There’s a certain craft that goes into making a game that feels great. Protostar’s Checkpoint Champion (Free) is a fun game on its own, but the game shows a certain craftsmanship that elevates the whole experience. This is a stunt racing game, where the goal is to drive a constantly-accelerating car around tracks full of checkpoints, collecting them in order, then hitting the final, golden checkpoint, in order to complete the level before time runs out. The game is about precise challenges across multiple terrains, presented in a simple way, but the game is stylishly presented and makes the most out of everything it does.
What Protostar decided to do with Checkpoint Champion was to make this game look as nice as possible. Polished is such an overused word, but that’s really what this is. Every piece of art, every button, is all in the same style, defined with thick lines. The visuals are detailed, and the game runs very smoothly on the latest hardware, though some of the effects can be disabled in order to improve performance on earlier devices. There’s Game Center leaderboards for every level. There’s picture and video sharing. Even the hidden checkpoints are just a nice touch. There’s just so many little things that were clearly done in order to make this game look and feel as nice as possible, and it shows. It makes the experience of playing feel as good as possible.
There’s really only two ‘courses’ per se, but the game makes the most out of them by using a variety of layouts and events within those courses. Most events take place in a small part of the course, really, but each event feels unique due to the challenges inherent to each one. Some involve tight turns, some involve using smart boosting to beat the clock. And because the game tests players to perform better by unlocking more levels with higher star counts, it makes replaying levels necessary, but they’re hardly a chore. The endless mode is really quite clever, as it features random sets of checkpoints throughout the courses, with a timer counting down to zero, and a 5 second boost every few checkpoints. It’s actually a great way to practice at the game, and a quick and compelling way to come back again and again. It’s also rather lucrative, as it delivers triple-value stars for hitting high score tiers. Also adding replay value are the daily events, which deliver more stars to earn as well. The last set of events requires 90 stars to unlock, which means a lot of daily events or a very high level of performance in the rest of the game.
The controls use a two-thumb control scheme, where there’s the ability to turn left and right, and to boost forward by tapping on both sides at once. This means that it’s a little tricky to time boosts as it can be possible to turn a bit before hitting both sides of the screen. It’s not awful, but in a game where milliseconds matter, it can be a bit annoying. I’d appreciate an alternate control scheme as an option, at least. Or even gamepad support. This is all a minor complaint, though.
The game is free-to-play, with the main IAP being a $1.99 supporter pack that unlocks the third vehicle, special color schemes, and disables ads. There are other car and color schemes that can be bought for $0.99 each, but colors don’t affect performance, and they can all be unlocked by completing various achievements. The vehicles are a bit inconvenient to switch between, which is disappointing as each one really has its own strengths, but it requires going through several menus to switch to another vehicle. This winds up making vehicle purchasing a bit disincentivized, but supporting the developers and disabling the ads is well worth the $1.99 alone, much less for the additional vehicle. I don’t know how much money it’s making, but even free-to-play haters need to play it.
I can’t praise Checkpoint Champion enough. It’s a fun game on its own, with plenty of challenge on its own. But the social features, gorgeous design, and clever features all push it to a level that should leave other developers jealous: this game is just plain sleek.
Haven't seen ELI post a review in a long time 😮 ima just wait for tales from borderlands u where just gushing over it in the podcast 😄😄😄😄😄👋👋👋👋👋
I'm sorry but this is easily 5 stars. Maybe I'm biased because I'm a fan of the show.
Care to discuss any of the negative points in the review or did you just go from the score to the comments? :)
I'll be back when episode 6 is released.
Sooo that's a "I didn't read it?"
I'm not going to be patronized because I disagree with your review.
No one is patronizing you, all I'm trying to figure out is whether or not you read the review and to have a discussion on which points you disagree with. You won't answer either question.
"Maybe I'm biased because I'm a fan of the show." really deserved the "or did you just go from the score to the comments?" didn't it? 😜
While being a huge GoT fan, I still have to agree with the review.... I hope they can make this work.
