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anewman

By anewman
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Gotters

Gotters

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Another update to Sp!ng with 18 new classic levels - I went thru them just now pretty fast and 3* the lot, which placed me 39th in the world on the leaderboard for 3* classic levels.

 

I'm sill doing the time trials most days and just can't fathom the times at the top, the game really needs ghost replays as either I'm totally missing some skill speed tricks or the leaderboards are rife with cheats - you do a perfect run where you can't see any major shortcuts to what you've done and there are 400 people above you some with times 10s faster, on short 40-50s levels.

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Don Rosco

Don Rosco

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5 hours ago, Gotters said:

Another update to Sp!ng with 18 new classic levels - I went thru them just now pretty fast and 3* the lot, which placed me 39th in the world on the leaderboard for 3* classic levels.

 

I'm sill doing the time trials most days and just can't fathom the times at the top, the game really needs ghost replays as either I'm totally missing some skill speed tricks or the leaderboards are rife with cheats - you do a perfect run where you can't see any major shortcuts to what you've done and there are 400 people above you some with times 10s faster, on short 40-50s levels.

 

Thanks for the heads up! I'm still doing the time trial pretty much every day as well. It's a wonderful game. I was hankering for ghosts also - I can usually get top 200, but I think most of the top players are just very efficient. Tighter spins, shortest route possible. I generally do one acceptable run without any glaring errors, then I can shave off a second or two by just going faster. Multiple taps to suck the thing in closer to the anchor helps sometimes.

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LaveDisco

LaveDisco

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1 hour ago, Mike said:

Getting Apple Arcade for a month.  Any recommendations of must play games from the last year or any good 2 player games to play with my partner would be welcome.

 

I would second Clap Hanz Golf. It's by the Everybody's Golf people.

 

Layton, DoDonPachi, Zen Pinball, and Castlevania have all been my commute games of choice recently. Zen Pinball being the standout, with the medievel madness table.

 

Detonation racing is worth a go as a stupid fun arcade racer that is all to rare these days, South of the Circle is a 'worthy indie darling' I've yet to try, and Taiko Pop Tap is stupid Rhythm game fun. Talking of which Thumper is just coming out too.

 

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ZOK

ZOK

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Posted
2 hours ago, Mike said:

Getting Apple Arcade for a month.  Any recommendations of must play games from the last year or any good 2 player games to play with my partner would be welcome.


What the Golf

Sping

 

For two players:

 

Cricket through the Ages (an essential for 1 or 2 players)

SongPop Party (especially if you can cast to your telly)

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Cyhwuhx

Cyhwuhx

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Oh yeah, tried Castlevania on Apple Arcade, but it's the worst. Won't stop with tutorials, everything is gacha, somehow only allows stick controls when playing with a controller and somehow doesn't let you disable auto-attack.

 

Being released in the same week as the Castlevania Advance Collection it really is just pitiful. Avoid.

 

Also apparently another "Popular Game Design(TM) with the Transformers IP Slapped On" is coming to Apple Arcade. Can wait.

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andyw

andyw

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Finished Grindstone today and enjoyed it. Thanks to those who recommended in here. It became a bit of a slog towards the end, but the music in particular is joyous.

 

At one point I got a level into a sort of equilibrium where I could have played it forever. I think the armour that sometimes gives you two grindstones was key.

 

B795A7CE-F4DD-4705-947F-0422CBE33A48.thumb.png.5f76ee10610fd1c084d9ca01b42b58ca.png
 

I got bored shortly after this and a few complete clearances. I think I got about 3500 grindstones from that one level in the end. I does feel like the armour is border-line game breaking.

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KRP

KRP

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Am i missing something with Grindstone? It’s highly rated everywhere but I have found that the game gets really repetitive really quickly and the only thing keeping me going is the art style and the fact it is a mindless time spender. 

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andyw

andyw

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Nope, not really. Not sure how far through you are, but there’s some interesting variety  in the later levels but it is spread pretty thinly. I played a level or two a day and found it enjoyable. More than that and it became, well, a bit of a grind.

