have to participate in buying and selling commodities if you're low on money and need to buy an expensive quest item or want to further upgrade your ship's weaponry.
Alternatively, if you really don't want to grind up money to buy things, there's an in-game store where you can buy a huge battle cruiser and tons of space bucks for a few real dollars. Other than that, you can just follow the campaign missions and have a great time.
It seems like App Store gamers are always clamoring for depth in games, something that has become exceedingly rare as pricing across the board has hit rock bottom. Warpgate has depth on top of depth. To give you an idea of how much content is in the game, the galaxy map is host to 36 star systems. Those star systems are home to 120 different plants and space stations. While you're marauding around the galaxy, you can pilot one of 172 different star ships, and equip your ship with the 60 included weapons. It's really just insane how much is packed in to this game.
As far as an iPad game is concerned, Warpgate HD is great. Since the launch of the device, we've played almost everything worth playing, and it seems like the control method that I've been preferring the most is one where you can comfortably rest the iPad in your lap, holding it with one hand, and playing with the other. This is exactly how Warpgate works.
You control your ship either by touching anywhere in the game world to fly there, swiping in the direction you want to fly, or touching one of the icons on the side of the screen indicating the direction of a planet, warpgate, or other point of interest. Context sensitive buttons appear to allow you to warp through a warpgate, land on a planet, scan another ship, answer an incoming communication, or fight another ship.
The camera is controlled using all the same familiar multitouch gestures such as two fingers to rotate and pinching to zoom in or out. Speaking of zooming the camera, this is one of my absolute favorite things about the game. With a pinch of your fingers you can go from seeing the minute details of your ship, then instantly and fluidly pan the camera all the way out to show all the nearby planets. This level of zoom control and sense of scale is so cool that the first hour or two that I played the game I couldn't help myself but just constantly zoom in and out.
If you're looking for a fast paced action game, Warpgate is not it. While narrowly escaping from pirates as you just barely warp before getting hit with a missile that would destroy your ship can be exciting, by and large the game is fairly slow. You will spend a lot of time watching your ship flying from place to place, and when you're actually fighting, combat isn't anywhere near as interactive as I had hoped it would be.
When you tap the button to enter a battle, the screen zooms, twists, and blurs just like a Final Fantasy. The game then quickly loads in to a battle sequence where your ship will be flying in a swarm with the other ship (or ships) you're fighting. You don't have any control over your ship's movement at this point, and all you really do is choose when to fire what weapons by mashing buttons that appear on either side of the screen and select the target you're firing on. It gets the job done, but feels surprisingly remedial compared to the rest of the game. If there's one area that Warpgate needs improvement, it's in fleshing out this battle system to add some strategy beyond mashing your weapon buttons as they come online.
Originally designed as an iPhone game, the non-HD version of Warpgate will be available on the 13th, Warpgate will intelligently scale across the entire iPhone and iPod touch family, enabling the different graphical effects depending on what device you're playing on. If you're playing the game on a 3GS or 3rd generation iPod touch, you'll see all kinds of fancy shader effects. If not, the game should still look good without them and run at a great frame rate to boot. Aside from the smaller screen size and a reworked user interface, the iPhone version of the game will be identical to the iPad.
iPhone Warpgate compared to Warpgate HD.
While I'm having a great time with Warpgate, one thing really makes me nervous about a game of this scope. There's no way to manage your game saves, back up your game, or anything like that. I have invested hours upon hours in to Warpgate, and I'd hate to think that I could lose it all from some update SNAFU, iTunes sync weirdness, and the countless other things I've run in to in the past that have resulted in random save game data loss. Especially with an iPhone version on the horizon, there's nothing more I'd love to see than some kind of online Plus+ powered save game synchronization between devices, or anything else to add some kind of security that my massive space empire is here to stay.
