When I think of Hemisphere Games' Osmos [$2.99 / $4.99 (HD)], I think about the zen-like atmosphere and music, the fantastic touch controls, the challenging levels, and the great visuals. What I don't think about, however, is multiplayer. But that's apparently going to need to change, as Hemisphere has teased on their website that Osmos is set to get some sort of multiplayer mode on July 19th.
This promo image is literally the only info out at the moment, but more details are said to be coming soon. I can imagine the "gobble up things that are smaller than you" gameplay of Osmos will provide for some interesting competitive (or perhaps cooperative?) multiplayer action.
If this is the first you're hearing of Osmos for some reason, it was originally a PC title released in 2009 that garnered a ton of critical acclaim. An iPad port came the following year and actually felt better than the original due to the touch-based controls, and shortly after that an iPhone-sized version hit and the experience translated well to the smaller-screened device as well.
Osmos is an exceptional game, and I'm definitely intrigued with the thought of multiplayer somehow making its way into the package. We'll keep you posted on any new details as we get them.
There are so many games that let us play god, nurturing our worshippers or striking them down, building up cities or destroying them. Those games draw on something we've all known since we were children: when you feel powerless, there's nothing more satisfying than having complete power over something—real or not. Maybe you built great cities for your toys or melted them down to show your wrath. Maybe you caught frogs and felt them panic between your cupped hands before letting them go free. Now Backflip Studios has published Band Together [$0.99 (HD)], a puzzle game that goes back to the roots of that experience, that feeling of power that comes from choosing between kindness and cruelty.
The story of Band Together goes something like this: as a small child, you are teased and treated cruelly. You spend a lot of time on your own, and get into places you probably shouldn't. One day while digging around in the attic, you make an amazing discovery: a group of animate cardboard dolls that see you as their god. You, like any imaginative child, decide to see the lengths they'll go to for you.
Surprise! Introversion Software's minimalist hacker RPG, Uplink, is now available on iPad for an agreeable $4.99. The original Uplink appeared on PC in 2001, and was praised for its minimalist design and dedication to the hacking experience. This version appears to be a strict port, but with more intuitive controls for its new platform.
If this is something of a shock to you, imagine how Introversion felt once it was shown its own game working on iPad. That's right -- this isn't exactly an Introversion joint. In an interview with Modojo, Introversion says that Uplink on iPad is a fan-made game with just a little added support from Introversion. It was first revealed to the studio in 2010.
"Well our original attempt to port Uplink to a mobile project started in about 2001 when we were looking at Palm OS and Windows CE. This iPad version started in earnest in 2010 when we were contacted by a fan who had bought the Uplink developer CD. We actually get a lot of contact from fans who promise to deliver ports but rarely have the tenacity, so our standard approach is to tell them to crack on and let us know when they have something to show.
In this case Andrew Carne did exactly that. He carried on plugging away and earlier this year he got to the point when he was pretty much done and we just tickled it up and put it out there..."
We'll be giving Uplink a spin for review, so stay tuned for some in-depth impressions and thoughts on it. The trailer is available here. Screens below.
It’s surprising that we don’t see that many flight games on iOS often (just ask the locals), so you repeatedly have to take your chances on them and hope for the best. Air Mail [$2.99] sits on top of the pile, and manages to be fun in ways you may not expect.
In Air Mail, you play as a small child who has his (or her) sights set on being able to fly. To achieve that goal, you have an instructor who helps you learn to fly with small goals, and with voice commands in a stereotypical Asian voice. The instructor is fortunately optional, as he tends to be more annoying than anything providing such useful instructions such as “Fly To The Objective!"
Fernando Sanchez is Virtua Tennis Challenge’s [$4.99] Rafael Nadal doppelgänger. So whimsically named after barely winning out against Brafael Nadalf in an interoffice poll, Bizarro Nadal quickly became my player of choice in the iOS version of Sega’s classic tennis series. Sanchez, like Virtua Tennis Challenge, is a pretty good facsimile of the real thing. He’s fast and has an incredible two-handed backhand, but he’s a facsimile all the same. A half-hearted attempt at greatness, poor Fernando’s Plasticine mullet and vacant zombie eyes are analogous to the lack of care Sega has given this, the newest entry in one of its most revered franchises.
