PAX '09: 'Blades of Fury' Hands-On and Video
posted September 4th, 2009 7:26 PM EDT by Eli Hodapp in Fighting, Games, PAX, Upcoming Games, iPhone games, iPod touch games
The first title of the day is Gameloft's Blades of Fury, a game quite obviously inspired by Soul Calibur. Like most Gameloft games, while the concept isn't original, the gameplay is solid.
Blades of Fury has on-screen controls with a virtual D-Pad and array of buttons that cover two different kinds of attacks, blocking, and a special move usable when your power bar fills up. In my brief time with the game, I found the controls to be adequate to beat the first few opponents, although I could definitely see the lack of tactile feedback that comes from a real gamepad or arcade stick becoming an issue as the difficulty in the game ramps up.
The single player story mode is just as silly as most fighting games, told through a few sentences between matches. Since no one that I know plays fighting games for intense plot and character development, I wouldn't think this would be an issue for too many people. Also included is a standard arcade mode where you quickly just fight another opponent along with a survival and practice mode.
The graphics of the game are absolutely amazing. The test unit shown in the following gameplay video is a 2nd generation iPod Touch. As you can see, the framerate is great, the visuals are top notch, and Blades of Fury will easily join the ranks of games you will find yourself saying "This is running on my phone?" while playing.
[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]
I didn't have enough time with Blades of Fury to form much of an opinion on the game, but what I've seen so far has been fun to play and impressive to watch. I can't wait to see how it runs on my iPhone 3GS.
Blades of Fury is due to be released sometime this month.
Tekken?
of course gameloft should change their name to gameripoff
Yes, because there's just so much original content they could have done with a fighting game that hasn't already been done on the App Store…
Jeez, get over yourself. Find me another game on the App Store that this is a rip off of and then you can complain.
@Alichan76
If you were trying to say that Gameloft is ripping off some games, you got the title wrong. This game resembles Soul Calibur, not (the inferior) Tekken.
I, for one, thank Gameloft for bringing us such titles (even if they are inspired by other games and not totally original) because the "big dogs" still aren't taking the iPhone seriously.
Just sparking conversation really. I don't know Soul Calibur, and Tekken came to mind when watching the video. Take it as a stab a Gameloft if you like, but it wasn't meant as such…
You've never played many fighting games if you think Tekken is inferior to Soul Calibur. Soul Calibur is a button masher.
@Str1f3
Oh boy, here we go. Please don't call Calibur a button masher. It's a button masher for players who don't understand how to play it, but still allows them to enjoy the game. It's intentionally designed that way. Tekken, on the other hand is much more technical.
And Virtua Fighter is way more technical than either Tekken or Soul Calibur.
troll ?
Just make this 5 to 6 dollars and i'm buying this on launch day!
Were you playing this on iPhone 3GS or iPhone 3G?
The graphics look too smooth for iPhone 3G.
he says in the article it was a 2nd Gen iPod Touch
Looks sick! finally nice to have a real fighting game on the iPhone. Wonder how good the story will be, considering that they have a story mode. Controls look extremely smooth, the gameplay looks EXACTLY like SC and the graphics are just flat out amazing. Hopefully this'll run on my iPod 1g, and knowing GL it will. Wonder how much longer until submission.
Imagine when companies decide to start handing Gameloft, EA and other companies their games to port. Namco has to be looking at this and saying, "damn, we should put our mobile version of Soul Calibur on there and make cake". Then everyone does it. Soon you'll get iPhone releases alongside Nintendo DS, PSP, XBLA and PSN. Bu that's gonna be next year or the next, Gameloft has to prove a point first.
Too dark of a video. looks fun though,
is that the same music from Hero of Sparta?
Damn! This reminds me of Fight Night (or something like that).. Is Soul Calibar like Fight Night? Because it looks a whole hell lot like it. But this looks AMAZING! What's with gameloft these days, quality, and beautiful games for cheap prices!??!?!?!? Definitely dominating the app store!
Well aside from the fact that this game looks freaking amazing, it is a blatant ripoff, even the guy Eli was fighting, looks and moves just like Voldo from the Soul Caliber series… Doesn't matter to me though, looks like a solid title and the next best thing to the original, can't wait for this one!
And the second opponent, with the whip, might as well be Ivy's sister.
Best thing, I've ever seen on the idevices!
Btw. I love Voldo (coolest fighting character ever), so every copy is welcome!
Let's hope that Gameloft will be Wise enough to release a Lite Version from the Beginning since this Game might be one of those that you have first to Try before you even think about buying the Full Version.
Of course it looks great and the Animiations are Smooth and Top Natch, still i wana see how it runs on my Device till i give my final Note
A lot of visual detail I wasn't expecting. Look at the giant troll/ monster rampaging in the distance in the first fight.
i wasn't really interested in the game for the iphone until i saw this vid. I'm definitely keeping an eye on this game.
Looks nice, but utterly uncontrollable. I abhor onscreen joysticks, they just don't work when you need quick timing, which is essential for games like this.
Gameloft should not just bluntly port a game but think of how it would best work on the platform. Just as an example, letting AI move your character and letting the player just touch screen areas to control slashes and block.
I don't get why people are still making excuses for things with the line 'it's good for a phone' etc. The fact that the iPhone has a 3G modem in it is totally irrelevant, all that matters is that it has a CPU and GPU which can power 3D graphics. Given the cost of the device too (£500 in the UK) it's far more expensive than a PSPGo or DS, so I would expect it to have visuals on a similar or better level.