Month: March 2017

Three Apple TV Games You Need to Play that Require a Controller

img_2127

When Apple’s digital-only console hit shelves in 2015, the hope of seeing the above screenshot from Halfbrick’s Dan The Man was a pipe dream. At launch, the tech giant’s rules stipulated that every game released needed to be playable with the Siri Remote. For those hoping for a credible addition to the gaming landscape, this was seen by many as a handicap.

To get a complex, traditional gaming experience such as a first-person-shooter onto ATV’s App Store, developers needed to get pretty creative when mapping a control scheme to the Siri Remote. Have you ever tried playing Gameloft’s Modern Combat 5 with it? It’s like trying to rub your head and pat your tummy while reciting the alphabet backwards.

Two thumb sticks, shoulder buttons and triggers, a diamond-shaped configuration of four face-buttons, and possibly a d-pad – the now traditional gamepad layout has become second nature to gamers. Even when hopping between consoles, from Xbox to PlayStation, and now also the Nintendo Switch, the muscle memory goes with you like a physical language we learned to speak with our hands a couple of decades ago. Play Modern Combat 5 with a proper controller and it’s actually a pretty decent FPS.

Thankfully, Apple slowly seems to be getting it, and at WWDC 2016 the rules were relaxed to allow games to require a controller, and gamers finally started to see screenshots like the one above when loading up a game with only the Siri Remote connected.

I recently posted a piece outlining three excellent gaming experiences to enjoy just with your Siri Remote, but where would Yin be without Yang? So here is its companion piece: excellent games that won’t let you play them without a traditional game controller.

Hit page 2 for more.

gods-of-rome-controller-supportScreenshot from Gameloft’s Gods Of Rome

Review: Smash Club: Streets of Shmeenis – KO!

screen520x924-5

Mooff Games have done a great job over the years of building a recognisable brand across its games, with a bankable list of ingredients being baked into each, regardless of the genre. Saturday-morning-cartoon aesthetic? Check. Geek-culture references? Check. Or more specifically – Star Wars references? Check. Recognisable classic gaming genre? Check. Benevolent free-to-play model? Check. And always, without fail, the element of joy seems to be a top priority. Silly, childish joy. From having played many of the studio’s titles – Blackmoor, Super Boys, Maximus, Toon Shooters 2 –  it’s easy to get the impression that making games at Mooff Games is just as much fun as it is work.

Mooff’s latest offering – Smash Club: Streets of Shmeenis – is no exception to the above formula. Although when I write formula, it’s easy to read that as meaning predictable. But Mooff’s titles also always come with surprises – little twists on old ideas that’ll keep you guessing, interested, and smiling.

Smash the page 2 button below to find out why Smash Club is worth your time and megabytes.

Early Impressions: Space Marshals 2 – Go Ahead, Make My Day

SM2_Banner_1220x300-1-600x280

With Space Marshals 2, Pixelbite has doubled its tally of twin-stick shooters available on Apple TV. The developer jumped on the new platform all the way back in late 2015, porting iOS shooter Xenowerk over to Apple’s digital-only console. The Space Marshals series then snuck onto the platform last week, making for a very welcome surprise going into the weekend.

Having jumped in and completed the first three missions of Pixelbite’s Sci-Fi Western, now seems like a good time to leave some very early impressions.

Be warned though, this story contains Space Pirates, and collectible hats.

Hit page 2 for more.

Opinion: Smash Anarchy – Did Someone Change the Meaning of FPS?

Take a look at the video embedded above before you read on.

Okay, all done? What did you see? If you saw what I saw, you will have seen a target shooting game with lots of character, vibrant colours, and fruit, with a tag at the end announcing that Smash Anarchy is coming to the App Store. Looks like it could be a bit of fun, and hopefully even a success for the studio behind it – Creative Logics. As we know, fruit has already proven itself quite the success story on the App Store.

What didn’t you see? You didn’t see any movement through corridors or open landscapes in the first-person perspective, taking cover, quick-scoping, or bunny-hopping. Just good, old-fashioned target shooting; a first-person Space Invaders if you will.

Why then, is Smash Anarchy being touted as an FPS? Mash the page 2 button below to read on.

Review: Xenowerk – Did Someone Move the Furniture?

screen520x924-6

With the release of Space Marshals 2 on Apple TV at the end of last week, now seems like a great  time to take a look back at developer Pixelbite’s other ATV shooter – Xenowerk.

As a gamer, after setting up my shiny new fourth generation Apple TV in late 2015, the first thing I did was to scour the ATV’s App Store for games to play. At the time pickings were slim on the brand new platform, and Xenowerk stood out as an easy choice.

Three Games You Need to Play if You Only Have a Siri Remote

tvos-ios_0_o

Not everyone who owns a fourth generation Apple TV also owns a compatible game controller, or is even aware of how capable the device is when it comes to gaming. It’s a pity Apple doesn’t make available some sort of Gaming Starter Pack, which might consist of an Apple TV, a game controller (such as a Steel Series Nimbus), and a $20 iTunes card with which to start exploring your gaming options. If such a pack were available either online or in Apple Stores, at the very least it might raise awareness of this aspect of the hardware’s very capable gaming functionality.

The input device that comes with the Apple TV – the Siri Remote – is ideal for enabling the device’s most popular activities: navigating the menus in order to consume content. The Siri Remote is not ideal for interacting with traditional video games though. To enjoy the shooters, adventures, RPGs, platform games, and racing games, you’ll need to equip yourself with a controller.

Apple TV’s App Store consists mainly of two varieties of games: the larger, more traditional video game experiences, and the very simple, one-touch mobile games that have been ported to the device. The Siri Remote is very capable of handling the latter variety, yet those are not really the sorts of games you settle down to for a gaming session in front of a large flatscreen.

