Author: garrybalogh

Review: Riptide GP: Renegade – Physics Has Never Been So Much Fun

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Momentum. Inertia. Gravity. The study of the movement of liquids. If Newton and Einstein had jet-skis, they probably would have come to the same conclusions, but they would have had a hell of a lot more fun doing it.

It must have been tough for developer Vector Unit to bring all of the above physics elements together successfully in a video game – but with Riptide GP: Renegade – the studio has pulled off an impressive stunt indeed.

Vector Unit has implemented some of the best liquid modelling you’ll experience not just on Apple TV, but on any console. Sure, it might look better on PS4 and Xbox One, but the physics and the feeling of the water’s movement and its effect on your watercraft in Riptide on ATV remains first-class.

Wrap that core element within a fun arcade racer, and the result is an easy recommendation for your Apple TV.

Hit page 2 for more.

Review: Space Marshals 2 – If The Hat Fits, Wear It

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I’ve been sitting here for way too long trying to think of the perfect, hat-related subtitle for this review, because it’s the little details that are important. The bow around the gift, if you will. It’s a philosophy that studio Pixelbite seems to have taken with the development of Space Marshals 2, as it has a lot of those little details, the sorts of things that make a good game great.

Take hats for example. The hidden, collectible hats in Pixelbite’s shooter don’t add +1 attack, or +3 dexterity or anything of the sort, they’re purely cosmetic. But damn me if I didn’t have a small, quiet celebration every time I discovered a new one. And I bet you I smiled every single time.

Mission accomplished Pixelbite.

Hit page 2 to read on and find out what makes Space Marshals 2 a great fit for your Apple TV.

Gameloft No Longer Supporting Modern Combat 5 on Apple TV

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Siniscope Gaming is reporting the unfortunate news that mobile gaming giant Gameloft, has not updated the tvOS version of its FPS – Modern Combat 5 – since April 2016. The iOS version however, has continued to receive a steady trickle of updates with new content throughout the last 12 months, even as recently as February 22nd.

The FPS genre is under-represented on the Apple TV platform, and Modern Combat 5 was easily the best option. And of course it still is, as the game is still completely playable with all the content prior to April 2016, but just hasn’t received anything since then.

From the developer’s side of things, it is understandable that if a platform is not performing as expected, or if a game is not performing on a platform, then it makes little sense to throw resources at it.

Did Gameloft give up too soon though? Throughout 2016, and into 2017, Apple TV has seen some great releases, including a surprising number of titles that have had turns as PlayStation Plus monthly offerings. Then there is the not insignificant release of Mojang’s Minecraft just in time for Christmas 2016. There are definitely a good number of talented studios rolling the dice with Apple TV, and for the sake of sites such as Siniscope Gaming and ATVG – and of course ATV gamers the world over – we hope this trend in quality releases continues.

Perhaps if ATV gaming does start trending upwards in popularity, Gameloft may decide to take up support of its shooter once again. ATVG has reached out to Gameloft for comment, and will update this article if more news comes to hand.

In the meantime, for a list of great games to play, check out ATVG’s Best Games list from year one,  and if you own an MFi controller, be sure to check out this list right here, because only you can play them.

Enjoy!

If you’re new to The Apple TV Gaming Blog (ATVG), or just new to Apple TV gaming in general, or both, then the best place to get acquainted is our Best Apple TV Games of 2019 article. You’ll find a great collection of games to play, and a bunch of useful links to our previous site content. Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride. 

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

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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!

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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

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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?

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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

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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

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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.