Risk-like 'Lux Touch' Debuts in the App Store
posted by Blake Patterson on October 13th, 2008 9:39 PM EDT in Free, Strategy, iPhone games, iPod touch games
Risk fans: take note–Sillysoft Games has released Lux Touch [App Store] for the iPhone, the closest thing to the ideal game of Risk in the iTunes App Store.
It's simple: Control the blue armies and conquer the map. Fight a virtual war to dominate the world.
While Lux Touch v1.0 is free, a Deluxe verison is on the way, featuring:
- more AIs
- more maps
- more settings
- more hot graphics
- more human players
- more of your dreams come true
Lux Touch is a mobile version of the popular desktop game Lux Deluxe.
App Store Link: Lux Touch (Free)
this is not much of a review.. lets hear more about it
to royce: it's free arsehole, go try it yourself
I've played both this game, and the other Risk style one (Virtual Conquest) also in the app-store. They both have their pros and cons. I was kicking butt in Lux Touch, and defeated everyone except one enemy, who only had a couple of territories left, then he suddenly traded in all of his cards, and got 125 extra units, and wiped me out. Lux Touch is more intuitive than V. Conquest, and looks and sounds much more professional, but the lack of customisability is a downfall. The deluxe version sounds like it will fix this, but in the mean-time, I'll stick with V Conquest.
This is a bit of late news. It's been in the App Store for a week now. I've been playing it quite a bit. While it isn't perfect, I find it (even this free, limited version) much better than the other risk clone, Virtual Conquest, which costs a few dollars.
I'm excited for the Delux version, and will certainly pay for it.
Been playing. Very good port. I like it better than their desktop version, even.
This is definitely a 1.0, though. Maybe even a 0.8. Most glaring missing feature is any kind of "save state" at all–even when you go to the home page, you lose everything. You have to start a new game each time you open the app.
That said, it's some sweet UI. I'll be watching what these guys do.
I've been doing really well at this, but I have no idea how to 'trade in' my cards or even what the other buttons that pop up when the trade in happens (is it random? am I somehow setting it off?).
Their website doesn't explain it – can anyone spell it out for me? Thanks in advance.
But yeah, definitely a fun game.
instructions would help those of us new to the genre.. how the hell do you play this?
You are blue. The numbers in the countries are your troops. Just tap a number and point to another colored country to attack. You can only move to connected countries or to neighbours and only go one move. If you select the castle in the bottom right you can reposition your army: Tap the troup number, than tap the corresponding countries to reposition/move your troops.
When finished with everything, end your turn.
What I don't understand is, why you get cash or more troops after some turns. Sometimes, the opponent has only a hand full of troops left and is nearly dead, but then he gets about 200 troops and is back again
.
The card rules are as follows:
-If you successfully take over at least one territory in a turn, you get a card
-There are 4 card types: army, tank, airplane, wildcard
-3 of the same type gets you a bonus army
- a set of each type, army, tank, airplane gets a bonus army
-wildcards can count as any (hence the name)
-the option to cash in your cards for bonus army shows up when you have one of the combos above.
-you can tap on the cards to chane which ones you want to cash if you have more than one valid set
-you can decline to cash in your cards if you have 4 or less (save them for later)
-you must cash in your cards if you have 5 or more
-wipe out an enemy entirely and you get his cards (this is damn useful anc can make or break a game)
-if you wipe out an enemy and have 5 or more cards you cash them in immediately and get to keep playing/destroying
Hope this helps
Oh and each time someone/anyone gets a bonus army, the size of the next bonus army anyone can get increases. In long games it gets crazy big, don't let it go that long!
What can you do with different things like army, tank and airplane and where do you see them?
to jamiesoo:
i got lux touch before i posted my comment. i merely want to state how lame an article toucharcade made for it. its just copy and pasted from the app store. i was hoping they would have a better insight as to a newer version (DLX?), as sometimes they know these things.
wow.. this game is pretty hard. I usually have the other armies right where I want them, and all of a sudden someone drops 150 armies right next door to my continent.. and BAM, I'm done fore.
