Last year we reported on an upcoming multi-player update to the iPhone card game Durak. The promised update has finally arrived and delivers a number of new multi-player features.
Durak is a popular Russian card game typically played between two to six people (two to four in the iPhone version). Each player receives six cards and the objective is to get rid of all your cards. The game is a trump-card based game where players take turns being on the attack. Attacking involves placed a card down face up. The defending player must place a card of higher value with the same suit or a trump card. Attacks can continue if you have additional cards in your hand whose face values that match any of the cards in play. If the defender can't defend, then they must take all the cards into their own hand. If the defender does successfully defend the attacks, all the cards get swept into the "graveyard" and remain out of play. The goal is to get rid of all your cards.
We described the iPhone implementation of Durak to be "top-notch" and the only real criticism we had was the lack of any sort of online multiplayer. A list of new features include:
More difficult single player
Online multiplayer (3G and Wi-Fi)
Bluetooth multiplayer
Chat
Buddy lists
Push notifications
Nudge notifications
Profiles
Private games
Local and global leader-boards
If you already own Durak, now's your chance to upgrade to try out the online features, or buy it if it interests you.
One of my favorite things about the App Store are all of these insane game concepts that likely would have never seen the light of day if it wasn't for the low barrier of entry in to iPhone development. Discussed during our most recent podcast, Sword & Poker [App Store] is a game we greatly enjoyed with an odd combination of gameplay elements that surprisingly enough work very well together.
At the core is a card-based strategy/adventure game where battles take place by making poker hands on a 5×5 grid. When each game starts, nine cards are dealt in to the center of the grid and you take turns with the AI opponent placing pairs of the four cards you're dealt on the perimeter of the game board to form hands down, across, or diagonally. Jokers are wild, and as you play more hands a gauge in the bottom left slowly fills which allows you to swap a card for a joker as well.
There is a surprising amount of strategy in placing cards, as you need to look at what you've been dealt to try to determine the best order to play them as your opponent could also have plans for the same squares you hope to utilize on your next turn. Furthermore, as the game board fills up, you can potentially form multiple hands. A well-planned hand placed on the diagonal could also form many other hands going down or across.
The "Sword" portion of Sword & Poker comes from the roleplaying game layered on top of these poker battles, which could practically stand alone as its own game. Instead of just playing poker battles of increasing difficulty, the games are structured as floors in a dungeon and the challenge differs based on the type of monster you're fighting.
The various monsters have different amounts of coins, which is how your life is measured in game. Forming a hand like a flush subtracts far more coins from your opponent's coin purse than a simple pair, and when either you or the monster you're fighting runs out of coins the battle is over.
As you get farther in the game, the shop eventually unlocks where you can use the money you win from battles. Aside from upgrading your coin purse to increase your stamina in battles, you also can buy a number of different weapons. These weapons change your damage output, and some of the later ones you come across also have special abilities when you form particular poker hands.
Weapon selection adds yet another layer of strategy on top of Sword & Poker, as some weapons are bottom heavy, and do more damage when you form simple hands like one or two pairs. Other weapons are top-heavy, and while they do very little damage when you match pairs, they inflict devastating strikes upon laying down hands like straights or flushes.
In addition, certain weapons (along with some monsters) have special effects associated with certain hands. For instance, the thief's knife I'm using now steals a card from my opponent's hand when I form any kind of straight. Other special effects include shielding yourself from damage, causing your opponent to skip a turn, and more.
This is barely scratching the surface of Sword & Poker, a game which nearly defines the term "a hidden gem of the App Store." There are a few things that are strange about the game, such as there seems to be a huge benefit in passing your turn to make sure you are able to play the last two cards of each game board as you're often guaranteed more than one poker hand.
Also, as you progress in the game, poker battles can drag on for quite a while especially when fighting harder "boss" monsters. These fights can be a lot of fun, but the battle music is a painfully short loop that quickly becomes very repetitive as it has a very clear start and finish. However, these are merely minor complaints for an otherwise fantastic game.
