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The Official iPhone/iPod Touch Gaming Thread

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Lee N said:
Bought this, but the sound is messed up in iOS4 it seems... it's not iOS4 tested either.

Avoid.

From what I heard, you can get by the sound issue by using your own music. I haven't tried that yet though. They REALLY need to patch this and improve performance. I have a 3GS and it looks like it's running at 15 fps. :/
 
Ice Monkey said:
pixn love rush controls arent anywhere near as bad as some people were claiming. What the hell, guys? How else do you expect to move a character on screen from left to right other than a slider?

Agreed. Only real issue to me is control lag that happens every few minutes. Many of my deaths are the result of the game simply responding 3-4 seconds AFTER I repeatedly mashed the buttons. (and I'm on a 3GS!)

But again, the game's very smooth and responsive almost all of the time, it's minor enough to not ruin the game at all.
 
Nimble Cat said:
Pluderland really is cool.

I want to know more about this. They vaguely say "a familiar mechanic" and someone mentions it's kinda like angry birds, but thats all I know. Plus, the reviews say it's buggy and crashes. Impressions anyone?
 
My whole family is hooked on Words With Friends. Is there anything else like that, besides Chess With Friends. Something turn based, with push notifications? Something like Risk would be great.

Is there a reason Words With Friends is only 2 player? Why can't it be 4P?

Is there anything like Burnout in the racing genre? Lots of reviews say NFS is good, but I'd kill for an iPhone Burnout game.
 
datamage said:
My gripe is with the jump/shoot buttons. They should be closer together, or perhaps jump should be a button, and if you tap the screen, you shoot. *shrug*
I love the controls in Pix'n It's one of the few games that feel "right" to me with placement. I rarely miss a button press (I do some times though, and I'm sure with physical buttons I'd score just a little bit higher). But it's all good, because of how great the game does control.

One of my more recent purchases that I'm extremely satisfied with.
 
I don't know how many people are still in to the whole Rock Band / Guitar Hero thing, but if you aren't bored to death of music games...

Holy shit, Six-String is the boss of them. It's like Rock Band 3's pro-guitar mode. You play a real guitar essentially, and what really nails this coffin is that the feedback (sound) of playing strings correctly and missing is timed to your presses damn near perfectly.

It really pulls you in a way Rock Band / Guitar Hero fails to, because when you hit notes or screw up in those games, well it just sounds a teeny bit convincing at most times (usually the song gets slightly muted), but in Six-String, the sound quality to it all makes it feel like a 9 or 10 out of 10, while the others feel like a 2 or 3 to me.

It's not as flashy, but it makes up for it by being much more immersible to play.

I also felt like I was changing chords and strumming the strings for real playing Tom Petty's Runnin' Down a Dream (you do actually play almost every note, and change keys on harder difficulty settings). Highly recommend this little gem, if you enjoy this stuff.
 
squicken said:
My whole family is hooked on Words With Friends. Is there anything else like that, besides Chess With Friends. Something turn based, with push notifications? Something like Risk would be great.

Is there a reason Words With Friends is only 2 player? Why can't it be 4P?
Carcassonne, Carcassonne, Carcassonne. I like WWF aight too (I mean it's Scrabble, like chicken fingers not that great but also hard to screw up) but for your purposes Carc blows it out of the water. 1-5 players, learn in about 10m, and tons of opportunities to screw people over but also lots of strategy.
 
squicken said:
My whole family is hooked on Words With Friends. Is there anything else like that, besides Chess With Friends. Something turn based, with push notifications? Something like Risk would be great.

Is there a reason Words With Friends is only 2 player? Why can't it be 4P?

Is there anything like Burnout in the racing genre? Lots of reviews say NFS is good, but I'd kill for an iPhone Burnout game.
Cause they only designed it for 2P, possibly something with their backend setup that only allows 2P for all we know. Other stuff has more than 2P turn based multi these days I think so it's technically possible.

As for Burnout, I'm not really sure. There was one over the top arcadey looking one from a while back, Raging Thunder 2. Looked decent enough from the videos and impressions I read sounded good...never got it myself cause I'm cheap.
 
AstroLad said:
Carcassonne, Carcassonne, Carcassonne. I like WWF aight too (I mean it's Scrabble, like chicken fingers not that great but also hard to screw up) but for your purposes Carc blows it out of the water. 1-5 players, learn in about 10m, and tons of opportunities to screw people over but also lots of strategy.

We settled on WWF simply b/c it was the only game my mother can play. She sees it as a way to stay in touch.

Carc sounds interesting. May be able to get my father and brother to try it. Hundreds of games of Risk and A&A between us. Carc looks a little less actiony, if such a thing can be said about a board game.
 
squicken said:
We settled on WWF simply b/c it was the only game my mother can play. She sees it as a way to stay in touch.

