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The only way I can start this review is with a little history lesson, both for people who aren’t familiar with Sonic CD, as well as those of you who might not have been reading TouchArcade since the summer of 2009. Let’s start at the beginning, so everyone can truly appreciate just how wonderful the very existence of this game is.

Sonic CD, or Sonic the Hedgehog CD was originally released in late 1993 for the Sega CD, Sega’s CD-ROM accessory for the Genesis console. Sega CD had actually come out earlier that year, and many gamers (myself included) couldn’t wait to get their hands on one as the promise of full motion video powered gaming seemed incredible. Unfortunately, both due to the many technical limitations of the system, as well as the games themselves just not being very good, the Sega CD never really took off quite how I imagined Sega wanted it to. (There’s actually a bunch of reasons I could also get into, but I digress.)

Sonic CD represented a blazing torch of promise that I had hoped was going to give the Sega CD the boost it needed, serving as that ever-important position as “system seller.” Again, unfortunately, the relative low popularity of the Sega CD accessory made Sonic CD a commercial failure, even though it was a critical success. In fact, I’d still say Sonic CD is the best Sonic game ever released. It was a particularly great Sega CD game, as it played to the strengths of the Genesis with familiar Sonic-style gameplay enhanced through a few tasteful full motion video scenes and some fantastic CD audio.

Fast forward nearly 16 years to a curious question that Sega posted to the iOS community. Previously, Sega’s efforts on the App Store were limited to decidedly mediocre games, centralizing almost entirely around emulated Genesis games wrapped in an emulator that really wasn’t that great, and still isn’t that great. They asked gamers what they’d like to see on the iPhone next, and literally a day later Christian Whitehead revealed his idea. Check out the video from 2009:

While that video might not be that entirely impressive now, remember at the time we were busy wagging our finger at Sega for continuing to release emulated Genesis ports that played poorly, performed even worse, and just weren’t any fun. Then Christian Whitehead comes along with not only a port of the best Sonic game, but also running at 60fps? The emulated Genesis games barely ran at a quarter of that. Our minds were beyond blown, but like all cool things utilizing IP of a larger company, we didn’t expect this fan-made Sonic CD project to wind up anywhere other than in a cease and desist letter fired off from Sega’s legal department.

We quickly got together with Whitehead, and conducted a fascinating interview where one thing started to become crystal clear: This is a project motivated solely by love for the game. Christian built an entire game engine specifically for porting retro classics, and he had aspirations of working with Sega to actually get his version of Sonic CD in gamers’ hands. Following that, things went dark. The fan-made Sonic CD web site vanished and the above video disappeared from YouTube. We assumed the worst, as it seemed reasonable that Sega’s legal hammer came down on the project.

Jump ahead another two years, and out of nowhere that Sonic CD was coming to iOS. We quickly confirmed that this was in fact Christian Whitehead’s Sonic CD, and we couldn’t have been happier. Sure, the particulars such as release date and other things like that weren’t in the open yet, but it was coming, and that was enough.

Tonight, Sonic CD is released to the world, based on the very same demonstration we saw back in 2009, which I suppose brings us to the actual “review” portion of this review. Sonic CD plays like every other Sonic game in that you run from the start to the finish, collecting rings, and fighting bosses every few levels. One radical addition to Sonic CD is the addition of the “Past” and “Future” system. Running past either a “Past” or “Future” sign sends Sonic time traveling to a slightly different version of the level. Initially, the future will be a “bad” future, overrun by robots. However, if you go into the past first, and destroy the robot generator, you’ll be able to enjoy the “good” future which significantly fewer enemies. Alternatively, you can just ignore time traveling all together, although I believe (If my memory serves me.) getting the best ending requires unlocking every “good” future.

