Category Archives: ea

R-Type Review

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R-Type Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: DotEmu
Price: $1.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 3G, iPad

Graphics / Sound Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

When R-Type was first announced for the iPhone, I initially felt some skepticism as to how good the port could be: R-Type is notorious for its difficulty, and shmups (shoot ‘em ups) need the kind of precision control that the iPhone sometimes struggles to provide. EA partnered with DotEmu for this port of Irem’s classic, and I am proud to say that my skepticism has been invalidated by the work done here to make this game play as well as it possibly could on iOS.

R-Type is a known for two things: being heavily reliant on set enemy patterns and for being insanely difficult. Your only tools to fight the Giger-esque alien hordes are your ship and detachable shield satellite powerups given to you, so it’s all about your reflexes and memorization of enemy patterns to try and get you through the game’s 8 levels. Good luck with that.

Luck is on your side, though, as the controls of R-Type are great. The best option is the offset touchscreen controls, which give you buttons for firing and deploying your satellite, and let you move your ship by dragging around anywhere on the left side of the screen with a 1:1 movement offset. There are also surprisingly accurate tilt controls and a Coin-Op control scheme featuring an on-screen d-pad and a screen with an angled effect, like playing an arcade machine. All the controls work remarkably well to the point where I felt more like dying was the fault of the game being impossibly hard, rather than any control issues. And while the game is hard, there is an Unlimited mode that gives you infinite lives to play with, so completing the game is merely a matter of will. The game also saves your exact position upon exit, making it incredibly convenient to play on the go.

Of course, R-Type is still a paragon of Japanese shmup design – it’s full of enemy patterns that you have to learn and it will frustrate you until it turns you into a screaming and crying wreck. And I’m just talking about Unlimited mode – the limited lives given to you in Normal mode will likely prevent anything but the most skilled of players from getting past the first couple of levels, and there’s somehow an Insane difficulty available, which is difficult to even comprehend. The biggest complaint about R-Type is that it runs sluggishly on the iPhone 3G, for it is an emulation of an old game; on more powerful devices it runs without complaint.

The best compliment you can give a game like R-Type is that it is accurate to its roots – DotEmu’s port is nothing if not wonderfully done, as it lets the original game shine through without any question about the quality of the port. R-Type is still an insanely difficult shmup that is best consumed by those well-versed in the genre or looking to experience a classic entry in it, but those looking to experience this monument to old-school gaming will find a fantastic port awaits them.

[ R-Type Review is a post from 148Apps ]


Madden NFL 11 – Authentic Football for your iPhone

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Madden NFL 11 – Authentic Football for your iPhone is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website


Madden NFL 11 Authentic Football for your iPhone

If you have even a fleeting interest in sports games on pretty much any console, you’ll know that Madden is the football game. With a new edition being released every year, Madden NFL continues to improve, with better graphics, controls and immersive gameplay – and Madden NFL 11 is no exception.

Developed by EA, Madden NFL 11 features:

  • 16-game Season Mode, with play-offs, player trades and full stats
  • Slick visuals optimized for the iPhone 4 retina display
  • New pause and position defensive-play controls
  • Streamlined tactical experience with “gameflow” plays, and “hot routes” for passing, running and defending
  • All 32 NFL teams, 2000 real players
  • Head-to-head multiplayer over bluetooth

Madden NFL 11 is available now for both iPhone ($7.99) and iPad ($12.99)

MADDEN

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SimCity Deluxe Review

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SimCity Deluxe Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: EA
Price: $6.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0

Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

EA has had quite an interesting experience with its port of SimCity on the iPhone. The original SimCity game, which has vanished from the App Store, was plagued with glitches and mishaps, quite possibly starting a long lasting hatred for EA and other large developers. The problem with the app is that the problems were never fully fixed, and a ton of people were left with an app that never really felt complete.

The release of SimCity Deluxe aims to fix all the glitches that plagued the original, but has been released in its own package rather than a major update to the original app. Needless to say, some people are understandably angry, but it’s not my goal to fuel those flames.

SimCity Deluxe really is the app that everyone was looking for when the original came out. The main difference though is the speed of the whole experience. The first app, which I had on my iPhone 3G was really slow. Zooming was slow, texturing was slow, the menus were slow, and the app was painful to start. It was a really complex game that was trying to run on a system that wasn’t fast enough. You’d think that EA would’ve learned from the launch of SimCity 4 for the desktop, but they didn’t.

