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Ustwo Pulls ‘Papa Quash’ in Light of Cloning Controversy

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Yesterday the internet exploded over the latest controversy concerning “cloning” and the App Store. Developer Ustwo released Papa Quash, a game with a really “out there” concept, which we explain in our article yesterday, but unfortunately one that had already gained a ton of notoriety when it was the basis behind indie developer Die Gute Fabrik’s PC title Johann Sebastian Joust.

The uniqueness of the gameplay concept is likely the biggest reason that Papa Quash drew so much ire, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Ustwo had previously made statements deriding the act of cloning, and in the case of Papa Quash the story went that former Big Brother UK cast member Sam Pepper had actually commissioned Ustwo to help create the project. After being informed by Ustwo that the concept of Papa Quash was the same as J.S. Joust, Sam Pepper allegedly reached out to Die Gute Fabrik for their blessing in creating the game, which Ustwo was assured he received.

Today Ustwo’s head of marketing Steve Bittan made a bold decision in the matter, reaching out to The Appside to state that “We are pulling [Papa Quash] ASAP” in light of the apparent fact that Sam Pepper didn’t really have permission from Die Gute Fabrik to copy the gameplay after all. Whether this whole ordeal really was just a big misunderstanding or if this is severe damage control in light of the huge negative backlash to Papa Quash remains to be seen, and we’re still waiting for official responses from both Sam Pepper as well as Die Gute Fabrik.

As of this moment Papa Quash is indeed removed from the App Store, and if any new information comes to light regarding this situation we’ll be sure to let you know.

[Via Stuart Dredge, The Appside. Image via AppAdvice]

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Written by admin

May 24, 2012 at 6:15

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‘Whale Trail’ Creators Release ‘Johann Sebastian Joust’ Clone

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There was quite a debate in the TouchArcade command center today regarding whether or not we were even going to post this, as our community seems to simultaneously hate it when we post about clones, but absolutely loves talking about them. So, we’re going ahead with this along with the caveat that we’re trying to get in touch with all parties involved to get to the bottom of things. With that out of the way, let’s back things up a bit.

Johann Sebastian Joust is a no-graphics game designed for the PlayStation Move controller by Die Gute Fabrik. The game seems to be a staple at any indie game developer party, and features Bach’s Brandenburg concertos as the soundtrack. The idea of the game is to jostle the PlayStation Move controllers of the other players to get them out. The threshold of how much the controller can be jostled is adjusted in time with the music, and it’s a ton of fun to watch people playing. It’s a very difficult game to explain, so, watch this trailer:

Today, ustwo released an eerily similar game called Papa Quash [ Free ]. I suppose we should cut right to the chase here, so, assuming you’ve watched the above video, imagine that… But with dub step:

The rabbit hole goes much deeper here than your typical tale of game cloning. According to ustwo marketing director Steve Bittan, the concept of the game was actually cooked up by Sam Pepper, a YouTube pseudo-celebrity whose original claim to fame was appearing on the TV series Big Brother.

Allegedly, Pepper contacted the guys at Die Gute Fabrik who gave him to go ahead with the game and wished him luck. Die Gute Fabrik fired back via Twitter by saying, “Just to be clear, we have never and would never approve, give permission, or encourage anyone to clone of any of our games.” Where things get interesting in all this is that Mills, the ustwo co-founder and self-proclaimed Chief Wonka, has been very vocal in the past regarding cloning. In the past, he’s told PocketGamer:

“Making games, entertainment, a new design, a product should always be about unearthing something that makes you proud no matter what happens on the financial side… Fakes and copycats quite simply have to absolutely f**k off to another paradigm.”

Bittan, speaking with Edge continues:

“This is a quick, short-term project, in and out of the door very quick. Obviously the concept is quite similar. We don’t want to be dragged into it too much – it’s not anything to do with our app division.

