Having played my share of matching games, it takes something a little different to really capture my attention. What immediately stood out with Cubetrix 3D was the fast paced/arcade nature to the game – like Tetris on the later levels. The game is a row-matching game where your job is to clear the board as quickly as possible. To accomplish this, you can move a single block around the perimeter of the board and slide it in. The block that slides out can then be moved to a new position. It doesn't take long to figure out how to move the blocks to line up matches and combos. The high energy soundtrack adds to the experience.
Watch the developer video to see how it plays:
Beyond color block matches, the game also introduces a few other elements to the gameplay. Fixed blocks will prevent you from sliding blocks into certain rows, while the bomb elements add an even higher level of frantic rushing to the harder levels. Finally, some levels use colors and numbers that must be combined in sequential order to eliminate rows.
Here's a short hands on video showing normal and hard levels:
The hard level is crazy from the start, as bombs will randomly reshuffle the entire board in an instant.
Cubetrix 3D really sucked me in from the start. The game contains 20 Easy, 30 Normal, 30 Hard and 30 Puzzle levels. With fast paced gameplay and a great overall experience, I highly recommend it.
While out in San Francisco covering GDC 2010 I saw many games for many platforms, the iPhone among them. And I'm happy to report that I didn't encounter a single "bad" iPhone game at any point during the week. The trip reinforced the fact that iPhone gaming is just huge — and it's growing. And iPad gaming, based on what I saw from numerous developers, is going to be amazing.
But of all the solid titles I spent time with, the one I'm most excited about is Sword & Sworcery EP which we took a brief look at earlier in the week. I've given the game a great deal of thought since we saw it at GDC and wanted to go into a bit further detail and share some additional thoughts on it for our readers.
Sword & Sworcery EP recently won an achievement in art award in the IGF Mobile 2010 competition. It's a stylized, artistic adventure developed by Superbrothers + Capybara Games + Jim Guthrie that dazzles with its rich and mysterious atmosphere established by a unique pixel art graphical presentation, an ethereal soundtrack that sets the mood for every screen, and sparse instructional cues on the outset that make you, the player, feel like a truly small entity in a large, alien world.
The designers call it "i/o cinema."
Right now I can't fully setup the scene for you, as the whole of the scene is still in the minds of the game's creators, not yet entirely implemented on the iPhone. What we were shown at GDC 2010 was meant as a teaser, a taste of the world that will be fully realized in the estimated three months between now and the game's App Store release. But what we did see was, in a word, moving.
In Sword & Sworcery EP, you control a female character exploring a mysterious world. Armed with sword and shield, you begin to explore your edenesque surroundings, tapping and holding in the intended direction of travel. You walk along paths, climb up and down stairs carved into the landscape, wander into the depths of the backdrop — even walk upon water. Brush a finger across a tree or bush and it responds to your touch.
But why are you here? What is your mission?
As you wander about this strange world you hear the chirping of insects, see various fauna dwelling in the bracken. Before long you encounter a strange being of obvious intelligence peering out at you from the wilderness. It retreats in response to your chase and gives little indication as to whether it is friend or foe. Eventually you follow it into its lair and are challenged to a fight. As you rotate your iPhone to enter the game's fight mode, you begin exchanging blows with this curious character. With some savvy you bring it to its knees, rendering it helpless, waiting for your final blow.
But…do you end this creatures life? Will you deal out death upon this helpless being whose world you have infiltrated? Or will you show mercy?
I will tell you that, in playing the game for less than five minutes, my feeling was that this strange creature was not an enemy. When it came time to deliver the killing blow, I very much felt that it would be wrong to do so. In the interest of fully demonstrating the game, however, I went ahead and ened its life. I regretted having to do so and found that, for hours after I set the game down, I felt guilty for having slaughtered what may have been a peaceful and benevolent creature. The experience absolutely saddened me.
This, from about four minutes of gameplay in a title that presently exists only as a teaser that presents but a portion of the creators' total vision. I consider my reaction to this experience to be highly telling. I honestly can't recall ever playing a game so emotive, so affecting.
Now, I don't mean to sound like an elitest gamer, or one that looks down my nose at other players, but if all you are interested in is button smashing and explosions, then Sword & Sworcery EP is probably not for you. (And, mind, I do, myself, enjoy a great many button smashers.) But if you are open to a game that can take you on an emotional journey, cause you to examine your own system of morality, and deliver an experience quite unlike anything you have known before, then Sword & Sworcery EP is probably worth your while. (And this is a game, not merely an artistic curiosity — discussion with the designers about what's to come assured me of that.)
The comment thread trailing from our initial look at the title is lengthy and rather polarized. People seem to either love what we've shown of the game, or hate it. The love points mostly mirror my own, presented here, while the hate points bemoan things like "unsightly", pixellated graphics, "lack of visuals", obviously "boring gameplay", "rehashed crap", and a misspelled title.