Jarringly, disappointment and confusion set in from the get-go. Tennis games thrive on the simplicity of input, the best examples (Top Spin, Mario Tennis, some game called Pong) being the classics that make the simple act of swatting a ball back and forth enjoyable. What better platform then, than one that lets you accurately swipe your finger through the ball, right?
I’ve always thought that real-time strategy games were a perfect fit on iOS devices. While we’ve had our share of decent hits, I’ve always felt that a lot of them still felt restrained by the 'mobile' category – cutting out certain features in the interest of quickness or portability. Autumn Dynasty [$6.99] practices very little of this philosophy. It combines a mostly complete repertoire of RTS staples with stunning visuals and workable multiplayer. Oh yeah, and it plays well too, making it one of the better RTS titles on the market.
The most impressive thing you’ll notice about Autumn Dynasty is its phenomenal visuals. Utilizing a hand-drawn “paint stroke” style a la Mikado Defenders [$2.99 / Free], Autumn Dynasty elicits heavy themes of classical Asian culture which can be seen in everything from the well-done cut scene portraits to the way unit movement arrows mimic calligraphy strokes. Even secondary elements like the environmental backdrops and menus look detailed. It’s a unique style that makes you feel like you’re in an interactive storybook if done correctly, and Autumn Dynasty nails it expertly.
The success of the digital version of a physical board game hinges on three things: the quality of the base game, the accuracy of the representation of said game and if both of these things are pulled off well enough to sustain a community long after you’ve tired of getting beaten by friends and family. With that in mind, is Scotland Yard [$5.99] a successful iOS port of a classic board game? No, but it could be.
It’s not as if Ravensburger’s Scotland Yard, the 1983 Spiel des Jahres recipient, isn’t fundamentally sound. One player is Mr. X, terribly creative criminal mastermind, stealthily darting about London in an attempt to avoid the grasp of five Scotland Yard investigators, represented by the other players. Players move about via ticket cards allowing access to modes of transportation around the game map: taxis, buses, boats or the London Underground.
There are great mysteries buried beneath the surface of the alien world of Gene Effect [$2.99], mysteries your small team has been sent to uncover. As you immerse yourself in the atmosphere of those distant tunnels, you'll encounter alien life, hostile and beautiful, and the remnants of a civilization both ancient and powerful.
You pilot the exploration ship Triton. It's almost ludicrously vulnerable, destroyed with equal ease by careless piloting, aggressive plant life and man-made defenses. But that doesn't change the facts: you're the only one who can unlock the secrets of this cavern and its alien masters. Unarmed but for your repulsors, you travel ever deeper.
This journey isn't one of lengthy maze-like exploration. Gene Effect is broken up into levels, and most of those levels are fairly straightforward. There will be a task or for the Triton to complete, maybe collecting a certain amount of koronite resources from the environment, finding DNA samples or powering up ancient reactors. You might need to use your repulsors to clear away loose rocks in your path, or locate and use the occasional drone to clear a path. Once those things are done, it's just a matter of finding the warp gate and moving on.
Season finales are undeniably difficult to pull off: they need to pull the disparate plots of the story together in a way that feels satisfying but not hackneyed, while still maintaining a sense of self-contained narrative. A serialized game like Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space carries the added weight of presenting us with the highest expression of the puzzles and mechanics its introduced thus far.
I've come to realize that the second half of Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space -- say, starting with "Night of the Raving Dead," [$4.99] and continuing through the finale, "What's New Beelzebub?" [$4.99] -- are funnier and generally better than the first two episodes. This is largely because the last three episodes are more tightly connected, with each cliffhanger transitioning smoothly into the next episode. They feel cohesive, and that makes me feel invested.
But it's also because, in contrast to the procedural feel of the first two entries in the series "Ice Station Santa" and "Moai Better Blues," these latter episodes are a perfect fit for the point-and-click adventure genre.