The new app flows smoothly from screen to screen, zooms in and out with ease, and opens up instantly because of fast app switching. There’s no need to wait for loading times, because even the first launch of the game took only a few seconds. Also gone are the weird glitches that plagued the first game. There are no more “black holes” or strange menu re-routes to go through… for the most part everything works.

Thankfully, the menus are all updated for a more streamlined experience. The buttons all seem more responsive, and the menu system seems to make a bit more sense than it did in the last go around. It could just be my built in SimCity optimism, but everything just seems… nicer.

As far as the game itself goes, it is exactly what you would expect from SimCity, minus a few of the things that made the desktop version great. Still missing are the neighbor deals, highways, and subways, but in a mobile version it seems ok. For $6.99, I feel like I can sacrifice a few things. The rest of the game is very similar to the desktop version, from the music to the scrolling text on the bottom of the screen. There are the customary scenarios and starter levels, as well as the return of the disasters. So yes, you can destroy your city with an alien attack if you’d like. Nothing is really going to surprise you, and fortunately you won’t feel like you’ve been cheated out of a good SimCity experience.

There are still a few glitches here and there (such as the city piling up with trash before the dumps are full), but they are all small and don’t get in the way much. Because there are no interconnected cities, and no monster sized maps like the desktop version, you can’t build a sprawling metropolis, but you can build a fairly large city that will keep you busy for a long long time.

SimCity Deluxe is finally the SimCity game that people were waiting for on the iPhone. If you like SimCity, you really should pick this one up.

[ SimCity Deluxe Review is a post from 148Apps ]


Hands-On Preview: Reckless Racing from Pixelbite and Polarbit

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Hands-On Preview: Reckless Racing from Pixelbite and Polarbit is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Reckless Racing, from Pixelbite and Polarbit, soon to be published by EA, was originally called Deliverence when we first looked at it in March. Since then, Polarbit have adjusted the release, the name, and decided to release it as an EA Partner release. Which is all well and good as the game seems pretty much unchanged other than the name. It’s all here, the multiple play modes, different control modes, online multiplayer (take note EA), and fantastic realism. Though it does look like they had to get rid of the orange Dukes of Hazard General Lee look-alike car and replace it with a blue one. Oh well.

First, a little recap. Reckless Racing is a top down, 3/4 view racer with up to 6 cars on the track at once. You control your racer around 12 different tracks in three different play modes (Dirt Rally, Hot Lap, Delivery). The game is rendered in really nice 3D — both the cars and the scenery. Really looking forward to the online multiplayer — this should be interesting. It didn’t appear that it was using any of the known social gaming networks (OpenFeint, Plus+, etc.) and could either be a custom one or details are just hidden.

Dirt Rally is a progressive career mode where you get medals for winning races and that leads to unlocking more and more race tracks (12 in total). Hot Lap has you competing for the fastest time in a lap. And the interesting Delivery mode has you hook up a trailer to your car — which causes all kinds of interesting driving. Delivering your trailer contents (or what’s left of them) at the end of the race and within a time limit nets you a dollar amount (the more that stays in the trailer, the more you earn).

More good news today though — even though it wasn’t available to take a look at, Reckless Racing will also be coming to the iPad. From the screenshots (see below), it looks pretty fantastic on the iPad, I can’t wait to try it. Here’s the original video when the game was still called Deliverance.

Reckless Racing will be out sometime this summer. Considering it has to be almost done, I hope that really means soon!

Hit the jump for more screen shots from the iPhone and iPad versions of Reckless Racing.

[ Hands-On Preview: Reckless Racing from Pixelbite and Polarbit is a post from 148Apps ]


Prepare To Be Frustrated – R-Type Is Coming

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Prepare To Be Frustrated – R-Type Is Coming is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

R-Type, one of the most influential shooters of all time, is coming to your favorite iDevice. Most people remember the game as a fun shooter that they would play every now and again, but I remember it as the most frustratingly difficult game outside of playing a Don Bluth game in the arcade.

IGN best said in a list of the top 10 toughest games to beat that “R-Type requires you to memorize the level layout (of course, you’ll have to memorize the attack patterns, too). And the only way to do this is through a system of trial and error. Play a level, die, play again but take a different path, get a little farther, die… To make matters worse, your ship is the slowest, least maneuverable hunk of junk in the galaxy.”