The pixel-art graphics serve a two-fold purpose, in my opinion. Use of such a graphical presentation necessarily adds a certain degree of vagueness to what the player is able to know about the onscreen avatar. This vagueness forces the player to become closer to the main character because the image of just what the character looks like exactly involves a bit of imagination on the part of the player. Additionally, the graphics style is a clear nod to Eric Chahi's 1991 classic Another World (a.k.a. Out of this World) which delivers a somewhat similar play atmosphere and was a major inspiration for this title, as designer Craig Adams of Superbrothers revealed to me. And so, if there's any "rehashing" going into Sword & Sworcery EP's equation, it's of Another World, which few would call "crap." And that's not to mention the fact that, as far as pixel art goes, in Sword & Sworcery EP it's original and very well done.
Wanting to share a bit more of the title than is revealed in the twovideos released this week by the developers, we recorded some gameplay on the expo floor at the Superbrothers + Capy + Jim Guthrie booth in the IGF Mobile area. Thanks to Craig for the fingers.
All of us here at TouchArcade find Sword & Sworcery EP to be an amazing piece of work and are extremely anxious to get our hands on the final version in order to discover more about the nature of this mysterious game world. And, if you think what you see here holds little interest for you, well — you may be right — but if ever there was a game that might just take you by surprise, I'm guessing this is it. It's a situation that really makes me hope that the developers offer a free, lite version so the haters can at least give it a shot before passing it by.
At any rate, we'll take a very close look at Sword & Sorcerer EP when it hits the App Store mid-summer and let you know what we find.
I've always been a huge fan of the Resident Evil series, and having likely spent weeks of combined playtime in my life playing and re-playing the games of the Resident Evil universe. It's more than a little weird to me that Gameloft has somehow managed to make a better Resident Evil game than even Capcom, the original creators of the series, has on the iPhone.
If Gameloft's highly "inspired" games make your eyes roll, you should turn back now because when I first saw Zombie Infection today there was little I could do to stop myself from groaning at the first level we were shown– A nearly identical African cityscape to the one found in Resident Evil 5, with an equally similar premise to the game complete with a second character you come across named Shawna who serves as your female sidekick.
Zombie Infection comes loaded with 10 levels, some lifted directly out of Resident Evil games, and others in locations that could either be described as "ridiculous", "awesome", or possibly even "ridiculously awesome". One such locale we were shown was a zoo, filled with zombie zoo animals. After just barely making it out alive after fighting a zombified lion, my play session was brought to an end by some gigantic crocodile that sprung up from the water.
Like other similar Gameloft games, controls work exactly how you would expect. A virtual joystick handles all your movement, while context sensitive buttons appear that do things like open doors, shoot, holster your gun, unleash melee attacks, etc. Speaking of melee attacks, there's also a number of "finisher" moves that you can pull on nearby zombies. For instance, if a zombie is knocked to the ground you can run over to them and a button will activate allowing you to stomp their head. Also, like Resident Evil games, you cannot move and shoot at the same time.
I wasn't able to get a solid answer on the graphics engine powering Zombie Infection, but the polygon count of the character models, scenery, and all the texturing was extremely detailed. On top of that, it was running at an excellent framerate, making the whole package that much more impressive.
Aside from the standard campaign mode, there's also going to be a survival mode Gameloft is calling "Arena Mode" where players fight off endless swarms of zombies. Other details are scarce at the moment, and much like Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell we only had enough time with the game to blow through a few levels. Needless to say, I'll be giving Zombie Infection a thorough play through as soon as its released sometime later this month.
The first game that Gameloft showed us at GDC this year was the latest in a long line of Splinter Cell games, a series that also has several books associated with it along with a movie that may or may not still be in the works. In the games, you play as Sam Fisher who is an extremely experienced member of an elite team within the NSA called the "Third Echelon". Splinter Cell games are episodic in nature, and this is the sixth installment in Sam's adventure.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction for the iPhone closely follows the console game with the same title. In fact, they are so alike, they even share cut scenes and voice work. (And because of this the voice acting is much higher quality than typical Gameloft games.) There is also a surprising amount of chatter between the bad guys you come across, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction is one of the few iPhone games that frequently drops the F bomb. It will be interesting to see how much of that remains in the final version of the game.
There are 10 included levels that Gameloft estimates will take players anywhere between 4 to 5 hours to burn through, and of the few levels we were able to see in the demonstration the locales vary wildly from night time stealth missions to missions in middle eastern cities complete with sand blowing everywhere. Overall the game looks amazing, and according to Gameloft is running on the next evolution of the NOVA engine.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction controls well, using a virtual joystick for movement, an array of context sensitive buttons that appear when needed as well as the same buttons that act like dials seen in many other Gameloft games that can be swiped to select different weapons and gadgets. There's a cover system, different instant kill melee attacks, and a "tag and execute" aiming mode that can potentially allow players to slay entire rooms full of bad guys.