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Gotters

Gotters

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1 hour ago, andyw said:

Thanks, @Gotters Another excellent bunch of levels. What’s your secret to spotting the updates so promptly?

 

I have a lot of apps on phone and old force of habit I go into the store every day or so to check what's been updated.

 

I love the 1 shot levels, got 3* on them all but couple were tricky

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ZOK

ZOK

Posted
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2 hours ago, KRP said:

Am i missing something with Grindstone? It’s highly rated everywhere but I have found that the game gets really repetitive really quickly and the only thing keeping me going is the art style and the fact it is a mindless time spender. 


Yeah, I deleted it after five minutes. There are a million varieties of time wasters like Grindstone, so you either want to waste your time with it or don’t.

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Gotters

Gotters

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6 hours ago, Gotters said:

Huge Sp!ng update, so many new ways to play.

 

Definitely in my GOtY contention

 

A brilliant and huge update - 3 new game modes with a timed set of challenge levels, some 'lost levels' and hundreds of sped up super fast levels - plus the addition of 2 new daily modes.

 

I've already got 3* on all the timed levels as only 18 of them but the leaderboards not working so can't see if I'm in really early and ranked highly.

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DeDeDe

DeDeDe

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2021 Apple Arcade Report

 

Although I am not able to play a lot of traditional video games, Apple Arcade has been a good service to try a lot of new experiences that don't demand a lot of commitment, and 2021 has been especially a good year for the platform, I think. I haven't completed half of the games on this list (in many cases, you can't), but I've been enjoying my time, and I wanted to write something about it.

 

The games I've played this year: (spoilered for length)