As painful as the memories are, R-Type will inevitably be on my iPhone when it goes live. EA says that it will be a faithful recreation of the original, except for the three control options (D-Pad, Accelerometer, and touch). Check out their newly released screenshots… they might stir up some painful memories.

[ Prepare To Be Frustrated – R-Type Is Coming is a post from 148Apps ]


EA Fractures the iOS Marketplace, Apple Allows It

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EA Fractures the iOS Marketplace, Apple Allows It is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

A lot has been said about mobile fragmentation in the Android world which is filled with a bunch of different devices with different specifications and different versions of the Android OS. This leads to lots of exceptions in the Android app marketplace and isn’t good for consumers. That problem has been, until now, not a big issue for iPhone and iPod Touch users. While there’s been a split between iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad applications, it can be argued that they really are different platforms sharing the same OS.

But now, EA spins everyone around and multiplies consumer confusion in the App Store by creating a new fracture. They have released an iPhone 4 only version of their NCAA Football game along with a version for older models. They further add to the confusion by using the tag HD on it, something already in use by most developers as a designation for iPad applications. While I am of the opinion that these decisions are downright consumer hostile and I question EA’s motives, I also have to wonder why Apple would let them do something that causes such consumer confusion and leads to greater fragmentation of the iOS App Store.

Is the iOS a single platform or multiple platforms? Apple greatly prefers Universal applications that work on all iOS devices and suggests them to developers over having multiple versions of the same applications for iPhone and iPad. Yet in this instance they have approved the exact same app for two different models of the same platform, the iPhone. We’ve heard stories in the past of Apple rejecting iPad specific versions of apps that don’t provide extra functionality over their iPhone versions. Instead Apple have suggested that the developers create universal versions. Yet this game, an exact duplicate with just higher resolution graphics was approved, fragmenting the iPhone App Store. That confuses consumers and sets a precedent I hope doesn’t hold up.

There could be a case to be made to releasing a game that was only compatible with the iPhone 4 due to hardware specific requirements. We saw a handful of games that were only compatible with the iPhone 3GS due to processor speed or specific hardware accelerated graphics requirements. I’m sure we’ll see more with the higher power and hardware changes of the iPhone 4. But this game is not an iPhone 4 only game, there is another version of the exact same game, but for older hardware released separately.

“We do see a difference between iPhone 3G/3GS and iPhone 4. For EA, it’s important that we create our games for the unique capabilities of each platform or device including NCAA Football maximizing iPhone 4’s high quality graphics.” commented Michelle Jacob, Head of Global PR for EA Mobile when I asked for comment on the release of two different iPhone versions of the game. But to me, this just doesn’t make any sense as there’s absolutely no technical reason to create an iPhone 4 specific version of a game to take advantage of the higher quality graphics.

This is the first time we’ve seen a large developer release multiple versions of an app for different iPhone versions. The generally accepted practice is to release a single application for the iOS4 iPhone and iPod Touch platform that takes advantage of the hardware it runs on while degrading properly for lower performance devices. That leaves this as being a purely business decision and a bad one at that.

Let’s take a look at Real Racing from Firemint for an example of how developers have been addressing adding features to their applications for the iPhone 4. One universal application for all iPhone and iPod Touch devices, from a company with fewer employees than the EA campus cafeteria has. And it takes great advantage of the Retina Display on the iPhone 4 and anti-aliasing on the 3GS and degrades nicely for older devices. This is the what consumers want and it makes sense. The iPad and the iPhone/iPod Touch can logically be called different platforms. The iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4 can not. When upgrading devices you shouldn’t be required to re-purchase apps for them to take advantage of the new hardware. This hasn’t been the practice in the past and I hope it’s not in the future.

Doesn’t this create consumer confusion? “We certainly don’t want to create any consumer confusion. We think we’re quite clear in distinguishing between the two versions of NCAA Football and giving consumers a choice.” But confusion is what we are seeing. If we look at the ratings in iTunes for the iPhone 4 version of NCAA Football, 12 of the 28 comments as of Monday evening are from users who have purchased the app for incompatible devices.

The real reason for the consumer confusion is that EA is doing something that iTunes, and therefore the App Store, doesn’t really support. There’s no filter for what you buy when using iTunes on the desktop. You could purchase any apps you wish even if you have never connected an iOS device to iTunes. When you click Buy App on the iPhone 4 specific version of NCAA Football, it doesn’t check to make sure you have an iPhone 4, it just takes the money from your account and delivers the app.

