I still don’t know what it is about Mr. Papi that makes us so happy.
Is it the awkwardly translated Japanese? Maybe. The laughably simple graphics of the title character? Perhaps. Maybe just good gameplay? Probably.
But we’re not alone in our love of Sunflat’s Papi franchise, as they seem to have developed quite a following. At first glance, the latest installment from Sunflat, PapiJump Cave [App Store], appears to be another solid game. I’ve only been able to play through the first few stages, but stopped so I could deliver this gameplay video (and I kept dying) which may help you decide on getting the game yourself.
The game is a traditional 2d platformer in which you control Mr. Papi. On screen buttons provide left/right and jump movements and the goal of each level is to clear all the hamburgers (Mr. Papi is hungry, it seems). In your way are “spiky balls", trampolines, moving platforms and green blocks that give way when you jump on them. The controls work reasonably well and the early levels are fun and do seem to ramp up in difficulty pretty quickly.
Sunflat describes the game as having 25 levels, broken into stages. The final (5th) level in each stage (except the final one) is a bonus level in which you collect as many hamburgers as possible for bonus lives.
The video shows the entire first stage and part of the second:
Once you reach a new stage, you can start back at the 1st level of that stage. While tilt controls for character movement are offered, they are not recommended. Like other Sunflat games, there’s a level of unpolishedness/simplicity to the game menus and there does not seem to be any way to resume a game if you are interrupted. At $1.99, however, this is still an easy game to recommend even after our brief playtime.
App Store Link: PapiJump Cave, $1.99
I'm really getting tired of seeing only cinematic trailers. We have seen some pictures of B-I-A and H-O-S both scheduled for release in December it's time to see some in game footage with a real trailer of how the game looks and plays on the iphone. I bet we will see the four or five pictures that will be shown with the description of this game on itunes soon!!!! Just like Gameloft did when they announced BIA and HOS. Gameloft show us the game running on the iphone not some fake video for the beginning of the game.
That's marketing for you. It's the squeeky-clean equivalent to writing "FREE SEX" on the title...wins mindshare.
I reckon it will be more like the following embedded video below. It's likely that this is from the standard PocketPC or Symbian mobile phone versions, and the iPhone version may probably be cleaned up a little, but you can extrapolate from here:
Oh, I thought the embedding HTML would fit in.
Well, here's the video link on Youtube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
I hope this trailer shown is either not for iphone or just a kind of demo cos the graphics suck ass.
What do you mean? That's gameplay footage!
hey it's funny at the end of the video it looks like they reused their CSI miami background;)
Oh goody! We're going to get yet another racing game for the iphone! How many more do we need?
@ MilesO'Toole: As many until they get it fecking right!
I have the feeling that the purpose of showing trailers is buying time. If this game is released in December, then I expect it not sooner then end of December. But it does add some pressure on EA. Their "behind the scene" testing might have the same tactics.
Of note: Gameloft just dropped the price of Asphalt to $5.99
It's a hard one. As gamers we naturally reject the deception inherent in a cinematic trailer. But a mass-market consumer just wants to be excited about the game and made aware of it. And, after all, when you actually play a game, the graphics are a tool rather than an end in itself (i.e. good gameplay with sucky graphics can be good, but good graphics with sucky gameplay will always be a bad game).
Actually, I think I've just convinced myself it's a bad idea again. But I guess it's working for gameloft? Just look at the buzz Brothers in Arms got.
@PocketGamer
A lot of the buzz Brothers in Arms got was because it looked like the closest thing to a good FPS (tho TPS) on the AppStore, likewise with Hero of Sparta being the first good weapon slasher. Kroll was too short or something for some people (not to mention not a true 3D explorational environment) it would seem (I havn't actually tried it personally yet).
IMO a cinematic trailer is cool, but needs to be released close to an actual gameplay footage vid too. This releases the advertisement side and the hype so people notice it then they will be looking out for a gameplay footage vid regardless of if they think they will buy it or not. The whole idea is that people are aware that it exists. Gameloft have left this last bit too late I think so that's why poeple think it's stupid.