iPhone/iTouch app and game thread

[rittchard]

Lots of cool new releases:

Myst looks pretty incredible for a portable (but takes up over a gig, ouch!)

http://toucharcade.com/2009/05/02/cyans-myst-for-iphone-brings-back-memories/

Tiger Woods Golf

http://toucharcade.com/2009/05/04/a-closer-look-at-eas-tiger-woods-pga-tour/

and a Mass Effect game coming for you Bioware fanboys!

http://toucharcade.com/2009/05/04/bioware-clarifies-leaked-info-on-mass-effect-for-iphone/

Also heard Apple hired a former Xbox bigwig, supposedly indicating their seriousness in hitting the gaming market.

[Canuck]

I can't make heads nor tails of Dark Nova.   Seems like a glorified spreadsheet to me...am I missing something?

It's essentially Space Rangers on your iPhone-who wouldn't love that.  Not a good portable game though in my opinion.  I wouldn't want to play it for just 3 or 4 minutes.  I beat the game and now I'm waiting for the promised huge, amazing updates to come out before I get into it again.

I made $2800 on the virtual stock market yesterday with iTrade!  Unfortunately since I was $2000 down after the close on Friday that means I'm only up $800.  You guys should really grab it for the price of free! At the very least you could use it just to follow how your own stocks are doing.

Championship Manager for the iPhone is out now (on the UK store at least) and apparently it sucks big time which is what I would have expected from CM. Now if the guys from FM had put out a game, then I would have been excited!

[crumsteel]

Did anybody get Myst? I remember the game from 15 years ago and really want to play it again. But... I remember not understanding what the hell was going on in the game and worried about that frustration again. If it is good, I will give it another try now that I am older.

[whiteboyskim]

Myst is useless. IT was a great indicator of the pretty pictures computers back in the day could do, but story wise it's uber-weak sauce.

As for Airline Mania, My Fair Lady is completely addicted to it. She's playing it constantly now and is much further than I am. Which is, of course, hilarious.

[shon]

I am really enjoying Bookworm if you like to spell.

[Godzilla Blitz]

I spent a few minutes now with Dark Nova this evening. At first I thought it was a pretty boring math game, but it gets surprisingly addictive as you move forward. Took me a few runs to get over 2000 credits, then I got nabbed by pirates and went all the way back down to 500 credits. Now I've upgraded to a new ship and am trading is starting to get more lucrative.

A few questions if anyone knows the answers...
I don't have any quests yet. Do they just sort of magically appear, or do I have to actually seek them out someplace?
Is there any story to the game?
Do you base stats change as you play the game? Do you level up, for example?
Also, what good are engineering points?

[whiteboyskim]

I spent a few minutes now with Dark Nova this evening. At first I thought it was a pretty boring math game, but it gets surprisingly addictive as you move forward. Took me a few runs to get over 2000 credits, then I got nabbed by pirates and went all the way back down to 500 credits. Now I've upgraded to a new ship and am trading is starting to get more lucrative.

A few questions if anyone knows the answers...
I don't have any quests yet. Do they just sort of magically appear, or do I have to actually seek them out someplace?
Is there any story to the game?
Do you base stats change as you play the game? Do you level up, for example?
Also, what good are engineering points?

Read the help section as that answers a lot of questions except the wormhole one, namely how do I travel via wormhole? Here are my answers to that and your questions (based on what I've found):

1) Regarding quests, you find them on systems in the System Info section. This is where you buy the newspaper. It will say Special there as well, and that will lead you to a quest. To date I've found exactly 1 of these. There are more but you have to find the right planet so I assume it can and will take a while.

2) No story beyond trade until you get $500,000 credits at which point you get a quest to buy a moon and retire. Game over.

3) You don't level up per se. What happens is you hire people (larger ship = more crew quarters for more people) with different stats. If one has piloting skills better than yours, then he/she will take over flying in between planets.

4) I believe engineering involves how much damage your ship takes and how quickly it gets repaired. The stats and what each does is covered in the game's Help section.

5) Regarding wormholes, you first have to find a system that has one. It will be a planet with a red dot next to it. Fly to that planet, then go to the warp screen. Do not select another planet. Just hit Warp and BAM! Through the wormhole you go. Go through the same one twice and you will end up in two different places.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Cool! Thanks!

I hope they flesh this game out. It's got potential.

[whiteboyskim]

Cool! Thanks!

I hope they flesh this game out. It's got potential.

