Mega Tribune: games

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Friday, December 2, 2011

Top 10 Mobile Games of 2011

7:57 AM Tribune

Top 10 Mobile Games of 2011

iPhone, iPad, Windows Mobile and Android games - mobile games on smartphones and tablets are all the rage. But what have been the best games of 2011
Game and go
The mobile games market is changing fast. From the over-simplistic and retro-designed games of a few years back, smartphone and tablet games have rocketed past the era of a few breakout brand hits (Angry Birds and Cut The Rope) and we're now seeing games that can rival console titles for complexity and depth, as well as entire new emerging genres and ideas. Plus, mobile games are allowing independent developers to make a name for themselves. This year has been so great there's a heap of brilliant games missing from this list. So, Block Breaker 3, Game Dev Story, Tiny Wings and many more (Wind-Up Knight, iBlast Moki 2, Starfront: Collision, Hypership Out Of Control etc etc) didn't quite make the cut. What did?

Ilomilo
Windows Mobile is still suffering from a severe shortage of great games. But at least the platform has Ilomilo - an absolutely stunning-looking maze-navigation game featuring a pair of cute creatures (that's the ilo and milo of the game's name) working through a series of gravity-bending 3D mazes. The mazes ramp up in difficulty beautifully, with bonus content to get on each one for completists too. But at the same time, there's never a point where you're left stuck for too long.Available on: Windows Mobile

Dead Space
As a demonstration of just how close to a traditional, immersive console game you can now get on a phone, this takes some beating. And as well as the visuals making the hop across from home consoles, the guts of this visceral and violent horror-action game series have made it along intact too. As an engineer who accidentally unleashes a necromorph outbreak on 'The Sprawl', the plot here set after the original Dead Space, you have to face creepy corridors filled with nasty enemies - and dismember them using Dead Space's iconic inventory of unusual limb-slicing guns. The only real catch - on the touchscreen devices, controls are occasionally cumbersome and prone to mis-hits.Available on: iPad, iPhone/iPod Touch, Playbook, Xperia Play

Order & Chaos Online
Gameloft's current slate of titles won't win prizes for originality. Most are blatant rip-offs of major console/PC games delivered to mobile. But when their games are as playable as N.O.V.A. (read: Halo) and Sacred Odyssey (read: Zelda), then who cares? The latest big game Gameloft has tackled is its most ambitious to date. Order & Chaos is essentially the massively multi-player online title World Of Warcraft, shrunk down to smartphone size. For sheer chutzpah alone, that deserves some credit - but Order & Chaos largely delivers too. The controls and chat system may be awkward, and some users have reported frustrating bugs but, despite that, the opportunity to wander a foreign land and set off on missions with other players - on a touchscreen - is not only a stunning achievement, but also great fun. And the monthly subscription fee is fittingly lower than its PC-based rival.Available on: Android, iPad, iPhone/iPod Touch

Contre Jour
Combining the gameplay of puzzle classic Cut The Rope with the atmosphere and art style of Xbox Live indie smash Limbo is Contre Jour. Sure, once you're past the first few levels, it's clear that the gameplay offers no amazing new twist on the world of stretchy ropes and spiky traps. But the levels are excellently designed and progress nicely, and the immersive atmospheric visuals and downbeat musical score really do add a certain flair to the game and its genre.Available on: iPad, iPhone/iPod Touch

Infinity Blade II
The original was not only stunning visually, but also provided a mobile-friendly mix of finger-swiping, sword-slashing action - instant, yet increasingly tactical - and role-playing inventory management and stat-buffing. The sequel looks set (it launches in December) to improve on the original in just about every way it can - better visuals, bigger and more frequent screen-filling boss behemoths (six of them, compared to one in the original) and more complex and rewarding combat and role-playing elements. In other words, Infinity Blade II is set to be bigger, better, badder.Available on: iPad, iPhone/iPod Touch

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
A classic karting title that's one of the best smartphone racing games around, until Mario deigns to make an appearance on your mobile that is. All of the classic karting touches are present and deftly-handled, and the accelerometer tilt-steering is a joy to play with - this is racing done right. And as well as joyfully trawling through Sega's iconic back-catalogue, the game even offers excellent multi-player options.Available on: iPad,
iPhone/iPod Touch

