iPad Games
September 13th, 2011 at 4:25 PM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
While the iPad itself is an incredibly popular device (with nearly 70 percent of the tablet market) peripherals are getting more popular by the day. The peripheral accessories you hear about most often as cases that allow you to either offer big protection for the iPad or that offer some sort of keyboard. Joysticks are also peripherals that are gaining even more popularity as users realize just how difficult it can be to play some games using just a touch screen.
Sometimes the joystick peripherals are ones that can be stuck onto the touch screen itself like the Fling or Logitech joysticks that use a suction cup. Other joystick peripherals are far more elaborate. The iCade has been out on the market for a while now and while the device allows you to use a separate joystick to play certain games, its popularity comes from looking like a miniature old timey arcade game.
Now Atari has released its own accessory that has a joystick. The Atari Arcade Duo Powered Joystick (not quite as catchy as the iCade) is a space age looking device that will connect to the iPad (supposedly either in Landscape or Portrait mode) and allow you to blast away on some of Atari’s greatest hits. There isn’t much known about this new device just yet (including when it will be available or how much it will cost) but the joystick looks like an old timey joystick. The devices panel also has four buttons you can mash on and Atari’s greatest hits app was just recently updated to be able to work with the device so it is presumably coming soon.
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September 13th, 2011 at 7:24 AM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
Some of the most popular games on the iPad are those that are based on well known and well loved board games. Electronic Arts has done a good job of porting a ton of the board games that have spent time in living rooms for decades. Monopoly, Battle Ship, Scrabble and Risk all provide hours of run on the iPad. One game that seems to miss the mark when it comes to its iPad app is The Game of Life. I really tried to enjoy this game, but there just seemed to be something missing.
The graphics and interaction are all there to make a pretty good game. The fact that you can both play against the computer or in a pass and play mode with friends should make the game that much more fun. For a short period of time it probably does. Maybe it is just the fact that the Game of Life, like no other board game I played back in the day, doesn’t seem to lend itself to a digital version. I remember thinking when I was playing the board game version of Monopoly that I would have liked a computer to keep track of how much money I had and what the rent for my individual properties were. The Game of Life was a board game where you were actually seeing your little car, suddenly loaded down with a wife and kids, tooling around the board. That translation just doesn’t seem to make it for me onto the digital form.
The Game of Life is also a game that doesn’t have a distinct ending. Of course you can go around the board once and then retire and count up your money. But in the board game, the funnest part was going around and around, changing jobs and having more kids and taking in even more money. The digital version seems to take a little fun out of this. The app is actually quite nice looking; the animation is done well and sticks very much to the theme of the game. But there is just something that is left lacking. I liked being able to move my car and decide which turns it was going to take more than when I was playing any other board game.
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September 8th, 2011 at 10:35 AM EST | by inu846W
While there are plenty of iPad apps that are made to feel as though you are playing a television game show of one kind or another. There are plenty of iPad apps that are built to have you running through dark hallways and dank tunnels, blasting away at all sorts of creepy crawlies. There are very few iPad apps that have you doing both at the same time. Rage HD for iPad is one of those games that does that and more. Because of this, it’s one of the funnest games out there right now.
Part of the reason that Rage HD for iPad is so entertaining is because unlike a lot of the other Zombie shooting games you don’t have to worry about moving around in this one. The computer will have you zooming through the map automatically. Your only responsibility is to shoot as many circus freak looking villains as you can. Where exactly does the game show come into play you ask? Rage HD is supposed to be taking place in a futuristic wasteland where you are a game show contestant. The point of the game is to shoot as many as the enemy as possible, while ALSO shooting bags of money and bulls-eyes placed surreptitiously throughout the map.
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September 6th, 2011 at 2:15 PM EST | by inu846W
One signature of quite a few iPad games has been that there are several games that incorporate real physics into their games. Demolition Master 3D HD for the iPad is no different, though the graphics and what you have to do are original enough that the app is worth picking up if you are on the lookout for another app. Demolition Master 3D is a game where you actually set different kind of explosive charges on wooden and metal posts and try and get the constructions to explode to the point where the materials drop below a certain level.
This is actually a combination of two different kinds of games that are fairly well represented on the iPad. Still Demolition Master 3D offers these familiar genres with a new look and a game that is actually quite addicting once you really start playing it. There are basically three different kind of charges and an almost infinite way you can plant them in order to get the reaction you are looking for. There are numerous differnet kinds of constructions you can eventually blow up with the constructs getting harder and harder as you go through the levels. There are also parts that you are not trying to destroy or that will cause you to lose should they explode.
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September 6th, 2011 at 10:30 AM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
While there are quite a few first person shooter apps on the iPad, few have the sort of horror movie feel that Dead Space can bring to the tablet. If the name of this particular game sounds familiar, it should as it was one of the most popular console horror/shooter games in history. Dead Space was actually so popular and so spooky that there have been a couple of different animated movies made in an attempt to tell more of the back story.
What makes the Dead Space app for the iPad so good is that there doesn’t seem to be much left out of the iPad version that was in the original. The graphics on the Dead Space for iPad app are almost as good as what you would see on the Xbox360 or the PlayStation 3, though obviously miniaturized a little for the screen. The basic premise is almost identical in that you arrive aboard a space station only to find it deserted … or at least MOSTLY deserted. After wandering around the station trying to get your bearings and learning how to play the game you eventually run into some truly evil creatures who seem intent on tearing out your throat.
The controls for running through the station are fairly easily, swiping along the left side of the screen will actually have you moving in whatever direction you would like to go. Swiping along the right side of the screen will allow you to look around, hopefully seeing the evil that is coming your way before it gets to you. While some people are certainly going to want to play the story mode, that goes along with the console game the iPad version does bring some different options.
Dead Space for the iPad also allows you to select the “Endless” feature which is pretty much what you would expect. There’s no health regeneration and no time limit, simply kill as many bad guys as possible. The “5 Minutes to Kill” game is like endless except you are trying to kill as many as possible before the timer goes to zero. Each kill will tack on a little extra time.
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September 1st, 2011 at 11:31 AM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
While the iPad brings plenty of fun little time waster games, there are very few immersive sports games. Among that small population there are even fewer great football games. That is why it was so exciting when the latest version of Madden was released for the iPad. Madden has long been one of the best football video games on the planet and while the iPad version of Madden NFL 12 isn’t as immersing as the console version it certainly takes the cake when it comes to iPad football games.
When first starting up the game you will be asked to pick your favorite team. This team will serve as your first choice when using either Play Now, Season, or Playoffs. Of course if you want to play as any other team in the NFL you simply need to swipe to that team in order to choose it. One of the coolest things about this game is that much like the regular console version the rosters will update, giving you as accurate a roster when you start up the game as humanly possible. Of course there are still some odd kinks to work out there. The rosters right now reflect training camp rosters so quite a few of your teams might be carrying five different quarterbacks or four tight ends.
At the moment there doesn’t seem to be a realistic 53 man roster limit so your team is basically a little too deep, but it can be fun to have that large a depth chart anyway. Of course because this is Electronic Arts and Madden NFL 12 the rosters are all the real players. Want to see if the Eagles are really the powerhouse they look like? Play with Michael Vick and see if he’s earned that $100 million contract. Want to try and see if the Bengals can field a decent team with Andy Dalton and AJ Green? You can do that too.
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