Posts tagged iPod

Over the last few days I’ve had a little bit of spare time so I decided to splash out on myself to the sum of £3.49 and purchased Infinity Blade for my iPad.  Now, I’ll start by saying that this is a universal purchase for all iOS devices, so no need to buy twice if you own an iPhone and iPad, but it does come with some some hardware requirements; you must have either an iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad or iPod Touch (3rd generation onward) in order to run this game.  You also need to be running at least iOS 3.2.

Infinity Blade is the first major release for iOS to make use of the Unreal Engine to create stunning 3D graphics.  The Unreal Engine is primarily used on PC and console gaming on titles such as Unreal Tournament and Bioshock.  But Chair, the creators of the game, have managed to license this game engine and get it working on iOS devices.  The results are stunning, the landscapes and characters are beautifully rendered and gameplay demonstrates the true ability of Apple’s gaming platform.

The game is set in and around a medieval-esque fort on top of a desolate hill.  The land is ruled by a fearsome god king who rules the lands beneath with tyranny and oppression.  Your job is to try and give him a bit of a kicking, once you get past his horde of sword wielding Titans.  But here’s the twist; the campaign takes place over multiple generations; each time the player reaches the god king and falls to him, time skips forward a generation and the player takes up the identity of the spawn of the previous character.  The result being that as generations progress the player gains more experience, more weapons and armor and more abilities.

The game is controlled by pressing different areas of the screen to block or dodge oncoming attacks, and by swiping the screen to attack your foe with whatever weapon you happen to be wielding at the time.  As well as this there are one or two “special” attacks to master which deal more damage.  As you progress you gain XP points which you can use to improve your skills and equipment.  Defeating foes also gains you some additional equipment which is added to your inventory and which you can then use in future battles.  Though, like me, you’ll probably find yourself sticking to a small selection of weapons and armour as it’s interrupts the game too much to chop and change your equipment after every battle.

The result of all this is that the game can become a bit repetitive; the castle which dominates the landscape early on is actually quite small and players will quickly grow tired of walking the same halls.  Which brings us to the next problem, this is no free roaming game; the player is only able to travel on rails which are pre-defined.  Sure, you can look around and pick up objects and money that have been carelessly left around by the God King, but you are rarely provided with a choice as to where to go during your quest.  As well as this, the battles (though beautifully rendered) are all too monotonous and players may find themselves growing tired of the same old dodge and thrust manoeuvre.

End result:  As a game to play for short intervals at a time, and to show off the power of your iPhone 4 or iPad there is no better game.  The graphics and sound are nothing short of incredible.  And the gameplay does have some merity; it’ll definitely keep me entertained on my next few train journeys to London.

Unfortunately, the repetitive gameplay and short storyline of the game make it less than brilliant.  I can’t help but think that if Chair had spent more time developing the storyline and expanding the environment then this could have been THE best game currently available for iOS.  But you have to concede that had they done so, the game would have cost a lot more than £3.49.

Overall, I recommend Infinity Blade.  The graphics and gameplay will definitely keep you entertained, but for how long I cannot say…