The iOS gaming thread

[diggler]

Mirror's Edge worth £1.50? On ipad.

[Don Rosco]

I only played on the iphone, but definitely worth it, yeah.

[Alex W.]

Penny-Arcade's "Decide-o-Tron" game recommendation app is out now. It's not just for iOS games.

[Alex W.]

It's terrible. Don't bother.

[idespair]

I'm having loads of fun with Muffin Knight. It's a fairly blatant Super Crate Box clone (with added levelling & customisation), but crucially it works nicely on the iPhone and the action ramps up so quickly that games never outstay their welcome. Definitely my 69p of the week.

[Rudderless]

It's terrible. Don't bother.

Thanks for taking one for the team, dude.

The more I play Jetpack Joyride the more I'm convinced it's every bit as good as Quarrel and DrawRace 2. Three crackers in a little over a week? iOS is on a roll at the moment.

[Kramer]

DrawRace 2 is excellent.

I don't usually like the Barry Steakfries games, but relented with Jetpack Joyride and it's ace.

[Eighthours]

DrawRace 2 is great, but on the iPhone it has the age-old problem of your finger obscuring too much of the screen. Not much the devs can do about that, I suppose, but all I'm thinking while playing it is that I'd really love an iPad.

[Dudley]

Mirror's Edge worth £1.50? On ipad.

I think it's better than the console ones, mainly by neatly removing the biggest flaw of those.

[Rudderless]

DrawRace 2 is great, but on the iPhone it has the age-old problem of your finger obscuring too much of the screen. Not much the devs can do about that, I suppose, but all I'm thinking while playing it is that I'd really love an iPad.

That is true. Downloaded it on my iTouch last night, and turned it off after a slightly frustrating 20 minutes. It's miiiiiiiles better on iPad.

[Cornfield87]

Resident Evil 4 and Mercenaries are currently on sale for 69p.

[Quexex]

My mates game 'Curvebot' is currently 69p for those of you that might like a bit of old school Qix action in 3D (with curves). Let me know if you have any suggestions he's in the middle of creating the next update.

[Bojangle]

Resident Evil 4 and Mercenaries are currently on sale for 69p.

Giving the trial of 4 a bash now and it controls way better than expected. Odd seeing the game without it's proper cut scenes and with text and pictures instead mind. Shame the merchant doesn't say his classic lines, either.

[Philly]

Drawrace 2 and Jetpack are both amazing. How do you unlock MP on drawrace?

[The Bag]

I'm having loads of fun with Muffin Knight. It's a fairly blatant Super Crate Box clone (with added levelling & customisation), but crucially it works nicely on the iPhone and the action ramps up so quickly that games never outstay their welcome. Definitely my 69p of the week.

Man, Vlambeer have the worst luck with people cloning their concepts and releasing on iOS before they do. I wonder if this is going to generate as much of an outcry as Radical/Ridiculous Fishing vs Ninja Fishing did, e.g. http://www.next-gen.biz/features/friday-game-radical-fishing

[Eighthours]

Tiny Invaders isn't great, unfortunately. Polished and all, but it has two glaring flaws. One of them might be down to personal preference - the score approach they've chosen may prove divisive, but the other one's such an obvious and easily avoided issue that I'd be surprised if they didn't patch it, as I'm sure they'll get feedback about it.

What's the other issue?

[Grobbelboy]

Firemint's new game Spy Mouse is out now. Edge loves it, calls it "one of the best iOS games yet".

[ph0rce]

Well there goes half my afternoon, sat down after lunch for a quick go on Tiny Wings, only just managed to tear myself away from it.

Good god its addictive but when you are on a run & everything is just falling into place, its brilliant. One of the best 69p's I've ever spent!

[joeplus]

Jetpack Joyride is absolutely fantastic, thanks for the heads up. There's one annoying achievement though ("get the Profit Bird twice in one run"). Seems completely luck-based. Minor niggle though, what fun it is.

