ATV4 - How are the games?

[redman042]

Can anyone speak to the quality of the initial batch of games available on the ATV4? I'm particularly interested in hearing about Manticore Rising, Rayman, Transistor, Altos Adventure, Lumino City, etc.

Is this turning out to be a fun, casual family gaming machine? Or is the gaming a disappointment?

 

[2010mini]

they look like fun to me. These are not console quality games.... not even close!
don't come into it with that kind of expectation.

 

[KingCoffee]

Alto's Adventure is pretty sweet on the big screen. It's the only game I've tried so far.

 

[cpenner]

Asphalt 8 is pretty solid, especially with a gaming controller. Despite the fact it's not a gaming console, the graphics are still gorgeous. That's all I've tried so far.

 

[TrueBlou]

I've been enjoying Rayman Adventures, though I've only played a few levels, visually it's about on par with the recent outings on the consoles. I've owned PS4/Xbox One/Wii U and Vita outings. And particularly if you use a gamepad the controls hold up as well.

Some of the casual games are good, Alto's Adventure, Jetpack Joyride and the like. Though other than being on the big screen, no different to the iPhone/iPad outings

It's never going to be in the same ballpark as the current crop of consoles, although results not far off the last gen, when it comes to 3D games should be achievable.

Of course gaming, for me, has never been about the visuals and from a gameplay perspective there's no reason the Apple TV can't produce stunningly enjoyable games. It's all down to the developers and what they decide to produce really. I've been having a blast playing my upcoming game on the tv, it changes the experience quite a bit.

I think it'll be a nice addition as a complimentary gaming device to my consoles but it's not about to replace any.

 

[chiwaw]

Can anyone speak to the quality of the initial batch of games available on the ATV4? I'm particularly interested in hearing about Manticore Rising, Rayman, Transistor, Altos Adventure, Lumino City, etc.

Is this turning out to be a fun, casual family gaming machine? Or is the gaming a disappointment?

Your question is a little strange: you can't judge the device itself by the quality of the games right now.

As a gaming device, granted being one for smaller games than the big consoles, then yes it's a great little cheap game console if you purchase a good game controller with it (I got the Nimbus and it IS a fantastic controller). BUT with one caveat: Apple's policy to force games to support the Siri remote. It's incredibly crippling, and hopefully they will revisit and remove this policy. Maybe they could add an icon in the App Store that says something like "require a dedicated game controller".

As for the current selection of games themselves, it entirely depend on what games you like. I'm sure you can try most of them on your other iOS devices. And there's surely more to come now that there is a real App Store in there. But something we can answer you is: these games runs great on the ATV4. At least all the ones I tried.

So far the games I've been playing the most:
- Breakneck
- Rayman Adventures
- Oceanhorn
- Edge EX
- Asphalt 8
- Jetpack Joyride
- Crossy Road (never liked it on other devices, but this time with the Nimbus I kind of enjoy it)

I'm a little sad no new games were added since I got my ATV4 a week ago. Hopefully they'll start flocking soon!

 

[Night Spring]

I'm really enjoying the hit tennis game. You use the remote as your racket, and you play various opponents the computer controls. It's a pretty simplistic game, but great for getting in some indoor exercise.

 

[Michael CM1]

I haven't jumped in too far, but I like one I found that is a shuffleboard/bowling blend that cost $2. It's kind of hard to figure out the accuracy when playing shuffleboard, but it's a very neat bowling game.

I haven't seen much else yet that really catches my eye. The Wii Sports-looking game looks decent, but the graphics are always the "make it so a 4-year-old is entertained" cartoonish type. If there was an option for Mii-like characters, that would help out some.

I think for tvOS 2.0, Apple needs to relax the "you must have controls on the remote!" requirement. I can see it making sense right now not to alienate new buyers. But for a lot of games to work, they can't be hamstrung by needing to run on the remote.

 

[TrueBlou]

I haven't jumped in too far, but I like one I found that is a shuffleboard/bowling blend that cost $2. It's kind of hard to figure out the accuracy when playing shuffleboard, but it's a very neat bowling game.

I haven't seen much else yet that really catches my eye. The Wii Sports-looking game looks decent, but the graphics are always the "make it so a 4-year-old is entertained" cartoonish type. If there was an option for Mii-like characters, that would help out some.

I think for tvOS 2.0, Apple needs to relax the "you must have controls on the remote!" requirement. I can see it making sense right now not to alienate new buyers. But for a lot of games to work, they can't be hamstrung by needing to run on the remote.

The whole requirement to support the Siri remote isn't really the problem some would think, or that some make it out to be.

the only thing Apple stipulates is that we offer basic gameplay compatibility.

The Siri remote basically has two analog inputs, the touch pad and the gyroscopic controls. It then has two buttons and a third for pausing/bringing up a menu. There's nothing you can do that can't use that setup for basic controls to satisfy Apple.

I've mentioned this in another thread but as I can't be bothered looking for it I'll use my usual first person shooter analogy.