Carc sounds interesting. May be able to get my father and brother to try it. Hundreds of games of Risk and A&A between us. Carc looks a little less actiony, if such a thing can be said about a board game.
Carcasonne is actually one of the most simple board games ever made. Anyone can play it. Sure, it requires some strategy to do well in it, but your mother should have no problems at all with the playing of it.
 
squicken said:
We settled on WWF simply b/c it was the only game my mother can play. She sees it as a way to stay in touch.

Carc sounds interesting. May be able to get my father and brother to try it. Hundreds of games of Risk and A&A between us. Carc looks a little less actiony, if such a thing can be said about a board game.

the official risk app i believe has multiplayer, and you should also consider the official scrabble game. It has quite a few nice perks over WWF as long as you aren't looking for random opponents. Set your entire family up with dummy facebook accounts (or real ones) and it's arguably better than WWF at least aside from the random people thing.

I highly suggest strategery also, that has online multiplayer but again you need to know the people unlike carc and WWF where you can play randoms. strategery is like risk-"lite" in that there isnt hella unpredictability with risk cards and limits to the amount of troops on certain areas. A little lacking on the visuals but at 99c it's kinda a steal.

I like risk somewhat, but I believe lux trumps it in smoothness. Risk has too many visuals than I'd prefer, it's tiring waiting through animations when all you care about are the numbers. But also, random AIs in lux are the most devious AI I've ever seen. I'm almost convinced there's AI cheating going on, something's definitely not right.

I am still on the fence about joining gaffers with carc, that game always feels brutal when you suck at it, and the first random online match I played didnt help either because the guy got ultra pissed when I didnt make a move immediately. So much for the casual "do it anytime" aspect like WWF, but I also know that was an outlier. I have an ipad though so buying it should pay well if i ever get back into it. Convince me, gaf!
 
Ice Monkey said:
I am still on the fence about joining gaffers with carc, that game always feels brutal when you suck at it, and the first random online match I played didnt help either because the guy got ultra pissed when I didnt make a move immediately. So much for the casual "do it anytime" aspect like WWF, but I also know that was an outlier. I have an ipad though so buying it should pay well if i ever get back into it. Convince me, gaf!
That is ranked/quickplay. Games with randoms are 2p-only and set to a timer, so they very much have a more serious "ranked-match" feel to them. Games with friends/gaffers (all I play anymore after learning the game on ranked) are 2-5, play anytime, push notifications, and super duper chillax. We have people of all skill levels in there (see thread), from those who used to play Carc before (maybe 1/4) to those who are just diving right into GAF games to learn the rules. I have about ten GAF games going right now ranging from 2-5 players, with over 20 gaffers on my friends list. Games take anywhere from a few hours (e.g., a 2p game if both happen to be around at similar times) to a week (5p game with a player or two who only take 1-2 turns a day). You get these nifty little meeple badges that show you when someone has made a move, and it then shows you all the moves that happened while you were out (badges turn green and you get notified when it's your turn:

sbtvr8.jpg
 
I've always been interested in Carc because so many here recommend it, and because I have some downtime on weekdays at work. I'll have to look up some videos to see what the game is like, then if I like what i see, I'll look into joining you guys.
 
I loooove Carcasonne, only thing is i'm too dumb to win even from the easiest of AI :(
Only won 1 game, must be doing something terribly wrong. Nonetheless, i keep coming back, that's how awesomely goodily it is! :D
any tips? :P
 
Vinneh said:
I loooove Carcasonne, only thing is i'm too dumb to win even from the easiest of AI :(
Only won 1 game, must be doing something terribly wrong. Nonetheless, i keep coming back, that's how awesomely goodily it is! :D
any tips? :P
Play the tutorial or look in the manual on how to score points. My first few games in SP didn't go to well either, but once you get used to the the game's mechanics and scoring system the only thing that can hold you back from winning is getting useless tiles or the other players' mad skills :D.

One of the very best games around. And it's certainly on it's way to be my most played iOS game, especially with the promised add-ons and native iPad support.

Tried the hot-seat MP for the first time last night/this morning. Very, very addictive if you're playing with friends :D.
 
I just got an iPhone, your top ten games, guys? I'm not much into FPS or that kind of games. I did buy Street Figther IV and PES2010 and liked 'em both.

Thanks,
 
Garret said:
I just got an iPhone, your top ten games, guys? I'm not much into FPS or that kind of games. I did buy Street Figther IV and PES2010 and liked 'em both.