In a word, Sonic CD is incredible. It redefines what gamers can expect out of retro iOS ports, while simultaneously making all of Sega’s existing ports look absolutely horrid in comparison. The on-screen controls work great, the game performs even better than the original, and they’ve included not only the Japanese soundtrack, but also the American one. (Note: It defaults to the Japanese soundtrack, so if you’re wondering where the familiar “Sonic Boom” song is, you’ll need to toggle it in the options.) It’s even Universal. I can’t think of a single thing that’s missing or lacking in any way, in fact, they’ve even added Tails, who wasn’t even present in the original.

I’m not sure what else to say. Here we have the best installment of one of the greatest gaming franchises, which received both flawless review scores and game of the year awards when it was originally released ported with complete perfection to iOS. This is a game you flat out need to buy if you even vaguely consider yourself an iOS gamer. Not only because it’s such an impeccable port of an important piece of gaming history, but because we need to vote with our wallets to tell Sega (and anyone else who might be watching) that this is the quality we demand out of retro games brought to the App Store.

International App Store Link: Sonic CD, $1.99

Note: Sonic CD will be available in the USA at 11:00 PM Eastern, it should be available everywhere else in the world right now though.

TouchArcade Rating:

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Kinectimals on Kinect is an experiential game that does a solid job of luring its users into forming an emotional bond with its assortment of on-screen, rascally pets. As an adult, you see why the user’s relationship to the pet is so important: without one, the entire experience falls apart. If you aren’t clicking with your animal, you don’t want to pet it, you especially don’t want to get up and interact with it, and you sure as heck don’t want to do the game’s mindless assortment of mini-games alongside it.

Little ones, from what I understand, generally respond to its adorable baby cheetahs, its equally adorable Bengal tigers, and its other scarily expressive animals. When the game asks, kids enthusiastically move about and shout and jump, and reach to the TV.

That’s well and good, but now Kinectimals has made the jump to iOS. Obviously, the Kinect hook has been dropped with this particular version. So, this begs the question: does the game and its, er, magic still work?

I can’t give you a straight answer on that.

What I can say, though, is that a good chunk of the charm of the original has made the platform leap. Just as in the other game, you pick and name a gaggle of cats to directly interact with, each one as viscously adorable and playful as the next. Once you grab one you’ll be teleported to a field of sorts and given the opportunity to either pet, feed, instruct, or initiate tricks with the thing.

This initial screen, and the subsequent backgrounds you’ll move on to as you level up as a pet owner, is essentially a sandbox. The animal seemingly acts randomly, but you or a young one are ultimately always in control of what to do next. Usually, that Next Thing involves a good scratch behind the ears or a ball throw.

For what it’s worth, Kinectimals iOS is arguably on par or better-looking than its Xbox 360 counterpart. It also runs as smooth as butter, in our experience: the animations of the cats, which are surprisingly lifelike to begin with, are sharp, the menus load in a matter of a second or two, and even “level” transfers are nearly seamless. It’s nice.

The implementation of touch is good, too. The contextual gestures and swipes make sense, and the responsiveness is something other studios doing ports should study. I think the controls in particular are simple and intuitive enough for a young one to put its head around. Want a cat to jump? All it needs to do is swipe up. Want to pet it? Just toss down two fingers on the screen, wait for the camera to zoom, and then go to town.

That said, I think there is a layer or two of, let’s say immersion, lost in translation; since you aren’t directly pantomiming actions with your body and arms, the interaction doesn’t feel as substantial. The animal, on the other hand, is much more in your face with a tablet, and there’s something to that. Also, let’s not forget just how darn cute, bouncy, and willing to be interacted with these things are.

This all in mind, and the controls taken into account, I’d argue that the touch versions are as viable as the Kinect one. Sure, there’s some loss of weightiness, but overall the game still works thanks to some smart design / port decisions.

Actually, while we’re exploring some possible negatives, let’s talk about some concrete ones. This game’s UI is borderline terrible — it’s hard to navigate for one, but it’s also tough to see what’s important. Also, the game’s over-eager lemur that guides the experience isn’t in this version, so its up to the young ones to puzzle out how to play, how to progress and how to discover new levels.

