iPad

ChuChu Rocket!

January 4, 2011

iPad / Reviews / by Graham Russell Make a comment! / Tweet it!

ChuChu Rocket!, the multiplayer Dreamcast gem, is a game that just makes sense in downloadable form. The premise is simple, the visuals are clean and the focus is on frantic party play online and off. It’s surprising, then, that the game only recently received an iOS port, but unsurprising that it handled the transition well. 

In ChuChu Rocket!, players place arrow tiles in a rectangular arena, directing mice to their rockets to score points, while guiding cats to opponents’ rockets to take them away. It’s a basic concept, but the frenetic pace makes things just plain crazy. Mice flow like a river, and it’s hard to avoid the cats that come with them. 

The game was originally conceptualized for a controller, with four buttons laying down arrows in cardinal directions. This version has touch-screen support, requiring players to tap the square, then slide in the direction the arrow should point. It’s an almost seamless control scheme, though one that works better on the iPad than the iPhone due to more screen real estate.

ChuChu features online and offline multiplayer, though online play is clearly superior. To avoid the hands-in-the-way problem a multiplayer iPad game typically has, the local option simply uses a split-screen approach, approximating the screen of the iPhone version. This can be a bit awkward for four players to comfortably see, but it works and I’m glad it’s included somehow.

Also included is a puzzle mode with all the original’s stages and many more that keep being added with periodic updates, as well as a challenge mode. For those who care about that kind of thing, it also has Game Center support. Unfortunately, the create-a-character option found in some versions of the game isn’t here, but there are a few unlockable costumes for your mice and cats.

ChuChu Rocket! fits as well on the iPad as it has anywhere, and it’s not half bad on iPhone either. It’s another great example of how the quality of iOS titles has risen in recent months.

 

Battlestar Commander

December 13, 2010

iPad / Reviews / by Graham Russell Make a comment! / Tweet it!

It’s hard to balance real-time gameplay and a turn-based structure. Lately it’s been a trend to try a little more often, and on a system like the iPad, that makes sense. After all, you can’t have a two-player full-screen action game without some serious physical injuries. So how does Battlestar Commander‘s approach fare?

More on that later. Bulkypix’s Battlestar Commander is a game where you control a large spaceship with turrets and launchpads and either fight another ship or take on various missions. On each turn, you have a few seconds to flick your ships over to targets or tap turrets to send out shots, and then your opponent gets the same opportunity. 

Battlestar is visually impressive. It runs on a 3D engine, and it’s obviously trying to impress with various little flourishes when ships move and turrets fire. It’s a bit hard to appreciate when you’re moving fingers around everywhere, but it makes waiting through computer opponents’ turns a little more pleasant. The sounds are fairly standard, but no news is good news on a system that supports playing your own music. Or it would be if the game supported the feature, but we’re hoping Bulkypix adds that in a future update. 

The game has an extensive single-player campaign with different missions. Most involve destroying certain targets or taking people out completely. You manage a persistent ship, making repairs and buying upgrades as the missions progress. 

This is an entertaining diversion, but the concept of a turn-based real-time game is clearly designed for two players, and the competition is an intriguing one. It mostly falls flat, though, as the time between moves makes it clear what actions to take. Put simply, leaving things unfinished puts you at a serious disadvantage, so each turn is a matter of rushing in and completely taking out one or two targets. This is where a strategy game designed as an action title falters a little bit.

Ultimately, though, Battlestar Commander is interesting for an hour or two, and it could hold some people for longer. And that’s all you need for a successful game on the platform.

 

Rock Band Reloaded

December 5, 2010

iPad / Reviews / by Graham Russell Make a comment! / Tweet it!

While the Rock Band series was brought to the iPhone with the last installment, it’s making its first appearance on the iPad with Rock Band Reloaded HD. With a larger, more capable device and a higher price tag, more is expected. Is more delivered? For the most part, yes. 