Spoiler
  • Zookeeper World: I am not a big fan of the modern mobile game-style match-3 puzzle games, but the conceit behind this game--transforming the somewhat monotonous Zookeeper formula into a series of puzzles--is ingenious. The zoo management aspect of the game (window-dressing, really) is amusing, too. Recommended.
  • Castlevania Grimoire of Souls: Like many other games on the service, this was a F2P gacha game that quickly abandoned its original design to become an Apple Arcade game--much to Apple's delight, one expects. It's a SOTN-style stage-based game with gacha mechanics, which works well for what it is, but I didn't find it very compelling.
  • Clap Hanz Golf: A more accurate title for this game would be "Absolutely NOT Everybody's Golf!" A golf game developed by the devs behind the Everybody's Golf series on PlayStation platforms, with a touch screen swing mechanic reminiscent of the Tiger Woods games on the Nintendo DS. There's a lot of content in this game, and the swing mechanic works really well--which is why it became my most-played game this year. (Last time I checked, my in-game clocked showed that I had been playing the game for more than 100 hours.) I eventually stopped playing, though, as I do with EG games. Clap Hanz can make really enjoyable golf games, but at some point my interest wanders, and their games don't quite have anything else to offer, unlike the Mario Golf games, for example. Touch Golf on the DS is still the paragon of touch-screen golf, I think, and a much more satisfying game on the whole.
  • Spire Blast: Basically a mobile port of Boom Blox from the Wii. Fun, but after 10 stages or so, I felt I had seen most of what the game had to offer.
  • Sp!ng: I am not as big a fan of this game as other people in this thread (like @Gotters), but this was a really fun puzzle-action game. I love the art style, and it's impressive to see how polished everything is. Recommended.
  • Zen Pinball Party: I am a fan of real-world pinball and video game pinball, but not a fan of pinball simulations in video game form, which this is. I can see where the appeal comes from, but a pinball video game that does not take advantage of the medium feels like a wasted opportunity.
  • Layton's Mystery Journey: I am currently working my way through this (slowly, as usual). A port of the "Director's Cut"-like version of the original Nintendo 3DS game that was released on the Switch and iOS a couple of years ago, it follows Katrielle Layton (Professor Layton's daughter) setting up her own private agency and solving mysteries by finding the answers to a variety of riddles. I have just completed the fourth case in the game, where it opens up to let you solve other cases at your own discretion, and it has been an interesting sojourn so far. If you are looking for a detective game which tests your fact-finding skills, Layton's Mystery Journey disappoints. The cases here are in general very light and benign. A few puzzles are not very satisfying, too. But the game has good writing, affable characters, and a great atmosphere. I'm not sure I'm going to stick with it until the end, but this is recommended as a casual detective light visual novel of sorts.
  • Crayola Create and Play +: This was my biggest surprise this year. I was somewhat skeptical about a children's toy with the Crayola brand slapped on it, as other indie apps like Pok Pok had done it so well on their own, but this is very impressive in what it contains. Coloring, shapes, programming... Play with it a little, and you can even use it as a way to make simple storybooks. My 4-year-old son will probably outgrow it soon, but for 2 to 4-year-olds, this is great. Highly recommended.
  • Galaga Wars +: Another port of a gacha game on the App Store with all gacha elements removed. As the name implies, it's a modern reimagining of Galaga, with a few modern gameplay additions that you'd expect in 2021. The gacha elements of the game were not entirely excised, however--for example, the game makes you wait for upgrades in the shop--so it feels less compelling than the original game from 30 years ago.
  • Tiny Wings +: Earlier this year, Apple decided to expand the lineup of the games on the service by updating past popular games on the iOS App Store with "+" games, usually with an update given to the graphics or with a new mode. As far as I can tell, however, this port of the iOS sensation from 2011 by Andreas Illiger brings nothing new, except maybe for a frame-rate update. I'm really glad that it's on the service, though. It's still the same gentle, breezy game that captured my attention ten years ago. Recommended.
  • Thumper: Pocket Edition+: I've heard a lot about this game, but I'm glad that when I finally did get to play it I didn't spend money on it. I like my rhythm games cheery, with lots of colorful shapes and full of character--but Thumper is basically the complete opposite. The game has too much of an oppressive atmosphere to make it enjoyable.
  • Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu HD +: @ImmaculateClump might disagree, but I really enjoy playing shoot-em-ups on my smartphone or tablet. I have great memories of playing Rayforce on my iPad last year, and Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu HD + works just as great. Cave might have turned its business model into developing F2P shooters (which, to be fair, still feature their own unique designs and ideas), but mobile ports of their older games are still very welcome. Recommended.
  • INKS.+: A surprisingly artsy video game pinball game with a strong puzzle sense. It's simpler than it looks in screenshots, but it has a great hook, and becomes more and more beautiful as you progress through the game and have to deal with more paint. Recommended.
  • Alto's Odyssey: The Lost City: A port of an older mobile game, but this is much more than just a "+" port. The Apple Arcade version adds a host of other features that make it more compelling than the original game. I must admit that I still prefer the original Alto's Adventure, but The Lost City is a fun episodic take on the free runner. Recommended.
  • Frenzic: Overtime: A sequel to the 2007 Mac OS X game Frenzic, both made by The Iconfactory. It's basically a puzzle game that asks you to multitask different pizza-slice puzzles, dressed up with a robot/factory 2000s design aesthetic. I tried to like it, but it's not my kind of game.
  • Warp Drive: One of many futuristic racing games on Apple Arcade, Warp Drive is an F-Zero clone that adds to the formula the concept of warping points, effectively using all surfaces of any given track. I don't like the presentation, though, and it feels like the developers focused more on the competitive aspects of racing rather than on racing itself.
  • All of You: I've written about this previously, but this is a quirky puzzle game with some action elements that does a lot with the touch-screen controls. Recommended.
  • Scrappers: This game very much feels like another of those quirky, experimental games that Q-Games makes for mobile platforms, such as Sticky Bodies or Eden Obscura. It's a comedic post-apocalyptic take on garbage collection, although it works much better if you have a controller. On an iPhone mini, it quickly becomes an exercise in frustration. Recommended if you have a controller.
  • A Monster's Expedition: An exotic, fantastical take on the sokoban-like formula with trees instead of boxes. The game lets you control a monster as they make their way around a very green museum  built on top of an archipelago of small islands. The game is just a little too twee, though, and, again, it doesn't really work well on an iPhone mini. (Although I think this is more to do with the game itself, and I am currently discussing these issues with the dev team.)
  • What the Golf?: Another fantastical, quirky game on Apple Arcade--this time, it's a game that plays with the mechanics of golf games. However, unlike A Monster's Expedition, the fact that it is set in a laboratory and is quite stark in its design makes it feel more oppressive than it should be. It's a really clever game, but the humor didn't work on me--and the tasks can be strangely demanding as well. Get stuck in a certain area, and you won't be able to go on to the next stage unless you complete some tasks. Disappointing.
  • wurdweb: What if you could play Scrabble with complete words instead of single letters? It might not work in real life, but wurdweb makes it possible. Much less stressful than Scrabble, and really enjoyable if you enjoy playing with word association and links. There are quite a few modes. It's a shame that it's not very robust in terms of keeping your active game in play. If you decide to take a photo or do something intensive at the same time, don't expect to return to the current status of the game you were playing. Recommended.
  • Taiko no Tatsujin Pop Tap Beat: It does what it says on the tin: it's Taiko no Tatsujin on mobile phones. There have been a few other versions of the game on mobile platforms, and this is a really good version. I find it really suffers with Bluetooth headphones, however. The input lag doesn't make it unplayable, but it is quite noticeable. What a shame.
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ImmaculateClump

ImmaculateClump

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On 27/12/2021 at 06:46, DeDeDe said:
  • Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu HD +: @ImmaculateClump might disagree, but I really enjoy playing shoot-em-ups on my smartphone or tablet. I have great memories of playing Rayforce on my iPad last year, and Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu HD + works just as great. Cave might have turned its business model into developing F2P shooters (which, to be fair, still feature their own unique designs and ideas), but mobile ports of their older games are still very welcome. Recommended.

 

Haha :D

I appreciate the @ because this is something that does interest me.

 

While I'd say that the precise yet restrictive digital movement controls in shmups are integral to the genre, and that once you introduce mouse or touch controls and allow the player to teleport across the screen and through bullets, even though it's technically the same game, you've changed the way it plays so fundamentally that it becomes something else entirely.

 

The important point to make is that, this "something else entirely" is not automatically a better or worse thing. Just different.

 

There are games like "Aka to blue", first released on mobile, designed from the ground up around the touchscreen controls, which had it's bullet patterns toned down for the arcade versions to accommodate the more restrictive movement.

 

The upcoming game from Endless Shirafu, the hardest of hardcore devs that made "∀kashicverse" where you're playing a shmup, but also taxing yourself with pulling off fighting game style combos, that is built around mouse control.

 

 

It isn't a lesser input method, it's different and comes with it's own strengths and weaknesses and potential for great gameplay mechanics.

 

As always with gaming, if you're playing and having fun, you're doing it right.

If you've lost sight of that and you're now some "git gud" seething gatekeeper, insisting that it's your party and that everyone should line up in an orderly fashion and have fun exactly how you like to have it, you done fucked up, son.

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Gotters

Gotters

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9 hours ago, andyw said:

Thanks again for another Sp!ng update alert, @Gotters.

 

I’ve 3*ed everything again now and it continues to be a delight. After 864 hyper levels, popping back to anything else seems almost comically slow by comparison.

 

good effort, I did the lost levels on the day of launch then have slowed down a bit on the hyper ones, about two thirds thru them. totally agree on the speed, it makes you feel like Neo in the Matrix going back to normal from hyper. I'm plugging away doing a few a day.

 

think they rushed it out for year end as none of my leaderboards updated properly for completing the new levels and 2 of the 3 daily daily modes don't have any time leaderboards for them yet.

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Don Rosco

Don Rosco

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Yeah, love the big update, but hyper does make the normal game seem so slow now. Might go back in on the rock hard levels once I get through the hyper ones, see if they're any easier. I'm holding off on the lost levels, the ones i've done so far are really good so i'll do them last. Easily my most played game of the year.

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iknowgungfu

iknowgungfu

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Is Apple Arcade something worthwhile investing in or an Apple family with. 7-8 year old and a 5 year old? 
 

The 5 year old in particular keeps requesting the shittiest of shit when it comes to iPad games. Basically, the kind that throws up adverts every two seconds and looks like a janky procedurally created “run” game of some description. 

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