Welcome to iOS Roundup! In this new feature, we’ll be providing mini-reviews of iPhone and iPad games each week. This time, we’re looking at two racing games that feel very different and a strategy game with a slick look.
iPhone
There’s something to be said for small games. While many developers are looking to throw lots of options and modes in a game to give it more, you occasionally stumble upon the team that kept things simple. Ring Blade, developed by MindTrip Studios, is simple. At a buck, it’s also cheap. All a simple, cheap game needs to do is be fun for a little while.
Fundamentally, Ring Blade is a standard vertical shooter, with players moving a paddle at the bottom and shooting out blades at enemies moving Galaga-style on the screen. The controls are what make it work: you slide back and forth across the bottom of the screen to avoid obstacles, and flick your fingers forward in a direction to shoot a blade that way. The blades bounce around the screen like an air hockey puck, taking out enemies in its path. You can rapid-fire the shots, or you can wait until you charge up a super-powerful shot that usually takes out enemies in one blow.
All of this is wrapped in an aesthetic that’s distinctive even in the visually-saturated iOS realm. All graphics, from weapons to enemies to interface elements, are made to look like tribal-looking tattoos. Of course, they’re also animated, so they pulse and change color. They look cool on the screen, but it’s the kind of thing you don’t want in your nightmares.
The waves of enemies are in formations that lend themselves to mass wipeouts. While you can certainly just keep shooting and hope for the best, getting the timing and angle correct to take out a large group of enemies all at once is gratifying, and it seems that was what MindTrip was going for. It’s the only real motivation to move left and right most of the time, as otherwise sitting in one spot and just fending off attacks by shooting blades is the dominant strategy.
MindTrip didn’t try to wrap this in a bunch of social networking shenanigans (though there is OpenFeint support for leaderboards) or freemium pricing schemes and extra content. There’s simply a sequence of 30 levels, with periodic bosses and a high score your only motivator. It’s no picnic, either. Ring Blade is clearly balanced for the core arcade gamer, and while most can enjoy the earlier rounds, getting to the end is a true achievement.
Ring Blade isn’t your next obsession; it’s a game, in the way games used to be. It’s simple, it’s cheap, and yes, it can be a lot of fun. For 99 cents, it’s a good one to pick up and play every once in a while.
We spent a lot of time with the original Double Dragon back in the day, guiding Billy and Jimmy through hordes of bad guys and, whenever possible, getting in some quality face-punching. We’ve never been big fans of iOS action games with virtual buttons, but for Double Dragon we had to give it a shot.
The game features updated graphics that somehow manage to retain the spirit of the originals, which is basically the best of both worlds. It still feels like Double Dragon, and though the D-pad is rather finicky, it’s a virtual control scheme and we’ve conceded we’re swallowing the bitter pill. The game features six levels, with four approximating the originals and two unique creations.
The important thing, though? You can totally punch people in the face. Or torso, or side, or what have you. If you get tired of punching, you can kick or jump, but we think that just takes time away that you could use for punching.
Double Dragon supports two control schemes: one that combines the kick and punch buttons and makes combos a bit simpler, and one classic mode that gives you the full complement of moves. Those who are a bit more hardcore will want the extra control, but the simple mode will have its fans.
Clearly the best way to play is with a friend, and Double Dragon supports local multiplayer over Bluetooth. If you have no iFriends or are just playing alone, the game has leaderboards for highest score and best time for each of the levels.
Where Double Dragon for iPhone really shines is with the breadth of unlockable bonus characters. There are 24 of them. (For those counting at home, that’s 1200% more characters.) These are versions of the game’s enemies, and each has its own (somewhat limited) set of moves. They’re not better, but they’re a fun change of pace.
Now for the caveats: at a launch price of $3.99 and a permanent price of $6.99, Double Dragon isn’t the cheapest app in the world. Also, virtual buttons. They’re not a good thing. Finally, this isn’t universal, and it probably won’t be, so iPad users won’t want crazy-big controls. Ultimately, it’s worth a look for those who want to punch some faces.
