iPad (and now possibly other tablet) Gaming

[BlueSpiral]

Besides having shitty mechanics and overall laughable design, PST's problem is that it's drowning in so much self-importance that it stops being a game and turns into an Author Tract written by the result of J. D. Salinger and Ayn Rand's one night stand when the player's back is turned. It's like a Russell Crowe movie in video game form.

[Renzatic]

Holy fucking shit. Are we having yet another "Dethtoll discusses the inherit flaws of PS:T based on his knowledge of a few lines he read that really fucking pissed him off goth goth goth goth pretentious fuckwit fuck you eat shit and die I hate this fucking game" argument again?

Like it ended well the last 15,000 times. When Deth has made up his mind, he's made up his mind. When are you all going to realize this? Arguing with Deth is an exercise in futility, people. Just move on to something he does like and be done with it.

Besides having shitty mechanics and overall laughable design, PST's problem is that it's drowning in so much self-importance that it stops being a game and turns into an Author Tract written by the result of J. D. Salinger and Ayn Rand's one night stand when the player's back is turned. It's like a Russell Crowe movie in video game form.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

[dethtoll]

I'll have you know I gave PST several days' worth of my time. Hardly "a few lines." I was waiting for it to get better. It never did. Why read a bad book to the end if it's bad? Life's too short.

[Renzatic]

Let's derail an entertaining thread about it.

[dethtoll]

Let's not.

[Subjective Effect]

Right.

I've got 2 Android tablets - a Xoom and a Nexus 7. I don't play games on either of them and if I do play Android games it's on my phone. This is just because I haven't found anything to play on the Xoom that's any good (except Osmosis but that got repetitive) and the Nexus 7 only arrived 2 days ago.

On my phone I only play puzzle games. I've tried a few that have been mentioned here but at the moment the only 2 I have installed are Where's My Water (great) and Cut the Rope and its sequel (okay to pass the time).

I tried Samurai... ?Vengance 2 and I find I can't get on with action games on a tablet because I need the physical buttons. If I have to take a joypad with me it's no longer (as) portable so I don't want that.

So - any good puzzle/strategy games for Android tablets. And not tower defence games please - they bore me.

[Renzatic]

So - any good puzzle/strategy games for Android tablets. And not tower defence games please - they bore me.

Spectral Souls?

It seems to be one of the more talked about Android apps out at the moment. If you like JTBS games, it might be worth a try.

[henke]

I've played through most of Offroad Legends over the past few days. It's like Alpine Crawler except with better graphics, pretty neat physics and way more bro. Bro-est offroading racer ever, bro! And it's just 79 cents. Get it.

edit: also holy shit listen to that music in the trailer. Doesn't that sound an awful lot like Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song? Hmm!

[Subjective Effect]

What to you mean "sounds like"? I most certainly is a cover. That game isn't for me though.

There are no games I like on Android anymore.

[henke]

Well I'm not sure how much it would cost to licence a song like that. But would a small time developer who's selling the game for 79 cents a copy really put money on something like that? I haven't heard the song in-game either, nor is it listed in the credits. I don't know, just seems a bit fishy to me.

[Volitions Advocate]

There's an awesome SNES emulator for Android called GNES. I own all the SNES squaresoft games for PSX but no functioning PSX. Playing them on my ancient phone still runs smoother than any of the popular emulators for pc that i've used in the past.

I plan to get a Nexus 7 once they start to freakin exist again.

[Subjective Effect]

GNES incoming to my Nexus 7 now. If no good will try on Xoom and on phone. Feedback imminent.

[Subjective Effect]

It works great.

Touchscreen controls. Nope. Need real buttons .

[Volitions Advocate]

they work well enough for the Rpgs. Don't think it would work too well with platformers, fighting games, or zelda.

[twisty]

I finally got around to buying an iPad 3, which I did with the proceeds of a recent tax return. It's amazing how versatile the thing is, particularly when used with apps that make the most of the hardware. To be honest I have hardly used my PC since. It's not a matter of losing interest in the PC as such (games in particular are a different experience entirely), but more a case of the device's inherent convenience -- coming home tired after work and being able to relax on the couch, watch television, spend more time with my family, etc rather than heading to the man cave.