Thanks,

not really in any specific order:

monkey island 2 sooo beautiful
angry birds soo much content
defender chronicles soo much content
we rule endless friend visiting, free fun
build a lot 1+2 first is free! sooo fun
helsing's fire soooo cheap for the quality
words with friends sooo worth the premium, sooo fun
doodle jump best timewaster
plants vs zombies faint. heart stop.
peggle I have this for every platform




also for good measure

strategery worth 99c
space station frontier doesnt last too long, but what there is is great
flight control time waster
fruit ninja time waster
the creeps good TD
geodefense classic iphone TD
enigmo (not 2!) great puzzle game
bejeweled 2 classic
fieldrunners I love TDs can you tell?
beat it not long but worth it
 
my top 10 since i've never done it. all quality and recommended

1. Carcassonne
2. Sword & Poker 2
3. Angry Birds
4. Tilt to Live
5. Fruit Ninja
6. Space Miner
7. Bird Strike
8. Mini Squadron
9. Words with Friends
10. GD Swarm

so many games in that "certainly worth [$1-5] b/c it's damn fun"-range though
 
Man it's been awhile since I've been on GAF... anyways, some iPhone 4 powered game impressions:

Hellsing: Best original game I've played in a while, on any platform. Not only is the gameplay mechanic completely fresh and fun, it's used in so many different that the game can be both a spacial reasoning puzzler and action game. On top of that, the game is just so damn polished and funny in terms of presentation. For a dollar, it's an absolute must buy.

That reads like hyperbole, but I promise it's not.

Pheonix Wright: The original set of cases are the only I've played, and it's been forever, so coming back to these was a nice dose of nostalgia and the gameplay and writing still hold up really well. For 5 bucks, I can forgive the fact that it feels too much like a straight DS port. (No reason to have the game chopped in half) I really hope they release more cases.

Ninja Town: Trees of Doom
I'm not usually a fan of Doodle Jump style games but this one is just so much more fun because the game gives you the time to stop and think about you're next move before you execute it. It feels much more like a legitimate platformer than most games in this category. My go to game when I'm on the pot or have a minute to waste.

Across Age The character animations lack polish and the graphics aren't generally as nice as Zenonia's, but the gameplay itself is much more rich and rewarding because the dungeons feel much more akin to a 2-D era zelda than a lame-brain dungeon crawl. The translation and characters are stupid and laughable, just how I like them. :D

Espagaulda II What else needs to be said other than that Cave no how has a license to take my money whenever they release a new game?


Also after my hiatus from iDevices (backpacking for six weeks) it's nice to see that two of my favorite games Canabalt and Drop 7 have become universal apps.


And from reading this thread I'll be picking up Zen Bound 2 and Jet Car Stunts. I'm a sucker for anything that is retina display ready.
 
AstroLad said:
That is ranked/quickplay. Games with randoms are 2p-only and set to a timer, so they very much have a more serious "ranked-match" feel to them. Games with friends/gaffers (all I play anymore after learning the game on ranked) are 2-5, play anytime, push notifications, and super duper chillax. We have people of all skill levels in there (see thread), from those who used to play Carc before (maybe 1/4) to those who are just diving right into GAF games to learn the rules. I have about ten GAF games going right now ranging from 2-5 players, with over 20 gaffers on my friends list. Games take anywhere from a few hours (e.g., a 2p game if both happen to be around at similar times) to a week (5p game with a player or two who only take 1-2 turns a day). You get these nifty little meeple badges that show you when someone has made a move, and it then shows you all the moves that happened while you were out (badges turn green and you get notified when it's your turn:

sbtvr8.jpg
Yeah, I'll follow this up too.
I'd never played the game until the iPhone version. It's dead simple to pick up, and multiplayer games with gaffers are super-chilled. It's so easy to have a cross-timezone match, thanks to the play-by-email-like aspect. I guess most of the time I end up playing with people in the US, Europe and Middle East, so we get like 1-2 goes per day each. They go on for a while, but they're still fun. If you can hook up with someone in your timezone, you can have a drawn out 2p game over the course of a day - that's lots of fun too.
 
While venturing through categories today, I came across the "Role Player Release Date" category, which just so happens to be chalk full of hilarious Engrish-ey releases, all with page long descriptions such as:

DungeonCore Download Link
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dungeoncore/id382206627?mt=8

-Scenario-


There is a giant dragon living in a giant dungeon in the deep underground of the Fantasy world.
Every time the dragon kidnaps the princess. And the princess that dragon caught is amazingly beautiful.
Rescue the most beautiful princess beset by the dragon!! It’s every guy’s desire who is born in the Fantasy world. Slay numerous monsters and take a journey to the deeper and deeper dungeon
to save the beautiful princess. Are you ready to start the big adventure?

-Game Features-

*Best addictive game ever; When you start the game, you won’t be able to stop until the battery runs out!
*Have fun changing the game by your own strategic item build order!
*Dozens of cute items
*Equip a new item to change your character’s look (Customize System)
*Various multi-ending system
*Easy to control and convenient interface
*Mega fun with unlocking hidden items from various achievements
*Network rank system using Openfeint

While most look like the same shit the AppStore is saturated with, sifting through the descriptions so far has sort of been a fun, if not childish, experience, and maybe I'll even stumble on something that looks worth downloading.
 