So what do you play if you haven’t yet invested in a controller, and yet you want more than just a simple auto-runner? Luckily there are some examples of a third type of game available on Apple TV’s App Store, with simple enough gameplay mechanics that map nicely to the Siri Remote, and yet are larger, more fleshed-out experiences that actually cause you to forget how simple they really are.

The trick is in the details. Visual, sonic, and narrative flourishes that enhance the simple gameplay  mechanics to create a fascinating middle-ground of not-quite-mobile-game, yet not-quite-traditional-video-game either.

Mashing page 2 below, you’ll discover three of these types of games, and they are a credit to their developers. Studios such as Semidome Inc., Cobra Mobile, and Square Enix Montreal have managed to pull off exemplary titles that fall into this third category, enabling you to get closer to a fuller gaming experience with only your Siri Remote in hand.

Smash Club: Double Dragon Homage? Local Couch Co-op? Had Me at Hello

screen520x924-4

Mooff Games are throwing a lot of love at Apple TV, with its third release for the platform just hitting today.

The first – Dungeon Time – featured in ATVG’s Best Apple TV Games: Year One, and is a fun mix of dungeon crawling, twin-stick shooting, and RPG elements.

Toon Shooters 2: The Freelancers, has graced the pages here at ATVG numerous times, also featuring in the above list from last year. A Chapter 2 update just landed not long ago, bringing five more missions and two more characters to play, and it’s a must-have for your little black box.

But good things come in threes (although hopefully they won’t stop there), and today proved the saying to be true with the release of Smash Club: Streets of Shmeenis.

Hit that page 2 button below to learn more.

Subdivision Infinity – Because Everyone Dreams of Endless Subdivision


Update: Subdivision Infinity is out now and you can read our full review here.

Original Story: Subdivision Infinity sounds more like maths homework than a 3D space shooter. Nonetheless, a 3D space shooter it is, and a very nice looking one at that. This is the third in a trio of games that I learned recently are headed to Apple TV.

The first – Morphite, which I wrote about here – is a game I’ve been following for a while, as it’s looking like a great way to kill some time on mobile. But when I discovered it’s on its way to ATV, my interest skyrocketed. It’s definitely looking like a fully-featured sci-fi adventure that deserves the big screen console treatment.

The second is Moon Raider, which I posted about on Sunday. I’m a sucker for a decent pixel art 2D action platformer, and what I’ve seen so far looks promising. Also, the studio behind Moon Raider – Retro Phones Games – is a team with a great track record in that genre.

And that brings us back to the third game in the trio – Subdivision Infinity.

From this demonstration in which Josh Presseisen showed upcoming games to toucharcade.com at GDC 2017, all the information I’ve gleaned is that Subdivision Infinity is more action and mission-based, as opposed to the more RPG-styled gameplay of Stellar Wanderer which released a couple of weeks ago.

As you can see from the footage below, the graphics look impressive enough, and it’ll be interesting to line up Apple TV’s main trio of 3D space shooters – Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising, Stellar Wanderer, and Subdivision Infinity – and see how their gameplay stacks up against one other.

Either way, the more the merrier, and as more information comes to hand, it’ll be posted right here

Moon Raider: Sci-Fi Pixel Art Coming to Apple TV


2D action platform games featuring pixel art seem to be in the DNA of the team at Retro Phone Games. Led by Chris Jorgensen, and previously known as Cascadia Games, the studio rebranded a while back splitting off into two different banners under which to release new IP. Ferocity2D is for the bigger tent pole releases, such as the remake of ’90s classic Wacky Wheels, and the upcoming mascot platformer Bearcat Attack. Retro Phone Games on the other hand, is for the smaller mobile titles with a retro aesthetic. From the more puzzle-centric Cavorite series, to the running and gunning of Ammo Pigs, and the excellent 2-bit Cowboy games featuring a Game Boy colour scheme, vehicles and exploration, the studio is good at what it does.

Moon Raider – releasing out of the Retro Phone Games stable – looks like it’s building on the foundation laid by Cavorite, 2-bit Cowboy and Ammo Pigs, combining pixel art, running and gunning, and exploration.

Videos drip-feeding details throughout the development process show a promising title on the way. The ingredients seem to be in place: boss fights, weapon upgrades, interesting enemy variations, double-jumping, wall-climbing, underwater exploration, aliens, sci-fi and secret areas.

Can’t wait to get hands-on with this one.

Watch this space for more.

Morphite Developer Cites Metroid Prime, No Man’s Sky, and Zelda as Inspirations


During a recent demo of upcoming sci-fi adventure Morphite to toucharcade.com at GDC 2017 (see the video below), Josh Presseisen from Crescent Moon Games name-dropped some big titles as inspiration.

Two of the three influences are easy enough to spot. Metroid Prime’s first-person perspective, some of the aesthetics, and of course the female protagonist are all present and accounted for in Morphite. The space exploration and travelling from planet to planet bare shades of No Man’s Sky, as does the scanning of objects to sell for currency, while the colour schemes and wildlife are also evidence of inspiration from Hello Games’s ambitious title.

The third influence – that of Zelda – is at first glance not so easy to spot, but during the demo Josh mentions temples that need to be explored, and their puzzles solved in order to advance the story. Mystery solved.

The video below obviously shows Morphite being demonstrated on mobile, but I’ve received confirmation from Crescent Moon Games this morning that the title is headed to Apple TV as well. The collaboration between Crescent Moon Games and We’re Five Games is slated for an early 2017 release, which you would expect to be not too far away.

Definitely one to keep our eyes on.