The great-grandaddy of first-person shooters, Wolfenstein 3D, today celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Released in 1992, the game gave rise to a fledgling studio of plucky young upstarts called id software, who later went on to make a little game called Doom. (Perhaps you’ve heard of it?) While that game is perhaps the better known of the two, Wolfenstein 3D is considered the birth of the genre that continues to be the cornerstone of gaming to this day.

To mark the occasion, Bethesda is giving away the entire iOS version of Wolfenstein 3D for the princely sum of naught. Ziltch. Free. Go ahead, download the entire game right now and shoot Nazis on the bus. Don’t have an iDevice? No problem, just head here (opens in new tab) to play the game in your web browser. Everybody wins!

Also, be sure to check out Bethesda’s special video podcast (opens in new tab), which sees John Carmack revisiting the game and explaining the design process. It’s an insightful watch.

Question is, does Wolfenstein 3D still hold up today? Or is merely a dusty digital relic? Let us know in the comments.

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But remember, I myself was once that handlebar moustached hunter of bespoke electronic tunery. So just imagine that I’m giving you all of this information with a curmudgeonly “You don’t know you’re born” look on my face. Oh, and don’t forget to argue over my choices in the comments. That’s always the most important part, after all.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Composer: Michael McCann Buy it here (opens in new tab)

Alternately frenzied, soaring and soothing, the original score to Deus Ex: Human Revolution is perhaps the best new game soundtrack of the last couple of years. With insistent electronic percussion blending with cool ambient synth and subtly-powerful abstracted human vocals, it’s an accessibly complex soundtrack with sound and a mood both unmistakable and untouchable.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Composer: Anamanaguchi Buy it here (opens in new tab)

The retro-gamey soundtrack to the game based on the film based on the retro-gamey comic book. Arriving as the result of so many resonant stacked levels of brilliant, the Scott Pilgrim OST is an absolute stunner. Basically, it’s the most potent and fast acting cheer-up music money can buy.

Silent Hill 2

Composer: Akira Yamaoaka (soundtrack credited to Konami Kukeiha Club) Buy it here (opens in new tab)

This one shouldn’t need any introduction, but in case it does, know this. Akira Yamoaka’s soundtrack to Silent Hill 2 is one of the most revered in gaming for a reason. It’s one of the most touching, chilling, and deeply beautiful soundtracks ever to grace any piece of media. Combining soaring rock, ethereal synth and abstract soundscapes, it’s powerfully affecting on a level you just will not be able to imagine if you haven’t already heard it. So hear it. By buying it.

Heavy Rain

Composer: Normand Coubeil Buy it here (opens in new tab)

Repetitive and one-note as it may be in the game, Heavy Rain’s melacholic, ominously fatalistic score works a lot better in separation. Free from over-use, the various character-specific themes shine as pieces in their own right. The overall tone might rarely stray from ‘sad and a bit doomy’ across the selection of tracks, but it’s a strong and unique set of tunes with a personality all of its own.

Batman: Arkham City

Composer: Nick Arundel and Ron Fish Buy it here (opens in new tab)

Forget that dodgy “Music inspired by…” album that’s knocking around, attempting to purvey its array of unrelated licensed tunes off the back of the game’s high profile. This is the real thing. The orchestral score. The pounding, sweeping, at times damnably emotional stuff that actually appears in the game. It’s bloody brilliant, and up there with the very best Batman scores ever to grace the cinematic adaptations. In fact it’s a good blend of the best bits of all of them.

Bionic Commando Rearmed

Composer: Simon Viklund Buy it here (opens in new tab)

Halfway between the exhilarating abrasiveness of 8 and 16-bit chiptunes and the layered finesse of modern electronica, the soundtrack to Capcom’s pitch-perfect NES remake is as fun and imaginative as it is pulse-poundingly exciting. One of the most vital game soundtracks around right now, in both senses of the word. It’s that simple.