Yes, knowing what you are disagreeing with is usually a good start! Thanks for the good review. I am a huge fan of the books & show and think the game shows promise. The concerns you raise are valid so I hope the story engrosses more as it develops and the attachments are built to the characters. I think it is quite clever to tag these characters on to the great 'set pieces' of the series to see them from a different light. Could make for some exciting moments.
You just got owned.
Not really. 😕
Don't take it personally Nicky... Eli is always a jackass in thread comments.
Hodapp 1. Fanboy Logic "ZER0"
Am I crazy or is it bad form to passive aggressively berate the people who visit your website?
Is it crazy to read an authors review and not stop at the first negative statement?
That's beside the point. When you're face of your website you should try not be a pretentious tool, in my opinion.
I disagree that expecting someone to discuss their opinions is pretentious, but this is the world we live in now I guess.
It is when it's delivered in your typical sarcastic, high-and-mighty tone. Any time someone disagrees with you, you feel it necessary to berate them. It's fine to disagree with someone, but that doesn't make your opinion gospel. It's unfortunate that a large number of people on this site lap up everything you say and respond with things like "Hodapp-1, Fanboy logic-ZER0."
I don't think my opinion is gospel at all, and again, I'm not berating or patronizing anyone. If anything, the shoe is on the opposite foot when we spend loads of time creating rad content with people who just shit on it without any provocation, cause, or reasoning to back up why they're doing it. When I ask why, or if they want to discuss it, I'm the one being a pretentious tool. :)
#yolo I suppose.
Excellent review Eli, balanced and fair. It's sad that people can't have an intelligent discussion about the merits of the game itself instead of turning everything into a challenge against their fanboyism.
Apparently!
Isn't asking someone to actively discuss something the opposite of being passive aggressive?
Yeah... followed up by your hugely sarcastic comment. You are who you are Eli, I think everyone here knows what to expect from you in the comments when someone disagrees with your "opinion."
"ZOMG ROFLOCOPTER!!!!!11111(one)(one)(one). You are teh bestest j0rdan!!!!!!! You totally Owned that hoser Eli HOdapp! LMAAAAAONAISE!!!!!!!!"
... now THAT was "hugely sarcastic".
: )
I can't do anything about the people who really just see me as the evil wizard behind the curtain of TouchArcade. If nothing else, it makes our back end chat amusing.
Sorry to chime in here, but I do think you need to give your readers at least some credit. We are not all 17-year old kids. I visit the site daily, I base many of my iOS purchases on the reviews that I read at this site and at pocketgamer, and mainly through these portals I have collected over 700 iOS games over the years. I do enjoy reviews, I read them daily. I have, in the past, been a loyal subscriber of Nintendo Power, EGM, and GamePro for many years, and gaming has always been a great hobby of mine. If I disagree with a review, like I did with your review of this game, it isn't because I think you can't write, that I think you can't form a proper opinion, or that I think that you obviously don't know quality. It is because I simply disagreed with the review.
I am just a member of the audience.
If you want me to answer your request: I don't believe games like this need to be reviewed until the full game is out. It is like being invited to a world renowned restaurant for a 6-course meal and you are going to tell thousands and thousands of people that you thought it was "just ok" because, so far, you only got to try the appetizer. People are like cattle, and I guarantee you that many saw 3 stars and said "heh, looks like I don't need to waste my time on that one." And they moved on. After only trying the appetizer. This is unjust to the story being told, and to the developers who have a grand scheme planned with this series of episodic games. I'm giving it 5/5 because it's Telltale, it's Game Of Thrones, and because I can't wait to see how this is going to play out. Once again: just my opinion.
Eli wrote a well thought out critique and the reply he got was the equivalent of "GOT is God so any criticism is wrong!" All Eli asked in return was for the poster to explain what points in the review were incorrect. Seems like logic vs fanboyism to me.
He is ultra defensive
How long does this 1st ep run for Eli?
It's like any Telltale game, something like 2-3 hours. I wasn't really timing it.
K thanks Eli
Is the console version any longer?