Ms. Jacob continues “If anything, we are hurting ourselves by offering two apps – our overall rankings for the title are split. But again, we feel it is important to give consumers that choice.” Sometimes choice isn’t a good thing when it isn’t done to serve consumers. And I think that’s what we have here. Consumers want choice, but not when it’s so easy for them to make bad choices. What consumers really want it convenience. It should just work and work well. This release method does not work for consumers.

The comment that they are sacrificing overall ranking is very true and makes this an even odder decision. Had they released a single application compatible with all devices and enhanced for the iPhone 4 they would have increased their rank in the top selling app lists by having all sales for a single application instead of two different apps. This is something that can lead to a waterfall effect — the higher up the top selling lists you are the more people see it and therefore the more that buy it.

iPhone 4 is not HD. And how about the odd choice to name the app with the HD tag? That’s something that has become the de-facto standard designation for iPad applications. (Even though none of the iOS devices are really HD resolution.) Adding that designation to an iPhone 4 only application is even more confusing. Perhaps EA know something we don’t know yet with the convergence of the iOS 4 for iPad and iPhone. Maybe that will lead to apps on the iPhone 4 and iPad being closer tied? I doubt that’s the reason. Probably just a inexperienced marketing person decided that was the best way to designate the special version. Bad choice.

Isn’t the Apple approval process supposed to stop bad developer moves like this? The question I keep coming back to is why would Apple let them do this? Why would Apple let EA fracture the App Store market further and confuse consumers by doing something like this — something that iTunes doesn’t fully support? I have to think that it’s a mistake or they are just testing the waters.

But isn’t this going to hurt Apple? One of the most appealing things about the iOS App Store is that once you purchase an app, it’s yours. You can install it on as many devices as you buy. When you upgrade your devices, the apps come with you. And traditionally, developers have updated applications for updates in hardware and new versions of the iPhone OS / iOS. This throws that practice up in the air. If I buy the NCAA Football for my iPhone 4, it won’t work on my iPad or iPod Touch. I have to either purchase the lower quality version which suffers on the iPhone 4, or purchase 2 versions. Neither option is good for consumers — both options are good for EA.

What is EA really doing by releasing NCAA Football like this? They are probably just testing the waters to see what direction the market will head and if consumers will be ok with this. I really hope it’s not their plan for future releases. And I hope that Apple will restrict any developer from doing this in the future. It hurts users which in turn hurts Apple hardware sales and in the end, all developers.

Are you for this method of app release? Against it? If you want to let EA know what you think of this decision, head on over to their Facebook page or Twitter stream and leave a message with your thoughts. And of course you are always welcome to leave a comment below.

[ EA Fractures the iOS Marketplace, Apple Allows It is a post from 148Apps ]


Skate It In-Depth Review

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Skate It In-Depth Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: Electronic Arts, Inc.
Price: $6.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0.70

Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I should have completed this review weeks ago, but I missed my deadline: and with good reason. The approach I took in reviewing this game was complimentary to EA’s approach (and subsequent goal) in porting the game from the DS to the iPhone: slow, analog and progressive, comparable to the way a skater learns new tricks. EA really nailed this title and comparing it with other games in the genre is like comparing apples and oranges.

When I first heard Skate It was being ported to the iPhone, I have to admit: I was excited. When I first heard Skate It’s control scheme would be a combination of tilt/touch-gesture controls, I have to admit: I was not excited. I’m pretty easy to please, but tilt controls, regardless of the game or genre, always seem to leave me frustrated. My apprehension, however, quickly turned to excitement the moment I first started playing Skate It, as I discovered the control scheme is as effective as it is unique and I was shredding across the various levels in no time.

Let me make something abundantly clear: While the touch gestures are unique and innovative, there is a rewarding learning curve deep-rooted in the game’s core and at roughly 95, the game’s trick library is very extensive, offering three levels (beginner, intermediate and advanced) for three categories of tricks: Flip, Grab and Grind. There are no special or signature moves to unlock in Skate It. All tricks are available to the player from the start; the only thing that opens up as you progress are the additional levels, which are real world locations like Rio, London and Paris and the option to buy components for your customizable skate park. That’s right: A customizable skate park. More on these features further below.