For the few minutes I was able to play of the game, it's hard to form much of an opinion on it. Initial impressions are positive, but we'll need to put the game through its paces once it's finally released. Gameloft isn't discussing release dates with Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction yet, but the console versions of the game are due to be released on April 13th, so it's unlikely that we will see the iPhone game before then.
Chillingo's The Hero launched into the App Store on Monday. We briefly previewed the game back in February.
The game is beautifully illustrated and animated super hero game. You control your hero by using a virtual joystick in the bottom right corner, and can speed up by mashing the on-screen button on the bottom right corner. The controls work well enough, although making precise movements can be challenging as you can't just stop in mid-air and turn around, your hero has to go through his whole turning around animation before you can go the other way.
Here's our hands on video:
First impressions from our forums seem positive, and we'll take a closer look in the near future.
Do you have what it takes to help Mark the mole locate the elusive Terracore gem? That's the question, really, in Roo Games' recent release Mole -Quest for the Terracore Gem! [App Store].
Mole is a game that, on the surface resembles classic Dig Dug, but is really a deeper game (sorry) that's much more about scoring up in order to better equip your character than simple arcade action. In Mole, you start off as a rather ill-equipped Mark the mole that can't do much beyond burrow about the top-most layer of the six-layer underground world that hides the fabled Terracore Gem (in the deepest layer, of course). While burrowing, you can pick up various precious metals and gems, and they can be used to up your gear in the equip shop — and better gear is what really opens up the game. It's a gear-to-gameplay dynamic that's reminiscent of that in Hook Champ.
The aforementioned shop offers air tanks, pick axes, gem detectors, and the like for the player with enough metal. All of them help you on your quest, but the most important upgrade would have to be the air tanks, for, despite the occasional pockets of air that can be found in some (but not all) of the underground layers, you're not going to get very deep without some serious tankage. And the Terracore Gem lies deep.
The game offers very simplistic controls that work quite well; tap out some distance from your mole and he'll move there or just hold and drag in the direction you want to travel. The arrangement of on-screen indicators can be adjusted for left or right players, as well.
See the developer's gameplay video.
This is one of those games that delivers just a really nice balance between light playfield strategy (how deep should you go with your limited oxygen supply?) and asset allocation (how best to spend money in the shop?). If break-neck arcade action is what you're after, then Mole – Quest for the Terracore Gem! will disappoint, but for the gamer that can weigh risks and keep their eye on the goal, this one is a true hidden gem.
In honor of the Game Developers Conference 2010, Mole is free until Sunday, March 14th.
It seems the developers of Raging Thunder 2 (which was published through PolarBit) are certainly not resting on their laurels following their recent AppStore release. Pixelbite have been very active in our own forums these last few days promoting their upcoming top-down, physics-heavy racer, Deliverace.
Though our early impressions of Raging Thunder 2 were very positive, it already seems Deliverace is set to impress us just as much, if not more. Pixelbite recently released a trailer that showcases an amazingly rich and extraordinarily detailed graphic engine that seems to trounce nearly anything we've seen on the AppStore to date. The developers have provided a summary of the game's features in our forums as follows:
"The game is a classic top-down racer, but with modern physics and amazing graphics. Naturally we also have multiplayer support over Lan and Internet, online leaderboards, several control options, ghost cars and much more."
Though the trailer convincingly sells itself, the impressive list of features available right off the bat has cemented Deliverace as one of our more anticipated titles. Deliverace is slated as 'coming soon' in early 2010 with no price point currently fixed. Pixelbite really seem to be making a name for themselves in the racing genre, and we can't wait to see what they have in store for us this time around.
Be sure to keep abreast of our Deliveracediscussion thread for further updates and media releases by the developer.
A few days ago we took a look at Cocoto Magic Circus [App Store]. Since then, the game has been released and is easily one of the better tap to shoot arcade style games I've played on the iPhone.
In Cocoto Magic Circus, you take on the role of Cocoto, Shiny, Neuro, or Baggy on a mission to save poor Fairy, the pixie, who has been kidnapped by a sinister and disturbing clown. In order to save her, you must progress through five different creepy carnival settings, wielding your dart-gun like a champ, tapping true on the clown's various minions to knock them into oblivion. There are seven shooting gallery-style mini-games in each of the settings, making for 35 challenges in all.
While it's true that shooting gallery titles are generally rather simplistic affairs — and there's certainly no lack of such games in the App Store — Cocoto Magic Circus is a surprisingly enjoyable little game. The visuals are very well done — cartoonish, cute, and atmospheric with a nice parallax effect to the scenes that adds a sense of depth to the game. Complexity is added to the title's tap-to-shoot dynamic by way of line-of-fire obstacles as well as floating bonuses and special effects that, when shot, trigger things both good and bad: double shot score, free hits, lights out, gun jams, flip screen, etc. It's a nice touch.