It's also a recreation of an old PC game so I imagine they won't do much in the way of fleshing it out, i.e. adding quests and such. They could surprise me though, and I would love it if they added more things to it but for now I don't see that happening.

[Canuck]

Actually they've promised HUGE things for the 1.5 and 2.0 release.  They haven't actually said what those things are going to be-just that they're going to blow the game out of the water.  Right now they're only on version 0.276 or something like that so it sounds like there's going to be a ways to go.

I am also totally addicted to Airport Mania-what ridiculous value for 99 cents.  I'm on the 6th "world" now.  Only 2 more to go.

[Canuck]

For anyone who was skeptical of Uniwar (even for 99cents) there's a lite version out if you want to give it a shot.

[whiteboyskim]

Actually they've promised HUGE things for the 1.5 and 2.0 release.  They haven't actually said what those things are going to be-just that they're going to blow the game out of the water.  Right now they're only on version 0.276 or something like that so it sounds like there's going to be a ways to go.

IGNORE ME!

[kathode]

Myst is useless. IT was a great indicator of the pretty pictures computers back in the day could do, but story wise it's uber-weak sauce.

I don't know how you bash Myst for not having a story and then praise Airport Mania in the next breath   I picked up Myst last night and it's great.  It's about exploring a world filled with puzzles and cool sights.  Just remember it's Myst, not realMyst, so you plod along, one screenshot at a time.  Puzzles can be tough but I think the world is great and it's a fantastic nostalgia trip.

[whiteboyskim]

Myst is useless. IT was a great indicator of the pretty pictures computers back in the day could do, but story wise it's uber-weak sauce.

I don't know how you bash Myst for not having a story and then praise Airport Mania in the next breath

One is fun, the other isn't. I don't need a story for a game to be fun. What I DO need is that when a story is presented, that it have some focus, preferably characters I care about, and some sort of resolution - basically the polar opposite of Myst.

[kathode]

One is fun, the other isn't. I don't need a story for a game to be fun. What I DO need is that when a story is presented, that it have some focus, preferably characters I care about, and some sort of resolution - basically the polar opposite of Myst.

The story in Myst is really just a framework for moving between puzzles, though.  Well anyway, I think it's pretty fun, though certainly it's a more laid-back kind of gameplay.

[whiteboyskim]

I am, as usual, expressing my own snotty opinion. If you like Myst, knock yourself out. If you don't, then play Airport Mania which is hella fun and challenging. Yup, I used "hella."

[Godzilla Blitz]

I am, as usual, expressing my own snotty opinion. If you like Myst, knock yourself out. If you don't, then play Airport Mania which is hella fun and challenging. Yup, I used "hella."

I tried to buy Airport Mania yesterday, but iTunes kept telling me it was unavailable in my area when I clicked on the icon to buy it. Weird.

[kathode]

I am, as usual, expressing my own snotty opinion. If you like Myst, knock yourself out. If you don't, then play Airport Mania which is hella fun and challenging. Yup, I used "hella."

Yeah I didn't mean to say your opinion is wrong or invalid, just thought it was kind of a weird thing to knock Myst for   But to each their own.

I'm still playing Rogue Touch almost daily.  Got pretty far yesterday - level 25 - but killed by a griffin.  Man, the jump in difficulty between Medusas/Griffins and everything that comes before is insane.

[Gratch]

I'm still playing Rogue Touch almost daily.  Got pretty far yesterday - level 25 - but killed by a griffin.  Man, the jump in difficulty between Medusas/Griffins and everything that comes before is insane.

Amen to that.  My high score list is almost exclusively populated by Medusas in the "killed by" column. No matter how powerful and well-equipped your character might be, you're basically screwed if you get hit by their confuse attack.

[Canuck]

Peggle is out for the iPhone  for those interested.  $4.99
I saw a video of it on Youtube and thought, this is Peggle?  This is the game that people have been raving about for the past 5 years? (yes I've obviously been living under a rock).  I mean you drop a ball and watch it bounce off of other balls.  It's hardly a game!

[The Grue]

Peggle is out for the iPhone  for those interested.  $4.99
I saw a video of it on Youtube and thought, this is Peggle?  This is the game that people have been raving about for the past 5 years? (yes I've obviously been living under a rock).  I mean you drop a ball and watch it bounce off of other balls.  It's hardly a game!

Don't knock it until you've tried it.  I bought it last night as soon as it was in the store and it plays great on the iPhone. 