Sid Meier's Pirates!
Sitting somewhere between role-playing adventuring, mini-game bonanza and simulation-style strategy, Pirates is an excellent iPad-only adaptation of the recent gleeful reimagining of the original 1987 Sid Meier game. Choose an initial character and ship, key skill and difficulty level, then it's time to set sail to rescue your family - and engage in a lot of rum-swilling nautical misadventure. You choose where to sail to, whom to side with and how to push the story along - with the game world reacting around you, and constantly firing a series of mini-game challenges at you - swashbuckling swordfights, strategic boardings and more.Available on: iPad

Anomaly Warzone Earth
This one neatly inverts the usual tower defence idea - here you're attacking the bases with your units in one of the best mobile strategy games around. You choose the route your units take through enemy territory - where they're outnumbered and outgunned - and you choose when to apply extra bonuses to your troops (airstrikes, smokescreens etc). You can change tactics, troop order and customised kit as you go. The end result is a serious and rewarding strategy title, with a unique idea - and great visuals.Available on: iPad, iPhone/iPod Touch

Whale Trail
Underneath the glitz, this is, yes, another endless running title - see Canabalt or this year's also-excellent Tiny Wings as great examples worthy of a quick punt. What elevates Whale Trail to this stratospheric list is the sheer slick presentation and joyful brio with which it's all carried off. The theme tune's by Gruff Rhys from The Super Furry Animals and the visuals are retina-dazzlingly cartoon bright (think LocoRoco and then some). At its base level it's a whale you have to tap to keep airborne as it chases bubbles and dodges storms. But it's a game guaranteed to make you crack a grin - and that's worth the price of admission.Available on: iPad, iPhone/iPod Touch

Minecraft Pocket Edition
One of the contenders for the most exciting and unusual game of the last few years - Minecraft combines low-res blocky Lego-a-like building with massive options and a monster-infested survival mode. And now it comes to smartphones and tablets - only minus the monsters, for now. So, you can build and create all sorts of unusual landscapes. So far, there's not the more complicated crafting options or huge vistas of the original game, nor is there survival mode. But the original Minecraft has only recently released as a 'finished' game - with most of its key features having been added along the way during 'beta'. In the same vein, the Pocket Edition is promised monsters and a survival mode, as well as many more crafting options - as they're programmed in. Even now, in its more basic form, the freedom to create and tinker is already highly compelling.Available on: Android, iPad, iPhone/iPod Touch, Xperia Play

Big Name Games Going Free

3:00 AM Tribune

Big Name Games Going Free.Can’t afford all these fancy games? Then stop paying for them. Strategy hit Age of Empires gets the freebie treatment next week, but loads of other well-known franchises are being turned into free-to-play titles supported by optional in-game purchases. Give your bank account a breather and check out these well-known -- and now free -- games.
AGE OF EMPIRES ONLINE -- With over 20 million copies sold, this long-running strategy series has earned Microsoft respect, cred, and gobs of cash. Perhaps that’s why they’re releasing a new version for the smashing price of zilch. The new free game plays out much like older AoE games – create a city, build an army, deal with your neighbors -- but for a few dollars less.
WORLD OF WARCRAFT -- After six solid years of raking in dough from its millions of subscribers, the biggest name in online gaming finally decided to offer up some free goodies for new players back in June. You can play all the way to level 20 -- a good month or so -- before needing to plunk down any gold for that full membership.