KTallguy said:
Any turn based rogue likes on the iphone? Like Shiren the Wanderer or Rogue or something? I prefer not real time.

Check out Sword of Fargoal if you're not completely against real-time.
 
Wow, what the hell happened to PvZ? 2 1/2 star rating now, after reading some reviews it looks like the update completely fucked the game and they removed MJ zombie.
 
burgerdog said:
Wow, what the hell happened to PvZ? 2 1/2 star rating now, after reading some reviews it looks like the update completely fucked the game and they removed MJ zombie.

Hmm, back to '3.5' stars. I gave it a quick bash on my 3gs just then, and it all seemed hunky dory? Perhaps for once I escaped the fun of updates ruining everything!
 
How difficult is it for developers to update their apps' icon for the iPhone 4?

Half of the apps on my phone are still blurry as hell.
 
X-Frame said:
How difficult is it for developers to update their apps' icon for the iPhone 4?

Half of the apps on my phone are still blurry as hell.
Apps that aren't i4 res updated are enjoying quality folder time.
 
Benedict said:
I guess you shouldn't play Rogue-games then.
Or do you have any other suggestion of a better game?
I love roguelikes so. RogueTouch just happens to be boring. It also doesn't help that it's annoying as fuck to control. Not that I expect this to be fixable on a touch-only device.

And no, I don't have any suggestions on iWhatever. I stopped buying games willy-nilly on that thing ages ago after getting burned by 99% of the suggestions people make.
 
Yea, I'm kind of happy that I got an iPhone so late, because people's tastes have matured a bit more. I think the majority of the games on the iPhone are nothing more than time wasters. Time wasters are OK sometimes, but I usually crave more meaty experiences. It's silly to hype stuff like Angry Birds and Bird Strike because they're just really basic derivatives of other games with a new coat of paint. I think they're good for someone who doesn't really play videogames too much.

I purchased Steel Sky and Miner Disturbance, and I have to say those are both pretty awesome. Miner Disturbance is like a more limited Spelunky focused on digging. I'm glad that it's more limited because the touch screen d-pad stuff is just not as responsive, and it's frustrating when you're trying to dig diagonally. Steel Sky is an adventure game, but even then sometimes the controls are lame. Voice acting is nice though (the beginning made a poor first impression, but everything else has been pretty great).

But yea a game like Desktop Dungeons or Shiren on the iPhone would be the bees knees.
 
X-Frame said:
How difficult is it for developers to update their apps' icon for the iPhone 4?

Half of the apps on my phone are still blurry as hell.

What I don't understand is if making an app "iOs4 compatible", as some of the devs claim, is just breaking compatibility with other firmwares, there are three apps (some of them which I paid for) that I just can't run after they got updates, what the fuck is this shit ?
 
burgerdog said:
Apps that aren't i4 res updated are enjoying quality folder time.
It's to the point where I don't even want those ugly apps to take away from my retina-blasting screen.

You know what - they're gone. This should save some space too.
 
It really can't be stressed enough how great Let's Golf 2 is. There's so much to do int he single player and the online multiplayer works great. Not to mention the game itself is beautiful on the iPhone 4. I can't recommend this game enough.
 
So I broke down and got Square's Song Summoner, and first impressions are it is every bit as good as Final Fantasy Tactics, and then some. I'm loving the writing style, and high res 2D art which looks beautiful on the retina display.

The pinch to zoom battlefields is a nice touch, and an army built on your favorite songs is pretty sweet too!
 
chris121580 said:
It really can't be stressed enough how great Let's Golf 2 is. There's so much to do int he single player and the online multiplayer works great. Not to mention the game itself is beautiful on the iPhone 4. I can't recommend this game enough.

Is the game challenging at all? My only fear is that I could sleep walk through the game and get a birdie every time.
 
I'm glad I don't really notice the blurry icons that haven't been updated yet. I go so quickly from sliding my iPhone on to the app I want to use I barely look at the icon.

Minsc said:
So I broke down and got Square's Song Summoner, and first impressions are it is every bit as good as Final Fantasy Tactics, and then some. I'm loving the writing style, and high res 2D art which looks beautiful on the retina display.

The pinch to zoom battlefields is a nice touch, and an army built on your favorite songs is pretty sweet too!

I downloaded the trial of the game but I like to skip all story stuff and just try games out if I get the Lite versions so maybe I missed it in a tutorial but what does the song you use to create characters actually do? I was sort of hoping the song would play through when using that character but I didn't notice anything. Is it just a gimmick albeit a cool one?
 
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