The latter in particular is a big black eye. Just remember: the points you earn are like a level currency. At some point, you’ll earn enough for the game to invite you somewhere else.

The actual meat of the experience, or at least what I believe is supposed to be the main feature, the mini-games, are accounted for, too. These are definitely not for adults, as each are as mundane, easy, and almost job-like as possible. I’m thinking, though, that a kid will especially dig the monotonous jump-roping, ball throwing, and picture taking.

And that’s the rub; I’m not sure how to evaluate this game because I know what a tape deck is. I will say this, though. Most of the parts of the original game, which worked for kids apparently, is fairly well translated in this version. And even though it lacks 1:1 body-to-game interaction, I think a solid connection can still be formed between digital cat and real, whiny “Give Me A Pet” kid. Give it a look with him or her, but I’d advise to stay away if it’s just you looking for a game.

A couple of side-notes: If you buy this, you’ll get the ability to import your iOS Kinectimal to Kinectimals on Kinect via QR code and vice versa. You’ll also be able to unlock five new Kinectimals in the main game, just like owners of the Windows Phone 7 version were able to when this game debuted on that platform. Check out our discussion thread for more information.

TouchArcade Rating:

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Microsoft, via Xbox Live evangelist Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, has just announced the immediate release of another surprising App Store app — though this one, Kinectimals [$2.99], is a game and not a companion piece, as was the case with My Xbox Live.

This version of Kinectimals seems like it’s pretty close to the Kinect experience that it’s based on, though we’ve also heard that it’s strikingly similar to the Windows 7 mobile version of the game, too. In a nutshell, it’s just a collection of mini-games starring several super cute cats that you can train to do tricks or participate in a wide range of not-necessarily-stimulating-for-adults activities.

Of note, this version, developed by Frontier Developments as well, incorporates “brand new ways to play with your cub” and offers an unlock for five additional cats on the Xbox 360.

We’ll be playing with this throughout the day, and will bring you some more details a bit later. As a side-note, we’re absolutely loving the fact that Microsoft is down for actively supporting the Xbox 360 and its games via iOS. The future! It’s here!

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Stretched [99¢] is a new physics-based slingshot-platformer from Chillingo, which has been receiving praise in our discussion thread.  The objective is to fling a ball between various slingshots, collecting as many bubbles from each level as possible, before reaching the exit portal. There’s no time limit or restriction on the number of turns, so there’s no hurry, but each time you fling yourself you need to land safely, as there’s no ground or safety net.

The best feature of Stretched is that new gameplay elements are constantly being introduced as you progress through the 80+ levels and 4 worlds (Sunrise, Monochrome, Misty and Desert). Each world has it’s own features and music and it’s often a pleasant surprise to discover what comes next.

Initially you’re propelling  yourself between slingshots of various sizes and orientations, or bouncing off walls. But that’s just the start. You’ll manipulate chains and sliders, use a sticky green character to your advantage by sticking to walls, explode bombs to blast yourself across the level or to move obstacles, turn wheels with your finger to rotate items and encounter various moving contraptions to master. Some levels challenge you to balance the ball precariously on the end of a stick, while also collecting bubbles! There’s a surprising amount of variety in this game (more than I’ve described here) and each new feature is carefully explained when it first appears.

The touch controls are simple and effective: Use your finger to stretch back the slingshot and determine the direction and power of the shot (the slingshots fire in either direction). A series of dots shows the trajectory path, for aiming purposes. Once you release your finger, the ball is propelled in the chosen direction. If you’re attached to a sticky green character, you can tap it to make it disappear. Or tap a bomb to make it explode.

Your score is based on the number of bubbles collected before reaching the exit portal. Collecting over half of the bubbles earns 2-stars, while you must grab all the bubbles to 3-star the level. High scores and achievements are all managed via Chillingo’s Crystal and Game Center.

