Epic Games Launches 'Infinity Blade' - an Unreal-Based Game for iPhone and iPad

[petsounds]

Watched the video review at IGN. As much as I wanted to like it, and it looks beautiful, there's a couple of major flaws.

First, it's a total grindfest dungeon crawler, with that looks like a limited number of monsters. I mean, literally you keep fighting the same boss over and over, who just gets tougher each time. RPG elements limited to picking up random equipment upgrades.

Second, the fighting system, at least as the IGN reviewer displayed it, looks not "sweet" but instead like it responds well to movements from an ADD child high on speed and 4Loko. There doesn't seem to be much strategy aside from touching the right dodge button or guessing the correct swing direction for a sword parry. Sort of like one of the arm-flailing Wii sword games transposed to iPhone.

I have to say, the amount of free press Epic is getting on this (including Engadget) is ridiculous. There are some other apps in the store that are much more deserving of hype than this.

 

[EugenexYew]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Uh no you actually need some strategy in this. You need to dodge and block every once in a while and anticipate your opponents attack instead of just spamming random swipes. Anyway, the reason why this game is getting so much hype is simply because of it graphics. Probably the first of it's kind on a PHONE.

 

[iMaggot]

I call this a graphics engine demo, Not a game.

 

[reden]

This will never sell.

Bold words from a nobody.

 

[Cougarcat]

I call this a graphics engine demo, Not a game.

Is it short?

 

[Jayomat]

Oops, guess RPG on rails is too simple of a description.

on rails?

 

[Cougarcat]

on rails?

Meaning, you can't move around. Rage is on rails.

 

[PlipPlop]

Buttons please for better games Apple please.

 

[0098386]

I am literally lost for words. This game is so empty and shallow, it just looks pretty. There are Gameboy Advance RPGs with more depth and gameplay than this.

Yet people are rating it so high?

Gaming weeps.

 

[fullstop102]

I agree with you! It would be fantastic on the iPad!

I shall be installing it on my iPhone4 today and my iPad tonight!

 

[fullstop102]

Bold words from a nobody.

I think he was being sarcastic!

 

[fullstop102]

Heavy Weight

This comes in at 318.3 Meg.

Pretty hefty size, suppose this is the future. At least we don't have to wait for the CD to be delivered in the post anymore.

 

[Jayomat]

Meaning, you can't move around. Rage is on rails.

So you can't actually control where your character goes? Like in the good old 'Time Crisis' (completely different genre though)?

 

[Cougarcat]

This comes in at 318.3 Meg.

Pretty hefty size, suppose this is the future. At least we don't have to wait for the CD to be delivered in the post anymore.

If you think that's big, wait till Riven comes out later this month. It's 2 GB.

So you can't actually control where your character goes? Like in the good old 'Time Crisis' (completely different genre though)?

Right.

 

[fullstop102]

If you think that's big, wait till Riven comes out later this month. It's 2 GB.



Right.

And I thought Myst was big at 533Meg. I never really got into the Myst games and with sizes like that, I probably wont on my iOS devices either.

 

[aberrero]

I am literally lost for words. This game is so empty and shallow, it just looks pretty. There are Gameboy Advance RPGs with more depth and gameplay than this.

Yet people are rating it so high?

Gaming weeps.

ugh. I felt horrible after paying money for Rage. I just bought this one too before reading comments. Hopefully it is better.

 

[smiddlehurst]

Watched the video review at IGN. As much as I wanted to like it, and it looks beautiful, there's a couple of major flaws.

First, it's a total grindfest dungeon crawler, with that looks like a limited number of monsters. I mean, literally you keep fighting the same boss over and over, who just gets tougher each time. RPG elements limited to picking up random equipment upgrades.

Second, the fighting system, at least as the IGN reviewer displayed it, looks not "sweet" but instead like it responds well to movements from an ADD child high on speed and 4Loko. There doesn't seem to be much strategy aside from touching the right dodge button or guessing the correct swing direction for a sword parry. Sort of like one of the arm-flailing Wii sword games transposed to iPhone.