We don’t copy – everyone is influenced by certain things. It’s like saying Sega is copying Mario or something. Whale Trail people said was similar to Tiny Wings, but we went back to the drawing board with that. If people think we’re happy to clone people they’re very much mistaken.”

We’ll see how it all shakes out once more people start talking. We’ve yet to hear back from ustwo ourselves, and Die Gut Fabrik is preparing a statement on the matter. Now, I’m going to go sigh a lot.

App Store Link: Papa Quash, Free

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Written by admin

May 23, 2012 at 2:15

‘Duke Nukem 3D’ Gets a Broken Update, Goes Free

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If there was a list of things that I never expected to be talking about today, Duke Nukem 3D [ Free ] getting an update would probably be right near the top. But that’s just what has happened as MachineWorks has issued a new update for 3D Realms’ classic first-person shooter that looks to address the long-derided virtual controls in the game.

For a quick backstory, Duke Nukem 3D launched in the App Store way back in August of 2009. Id Software’s Wolfenstein 3D [$1.99 / Free ] had hit iOS several months earlier and received critical acclaim, mostly centered around how well their controls worked. With a Doom [ $4.99 ] iOS port also on the horizon, having Duke Nukem on my iPhone seemed like the greatest news in history for a long-time FPS fan like me.

However, the initial version of Duke had possibly the worst controls I’ve ever encountered. I mean downright unplayable. To the developer’s credit they quickly issued an update about a month later with a bunch of new control options, but sadly it did little to help. Sure, some people could find a scheme that was workable for them with some heavy tweaking of options, but the controls still felt pretty bad and have remained that way ever since.

Until today that is, closing in on 3 years after the last update to Duke Nukem. Surprising to say the least, but unfortunately it’s also a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that the controls are actually quite decent now, offering an improved (but still lackluster) dual-stick option as well as a very good “drag anywhere to aim” scheme which really nails it. It may have taken a long time (that’s an understatement) but I can finally enjoy Duke Nukem 3D on my iPhone. Also, it appears that the visuals have been cleaned up considerably, and actually look quite good for a 16 year old game.

Now for the bad news. The update is full of bugs, one of which can render your controls unusable. You can avoid causing this by going into the control options before loading or starting a new game and selecting and then deselecting the dual-stick controls, but that will erase whatever custom scheme you might have previously created by dragging the virtual buttons around the screen. Basically, it’s not much of a solution.

In addition, there’s also a bug that silences the sounds from the game which I’ve only been able to fix by saving my game and killing it from the multi-tasking screen and then starting it up again. Also, for some reason the end-level stats screen is upside down and they’ve disabled the mirror reflection effect in the game. Finally, advertisements have been inserted into Duke Nukem 3D which will pop down when you first start the game and when wake your device from sleep with the game running. Lame.

As delighted as I was to see a surprise update to one of my all-time favorite games, unfortunately this latest update for Duke Nukem 3D is a complete mess. If they can sort out the bugs then I really believe the new controls are a huge improvement, and bring the game more in line with the newer FPS games on the App Store. However, given the lack of attention paid to the game the past few years that seems like a pretty big “if”, especially since the iPad version Duke Nukem 3D SE [ $0.99 (HD)] hasn’t been updated at all. Also, I’m not crazy about ads being put into a game that I previously paid for.

At any rate, Duke Nukem 3D is currently free right now, so if you didn’t have it already you might as well grab it just in case they do sort out the bugs. If you could manage just fine with the controls the way they were before, then you’ll probably want to hold out on this update altogether until (and if) they can fix this situation.

App Store Link: Duke Nukem 3D, Free

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May 18, 2012 at 6:15

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‘LostWinds2: Winters of The Melodias’ Review – A Gorgeous Wind-powered Adventure

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Like the bad boy that every girl finds impossible to resist, Frontier Developments‘ sequel to their platform-adventure LostWinds [ $3.99 ] from last year isn’t always easy to control. Precision is not LostWinds2: Winter of the Melodias’ [ $3.99 ] best feature. With the sheer amount of things that LostWinds2 can occasionally demand of its players, this would normally be almost unforgivable but much like the hypothetical rapscallion, LostWinds2 is just too charming to give up.