You can use the touchpad for movement and the motion controls for aiming. Use one of the buttons for shooting, the other for jump/reload or whatever. Then you use the menu puttin to pause and bring up a menu for selecting weapons and so on.

It's not the best setup ever, but crucially it works and it meets Apples requirements.

You then have the freedom to offer a full, expanded control layout for those of us who purchase pads. With analog sticks for moving and aiming and a raft of buttons for shoot/jump/reload/cover/switching weapons and so on.

The Siri remote compatibility doesn't limit anything. At most it requires some creative thinking to decide what the minimum functions your game needs for a control setup are.

 

[Night Spring]

The Wii Sports-looking game looks decent, but the graphics are always the "make it so a 4-year-old is entertained" cartoonish type.

Yes, that's what I like about Hit Tennis, the graphics are realistic, even though it's simple -- your opponent is just a racket while play is going on, and you only see them while scores are displayed, but they look like real people, and the tennis courts look like real tennis courts.

 

[TrueBlou]

Yes, that's what I like about Hit Tennis, the graphics are realistic, even though it's simple -- your opponent is just a racket while play is going on, and you only see them while scores are displayed, but they look like real people, and the tennis courts look like real tennis courts.

Unrealistic, simplistic or cartoonish graphics do not a bad game make. Despite having a few Forza games for Xbox One. Drive Club, Project Cars and NFS:Rivals on PS 4. My most played racing game this year has been Mario Kart 8, it's a blast.

 

[Mr.C]

The whole requirement to support the Siri remote isn't really the problem some would think, or that some make it out to be.

the only thing Apple stipulates is that we offer basic gameplay compatibility.

The Siri remote basically has two analog inputs, the touch pad and the gyroscopic controls. It then has two buttons and a third for pausing/bringing up a menu. There's nothing you can do that can't use that setup for basic controls to satisfy Apple.

I've mentioned this in another thread but as I can't be bothered looking for it I'll use my usual first person shooter analogy.

You can use the touchpad for movement and the motion controls for aiming. Use one of the buttons for shooting, the other for jump/reload or whatever. Then you use the menu puttin to pause and bring up a menu for selecting weapons and so on.

It's not the best setup ever, but crucially it works and it meets Apples requirements.

You then have the freedom to offer a full, expanded control layout for those of us who purchase pads. With analog sticks for moving and aiming and a raft of buttons for shoot/jump/reload/cover/switching weapons and so on.

The Siri remote compatibility doesn't limit anything. At most it requires some creative thinking to decide what the minimum functions your game needs for a control setup are.

Great explanation. I was going to say I'm not sure why people are so hung up on Apple's requirements regards using the remote as a controller. Developers can in theory if they made the effort and put their mind to it come up with a basic control scheme for the remote and one that offers more options by using a controller.

The only game I've played so far is Rayman and it works pretty well with the remote as a controller. Personally I don't see myself playing many games on the Apple TV as I have an Xbox One, PS4 and a Wii U as well as a Vita and a 3DS so prefer to use one of those for my gaming needs. That said I may still invest in a game pad for the Apple TV for those games that support one incase I want to play them.

 

[redman042]

I realize it's early days, but would like to know that, if I pull the trigger now, there are some great titles that work well and demonstrate the Apple TV's viability as a living room gaming machine. Sounds like that's definitely the case. That's good to hear. I do have an Xbox One upstairs for hardcore gaming, and I know the Apple TV id a much more casual experience. That's fine with me. I want something downstairs that the whole family can enjoy.

How does multiplayer gaming work? Do you have to buy another Siri remote or use the one remote in combo with a third party controller or a phone? Does it work well?

 

[TrueBlou]

I realize it's early days, but would like to know that, if I pull the trigger now, there are some great titles that work well and demonstrate the Apple TV's viability as a living room gaming machine. Sounds like that's definitely the case. That's good to hear. I do have an Xbox One upstairs for hardcore gaming, and I know the Apple TV id a much more casual experience. That's fine with me. I want something downstairs that the whole family can enjoy.

How does multiplayer gaming work? Do you have to buy another Siri remote or use the one remote in combo with a third party controller or a phone? Does it work well?

You can only have one Siri remote paired with the Apple TV (the ones they sell are just for replacement purposes.) So you'll have to buy a gamepad (or two, you can have the Siri remote and up to two additional controllers connected.) Some games do allow the use of an iPhone or iPod touch as a controller, but this is by no means a guaranteed feature, it's at the discretion of the developer.

There are a limited number of games at the moment, but more will come (mine will be out in time for Christmas , ahem, anyway) there are good, ok, iffy and cr@p just as with any game system. Lots are free or available as a a universal purchase, so if you already own them you get an instant game collection to start you off.

Games like Manticore Rising and Rayman Adventures show that there's plenty of scope for good, (last gen) console quality games. It's really down to the developers and their budgets, but this is Apple, look at the AppStore on iOS, there will be plenty of support for the Apple TV, porting games to it from iOS is such a trivial process it's crazy not to.