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Game: Super Crate Box
Price: $0.99/£0.69
Size: 10MB
Buy it now from the iTunes store: US (opens in new tab) / UK (opens in new tab)

Like Super Meat Boy before it, Super Crate Box will kick your ass time and time again – and if you’re anything like us and the untold number of iPad and iPhone gamers that racked up a few million collected crates on the first day of release, you’ll take it with a smile and ask for more. Hailing from Vlambeer, the studio behind Serious Sam: The Random Encounter, Super Crate Box began life in 2010 as a free Flash game but seems best at home on iOS devices, where the quick-hit sessions can fill the various spare moments in your day. However, while the individual attempts may span mere seconds, it’s tough to resign yourself to quitting without first knocking back a couple dozen consecutive tries.

Super Crate Box’s three stages look like facsimiles of the original Mario Bros. arcade game, but the goal here is unique: collect as many randomly appearing crates in each level before perishing. Each collected crate grants you a new weapon – like a shotgun, rocket launcher, reflecting blade gun, or short-range katana – but also amps up the flow of enemies emerging from the top of the screen. Even the tiniest enemy contact ends your game, so the race to collect the most crates takes on an insane tempo marked by precise movement and skillful weapon usage. Most of the time, you’ll struggle to hit double-digits in any given attempt. Notching 10 crates in each of the first two stages opens up the next, plus your collected grand total unlocks new weapons over time.

Admittedly, we miss the physical feedback of tapping keys in the Flash version – while the touch controls are solid and better than most, this is the kind of ultra-precise game in which any unrecognized action feels like a sucker punch to the jaw. Things can feel a little cramped on iPhone, but on iPad, the virtual buttons barely obscure the action in landscape mode – plus you can switch to portrait orientation to have the buttons set completely apart from the game window – an appreciated touch. Super Crate Box’s quickly amplified challenge rubbed us the wrong way at first, but the curse words and rage quits quickly gave way to determination, propelling us to push further and further with each fresh attempt. It may be bite-sized, but we’re nowhere close to retiring this brutally awesome affair, especially with updates promised at fast-advancing worldwide crate-collecting milestones.

Game: Kinectimals
Price: $2.99/£1.99
Size: 178MB
Buy it now from the iTunes store: US (opens in new tab) / UK (opens in new tab)

What’s Kinectimals doing on the App Store? Microsoft’s virtual pet simulator arrived alongside its Xbox Live companion app last month; a stunning move from a company that previously only supported its own Windows Phone platform with mobile content. Whatever the decision that led to this surprising reversal, it’s admittedly strange to be playing a game designed exclusively for Kinect – and with the word still in its title – on an iPad. But Kinectimals is actually an impressive effort, one that’s simpler and less alluring on the whole, but still offers a lot of solid content at a much, much tinier price point than its console counterpart.

Without the impressive tech-demo flourishes of the Kinect launch title – like voice commands and seeing the wild cats mimic your full-body motions – the iPad version boils Kinectimals down to its core elements. Let’s be honest: it’s not the most enthralling experience. Instead of flopping on the floor or hopping in place to interact with your striped or spotted feline, you’ll perform basic touchscreen swipes to make it perform tricks, or you’ll rub the screen to pet or clean the appreciative creature. Beyond learning lightweight skills, you can play fetch and skip rope as the cat, all of which helps level up your trainer ranking and grants access to additional areas of the island and extra items to play with.

Kinectimals isn’t quite as flashy as its Kinect counterpart, but still looks slick on both iPad and iPhone despite simpler animations and backdrops. It also has a couple tricks of its own – namely the ability to transfer pets back and forth between the iOS and Xbox 360 versions, plus you can unlock exclusive cats in the console game by using the mobile version. It’s an unexpected perk, but it keeps with the theme of being a well-intentioned and well-produced take on the franchise, not just a cheap port to capitalize on the name. While it lacks the wow-factor that made the Kinect original palatable for more than just tykes, Kinectimals makes a better-than-expected transition to Apple’s devices – and for the seriously reasonable price of three bucks.

The post iPad reviews of the week: Super Crate Box, Kinectimals appeared first on Game News.