Set shortly after the events of the first game, LostWinds2 follows the continuing adventures of the chubby-cheeked Toku, a brave and impossibly adorable young boy, and his companion Enril The Wind Spirit. After a brief introductory sequence, one that features a number of piscine-looking critters, you find yourself in control of Toku. His mother Magdi has somehow gone absent and it is your duty to go look for her. This eventually segues into an exploration of some phenomenally gorgeous places, the acquaintanceship of some new friends and an encounter with old evils.

Have I mentioned the fact that LostWinds2 is absolutely stunning? Yes? The music, the character design, the visuals – they all come together to make LostWinds2 beautiful with a capital B. The lush visuals are informed with such attention to detail, they would probably bring a tear to Walt Disney’s eyes were he still alive. Every swipe of a finger will cause grass to bend and petals to cascade from trees. When Toku slides across icy terrain, he bobs and sways, looking for all the world like the wide-eyed child that he is. Even the parallax backgrounds are more than magnificent-but-static pieces of eyecandy. Here, the backgrounds are rife with stuff like the occasional lurking enemy and behemothic reformed villains out to make our life easier. (You’ll understand in the first five minutes. Trust me on this.)

Shameless, wanton gushing aside, LostWinds2 is, I’m happy to say, more than a pretty face. For those unfamiliar with the original, much of Toku’s herculean tasks are, in fact, accomplished by the intangible Enril. Being a rather formidable Wind Spirit, Enril is kinda awesome at doing things like guiding flames from a torch into an icy wall, smashing Gloops into hard surfaces, relaying Toku from one ledge to another and snowballs. Not much is needed to accomplish these feats. Most of the time, all the game will require from you is a careful swipe of a finger or a well-timed pinch. Control of Toku works on a similar premise. In order to move him from one end of the map to another, you simply tap on the corresponding side. It’s that simple. Mostly.

Eight times out of ten, you will be able to hit that switch, drag that torrent of flame into that wall of brambles, flip Toku across the ravine and beat down that Gloop all in one glorious show of hand-eye coordination. Those other two times? You’re going to have to pick yourself up and try and try again. Toku will inexplicably float along with an updraft that you manufactured in spite of the fact he should be too far away to be affected. A hard swipe will occasionally cause an enemy to sit on the wall instead of exploding into blob-like bits. From time to time, things will just go wrong. There’s no better explanation for it. Fortunately, however, it’s an infrequent occurrence. So long as you’re willing to deal with the initial learning curve, your experience with LostWinds2 will be mostly favorable. That is, of course, if you are willing to brave this final caveat.

If you want to play LostWinds 2, you should probably be okay with a little bit of Metroid in your life. Frontier Development’s sequel to the original is not a game that exemplifies instant gratification. Backtracking will happen. Those who must simply acquire every collectible (a lot of the tale is told through scrolls that have been scattered across this lovely world) will find themselves wandering the game’s many nooks and crannies. If you can’t stand the idea of revisiting locations repeatedly (never mind the fact that you can change the seasons on whim, something that helps alleviates the tedium), you may want to consider giving this one a miss.

Everybody else? Buy it. You won’t regret it. LostWinds2: Winter of the Melodias is a beautifully presented bit of childlike magic and irrefutable proof that wholesomeness does not necessarily have to be boring.

App Store Link: LostWinds2: Winter of the Melodias, $3.99 (Universal)

TouchArcade Rating:

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May 16, 2012 at 18:16

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‘Monster Shooter: The Lost Levels’ Review – Exploding Alien Faces Is Quite Fun, Actually

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After seeing Monster Shooter: The Lost Levels [ $2.99 ] for the first time, you might be wondering why another dual stick shooter is necessary on iOS, considering the hundreds of others already available. The answer isn’t always an easy one, but let’s just say that Monster Shooter shows why we shouldn’t just be writing off the genre altogether.

