• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Infinity Blade |OT| Free Updates TF2 Style, First Update Next Week

Gowans

Member
Ran through my first bloodline, oh wow!

Loved it, bets 'Game' on iPhone yet for me.


Love:
- The depth of the combat system (parries, dodge, magic, sword swipes)
- The levelling up and equipment unlocks
- The quick spot mini game for money, treasure
- The sense of atmosphere world
- The design of the story

It's a fantastic game, hope to see them use the best of iOS development in further updates, the fact this is a universal app gives me good hope.

Will be recommending, Chair & Epic have done it again and it's all the more impressive for the platform and the developments they have brought in tech and also in design.
 

Mik2121

Member
Finally beat the final boss on my 4th Bloodline!. I will continue playing (37 victories already I think), but I can't wait for the future updates.
 

neojubei

Will drop pants for Sony.
Updated the OP with reviews and hopefully some impressions.

Just downloaded the game last night so i didnt have a chance to play it.
 

Luigiv

Member
After playing it a bit more, the controls are kind of finicky. The hit boxes for the dodge "buttons" are too big so half time I accidentally dodge when I mean to parry and get hit due to "bad timing".
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Not much to add. I'm also incredibly impressed by it. It simply didn't look all that fun initially, but that's not true at all. The combat system is very cool and surprisingly deep. The whole "Demon's Souls meets Punch-Out" comparison is spot on.

The rift between this game and virtually every other iPhone game to date is pretty significant, though. I also noticed that the extra memory of the iPhone4 makes a huge difference just as it did in Epic Citadel. The textures are much better on iPhone4. It's not an issue of small vs big screen either as taking caps of both and comparing them definitely reveals the truth.

I hope more developers start targeting the iPhone4. I'm sick of games being designed for older hardware.

Shogmaster said:
PowerVR SGX! Dreamcast's spirit lives on!!
sad face
This game vindicates Lazy8s! :D
 

Xater

Member
atomico said:
I really wish there was a language select option. The spanish translation is kinda weird

The German one has it's weird moments as well. You can change to English if you change your Phone settings though.
 

Dennis

Banned
How are you people finding the graphics? Impressive? As expected? Disappointing?

Gameplay? Who cares - its all about what we can expect games to look like now!
 
like rage HD, i definitely appreciate this game being a universal app but it plays way better on iphone 4 than ipad - the larger screen is nice, but the controls are pretty unwieldy.
 

Xater

Member
DennisK4 said:
How are you people finding the graphics? Impressive? As expected? Disappointing?

Gameplay? Who cares - its all about what we can expect games to look like now!

I think it looks great, even on my 3GS. For me I think it performs better than the tech demo.
 

taoofjord

Member
I'm digging it too. I love punch out and they did a great job making a punch out inspired combat system. The whole thing is pretty great... though I do hope the sequel (or whatever) let's us explore a bit more like epic citadel did. They could basically make a punch-out version of demon's souls.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
DennisK4 said:
How are you people finding the graphics? Impressive? As expected? Disappointing?

Gameplay? Who cares - its all about what we can expect games to look like now!
Extremely impressive. Certainly more detailed and at a higher resolution than any Wii game (to be expected) and on par with some 360/PS3 titles even. Framerate isn't bad, but not exactly fast either (hovers between 20-30).

It's clearly missing some of the more advanced effects seen in UE3 games, but the overall effect is very impressive. On the iPhone4, the high DPI makes the game look like a bullshot. The best image quality I've ever seen, perhaps.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
dark10x said:
Extremely impressive. Certainly more detailed and at a higher resolution than any Wii game (to be expected) and on par with some 360/PS3 titles even. Framerate isn't bad, but not exactly fast either (hovers between 20-30).

It's clearly missing some of the more advanced effects seen in UE3 games, but the overall effect is very impressive. On the iPhone4, the high DPI makes the game look like a bullshot. The best image quality I've ever seen, perhaps.

The iPhone 4 also has better textures / lighting effects on the textures than the iPad as well, there's a comparison pic in the iPhone/iPad/iPod thread. This was true of Epic Citadel also, so i was expecting the same for IB.

Though running a near-HD resolution with high quality textures on a 3.5" screen instead of a 50"+ screen, well, it's expected you'd get some of the best image quality one has ever seen, as the detail is perhaps an order of magnitude (or even more) higher by cutting down the screen size alone by such a drastic amount (while retaining, or even increasing the displayed resolution).

I'm looking forward to seeing it myself soon, probably get it later today, nice to hear the gameplay is enjoyable and plenty of updates/additional features are planned.

Hopefully more titles will use the engine, and sales are good!
 