[jcafarley]

Not sure if it's already been mentioned but Bungie have just put out 'Crimson Steam Pirates' for iPad. The first episode is free, with subsequent ones costing £1.50 (so far only the second episode is available). It's a kind of turn-based top-down view ship combat game with a rather pointless story tacked on. It's pretty addictive though, I couldn't put it down and purchased the second chapter once I'd finished the first.

[Rudderless]

What's the other issue?

Tapping to accelerate. So, so easy to change junctions instead. Couple of reviewers have mentioned it, too.

[The Bag]

Spy Mouse is excellent.

Not sure if it's already been mentioned but Bungie have just put out 'Crimson Steam Pirates' for iPad. The first episode is free, with subsequent ones costing £1.50 (so far only the second episode is available). It's a kind of turn-based top-down view ship combat game with a rather pointless story tacked on. It's pretty addictive though, I couldn't put it down and purchased the second chapter once I'd finished the first.

Sounds a lot like SteamBirds, how does it compare?

[ph0rce]

I personally found it clunky & not particularly entertaining, did the first three missions but I've deleted it now. The story doesn't add anything as stated, it is very, very pretty though.

[Massive Invisible Dog]

Draw Race 2 is just brilliant. Must be rubbish on an iPhone though.

Jetpack Joyride can piss off though - another stupidly overhyped iOS game that's just another one button "go as far as you can!" game with with little more to add to the genre than a nice art style. And fucking dreadful "powerups".

[Don Rosco]

Yeah, i've had my fill of endless games. I just can't motivate myself to play them once I put in a half decent score.

[Distinct muttering]

This tells a fairly remarkable story, I think:

http://wosland.podgamer.com/?p=10665

Excellent list there, consider it bookmarked! Its already cost me over £3 (three whole English pounds, it really is an alternate reality I move into when browsing the app store) in the 10 mins I scanned down it!

[Rudderless]

Draw Race 2 is just brilliant. Must be rubbish on an iPhone though.

Jetpack Joyride can piss off though - another stupidly overhyped iOS game that's just another one button "go as far as you can!" game with with little more to add to the genre than a nice art style. And fucking dreadful "powerups".

I can't agree. The achievement system alone makes it very different from the majority of those games. It's probably the pinnacle of the endless-runner genre - throwaway fun, sure, but so artfully put together.

[MrHendo]

Tapping to accelerate. So, so easy to change junctions instead. Couple of reviewers have mentioned it, too.

It's a slight problem but nothing game breaking for me so far.

What's your issue with the scoring system? I've found it fine - it's a puzzle game so they've worked out the best kind of time to aim for to get 3 stars, then slightly worse for 2 stars and then however long you take you can still get a star out of the level. Seems fair enough to me.

I'm loving Jetpack Joyride, I do think the way they've handled it has been genius - constantly throwing objectives at you to keep you going more than you would for just score-chasing. What's the deal with the gold vehicles, do they also have the coin-grabbing mechanic? I've bought all the coin-grabbing upgrades and a couple of suits as well as the bubble jetpack for one of the challenges. I also had a look at the "buy coins" page and I figured I was happy to give them more of my money for the work they put into it so I bought the coin-doubling thing, which I figured was practical and yet not game-breaking.

[Davros sock drawer]

Jetpack Joyride can piss off though - another stupidly overhyped iOS game that's just another one button "go as far as you can!" game with with little more to add to the genre than a nice art style. And fucking dreadful "powerups".

Generally I don't like these sorts of games either, but for some reason I'm quite enjoying Jetpack Joyride. For now. It's got...something.

[Rudderless]

It's a slight problem but nothing game breaking for me so far.

What's your issue with the scoring system? I've found it fine - it's a puzzle game so they've worked out the best kind of time to aim for to get 3 stars, then slightly worse for 2 stars and then however long you take you can still get a star out of the level. Seems fair enough to me.

Well then, you can simply work your way through the entire game without getting any good at it. There's no sense of tension, no sense that you're learning or progressing when you can just fudge a solution to every level.