It’s been over a year and a half since we last covered the boy wizard and his Lego debut on iOS. Now, after much waiting the adventure is finally ready to be concluded with Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 [$4.99]. While most Potter diehards will likely flock to this version and have a decent time, a few annoying missteps keep the title from having a wider appeal.
As was the case for the previous Lego Potter game, Years 5-7 is a port of an already existing portable game for the 3DS and more recently, PlayStation Vita. This means that you’re going to have (for the most part) a fully-featured game with a wealth of content. You’ll play through the final four movies of the series reimagined in the now-typical Lego way, each with its own chapters and sub-chapters. In addition, there are tons of unlockable characters as well as collectables. Suffice to say, there shouldn’t be any worries about getting your money’s worth with this title.
So, this morning we learned that EA Mobile had sent out a popup notification to users of the original Rock Band [$4.99] for iOS effectively stating the game was shutting down at the end of the month. This naturally drew universal criticism from gamers and left me wondering one thing: why?
If EA wanted to stop the online support for the game and instead focus on the newer and better Rock Band Reloaded [$4.99 / $9.99 (HD)], well I can understand that. But the message clearly said the game would “no longer be playable on your device” after May 31st. It seemed pretty lame to not just leave the game playable in an offline way for those who had bought it and/or spent money on the IAP songs.
Well as Polygon reports EA has responded to the situation, issuing the following statement:
"Rock Band for iOS will remain live – the in-app message users received yesterday was sent in error."
"We apologize for the confusion this caused. We're working to clarify the issue that caused the error and will share additional information as soon as possible."
It seems highly dubious that this whole thing could have been one big accident, especially since the iOS Rock Band is listed on an EA support page as having its connected features discontinued after May 28th, and a comment on our previous post points to an EA representative confirming in a help topic on EA's website that the game would no longer work after May 31st, but that topic has since been deleted. Perhaps their intention all along was to drop support for the online features, and the strongly worded “no longer playable on your device” message was the mistake. Either way, this reeks of damage control rather than an actual mistake.
Either way, Polygon notes that EA is looking into what caused the error in the first place, and we’ll let you know if there’s any more news on the matter. For the time being it looks like iOS Rock Band-ers will still be able to rock out on the go.
"Chariots of the Dogs," [$4.99] the fourth episode in the Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space series is easily the best one so far. The Sam & Max series has always been tightly written and designed, but "Chariots" does two things remarkably well: it matches its narrative hook to its mechanics, and it unifies the entire series.
If nothing else, "Chariots" is remarkable for the way it brings almost all of the big questions from the first three episodes and ties them together: the Bosco and Stinky subplots are advanced, and previously off-screen bit roles come forward as major players in the series. This feels satisfying and rewarding for longtime devotees, and Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space's episodic structure lends itself to weaving these disparate narrative threads together. Even the intro sequence feels tighter and more cinematic, suggesting a series that is maturing with each episode.
Episodes one, two, and three were generally self-contained, but "Chariots" provides the most solid narrative link in the series thus far: it picks up the immediate aftermath of "Night of the Raving Dead" [$4.99] and ends on a cliffhanger that propels the story into episode five [$4.99]
The Sam & Max series has always been, at its heart, based on inventory items, but Beyond Time and Space seems dedicated to refining and twisting that formula as much as possible: "Moai Better Blues" [$4.99] used portals to great effect; the previously mentioned "Raving Dead" included several dialogue trees and ambient aural puzzles. Without spoiling anything, "Chariots of the Dogs" focuses on time travel.
Incidentally, the time travel mechanic was first introduced in episode one, "Ice Station Santa," [$4.99] when Sam and Max have to appease the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future. (The Ghost of Christmas Future section actually foreshadows the end of "Chariots," if you're paying attention.)