2 hours at max. Add it to the review — it is very important.
Also, some people report about technical issues. What device did you play on and did you play the game on other devices?
Even if you exhaust every conversation option, it will barely go over 2 hours
Same as TWD's first Telltale episode. The short length was expected.
I'm not complaining about THAT, if you multiply it by episodes, it's not a bad value for money based just on that, I just answered the question :)
My mistake. Since complaints about a short length in a $5 game were expected, I jumped the gun in defense.
I have to agree with the review. This wasn't a good episode. My problem is, that in games like this, you don't really have a choice, and if the story itself can't pull you in, it quickly becomes clear, that you barely have any control over the events. The story itself is clearly just fan service. Brush aside the fact, that if you don't follow the show, there is no point playing this, but the appearance of certain characters has no other point than the fact that Telltale wanted them in the opening episode. This is the perfect game where you lose nothing, if you just watch a playthrough of it, instead of playing it. As this episode, and other Telltale games showed it, the start and the finish is set, you have no power over that, even if you choose different routes between them.
It's pretty wild how they just seem to totally make the assumption that you're familiar with Game of Thrones. I feel like with all the other recent Telltale games I listed above it didn't matter if you knew Borderlands, Walking Dead, or whatever. This, I can't really imagine playing not knowing the universe.
If this game is the first GoT experience for someone, it probably feels like being the +1 at a wedding.
Lol!!! That would be a priceless experience.
Very true. Speaking as a HBO GoT fan, it's impossible to bring a newbie into the story after the Red Wedding without complete confusion. Even if they do a quick Wiki read to get the drift, it's hard to imagine a GoT newbie appreciating this piece of fan service. And all that will do is ruin the real GoT story.
Agreed. I havnt played it, and don't plan on it. Why? It's apparently set in between seasons 4 and 5 of the show. So, i gotta read the books or watch the show. Which makes no sense since WAU and TWD are both good at having newbies to the universe.
Yeah, but those games don't require much exposition. TWD is essentially just a zombie apocalypse/survivor story. You don't need to read the comics to understand the universe in the game. It's a universe that anyone who's ever seen a zombie movie had already seen. There are no important, lasting characters from the comics in the game either. It's really a stand-alone game.
TWAU does not require that you read the comics because anyone who's grown up in Western civilization already knows the vast majority of the stories that the characters are based on. I bet if you didn't know the fairy tales of the Big Bad Wolf, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, etc. you would be lost playing TWAU. Or, at the very least, you'd be missing a lot of the subtext and you wouldn't understand the history of the characters. So in a sense, it does require that you know the story ahead of time.
Game of Thrones is a different animal altogether. It is based on a very long, involved series in which a complex history is told and many shocking events take place with deep repercussions. It's not really a fair comparison to compare it to TWD and TWAU. They're too different, in my opinion.
Which is exactly why I loved it. I felt that it was sort of a gift to the fans of ASOIAF. We won't have to sit through endless, boring exposition about the history of Westeros. There's simply too much to cover in that regard. I really can't see Telltale making a game that's based on a story with such a broad, colorful history, has been established for years now, and that contains many shocking events, as an introduction to the lore. There's just way too much there. Telltale's episodes are relatively short. So, having to be bogged down with 3 very large books' worth of exposition and explanation would leave little to no room for new storytelling. If people want to know the story prior to "Iron from Ice", there are the books and a television show for that. The game functions as a nice addition to the other two forms of media. It's an embellishment, it complements them, but it's not, nor should it be the the meat and bones of this series. There are far better ways of getting all that. Telltale can't possibly get all that across, plus tell a new story, in the course of one of their games. That's my opinion anyways.
Yeah, might just watch someone else play this one while I work or something instead of investing my free time into it.
On what device did you play?
I have iPad Air and it has terrible performance. It starts with low FPS even in main menu, and the game itself isn't any better.
I played it myself on the iPhone 6 Plus and it seemed to run smooth, however my phone got pretty warm and killed the battery.
I'll probably end up going through it again on PC. The graphics were pretty unpolished and noticeably toned down or iOS. I need the best GOT experience possible.
