Slugger for the iPhone: A Freakin’ Homerun

Once upon a time I was baseball fanatic. Hailing from the hilly terain of beautiful San Francisco I inhaled the sweaty musk of los Gigantes with pride. And I made a mark on the mound chucking side-arm sliders for my high school baseball team, the Lowell Cardinals (whoop whoop). But when I migrated 400 miles South to attend college in Los Angeles, the diamond-shaped baseball region buried deep in my soft-tissue shuddered and short-circuited. Perhaps I can fault my newfound proximity to a team I was raised to hate (the Dodgers). Or maybe the clumpy, stinky L.A. atmosphere can be held responsible. Either way, I fell off the MLB train.

It wasn’t until just recently, when I happened upon a slew baseball titles in the App store, that the smell of clean-cut grass and deodorant-less Umpires came barreling back at me like a screaming line drive. Beisbol. My former flame. I decided to give a couple of lite versions a whirl. These digital reunions,  to put it eloquently, were dick. Big, hairy dick.

In fact, I was about to give up on the sport altogether when a certain home run derby type title plunged onto the top of the App Store charts. What’s this? How could a baseball game lacking the functionality to play an actual nine inning game be so popular? Me no get it.

Then it went on sale. At $.99 I had to take a bite.

The result: Com2Us’ Slugger for the iPhone is my glorious albeit admittedly geeky return to America’s hot-dog-eating, beer-slurping, terrorist-stomping national pastime.

If you aren’t familiar with the concept of Home Run derby, you should immediately punch through the rock from which under you live. The classic mechanic works like this: hit as many home runs as you can within the span of 10 outs. An out is anything other than a home run.

Slugger is an arcade-style home run derby challenge with a surprising amount of depth. You’ve got standard Arcade and Classic modes (the only difference being that arcade mode rewards you for hits), a training mode with customizable delivery rotation, pitch speed and type and the coup de grace of this tiny wonder: head-to-head online competition.

With a plethora of player statistics (online ranking, win/loss totals, avg. HR distance, longest HR streak, etc.) repeated play is extremely gratifying. In my case,  maintaining a respectable win/loss ratio has become an obsession.

In online play, you choose your difficulty specific channel (or opt for a non-discerning one) and are immediately paired up with a comparably ranked challenger. The set-up is lightning fast over 3G and WiFi, and the gameplay is a blast. A small window displays your challenger’s game in the upper-right hand portion of the screen, and it’s a race to fill your score bar. After a match which lasts anywhere from 2-5 minutes, you can immediately request another, and you can even friend your opponent for later play.

I might as well let on now that online play alone is worth the purchase. But why don’t you humor me and read on for the other stellar stud in this baseball gem; upgradables. In both on and off-line play, a variety of pitches will come at you. Other than the standard smorgasboard of curves, sliders and knuckleballs, there are power-up pitches, sabotage pitches, and of course gold balls. Should you hit one of these golden nuggets out of the park, you’ll gain gold points, Slugger’s currency equivalent. With these gold points you can browse a marketplace of character upgrades. Helmets, uniforms, bats, batting gloves, even glasses and facial hair are all available to stat boost and customize your character’s look. Ish is bomb dot com.

Hokay, so you’ll note that I haven’t even mentioned the controls, graphics or sound design at this point. The truth of the matter is, they are all PERFECTLY executed. The graphics are Playstation caliber, the sounds of jeering fans, cracking bats and baseball-damaged scorboards are extremely satisfying and the controls are simple and effective. You use the accelerometer to line up the bat’s sweet spot with the pitch’s anticipated destination, and tap anywhere on screen to swing.

At the risk of turning this review into a full-fledged feature, I’ll compact my criticism into easily digestable bullets:

• Not all of the upgradables offer stat boosts, which begs the question why would you purchase them other than to customize your look?
• On that note, because the higher-costing items are generally better stat-augmenters, appearance customization is consequently minimal.
• I’d like to see an expanded marketplace with more emphasis on appearance customization and not just tiered upgrades. For instance, why do you have to pay to change your skin tone at the outset?
• More multiplayer game modes, please?

That about wraps up this review. I definitely recommend a purchase here, for baseball enthusiasts, former baseball enthusiasts, and sports-shy arcade fans alike. And if you ever come across SamSles in online play, watch the eff out. I can swing a mighty digital bat bitches. Crrrrraaaaacccck!