A “skip level” option is available and there appears to be no limit to how many times you can use it, as I skipped several levels in a row. However, a certain number of stars is required to unlock each subsequent world and skipping levels doesn’t earn any stars, so there’s some incentive to actually play through the levels. An In-App Purchase can be made to unlock all levels, although there’s really no need.

Stretched was released without much fanfare, so it’s quite a pleasant surprise. The bubble graphics are not overly impressive, so the screenshots don’t look too flashy, but don’t judge this game by it’s screenshots alone as the variety of gameplay is excellent. The puzzles are interesting and varied, rather than intellectually complex, and the various soundtracks sound good without feeling repetitive. You’ll get a few hours entertainment for a dollar, with more levels promised in the future, making this an easy game to recommend.

TouchArcade Rating:

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Earlier this week, Warner Bros. and Mortal Kombat developer NeatherRealm Studios surprised everybody by dropping Batman Arkham City Lockdown [$5.99], an iOS spinoff of the critically acclaimed console series, into the App Store. Batman Arkham City Lockdown is a streamlined take on its console big brother games, placing you in the role of Batman as he faces off against a stable of Gotham City’s infamous villains in one-on-one battles. The presentation and overall “Batman-ness” of the game are absolutely fantastic, and although the combat is a bit rigid and flat, Arkham City Lockdown offers a fun mobile version of The Dark Knight’s superhero escapades.

Immediately upon starting up the game, you’re thrust into a fight with one of the Joker’s thugs which acts as a tutorial in the ways of combat. The controls are fairly straightforward: Tapping the screen allows you to dodge an incoming blow, swiping the screen left or right throws those respective punches, swiping up does an uppercut, and swiping down just when an enemy is about to strike does a deflection move resulting in a dizzied opponent.

The responsiveness of the controls is pretty good, and it’s easy to piece together some nice combos using the swiping gestures. However, it really just feels like a second rate attempt at Infinity Blade-style combat. A couple of additional elements do spice things up though. There is a counterattack mechanic where tapping circles that pop up on your opponent’s body will result in Batman doing various types of counters, most of which look pretty sweet. The problem with this is that you feel very removed from these moves, as you sit back and merely watch these canned animations after simply tapping some circles. Enemies can also go into a “rage” where your offensive efforts do nothing, and instead you must concentrate on dodging their incoming attacks until they cool down and you can get back to pummeling them in the face.

My main issue with the fighting mechanics is that they really lack depth. Most fights can be easily won by simply timing a deflection, dizzying your opponent, and swiping back and forth furiously to unleash a combo on them. Of course, if you make the effort to mix things up by doing different combos, using your arsenal of special gadgets, and utilizing counterattacks, then you will be rewarded with a better rating and more experience points when the battle is over. But, if you’re stuck on a particularly hard fight, the motivation isn’t really there to prevent you from taking the cheap and formulaic route to a victory.

While the actual combat mechanics feel simplistic, Arkham City Lockdown does offer quite a bit in the way of content. After your first tutorial fight, you enter into the Batcave where you can access a map of Gotham City which allows you to choose from a selection of battles. Only a portion of the city is unlocked from the start, with a few entry level fights for you to choose from. Each fight contains multiple opponents that you’ll face off against one right after the other, utilizing the same health meter for all of them to add some challenge. When oh when will villainous thugs learn to all attack at the same time?

After completing each of these battles you’ll unlock the boss battle for that area, the first being Two Face. He’ll send some goons after you at first, and in between bouts a new gameplay element is introduced. When Two Face tries to pop a cap in your behind with his tommy gun, you toss out your trusted Batarang. Here you get a third-person view from right behind the Batarang and you actually control it by tilting, directing it into Two Face and knocking his aim off kilter. As gimmicky as this sounds, I actually thought it was a pretty cool little diversion from the regular fisticuff action. After tearing through the thugs and tossing a few Batarangs, you’ll square off against the man himself, Two Face.