Monster Shooter tells the story of alien battles from one planet to another, all with the ultimate goal of saving a kitten with a runny nose. These naughty aliens want to wreak havoc and torture the poor kitty, and are even traveling anywhere in the galaxy as to not be captured.

As the kitty rescuer, you travel from planet to planet in a level-based format, and are shooting down enemies in a dual stick style shooter. The controls of a shooter are of the upmost importance, and they work well in this game especially with the multiple options available. If you’re finding the aiming to be a difficult affair, you can turn on the auto aim option and then you’ll only have to tap when you want to shoot, rather than where. Having the option of a fixed d-pad is also a nice touch, meaning you can play in whatever way suits your style best.

One of the most polarizing topics of discussion on our forums is the game’s option to pay for additional upgrades and weapons through in-app purchases. As you play each level, you will consistently pick-up in-game cash that you can spend on these items anyway, and fortunately there seems to be enough cash in each level to purchase the items during the natural progression of play, making the actual buying of cash through IAP feel largely optional.

The upgrades and power-ups available in the shop amp up the gameplay in glorious fashion too, providing you with nukes, grenades, or stim-packs that could make all the difference when you’re caught in a tough situation. You can even buy a few select items while in the heat of battle, if you didn’t prepare well enough.

Even more interesting than the power-ups you can buy are the abilities you can only earn by leveling up, which range from a higher fire rate, more damage, or more cash dropped by enemies. These abilities are fantastic and can help out greatly while playing, but the way of unlocking them could use some work. The problem is that you can only unlock them while playing the game, meaning you have to stop mid-level, potentially costing you precious health or combo momentum.

Where Monster Shooter: The Lost Levels differentiates itself from other shooters on iOS is in its tight control, and cartoonish graphical style. The animation is fluid, and each planet has a distinct look to keep things fresh. Being on both iPad and iPhone as a universal app also helps, as the larger screen of an iPad lends itself well for keeping track of enemies, and a larger d-pad area for better control.

Packing in over 60 levels across 3 distinct planets, Monster Shooter is likely to hold on to your attention for quite a while. This is not even including the endless survival mode, which could potentially last you forever. Adding even more to the longevity are the in-game side missions (of Jetpack Joyride [ Free ] fame) that you can complete along your path of destruction. Game Center achievements and leaderboards should be standard fare by now, and are included.

Exploding alien faces with an awesome new weapon you just purchased almost never gets old, meaning you’ll probably keep playing Monster Shooter: The Lost Levels for hours on end. Packing in a huge amount of content and little in the way of problems means that you should probably grab this one on your next iOS shopping spree.

App Store Link: Monster Shooter: The Lost Levels, $2.99 (Universal)

TouchArcade Rating:

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Written by admin

May 16, 2012 at 18:16

Why ‘Whale Trail’ Is Going Free-To-Play, And How A Flop Is Seen As A Journey

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London-based design studio ustwo created a heck of a game in Whale Trail, but it’s failing as a commercial entity. It’ll never hit the App Store top 10. The face of its bubbly and wide-eyed mascot, Willow, will never grace products like panties or fruit snacks. And at its current pace, it’ll be awhile before it generates a decent profit.

The studio has huge expectations that aren’t being met, and just based on trends, it’s clear that Whale Trail will continue not meeting them. It’s a failure in this life. But will it be one in its next? Again, ustwo is spending money on Whale Trail, giving it a second wind via creative mouth-to-mouth. It’s retooling and redesigning the oddball flying game as a free-to-play title in a high-bandwidth effort to attract the casual audience that the original version failed to reach, but managed to brush.

The hope is that this model, alongside some fresh content, will finally put the game over the top and onto hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of phones and tablets across the world. It’s a crazy plan. Crazy, however, is kinda its project lead’s thing.