Top 5 Upcoming iPhone Games Worthy of Salivation

Every once in a while the giddy jitters of a pre-pubescent Christmas morning come rushing back to me. I can still vividly recall the euphoria I felt when I unwrapped my N64 in the Winter of ‘96. In fact, the experience wasn’t unlike this age-old internet gem. What can I say, I’m a red-blooded American consumer, and the prospect of something fresh and novel in the world of gaming sets me a flutter like a steamy cup of joe.  I’ve recently come across a slew of upcoming iPhone titles with this capacity to enthrall. And seeing as it’s always more fun to share your pre-release gaming glee with others, I present you with a bundle of upcomers that promise to further legitimize the iPhone as a top-notch gaming platform.

1) Freeverse’s Warp Gate

Release Date: TBA (in active development)

Announced at the World Wide Developer conference in early June, Warp Gate is best described as a deep space role-playing, combat and trading simulation title.  In other words, a portable Escape Velocity successor, with a 3D graphics engine. Well, at least I hope Freeverse packs in as much depth as Ambrosia’s Mac-tastic classic. According to TouchArcade they’ve promised six separate organizations to join, a variable commodity market and more than 32 galaxies to explore. The only feature conspicuously absent from conversation surrounding the release is online play – something that EV never managed to implement in spite of fan pressure. But gamers can dream. And I’m sure a little fan feedback wouldn’t help: Freeverse contact info : )

2) Ngmoco’s Killtest

Release Date: Summer 09

If you didn’t think the iPhone was capable of handling a fluid first-person shooter with online play, then you probably haven’t seen the trailer for Killtest. Ngmoco’s daftly-named title (previously known as  Livefire) is being hyped as the iPhone’s Halo, and for good reason. With the ability to play over Wi-Fi or 3G, match challenges delivered via push notification, and a complex profile ranking system, it definitely merits the comparison. Those apprehensive about controlling an FPS  title on a button-less device should know that – unlike the control schemes of other shooters in the App Store – Killtest employs a touch anywhere interface. The left side of the screen is dedicated to movement, while the right side handles aiming. Though you can fire manually, your weapon is automatically triggered when a target occupies your crosshairs. Glossing over its horridly uninspired title, Killtest should take the App Store by storm when it drops later this summer.

3) Blacksmithgames’ Plushed

Release Date: 8/09

I normally wouldn’t admit that I follow iPhone game developers on my personal Twitter account, but the folks at BlackSmithGames have been running a pretty clever viral campaign for their upcoming platformer, Plushed. The final price of the game will be proportional to the number of follower’s on Blacksmithgames’ Twitter page. So more followers = a lower price point (it’s $3.99 now if you’re keeping tabs) and you can win one of several iTunes gift cards as well. Promotional strategies aside, the game looks very promising. You’ll play as a knightly bunny rabbit, traversing beautiful hand-painted terrain and interacting with over 20 unique characters through 9 expansive levels. According to the aforementioned twitter account, Plushed will offer mutliple control options – a decision the developers made based on direct follower feedback. If nothing else, the visuals are unlike anything in the App Store, described by the devs as an intersection between the “happy world of childhood fairytales [and] a somewhat macabre twist [of] dark humor.” As a fan of Tim Burton’s haunting work it’s suffice to say that I’ll be keeping a creepily close watch on this title.

4) Gameloft’s Gangstar: West Coast Hustle

Release Date: Summer 2009

Big dog mobile powerhouse Gameloft recently leaked screens and gameplay footage (not to mention a viral media campaign) for their newest iPhone venture, Grand Theft, uh, I mean Gangstar: West Coast Hustle.  Yes it’s as clear as Mr. Wonka’s glass elevator from whence the inspiration for this title came.  But that doesn’t mean it’s an extremely ambitious and potentially incredible project. Gameloft likes to push boundaries, and putting out the first fully-3D, open-world sandbox title for the iPhone is no exception.  I’m sure the App Store censor-police will have fun with this one, but my main concern isn’t as family-oriented. As one of the many iPhone owners who hasn’t upgraded to the 3GS, I’m a little worried about frame rate issues. I can’t even begin to imagine how Gameloft intends to populate an entire city, let alone pack in some decent mission depth. But I certainly admire their efforts to push the hardware.