The first boss battle with Two Face is tough, and he handily kicked my ass multiple times in a row. This brings me to another aspect to Arkham City Lockdown, the character progression of Batman. Beating up bad guys earns you experience which will level up Batman and his attributes. You can also earn what is called Waynetech points which can be poured into upgrading your various gadgets, armor, combat skills, and more. If you want to speed up the process, you can get additional Waynetech points via in-app purchase, though so far it seems like you’ll naturally earn enough to trick out your Batman adequately during the course of regular play.

Aside from the regular campaign missions and storyline, there’s also some cool extra stuff like unlockable character bios, Batman wallpapers, a viewer for checking out a selection of included Arkham City digital comics, and several additional skins to outfit your Batman in. These can be immediately unlocked via IAP (and they’re all pretty sweet), but unfortunately there’s no way to earn these alternate costumes through normal play, which would have been a cool incentive for playing through the game or accomplishing specific goals.

In the case of Batman Arkham City Lockdown, my feelings towards the game are mixed. I’m not terribly excited over the simplistic fighting mechanics, but I absolutely love the character progressions system and bonus unlockable items. Plus, the combat system did end up growing on me, and as long as you’re not expecting something at the level of Infinity Blade II [$6.99] then you might actually have a good amount of fun making your way through all the fighting missions. Also, the game’s visuals look absolutely fantastic, not surprising given the use of the Unreal Engine. It definitely feels like a very authentic mobile spinoff to the console titles.

Whether or not you should pick up Batman Arkham City Lockdown will likely boil down to what your expectations are from the game. If you want a comparable experience to the console titles that you can carry around in your pocket, then you will probably end up disappointed in this effort. If you want a gorgeous looking Batman title filled with all sorts of nice fan service and simple combat that won’t bust your brain with strategic depth, then Arkham City Lockdown delivers this really well.

It will be cool if the developers support the game post-release, as there are only a few bosses to battle in the game and it all goes by fairly quickly. It’s pretty fun replaying through the game though, especially if you don’t mind forking over some extra cash for the alternate costumes which add a bit of a different experience to additional playthroughs. Overall Batman Arkham City Lockdown is a really well made title that I’ve ended up enjoying more than I initially thought I would, and if you’re a big Batman fan and can accept some of the combat limitations, then it’s definitely worth a look.

TouchArcade Rating:

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Most gamers are probably familiar with The Behemoth from their Flash game turned console game turned HD remake XBLA title Alien Hominid, and their subsequent XBLA release Castle Crashers. You might even remember that earlier this year they released a game for the App Store called Super Soviet Missile Mastar [Free], which was a strange and humorous mini game straight out of Alien Hominid that was turned into a standalone iOS game that we thought was pretty cool.

Well, The Behemoth is back in the iOS space with their latest offering called Alien Hominid: PDA Games [Free], which as the title suggests is a compilation of the PDA mini games that you could play in Alien Hominid. It’s basically a simplistic platforming game where  the goal is to collect the gems and kill the enemies in each level, which will unlock the door to the next level. It has a pretty cute grey and white color scheme which is a throwback to the PDA devices of yesteryear, and some well designed levels that will occasionally rough up your brain as you determine how best to complete them.

As Behemoth points out on their developer blog, the iOS version of PDA Games has been redrawn to be in HD, Game Center has been added with 23 achievements, and the game runs at a solid 60fps. Best of all, the game is totally free to download and comes with 15 levels for you to try out, and if you end up digging it, you can unlock an additional 500+ (!) levels for a 99¢ in-app purchase. I found the virtual controls to be decent enough, but the main character feels like he moves a bit too slowly, which has messed up my timing at certain points. But, I’m slowly getting used to it, and I’m actually finding myself quite enjoying Alien Hominid: PDA Games.