Gamezebo gave 2.5/5 this game is truly mediocre and not polished
Excellent review from TA
This is absolutely a game for fans of ASOIAF and in particular the TV show. Anyone unfamiliar with the source material is going find this hard to follow up front. As fan of both I would give this first episode 4/5. I enjoyed all 3 characters story threads (though I found Miras supporting cast much more interesting than her) and, I agree with Eli, Ethan has the more interesting chapters. All the usual Telltale story beats are present and correct but I disagree with *that* scene being predictable, I was definitely caught off guard. Elsewhere the engine is looking as janky as ever, passable character models in the familiar Telltale style (with a slight painterly effect that looks ok), awful animations, great dialogue and top notch VA. It's time upgrade your tech Telltale! As a fan it's a must, for the uninitiated it's a pass.
I agree. They do need to upgrade their engine.
I absolutely agree with the review on every point Eli made and i'm a fan of the show from day one. Should have suppressed the urge of buying the game... .
I wouldn't jump to that conclusion just yet. There are still 5 more episodes yet to come. It could get very interesting. We've yet to see how our decisions in episode one played out. Don't give up hope yet. 😊
I confirm the game has terrible performance overall. This is on an iPad mini 2. Lags, low FPS, sounds hiccups, etc. barely a beta IMO...
I found it drained my IPhone 6 plus battery like crazy!
Can confirm this. But it ran the game decently so that's good.
If you have anything other than an A8 device, avoid this one like the plague. Performance, even on A7 devices is astoundingly bad. I get about 10fps on my iPad Mini 2. It's an unplayable mess.
Problem is not in A7 devices - it happens only on iPads. I've tried on iPhone 5S and it works very smoothly. Hell, it even works on iPod Touch 5 better than on iPad.
Curious of Telltale runs the game at the iPad's native resolution which can cause serious performance issues.
Thanks for the review Eli and everyone's input. I was going to spend the 5 bucks, but instead will use it towards buying the book instead
Well I loved this first episode, it was tense, with some great scenes, and captured the feel of the show perfectly.
I'm not disappointed that I'm not playing as one of the main houses (it was never advertised this way), and it adds another angle to the GOT world. I strongly feel it benefits from being set within a virtually unknown house for these reasons:
It feels like you're in the world against all these other houses you know so well.
Who do you side with? Who are your allies?
If I was playing as one of the main houses I would know these answers.
I also like the fact it's set alongside the events of the book and the show.
It keeps it grounded to the source material, but gives it the freedom to be creative with new concepts, characters and locations, and interaction with existing characters without damaging the bigger story.
I'm a huge fan of Telltale's brand of interactive fiction. Tonight I've completed ep.1 in one sitting, and I have to say I'm looking at a new favourite here.
To me, these games are primarily about the moral and pragmatic choices you have to make, rather than being geeked out by interacting with familiar fictional characters. Obviously I got a real kick out of being questioned by Cersei, while Tyrion responds sarcastically to the pattern of my answers, but these moments pale in comparison to the decisions I had to make as a young lord or SPOILER Red Wedding survivor. This game is fulI of these moments! I don't like Telltale's rather pointless Quick Events, where you have to tap or swipe in order to overcome some danger, but GoT is light on those. Senseless point-and-click- parts are also scarce (it doesn't have that sense of fakeness when you were "investigating" in The Wolf Among Us).
I'm looking forward to ep. 2, to see what my decisions have brought about.
Haven't tried the game, but from the analogy, at least Boba Fett was a very intriguing character. This is like using Hammerhead as the main character.
[Kill Him] [Have Mercy]
NO MERCYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've been following Telltale since they started doing the Sam and Max games. It's weird that they didn't show up on your radar until Jurassic Park, Eli, since they were already very well-established and well-regarded as developer of episodic adventure games before that. Admittedly, the tone and style of their games has changed somewhat starting with Jurassic Park. They went from goofy, funny, classic-style point-and-click adventure games to... whatever you want to call this exciting new hybrid genre they're pioneering now. But without having played JP, I suspect the flaws it was criticized for had more to do with their transitioning to a brand-new genre, and less to do with any lack of talent or experience among their ranks.