GHOST RECON ONLINE -- Long one of the premier names in squad-based military shooters, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon series takes a turn for the free in this upcoming multiplayer effort. Due out later this year on the PC and sometime in 2012 on Nintendo’s Wii U, the online game lets you tinker with cool, futuristic Ghost Recon gear while battling it out in tactically rich, small-scale environments.
TEAM FORTRESS 2 -- First made available as part of EA’s incredible Orange Box retail release (which also contained Half-Life 2, its follow-ups, and standalone phenom Portal), Team Fortress 2 is now free-to-play. That is, in a word, awesome. Packing the same gameplay but adding optional items for those who want a leg up, it’s a great way to get a multiplayer shooter fix without forking over any dough.
EVERQUEST II -- Considering it came out alongside World of Warcraft -- only to get trounced on the charts by Blizzard's behemoth -- it's pretty amazing that this MMO is still going. Last year it added a free-to-play option dubbed Everquest II:Extended, and while you won't get access to everything the game offers, you can take your
character all the way up to level 80 and play through most of the game's expansions without dropping a credit card.
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE -- If at first you don’t succeed, lower the price. Such was the thinking behind this online role-playing game, which had a bit of a rough start. But once it went free-to-play, subscriptions took off and it found a new audience of would-be heroes. If you’re looking to take down some pesky bugbears but aren’t swimming in platinum, give it a roll.
CITY OF HEROES -- Gamers will be able to fly around this supercharged online role-playing game for free later this year. And while they won’t have access to the full experience, they’ll be able to pick and choose exactly which features and areas they’ll be able to enjoy and explore.
BATTLEFIELD PLAY4FREE -- Later this year, EA will go toe to toe with Activision as Battlefield 3 takes aim at Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. But if all that noise makes your wallet wince, look into this free version of Battlefield instead. While critics haven’t been very impressed, it’s still in its open beta test – and for the cost of nothing, you can fire off a few rounds and see for yourself.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE -- Like D&D Online, the moment this massively-multiplayer game set in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth went from premium to freemium, its waning popularity rebounded. The game’s revenues tripled, too, lending cred to the free-to-play model.
TRIBES: ASCEND -- One of the most beloved multiplayer shooter franchises of all time, the Tribes games still enjoy a sizable following. That following is sure to grow, however, once this free-to-play take arrives later this year. Bearing the same jetpack-happy gameplay but with only optional costs, it’s one to watch.
LEGO UNIVERSE -- The blockiest MMO out there just launched a new free-to-play option, granting players an unlimited amount of time to romp around in two of the game's zones. No microtransactions, either, though if you want to access the rest of the game, you’ll need to pay up.

Critics Stunning thriller L.A. Noire is indistinguishable from a movie

12:04 PM Tribune

Critics Stunning thriller L.A. Noire is indistinguishable from a movie

Few game developers can boast a track record like Rockstar Games. Responsible for smash hits like the Grand Theft Auto series and last year's standout Red Dead Redemption, the studio is famed for output that toes the line between film and games.
With this week's release of gritty 1940s detective drama L.A. Noire for the Xbox 360 and PS3, however, Rockstar has raised the bar for what constitutes a cinematic video game experience. Boasting groundbreaking facial-mapping technology, an all-star cast and a lifelike recreation of 1940s Los Angeles, it's already being tipped as one of the year's best games.
"Ever since it first worked out how to assemble pixels so that they resembled something more recognisable than aliens," says The Guardian, "the games industry has dreamed of creating one thing above all else - a game that is indistinguishable from a film, except that you can control the lead character. With L.A. Noire, it just might, finally, have found the embodiment of that particular holy grail."

And writer Steve Boxer is in no doubt about where to lay the credit for that unprecedented cinematic feel.
"The new MotionScan system used to capture actors' performances simply produces more convincing facial animation than we have ever seen in a game," says Boxer, who calls the game's recreation of Los Angeles "gloriously convincing...it has all the period charm of Boardwalk Empire or Mad Men." That's unsurprising: the game's lead, detective Cole Phelps, is masterfully played by Mad Men's Aaron Staton, while a number of his AMC co-stars also crop up in the game.

Over at Destructoid, reviewer Jim Sterling is, to put it mildly, impressed.

Five game accessories you don't need

1:20 AM Tribune

Five game accessories you don't need

The video game industry is littered with terrible gadgets. But while the gaudiest gear -- Nintendo's ROB the Robot and PowerGlove, or the original Xbox's massive Steel Battalion setup -- score headlines, it's the smaller bits and baubles that can really make you crazy.
Intended to make your gaming experience smoother, easier, smarter, or prettier, the worst extras often wind up spending more time in a drawer than your hands. Here are a few pieces of gaming hardware you should probably play without:

1. Expensive HDMI Cables
2. Wii Sports add-ons
3. Cheap, gimmicky third-party controllers
4. Gaming Vests
5. DSi Zoom Lens

read more here