[Gratch]

Peggle is out for the iPhone  for those interested.  $4.99
I saw a video of it on Youtube and thought, this is Peggle?  This is the game that people have been raving about for the past 5 years? (yes I've obviously been living under a rock).  I mean you drop a ball and watch it bounce off of other balls.  It's hardly a game!

Crap, this is not going to help my productivity today.

Saw that they released a Resident Evil game today too.  Anyone tried it yet?

[DonD]

I have a bunch of word games, but Textropolis is the best in that category IMO.  The gameplay involves making  as many 4+ letter words as you can out of the word given (each given word is a city name).  Once you get enough (20%, I think) of the possible number of words, the next city opens up.  Each time you make a legitimate word, it also lets you know the definition.  Each city starts out pretty easy as the 4 letter words are easy to spot, but it gets increasingly hard once you get past the obvious ones.  Once you get enough words, the next city opens, but you can continue making words to get more stars awarded.

It's an addictive little game, and I found myself playing until the low battery warning came on.

[Misguided]

Textropolis is neat, but I find the sheer number of words overwhelming. Stitch'em Words is a favorite of mine. Another anagram game, but it uses letters as well as pictures that represent groups of letters. For instance, a little picture of an automobile might be used to make: viCAR, CARrot, CARton, etc.

[Tokek]

Found a cool app today, while not exactly a game it may help you find the games you want when they actually get to the price you are waiting for.

Pandorabox

It's free and it lists all the new apps and recently price dropped.  You can also put apps on favorites and it will check the prices for you.

[Purge]

I am, as usual, expressing my own snotty opinion. If you like Myst, knock yourself out. If you don't, then play Airport Mania which is hella fun and challenging. Yup, I used "hella."

I tried to buy Airport Mania yesterday, but iTunes kept telling me it was unavailable in my area when I clicked on the icon to buy it. Weird.

Homeland security has issued a public statement indicating that your in a permanent "orange" zone and are unable to purchase, ride in, look at, or fantasize about airplanes. As a matter of fact when someone isn't zipped all the way up, you're not allowed to say they are "Flying Low", nor are you allowed to greet people named John with the phrase "Hi, Jack!".

[Gratch]

...nor are you allowed to greet people named John with the phrase "Hi, Jack!".

 

[whiteboyskim]

Okay, found a game breaker glitch in Dark Nova. There is a quest to kill a monster in a system (Acamar for me) and when I got there, I slew the mighty beast, then proceeded on to the planet for my reward. Where I discovered I could just spam the "Special" button there and get my $15K reward over and over again. Which let me hit the $500K mark and get the final mission.

[DonD]

Zenonia has been released.  It is supposed to be a 40hr RPG in the vein of Zelda:LTTP, but for a $6 price tag.

The forums at Touch Arcade are exploding:  'best game ever', etc. after 5 minutes of play.  I can't imagine what you can see in the first 5 minutes (cut scene, perhaps) that would merit those kind of recommendations, but there certainly is a lot of excitement surrounding this release.

I picked it up.  I can't help wanting to see what this is all about.

Link:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=316720410&mt=8

[Gratch]

Zenonia has been released.  It is supposed to be a 40hr RPG in the vein of Zelda:LTTP, but for a $6 price tag.

The forums at Touch Arcade are exploding:  'best game ever', etc. after 5 minutes of play.  I can't imagine what you can see in the first 5 minutes (cut scene, perhaps) that would merit those kind of recommendations, but there certainly is a lot of excitement surrounding this release.

I picked it up.  I can't help wanting to see what this is all about.

Link:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=316720410&mt=8

Looks interesting, let us know how it fares Don.

[DonD]

So far, it seems like a combination of DS-style RPG and MMORPG -- in the sense that the quest givers have ! or ? above their head so they are easy to identify and you can pick up multiple quests at one time -- plus the 'kill 5 slimes' type quest and 'get firewood').

Since I've paid $30 for a similar type game on other platforms, I can understand the excitement in getting a game like this for $6.  But so far I haven't seen anything really revolutionary and story-wise, it's really the same old recycled story (father dies when you are a baby -> raised by another family and lo and behold, you are the 'chosen one', except neither you or anyone else except the darkest evil beings are aware of this).

I'm having fun with it but it is my type of game to begin with.

[DonD]

This is where the real meat is.  It's a grilling app, free for the Memorial Day weekend.   Kind of fun, good visuals, and definitely gets you in the mood for some real grilling.