Overall, in my eyes, Warpgate has completely delivered on the months of pre-launch hype. Playing the game on my iPad feels like the future, and something that you would see some space kid playing on a similar tablet device in an 80's sci-fi movie. The mood of the game is great, the graphics are phenomenal, the in-game soundtrack has an epic feel to it, and even the icon is cool. Sure, the battle system could use some work, but that is just a small part of an otherwise remarkable game.
Warpgate HD is currently my favorite iPad game, and if you've ever enjoyed a space conquest game in the past, this is a game you need to download. If you don't have an iPad, the iPhone version will be coming April 13th, so keep an eye out for that.
App Store LInk: Warpgate HD, $7.99 (iPad only, iPhone version coming 4/13.)
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‘Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars’ Review
Back in 1997 when the first Grand Theft Auto hit the PC, I doubt anyone at Rockstar (known as DMA Design at the time) expected it to spawn a series that would span ten different games and four expansions over the next thirteen years. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars [App Store] for the iPhone is an excellent adaptation of a game previously only available on the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. These prior versions of the game were met with universal acclaim, and according to Chinatown Wars for the DS holds the title of for the platform. On the PSP, , beaten only by God of War: Chains of Olympus by a single point.
The recently released iPhone Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars seems to be a hybrid of both the , with graphical quality that lies somewhere in between the two games, tutorial elements that reference PSP buttons, as well as some of the cell shaded graphics and all the stylus mini games from the DS. The main difference is how the controls have been adapted to the on-screen virtual joystick and buttons of the iPhone. Like other games that use a similar control scheme, there is always an inherent lack of precision without physical buttons that take a little getting used to, but this didn't hamper my enjoyment of Chinatown Wars in the least bit.
While on foot, a virtual joystick controls character movement, with a button for using whatever weapon you have selected (or your fists) as well as buttons to kick and leap over short fences. When you approach a car, a button appears on the bottom of the screen that you can touch to get in. If you're stealing a parked car, this will often trigger a timed touchscreen mini game where you need to turn a screwdriver in the ignition, twist some wires together, or even insert a PDA and crack the car's security system in order to get the car running without triggering its alarm.
These sequences are pretty neat the first few times you do them, and do an excellent job at adding suspense to police chases as you hastily hotwire a car before the cops converge on your location. Once you're in a car, one of five in-game radio stations start playing and the on-screen controls switch to buttons for accelerating, braking, firing your gun, and by default two buttons to steer right or left. Also available is an analog stick for steering, configurable in the game's options.
The biggest control hurdle new players will come across is learning how to cope with Chinatown Wars' driving assist system, which will automatically keep your car going straight down a road. This can be disabled, but without it perfectly lane splitting on a motorcycle seems to be nearly impossible. I've found myself preferring the default steering buttons over the optional joystick because very little control is required when driving. You really only need to hold a direction to turn, or just tap a direction to make minor adjustments to your position on a road. It feels a little strange at first, but after you make it through the tutorial missions you will be flying through Liberty City without issue.
The plot of the game is classic Grand Theft Auto, with an asian spin, made obvious by the game's title. You play as Huang Lee, the son of a recently murdered Triad boss who comes to Liberty City and unsurprisingly enough winds up knee deep in gang drama. Initially you complete tasks assigned by your Uncle, but it doesn't take long for you to meet other contacts who also require your services. The game continues like any GTA game with missions that involve killing people, stealing cars, driving people around, and other often illegal activities.
Of course, like other games in the series, once you complete the short array of tutorial missions you can disregard the main storyline entirely and instead spend your time roaming around the city, completing the various submissions, seeing how long you can survive with a high wanted level, and dealing drugs to increase your net worth.
Chinatown Wars is packed with a surprisingly fun and full featured drug economy that is highly reminiscent of the Texas Instruments calculator game Dope Wars (Originally a DOS game released in the mid-80's.) that I spent an embarrassing amount of my teenage life playing. As you drive around the city you will meet drug dealers, who are all selling or buying various drugs at different prices. Prices change depending on whose turf you're in, but you have to exercise caution because if you get busted with a car load of coke, you lose it all.
