Heads up: an iPad-specific version of Riven is still on the way, and it's going to include some key improvements over the original game, CEO of Cyan Worlds Rand Miller revealed in an awesome interview with Modojo.
A couple of "small new features" will be accompanied by a cleaner UI and cleaner images, animations, and video. From the interview:
"We have spent many months fine-tuning the Riven experience for the iPad, touching almost every aspect of the game. We have reduced the compression of the original images, we've improved the movies and animations, we've cleaned up the user interface, we've improved the sound and music presentation, and we've added a few small new features.
All in all we've worked really hard at making the best iPad version of Riven we could, and still squeeze it into the 2 gigabyte size limit."
Riven [$3.99] for iPhone appeared December 2010. It's seen some updates since, including iPhone 5 compatibility. The iPad version of Riven will be playable on every iteration of iPad, and that includes first-generation devices. Miller says it should hit within the next few weeks.
Riven is the critically praised sequel to Myst. It's probably safe to say that if you enjoyed Myst or realMyst, this'll be right up your alley.
Rayman Jungle Run [$2.99] is now my favorite iOS auto-runner. Granted, I wasn't the biggest fan of the genre, especially those with procedural, unending levels. Luckily, Rayman Jungle Run offers 40 distinct levels that require players to jump, hair-copter float, wall run, and punch or kick their way to the goal.
Each of these four overarching worlds tacks on an ability, and three of these worlds play out with tap-anywhere controls. However, the punch mechanic, used only in the final world, is relegated to a virtual button on the lower right.
Getting to the 40 goals is the easy part and adds up to less than an hour of pure gameplay. Getting 100 Lums per level, though, requires hours of practice. Each perfect level earns players a red gem-tooth, and five teeth unlock one crazy-hard race per chapter.
No Lums are in these Land of the Dead levels; it's all about reaching the end for the final tooth and getting the fastest time to place on the leaderboard. Speaking of leaderboards, none of the other stages are timed for online racing, which almost seems like a missed opportunity.
Other than meeting achievement goals, going for 100 Lums in stages unlocks an image gallery full of characters from Rayman Origins. This feels rather bittersweet, as seeing the characters creates nostalgia but serves to remind players what's missing from the Origins universe. How would this auto-runner incorporate bosses? I don't know, but I think the brilliant minds behind Rayman could have found an innovative way.
A few extra music tracks also wouldn't hurt, as they played randomly and grew a little stale after the first hour of playing. These tracks are probably enough for casual plays, but not for those who play over and over to perfect every level. That said, the overall lack of new assets made more sense when I realized Pix'n Love Rush creator Pastagames actually developed Rayman Jungle Run and not the original Ubisoft team.
Fanboy-like complaints aside, Rayman Jungle Run is the most thrilling, gorgeous, charming, and responsive auto-runner I've ever experienced. The stages whip and zip like a rollercoaster set at a perfect speed, which allowed me to take in each colorful character and background.
Each level, while less than a minute long, felt large. In whatever direction Rayman was running, jumping, or floating, I felt like I was exploring nearly every inch.
I don't believe collecting all 3,600 Lums in one play without dying is reasonable replayability, but I will happily pay for more levels to explore. Sadly, the title screen lacks a DLC button to hint of any forthcoming content.
For people who've never experienced Rayman or those who have strayed from the series, this is an excellent (re)introduction. For those who've played Origins, this may feel a bit mechanically and aesthetically familiar. In the case of Rayman Jungle Run, familiarity isn't a bad thing, especially when it stems from creator Michel Ancel.
Good news: the wait for Fireproof Studios' super atmospheric 3D puzzle game, The Room, is almost over. The game has cleared certification and it'll be out this September 19 across the App Store for iPad 2 and the new iPad. The price? An agreeable $4.99.
We're pretty stoked about this. We took a gander at a pre-release version of the game earlier last month, and came away surprised with its ability to dish out mystery and intrigue while also giving us the chills. The experience was pretty powerful.
In addition to word pictures, we've got some moving ones just below. If you've had a bit of trouble visualizing how The Room rolls, this should help:
Far cheaper, less sweaty, and more bizarre than any real-world miniature golf course I've played on, Wonderputt [$0.99 (HD)] is a polymorphic putt-putt painting brought to life by the charming design of Damp Gnat.
Easily observed in the trailer, Wonderputt contains a ridiculous amount of creativity in its 18 holes and the way the course transforms between each hole. Playing on a cubic river optical illusion, a farm mowed by hyperactive cows, lily pads on a lake, or a hill from a fresh avalanche keeps the golf game fresh with unique obstacles.
Wonderputt's biggest flaw is that it penalizes players' scores for the time spent completing the course. How can I not get lost in its visuals?! Maybe by the 5th or 10th playthrough I'll be less distracted.
