One of Apple’s more “magical" features in the past year is AirPlay, which allows you to stream the screen from your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 wirelessly to an Apple TV and right onto your HDTV. Soon, the new OS X Mountain Lion will allow you to do the same thing with your Mac, beaming whatever is on its screen to your TV wirelessly. In terms of gaming, AirPlay offers an additional avenue for playing iOS games – wirelessly on the living room TV – and some titles like Real Racing 2 HD have taken it a step further and offer a custom interface or additional features for playing the game that way.
While Apple has made it incredibly easy to beam the latest iOS devices to a television, and soon will be able to beam a Mac to a television, it’s strange that there’s not also the ability to stream an iOS device right onto a Mac. Someone else must have thought that was strange too, as there is now a new Mac app called Reflection that allows you to do just that. Streaming to a Mac using the Reflection app is just as simple as streaming to a television with an Apple TV. Just run the program on your Mac, and choose the AirPlay option on your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 and just like that it’s on your computer screen.
This sort of functionality has all types of useful applications, but the first thing on my mind was how well games would play using Reflection. For the most part it works pretty good, and it will largely depend on which game you’re playing whether you have a good experience or not. This is mostly due to the slight lag that is present when using Reflection, where your actions on your iOS device translate to your Mac just a tad off from real time. This tad can make a big difference in games that require precise and timely touches, and I shudder to think of playing something like Beat Sneak Bandit with that slight delay.
For lots of games that lag won’t matter though, and it is pretty cool playing iOS games on my MacBook Pro. Another thing I noticed is that the frame rate in Reflection isn’t as smooth as what’s on the actual device, but it isn’t terribly noticeable. Reflection also comes with the options to view the game in an iPhone or iPad frame, much like the simulator in the iOS SDK, or play in frameless or full screen modes. Reflection reacts accordingly when changing your device’s orientation, and you can lock it in either portrait or landscape if need be.
Reflection is a neat piece of technology, I can see it being incredibly useful to some. But for gaming it feels more like a novelty due to the sluggishness of the performance, but it’s still pretty neat and I think that performance will improve over time. If you own a Mac, you can grab a trial version of Reflection for free to test it out. It gives you just 10 minutes of time per day to mess around with it, but that’s enough to see how it works and decide if it’s something worth buying. If you do, the full version of Reflection will set you back $14.99 for a single license.
Product Website Link: Reflection App, $14.99 / Free Trial
This is an amazing game from Tiger Style. A well-deserved 5/5, an increasing rarity at TouchArcade...
Sweet review. Can't wait to play through the rest of the game when I find the time to in a few days.
back2this
An embedded HD Vimeo video that just disappears when you hit play on IPad.. Do I really have to fire up my clunky old laptop to see this?
Update - forget that, tried it a few times and it works now - cheers!
I have so much love for this game!
Somehow I am not impressed by the graphic accpording to the video. Some of the animation like 00:40, 1:26 looks not really well polished. And I have purchased "Spider, The Secret of Bryce Manor" and have tried to love it (I finished the game) but I still don't get it why people like it. To me that is a pretty repetitive game.
I thought the same thing until I really started playing it. It's a fantastic looking game.
It's not that great IMHO. I've pretty much beat it because I didn't want to judge it before it was over, but alas.. It's a yawn. I'm a casual gamer at best and I love my artsy games but I constantly find myself hitting the map button and telling myself "eew, crappy graphics". Raising the biomass is pretty easy due to map traveling and stocking up on seeds in earlier areas then just map travel to the latest area you're on. After this repeatedly and making it to the bottom of the cave line and back to home base, I didn't care what the secret was anymore.
I loved the game... A real breath o fresh air. Is it just me or it reminded me of a couple of classics: H.E.R.O. and Pitfall II. I'm really enjoying it.
Coming from someone who beat but didn't like Spider: this game is an iOS revelation and should not be missed by anyone. It all just works, sometimes literally when you can get an area to continuously increase its own biomass. The animations fit the visual style perfectly. Like this fine review states, however, Amani's portraits look like they are from another, less verbose experience. The writing for each character is perfect; their personalities are revealed not only through what they say, but how they say it. This is a remarkable achievement in gaming.
This got a bit sprawling for a simple comment of praise, but everyone please get this game. So glad its Apple's Game of the Week.
The game is brilliant, filling the long-awaited xenobiologist game niche. Is it too much to hope for Waking Europa?
One quibble with the review: It's not botany because ZOA ARE NOT PLANTS! : )
Spoilers. :)
Is this the secret at the end?
I was reading the comments to determine whether or not I wanted to buy it, and am a bit disappointed if the ending just got spoiled for me. =/
No, not at all. It's just barely a spoiler, really. The secret ending is still safe (and great, imo).
Thanks :)
No, it's not a spoiler. You are told early on that the zoa are not plants, and if anything it's a running gag how Liang and Amani keep referring to them as plants anyway.
Absolutely incredible. I haven't found a mobile game so engrossing and deep in a long time. This is how it is done. Devs take serious note.
Classic!
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that
counts can be counted
This game is one of my favorites from the App Store. Well deserved 5 star rating.
The graphics and trailer don't do anything for me. I have no idea what the gameplay really is, but based on the massive number of people talking about this EVERYWHERE, I'll give it a whirl.
I don't know. From the trailer it looks like one of those... I can't think of the name of the genre right now, but the kind where you're navigating a series of caves, you have a thruster that fires when you hit a button, and you go up when the thruster is on and fall when it's off. So, you're constantly pressing and releasing said button to avoid hitting the floor, the ceiling, the walls, etc. etc.
Is that the kind of game it is? Because the story sounds intriguing, but I don't particularly like that kind of game. :-)
You can walk when on the ground. Neither the ground, nor the walls kill you unless they are a specific threat/danger (lava, stalactites etc) The thruster helps you get around, but it isn't as tedious to control as one might think.
It's a metroid style game but with a map system to jump from location to location so you dont waste too much time going back and forth.
What does the sentient want
Your money
True love.
I didn't liked the beginning of the game and was ready to drop it... but then it just became incredibly addictive (I won't spoil at when), can't stop playing since this morning (Chapter 4 here i am!) the sense of exploration and discovery , and the eerie look and feel of the game is really engrossing.
We need more games like this on the appstore!
Agreed. The first few minutes were dull, but give it about 5 or 10, and you're hooked.
I agree about the Amani photos. Her expressions are too happy and a little goofy for the context. Pretty actress though.
I have to agree with James Williams. The graphics are good but the gameplay is pretty mediocre. I was really hoping this to be one of those true 5 star gems that only comes once or twice a year, but this wasn't it. 3/5 at best.
I dont know if its worth £1.49 because once ill complete it i will put it down for ages- what do You think?