Dennis

Banned
Xater said:
I think it looks great, even on my 3GS. For me I think it performs better than the tech demo.

Good, good, this is pleasing.


dark10x said:
Extremely impressive. Certainly more detailed and at a higher resolution than any Wii game (to be expected) and on par with some 360/PS3 titles even. Framerate isn't bad, but not exactly fast either (hovers between 20-30).

It's clearly missing some of the more advanced effects seen in UE3 games, but the overall effect is very impressive. On the iPhone4, the high DPI makes the game look like a bullshot. The best image quality I've ever seen, perhaps.
Yeah, missing effects compared to UE3 was a given.

I am in the camp that really, really see the benefit in high-DPI screens, unlike others here (read: brain_stew).

20-30 fps is acceptable to me but to others here (read: Amir0x and brain_stew) 20 fps is perhaps too low.
 

Xater

Member
Minsc said:
Hopefully more titles will use the engine, and sales are good!

I don't think we have to worry about that. Here in Germany it's already the number 2 in the charts for bought apps. I am sure it will be number 1 by the end of the day.
 

Dennis

Banned
On something like this I find that good textures is more important than fancy lighting effects.

I am fine with amazing effects being the providence of consoles/PCs while the smartphone/pad/handhelds concentrate on getting a good IQ on screen. Blurry textures have been the bane of gaming as long as I can remember.
 

Jocchan

Ὁ μεμβερος -ου
A couple of iPhone 4 screenshots:

oOh98.jpg

GGHUU.jpg

b6iXu.jpg


Best pic of the bunch imho (not really a spoiler, but I'll put a text link just in case): http://i.imgur.com/wzhHd.jpg
 

derFeef

Member
Yeah, now I want an iPhone 4...
Love that this is an universal app, going to compare it this evening on 3GS and my iPad a lot.
 

Lonely1

Unconfirmed Member
dark10x said:
Extremely impressive. Certainly more detailed and at a higher resolution than any Wii game (to be expected) and on par with some 360/PS3 titles even. Framerate isn't bad, but not exactly fast either (hovers between 20-30).

It's clearly missing some of the more advanced effects seen in UE3 games, but the overall effect is very impressive. On the iPhone4, the high DPI makes the game look like a bullshot. The best image quality I've ever seen, perhaps.

But its also very restrictive. You can't even "freely move" around the environments. Just move the camera around, standing on a single spot, and click into static objects to trigger cut scenes. More restrictive than an on-rails game, even. I'm not saying that the game isn't fun or the tech isn't impressive, but lets put the things into perspective.
 

SmokyDave

Member
Really enjoying this. At first I was a little skeptical of the depth in the combat but after levelling up to 5/6ish, the enemies are starting to require timing and strategy to defeat. I really like the little 'free look' before battles to find chests & potions, there are some lovely views to be had. Overall, the game looks fantastic on the retina display, the IQ is quite something to behold.
 

chris121580

Member
Lonely1 said:
But its also very restrictive. You can't even "freely move" around the environments. Just move the camera around, standing on a single spot, and click into static objects to trigger cut scenes. More restrictive than an on-rails game, even. I'm not saying that the game isn't fun or the tech isn't impressive, but lets put the things into perspective.
That will come with time...I have no doubt. If you would've told me 2 years ago that this kind of technology was possible on an iPhone, I would've called you crazy. This is an amazing achievement and a gigantic step in the right direction.
 

RSTEIN

Comics, serious business!
Is this the first thread we've had that's dedicated to an iphone game? Or did Rage have its own thread? My how times have changed :D
 

Xater

Member
RSTEIN said:
Is this the first thread we've had that's dedicated to an iphone game? Or did Rage have its own thread? My how times have changed :D

No there have been a couple. Chaos Rings for example had one.
 

burgerdog

Member
So what are we supposed to do after an item is mastered? Do we extract its stats or what? I completely forgot what the tutorial said.
 

SmokyDave

Member
RSTEIN said:
Is this the first thread we've had that's dedicated to an iphone game? Or did Rage have its own thread? My how times have changed :D
Nah, there's been a handful. This, Rage, Game Dev Story & Circuit Strike One all ring a bell.

The future is now and the future is awesome.
 

dgenx

Made an agreement with another GAF member, refused to honor it because he was broke, but then had no problem continuing to buy video games.
Is it my iPhone or the game drains battery like a Mofo?
 

Xater

Member
burgerdog said:
So what are we supposed to do after an item is mastered? Do we extract its stats or what? I completely forgot what the tutorial said.

You get an extra experience point that's it. Now you can sell it and move on to a new item.
 
SmokyDave said:
Nah, there's been a handful. This, Rage, Game Dev Story & Circuit Strike One all ring a bell.