I have to say, the amount of free press Epic is getting on this (including Engadget) is ridiculous. There are some other apps in the store that are much more deserving of hype than this.

After having actually, you know, played the game I can safely say that:

1) You've utterly missed the point. This isn't an RPG, it's a beat-em-up. More than anything else it reminds me of something like Street Fighter or Punch Out except with additional layers of stratergy via equipment selection and experience.

2) The fighting system is far, far deeper than you seem to think. Timing is crucial, decisions have to be made on-the-fly as to block, dodge or parry and parries have to be spot on in terms of position and timing. Sword strokes follow your movements and there's no way to stop 'em so swiping the whole screen instead of a short stroke leaves you potentially open to a counter. The Street Fighter example is a good one here, yes it's possible to win by spamming attacks (although that'll only get you so far) but when you see a skilled player at work you realise how much deeper the combat system goes.

For me this really is nearly the perfect mobile game. Quick bursts of gameplay on the move, half an hour or so to go through a bloodline when bored on the sofa and enough depth to keep you coming back over and over again. Sadly people seem to insist on placing either unrealistic expectations or utterly irrelevant criteria (in this case, 'it's on rails!!!!' as a bad thing... no, it's perfect for the game type) and whining doth ensue. The amount of content right now easily justifies the £4 asking price (especially as it's a universal app) and there's more to come with a lot of planned updates to the title.

 

[Frosticus]

Downloaded Infinity Blade this morning and had a play with it on the train to work - not half bad. It is a beautiful game, albeit simple - if you want depth, go and play Lil' Pirates
..seriously though, it has as much depth as I need from a casual game, and after all, aren't casual gamers the target audience here..??

 

[aberrero]

OK, so far, the controls on the iPad are terrible. I need to be able to at least play it in portrait mode so I can reach the middle.

 

[litchie]

Playing now, It is unbelievable!

 

[koobcamuk]

I'll never play games like this on my iPad. I use my iPad for so much more. I also hate games like this.

Awful.

ugh. I felt horrible after paying money for Rage. I just bought this one too before reading comments. Hopefully it is better.

You should really stop buying such poor games.

 

[iLilana]

hmmf

it bugs me that developers make awesome quality native games for iOS but won't make that extra mile for OS X.

 

[KnightWRX]

I am literally lost for words. This game is so empty and shallow, it just looks pretty.

You're surprised ? Anything from iD software or Epic is always shallow and just looks pretty. Both those companies are in the business of selling game engines, not actual games.

 

[toxer]

Jorneyman Project

They should port Jorneyman Project to iPad. That would be awesome.

 

[petsounds]

After having actually, you know, played the game I can safely say that:

1) You've utterly missed the point. This isn't an RPG, it's a beat-em-up. More than anything else it reminds me of something like Street Fighter or Punch Out except with additional layers of stratergy via equipment selection and experience.

I don't think I 'missed the point.' I listed reasons why I think it's flawed for the price you pay. My OPINION.

2) The fighting system is far, far deeper than you seem to think. Timing is crucial, decisions have to be made on-the-fly as to block, dodge or parry and parries have to be spot on in terms of position and timing. Sword strokes follow your movements and there's no way to stop 'em so swiping the whole screen instead of a short stroke leaves you potentially open to a counter. The Street Fighter example is a good one here, yes it's possible to win by spamming attacks (although that'll only get you so far) but when you see a skilled player at work you realise how much deeper the combat system goes.

Than I seem to think? Well since there's no demo, I went on seeing the IGN fellow play the game. And from that, the gameplay looks pretty terrible. You mentioned Punch-Out! earlier. Punch-Out was about memorizing each guy's pattern, exploiting their weaknesses. I didn't see that in the gameplay I watched. I saw DODGE ... SWING SWING SWING SWING ... DODGE ... SWING SWING SWING .... PARRY. Mind-numbing. If you're saying each monster has its own AI, that's cool. It didn't seem like it from what I saw. You mentioned Street Fighter. Well I didn't see anything that resembled a combo or chain. I just saw a lot of finger flailing.

Glad you enjoy it, but I'll pass.