I think you should explore some of their pre-Jurassic Park back catalogue, Eli. Yes, JP represented a low point in their history, but you're missing a lot of high points before that (as well as a few missteps along the way). I read your review right about until the part where spoilers began, so forgive me if I missed something. That said, some of your criticisms are spot on: they have always had a tendency to adhere tightly to a formula that works. It's great when they first start experimenting with a new genre, because they iterate on the good stuff, but it starts to work against them the more comfortable they get. Usually, though, that means they're right around the corner from a new reinvention.
They were on my radar forever, we've reviewed their previous games too. I only point out Jurassic Park and Walking Dead as a major turning point in their games.
That's fair. I got the impression from your review that you've only been aware of the in the last few years. Looking back, I see you never explicitly stated that. I agree that JP and TWD represent major shifts for them... but I will always have a soft spot for Sam & Max and Tales of Monkey Island.
One of the most important issues reviewers omit for no reason — gameplay time (2 hours at max). Telltale games' main problem is that the episodes are too short. It would be ok, if the episodes were released every two weeks, but two-three months wait is just ridiculous.
I have no interest in this show but I like telltale... You think I should get this or rather wait for Tales from the Borderlands to hit iOS?
Wait for Borderlands. I literally just finished off this first episode, and yeah...if you don't follow the series, there's absolutely nothing for you here. I'm still not sure how I feel about this episode, but had I played this without being a massive GoT fan, I would have abso-fucking-lutely hated it.
Lol thanks for the reply. I have not played telltale much lately because they have done ips that I am not interested in. Thankfully I like borderlands.
I still don't get why they released this first and we are still waiting for Borderlands...
I thought this was a really awesome game, the first time I played through it was intense and intriguing....then I played it again to see how things would have turned out if I had chosen differently....and they didn't. Granted you may get dialogue that is a little different and a cut scene more or less here and there but it's not a choose your own adventure game. What a let down, from an initial 9/10 to a 6/10. The writing is very good as a lineal experience, there's not much difference between playing this and watching an actual episode - ultimately that is also t's downfall as when you play a game you want an active role in the story, not a passive one.
Hey Eli, I was wondering how you found the game's performance over all/what device you played it on. Being a big Game of Thrones/Telltale fan, I'll probably pick it up regardless - I'm just debating whether to pick it up for my iPad Air II or for the computer.
I played on an iPad Air 2. It was alright, but as much as I hate to say it these games seem to be better on every other platform.
Thanks Eli. A frank (and useful) reply. Computer it is for this one, sadly.
I really don't see why this game warranted a 3 star review- to me anything below 4 stars is unfairly harsh. I didn't even really see much in the review that indicated a reason for knocking off 2 stars.
This first episode is possibly my favorite starting chapter in any of the telltale games- which is saying a lot considering how much I enjoyed the Walking Dead and the Wolf Among Us.
I'm invested in every one of the story lines and actions seem to have consequences, although as an introductory chapter, obviously the payoff won't be until the later chapters. This did everything an introduction chapter needed to do. It introduced all the chess pieces, invested you in the story and prepared you for what's about to come.
That being said the game does face some technical issues. On my iphone 5 there are drops in framerate, audio issues- and the worst, any time you lock the device or press the home button it halts gameplay forcing you to restart from the last autosave (and there seems to be fewer of them than other telltale games). This is the only reason I'd knock off any points.
Really excited for the next few chapters.
This is a game? You claim people are being unfairly harsh, yet you're giving an interactive movie a free pass. Care to point out any good game play mechanics? Some people are harping that the experience is just like the tv show (really this is something they claim), why don't they just watch the tv show then? I'm sure it will be cheaper in the long run. A quick look on Youtube of people giving this game good reviews show people with ADHD playing it. I downloaded the app and don't think I'll "play" this again. This website is called TouchArcade not TouchMovie, or TouchTVshow - Arcade, as in arcade games, as in video games..... GAMES!!! Get it?
