It’s madness! Madness I tell you!

Here is the short tale of my go-around with Seed 2. I started the game early in the morning, thinking that I could get pretty far in a few hours. Since Seed 2 is a longer looking RPG, I blocked out a good portion of time for it.

The first thing I noticed upon launch (besides the muddy graphics), and this was almost a deal-breaker for me, was the awful control system. For the most part, I’ve gotten over my whole virtual joystick issue. I don’t love it, but in some instances I’ve learned to like it. Seed 2 is not one of those instances.

Technically, Seed 2 doesn’t have a virtual stick at all, and instead has a virtual D-Pad. But unlike most of the newer D-Pad’s I’ve used in games, this D-Pad gives you no leeway for your thumb. In the heat of a battle, you’d better be darn precise with your fingers, basically without looking, or you’re toast. I trudged on like a good reviewer, but this did become an issue later.

The game’s story is much like any RPG story. You know: you are a guy who basically has to save the world. There are factions fighting each other, some kind of civil war, and there is a super evil that might swoop down to torment everyone. Basically, if you often find yourself sucked in by RPG stories, this one will do the trick. The dialogue definitely wasn’t written by a Pulitzer Prize winner, but what RPG dialogue is?

So I went on a few quests, got a couple of level ups, and put on some cool items. I was mentally into the game, prepared to play it in its entirety. I finally got to the second town — or was it the third — and was given a quest to find a bunch of “pendants of dexterity.” So I head north and start clumsily killing things. I’m not typically a clumsy guy in video games, but these controls would bring the best to their knees.

I kill the first snake thing and get a pendant. Well, I tried to get the pendant. See, in Seed 2, to pick up an item you have to stand on top of it, like right on the very pixel that it stands, and then hit the fire button. In a fight though, enemies will get in your way, and if you aren’t directly on top of the item, you’ll just use your weapon instead. The hurdle that I couldn’t quite get over is that if you don’t pick up the item within maybe 10 seconds, it vanishes. More than once I found items after I’d killed every enemy and had it vanish before I could find the exact place that the game wanted me to stand on to pick it up.

Past my item debacle, I charged on like a mad cow as best I could (due to the awful controls) to try to get to a shiny thing. You see, I like shiny things in video games, so I didn’t just walk, I ran towards it. On the way, without knowing, I bumped into some trees and they came to life to kill me. I got pretty beat up, so I used a health pack real quick, but before I knew it I was surrounded and had no chance. I died, which is a pity, really.

I figured, “oh well, I’ll just load up my autosave.” Wait for it… there is no autosave.

“WTF!!! Was this game made in 1988!?!?!?!”

My iPhone has a built in 16GB hard drive that is instantly accessible by any game out there. Save files don’t have to save onto a cartridge a la Final Fantasy 1 on the NES, they just plop a tiny file onto the massive sea of hard drive space that I have. At no point does the game say, “Alert. This game was developed and brought to the future via time machine, so we don’t have an autosave. Please excuse our blunder.” No, it just lets you go on your merry way, only to lose all that you have played.

I’m pretty angry.

To sum it up, if you love, and by love I mean LOVE RPG’s, you’ll probably find yourself wrapped up in the world of Seed 2. If it were the only RPG on the iPhone, I would probably give it a slightly better review, but compared to the rest of the field it really takes a beating. The graphics, the controls, and the menu UI are all below average, and the lack of an autosave really makes my blood boil.

[ Seed 2 – Vortex of War Review is a post from 148Apps ]

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[ Five For Friday: Week of September 17, 2010 is a post from 148Apps ]

Master of Alchemy HD for the iPad does a lot of things right. Graphically, it’s impressive – not from the amount of pixels or polygons it pushes, but from the creative graphic design of the game. The game design is clever, if derivative, and the challenges are deep. Why is it, then, that the game seems only marginally entertaining?

The setting for Master of Alchemy HD is, of course, the Middle Ages, and you are an apprentice to a master alchemist. You get to choose your character and backstory at the beginning of the game, but this really doesn’t impact the gameplay and seems more like window dressing than anything else. The character designs, however, are beautifully drawn and presented. Your chosen character’s goal is to learn the secrets of transmuting solids into liquids, liquids into gases, gases into solids, and so on and so on. To accomplish this task, you are given several tools and the ability to place them pretty much anywhere on the screen. After a brief and effective tutorial, the game begins.

And this is the point where you figure out that Master of Alchemy HD is like any number of puzzle games that have come before it. You know the type: guide X creatures/items to Y location within a certain time limit. It’s an old mechanic; at least as old as Lemmings. There’s nothing wrong with it, per se, but I was hoping for more than a simple retread of an old idea. Instead, Master of Alchemy is a puzzle game where, yes, you do transmute matter to an extent, but only in service of getting that matter to a predetermined goal point on the “map.”

So, I return to the strong visuals, and especially strong audio, in the game. If you are already predisposed to like puzzle games of this type, you will no doubt be delighted with Master of Alchemy on your iPad, as it executes its puzzles quite well in a remarkable visual and auditory style. In fact, I would argue that it’s one of the best-looking and sounding games in its class. If, however, you are looking for something new and different, something that takes its theme and really uses it to fuel an original concept, this is not the game for you. After all, you can’t get blood from a stone, can you? Even the alchemists couldn’t do that.

