3 gig isn’t too crazy. The gacha games I play typically are 4-5 gig. Genshin Impact was like 10 gig.
All the games I have tried are exactly the same as the pre-arcade version, just a different icon. At least as far as I can tell. Even achievements carry over.
Anyone tried the Star Trek Legends game? I would consider subscribing to try that one out.
I agree. It’s one of the reasons I picked up a Backbone controller. Really nice hardware, and works great with PS5 remote play too. Still, I don’t always have the controller at the ready so I appreciate touch screen friendly games.
That thing looks great! Have you encountered any small annoyances?
I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of an open-box Nimbus, but for the phone I have to prop it up, so I do a lot more Apple Arcade gaming on iPad.
Not at all - been totally solid. The only caveat is it doesn’t fit my phone with a case on it.
That Backbone controller is slick. Wish I could afford to spend that much to play phone games!
I’m enjoying Alba, the new Arcade game from Ustwo (Monument Valley and Assemble With Care). Basically wander around a Spanish island taking photos of wildlife. What’s impressive are the animal behaviors, that feel like real birds/squirrels/etc (and can make it surprisingly hard to snap them), and the realistic 3D sounds, which can alert you to new birds and critters you haven’t caught yet, if you’re paying attention. It very much feels like a living world. It’s a bit juvenile in theme, and arguably trivializes wildlife rescue (“Here, six year old child! Use this first aid kit to cure all the sick squirrels!”). That’s disappointing because with such a real-feeling world I think it could have addressed issues in a more grounded way. Still, it’s a recent Arcade highlight.
I’m going to try Fantasian–that incredible looking diorama RPG that I expect will not play well on the touchscreen–and Wonderbox. Also snagged the latest Oregon Trail and played for a few minutes. The presentation is actually quite good and unique, but I think they fucked it up like every other post-80s version of OT by making it overly complicated.
Interesting, I wrote it off as a kids game. I like exploring games though, so I will check it out, thanks for the recommendation.
Apparently you draw spell paths on the screen, so it might be designed with touchscreens controls as the primary input device.
Or it could be a gimmick.
To answer my earlier question, Star Trek Legends sounds like it might be pretty good!
Neat! I enjoy this sort of game as a temporary distraction, but I’m not sure it would retain it’s shine if I played it more than the timer bits allow. For me, the timer thing only very rarely bothers me because otherwise I would play thru it and find it pretty lacking super quickly I would think. But maybe I’ll join AA for a month and see if it holds up.
I’ve been playing this some, the “drawing” of spells is just how you aim them so far - meaning you can curve some spell types around the frontline and hit someone in the back. Also you’ll try to curve spells to hit as many enemies as possible - very useful when you interact with the other fairly unique system in this game: A “dungeon”meter fills up as you encounter monsters - when it reaches 30 you’ll have to fight the all at once (ish). You can also fight each monster as soon as you stumble across them - but I think I vastly prefer the system they’ve concocted here.
Edit: plays perfectly fine on an iPad
If you have any fond memories of console golf games like Hot Shots Golf (or Everybody’s Golf, as I think the last iteration was called?), you should grab Clap Hanz Golf.
The title is terrible, but comes from the studio that’s been making Hot Shots Golf for decades.
This isn’t a realistic golf sim. You don’t play full 18 hole or 9 hole courses. Instead you play challenges of 3 or 6 holes (maybe more later in the game–I don’t know). You have a stable of characters with different traits that expands as you play. And you pick a different character to play each hole in a challenge. There are also special challenges like long-drive contests and match play rounds that will earn you new outfits for the characters. And of course the characters level up as you play.
As I said, it’s not trying to be a simulation of ordinary golf. It’s colorful, the characters are cartoony, and there’s a lot of added gaminess. That said, it’s not off-the-rails, either. The holes are pretty conventionally designed holes. And the interface for taking shots is pretty solid–you trace down the screen and push forward, with the possibility of slicing or hooking and also the ability to control height and backspin in your shot.
I’m finding it really easy to enjoy.
Jetpack Joyride is on Arcade now. That game has to be on of my favorite iOS games ever. Tons of hours in it, but over the years they made it more and more annoying with ads and such. All of that is stripped out in this version. It looks old, but is still tons of fun.
Arcade is easily worth it for me now just for the classics they are releasing. Lots of fun games on there.
Now if they would just bring back that game where you trace the flight patterns of planes and get them to land on the right runway. I know EA bought it, released an ok sequel, and then both were purged in the great 32-but purge.
The original jet pack joyride also had all sorts of IAP for speeding up progress. Did they modify any of the progression for the Apple Arcade version?
I don’t remember what those systems were exactly. I know early on it was gems, you could pay money to unlock better gems or something. There are still gems you pick up, but I haven’t found an actual use for them yet. I don’t think the game even counts them.
I quit playing once they ruined it with all the crap. The Arcade version feels like the original release.
As far as I can tell, the gems just count as multiple coins(5 or 10?). Progression feels pretty slow so I don’t know that they adjusted it. Upgrades tend to cost a lot of coins.
This sounds like it could be nice.
Fantasian: The game’s part one released back in April, and @Nightgaunt said he was going to try it. I believe the second part was due out on August 13th, so the whole game should be out now.
I probably didn’t give it enough time, but because I only have a phone (no iPad) and no controller to play Arcade games, I didn’t find it was a very suitable style of game for that platform. So maybe Mr. Schreier is correct!
I played for about 30 minutes. That was long enough for me to remember how much I hate the beginning of every jrpg and how you have to get several hours in before the game opens up into whatever it’s going to open up into.