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The Official iPhone/iPod Touch Gaming Thread

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Marble Blast Mobile ($9.99)

Marble Blast Mobile transports you to a futuristic astrolab arena suspended high in the clouds. Race your marble through moving platforms and dangerous hazards, while collecting rare gems and power-up enhancements, in an effort to complete each course in record time. Play alone or compete head to head in multiplayer mode and race your friends to collect the most gems.

Features

* Marble Blast gameplay on iPhone & iPod Touch devices
* 20 levels to complete with 10 multiplayer-playable levels
* Play multiplayer against up to 4 friends in head-to-head matches
* Record best times and try for the gold medal for each level
* Use power-ups to enhance the abilities of your marble
* Select from 16 marble designs to use in-game
Click to expand...
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It seems a bit lacking in comparison to the XBLA version (which had 60 levels)
 
Ragdoll Blaster $1,99
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=315282163&mt=8

You shoot small ragdoll men out of a cannon, trying to hit a target on each level.

It's a bit like the puzzles in Crayon Physics Deluxe but completing them by shooting ragdolls out of a cannon instead of drawing.

There's some 70 levels in the game, and although it begins easy it becomes a challenge later on. You aim by pointing at the screen. The game records where your previous shot was placed (power (the distance between the cannon and your aim) and angle) so you can adjust your aim for the next shot.

There's a video of the game here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O14TS8soNE
 
truth-lasers said:
Ragdoll Blaster $1,99
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=315282163&mt=8

You shoot small ragdoll men out of a cannon, trying to hit a target on each level.

It's a bit like the puzzles in Crayon Physics Deluxe but completing them by shooting ragdolls out of a cannon instead of drawing.

There's some 70 levels in the game, and although it begins easy it becomes a challenge later on. You aim by pointing at the screen. The game records where your previous shot was placed (power (the distance between the cannon and your aim) and angle) so you can adjust your aim for the next shot.

There's a video of the game here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O14TS8soNE
Click to expand...

Wow, this game is awesome!
 
truth-lasers said:
Ragdoll Blaster $1,99
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=315282163&mt=8

You shoot small ragdoll men out of a cannon, trying to hit a target on each level.

It's a bit like the puzzles in Crayon Physics Deluxe but completing them by shooting ragdolls out of a cannon instead of drawing.

There's some 70 levels in the game, and although it begins easy it becomes a challenge later on. You aim by pointing at the screen. The game records where your previous shot was placed (power (the distance between the cannon and your aim) and angle) so you can adjust your aim for the next shot.

There's a video of the game here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O14TS8soNE
Click to expand...

That does look like a very cool puzzle game.
 
Stoney Mason said:
That does look like a very cool puzzle game.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm enjoying it. Don't know how long it will last yet, but the game saves the number of ragdolls you've used on each level, so I guess going back to earlier levels for better scores will hold my attention for a while once I've completed the game.

It's well made, easy to use and it looks nice.
 
truth-lasers said:
Yeah, I'm enjoying it. Don't know how long it will last yet, but the game saves the number of ragdolls you've used on each level, so I guess going back to earlier levels for better scores will hold my attention for a while once I've completed the game.

It's well made, easy to use and it looks nice.
Click to expand...

With something like that they could always add puzzles later if it turns out to be popular.


On a side note, I quite like Vanguard Storm especially as a simple little strategy game. It's not nearly as complex or deep as say some of the other tower defense game but I kind of think that's the point and it is fun. I'm about halfway through it. I do think they missed an opportunity though by not having different terrain effects. So far the different backgrounds only really function as background art which is neat but it would be better if it had a gameplay component. I think the game looks and sounds great though for what it is.
 
Looks like EA has some form of Clue in the works:

http://www.eamobile.com/Web/iphone-games/clue

Is it too much to hope for the ability to play good old fashioned Clue or Clue Master Detective against other players asynchronously? Probably so, but they nailed it with Scrabble so my hope lives.

And an Advance Wars ripoff:

http://toucharcade.com/2009/05/14/u...based-strategy-gameplay-video-and-an-apology/

Doesn't look that great in the screenies, but I'll check it when it comes out. I love a good turn-based strategy (btw if you still haven't - BUY UNIWAR NOW IT ROOLZ NOOB).
 