Game: Zen Pinball
Price: Free
Size: 30.3MB
Buy it now from the iTunes store: US (opens in new tab) / UK (opens in new tab)

Zen Studio’s digital pinball offerings have gone by varying names on consoles – including Pinball FX, Zen Pinball, and Marvel Pinball – but the core experience always delivers a strong approximation of the real deal, and it’s finally available on iPad and iPhone via this universal app. As a free app supported by optional in-app purchases, Zen Pinball arrives with one complete original table (Sorcerer’s Lair) out of the box, while a pair of Marvel Comics tables (Captain America and Wolverine) are sold for $1.99 apiece.

More tables will undoubtedly arrive later down the line, but even if you’re not looking to spend a penny, Zen Pinball is well worth the download for its entertaining and realistic depiction of pinball, not to mention its skillful translation to the touchscreen. Simple taps on the left or right side of the screen control the respective bumpers, and the iPad can be held in either portrait or landscape views, with a variety of viewpoints available for each. Whether you want the entire table in sight or prefer to have the camera follow the action along the way, Zen Pinball looks great in every instance, and the original tables are charmingly designed and vary in terms of layout and features. You can even customize the size of the LED window in the corner.

All three tables come from the console iterations, with packed-in offering Sorcerer’s Lair employing a generic fantasy theme to surprisingly strong effect, as the lighting and sound effects convey the sensation of playing any early-90s machine at a dingy arcade. Captain America and Wolverine are both worthy additions at a couple bucks a pop, as each features iconic villains and imagery from the respective comic franchises, and like Sorcerer’s Lair, feel like they could pass for real-life tables. Zen Pinball isn’t the only great iPad pinball option, with Pinball HD and War Pinball HD also serving as true standouts, but with a gratis starter table and intriguing premium picks, it’s a must-snag for pinball nuts and leaderboard chasers.

Game: Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies
Price: $6.99/£4.99
Size: 357MB
Buy it now from the iTunes store: US (opens in new tab) / UK (opens in new tab)

Just as the original undead Nazi-slaying mode from Call of Duty: World at War made its way to iPhone and iPad as a standalone game, Black Ops’ follow-up offering is now available – and this time, it’s a universal app that works on both devices. Keeping true to the original experience, Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies can be played by up to four online players, and in a nice twist for the platform, the game uses the built-in microphone of each device to allow voice chat with your co-op comrades. While this may unfortunately mean overhearing nearby family arguments and singing babies while you play, we’d argue that it’s better than no chat at all.

Elsewhere, this touchscreen iteration feels like it’s just decent enough to consider, but hardly a fully featured or well-polished adaptation. At present, the game only includes the first map from the console/PC versions, with another promised later and surely more planned for sale within the app. While that one map faithfully captures the core Zombies experience, with numerous rooms to unlock, weapons to purchase, and anxious shamblers to fight off, the sluggish touchscreen aiming makes it a chore to look around in the heat of battle. Furthermore, even with the detail setting maxed on an iPad 2, the clunky player models and poor textures stand out while the framerate dips on occasion.

As such, it’s hardly the ideal way to experience the mode, but when playing online with a couple of pals (or random folks) it’s still a surprisingly solid experience. In a nice bonus, Black Ops Zombies also includes the entire Dead Ops Arcade minigame – a simple, overhead twin-stick shooter – hidden within Black Ops, which itself would be a perfect fit for a standalone iOS release. Paired with stylish menus and suitable online play, Black Ops Zombies generally seems like a well-considered release. It’s just one in serious need of refinement and additional core content before it feels like a worthy investment.

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You%26rsquo;re overworked and underpaid, with a desk littered with TPS reports and a bright red stapler. Your girlfriend cheated on you and you%26rsquo;re miserable%26mdash;until a pop-up on your work computer lets you know that you%26rsquo;ve won a fabulous tropical vacation! Naturally, this ends up being a series of narrow shark, sea urchin, and giant squid escapes as you deep sea dive your way to treasure and assorted errands like retrieving an old dive shop owner%26rsquo;s sunken exercise tape. But that makes a better game than lying on a beach anyhow. You may have missed The Deep when it first came out, but like most hidden treasures, it%26rsquo;s held its value beautifully.