[Turtle]

So Graeme Devine (former Trilobyte, former Ensemble) just got a job at Apple, along with other past news that Apple was picking up other game developers.  Combine this with rumors about the latest iphone/ipod having a better processor, more memory, and some kind of 3D acceleration, and a discreet games tab instead of just apps, makes me think that apple might finally be pushing for more games on their system.

[Tokek]

Firemint's Real Racing is out today and it's damn good.

[naednek]

Firemint's Real Racing is out today and it's damn good.

wow that looks amazing

[Gratch]

So far, it seems like a combination of DS-style RPG and MMORPG -- in the sense that the quest givers have ! or ? above their head so they are easy to identify and you can pick up multiple quests at one time -- plus the 'kill 5 slimes' type quest and 'get firewood').

Since I've paid $30 for a similar type game on other platforms, I can understand the excitement in getting a game like this for $6.  But so far I haven't seen anything really revolutionary and story-wise, it's really the same old recycled story (father dies when you are a baby -> raised by another family and lo and behold, you are the 'chosen one', except neither you or anyone else except the darkest evil beings are aware of this).

I'm having fun with it but it is my type of game to begin with.

I broke down and picked up Zenonia this morning (what can I say, I'm a sucker for JRPG's ), and my initial impressions mirror Don's pretty closely.  It's a nifty game, but certainly nothing revolutionary.  I was a bit surprised by the amount of typos and the stupid character names were distracting (main character is "Regret", his father is "Pardon", enemy is "Virulent", etc.), but overall it looks like a pretty solid action-RPG.

EDIT:  Is there a trick to quick-slotting items?  I selected my potions and dropped them in the second quick slot, but they don't show up.  Abilities seem to be fine, but I can't get ay items to display in the slots.

[Isgrimnur]

For any public radio fans, I picked up "Public Radio Tuner" by Public Radio Exchange (free, natch) to get a feed for my local NPR station in Dallas.  Who really needs an FM tuner on this thing, huh?  All the cool stations have an app for streaming.

[whiteboyskim]

Anyone who enjoyed Portal will love iShift. It is a brilliant little puzzle game. Short, but that depends on how fast you blow through the puzzles. It's best not to describe it any more but I will say that you need to pick this up.

[Purge]

So far, it seems like a combination of DS-style RPG and MMORPG -- in the sense that the quest givers have ! or ? above their head so they are easy to identify and you can pick up multiple quests at one time -- plus the 'kill 5 slimes' type quest and 'get firewood').

Since I've paid $30 for a similar type game on other platforms, I can understand the excitement in getting a game like this for $6.  But so far I haven't seen anything really revolutionary and story-wise, it's really the same old recycled story (father dies when you are a baby -> raised by another family and lo and behold, you are the 'chosen one', except neither you or anyone else except the darkest evil beings are aware of this).

I'm having fun with it but it is my type of game to begin with.

I broke down and picked up Zenonia this morning (what can I say, I'm a sucker for JRPG's ), and my initial impressions mirror Don's pretty closely.  It's a nifty game, but certainly nothing revolutionary.  I was a bit surprised by the amount of typos and the stupid character names were distracting (main character is "Regret", his father is "Pardon", enemy is "Virulent", etc.), but overall it looks like a pretty solid action-RPG.

EDIT:  Is there a trick to quick-slotting items?  I selected my potions and dropped them in the second quick slot, but they don't show up.  Abilities seem to be fine, but I can't get ay items to display in the slots.

On the right of the quickslots is a small "Play" button beside your action button. It toggles the quickslots between active abilities and items.

The one thing I'm having a hard time with is the interface buttons. I wish the inventory was bigger and allowed direct touching of items and OK buttons.

All in all it is good though. I don't regret buying it.

Yeah, I used his name that way. Sue me - I have no Sorrow, Anguish or Lament.

[Gratch]

On the right of the quickslots is a small "Play" button beside your action button. It toggles the quickslots between active abilities and items.

The one thing I'm having a hard time with is the interface buttons. I wish the inventory was bigger and allowed direct touching of items and OK buttons.

All in all it is good though. I don't regret buying it.

Thanks, that did the trick.  Strange design decision though, as I don't really want to be toggling back & forth between quick slot sets in the middle of combat...

Yeah, I used his name that way. Sue me - I have no Sorrow, Anguish or Lament.