5) Mountain Sheep’s Minigore

Release Date: 7/09 (submitted for App Store approval)

Finnish developer Mountain Sheep has teamed up with Chillingo (as publisher) to bring this top-down shooter with “tiny creatures” and “big adventure” to the iPhone gaming community. Don’t get it twisted, this isn’t a re-skinned iDracula (same publisher, but developed by Moregames Entertainment). I mean, yeah, the control scheme is identical and the action (judging by gameplay footage) understandly draws parallels. But the similarities end there. The aesthetic, flaunting beautiful (hand-drawn?) backgrounds with isometrically-angled 3D character models, is friggin’ impressive. It kind of reminds me of the Lego videogame series, especially considering the blocky nature of John Gore, the game’s protagonist. And what say I of the gameplay?  Three types of enemies (which can nest inside eachother), three weapons, special powerups, a self-described “Monkey Island” score and bum Bum BUM . . . co-operative multiplayer with the first free update. Did I mention it’ll retail for $.99? Spiffy.

Honorable Mention: Ice Hill’s Vampire Origins

5 Crucial Features the App Store is Missing

We all lurv the app store. Yes, this virtual bazaar is jam-packed with every imaginable goody you could ever want taking up space on your precious iDevice/s. With over 50,000 unique applications to date (acc. to 148Apps.biz) Apple has clearly cornered the mobile app market – and they’re quick to celebrate these figures (see if you can evade their one year anniversary banner ads). But alas, I’m a stickler for perfection, and there are certain aspects of this 21st century flea market that make me want to chuck my iPhone at Timothy Cook’s wholesome mug. So after some considered deliberation, I’ve come up with a shortlist of features for the big wigs in Cupertino to take a sincere crack at.

List Commence!

1) Tiered Customer Reviews

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who’s tired of reading grammatically-atrocious app reviews that offer NOTHING of merit to the interested app browser. I’m also pretty sure these reviewers are too young and/or boneheaded to own an iPhone or iPod touch, but hey, such is the result of Apple’s mantra of creating products that “anyone can use.” Fortunately, the quick fix is accordingly simple: allow customers to rate the reviewers, much like offensive/anomalous comments are regulated on Digg or YouTube and customer reviews are arranged by helpfulness on Amazon. I’m pretty sure developers would appreciate this as well, given the dearth of idiots who complain that their app isn’t working when they’ve either misinterpreted the app description or neglected to restart their device following installation. Reading comprehension is your friend, people.

2) Personalized User Recommendations

I’ve already bitten off a fair chunk of Amazon’s infrastructure (for good reason) but a recommendation system based on your purchase history would nestle in comfortably with the intuitive app store vibe. Come to think of it, a customizable home screen would be spiffy too.

3) In-Depth Metrics

Why is it that I have more detailed metrics on the popularity of a particular Pornhub vid than any program in the App Store? I mean seriously, is the Top 25 list sorted by review rating, sales figures or some app-happy Apple employee with too much time on his hands? And what kind of time frame are we working in, days, weeks, months?! Please excuse the incredulity, but I shouldn’t have to outsource my energy talking to a consultant when I’m sure a hefty pack of in-company analysts have these stats on hand. At the very least you should specify your terms of ranking apps. Apple, I guarantee you will earn the loyalty of your customers if you give them information to make informed decisions about their purchases.

4) Custom App Feeds

I know what you’re going to tell me, there are already third-party apps and established RSS feeds on a variety of iPhone news sites that serve this function. But let a blogga have a pipe dream. In an ideal world, Apple would provide this app store Pac-man with feeds for: recently updated apps, apps on sale, price drops, top-rated free apps, new lite releases, etc. It may be a lot to ask, but there’s no harm in asking, right? I’m glad you agree.

5) Customer Profiles

Okay, so this one’s a little more controversial and much less likely to be adopted by any simple-philosophied Apple Execs, but get with the internet Apple! I mean, you must have some inkling that user interactivity is the future when you purportedly made a $700M bid to buy out social-networking monster Twitter a couple months back. Imagine an App Store buddy list, a customizable feed of your friend’s recent purchases and reviews, what they’re playing now, and what they recommend you try. Can’t you see the potential? Customers would linger in the store longer, app sales would spread like word-of-mouth wildfire, and we would see the emergence of reputable app reviewers much like (you guessed it) Amazon’s system.