Are there differences app-wise between an iPod Touch and an iPhone? As in, are there apps which only run on one, but not the other?

Also, is there anything out there similar to Electroplankton, i.e. a musical "toy"?
 
Tempy said:
Are there differences app-wise between an iPod Touch and an iPhone? As in, are there apps which only run on one, but not the other?

Also, is there anything out there similar to Electroplankton, i.e. a musical "toy"?
Click to expand...

The apps are the same for both devices, but there are apps that only work on the iPhone, mostly because of hardware limitations (ie. requires microphone, is a phone related app, gps etc.). Some are locked from installing, but some you can buy but are useless on an iPod touch. They're the same apps, so no differentiation. Some apps run better on iPod touch due to the faster processor or something.

And there are musical toy apps, but the name of a popular one escapes me.
edit: Bloom, that's it (thanks Stoney, saved me a Google trip!).

There's a whole category of music apps on the appstore - check it out.
 
Tempy said:
Are there differences app-wise between an iPod Touch and an iPhone? As in, are there apps which only run on one, but not the other?
Click to expand...

There are apps that won't run on the touch. One I recently ran into being a cinema ticket booking app. Why the app maker would do this I don't understand.

I imagine various apps that require GPS, camera or microphone also may not work.
 
Quasar said:
There are apps that won't run on the touch. One I recently ran into being a cinema ticket booking app. Why the app maker would do this I don't understand.

I imagine various apps that require GPS, camera or microphone also may not work.
Click to expand...

It's possible the developer doesn't have an iPod touch to test it on. I dunno. Or may he does have a touch, and it doesn't work on it.

There're rumours of the next Touch having a camera, which sounds feasible.
 
One of the best and worst aspects of OS 3.0 is going to be the ability to do in app transactions. On one hand, I hope the great updates to games don't dry up because developers turn every update into a possible micro-transaction.

On the plus side, hopefully Apple will require publishers who have multiple versions of the same program to build a hub program and branch off to the variations of it. When I go to the education section there are at least 20 accelaStudy apps that I can see, and I'm sure there are a ton more. It will help to reduce the clutter a little bit when these programs get dwindled down to just the "accelaStudy" app, and once you have the app you buy all of the study plans you want from right inside it.

The biggest culprit of this is that game developer who makes all of those games where you can download respect points, or whatever those are. I've seen at least 5 different "mmo" type games where you can pay to download some kind of points for the game, and those point downloads are making their way into top 20 lists. blah
 
So I bought Marble Blast Mobile thinking I'd have a ball blast good time with it, and I was wrong. Marble Blast Ultra is not only my favorite XBLA game, but probably straight-up my favorite Xbox 360 game. It's so silky smooth, has incredible controls, and brilliant level design. I can't say much about the design (although it seems pretty lackluster) but the controls and framerate KILL this game on the iPhone. Seriously. It's not even remotely fun, it's a fucking chore. I honestly enjoyed Monkey Ball more than this. Both the tilt controls and the "classic" virtual stick controls blow, and the camera controls lag, making them useless. The auto camera with tilt controls fucks everything up, but the classic control camera handles like a sticky piece of dog shit.

A complete waste of 5 bucks. Do not purchase.

GarageGames, make another XBLA game, dammit. Or new maps or some shit! Jesus!
 
Stoney Mason said:
That does look like a very cool puzzle game.
Click to expand...
truth-lasers said:
Yeah, I'm enjoying it. Don't know how long it will last yet, but the game saves the number of ragdolls you've used on each level, so I guess going back to earlier levels for better scores will hold my attention for a while once I've completed the game.

It's well made, easy to use and it looks nice.
Click to expand...
Well, I'm done with it, it's far too short and very easy (since there is no limit on the number of ragdolls you can use for instance), quite nice overall but the "timed" levels (where the target moves without your action) suck balls.

tl;dr, not worth $2 in its current state, I think, there are quite a few games with a better q/p ratio
 
The three gaming sites for the iPhone/Touch are Toucharcade.com, Slidetoplay.com, and theappera.com

Any others I should know about?
 
Blakero said:
The three gaming sites for the iPhone/Touch are Toucharcade.com, Slidetoplay.com, and theappera.com

Any others I should know about?
Click to expand...

Pocket Gamer, IGN Wireless and I like Finger Gaming.
 
Equilibrio. I don't own this one but that's mainly because I'm working through my backlog. Neat little puzzle game that involves manipulating a ball to reach a goal by manipulating the iphone. In that sense its sort of like Rolando but the levels are shorter in most cases and the view is zoomed in instead out zoomed out like Rolando. The lite version gives you a pretty good idea of the game.

Itunes Link $3.99
Lite Version
Review #1
Review #2
Video

_1286.jpg

_2480.jpg
 
I think Marble Blast Mobile is actually kind of fun. A little hard to control, yes, but no more of a challenge than Super Monkey Ball.
 
PhlivoSong said:
One of the best and worst aspects of OS 3.0 is going to be the ability to do in app transactions. On one hand, I hope the great updates to games don't dry up because developers turn every update into a possible micro-transaction.

On the plus side, hopefully Apple will require publishers who have multiple versions of the same program to build a hub program and branch off to the variations of it. When I go to the education section there are at least 20 accelaStudy apps that I can see, and I'm sure there are a ton more. It will help to reduce the clutter a little bit when these programs get dwindled down to just the "accelaStudy" app, and once you have the app you buy all of the study plans you want from right inside it.

The biggest culprit of this is that game developer who makes all of those games where you can download respect points, or whatever those are. I've seen at least 5 different "mmo" type games where you can pay to download some kind of points for the game, and those point downloads are making their way into top 20 lists. blah
Click to expand...

After my initial annoyance at the examples displayed back at the conference, I'm curious and guardedly optimistic about microtransactions for the iphone. This is with full acknowledgment that most of the initial offerings wil most likely be screwjobs. After an adjustment period though I think it can help alleviate some of the economy issues on the iphone.
 
I tried Wolfenstein 3D Lite today, not really expecting it would click for me but it really works well. And since they have it on a reduced price for 1.99, I had to pick it up.

I also got Drop7 Lite and I think it's starting to click with me too.
 
mrkgoo said:
Ok, had a decent go of the new "The Creeps!".

What can I say? This is like a major addition - nearly like a sequel. Actually, while I'm on this point, I'm happy to pay for updates, but I'd prefer developers to update an existing app rather than release a 'No.2'. Obviously, this makes more sense in 3.0.

Back to The Creeps!. The additions move this game from very fun and a great game to pretty much a must have.

Before, this game was a very solid TD game. It was straight forward, had great presentation, and worked really well. The graphics were real charming, and after the addition of sound, that charm went up exponentially. Gameplay-wise the only thing differentiating this from other TD games was the on map obstacles that you had to destroy, giving you extra money, but also was a requirement to creating space to build. This distinction made it nearly a puzzle game, where you balance your attacks between destroying enemies and creating space.

The update gives you more levels, new enemies, and a tighter gameplay experience (the developer has thought about small balancing elements). Layouts of the menus and high scoreboards have been improved.

Other major enhancements include:

- a couple of new towers (the paper shuriken is great! - something I appreciate about The Creeps! is that the towers are both fun, varied (but not overwhelming), and feel great to use). These really mix up the game - I like both if the additions.

- three difficulty levels. Normal is fun enough, but tough if you want to try and get 'perfects'. Although I haven't tried hard yet, I imagine it will be quite challenging. The high scoreboards now have a badge to indicate what level you played - not sure how the points are affected by difficulty just yet, but playing for points is actually a fun thing to do (I'm not normally a score junky, unless the scores really feel like I did something to get them). Overall the addition of difficulties feels like you can play the game three times, adding immensely to replay value.

- a double speed mode. This is a God send. The game works without it, but is fantastic with it. You can keep it on for 'added challenge' (although I find it a bit hard to target creeps when it's so fast). The main point is, you can speed up those bits when you KNOW you're not going to do anything, thus fitting in more play time. You can pause the game and place towers so the game is not 'frantic' like geo defense (which nearly gets arcadey at some points) - anytime, if it's going nuts, you can just pause and reorganise yourself.

- badges - basically rewards for each level. Adds hugely to gameplay, as you try and get all the badges for every level (one for killing all enemies, one for destroying all obstacles, one displaying the difficulty) - these are shown next to your scores and also displayed over each level. I'm not sure if the ones displayed over the level is a cumulative thing, or just the badges you got on the high score.

- Supposedly, the game has 50% less power consumption. If true, this is a great improvement! I wish more developers made these kinds of enhancements.

- the new help screen is really great.

- in addition to the endurance mode (basically unlimited mode, which has seen several upgrades in difficulty including this version), unlockable when completing each level, a new 'Door Buster' mode is in. This makes you play the game all over again, as it's quite different, but still fun. In this mode, your score starts at a certain point and counts down with time. Your aims is to destroy the door that is the entry point of the enemies - basically a time attack mode. It's refreshing and from what I have tried, a great addition to make you go back and replay levels. You'll probably need a very different strategy, especially if you want to get all the badges and keep your score high.


There are other improvements to gameplay, such as more balanced rules to the endurance mode, but overall, the additions to this already great game have made it so much better, it's hard not to recommend it at any price.
Click to expand...

Sorry for quoting that huge wall of text but I think this post needs more attention. I had only played the demo of The Creeps before and thought it was a fairly competent TD game. With the 99 cent sale, I couldn't resist and pulled the trigger and I pretty much echo everything mrkgoo said. The Creeps has quickly become my favorite TD game on a platform full of excellent titles in the genre.
 
dream said:
Sorry for quoting that huge wall of text but I think this post needs more attention. I had only played the demo of The Creeps before and thought it was a fairly competent TD game. With the 99 cent sale, I couldn't resist and pulled the trigger and I pretty much echo everything mrkgoo said. The Creeps has quickly become my favorite TD game on a platform full of excellent titles in the genre.
Click to expand...
It's pretty much an insane value for 99 cents.
 
Zombiegame is on sale for $.99. It has a very interesting, crude "watercolor and charcoal" art style.

2res8ck.jpg
rmn4oz.jpg


It's sort of a static FPS + on-rails shooter. You're trapped in a room as zombies shamble towards you and you must dispatch them with pistol, shotgun, magnum, rifle or sub-machine gun. They come relentlessy forward and you tilt the iPhone/Touch to move your point of view and tap on the screen to fire at them. The sound design is really well done, even if all you hear are the moans of the zombies, louder and more numerous as they get closer. It's probably a scary game in the dark. It gets pretty frenetic when they're closing in and you're running out of ammo or using a slow-loading weapon.

iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=309518680&mt=8
 
I can't recommend it for a purchase at this stage but if they work on it and add more weapons, more stages, and more customization it could turn into quite a game. DinoSmash Online. A 16 player online enabled battle game (No single player at all at the moment). As I said it's really rough at this stage but if they put the sort of effort into updating it like a game like Galcon did or some of the other examples that have popped up in the history of the app store, it could really turn into a damn good game down the road.

Itunes Link. 99 cents


678214_2.jpg

_2jpg309.jpg
 
PhlivoSong said:
One of the best and worst aspects of OS 3.0 is going to be the ability to do in app transactions. On one hand, I hope the great updates to games don't dry up because developers turn every update into a possible micro-transaction.

On the plus side, hopefully Apple will require publishers who have multiple versions of the same program to build a hub program and branch off to the variations of it. When I go to the education section there are at least 20 accelaStudy apps that I can see, and I'm sure there are a ton more. It will help to reduce the clutter a little bit when these programs get dwindled down to just the "accelaStudy" app, and once you have the app you buy all of the study plans you want from right inside it.

The biggest culprit of this is that game developer who makes all of those games where you can download respect points, or whatever those are. I've seen at least 5 different "mmo" type games where you can pay to download some kind of points for the game, and those point downloads are making their way into top 20 lists. blah
Click to expand...

I'd be interested to see it this will now remove "lite" versions entirely, where you release just one free program with a few levels and then download the unlock key in app transactions for the full game. It'll be interesting to see how well something like that will sell in comparison to something that released a standalone "lite" version.

I'd totally buy more Tiki Tower levels though :)

Edit: Also Boulder Dash Vol. 1 is out.

The original, award-winning, #1 best-seller: Boulder Dash®, is now available for the first time for your iPhone and iPod touch! Race against time to clear a path and collect the number of diamonds required in order to open the exit in each of the 80 scrolling Caves. Avoid falling boulders and enemies. Be careful not to become trapped. Easy to learn, difficult to master.

• Large Scrolling Caves
• Play or explore using “pinch” zooming
• Use the single-finger ‘flick’ to scroll cave maps
• Switch between portrait and landscape modes during play
• 2 sets of player configured virtual D-pad controls
• Or control Rockford™ simply by dragging your finger
• Supports multi-touch controls
• 4 different high resolution graphics sets
• Original 80 caves and 4 bonus caves
• Original music and sfx with an all new music remix of the original theme music
• All of the original creatures and features: Butterflies, Fireflies; Growing Amoeba; Magic Walls
• Extensive instructions and tips
• Post high scores to the Open-Feint leaderboards
• Chat with other players in Chillingo’s Boulder Dash room chat room using Open-Feint
Click to expand...

http://appshopper.com/games/boulder-dash®-vol-1
 
Hey iPhone owning Game-GAF.

I don't post outside the OT often, so I won't start a new thread for it, but I'm currently developing an iPhone app for GAF to make reading to and posting to it. I still have a few spots open and wanted to make sure game-gaf got a chance to be represented.

Visit the thread about the app for info:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=361350
 
Just noticed Peggle is #5 on the top selling games list and #9 on the top sellings apps list period. Pretty impressive and every app above it on both lists is 99 cents so that's a real feat. (Here is where I bang the drum for the billionth time that apple should not base the lists on unit sales but instead on total revenue to beat back the tyranny of the 99 cent app). Just as impressive is the fact that Myst is #6 and #10 on those lists respectively. Who would have thought that such a large app size wise and arguably a non-mainstream genre title (in the current marketplace I mean) would perform so well.
 
Rlan said:
I'd be interested to see it this will now remove "lite" versions entirely, where you release just one free program with a few levels and then download the unlock key in app transactions for the full game. It'll be interesting to see how well something like that will sell in comparison to something that released a standalone "lite" version.

I'd totally buy more Tiki Tower levels though :)

Edit: Also Boulder Dash Vol. 1 is out.

http://appshopper.com/games/boulder-dash®-vol-1
Click to expand...

I don't think free apps are going to be allowed to do in app purchases. On one hand it makes sense to do that because you don't want people abusing the app store by saying something is free when it isn't, but something like that would get sorted out quickly by TONS of negative reviews. The beneficial part is that it would be a great way to integrate "lite" versions of games and full versions of games into the same product.

The next big step that they need to take is to incorporate lite versions of apps onto the same iTunes store listing as the full version. So there is no more mystery whether or not an app has a demo version. When I say, "big," I mean should have been that way from the start.
 
Rlan said:
Edit: Also Boulder Dash Vol. 1 is out.
Click to expand...

After I read this I quickly launched iTunes to check it out. I was all keen to buy it until:

a) I saw the graphics. They just aren't the retro Boulder Dash I love.

b) $6. I don't know... Seems a bit much for a game I used to love with a skin I don't.

This one will go on the 'wait' pile.
 
Mar_ said:
After I read this I quickly launched iTunes to check it out. I was all keen to buy it until:

a) I saw the graphics. They just aren't the retro Boulder Dash I love.
Click to expand...
I thought there was retro graphics mode in there (looked like C64/Atari XE version).
 
Polk said:
I thought there was retro graphics mode in there (looked like C64/Atari XE version).
Click to expand...

You're right. A friend of mine pointed that out after reading my post.

Still.. 6 bucks. I'm having a hard time justifying it. I may bite but I think they've priced it out of the impulse buy category.
 
Mar_ said:
After I read this I quickly launched iTunes to check it out. I was all keen to buy it until:

a) I saw the graphics. They just aren't the retro Boulder Dash I love.

b) $6. I don't know... Seems a bit much for a game I used to love with a skin I don't.

This one will go on the 'wait' pile.
Click to expand...

boulderdashiphone2.png
boulderdashiphone1.png


Or you could go for the DS version, which has just a weird design

ds_boulderdash.jpg


boulder-dash-rocks-ds-01.jpg
a_med_2.jpg.jpg
 
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