If you like poker, RPG's, or just strange games that actually turn out to be a lot of fun you owe it to yourself to at least try the five levels in Sword & Poker Lite [App Store]. We discussed the game on our last podcast, and there is a thread on the forums where several people have posted about how much they're enjoying it if you need any more reason to give the game a try.
While there is no shortage of card games for the iPhone, Lost Token'sDurak [$0.99] seems to have distinguished itself over time, generating a loyal following along with a couple of glowing (one, two) TouchArcade user reviews.
Durak is a popular Russian card game typically played between two to six people (two to four in the iPhone version). Each player receives six cards and the objective is to get rid of all your cards. The game is a trump-card based game where players take turns being on the attack. Attacking involves placed a card down face up. The defending player must place a card of higher value with the same suit or a trump card. Attacks can continue if you have additional cards in your hand whose face values that match any of the cards in play. If the defender can't defend, then they must take all the cards into their own hand. If the defender does successfully defend the attacks, all the cards get swept into the "graveyard" and remain out of play. The goal is to get rid of all your cards.
The iPhone implementation of Lost Token's Durak really is top notch, with a natural touch interface, as well as clear efforts to make the game accessible to new players. At any time during a game you can tap on a help icon to tell what you are supposed to do. Durak also offers local multiplayer over Wi-Fi, 3 levels of difficulty, and customizable cards based on your photo library.
In fact, there really only has been one thing that has held us back from really diving into Durak. Like most multiplayer card games, the real fun and challenge tends to come in playing against other people. While Durak does offer local Wi-Fi play, if you don't happen to have iPhone wielding friends nearby willing to play against you, you are left playing against the computer.
Lost Token has let us know they are about to address this and open the game up to worldwide players with an imminent online multiplayer update. The update will feature both online and Bluetooth multiplayer, Facebook integration, buddy lists, and push notifications. Here's a teaser video showing the online feature:
And in anticipation of the release, they've dropped the price of Durak from $2.99 to $0.99.
So, if you're looking for a great card game that's well implemented on the iPhone, Durak is a safe bet, and the upcoming online multiplayer update should guarantee long term replayability.
Everyone loves a freebie! If you don't already own these four games, their respective developers recently released lite versions for you to whet your appetite before jumping in to the full version:
Lion Pride Lite, Free (Lion Pride, 99¢) – A neat spin on line drawing games, Lion Pride has you taking control of lions and chowing down on the various prey of the African wild. Utilizing a Draw Race-like system where the speed of the line you're drawing determines how fast you move, Lion Pride is a great addition to the somewhat crowded line drawing genre. We enjoyed the full game in our review, and Lion Pride Lite is really worth checking out.
Uno Free, Free (Uno, $4.99) – What even needs to be said about this? If you've ever played the XBOX Live Arcade version of the game, the iPhone version is very similar. If you haven't, just imagine the classic game of Uno playable against AI opponents as well as friends or complete strangers online, all without needing to carry around a deck of Uno cards.
Dungeon Defense Lite, Free (Dungeon Defense, 99¢) – Dungeon Defense is similar to a tower defense game, except instead of building towers you position guards in a number of predetermined points on the map. You have a variety of units that can be placed such as swordsmen, archers, or axemen, and you need to fend off waves of attackers. The lite is worth checking out if you're a fan of the tower defense genre.
NFL 2010 Free, Free (NFL 2010, $2.99) – If you're looking to find out how a full-on football game works on the iPhone, give NFL 2010 Lite a try. We thought NFL 2010 was impressive in our review, but since then, Madden NFL 10 has also been released. Gameloft has attempted to make the decision between which game to get a little easier, recently dropping the price of the full version to $2.99.
Last year we reported on an upcoming multi-player update to the iPhone card game Durak. The promised update has finally arrived and delivers a number of new multi-player features.
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