Why not watch the show? Because this is a story exclusive to the Telltale game. And to be honest- so far it's almost as engaging.
Games run the entire gamut from gameplay only with no story at all to very story based and lighter on the typical gaming elements. Who are you to judge what's a game and whats not? Some games are so abstract they border on interactive art than a typical 'game' yet we still play them on our phones and on our consoles and sometimes, rate them very highly.
These games have a different gameplay mechanic- it's the whole choice/consequence system and it is very satisfying and fun to play. It doesn't work for everyone, especially those with a short attention span- but it is fun for those of us that like these games.
Also who's giving the game a pass? I didn't give it a 5 star BEST GAME EVAR!!! It's flawed, but fun and engaging.
Totally agree. However, it's a free world. People can trash this game as much as they wanted to as long as they speak out of their heart. I can see why this game is an terrible non-game to some. It certainly has some technique issues and it is not easy for new comers. BUT, as a fan boy, and also as a game player, I enjoy this game more than any other games from T and more than most games I ever played on iPad. I will personally give it a five star and recommended it to all my friends who have watched GOT. It is just a pity that TA doesn't like this game much. Well...it's not a big deal anyway. I disliked many games with a five star from TA(I do like most of them though. That's why I check TA everyday, and post here). Anyway, playing game is such a private experience, no need to trash people just because they didn't hold the same feelings as you did.
"It doesn't work for everyone, especially those with a short attention span" Actually, it's made for people with just that. Video games have been defined already, you wouldn't call an animated picture a movie, just like you wouldn't call an interactive movie a game. The outcome of this interactive movie is exactly the same regardless of what choices you make.
"Video games have been defined already" (Ooo look at that I can use quotes too!) Sorry to say, but video games- like any artistic medium (and yes, I do consider is an artistic medium like film, or photography, or art) is constantly evolving and changing. It's fluid, not concrete.
You're wrong that an 'interactive movie' (which is a very poor label) is the same regardless of the choices made. Very wrong. In fact in saying that, you misunderstand the very notion of storytelling.
I'll use the example of the Walking Dead game from Telltale as example. While the game follows a certain direction, the choices you make throughout don't change where you end up but they do change how you feel when you get there. A character might die, but how you feel about that will change depending on how you've been treating and interacting with them throughout the story. They might hate you or love you. You might love or hate them. I've played through telltale games a couple of times and each time I get something different out of the experience.
Oh common sense... You know you have no place here. You're dealing with fanboys, so take yourself and your friend "logic" and beat it.
Great call out on the technical issues.
Eli Hodapp should take them into consideration and adjust this game to a 2 out of 5 rating instead.
I am a fan boy for both the book and TV shows. I love this game. The graphics, the story, the atmosphere, most importantly, the way that I can portray the character as I want it to be in a believable world of Westeros are all sold to me. It is just so great that I can view my familiar Westeros in a unfamiliar way with encounters of many familiar characters. It can be more polished, but definitely not a wrong direction. I can't wait to play ep2.
I'm really enjoying how well the game fits the overall GoT theme. My only gripe is that your actions don't appear to be able to change the major events of the episode. I wish it was more 'Choose you own adventure' than the interactive story this seems to be.
How does it run on iPad mini 1?
This review makes it difficult to make a decision on purchasing as its 3 stars and waiting for further content before recommending the game. So what TA is saying is it's a risky purchase that could turn out fantastic or flawed. So going on this review I have to make an uninformed decision to just buy it and hope it excels.
But going by other Telltale games I've played I simple cannot see this becoming terrible as their other games are brilliant. I think also at the beginning of Eli's review he does state unequivocally how much TA love Telltale games so that's a thumbs up already.
But Eli cannot be expected to give it 5 stars when the full game is not out as he stated. He did fairly agree to update the score as episodes are released which is very fair. I am leaning towards buying this and getting excited over purchasing it. I thing it'll be a great series.