As usual, I’ll remind readers that I’m just one man with a tight schedule and a light wallet. If you find any of my assertions to be grossly inaccurate, drop me a line (sles@powso.com) or leave a comment. If I deem your opinions worthy, I’ll post an update and credit you. However, if I deem your attack to be asinine and unwarranted, I reserve the right to publicly shame you. On the internet. And I might even send a picture of my package to your grandma’s AOL account. Watch out.

Castle of Magic Review

Well would you look at this, Sam Sles actually posts more than once in a fortnight. Has the world gone mad?

Anyway…

Today I’ll be wrapping my noodly gaming appendages around Gameloft’s latest offering, Castle of Magic, a platformer with some serious presentation glam.

The iPhone has seen a fair amount of platforming action. From Toy Bot Diaries, to Shift to retro classic Sonic the muthafucking Hedgehog, it’s a popular genre that translates to the device relatively well. In fact, the supposed limitations of a button-less gaming platform have birthed a series of innovations completely foreign to the DS or PSP (See Shift, Ignite, Rolando, etc.)

But a true, dedicated platformer – one that relies on the precise control of movement, jumping and attacking – remains a challenge on the device. iSkeptics maintain that a virtual button interface simply can’t deliver low-latency input response, and so control scheme mastery is nothing more than a digital pipe dream. But it appears that Gameloft dares to pack this pipe and smoke it, offering a classic platformer with little to none iPhone-specific control features.

So the question remains, can classic platforming exist (and flourish, even?) on the iPhone?

Well naysayers, I believe Castle of Magic is your answer. Through five worlds, 20 plus levels and several boss stages, CoM proves to overcome the “limitations of the device,” with gameplay that’ll have you crying “hallelujah this shit has old school ritz.”

In CoM, you control a nameless (his name might’ve been mentioned once, either way it’s clearly forgettable) boy magician whose female gaming partner has been kidnapped. The culprit is a heinous sorcerer Nefastax who tasks the boy with conquering several in-castle game worlds in order to recapture his ladyfriend. The story is garden variety platformer faire, and other than some clever quips, it offers no compelling entry-point into the gameplay. Whatever. A lucrative plot would’ve been nice, but Gameloft  appears to allocate their production resources elsewhere (if you’re reading this Gameloft, my writing services are cheap and gamer friendly.)

Let’s move on to the vizzy’s (that’s visuals for you non-abbreviation-savvy readers). Castle of Magic looks great. If you’ve played Klonoa: Door to Phantomile for the Playstation then you’ll feel right at home in this magical 2.5 dimensional world of vibrant backgrounds and polygonal characters. Everything from the in-game menus, to boss-battle cut scenes is polished. This is what iPhone gaming should be. And Gameloft really racks up some presentation points on this one.

The ONLY drawback in the graphics department stems from the incredible amount of detail the developers were able to scrunch into each world environment. Occasionally, when hopping along and pounding baddies, you’ll be hard pressed to distinguish the interactive, foreground platforms and NPCs from the fluid background animation. In the winter world, for instance, I often mistook lively penguins as interactive characters, and static igloos as background decoration. This issue isn’t completely debilitating (after several rounds of play you become familiar with each layer) it just runs counter to my gamer intuition.

The accompanying audio is likewise clean. Really, the soundtrack is carnival-ese and harkens back to established platform franchises. No complaints hear, err here.

Now to the meat of this megabyte package, the gameplay, the almighty platformer aptitude test. Castle of Magic features a now commonplace virtual button control scheme. A smallish virtual d-pad, two buttons for attack and jump (from left to right) and the occasional pop-up button for in-level passages and special moves. The basics are nailed down. You can double tap the jump button to perform a double jump and double tap and hold for a parachute gliding maneuver. The button response is surprisingly crisp. And I say this with stone-faced seriousness, because other than the pop-up buttons, there is nothing iPhone-exclusive about the controls. And so it appears Gameloft would like Castle of Magic to be evaluated on the same plane as say, Sonic, or some Italian plumber. Sidenote: CoM rehashes the Sonic health system replacing rings with gems.

But it fares relatively well. The levels are dynamic and of variable duration. There are (at least) four different powerups littered around each stage, enabling the protagonist to shoot fireballs, or climb vertically with a pick-axe, among other things. My favorite powerup is a stunted version of invincibility – you swallow an ice cream cone and transform into a fat kid, trouncing over enemies in a slow-motion truffle shuffle glaze. To top it all off, you can swim underwater AND morph into a swordfish when applicable. Snazzy.

