Yeah, I got it last night, but the price has changed again.
Syzygy
3303
A couple of weeks ago PinOut released on iOS and Android.
It’s a brilliant design that uses pinball mechanics but on something I’ve never seen before – an endless table. It’s also free to try.
When I first launched it, while it’s completely different, something about it as well as the the progression system seemed right out of one of my favorite titles a few years back, Smash Hit.
Checked into it and unsurprisingly it’s by the same developers!
Yup, same developer, same payment model: free, with 1.99 to access waypoints.
Very slick game, and quite fun.
Just for fun I thought I’d mention that Peter Molyneux’s new game is out: The Trail
It’s a game that features… well, I’m not 100% sure. It’s a game, for sur… well, it’s from Molyneux so it might not even be a game. Try it yourself, it’s free!
No reviews (it may not have officially been released yet on iOS maybe?) but one feature of the app is this (from the description):
[quote]
Using only your thumb, swipe and drag to move delightfully along The Trail. Designed for everyone to pick up and enjoy.[/quote]
I can’t wait to move delightfully along!
Here’s a gameplay video. Could be an old build, from a limited soft launch. Looks pretty intriguing, though!
Clay
3307
I downloaded The Trail. I’ll give it a shot and report back. Seems like an Endless Walker from the description.
Too bad it requires a 64-bit device. “No app for you, iPad 4!”
Clay
3309
It’s uh… and endless crafting walker? You walk and collect things and pull raccoon tails. The guide/narrator reminds me a bit of Fable and/or Black & White. I don’t know yet whether it’s worth downloading and I’m not sure I’ll put in the time to find out. At first glance, though, it’s different enough to be interesting.
Speaking of the narrator, I was a bit distressed as she seems to voice… everybody? Surely not a budget constraint!
In any case, I stopped fiddling with this little good-looking thing when it asked me to spin around looking for pixels to grab around. Pixel chasing on a phone screen, ew…
Clay
3311
I’ll probably give it more of a go tomorrow. Being in the endless runner business, I’m interested to see if they do anything unexpected. So far it feels like Oregon Trail, Fable, Minecraft, and Temple Run has a baby.
Clay
3312
Sad to see how few retweets he has.
nKoan
3313
I played it straight for about an hour or two. Enjoyed it during that time, but ultimately it started feel like a huge crafting treadmill.
Ephraim
3314
Is it sad? Or is it just the boy who cried wolf effect in action? People stopped paying attention to him.
I suppose it could be both.
Clay
3315
I think it’s sort of sad to see somebody who was a forward-thinking driver of innovation in games be an afterthought. Better to quit when you’re ahead, I guess.
Better to quit before you’ve cemented a reputation for over-hyping and under-delivering.
peterb
3317
How did i not know that Telltale’s Poker Night At the Inventory 2 is available on iPad?
Pocket Tactics was kind enough to post a ton of iOS Black Friday sales.
Door Kickers for a buck sounds interesting.
Silent Depth has been released the other day, or something.
Being set in the Pacific theatre, it is supposed to be the Silent Service of the TouchToys. I say “supposedly” because, sadly, the game crashes pretty much systematically on my iPad 2. It plays very fine on the phone, but the phone version is really just a scaled down tablet version with small numbers barely decipherable to anybody not wearing glasses on a regular screen. I still managed to play it a bit, but I wasn’t a fan of the atmosphere being cut on and off soundwise - some screens and briefings are silent, other strangely noisy even though the explosions are supposed to take place 1 mile away, not next door. The soundscape is a major aspect of gaming to me, even more so in a submarine simulation, so I was a bit bummed down.
There were some other concerns to me, like the depth being set manually without any clue as to what the game considers a proper periscope depth being displayed, nor could I see a way to lower or raise my phallic observatory of death manually - so I was pretty much diving and raising the whole vehicle as a mean to stalk targets, out of the fright of my periscope’s trail’s probability of being spotted. I also had some issues with the tactical navigation map and setting courses versus zooming - but I have big fingers.
As those are the early days, I hope it will evolve nicely though. There seems to be the basis laid for a really immersive campaign of Silent Hunter depths.
Meanwhile, though, I will stick to its simpler but also more atmospheric competitor.
Mysterio
3320
Space Marshals 2 (iOS Universal) is on sale for $0.99, an historical low. 64-bit device required.
Mysterio
3321
Lost Socks: Naughty Brothers (iOS Universal) is free for the first time ever.
