Infinity Blade

After much anticipation was generated following the release of the demo “Epic Citadel” and its groundbreaking iOS graphics using the Unreal Engine 3, Epic Games has finally released the full RPG based on Citadel, titled “Infinity Blade”.  At a reasonable $5.99 (no separate HD version for the iPad), anyone wishing to experience this revolutionary game may do so.  The incredible graphics produced by the Unreal Engine can also be seen in other console games such as Borderlands, Gears of War, and Mirror’s Edge.

Infinity Blade is simply gorgeous.  Hands down the most eye pleasing game to ever be displayed on an iPhone (3GS or 4), iPod (3rd and 4th gen) or iPad.  Now with that being said, there is some bad news.  The Epic Citadel demo, which gave consumers a taste of just what the Unreal Engine could do graphic wise, made Infinity Blade out to be the first person, free-roaming RPG that everyone has been waiting for when in reality, it has turned out to be an over-the-shoulder, “on rails” slice and dicer that is sure to let down the hardcore iOS gamers that were anticipating an enormous world at their fingertips, literally.  The removal of the free-form environment may be due to the fact that Citadel alone (no characters, treasures, weapons, etc.) took up 130mb of space due to that huge area of exploration.  So in order to cut down on storage, Epic may have eliminated that particular aspect.  However, with a “Coming Soon” tab in the drop down pause menu, new and exciting things are promised to users of Epic’s epic game, so this may mean improvements of the very limited environment offered.

Now for the gameplay.  Epic has decided to get rid of the dual joystick play scheme that can be scene in Citadel and instead has replaced it with nothing.  There are no on screen buttons or controls (besides the designated block and dodge battle buttons) that are used to control the direction which the main character travels or looks.  Instead, players are forced to watch their character walk along until he comes upon a monster whom you will battle by swiping your finger across the screen, much like in Halfbrick Studio’s “Fruit ninja”, in any which direction, causing your heroic knight to deal out deathly blows in those same directions.  In between battles you do have to ability to look around during the cutscenes to find hidden treasure or speed the cutscene up all together so that you can get to the next battle and dive back into the action.

During the battles themselves, players can block enemy attacks with their shield by taping the block button in the middle, parry an attack by swiping in the direction from which that attack is coming, or dodge out of the way by tapping one of the two buttons in the bottom corners.  If a parry, block, or dodge is successful a “break” is achieved where the enemy is stunned and you are given your own turn to deal out pain and destruction.  In between these breaks you can attack, but the damage is reduced and you are left in a very vulnerable spot.  At the end of each battle money, used to buy new weapons and armor, and experience, used to level your character up, are given to the victor.  With each level, two points are awarded which can be put into the health, damage, shield durability, or magic damage categories in order to improve your battle abilities.  The experience is also given to each weapon and piece of armor until that item is “mastered”.  When that item is mastered, no particular bonus are given to the weapon, but instead you obtain extra points to put into the afore mentioned categories.

The story starts with a nobel knight challenging the powerful, tyrannical “God King”.  You control this knight for just a minute, in order to learn the controls, before he is viciously slain by the God King.  After the knight dies, you come back as his son, set out to avenge his father’s death by killing his murderer.  You play through “bloodline” after bloodline, or generation after generation, fighting your way to the God King until you are eventually strong enough to slay him.  After each death you again come back as your son, but you retain your items and experience.  This allows you to save money up to buy the best weapons and armor and also level your character.  The enemies along the way to the God King as well as the God King himself do level a bit along with you however.

In the end, Infinity Blade may be disappointing to some of its awaiting fans, mislead by Citadel’s demo.  It seems as though it is just Epic’s way of “dipping its toes” into the mobile gaming market and this new generation of iOS gaming has definitely left quite a ripple.

All pictures are in-game snapshots taken by myself, courtesy of Epic Games’ Infinity Blade.

Mophie Juice Pack Reserve

I was very impressed by the mophie juice pack reserve and how handy of a device it was.  As a student, most of the time im in class, away from an outlet or charger all together.  Now since I use my iPhone 4 so much this is very inconvenient because my phone dies almost every day.  But with the juice pack, i can simply reach into my backpack and pull out a roughly 40% charge for my iPhone and carry on procrastinating on my mobile device.  The only downsides I can into while using the juice pack, is that it seems a little flimsy when plugged in, like it might fall out or snap the 30-pin connector off.  It is also a tad bit bigger than I anticipated.  With all that in mind, I still recommend the mophie juice pack to any frequent iPhone or iPod user.

Halo Wars Review

Roughly twenty years before the Halo event took place, Halo Wars revolves around the start of this all too familiar war with the covenant and takes the trilogy away from the first person shooter style that Halo’s fans fell in love with and takes on a new real time strategy scenario.  After five long years of battle on the covenant controlled planet of Harvest, the human race has finally taken control over the war-stricken planet, but the covenant aren’t all too happy with this reality.  There is something on Harvest that they aren’t going to let go of easily. 

After a graphically eye pleasing cinematic cut scene the game starts (as is usual with the Halo series) with you right in the heat.  But this time, instead of lurking behind the mask of the infamous Master Chief, you maintain a bird’s eye view of the battlefield with control over an entire army rather than a single soldier. Very similar to Blizzard’s bestsellers Starcraft and WarcraftIII, Halo Wars gives the player control over almost everything that occurs in this RTS Halo environment.

The wide selection of units to choose from consisting of Scorpion tanks, Spartan soldiers (yes there is more than one!), marines, warthogs, flamethrower marines, cobras, wolverines, and many others, makes it possible to create any sort of army you please.  You also maintain the ability to customize your base and conquer either neutral, rebel, or covenant controlled bases around as well.  Be careful though, the longer you wait trying to build up your own army, the bigger and more powerful the covenant’s force becomes as well.  With a simple button layout and lack of dull moments, Halo Wars gets your adrenaline pumping as you fight off waves of covenant forces in your attempt to destroy the heart of their operation.

Halo Wars’ online play looks to be a very fun experience as well.  Although it is unavailable in the demo, a little taste of the Starcraft and Warcraft III-like custom matches gives a little insight on Ensemble’s ideas.  With the option of 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3 battles, players can engage in either online or local play against 3 human opponents or simply AI assigned covenant forces.  But no matter the enemy, each team has to combine their RTS talents in army and base building in order to defeat any opposing force.

With all these new additions in the Halo series, some may worry that Halo Wars will drift from the Halo reputation that has been created over the years.  Not true.  Even though game play has shifted to RTS, plasma grenades, vehicle jacking, rocket launchers, etc. are all still present in the game.  So don’t worry, when playing this game you won’t forget the fact that you are still involved in the human vs. covenant conflict that we’ve all come to know.

With real time strategy experts Ensemble Studios behind the design and development of this game, and the Halo reputation backing it up, Halo Wars is hoping to grab hold of the fan base and popularity that Bungie has created, but that’s A LOT to live up to.  Taking all this into mind, I would give Ensemble and Halo Wars an A in the development so far and look forward to purchasing this game the day it comes out.

CHARGE!

covenant

winter wonderland bloodshed

theres no place like home

Screenshot credtit: IGN