On Conversion, Failure, And Journeys

I’ve been speaking with ustwo co-founder Mills about the upcoming transformation. Mills is like a bizarro Clint Eastwood. In the face of adversity he has the same grit and air of determination, but instead of a cowboy hat and a killer squint Mills rocks a long, flowing red wig and eyeglasses with thick, black frames. When he talks to you, even via e-mail, you feel his warmth, energy, and passion. He’s funny, too, and you see a lot of his brand of humor in his game. As we talk, he refuses to call the original Whale Trail a failure despite being able to produce evidence indicating as much. Instead, he calls it a “succailure” and the process of making it a F2P title a “journey.”

Whale Trail was our first proper game release,” Mills tells TouchArcade. “Full heart, full passion. The launch was a success for our studio, showering loads of eyeballs on us but something didn’t quite click. Although we were hitting 12,000 downloads a day at launch, it tailed off pretty quick.”

In fact, Whale Trail has just hit over 188,000 total sales, and it shifts around 250 units a day across Android and iPhone and iPad. These kind of numbers would be enough for a lot of studios, but ustwo spent oodles of cash on the game. It needed Whale Trail to be up there with the Angry Birds and Fruit Ninjas and the Cut the Ropes of the world.

How those titles manage to stay up top is a matter of debate. Mills doesn’t believe that featuring, reviews, or exposure brings in new downloads. He thinks that word of mouth is now driving sales. As evidence, he notes that the game’s trailers still get around 500 new views a day and the music video for the theme used in the game drives interest, too. Riding on a wave of featuring, however, Whale Trail managed to light up the charts for a short period. Mills shot us the following handy chart, for those of you into the numbers:

Learning about why the game didn’t keep selling at its initial, breakneck pace is an important component of its upcoming transformation. Mills is soaking up everything he can. He frequently frames this entire ordeal as a learning experience.

“We went back to the drawing board and dove deep into the blue waters to understand why Whale Trail wasn’t quite able to take off. We had made a wonderful experience but there wasn’t enough ‘replay’ value in the current game. The new challenge levels added in iteration release two and three helped, but we needed more. Much more,” he adds.

The new version of the game is, indeed, functionally different. As you collect bubbles and travel, you’ll collect an in-game currency called Krill. With Krill, you can buy new powers, “useable treats,” costumes for Willow and its five new playable friends. If you want this stuff without the grind, you can buy Krill straight-up.

“The game is so much better. Players are now in full control of their destiny and each play rewards them. This was missing before,” he says.

If you’ve already purchased Whale Trail, Mills says you’ll receive a “BIG” bag of Krill when you update to the new version. Additionally, you’ll receive a message designed to make you feel “special.” Mills worries about how the current install base is going to react to this massive change, since the regular version will essentially die after this update. Perhaps that’s why this message to fans will be “like finding a bag of money in your house that you can use to pimp it right up 50 style” or “like finding a bag of candy that is so sweet, yet so sticky.”

When I bring up failure, Mills says I have a point, but he describes the experience so far as a “journey.” His studio has had opportunities to sell off the IP or actually make money, but ustwo as a whole is more interested in learning at this point.

“You can look at it as a failure, but I see it as journey,” Mills says. “Each iteration of Whale Trail has created a new buzz and has engaged the players more. It’s been a big lesson for me especially in regards to releasing something I wanted and releasing something that the majority of players want. We were very successful at creating buzz, we were very open about the whole experience and the story of Whale Trail will now be told via Penguin,” he tells us. He means the publishing company, not an actual penguin.

“We had two Whale Trail acquisition offers for the game as it currently stands now, but we were not interested in money. We were interested in better understanding what we could do to make the game better. I couldn’t walk away from it now, knowing it was not the game we wanted it to be. The game we have since built and are testing now with players is the game we should have released back then but didn’t realize it at the time.”