Behemoth also hints that PDA Games has had a subtle influence on their new upcoming XBLA title BattleBlock Theatre, which looks pretty interesting. But the bottom line is that Alien Hominid: PDA Games is free for you to check out, so you might as well go ahead and do so. And if we can show The Behemoth proper love on the App Store, then perhaps sometime in the future they’ll consider actually bringing their awesome full games to the iOS platform. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

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I have a confession to make: I never played The Bard’s Tale [$6.99] when it hit consoles back in 2004 (nor did I ever play the original 1985 version on PC). So, when the game made its recent debut on the App Store, I welcomed the opportunity to check out the quirky action-RPG. As it turns out, not only does The Bard’s Tale make a smooth transition to the small screen, but the great tongue-in-cheek story still works for folks that are looking to try it out for the first time, assuming they can get past the simplistic (and somewhat stale) gameplay mechanics.

For those that haven’t played it before, The Bard’s Tale follows the story of the unnamed protagonist as he gets swept away in a story rife with RPG clichés and humor.  Even though the game hardly ever takes itself seriously, the writing and humor remain well done and are the stars of the game. The voice acting also deserves a special mention, with Cary Elwes (of Princess Bride fame) as the voice of the bard. There are some that may roll their eyes at the sarcastic humor, but I believe that it’s actually a big part of the appeal as too many games take themselves way too seriously these days.

Gameplay-wise, Bard’s Tale is a top-down action RPG with a somewhat basic real time battle system. At the start, players can wield various close and long range weapons and execute simplistic combos to take down your foes. Every couple of levels, players are also given an opportunity to choose traits, which range from earning additional gold, to special ranged shots, to unlocking weapon specializations like two-handed swords and dual-wielding.

Players also earn money by picking up random treasure drops from slain baddies and random chests, which are used to purchase weapons and armor. The Bard’s Tale may not be as robust as newer games in terms of character customization, but it gets the job done as far as providing an adequate gameplay experience. Furthermore, the game is absolutely massive in terms of the main adventure as well as optional quests.

In addition, a big part of the gameplay in The Bard’s Tale is its comprehensive summoning system. The bard can summon a wide variety of companions from support-based characters to offensive warriors. You start out with a limited amount of companions, but you learn more as you complete the main story. It’s always recommended to have someone summoned to help you in battle, and a lot of the strategy in the latter part of the game will be choosing the most helpful companion for the situation.

From a controls standpoint, The Bard’s Tale offers an option of a virtual joystick and a touch-based controls scheme. The joystick works well enough, although I would have liked it placed a little further from the corner of the screen for comfort purposes. Meanwhile, I just didn’t like the touch-based controls as you seem to lose a lot of versatility with this method, especially during battles. I’d consider these concerns to be relatively minor but potentially frustrating, considering the difficulty of the game.

One area that may pose a problem for some players is the surprisingly hard difficulty (at least, compared to other iOS action-RPGs). The majority of my playtime was done on the normal difficulty and I found myself having to do quite a bit of experience and money grinding just to give myself a fighting chance while playing. In addition, the lack of a ‘save anywhere’ system makes for some frustrating scenarios if you happen to die before you make it to a checkpoint (a definite possibility when you’re dealing with random encounters on the world map).

Also, it’s important to note that despite the relatively simple battle system, you cannot expect to bowl over mobs of enemies by mashing the attack button (ok you can, but only after some serious grinding); there are too many enemies with special abilities such as knockbacks and healing spells. Instead, you’ll have to actually prioritize enemies and employ actual techniques like using your companion to divide and conquer. It seems obvious, but there aren’t a lot of action-RPGs on the App Store that actually require some organization and planning. Of course, folks can also take advantage of several IAPs ranging from extra gold to stat increases, which basically put the game on easy mode.

Whether or not you end up enjoying The Bard’s Tale depends greatly on your priority for what makes a good game. If you care more about story and overall presentation, then Bard’s humorous story, great voice acting, and decent graphics should leave you highly satisfied. The visuals are particularly well done on the iPhone 4S and iPad 2, as the added effects look great on these devices. However, players looking for a robust battle and character customization system may be disappointed as these areas are definitely where the game shows its age. Either way, despite its age, The Bard’s Tale merits at least some consideration and is recommended for any fan of action-RPGs.

TouchArcade Rating:

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