Each deep sea diving spot has an open-ended 2D map with that familiar and beloved Castlevania: Symphony of the Night feeling. At each spot, which will gradually open up on your world map after completing a variety of objectives, you%26rsquo;ll find treasure, items, and portals to other linked maps. Underwater, you%26rsquo;ll manipulate a series of different-color levers to open their corresponding doors. Keeping track of which objectives I needed to accomplish in each zone, then backtracking to progress further to my goals, reminded me of Metroid in all the right ways. I instinctively reached for graph paper and a pencil to track the pathways, that%26rsquo;s how old school this felt.

You%26rsquo;ll control your nameless diver with a facsimile of an analog stick, which appears on the lower left-hand corner of your iPhone. Though clutch, jerking movements can be difficult when enemies come into close contact, the controls feel natural and responsive. Later on, you%26rsquo;ll pick up upgrades like the harpoon gun, which require simply button tapping on the lower left of your screen. This all works together very smoothly.

Collecting treasure underwater will enable you to buy upgrades at the dive shop on shore, which will help you move faster, light up the area around you, and %26lsquo;splode rocks%26mdash;just to name a few. You can also increase your oxygen capacity, which is tied directly to your health. Get hit by an enemy, and you%26rsquo;ll lose a bit of oxygen. Swim up to sea level (the water lightens up beautifully as you swim towards the surface) and your oxygen will fill up as soon as you break the surface. Naturally, the more you stay under, the more you oxygen will deplete, so you%26rsquo;ll need to balance deep-sea exploration with just how much your lungs can take.

The hand-drawn look of The Deep is definitely unique. Goofy, off-their-meds starfish give you wistful/intimidating looks from their reef perches, and mutated fish descendants of The Simpsons%26rsquo; Blinky roam the depths. The background and foregrounds of each level are densely populated with unique illustrations, which can be a bit busy. Overall, though, I%26rsquo;m thrilled by the monumental scenery, which has a scope that would be fully at home in a bigger-budget Xbox Live/PlayStation Network/WiiWare title. In which other iPhone game can you fully traverse a multi-level underwater Mayan pyramid?

Even after putting The Deep to bed, I kept returning to prod the edges of the ocean, searching for secrets I had missed or stealing one more glimpse at a shark so dorky that had it been the one to fight Richard Dreyfuss, they could have subdued it by throwing a graphic calculator overboard. You won%26rsquo;t regret spending your four bucks on this instead of getting 80% of the way to owning a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Extra Value Meal.

May 27, 2010

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In the last Infinity Blade update, Chair gave us the finger sword, Super Bowl ring, and an assortment of silly hats. This next swath of holiday-themed helms gives players an extra incentive to trudge back up to the God King. Maybe he won’t be such a grump if you’re wearing a helmet adorned with butterfly wings.

The survival mode is a perfect shake up and a nice reprieve from the serious investment of the campaign. You take on titans one after another with only a brief pause to update your weapon. There’s no inventory, health, or point to saving up money. If you don’t spend it, you probably won’t make it to the next baddie. Without the option to restart from a checkpoint or battle an enemy again, players have to see just how many titans they can kill before they keel over.

Finally, the most sweeping change to Infinity Blade is the online multiplayer arena, which operates through Apple’s Game Zone. Players can easily hop into a match and are automatically assigned to play as either a titan or a knight. The knight operates much the same way as in the campaign, but you should expect a much greater challenge. After defeating the insanely tough Deathless Kings in the most recent update, we still got our asses handed to us by some fellow humans.

Playing as a titan takes some getting used to but having seen how they operate; it’s just as fun as being knight. You are presented with a meter that allows you to select the speed and strength of your next attack and swiping the screen performs up to three attacks in a row. When being attacked by a knight, you can rapidly tap pop-up skulls to gain power and block the attack before he lands a combo on you. You are awarded with money (win or lose) between battles, and given the opportunity to improve your inventory. If you’re a titan, you can upgrade your character to a tougher monster. This was especially helpful in balancing certain games where we were outmatched.

Chair has stated (in an interview that you can read right here on GR next week) this is going to be the last major update for Infinity Blade and now the company is on to different horizons. We can only hope they continue to pack the next Chair game with free content after launch just like they did with Infinity Blade.