The future is now and the future is awesome.

So true. This looks fantastic. I'll wait a little bit to get Infinity Blade, but the fact that there are so many other options is pretty telling. I'm still trying to work up the leaderboards in Flick Golf :lol

dgenx said:
Is it my iPhone or the game drains battery like a Mofo?

I've heard from others that it's a battery destroyer.
 

hyp

Member
not much to add other than "omg my fucking eyes."

as a graphics whore, I'm giggling like a little bitch. how the hell did they make such a beautiful game on a cell phone is beyond me. this game looks better than a LOT of PS3/360 titles. then again, the zero aliasing is part of the reason. kudos to epic and chair for pulling this off!
 

RSTEIN

Comics, serious business!
SmokyDave said:
Nah, there's been a handful. This, Rage, Game Dev Story & Circuit Strike One all ring a bell.

The future is now and the future is awesome.

Ah, I remember the Game Dev Story now.

Just awesome watching people eat crow :D
 

wolfmat

Confirmed Asshole
hyp said:
as a graphics whore, I'm giggling like a little bitch. how the hell did they make such a beautiful game on a cell phone is beyond me.
In a nutshell: GLSL.
 

Skilletor

Member
Playing this on iPad. I'll dl for my ipod 3g later.

It IS like punchout! Made me happy.

I played through about 4 battles. Framerate seemed okay, a bit janky at times, but the game looks amazing. Perfect use of touch screen, imo.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Lonely1 said:
But its also very restrictive. You can't even "freely move" around the environments. Just move the camera around, standing on a single spot, and click into static objects to trigger cut scenes. More restrictive than an on-rails game, even. I'm not saying that the game isn't fun or the tech isn't impressive, but lets put the things into perspective.
That's just a game design issue. Epic Citadel allowed you to freely explore its locales without any problems. There is nothing limiting them from doing that. I believe they simply focused on making a game suited for mobile play and that is why it is basically "on rails".
 
Doodis said:
Seriously, why have I spent so much money on iPhone games that I never play? It's ridiculous.

Also, just bought this. :lol
I don't know, I have a problem! Fortunately this is the only system I do this with so at least it doesn't get too expensive.
 
dark10x said:
That's just a game design issue. Epic Citadel allowed you to freely explore its locales without any problems. There is nothing limiting them from doing that. I believe they simply focused on making a game suited for mobile play and that is why it is basically "on rails".

I think the problem is that they had 6 months to develop this.
 

parasight

Member
Encountered my first glitch. If you get hit with a DOT and you die while killing the enemy at the same time you can skip past the restart menu and continue on. Problem is your character disappears. You open chests and get no loot. You fight enemies without a character so nothing happens. Eventually a menu popped up telling me to restart the fight, so I got out of it.

Still having a blast. Fourth bloodline now.
 

Shai-Tan

Banned
DennisK4 said:
How are you people finding the graphics? Impressive? As expected? Disappointing?

Gameplay? Who cares - its all about what we can expect games to look like now!

looks worse than epic citadel as expected (released screens are bullshots), frame rate also drops a lot (on ipad anyway). gameplay I won't comment on because it seems like idevice games are in a dimension where even mediocre is heralded as outstanding (kind of like anime)
 

Skilletor

Member
Shai-Tan said:
looks worse than epic citadel as expected (released screens are bullshots), frame rate also drops a lot (on ipad anyway). gameplay I won't comment on because it seems like idevice games are in a dimension where even mediocre is heralded as outstanding (kind of like anime)


Looks like you couldn't keep from commenting anyway. :lol
 

SmokyDave

Member
Shai-Tan said:
looks worse than epic citadel as expected (released screens are bullshots), frame rate also drops a lot (on ipad anyway). gameplay I won't comment on because it seems like idevice games are in a dimension where even mediocre is heralded as outstanding (kind of like anime)
My goodness, you sound like you went into this with an open mind. What a shock that you're underwhelmed.
 

Shai-Tan

Banned
Skilletor said:
Looks like you couldn't keep from commenting anyway. :lol

nope, you took it the wrong way. i wasn't making a comment about this game, only that there will be lots of people saying an idevice game is outstanding even if it isn't
 

burgerdog

Member
hyp said:
not much to add other than "omg my fucking eyes."

as a graphics whore, I'm giggling like a little bitch. how the hell did they make such a beautiful game on a cell phone is beyond me. this game looks better than a LOT of PS3/360 titles. then again, the zero aliasing is part of the reason. kudos to epic and chair for pulling this off!
There are plenty of great looking games on ps360 that don't have anti-aliasing, either. Lords of Shadow comes to mind.
 
Top Bottom