Cocoto Magic Circus is a fun series of tap to shoot mini-games that is enhanced by a real-time online multiplayer mode that worked pretty well in the few games I was able to play. The game has seen an overwhelmingly positive reception in our forums, and while these tap to shoot games never come close to the feel of an actual light gun game, Cocoto Magic Circus is really worth checking out.
It is said that the best ideas are often the most simple ones, and there doesn't seem to be anything quite as simple as the dot. Developers One Man Left seem to agree, as they've staked their entire game, Tilt to Live [App Store], on the premise of our beloved period; albeit the rapacious, hell-bent variety.
Tilt to Live is at its core, an object-avoidance game wholly utilising the accelerometer of the iPhone or iTouch to maneuver your arrow around the battlefield. I say battlefield, because that's exactly what is going on here– the dots are out to get you and will stop at nothing. And it is remarkable just how much personality One Man Left have managed to inject into such a straightforward concept. These are certainly no ordinary dots– these perilous periods make a point (ha!) of chasing you around the screen; coalescing into arrows and other shapes then hurling themselves at you at breakneck pace, or circling you like vultures, slowly closing in until it is impossible to escape. Make no mistake, touch even one of the hundreds of dots on screen at once, and you are history.
Sounds mind-numbing? Fear not! Our arrow protagonist has a range of very awesome weapons at his disposal to send these dots back to whence they came. Your arsenal really defines Tilt to Live because it shows an attention to detail and knack for the inventive that escapes many games we see on the AppStore. You start off with just a few basic powerups floating around the screen waiting to be collected. The most basic is a nuke explosive (Yes, a nuke is standard fare in Tilt to Live) but you also have a dot-seeking multi-rocket powerup and a haduken-style fireball which clears a portion of the screen in the direction you're facing. Each of the weapons require a different strategy to operate effectively and are useful in varying situations.
This thoughtful design factor continues through to the unlockable weapons, too, where eventually you'll unlock weapons such as a spike shield that lets you hurl yourself at dots as they literally cower away in fear or a vortex attack that sucks all nearby dots (and you if you're not careful) into a black hole, to name just a few. But it's the manner in which they're unlocked that I appreciated the most. Tilt to Live uses the AGON platform to deliver its achievements and leaderboard results. But, it takes the system one step further– integrating in-game rewards for unlocking achievement points– namely in the form of additional weapons. I'm ordinarily not one for achievements, but the added incentive of new weapons was enough to get me to actually pore through the list and attempt most of the nefarious challenges, a fact I found pleasantly surprising.
Tilt to Live is a game that draws you in with its edgy personality and inescapable 'just one more go' gameplay. It is gorgeously crafted and presented and has a wicked sense of humor to boot (just take a look at the loading screens to see what I mean). Completing its challenges and unlocking weapons has the added benefit of enabling you to achieve even higher scores and multipliers, meaning even those not normally counting themselves as completionists may be eager to experience the width and breadth of what Tilt to Live has to offer. This is one game that will remain a fixture on my iPhone for a long time to come.
As expected, impressions coming in from our readers are overwhelmingly positive. Be sure to check out the developer's YouTube trailer above for a preview glimpse of Tilt to Live.
The original Zuma by PopCap Games spawned a raft of look-a-likes of varying quality, but the recently released Sparkle [App Store] certainly appears to be amongst the best now available on the iPhone. Created by the developers of Azkend and Dragon Portals, two other excellent action puzzlers, Sparkle is gorgeously presented in every way.
For anyone new to the concept (frankly, you've been living under a rock), Sparkle is essentially a Match-3 game spread out over a track, where a long string of various colored balls slowly moves to the end of the path. You fire randomly colored balls at the string in an attempt to make groups of three or more like-colors, causing them to disappear from the playing field. If the string reaches the end of the path, it's game over.
Along the way you'll collect a number of power-ups and items to help your cause, and be introduced to a chain-reaction combo system to really rack up the points. There are three game modes in Sparkle which are gradually unlocked and help to deviate its offering, including a story-driven Quest mode, a time-attack Challenge Mode, and a score-tracking Survival mode. Sparkle also keeps track of your progress through an achievement and stat system, though no global leader boards are available at present.
Sparkle is great if only to rekindle some of that Zuma nostalgia right in the palm of your hand. As we're often finding, the tried and true gameplay works surprisingly well on a touch device, making Sparkle one highly polished and easily recommended action puzzler.
Chillingo's The Hero launched into the App Store on Monday. We 
A few days ago we took a look at Cocoto Magic Circus [
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