They only pop up when you have a set of 3 of the same type or 1 of each. There's no way that I know of to see what you have until you have a set. Then you can cash them in for bonus armies.
Also, each card represents a region (they actually appear over the region they represent when you view the cards). If you own that region you get a couple bonus armies to that area when you cash in the cards.
Well, I read the instructions for Virtual Conquest on this page http://www.twobluecubes.com/virtualconquest/howtoplay.html and it seems that Virtual Conquest explains the trading or handling of cards much much better then Risk. Just from reading the pages for Virtual Conquest it seems to be absolutely clear what will happen when and why. Regarding Lux touch, even after playing it a few times during the last week I don't understand how to trade cards or work with cards from a strategic standpoint.
Are here players who played both games and can do a short comparism?
Also, I'm a bit shocked that Lux touch does support iPhone basics like the mute button, but does not save the state when you go home or get a call. Looks like wrong priorities for me.
What do you think?
lame, lame, lame… no multiplayer (offline would do just fine for me), and knowing that a "deluxe" version is coming, expect a 4.99 price tag or something.
the UI is horrid, no explanations about the rules (what are those random cards?)..
although it looks very polished, it feels more like a demo than a free game. they could at least implement an offline multiplayer to this.
The games good…but not great. Even the ability to turn off the increasing size of the card trade ins would be a drastic help. It becomes a strategy of targeting the person with the most cards that you can beat before the end of the turn.
I will likely buy the deluxe version if it is $5 or so…but only after waiting awhile to see if they drop the price. If it comes in $2-$3, I will just buy it.
If they price it at $10 or more….I will skip it. The current version is good enough to satisfy my love of risk…even if not perfect.
People!!! just learn how to play Risk and the rules are exactly the same. Thats all you have to do to learn how to play this game. Its so easy, I picked up the game in about 3 min because I learned the rules of Risk. As far as the cards go, thats how you play it in Risk. Each time you turn in a set of cards, your armies get bigger and bigger. Some people like to hold on to their cards as long as they can because they get a lot more armies in the end to wipe out the world with them=) Read the rules of risk and you can play this game.
I think the game is very good. The touch controls are very accurate, even with the small size of the countries. Yes, I wish there were options. I wish I didn't have to click the home button and re open the app every time to start a new game. And sometimes it seems like the AI is alternately good and bad.
I do think that what IS in the game is very polished. I'm really looking forward to the Delux version.
Just on the side, online multiplayer would kick a**.
does anyone know why sometimes if I attack a country using 3 armies, sometimes I just lose my three armies,with no damage done to the target country? This happens even if the target only has one army…..but it doesn't happen all the time. Is this a bug, or do I just have no idea what I'm doing?
This isn't a glitch.
If you've ever played real "Risk" before, the way you attack an opposing country is by rolling the die, if the attacking country rolls a higher number then its opponent die, than it removes a man of the defending army. if the die number is the same or lower than the defending country's die, than the attacking country loses a man instead.
So it's basically based on luck, (supposed to be life-like, I guess), but really, no bug.
Hope that helps.
Well, you don't the dice rolling in Lux touch, don't you?
The trick to winning is definitely taking out other opponents, stealing their cards and trading them in immediately for troops.
The CPU didn't stand a chance!!
@ Alex… You don't actually have to restart the application if you win.. There is a button that appears at the end of the game asking if you want to start a new game. If you lose, then you have to restart it or allow the computer to finish the game (in hyperspeed) before starting a new game…
@ Oliver… The dice are rolled, but it is done internally so you don't see the roll itself, just the result with the armies attacking.
I am a huge risk buff and love this game. Although there aren't any options, being free more than makes up for it in my opinion. Can't wait for the deluxe to come out.
this trial is to easy but but it is a trial but i wait for the real game!!!
Hoe kan je dit spel op de computer spelen?
Bas – voor je computer het spel is aan http://www.sillysoft.com/ (sorry voor mijn slechte Nederlands!)