May 25, 2011

The post Infinity Blade multiplayer proves it’s the most gamer-loving game on iPhone appeared first on Game News.

“Evil scientists are joining forces. We call them the League of Evil. We believe they are developing weapons of mass destruction! You must eliminate these scientists by any means necessary!” And with that simple exposition, you – a white t-shirt wearin’, blue jean sportin’, cyborg-armed Agent – set about platforming and decapi-punching your way through more than a hundred micro levels.

League of Evil is as simple as it is frustratingly hardcore. Imagine a portable Super Meat Boy, but with a punch button. You double- and wall-jump over spikes, lasers, turrets, soldiers and more boobie traps that would put ACME to shame, in order to reach the end-of-level scientist. Reaching these evil-doers is as cathartic as grabbing the flag at the end of each level in Super Mario Bros. Except this time, you punch their heads off and admire the resulting pixilated explosion. Glorious.

Like many iPhone games, touchscreen controls are a little wonky at first, but surprisingly tight. You’ll fumble a bit at the start, especially considering how precise jumps need to be. But eventually your fears and second guesses will melt away and you’ll have only yourself to blame for every death.

However, for a game so dedicated to nuanced platforming, it’s surprising League includes a punch button. Granted you’ll barely use the thing and the inclusion is certainly a nice way to differentiate from similar titles, but slightly shifting your right thumb from jump to punch can nonetheless be the sudden jolt that causes your death.

Each level awards you a star-rating based on time completed and there’s a secret briefcase to collect. Additional episodes contain levels that are themed-based: a set of super difficult stages and an episode that is “block”-themed. Yes, block-themed. Don’t worry, the game does an excellent job setting up the complicated plot.

Apr 18, 2011

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We know, we know – you’ve had enough of match three puzzlers, right? We admit, the gaming world is drenched with them. It is possible to do one of two things with the genre, though: Throw in a twist, a la Puzzle Quest, or take the basic formula and do it better than everyone else. The latter applies with Liqua Pop, which looks absolutely gorgeous and offers simplistic, addictive gameplay.

Liqua Pop is going to impress you with looks right out of the gate, so be prepared for that. As you can see in the screens here, the game offers visions of vivid green leaves and crawling ladybugs as the backdrop to your adventure. The concept behind each level is basic: colored droplets of liquid will fall into your play space, and to pop them, you slide your finger around the board to pull the similarly colored ones together. By doing so, you’ll form a great big droplet you can either leave to burst by itself or pop deliberately by shaking the iPhone.

The strategy comes in when you start to time the way your droplets pop. Each has a little timer as it gets to a certain size. You have control over this timer, which is pretty cool. As mentioned before, you can pop it early with a shake, but you can also reset the timer to the start by double tapping the droplet. Manage it right, and you can pop several at the same time, which will earn you bonus points. The way you measure your progress through each level is by watching a little tree frog (ironically named Toadie), who crawls up a reed on the left side of the screen as you pop away. Rack up enough points, and he’ll crawl right into the next level, spiriting you along with him.

Is that all, you say? Not at all. Liqua Pop dices up the mix by adding bugs inside of the droplets, and they have special effects. The rainbow bug, for instance, enables you to turn all the droplets around you to the same color when you pop what it rests within, so using that strategy to your advantage will prove highly useful in later levels. As the bubbles fall more quickly, you’ll have to work faster or be forced to start again. Other bug types unlock too (a total of seven in all), such as the bomb bug, which creates a small explosion when freed and pops nearby drops. You’ll need all these as the difficulty ramps up, so be sure to master them early on. And don’t forget to keep an eye out for bugs that leave stuff behind that you don’t want on your board …

One of the only failings we could find with Liqua Pop was a lack of Gamecenter support, but otherwise it’s really a lot of fun to pick up and play. Controls are so simple a child could master them, and the fluid look joins with that effortlessly and makes for a very pleasant experience. We know you’ve played dozens of match three games, but this is one of the most visually pleasing ones you’re going to find.

Mar 23, 2011

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