I'm enjoying some of the games that I imported from my iPhone, but they can be a bit of a mixed bag due to the upscaling and a lack of optimisation of non-native iPad apps. Plants Vs Zombies is one of the better examples of this, although I haven't played the native iPad version to see how much better it is.

The two main games that I am playing at the moment are Off-Road Legends (talked about earlier in this thread) and Squids Wild West. Both of these games feel right at home on a touch screen and would probably be hard to enjoy any other way. Squids in particular combines intuitiveness with addictive gameplay and looks just gorgeous on the iPad. It's a strange hybrid of RPG and turn-based strategy where you flick squids, ride seahorses, battle angry sea creatures and collect pearls. Take a look...

[Renzatic]

Before Dark Souls started eating up all my free time, I found myself really enjoying this one game, Horn, on my iPad.

Technically, it's incredible. I think it's amazing that the mobile space has gone from glorified flash games to what we're seeing here over the course of two years. I'd say the graphics are easily on par with what we're seeing on the Vita. Even if you don't like the game itself, Horn is at least good at showing off what current gen tablets are capable of.

Gameplaywise? What you've got here is a free form exploration based game with more interactive version of Infinity Blade's battle system. The controls are a little pared down due to being centered around touchscreen, but it's still pretty damn fun.

Here's the trailer, and a link to it on the App Store. Geddit.

[Renzatic]

...and let's add Bastion to the list of iOS games worth grabbing.

I always regretted not playing it more when I bought it for the PC last year. Now I'm kinda glad I didn't. I'll write up more once I've played it for a bit.

[henke]

Watched IGN's review of Horn, looks good. But probably not 6 euros worth of good, I'll wait till there's a sale.

[Thirith]

I just got the Logitech keyboard/cover for the iPad, for those times when I expect to have a lot to write. Do games tend to support Bluetooth keyboards? I'm currently playing Chinatown Wars, for instance, and I'm thinking that I'd probably be better able to control the game using the keyboard than using the virtual controls.

[henke]

Let us know how the keyboard works for gaming Thirith. Watched a video of it and I guess it doesn't work for iPad 1(which is what I have).

Bought and played through the first level-set of Robbery Bob last night. Hands down the best stealth game I've played on the pad. That's right, better than Spy Mouse and Beat Sneak Bandit!



Also bought Mass Effect Infiltrator though I haven't played it yet.

[addink]

Robbery Bob is indeed a lot of fun.

If it's stealth you are looking for, both Perfect Cell and Dynamite Jack are excellent too.

Perfect Cell:

[addink]

Dynamite Jack:

[henke]

Hey addink, long time no see!

I've got Perfect Cell. It started out great, but got samey pretty quickly. Dynamite Jack looks like some kind of stealthy version of Bomberman, will have to check that one out.

[Thirith]

I'm definitely not warming to games played with a virtual joystick/gamepad. Chinatown Wars controls well enough, but it's functional rather than enjoyable. On the other hand, for certain types of games the touchpad is pretty much perfect - Plants vs Zombies, World of Goo. I haven't yet played any graphics adventures, but I imagine they're also well suited to pads - and I'd imagine that strategy games should work really well.

I'm actually a bit surprised by how much I mind the virtual joystick thing - after all, it took me no time at all to get used to typing on the virtual keyboard. It's probably that I look at the keyboard while using it, while I can't look at the virtual stick while running/driving around Liberty City. In any case, I can definitely not imagine playing and enjoying emulated old-school platformers on touchscreen devices.

[Volitions Advocate]

I like the Dead Space mobile game specifically because they have no overlay for the controls. Just regions on the screen that you use. It works really well. although it actually works better on a smaller screen. It's difficult to play on my wifes Galaxy Tab 10.1, but my Nexus 7 (should be waiting for me when I get home today) I think will be a much nicer fit.