That said, Wonderputt has only one golf course in the whole game and is the only other let down here. However, in the second playthrough, it becomes much more fun and manageable with the Wonder rainbow collectibles littered across each course. These collectibles seem arranged in a way that the most geometric of players can connect in one shot. It certainly helped me earn two hole-in-ones.
I had actually played Wonderputt online for free last year, but my iPad experience was definitely more memorable. I recall giving up on the pull-back-and-release gameplay with a mouse. Thankfully, the tiny golf ball feels easier to putt with my finger.
Feeling so familiar, I cheated a little and asked developer Reece Millidge what was new to the iPad version. He said it contains a larger canvas than the Flash version, HD graphics for retina display, and a triple-length soundtrack. As for why I played slightly better on the iPad version, he says he made the holes slightly bigger to help with the inaccuracy of fingers compared to the mouse.
Wonderputt has Game Center leaderboard integration, but it offers some homemade achievements that I think add more to the replayability, asking players to eventually hole-in-one everything. Also worth noting, music and sound effects are light but fitting for the game. I'd rather they complement but not overpower the striking visuals.
Wonderputt joins a number of other great mini golf style games on the App Store, and I can see several casual and hardcore players wanting to explore this eccentric golf course from end to end at least a few times. If you're the guy or gal with the fancy iPad 2 or 3, Wonderputt is one of those sharp apps you just have to show everyone and will definitely earn a few cool points in doing so.
realMyst [$6.99] for iPad -- which is now actually called just realMyst -- is available on the App Store today as promised, and it's rocking a $6.99 price tag. realMyst includes all of the content from the original Myst plus "Rime Age," and includes a few hip features like save states, auto-saves, and a hint book.
realMyst is a port of a re-release of Myst that, for the first time, gave Myst fans that ability to explore the original game in 3D. This version includes dynamic water and environmental effects, too. Early word from our message board seems to be positive, but we'll be digging in soon, too. Stay tuned.
If you’ve been a PC gamer for the past dozen years or so, and you’re into military-themed strategy games, chances are pretty good you’re familiar with the Combat Mission series. Known for its attention to detail and realism, the Combat Mission series has spanned several titles since the first release in 1999 and has allowed gamers to reenact both real and fictitious battles from throughout history.
Yesterday, series developer Battlefront.com teased an iPad version of Combat Mission on their website. Given the date of the announcement, we were taking the news with an incredibly enormous grain of salt. However, despite the looming possibility of an April Fool’s joke, it turns out that Combat Mission: Touch [$4.99] is a real, actual game, and it's available in the App Store as we speak.
One of the hallmarks of Combat Mission is the way it handles its turn-based gameplay. It employs the "Wego" system, which basically means that both sides in a battle set up all of their moves at the same time during a planning phase, and then they both sit back and watch as everything plays out during an actual combat phase. This makes for a great 2-player experience, and Combat Mission: Touch boasts online multiplayer as well as the ability to battle solo against an AI.
We’ll have to sit down and spend some quality time with Combat Mission: Touch to see how the iOS version turned out, but if you’re a fan of the series then you’ve probably already dropped the $4.99 to check it out for yourself. Just keep in mind, it’s only compatible with the iPad 2 and the newest iPad if you’re considering picking it up.
Prepare for a new, much more modern version of Myst [$4.99 / Lite] to hit this spring. Earlier this morning, we caught an awesome video from Cyan Worlds demonstrating the first footage of its next release, "RealMyst." In brief, it's a fully 3D, real-time version of the title being made exclusively for iPad 2. The version of Myst currently on the App Store is a straight-up port of the original title, which only sports static images and some pretty limited navigation. Back when Myst first hit, it'd take a supercomputer to render to do what this newer version is doing, and it's coming to a device that fits in our laps.
In the below, you'll notice some improvements. The lighting model seems better, as well as the texture filtering and all of that kind of jazz. We're stoked, though also a bit frightened by the prospect of getting stuck in Myst all over again. What was the formula for the circuit breaker puzzle again?
Surprise! Grand Theft Auto 3, which saw a release this December 14 at $4.99, is now just $2.99 in celebration of the holidays. If you were one of those day-one guys saying he'd wait until a price drop before taking the plunge... well, here you go.
This is part of a larger Rockstar holiday sale, by the way. Until the after New Years, you can also grab the studio's decidedly more mobile-friendly Grand Theft Auto joint, Chinatown Wars, at $5.99 instead of its usual $9.99. Beaterator, a music creation game, is also on sale. It's now $1.99 rather than its everyday $2.99. Deals!
Since Grand Theft Auto 3 is so fresh and all, swing by our review if you're on the fence. Spoiler: it's GTA 3 -- a fun, exciting open-world game that brimming with all the things we take for granted in a GTA -- but with virtual controls.
Uppercut Games's ridiculously awesome cover-based shooter, Epoch [$2.99], is seeing its first price reduction since its November launch. For a limited time, you can grab it at $2.99 instead of its usual $5.99. I ran this deal past a few of our math wizards, and they're telling me this is 50 percent off the regular price, so that's cool.