Much like its console counterparts, Rock Band Reloaded lets you play the guitar, bass, drums and vocal parts for various rock songs. The guitar and bass lines are fairly straightforward, with four buttons on the screen to hit like frets. (It doesn’t bother with strumming.) Since the iPad is the kind of device that everyone holds differently, the game supports multiple configurations and button placements, so something will work for you.

It also does this for drums and vocal parts, but there are better modes for those two instruments. For the drum line, Reloaded uses all that screen real estate to place four drum pads on the screen. (We at Snackbar Games don’t endorse the use of drumsticks on the iPad screen, though. Please don’t do that.) For vocals, Reloaded supports actual singing, which is sure to annoy your friends but is totally worth it. The recognition is fair enough, though using a headset is recommended to give it the best chance of working well.

The main campaign mode is a variation on Rock Band 2‘s World Tour. Individual challenges pop up in certain areas, and you unlock more areas by doing well at these events. It doesn’t allow much room for avoiding songs you don’t like, though if it did the short tracklist would make for an abbreviated experience.

The game comes with 29 songs, including contributions from Vampire Weekend, Duran Duran, Nine Inch Nails, and more. There are a few instantly recognizable hits (such as Hungry Like The Wolf, White Wedding, and  Kryptonite) sprinkled throughout, but much of the music included with the game or currently available for download is not as exciting or memorable as stuff we have seen from the console outings. Unfortunately, Reloaded doesn’t have access to the whole Rock Band Music Store, but there will certainly be a steady flow of downloads coming down the pipe. 

While the look of the game is purely based on Rock Band 3, there’s not much here that would otherwise tie it to the game. There are no keyboards, there’s no character customization and the song selection is limited as well. That said, it doesn’t really matter that much. The game supports Facebook integration for sharing high scores and challenging friends, if you’re not averse to installing lots of applications on your profile.  

Reloaded HD also supports a two-player mode on a single iPad, as well as the standard multi-device band mode. If you have friends with devices, playing together can be an awesome experience, but it’s likely that the same amount of coordination could yield you a console Rock Band session.

There’s no way you’d choose to play Rock Band Reloaded HD instead of the console version, but if you’re out and about this is a good way to get your fix.

Staff writer Eric Schabel contributed to this review.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms Touch Plus

July 3, 2010

iPad / Reviews / by Graham Russell Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Romance of the Three Kingdoms has a devoted following. The series has been active since the SNES days, and though a few tweaks have come along with new iterations, it has, for the most part, the same gameplay. So when an iPad iteration came out, we pretty much knew what to expect. 

Tecmo Koei didn’t scale back the gameplay for this one. The options are still here, from wooing officers with bribes and visits to increasing the productivity of your people. As far as I can tell, nothing here has been streamlined, and RTK fans have always wanted total control. Speaking of control, everything here is controlled by a simple menu interface with large buttons and actions grouped by type. This town management would have been easier with some more detailed tutorials about what works strategically, instead of just where to find what options. Koei’s assuming that only fans are buying this, and at the steep $15 price tag, that’s a safe bet.

Conversely, the battle system is fairly straightforward, with larger armies having an advantage but no guarantee of victory. (Watch out for fires, Lu Bu.) The armies move along a hex grid, and touch controls make everything intuitive.

There is a very limited selection of scenarios available: four historically accurate ones and four fictional versions of the original with more interesting setups. You go through these fairly quickly, and it seems like a few more options wouldn’t have been that hard to implement.

There are a few bonuses included here. Custom officers can be created, so if you want yourself in the game, go ahead! (You’ll need to use a stock photo though, so unless you look like an ancient Chinese warrior, there won’t be a resemblance.)

Romance of the Three Kingdoms Touch Plus is a solid implementation of a game that has limited appeal at a price ($15) that won’t get many new players to try it. Heck, even if they do there’s not enough explanation here to get them into the action. If you like RTK and want it on your iPad, though, it’s here and has decent production values. 

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