Drug dealing is just one of the many other activites that exist inside the game. Of course Chinatown Wars also has the standard taxi, ambulance, firefighter, and other driving games along with tons of secret items and locations to find. There are scratch off lottery tickets you can try your luck on, and random encounters with pedestrians who will also have various things to ask of you. The amount of depth in Chinatown Wars is unbelievable.
Since the inception of the App Store, quite a few developers have tried their hand at making an open-world crime game. Without much serious competition, most of these games seemed quite good– But even the best pre-Chinatown Wars iPhone games pale in comparison to a real Rockstar Grand Theft Auto. The level of depth is completely unmatched, but most importantly, Liberty City feels alive.
Games like Gangstar are far too sterile, with spotless city streets, stereotypical characters with no personality, and very little to make the environment the game takes place in feel like anything more than a basic sandbox. The streets of Liberty City are filthy, filles with cars, pedestrians, trains, people fighting, and emergency vehicles racing through the streets responding to randomly spawned traffic accidents. The mood and lighting of the city changes with the clock in-game, and even though the story and characters you come across aren't really anything revolutionary compared to other Grand Theft Auto games, the people you meet are usually amusing and of course the game is absolutely loaded with expletives and other racy material that the GTA clones haven't dared come close to.
There are a few issues with Chinatown Wars, the most serious being the lack of a solid targeting system. When you hold down the attack button to shoot or punch, you simply attack whoever you're facing. There isn't a way to cycle through targets, and the only way to stay locked on one target is by holding the attack button which often results in quite a few wasted bullets. It seems like there is a lot of lost potential in not having a touch-based targeting mode.
Chinatown Wars also doesn't have any kind of save state system to save your progress if you get a call or need to answer a SMS when you're in the middle of a mission. Instead the game just quits, and the next time you launch it you're back at your apartment. This can be annoying, but thankfully Chinatown Wars was designed to be a portable game, and as such the missions are usually never more than a few minutes long so the amount of progress you lose is fairly minimal.
One of my favorite things about Grand Theft Auto games is the soundtracks, but the radio stations in Chinatown Wars are fairly limited and it seems that all the pedestrian chatter was also cut. However, once you get sucked in to the game these problems fade away as you immerse yourself in Liberty City.
Chinatown Wars is a massive game, so much so that the few things I've mentioned in this review barely even scratch the surface of what there is to do and all the different features that help you to do them. An excellent in-game GPS system guides you around the city, periodic email messages tip you off to new missions and other things to do, safehouses scattered around Liberty City can be purchased once you're wealthy enough, and there's even multiple save slots so more than one person can play the game on a single device.
Performance on my iPhone 3GS is absolutely outstanding, and according to forum members, Chinatown Wars also runs without issue on the entire iPhone and iPod touch product line. The game is restricted and won't install on the first generation iPod touch, but apparently can be played just fine. Something worth mentioning is while the download itself is only 188MB, Chinatown Wars requires a little over 600MB free on your device to install.
There is so much to do in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars that completing the whole thing will likely necessitate a trip to to consult the various guides and maps to find every hidden object and complete every mission– A task that will likely take days of concurrent playtime. For $9.99 App Store gamers can get their hands on a game that sells for two to three times as much on other platforms, representing a substantial value even at a price point reserved for "premium" games on the platform.
Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's vice president of sales and marketing described Chinatown Wars' sales on the DS as "", and sadly the PSP version didn't perform any better. In less than 24 hours following its release on the App Store, Chinatown Wars is already the #1 top-grossing app– Something that hopefully other giants of the gaming industry are noticing, as I doubt I'm alone in hoping even more of these "full" console games make their way to the iPhone.
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If you're at all interested in open-world crime games, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is by far the best available on the platform and simply cannot be passed up. The sheer amount of content, the amazing graphics, and gameplay that will keep you coming back for more whether you choose to follow the story or rampage through Liberty City on your own is absolutely fantastic.
Now, if you'd excuse me, I've got $50,000 worth of heroin to unload.
App Store Link: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, $9.99
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