I never wanted one with the intention of using it primarily as a gaming machine but it's going to sit nicely alongside my consoles and I'll definitely be investing in games for it.

 

[chiwaw]

porting games to it from iOS is such a trivial process it's crazy not to.

Trivial for the iOS games that already support MFi controllers, I agree. But touch only games (pretty much all the games my studio ever released) could be quite a challenge, and it's not clear yet if Apple TV will generate enough revenus to be worth the trouble. I hope it end up a financial success and convince more and more developers to jump in.

 

[chiwaw]

Do you have to buy another Siri remote or use the one remote in combo with a third party controller or a phone? Does it work well?

If you're planning on using your Apple TV for games, then it's a no brainer to get a game controller. Of the three different MFi controllers I own, I personally recommend the SteelSeries Nimbus. By a long shot. It's a really, really good controller.

 

[TrueBlou]

Trivial for the iOS games that already support MFi controllers, I agree. But touch only games (pretty much all the games my studio ever released) could be quite a challenge, and it's not clear yet if Apple TV will generate enough revenus to be worth the trouble. I hope it end up a financial success and convince more and more developers to jump in.

The game I've been working on for the past two years was touch only up until I got my dev kit from Apple. It was only then that I decided to port it to Apple TV and add in MFI controller support.

It was ridiculously easy, it took a couple of hours to get the engine up and running on Apple TV and the controller support only took a few hours to get something I was happy with.

Granted I tweaked the controls over the course of a couple of months but that was really only because I'm stupidly obsessive about good controls.

I've loved every second of working with the Apple TV. It's so similar to iOS, obviously, but even the TvOS specific stuff is easy to work with.

As for financial success, well that can be a crapshoot on any of the AppStores. I ported my game because I wanted to play it on the big screen and I'm glad I did.

 

[chiwaw]

It was ridiculously easy, it took a couple of hours to get the engine up and running on Apple TV and the controller support only took a few hours to get something I was happy with.

Doing the in-game support would be the easy part for our games. Our biggest issue is that all of our games are menus heavy, and the entire UI system and menu flow is designed with touch input only. There's zero support for controller navigations. THAT's the part that would be very time consuming for us. Not impossible that's for sure, just very time consuming (plus QA), and therefore difficult to convince the stakeholders it's financially worth the investment and trouble

 

[TrueBlou]

Doing the in-game support would be the easy part for our games. Our biggest issue is that all of our games are menus heavy, and the entire UI system and menu flow is designed with touch input only. There's zero support for controller navigations. THAT's the part that would be very time consuming for us. Not impossible that's for sure, just very time consuming (plus QA), and therefore difficult to convince the stakeholders it's financially worth the investment and trouble

Yeah I could see that taking up a fair bit of time. There's a fair bit of interface shenanigans in mine, I ended up changing to standard (albeit customised) interface elements for the Apple TV, that way the TvOS focus engine takes care of the movement and navigation around the interface for me. Wouldn't much have fancied rolling my own implementation, waaayyyyy too much work

 

[purpleparrotuk]

10 pin shuffle is now on atv. I love this on my iPad. Best of all because I already bought the pro version on iPad it lets me install it for free on atv.

 

[size06]

Apple tv 4 with the new remote really feels like playing with a WII except you don't have these awesome nintendo games. The Remote works perfectly fine for gaming and I don't think I will need a game controller anytime soon.

 

[Jman13]

If you want to game a lot, get a controller. Worth it. Some of the games are really nice, others are small fun diversions. I've always been a fan of Geometry Wars, and Geometry Wars 3 with the controller is incredible. It runs buttery smooth and is such a good game. I can't imagine trying to play it without dual analog sticks, though.

My daughter loves Beat Sports, and I think it's fairly entertaining as well. Uses the Siri remote well. Altos adventure looks nice on the big screen and Does Not Commute is really good on the ATV.

 

[nebo1ss]

I'm really enjoying the hit tennis game. You use the remote as your racket, and you play various opponents the computer controls. It's a pretty simplistic game, but great for getting in some indoor exercise.

Don't let that control slip out of your hands when using it as a racket. Seems it will break site easily if dropped.

 

[OutSpoken]

I think for tvOS 2.0, Apple needs to relax the "you must have controls on the remote!" requirement. I can see it making sense right now not to alienate new buyers. But for a lot of games to work, they can't be hamstrung by needing to run on the remote.

But then equally think of the backlash if Apple did that, and all those customers who bought an Apple TV with the promise that all games were playable with the bundled remote were suddenly shut out from the next wave of games that require an MFI controller..

I see yours and many people's frustration but at the same time, its up to the game developers to be creative in their approach to making games. Personally I think Apple should have made a more practical remote/controller...but oh wel it is what it is...until the Apple TV5

 

[Night Spring]

Don't let that control slip out of your hands when using it as a racket. Seems it will break site easily if dropped.

Yeah, I've dropped the remote a few times. Have a soft rug on the floor, though, so no danger of the remote breaking.