Even though the Whale Trail flopped, Mills notes some positives. It gave his studio new business opportunities, a higher-profile in the development community, and a lot of good will. These things, however, aren’t going to make new Whale Trail sail. A balance of IAP and fun mechanics are the only thing that’ll save it.

“I want to know more about free-to-play,” Mills says. “We are not being aggressive with the monetization potential. Players need never spend, but the joy they feel should allow the game to be pretty viral. We get a small social virility through Twitter right now, but the potential at the higher numbers is unreal. I guess the plan is for Willow to find some real Whales!”

We’ll have to see if the new version of Whale Trail hits the heights that Mills thinks it can reach. Regardless if it does or not, it’s going to be hard to call this iteration a failure. To Mills, success is all about what you do as you try to succeed.

“We didn’t set out to make something generic. Success is about crafting something you believe in and telling that story, granted it may never be a smash hit as the very concept of a little fat flying whale called Willow who lives in a psychedelic land is too far out for many to stomach, but we made something we are so proud of.”

We’ll have hands-on impressions in the near future.

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Written by admin

May 12, 2012 at 2:15

Radiangames Reveals Its Next iOS Release, ‘Inferno+’

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Ballistic SE [$1.99] and Fireball SE [$1.99] creator, Luke Schneider, has been porting another Xbox Live Indie Game to the iPhone and iPad. Inferno+, which features newer high resolution assets for retina screens, is coming later this month or earlier next. Luke dropped us a really awesome slow-motion teaser trailer that shows off a smidgen of the game’s creative twin-stick action, which seeks to combine elements of Geometry Wars (!) with the structure of Gauntlet (!!).

Luke describes the trailer in his latest blog post, shedding some light on what he’s trying to shoot for:

While the launch trailer will cover a lot more of what’s in Inferno+, for the teaser video above I only wanted to show a single quick sequence to give a taste of the game. Obviously it’s in slow motion, and zoomed in a bit, so I cheated a little, but I think that’s OK.

We’ve been pretty impressed with what Luke has released so far, so count us in for a day one download. Whenever we get a final build, we’ll shoot you a review. Hah. Get it? It’s a twin-stick shooter. We’re going to shoot our thoughts at you… like you’d fire bullets in a shooter. We crack us up.

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May 9, 2012 at 22:15

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Remedy’s ‘Death Rally’ is Free Again

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Does the name Remedy ring a bell? They’re the Finnish developers behind Alan Wake and Max Payne, but before all that, they released a top-down combat-centric MS-DOS Racer called Death Rally. (Oh, and, Max Payne [ $2.99 ] is also now available on the App Store, check out our review.) Anyway, a little over a year ago the greatly enhanced iOS remake of Death Rally hit the App Store.

To create the game, Remedy partnered up with Mountain Sheep, who is likely best known around these parts for Minigore [$0.99 / $1.99 (HD)]. Minigore saw tons of updates, so, I’m not sure anyone was surprised when Death Rally got similar treatment. Since its initial release and our original review, they’ve added all sorts of unlockables, character tie-ins (such as a guest appearance from the one and only Duke Nukem) and even full online multiplayer.

Yes, the game has been free before, and one could argue that it’s only “free” with air quotes as there’s a variety of optional IAP to be had. Regardless, if you missed the last Death Rally promotion, be sure to hop on this one. Even if all you do is tool around in a few single player races, it’s still totally worth the download.

App Store Link: Death Rally, Free (Universal)

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May 8, 2012 at 22:15

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‘LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias’ Heading to iOS Soon

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Last December Frontier Developments released their critically acclaimed WiiWare title LostWinds [ $3.99 ] to the App Store. Despite the source material being of an incredibly high quality, we had some difficulties with the controls in our review, something that was thankfully rectified via an update about a month later.

Now it looks as if the sequel, 2009’s LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias, will be making the jump from WiiWare to the iOS App Store as well. The game will have some graphical enhancements over its WiiWare counterpart, some of which are on display in this short teaser released by Frontier.

