Myst is a point and click adventure puzzle game first published for the Mac in 1993. Loaded on a CD-ROM, Myst was absolutely revolutionary at the time. We enjoyed the iPhone port in our review, and there's not much reason to think that Riven wouldn't translate to the iPhone just as well.
Riven is set immediately following the events that transpired in Myst and the plot is hard to describe without revealing some spoilers from the original game. It's safe to say if the iPhone port of Myst was your first foray in to the series, you will also enjoy Riven as it was highly praised by critics and comes packed with even more immersive puzzles to get hopelessly stuck on.
Unfortunately it sounds like the rest of the Myst games might not be making it to the iPhone due to technical issues and licensing, but news of Riven joining Myst on the App Store should get any fan of the series excited.
The Great Giana Sisters, as it was originally known, has an interesting and cheeky history, being pulled off the shelves as soon as it first went on sale in 1987 for the Amiga, Atari and Commodore 64, due to its incredible likeness to Super Mario Bros on the NES– henceforth cementing it as a highly sought collectors item. Many years down the track, it was re-imagined on the Nintendo DS in 2009, a port of which has now made its way to the iPhone as Armin Gessert's Giana Sisters [App Store], named after the C64 version's original programmer.
Having just played through the first and second worlds, it is immediately obvious where Armin Gessert's Giana Sisters has derived its inspiration. Our early experiences were replete with head-butting brick-smashing platforming, jumping on unsuspecting enemies, pipes, and a steady stream of fireball upgrades. It goes so far as to have coin-bricks, and hidden coin-bricks, and a flag at the end of each level.
It isn't all Mario though, as Armin Gessert's Giana Sisters appears to have an abundance of its own charm. The platforming is straightforward, but challenging, and it really comes into its own after the first few stages. There are two control schemes available– a Classic and Touch setting– the latter of which seems a bit too unorthodox to time pin-point jumps. Fortunately, the Classic setting is as you would expect it; movement buttons on the left and jump and shoot buttons on the right which work a treat. Both modes have a swipe feature to help you look below and above you. A number of different power-ups are also available throughout the 80 newly-crafted levels, after which the 32 original 'retro' levels are unlocked.
The full feature set, as provided by Bad Monkey is as follows:
80 new levels
32 retro levels
completely new graphic set especially for iPhone and iPod
2 controls (touch and classic)
play your own music while you play Giana Sisters
5 languages: English, German, Spanish, French and Italian
legendary soundtrack, inspired by Chris Huelsbeck
Online community tools (Openfeint)
We've thoroughly enjoyed what we've played so far of Armin Gessert's Giana Sisters. There's something special about a great 80's platformer, and this one seems to get all the elements just right. Expect a more extensive review in the near future as we put Armin Gessert's Giana Sisters on the iPhone through its paces.
More first impressions from our readers are already amassing in our forums.
Today, an iPhone port of the well-reviewed mobile title DOOM II RPG [App Store] from id Software LLC appeared in the App Store. Doom II RPG was created by the same team that brought us Wolfenstein RPG and offers a turn-based take on the Doom universe:
The forces of Hell have invaded our dimension once again, and only you can stop them from their ultimate goal—conquering Earth!
A mysterious distress signal calls your team—two hardened Marines and a rookie scientist—to a Union Aerospace Corporation research facility on Earth’s Moon, but you were unprepared for what awaits you. The forces of Hell itself have taken hold of the station and its inhabitants! Zombies and demonic monsters roam the halls, killing all who cross their path. Your backup squad is dead. Mysterious scientists conspire against you. Even the facility’s AI cannot be trusted. You are being hunted from all sides. Now, you must fight to survive, and try to stop the invasion—and uncover the truth—by any means available. The fate of all humanity is at stake!
The game challenges you to choose one of three available characters through which to take on a veritable menagerie of Hell-spawned beasts. Cacodemons, Cyberdemons, Spider Masterminds — they're all here for your goring enjoyment.
Among the game's features as listed by id:
Battle through 9 maps, spanning the Moon, Earth, and Hell itself. Over 8 hours of gameplay!
Over a dozen unique weapons to find, plus improvised weapons such as Sentry Bots or even plumbing fixtures.
Eleven different enemy types—each with multiple, increasingly-powerful forms—plus four bosses.
Auto-mapping feature and mission-tracking PDA functions ensure you’ll never be lost again.
Customizable controls; change the size, style, and placement of the control inputs.
Three levels of difficulty will give players of all skill levels a challenge.
Detailed graphics and complex levels which take advantage of the power of the iPhone.
As with Wolfenstein RPG, the pace of Doom II RPG game is entirely different than the first person shooter versions that we all know. We'll offer a closer look in time, while first impressions are being collected in our forums.
Plants Vs Zombies is Popcap's take on the tower defense genre, where players cultivate a crop of various plants that each have different abilities to play against the weaknesses of the many different types of zombies you will face. Progressing through the game, you eventually unlock all kinds of different defenses to choose from as you deal with zombies invading your front lawn during the day, across your pool in the back yard, and even fending them off at night. Each setting requires a slightly different strategy and this keeps gameplay fresh throughout the whole game.
The following trailer was released today, and mentions 2/15 as the official release date of Plants Vs Zombies for the iPhone.
Like most Popcap games, Plants Vs Zombies is available for the Mac and PC and currently can either be purchased directly from Popcap online or nearly any brick and mortar store that stocks PC games. You can expect a full review from us as soon as the game is released on the App Store.
Our January game ratings are in place now, and here are the top of the heap. Our monthly "best of" round-up summarizes the top rated games that we looked at in the previous month. Each game reviewed receives a 1-5 star rating relative to the other games from that month. Generally, a 3 or higher is considered a "good" rating.
Our final scores are not the product of any traditionally objective measures such as graphics or sound, but simply reflect the games we would most recommend to others.
5 Stars
Broken Sword – The remake of this 1996 point and click adventure was wonderfully brought to the iPhone. The story and all around high-quality production values of Broken Sword sucked us in. Whether you're an old fan of the original game, a newcomer to the series, or even someone who's never played a point-and-click adventure before, Broken Sword is a game with mass appeal that will draw you in. (Review, App Store)
Sword & Poker – Mix poker with a loose RPG and you get one of the most surprisingly compelling games from January. The variety of monsters, weapons and levels adds enough content to kept us coming back throughout the month. Even if the premise sounds strange to you, give the Lite a try. (Review, App Store, Lite)
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars – A great adaptation of a DS/PSP game, Chinatown Wars offers a level of depth rarely seen on the App Store. If you complete everything in game, playtime will need to be measured in days, not hours. The weapon targeting system can use improvement, but barely detracts from an otherwise phenomenal game. (Review, App Store)
4.5 Stars
Cogs – Cogs is a mechanical puzzler that challenges you to bring to life a series of increasingly complex machines by way of arranging sets of tiles, gears, pipes, and the like in such a way as to connect varying energy sources to their ultimate outlets across 50 different 2.5D and 3D environments It has become one of our favorite iPhone puzzlers. (Review, App Store)
The Deep – The Deep is all about exploring environments and finding important items that allow access to other parts of the map or give unique abilities to the main character. Unique level designs, the pleasant art, and that addictive, upgrade-focused exploratory gameplay kept us captive for hours (Review, App Store)
As always, we expect there will be some debate about relative scores, but keep in mind that everyone's personal ratings may vary based on individual tastes.
According to a post on the Myst Online forums, an iPhone port of Riven, the sequel to Myst [App Store], should be available "by early summer at the latest."
Powered by FireStats