Launching Skate It produces a very cool intro video featuring the game’s starring skaters: Mike Carroll, Rob Dyrdek, Lucas Puig, Terry Kennedy, Eric Koston, Jake Brown, Chris Haslam and Danny Way. The game’s Main Menu features 6 options:

  1. Free Skate, where players can choose a skater and a locale (assuming it’s unlocked) and skate to their heart’s content;
  2. Career Mode;
  3. More EA Games;
  4. My Skate, where players can customize the look of their skater and gear (there are four logo designs to choose from, two for t-shirt and two for boards and modifying art consists of using a color palette and customized tools to draw/create/alter a design), view their Log Book, which contains Statistics, Personal Bests and the Trick Book, view Tutorials and on-screen Help and load/choose from 3 different profiles;
  5. My Spot, where players access one of three customizable skate parks, and
  6. Options, which allow players to adjust controls, sound, language and display.

In Career Mode, players progress through approximately 20 different levels, completing challenges, such as races and photo/video shoots, to unlock (A LOT) of skate gear, which players can use to customize their skaters and skate park components (for My Spot), such as Bases, Combos, Funboxes, Kickers, Ramps, etc. Players can customize everything from their skater’s body and face to the artwork on their t-shirt and board, using a customizable color palette and tools to create their own artwork, as mentioned above.



The challenges range from simple to moderately difficult and depend entirely on the player’s trick/control aptitude. All things considered, Skate It has a lot to offer, but not to the point where it’s overwhelming or confusing and navigating through the GUI is easy, intuitive and very linear.

As previously mentioned, the game’s control scheme is a combination of touch/tilt gestures. The main screen interface contains a hand icon, to grab the board while airborne, a shoe icon, to push and build up speed, two arrows (tapping up brings the player back to a placed session marker, while tapping down sets a/the session marker, a camera icon to replay video footage and a pause button.

Completing a trick (or a combo) requires the player to simply swipe the touch screen in a particular manner/series of motions. For example, to ollie, simply swipe upward on the screen using one stroke. Conversely, swiping left then up results in your skater performing a pop shuvit. The trick library can be accessed at any time from the pause menu. As mentioned earlier, there is a learning curve involved with learning how to control your skater/complete tricks, but again, this is indicative of EA’s overall approach to porting this game from the DS: Bringing the genre back to reality and staying true to the sport. Mission accomplished.


Tilting the iPhone forward allows your skater to crouch for speed and maneuverability or to pump on half pipes. Tilting the iPhone backwards allows the skater to brake or powerslide if turning. Tilting the device left/right allows the skater to turn in that direction and/or spin while in the air. Jerking the iPhone in either direction will result in your skater switching stance. As players progress through the game, the on-screen icons can be removed, leaving only a blank screen and the player’s imagination/learned tricks library as their guide.

There is a learning curve when it comes to learning tricks and players may find themselves getting frustrated. My advice is to stick with it: you’ll eventually get it and when you do it will be very rewarding/satisfying. Once you get a trick down, it’s done and you move on, just as if you were really skating. As mentioned previously, all tricks are available to players from the start, i.e. there are no special/signature moves to unlock.

A feature of the game I noticed right away is that, unlike others in the genre, the locations/locales actually foster players’ learning/playing: They’re not cramped and cluttered. Instead, they’re open and have ample room/objects for players to move and/or learn to move around the setting, pulling off tricks using the game’s unique control scheme.

The game’s graphics, while certainly better than the DS version, are adequate, but nothing to write home about. Conversely, the game’s soundtrack is an improved port of the DS version. The DS version only shipped with a couple of licensed songs and EA added approximately 9 diverse additional tracks, from artists such as LL Cool J, WAR, The Specials and old-school skate-rat favorite Suicidal Tendencies.

All said, Skate It is a refreshingly new entry into the genre that foregoes button-mashing memorization, replacing it with a well-designed, extensive, progressive control scheme that is very rewarding. For those who love the arcade-style button mashing, Skate It should prove to be a refreshing change; those who prefer realism (think simulation versus arcade) will really enjoy this title. As a former skater, playing Skate It is as close as you can get to actually skating: It’s analog, flowing, progressive gameplay invokes the same satisfaction as actually skating: a feat not accomplished by other titles in this genre. That said, I whole-heartedly recommend this game.

You can read my interview with Skate It’s producer and former pro-skater, Steve Robert, here.

[ Skate It In-Depth Review is a post from 148Apps ]