Epoch was a big hit with us. We awarded it a lot of stars, and loved how it made cover actually feel good. That's a rare thing in third-person shooters, even though there's a billion-plus-two of them out there on shelves at the moment. Give it a shot if you didn't grab it yet, or hey, read our full-length review and decide.
One of our several iPad Game of the Year contenders, Anomaly Warzone Earth HD [$1.99], just got a great update and another price drop. The headlining addition in version 1.2 is iCloud support. Starting now, your save games are pushed to the cloud and can be retrieved on any device with the game and rocking iOS 5. 11 Bit has also continued on its incremental visual update spree, too. Multi-sample anti-aliasing, post-processing, and extra details on clouds and dirt have been added, as well as red outlines for enemy towers.
Regular non-Universal Anomaly Warzone Earth [$.99] has also received a price-slashing. It's now $.99 instead of the usual $1.99. The HD version, which as you have observed already hopefully, is now sitting at $1.99 instead of the usual $3.99. If you haven't read our review and don't either version of this game, do yourself a favor and check it out. It's an impressive game that's worth your time.
The wait for Grand Theft Auto 3 on iOS and Android is almost over. On its blog a few minutes ago, Rockstar revealed that the 10 Year Anniversary Edition port of the game-changing open-world title will hit the App Store and Android Marketplace on December 15th at an agreeable price point of $4.99. A new trailer giving you another taste of what's to come is expected to release next week, but we've got some new screens right now to hold you over.
My new favorite thing on iOS is Rebuild [$2.99]. It's a fantastic strategy game that has the capability of ruining your life like only a Civilization can, but it also has this great touch that makes it exceedingly accessible and much more interactive. Its biggest flaw is the fact that it can only be played on iPad 2. Awesomely, that's going to change pretty soon.
In an e-mail exchange with us, Northway Games confirmed that iPad support is on the way in an update that has already been submitted to Apple. This update will also pack in Game Center support, which presumably will add achievements, too. Explaining why the game wasn't release for both platforms at once, Northway said that its technology simply wasn't playing nice with the original iPad. It is now!
If you're interested on checking this out on smaller iOS devices like the iPhone or iPod Touch, the wait might be a while. Northway is open to the platform, but a port isn't in the works just yet.
We put incredibly powerful devices in our pockets and on our laps daily, but rarely do we see games that utterly embrace this like Infinity Blade has. It's a showcase piece; a technically and visually gifted game that consistently delivers eye-popping stuff.
Infinity Blade 2 [$6.99] is a step a step or two beyond what was accomplished in the original, adding in layers and layers of next-level environmental and character texture detail on top of a ton of fantastic ambient touches -- sharper shadows, stronger lighting, and a glut of atmospheric effects bolster what's already a visual delight, especially on iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.
If you don't own an iPad 2 and you're about to skim past this post, let me interrupt you for a second. You can play most of Rebuild [$2.99] right now for free, as the Flash game Rebuild 2. And you really should. While the iPad 2 version comes with a few extra bells and whistles and plays gorgeously on a touch screen, this is a game that everyone should play whether they have the newest, shiniest gadget or not. Just be prepared to lose a few hours of your life to it when you do.
I don't wave around non-words like "unputdownable" often, but Rebuild deserves it. Though it's not an especially deep strategy game, it has the perfect mix of exploration, danger and difficulty to hook anyone for at least an hour or two, and maybe much longer. And yes, yes, we're up to our necks in zombie games, but this is a zombie/strategy/city builder and that's not something you see every day.
Jurassic Park: The Game 1 HD [$6.99] is a mixed bag. On one hand, it's a technically messy and poorly optimized iPad 2 exclusive. It stutters and drops frames so consistently that it becomes nearly impossible to enjoy, no less play. And even when you're willing to forgive this fairly fundamental flaw, the roller-coaster-y placement of its sluggish and mundane puzzles has a habit of obliterating the tension it succeeds in building. But on the other hand, this is a Telltale production. The characters, which are newcomers to the universe, are handled with care and written as if they were, actually, people; the story is laced with excitement and drama conveyed with a palpable reverence for the source material; and when the game is actually clicking, the tension and the pull of its beats are enormous.
The story takes place in Jurassic Park sans electrical fences -- basically, right after Dr. Hammond, Malcolm and the rest of the crew bail on Isla Nublar and its new occupying force, dinosaurs. You'll be following a new cast of characters, including a well-equipped ... contractor lady sent in to assist Nedry with his capture of the dinosaur embryos, a veterinarian, and the vet's daughter, who obviously has some issues with her family life.
Heads up: an iPad-specific version of Riven is still on the way, and it's going to include some key improvements over the original game, CEO of Cyan Worlds Rand Miller revealed in an awesome interview with Modojo. 