Before I shower too much praise on CoM, I should mention that certain aspects of  the gamplay are as irksome as slow-loading internet porn:

There is only one mode of play, random, as the difficulty level fluctuates whimsically between stages. The boss stages are similarly schizo – some provide compelling, nuanced play mechanics, while others promote mindless task repetition. Spoily Alert! Case in point: the final boss requires nothing more than a detailed memorization of enemy movement pattens. Fucking lame.

To wrap up my criticism, the game is short. Like too short to ride this ride short. I could’ve easily conquered Castle of Magic on a lazy Sunday. Oh well.

Overall, I’ve enjoyed my time with this title. I wouldn’t say it’s got the depth or replayability of the 16-bit classics, but it does offer a shiny package for an afternoon platforming spree. At $5.99 it’s worth a bite.

And a final note to the iSkeptics: Give Castle of Magic a whirl and see if it doesn’t (for the most part) calm your pretentious thumbly-wumbly control concerns. If you have tried it and you’re still high on your physical button horse, then why not post a comment outlining your position? I always appreciate some snarky debate.

iDracula Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alright folks, I think I speak for all of us at PowerOnSoundOff when I say that these past weeks have seen a shitstorm of papers, tests and other equally time-consuming perils of academia. Nevertheless, we made a promise to you, POWSO readers, to update the site on a regular basis. Thus, you wont catch us pants-down-procrastinating any further. This week I present to you iDracula, a chart-topping title developed by MoreGames Entertainment and published by Chillingo.

Title: iDracula.

Developer: MoreGames Entertainment

Publisher: Chillingo

Price: $0.99

Graphics: 10 Isometric goodness.

Gameplay: 9 Sick execution but arguably repetitive.

Sound: 9 Scarier than a werewolf Bar Mitzvah.

Value: 8 Not quite the incentive-driven-addiction that Blizzard offers.

Overall: 9

Let’s start with the juicy bits. iDracula is an action-arcade thriller with groundbreaking Diablo II-quality visuals and a control scheme that you can really sink your teeth into. Frenetic mayhem sums up the gameplay, which depending on your scale of comparison is either varied enough (for the casual gamer) or just hors d oeuvres for those seeking a true RPG experience.

Using two 360 degree-directional thumb pads (in the vein of arcade classic Robotron) you control a nameless badass struggling to fend off hordes of werewolves, ghosts and other ghastly adversaries. The controls are ace, smooth and responsive, and it feels GOOD to spray bullets into the masses.

If you last long enough, the baddies will start to drop goodies: crossbows, machine guns, grenade launchers, etc. And you can choose from a variety of powerups – from health boosts to weapon upgrades. I commend the developers for packing in so much nuance – few arcade games permit any strategizing, let alone allow you to switch between weapons or choose from variable list of upgrades. 

iDracula’s soundtrack is aptly characterized (if I don’t say so myself) as vampire metal. The shit is intense, and it suits the gameplay like hipster-wear suits Gerry:

The map is moderately sized, but I’d appreciate a little more diversity on this front. The folks at MoreGames Entertainment have apparently bugged my computer because they’ve just promised more mappage with their next update: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wh3SVv1WCw

Awesome. Unfortunately they’ve also promised to raise the price, so get it while you can you penny-countin’ cheapsters! Before you fire up your fingers for a purchase, however, consider the following thorns in this rose:

• Slow, unimaginative loading screens.
• Repetitive gameplay.
• Questionable replay value.

Oh yea, and the name. I’m admittedly nitpicking on a superficial level here, but icarumba! I’ve had enough with the pedestrian practice of prefixing every fucking title with a lowercase i. This does not add any legitimacy to your app. It just makes you look like a tool.

My REAL (substitute insightful) criticism is with iDracula’s scope. At the end of the day this “game” feels like little more than an engine demonstration for a larger and soon-to-be explosive project – the first hack-and-slash iPhone RPG that doesn’t have the suck. If the developers pushed this project a little bit further they might just REVOLUTIONIZE the platform. Can you imagine a Battle.net scenario in your pants pocket? Scary right?

At this point, though, it’s hard to argue with the price tag. At $.099, you should grab iDracula while you can and see to it that the developers are vigilant with their updates.  Sles out.

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