The beauty of "Chariots" isn't just that it's an adventure game with a time-travel story; the time travel conceit shapes and informs every puzzle, becoming the tentpole mechanic in its own right. A lazier game would use time travel as a plot device and build a standard inventory game around it. "Chariots of the Dogs" focuses not just on matching certain items with certain solutions, but in exploring their effects through time. Like its predecessors, "Chariots" does a good job matching its story hooks with its mechanics, which makes each relatively short episode feel distinctive and full-featured.
The logic employed in "Chariots" is relatively straightforward: the Freelance Police can move forward in time to gather clues, which in turn allows them to travel backward in time and solve puzzles, which in turn affect the future. There's a nice gameplay loop there, and the game as a whole feels holistic and natural, each puzzle mechanic and story arc syncing perfectly.
It's no surprise, then, that "Chariots" feels intuitive and fun throughout. Making its players feel smart has always been one of Sam & Max's strong suits, but every episode until now has had puzzles that feel arbitrary or unfair. Generally speaking, the broad strokes of each puzzle or story arc are easy to grasp in "Chariots," even if the step-by-step puzzle solution requires some tinkering and mental elasticity. For my money, this installment strikes the right balance of deductive reasoning and old-fashioned observation.
This is, I'm assuming, another of episodic game development's bounties: after four games (not counting Sam & Max Save the World, the previous series of episodic Telltale games), the writers and developers of Sam & Max Beyond Time & Space are zeroing in on smart, intuitive puzzle design.
"Chariots of the Dogs" is smoothly and tightly paced, and nothing feels misplaced or kludged together. It's a charming, warm, and funny game, and it's the best episode in an increasingly good series.
It looks like today is the day of really good updates for really good games that we really like a lot. Really? Yes, really. We were just treated to an update for our Game of the Year 2011 runner-up Anomaly Warzone Earth [$3.99] that added support for the new iPad, and there was plenty of rejoicing.
Now, the rejoicing gets cranked up to 11 as our actual Game of the Year 2011, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP [$4.99], has been given a similar treatment, bringing the visuals up to par for the beautiful Retina Display of the new iPad.
Reviewing games you have a history with is always difficult, especially when they're derivative titles from a series you hold dear to your heart. Looking back on it, at some point I've owned each of the eight Burnout games that make up the franchise going back to the original that was released all the way back in 2001.
If you've never played a proper Burnout game (which is a problem you really should look into solving) here's what the series is all about- Imagine a high-octane arcade racer that not only has a fabulous sense of speed, but takes the typical car damage system dozens of steps further into a car crashing system. Instead of merely beating the competition to the finish line, gameplay focuses on making sure your your opponents never actually make it there.
Subsequent sequels took this many steps further, even evolving into entire game modes that focused entirely on orchestrating the most elaborate pile-ups you can. It's from these game modes that Burnout Crash [$0.99] is distilled from, making its original appearance on Xbox Live Arcade and PSN late last year.
While iOS has become a haven for a large variety of strategy games, good RTS titles seem to come few and far between. Enter Amoebattle [$4.99], the latest title from Grab Games. Hitting all the cues, Amoebattle does a good job providing a full RTS experience while making its own mark on the genre.
Amoebattle’s tale centers on your role as a new microbiologist exploring the microscopic world with the Amoeba Control System along with your AI assistant AMI. After some introductory research, you encounter rogue amoebas disturbing the ecosystem, which leads to a quest to discover the origin of these hostile beings. The overall narrative does an adequate job moving the story forward while not detracting from the overall experience. For most RTS titles, that’s all you can really ask for.
When it comes to gameplay, Amoebattle implements the standard RTS mechanics while infusing it with some novel elements. Missions are primarily linear advancement, with some stealth, defense and open-ended objectives thrown in for good measure. Amoebattle is also very unit-centric – there aren’t any buildings to produce units or gather resources.
When I think of Hemisphere Games' Osmos [$2.99 / $4.99 (HD)], I think about the zen-like atmosphere and music, the fantastic touch controls, the challenging levels, and the great visuals. What I don't think about, however, is multiplayer. But that's apparently going to need to change, as Hemisphere has teased on their website that Osmos is set to get some sort of multiplayer mode on July 19th.