Pros: Slick graphics, many unlockable characters
Cons: Virtual buttons and the general concept that they are a bad idea
Ah, the fun of fantasy action-RPGs. Managing your party, optimizing equipment, learning the strengths and weaknesses of different classes and taking down monsters on the way to your final objective. It’s a fun thing, and it’s one that rarely fares well away from the click-heavy PC environment. It doesn’t seem like it’s a concept that would work on iOS devices.
Into that world comes Battleheart, a game from Mika Mobile that distills the experience down to the essentials. You take four characters into battle, then draw a line between the party member and the target. This is how you control attacks, healing spells and boosts. There are also special moves you can tap to unleash powerful effects.
That’s basically it for the gameplay. Enemies come in from all sides, and you’ll need to keep moving your healers and mages to keep them behind your melee fighters, as well as keep changing targets for various situations. Bosses sometimes have certain patterns and weaknesses, and other times you’ll just need to go back to earlier levels and get stronger.
Defeating a level gets you an item and gold, and you can buy, sell and equip items for your party. You can recruit new members from the tavern, and more complex classes become available as you progress. You can keep four extra party members in reserve at any time, though those don’t gain experience.
Everything is presented in a cel-shaded visual style that works well on the device, and characters themselves often reference popular culture (including Monty Python and the infamous pirate-ninja rivalry).
For a $3 universal app, Battleheart has a lot of depth and fun, and scratches that RPG itch for those who may not be able to find the time otherwise. We highly recommend it.
It’s like Zelda with heavy RPG elements and two buddies that fight alongside you! If you haven’t played Secret of Mana yet, hopefully that got your attention. The game is a classic, and while the visuals and gameplay of even this newest iPhone version remain unchanged from the game’s first release almost twenty years ago, it is still very much worth playing. Real-time action RPGs have become quite common place in this day and age, but back when Secret of Mana first came out on the Super Nintendo that wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, due to the touch screen controls of the iPhone and iPod, this doesn’t turn out to be such a good thing for this newest port of the classic.
First, let’s talk about the good stuff. This adventure cooked up in 1993 is still great fun and features likable characters and great gameplay. You play a teenager named Randi who has been thrust into the role of hero unwillingly. Despite a rocky start Randi soon gets into the groove of things and is eventually joined by two companions, Primm and Popoi, who fight alongside him. Secret of Mana looks brilliant on the iPhone, and makes full use of the screen real estate. The game may be old, but the graphics are still refreshingly colorful and vibrant. The soundtrack is also top-notch.
And now, for the not so good stuff: the cooperative gameplay Secret of Mana is so well known for is nowhere to be seen in the iPhone port. There is no way to play with your friends, which means Randi’s companions will remain CPU-controlled throughout the entire adventure (unless you manually switch roles to play one of them). Obviously providing online co-op support would require Square-Enix to jump through some extra hoops, but considering how many iterations of this game there have been (including a mobile phone port from 2009 in Japan), it would have been very nice to join up with a pal or two for some monster-slaying goodness this time around.
Touch screens are great for navigating menus and playing certain types of games. Real-time action RPGs are not among them. Controlling Randi and company on the iPhone is not an optimal experience. While you certainly get used to playing on a touch screen, it can be a bit frustrating at times. You take the accuracy of traditional d-pad and button-based controls for granted until you struggle to cross a bridge for a full minute on the iPhone’s touch screen, or have trouble facing an enemy thanks creeping up behind you. It can be especially cumbersome during a boss battle that requires you to hit specific areas of a monster. To Square-Enix’s credit, there isn’t much they could have done to make the game control much better, except for perhaps an adaptive control area that wasn’t anchored to the left corner of the screen, but for me that’s just splitting hairs. Either way it would be fussy and imprecise.
Playing Secret of Mana on a small screen with touch controls isn’t always easy, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth picking up, especially if you have never been through the adventure before. If you own an iPhone or an iPod and you’d like to have a classic RPG adventure with you wherever you may go, you won’t go wrong with this game. That said, if you have a Wii, I would recommend picking up Secret of Mana on the Virtual Console instead—if only for the chance at cooperative play.