No word yet on when LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias is scheduled to hit, but we’ll be keeping an eye out for any new information. Also, in case you were unaware, the original LostWinds has recently received partial Retina Display support for the new iPad, and after the previous big control update is an easy recommendation if you haven’t checked it out yet.

[Via AppAdvice]

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May 2, 2012 at 14:15

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‘Zaga 33′ Review – A Sci-Fi Roguelike in a Tiny Package

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Rogue was a little before my time, and it took a while to see the appeal. Games with permadeath sound like an exercise in extreme frustration, even balanced out by tantalizingly random loot and procedurally generated worlds. In the past few years I’ve come around on the subject of roguelikes, though. It’s nice to have RPGs and skill-based games meet up, and they’re the best way to enjoy a complete game in a short time.

The latter is what I enjoy most about them, so it grates on me that so many of the best roguelikes take hours to complete. Wouldn’t it be nice if more of them embraced their strengths and provided seriously compact experiences? Not that there’s not room for the long-form, but how I’d love to have more games out there like Zaga 33 [$0.99]. It’s quick, compact and challenging in equal parts—nothing wasted, nothing left out.

It’s odd to see a game so well-suited to iOS arriving as a port from desktop, but that’s where we find ourselves. Developer Michael Brough has embraced all the best things about the roguelike in Zaga 33, and has done so with bite-sized chunks that fit perfectly into the world of mobile gaming. Got 15 minutes to kill? That’s enough to work your way through the whole game if you have the skills to pull it off. Of course, you don’t stop there. It’ll take more than a few of those short sessions to work your way up to that level, and more than a few afterwards to max out your high score.

Stranded on the, err, rogue planet Zaga 33, your hero, the humble “@,” must travel into its depths to destroy the alien cortex. You’re virtually unarmed, extremely vulnerable, and facing down 25 levels of hostile aliens. Zaga 33 strips out all but the absolute necessities of the genre. You won’t level up your little @, and you get nothing for your kills. Each time you hit an alien you take down one of its two hit points. Each time an alien hits you, you take one damage out of a maximum of nine.

That means hunting is counterproductive, so each time you enter a new screen you’ll need to weigh your possibilities. Do you head for one of the potentially useful artifacts? Doing so might draw an alien’s attention. You can fight one off easily enough, and you’ll recover one hit point when you reach the next room. But if there are two in your way, or three, you might find yourself in dire straits.

Add to that dilemma another layer of concern: you’re never sure what the artifacts will be until you use them. The artifacts’ symbols are shuffled with every new game you start, so a starburst symbol might be a healing item one playthrough and a nuke the next. Is it worth it to fight through a sea of hostile aliens for what might just be a teleportation spell? It’s a tough call. Knowing that the number of items you have at the end effects your final score—well that just makes it tougher.

You’re not left with only unknowns, at least. Zaga 33 tells you exactly how each alien will behave. Goblins move toward you, snarks move between you and the exit, and so on. This is information you’ll need in order to survive, and it turns each level into something of a puzzle. You can’t always reach the exit without getting hit, but it’s always worth trying.

Zaga 33 isn’t for everyone. The controls aren’t perfect, which can sometimes lead to mistakes. The game’s distinctly retro aesthetic will be a turn-off for some. And I can sympathize with the feeling that roguelikes can be a bit pointless. I enjoy the repetition, the fight to improve my score in a pretty randomly generated experience, but there’s no shame in preferring persistance.

If a retro-style roguelike sounds right up your alley, on the other hand, Zaga 33 is a must-buy. It’s tiny, but that just means you can try often and learn from your mistakes. I don’t usually expect to get much from a game in 15 minutes, but Zaga 33 makes every second count. Try the free desktop version if you’re on the fence—if it captures you like it’s captured me, you’ll be happy to put down a bit of change to take it on the go.

App Store Link: Zaga 33, $0.99 (Universal)

TouchArcade Rating:

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April 30, 2012 at 18:15

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