Sony Pictures Television has given Touch Arcade an exclusive preview of their upcoming iPhone remake of the 1982 isometric arcade classic Q*Bert.
Q*bert is back! After more than 25 years, the colorful, lovable, jumpy arcade character of the 80’s is now available on iPhone and iPod Touch. And he’s got his very own blog too at www.qbert.com!
Kick it old school and play retro Q*bert in Arcade mode with authentic graphics and gameplay through 20 rounds across 5 challenging levels. Or, if you prefer your Q*bert smooooth, choose Modern mode for updated graphics. That’s just the beginning. Regular updates will bring really new gameplay!
Q*Bert for the iPhone features two play modes to satisfy whatever level of retro gamer you happen to be. Modern mode features updated graphics with a music track that gives the game a clean, modern feel. Arcade mode features the original graphics and sounds and delivers that pixellized, jaggy fix that hardcore retro fans hunger for. Both modes include the standard five different enemy types and four different friendly objects that carry the player from level to level.
The goal of the game is to traverse every cube in each level’s pyramid. Landing on a cube changes its color and once a pyramid has been fully changed, the player moves to the next level. But watch out — roving villains wander the map, trying to squash our orange, tube-nosed hero. And while, in the original, pyramids were the whole deal, Sony will soon be releasing all new kinds of levels with new characters to add variety to the game.
Sony has even given Q*Bert his very own blog for fans to enjoy.
Being an isometric game (the first?), Q*Bert involves diagonal movement across those ziggurats of glowing pixel goodness that is, by default, controlled with directional swipes anywhere on the screen. Alternate accelerometer controls are also offered and work better than one might expect. The controls work very well and anyone who ever fed a stream of quarters to the original stand-up cabinet way back when should thoroughly enjoy the iPhone remake.
See our gameplay video of the pre-release version for a closer look.
[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]
And here are screenshots of the retro/original themed mode of the game:
