Mobile phone gaming

[Alex79]

I thought we could maybe have a central thread to discuss gaming on iPhone/Pad?

Anyone tried Joe Danger yet? It's an excellent version of the console game. Exactly the same presentation, but the core gameplay has been changed to an auto accelerate endless (although not endless) runner style thing. Its most similar to the excellent mobile Rayman Origins game. It's brilliant anyway, if you liked the console version you'll love this.

Also currently playing Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition on the iPad. It's great, true to the original complete with a few tweaks that the second game brought, quicker movement etc. It's a huge game and well worth the six quid or whatever it costs.

Vice City I downloaded but haven't spent much time with. Performance wise it's slightly laggy on my iPhone 4 but its the controls that really let it down. It seems to handle even worse than the original GTA3 did on iPhone. I wouldn't really recommend it.

The last game I've been spending a lot of time with lately is Zombiewood from Gameloft. It's a really fun twin stick zombie shooter set it various movie locations. Huge playability, loads of guns to earn and unlock. The game is free, it's full of in-app purchases, but I've not spent any money on it at all and it's fine.

Anyone else recommending anything at the moment?

[NokkonWud]

I regularly play iOS games and briefly used to review them. The problem I have is whilst I totally accept it as a format to play on, it's hard not to go back to New Star Soccer or 10,000,000 to play as they're so good. Currently playing and enjoying both Cool Pizza and Sonic Jump.

[Alex79]

I can see you're a fan of Another World from your avatar - did you ever play the iOS version of that game? It was actually fantastically good. I wish they'd do a decent version of the brilliant Flashback - although the controls might not translate quite so well as they were a lot more complicated.

[NokkonWud]

I can see you're a fan of Another World from your avatar - did you ever play the iOS version of that game? It was actually fantastically good. I wish they'd do a decent version of the brilliant Flashback - although the controls might not translate quite so well as they were a lot more complicated.

I haven't played the iOS version actually, I'm really not a fan of on-screen controls for many things like that. Goodness knows how I'd find Flashback!

[Guy_JD]

I only really play Carmageddon and Beat hazard on my ipad, although I prefer a 360 controller for the latter

I didn't really get on with the onscreen controls of GTA3 so although I really love Vice city I haven't bought it yet.

[Alex79]

Nokkon, Another World is definitely worth a try. Its not on screen control pad and buttons, it's all done through swipes etc. It really does work well. It also features a similar idea to the Monkey Island special edition games in that you can flick from original to enhanced graphics with a flick, it's cool.

Yeah Guy, if you didn't get on with the GTA controls VC is even worse. Shame you can't use a 360 pad for that one. That reminds me though, I just listened to the Castle Of Illusion etc. C&R podcast and have been inspired to replay the games. I've been playing on an emulator on an iPad using a Wii controller, they're still excellent games (although personally I preferred the Master System version of CoI).

[Guy_JD]

just listened to the Castle Of Illusion etc. C&R podcast and have been inspired to replay the games. I've been playing on an emulator on an iPad using a Wii controller, they're still excellent games (although personally I preferred the Master System version of CoI).

That's something I've been wanting to do for a while, is you iPad jailbroken or is there an Apple certified emulator?

[Alex79]

Yeah I jailbroke it. Incredibly easy to do unless you've updated to iOS 6 yet...

[Guy_JD]

See there's the problem mine was Jailbroken until I updated it to ios6

[NokkonWud]

Nokkon, Another World is definitely worth a try. Its not on screen control pad and buttons, it's all done through swipes etc. It really does work well. It also features a similar idea to the Monkey Island special edition games in that you can flick from original to enhanced graphics with a flick, it's cool.

Sold!

[Buckled Kipper]

iOS gaming is very overrated in my opinion. There are notable exceptions, like the excellent New Star Soccer, but on the whole it will never replace handheld consoles for me. The controls for most genres just simply don't work we'll enough for my liking. I bought Balders Gate recently and it's still the great game it's always been, but as is so often the case the controls are just way to clumsy.

For point and click games, and board games it can be great, most everything else ill stick to Vita/3ds.

Saying all that, Final Fantasy IV on ipad is bleeding great even if it does cost eleven quid.

[NokkonWud]

Saying all that, Final Fantasy IV on ipad is bleeding great even if it does cost eleven quid.

£11 for a 40 hour game doesn't sound all too bad to me. It's a lot cheaper than anything on the Vita/3DS that's brand new.
I think iOS/Android gaming needs a pass for the most part, their games cost often less than £1 and play on a device which main purpose isn't gaming. Compared to games on Vita and 3DS which are around £30-£35 new and play on a device which is primarily gaming.

[Buckled Kipper]

Saying all that, Final Fantasy IV on ipad is bleeding great even if it does cost eleven quid.

£11 for a 40 hour game doesn't sound all too bad to me. It's a lot cheaper than anything on the Vita/3DS that's brand new.
I think iOS/Android gaming needs a pass for the most part, their games cost often less than £1 and play on a device which main purpose isn't gaming. Compared to games on Vita and 3DS which are around £30-£35 new and play on a device which is primarily gaming.

I give it a pass in as much as its cheap disposable gaming which can happily pass 20 minutes on a bus ride, but what I don't like is the often heard opinion these days that it should be the replacement for handheld consoles. It drives me nuts when I hear people bash the Vita by saying that it should concentrate on games that can be played in ten minute bursts. As a 39 year old gamer I have many times where I need long play sessions on a handheld device, be it staying in a hotel, or not wanting to hog the big telly while my wife watches Downton Abbey. I just really hope that handhelds survive beyond this generation be it in the form of Vita/3DS or the wii u control pad approach.

Pricing is definitely an issue, but lots of the Vita's best games are under a tenner (Sound Shapes, Stangers Wrath) so hopefully that will get better with time, particularly on download.

[Buckled Kipper]

Saying all that, Final Fantasy IV on ipad is bleeding great even if it does cost eleven quid.

£11 for a 40 hour game doesn't sound all too bad to me. It's a lot cheaper than anything on the Vita/3DS that's brand new.
I think iOS/Android gaming needs a pass for the most part, their games cost often less than £1 and play on a device which main purpose isn't gaming. Compared to games on Vita and 3DS which are around £30-£35 new and play on a device which is primarily gaming.

I do agree however that FFIV is deffinately worth £11. iOS games can be so hit and miss that it can feel like a big gamble paying that much but in this case it didn't disappoint.

[Alex79]

Did you get Chrono Trigger on iOS? That was better than any of the FF's released so far, although when FF6 finally hits that is going to be amazing. And then what? Will we ever see FF7 on a phone/iPad? Of course we will, it's a cash cow begging to be milked. I just hope we don't have to wait too long.

[Scrustle]

I used to be in to iOS gaming a lot more than I am now. That's because I don't really find myself in the situation where they would be appropriate any more. Occasionally I'll play them for a little bit though. But I've always found myself simply wanting to play my Xbox far more.

Most of the games I play are ones which do have on-screen controls. I don't think they're as bad as people make them out to be, but I guess it comes down to personal experience most of the time. I have pretty small hands. That said, I can't play these games for vastly extended periods of time, but I find I'm much more comfortable with them than most others seem to be. But after a while it does start to become an annoyance. I also don't really have an issue with them obscuring the screen either. Even on my iPhone they usually seem to be sufficiently out of the way. They do obscure a little, but most of the time it's not too much. But again, that might just be because of my small hands.

I've found there are actually quite a few pretty good original RPGs on iOS. Not just ones which are ported over from the DS or whatever. I enjoyed Ravensword for example, even though that was pretty short. The follow up game by the same studio, Aralon, is also very good. Much more expansive than Ravensword and pretty much better in every way. I haven't finished that yet though. I think I need to restart my game on that one. It's been a long time and the reason I stopped is because I accidentally skipped past a character giving me instructions for where I should go next. I would be completely lost if I tried to jump back in now. I recently also got the relatively newly released Ravenword 2. Haven't put much time in to it yet, but I haven't really liked it so far. You seem to die very easily and there's not much you can do about it. The controls aren't very good.

Another game I've had a good time with is one of the many rip-off games by Gameloft. These guys actually bring out a lot of the best iOS games out there. They get a lot of hate for ripping off ideas from big franchises on other platforms, but when the game itself is good, why does it matter? They're copying games I like and doing them pretty well. But I digress. The game in question is Sacred Odyssey. It's basically a Zelda game. Same kind of gameplay. Large overworld set in a magical land where you go in to dungeons, solve puzzles, get items, and fight monsters and bosses therein. They even rip some of the characters from Zelda. For example near the start of the game you meet a giant magical talking tree, you have a little blue fairy girl as a companion, and there's even a bird-man messenger side-character. It's got a surprising amount of polish for an iOS game, but then again so do many other of the Gameloft games. I recommend people check out what they have on offer. There's a really good range of stuff, and you're only missing out if you avoid them because the company has no unique ideas of their own.

[Buckled Kipper]

Did you get Chrono Trigger on iOS? That was better than any of the FF's released so far, although when FF6 finally hits that is going to be amazing. And then what? Will we ever see FF7 on a phone/iPad? Of course we will, it's a cash cow begging to be milked. I just hope we don't have to wait too long.

To my shame iv'e never played Chrono Trigger, will have to correct that someday soon. FFVII could indeed be great on ios, but despite it possibly being my favourite game of all time, I've played it through twice now which is enough for me.

[Alex79]

Table Top Racing, out this week, is a pretty fun Micro Machines inspired racer from some of the ex-Psygnosis staff. Apparently when asked if they'd consider bringing Wipeout to iOS they replied that would depend on how well this game did.

So buy!

[ratsoalbion]

Hmmm, surely Sony owns the WipEout IP..?

[PlexShaw]

Nokkon, Another World is definitely worth a try. Its not on screen control pad and buttons, it's all done through swipes etc. It really does work well.

I found the game unplayable with swipe controls and switched to on-screen controls which was much easier for me.