Category Archives: iOS

Best of 2014, Games, GOTY, iOS, Xbox

Best of 2014 #5: Threes

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ThreesA real surprise, this one, which literally only displaced my original choice for the fifth spot, Monument Valley, in the last few hours, having been a post-Christmas purchase in light of its presence on a couple of other lists.

Even now that puzzle games are my iPhone distractions of choice, most of what I play is a variation on a classic theme – falling blocks, matching blocks, unscrambling letters, or picross. I’m not sold on the format for most long-form experiences but find it undeniably the platform of choice for time-wasting puzzlers. It’s usually to blame when my homeward commute has to be passed without podcasts after I’ve blown through the battery.

Threes is the closest thing in the puzzle realm to being completely new that I’ve touched upon in a while. It’s a bit of a maths game, a bit of a sliding tile puzzle. I know being difficult to explain succinctly isn’t often an indication that a £2 puzzle game is a winning formula, but trust me here. Watch the demo animation on the official site and it should become clear. Games are finished quickly, making it a great time-waster, and the advanced strategies are there for those with a sufficient head for numbers.

My high score is 3,078 at the time of writing, with a mere 750,000 required to get you into the top ten and a credulity-stretching 1.8 million sitting on top. Not bad for a game that starts off tasking you with calculating 1+2.

Best of 2014, Games, GOTY, iOS, Nintendo, PC games, PlayStation, Xbox

Best of 2014

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Last year I complained about what a disappointment 2012 had been and in the last few weeks I bemoaned 2014 too, thus proving that video games are the opposite of Star Trek movies in that you should only bother with the odd-numbered ones. Except Into Darkness. That was shite.

I filled a couple of gaps in this year’s experiences since I wrote that post, with at least one of them certain to make the list as I write this, ahead of finalising my top five – alas, I couldn’t come up with ten without severely scraping the barrel. That made the line-up mildly less tragic than it was looking a few weeks ago, but it doesn’t change the fact that early 2015 looks like handily thrashing the entirety of this time round the sun.

Would a disappointment like Destiny have a chance in a year that will bring us Persona 5, The Witcher III, Batman: Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Uncharted 4, Metal Gear Solid V, No Man’s Sky, Street Fighter V, Majora’s Mask 3D and a new Ace Attorney? No chance. But it’s still 2014, so let’s give it a send-off and pretend it never happened.

As usual, for your reference…

Editorials, Games, iOS

What happened to mobile games?

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It seems so long ago, but there was once a time when iOS and Android heralded the future of games. They were growing while the rest of the market contracted, and the buzz around open microconsoles like the Ouya, based on mobile technology, as they pushed into the traditional console market must have had Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft worried. Phones and tablets were getting exciting new experiences, classic ports, and new properties that looked like they were vying to be the iPhone’s Mario or Halo.

Now, though, I haven’t put serious time into a single mobile game since Super Hexagon. I sold my iPad. I can’t remember the last time I browsed the App Store. I’m still using an iPhone 4, which struggles with anything newer than 2012, yet I don’t feel like I’m missing out.

Maybe it’s caused by the fact that indie developers have carved a niche for themselves in the promised land of consoles and Steam – they don’t need to hamstring themselves with anaemic hardware and touch controls any more. What they’ve left is a wasteland of match three puzzlers – fun, but I used to play those on the SNES and they haven’t moved on since – and frankly depressing revivals of long-dormant franchises as “free-to-play” monstrosities.

It probably says a lot that as soon as I saw headlines for Rollercoaster Tycoon’s revival, I knew it was going to be a F2P mobile game. That mitigated the disappointment, I suppose, but while the execrable Dungeon Keeper was rightly castigated, at least that had the defence of being free. RCT4 charges you for the privilege of being made to wait around, accurately simulating the experience of visiting a theme park.

What hurts the most, though, is to see this shit succeeding, helped along by the proliferation of dreadful mobile review sites that struggle to give anything a lower score than 4/5. And that success is aiding the mechanics in seeping into retail games, with Forza 5 being one of the more egregious examples. Thankfully the backlash there seems to have been heeded somewhat.

Even as something of a gaming traditionalist, keen to preserve consoles and dedicated handhelds alongside newer, more exciting formats, I’m disappointed in what’s happened to what was a promising new gaming landscape. It wasn’t a passing fad, as the numbers playing games like Candy Crush Saga show. But the innovation that once filled the vacuum has moved on, abandoning it to the vultures with shocking rapidity.

Best of 2012, Games, GOTY, iOS, PC games

Best of 2012 #3: Super Hexagon

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Super HexagonI have no requirement for a mobile game to make this list every year, but it always seems like there’s one that captures me in an irresistible way. Last year there were two, in fact, with Tiny Wings and League of Evil making my best of the year, and back in 2010 we had Infinity Blade as well. League of Evil is the outlier there as perhaps the only example of touch controls working for traditional action gameplay, but its success doesn’t change my opinion that mobile gaming should play to its strengths.

Super Hexagon did that, ticking all the boxes: bite-sized gameplay; simple, responsive controls; compulsive high score chasing against your friends. That you need to be extremely good – and some people really are – for a game to last more than a minute makes it perfect for the mobile format, yet the urge to keep playing meant at the height of my addiction I was frequently exhausting my iPhone’s battery on it.

It’s since come out on Windows, where it’s dirt cheap, but I’d encourage you to pick up the iOS one, because this is made for on-the-go gaming where the purity of its score-chasing gameplay can shine. There’s also standard Hexagon, a cut-down Flash edition that lacks the benefits of either full-fat version but is still a fine demonstration of what it’s all about.

I complained that XBLA might be leaking indie talent to iOS, but I don’t know why since I’m equipped to enjoy games on either. If Terry Cavanagh was making games for Live Arcade we wouldn’t have this, so it’s okay with me.

Best of 2012, Games, GOTY, iOS, PC games, PlayStation, Xbox

Best of 2012 #6: The Walking Dead

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The Walking DeadIt’s going to be hard to come up with much to say about this given how recently I spent a few hundred words gushing about how well done The Walking Dead was, but I’ll do my best.

The best evidence of how effective the story here was the fact that I’m still thinking about it. Daring stuff compared to the cliched nonsense that passes for in-game plots most of the time. I’ve spent hours poring over flowcharts about what might have been, had I been nicer to this person or saved that one instead. It feels cheap to boil it down to the numbers like that, but it’s an outlet when the wait for the follow-up series. We are getting a second season, right?

In all seriousness, I would refer you to the recent post for my thoughts on the game, because they’re so recent that my opinion hasn’t changed. The Walking Dead represents Telltale finally fulfilling the promise that it had only threatened to before, despite the quality of the licences it had to work with.

I wouldn’t go as far as some in praising it as it has some annoying niggles and occasionally not that much game, but it’s going to live on forever more as evidence that a game’s story can make you cry.

Best of 2012, Games, iOS, Nintendo, PC games, PlayStation, Xbox

Best of 2012

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This really hasn’t been a good year for gaming. Not completely without merit, as I’ve discussed, but to call it barren would be an understatement, and what we got was often the safe, boring blockbusters that herald the closing months of a console generation. An artificially extended generation spreads them that much more thin, like butter spread over too much bread. Sorry, I’ve got Tolkien on the brain.

As always, to be included the games must have been played by me for the first time and released somewhere in calendar 2012. A few regrettable omissions that I’m yet to play, including Journey, Borderlands 2, Dishonored and Max Payne 3, but such gaps can be filled by some fantastic indie games that might not otherwise get a look in. Those games aren’t going to be lacking for GOTY awards.

Check out my lists from previous years while you’re here. I stand by them.