[ Master of Alchemy HD for iPad Review is a post from 148Apps ]

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Chillingo, the massive game publisher responsible (but not in a negative way) for iDracula, MiniGore, TouchKO, and countless others, has seven new apps that will be published in the remaining “dog days of summer.”

“Although the season may almost be over, the summer sun hasn’t set on our top-quality lineup of releases in every genre,” said Johnny Coghlan, Chillingo’s Head of Publishing. “Our groundbreaking new titles are sure to entertain folks seeking a unique gaming experience, whatever their favorite genre.”

There aren’t any specific release dates on the games, but here they are, in no particular order.

Lamp of Aladdin – iPad – Lamp of Aladdin, based on the video, looks like a typical Match 3 game with a twist. Instead of just providing a board and a bunch of crystals, there seems to be some kind of character involvement within the game itself. The game is said to be very story driven, so look for a blend of character interaction with your puzzles.

Pipe Rush – iPhone, iPod Touch – There aren’t many details, but it sounds like pipe rush will be a typical puzzle game where you have to connect certain shaped pipes to get the water to safely run through.

Great Adventures: Lost in the Mountains – iPad – Never in my life have I see a promo video with such an identity crisis. Chillingo’s description of the game is as follows, “Trapped by a snowstorm in a mountain-top hotel, two friends must solve the mysterious murder of a great scientist and return a stolen invention designed to change the future of humanity.”

From the video, I’d say that Great Adventures is a mystery game meets Diner Dash meets the Sims. Watch the video for yourself and let me know what you think.

Robin Hood: Archer of the Woods – iPhone, iPod Touch – Robin Hood: AoW looks like a archery aiming game where you have to pick off waves of incoming soldiers instead of firing at a single object. To spice things up, there are bonuses for headshots, powerup weapons that give you exploding arrows, and even enemies on wooden Segways (what???). The game obviously has a sense of humor, because the bosses that you fight include, “costumed trolls, dragon cows and Trojan pigs”. I’m sure that we’ll be reviewing this one in the upcoming weeks/months.

Fiona’s Flowers – iPad – Fiona’s flowers is a cross between Diner Dash and Farmville, done in a style that could only be appreciated by a little girl. Given the style, it is definitely an attempt to reign in the female crowd, but the iPad exclusivity is puzzling. I don’t want to say that the iPad is a male (or adult, for that matter) dominated device, but I don’t really see little girls flocking to pick this one up. If I were Chillingo, I would’ve gone with something a bit less shiny and a bit more gender neutral. Who knows though, maybe I’m wrong.

Alien Cab – iPhone, iPod Touch – Alien Cab, to be released from Chillingo’s other title, Clickgamer, is a basic line drawing game based on cabs in space. Like all good line drawing games, you must get “Object A” to “Location A” without having it hit “Object B” while it tries to get to “Location B”. It doesn’t seem to offer anything new to the crowded genre, but if it plays well, it’ll probably be fun

Floe – Universal – Also from Clickgamer, Floe is a puzzle game controlled solely by the accelerometer. By titling your iDevice, you must move objects out of “Floe”s way as he tries to navigate the big block of ice that he’s seemingly stuck on. The success of Floe will entirely depend on how many levels there will be and how challenging the levels are. We’ll see when the app is released.

Again, there’s no word yet on any of the release dates, but they will all be released before the end of summer. Also, be sure to check after the break for screen shots of all the games above. Enjoy!

[ Chillingo’s Big Summer Lineup is a post from 148Apps ]

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I have to say, I for one am grateful that there is FINALLY a Zombie game on the app store. There are way too few titles available that star the world’s favorite undead flesh eaters. In case you missed the satire, I’ll point out that Zombies are an extremely overdone topic on the app store. That said, Pro Zombie Soccer has a pretty impressive enjoyment level, even if the storyline is a bit… off.

The storyline features a washed out soccer player who gets bitten by an all star soccer player recently turned into a zombie. Miraculously the skills of the zombie soccer player get transferred through the bite, and it’s up to the soon to be washed out zombie to take out as many flesh eaters as possible. Convenient, right?

While the storyline lacks a certain level of… finesse, the game play is a great time. The soon to be zombie soccer player stands stationary in the center-left of the screen, or is running while staying in the center of the road. From this location, soccer balls are aimed and shot at the oncoming hoards of zombies using a touch a flick movement. Pushing the soccer ball for a few seconds powers it up for extra damage, and there are three separate super powers that can be used once a power meter is filled up.

The game play is a rather simple design, and sometimes gets a bit repetitive. The challenge and unique approach that certain levels require help to tone down the repetition though. Overall I found myself enjoying the unique fun that this game provides, regardless of the far fetched storyline and re-use of the app store cliché, Zombies. I guess that’s a bit hypocritical, seeing as Zombies in general are far fetched. Pro Zombie Soccer is a good time and you can check it out on the app store today for $0.99.

[ Pro Zombie Soccer Review is a post from 148Apps ]

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