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

[Irishman]

He was giving examples of games with depth, not particular genre games he enjoyed. You can find games with more depth than this one in just about any genre.

He is being very defensive about the genres he likes, whereas I don't care. I'm not judging him based on that, but to list Infinity Blade along with Quake and Unreal shows he has a dislike for FPS. Again, his choice, but don't make out like it's a choice of depth versus graphics, because it's not.

It's about different genres.

 

[Cougarcat]

Quake and unreal don't have depth, either.

 

[zweigand]

Games don't have to have depth to be awesome. Look at angry birds, tetris, etc. Infinity Blade is on rails, so what. It wouldn't bother me if the whole walking to the next enemy part was omitted altogether. Just show the enemy and let me click "fight". The fun behind the game isn't tied to walking around. It's tied to the fact that each opponent you face is tougher/faster than the last one. You use the same mechanics over and over (I.e. Tetris) but you don't get bored because the difficulty is escalating.

 

[Irishman]

Quake and unreal don't have depth, either.

Quake 2 and the original Unreal have depth for their genre. So did, now that I'm thinking back, Undying by Clive Barker. Damn, I get chills just thinking about it. And American McGee's Alice, and Deus Ex.

 

[tigress666]

Another factor to consider is the touch interface. We have no touchpad or joystick. Yes, they could use a virtual touchpad, but they didn't.

So? I've been having fun playing Assassin's Creed which does have a virtual joystick and overall it's not bad! And it is the kind of game that a physical keypad would probably be better. They still managed to make the controls usable and the game very fun. Yeah, it's a tad bit more frustrating than a physical keypad but not enough to ruin the game by any means. It's been one of my favorite games to play on the iphone (despite the fact I have no idea what the ***** the story is, they seemed to have just randomly placed me in some place and said, "Go here". I like actually having a story to my games usually).

GameLoft I think has done an excellent job of putting fun to play games on the iPhone (going to try Prince of Persia next).

 

[Piggie]

I'm sorry for posting this, but I just have a odd feeling about this and also the Rage Game.

I can't help but get the feelings we are being cheated into seeing something that's not what we thing.

This smells so much of pre rendered locations, bits of video, camera panning and rolling around a pre rendered location.

These games just feel like they are using tricks (very clever ones) to make us think the iPad and iPhone are actually doing something they are not.

Not quite as bad but a little like Dungeons Lair where you were in effect controlling a cartoon.

I know it's not like that, but you get my drift.

Admittedly it LOOKS amazing, but I just have the feeling I'm being fooled into thinking I'm seeing what I'm not.

As in the it's easier to pan a viewpoint around a scene as opposed to actually rendering the scene.

 

[Nuvi]

What a crap game when compared to the Epic Citadel tech demo (free on app store)... Citadel was mind blowing but Infinity Blade is just crap. I mean in Infinity Blade you can't really move at all. Just click to hot spot and go there in cut scene like animation. You can't even pan more then 180 degrees when standing still... The game is also very short and boring. In Citadel you can go anywhere in full first person mode...

 

[tigress666]

I'm sorry for posting this, but I just have a odd feeling about this and also the Rage Game.

I can't help but get the feelings we are being cheated into seeing something that's not what we thing.

This smells so much of pre rendered locations, bits of video, camera panning and rolling around a pre rendered location.

These games just feel like they are using tricks (very clever ones) to make us think the iPad and iPhone are actually doing something they are not.

Not quite as bad but a little like Dungeons Lair where you were in effect controlling a cartoon.

I know it's not like that, but you get my drift.

Admittedly it LOOKS amazing, but I just have the feeling I'm being fooled into thinking I'm seeing what I'm not.

As in the it's easier to pan a viewpoint around a scene as opposed to actually rendering the scene.

Yep, this too.

It's not so amazing when you look at it and say most of this is pre-rendered an video and not really the game rendering itself. That was why I was so impressed with the epic citadel demo. I was wondering how they were going to have it add in fighting and more elements and the phone still run fluidly. I guess they didn't (ok, I can't be fair cause I haven't bought the game yet but from the video review I saw it really didn't even look as impressive as Epic Citadel exactly for the reason in post I quoted pointed out).

So I'd say it's not even worth the money to be wowed by what they can do with the phone, Epic Citadel was more impressive (and free).

 

[KnightWRX]

Quake 2 and the original Unreal have depth for their genre.

Uh ? Quake 2 had depth ? Seriously. Kingpin, Sin, Hexen, Hexen 2, Half-life, those had depth for FPS games. Quake 2 was just a bunch of monster models and some different guns.

The original Unreal was the same deal. Same game as all previous FPS tech demos, different guns/levels.

This smells so much of pre rendered locations, bits of video, camera panning and rolling around a pre rendered location.

Download Epic Citadel. It's a free roam version of the game engine used in Infinity Blade. You'll see there's no tricks there. The 3GS and other iOS devices that came later actually have quite capable GPUs.

Yes, id's rage uses tons of tricks. Epic's stuff is the real deal.

 

[syndalis]

yes, this is all very real.

The gameplay is what dictates the camera control. Epic Citadel arguable looked even better, and you had total control over the environment.

 

[Dbrown]

Such as what titles?

Can be any type of game. If it requires a moderate amount of control, it will suck on a touchscreen device.

Touchscreens are only good for simplistic games. Forget any games that require multiple buttons. Or any game that requires precision. Those types of games need to be dumbed down to work on a touchscreen. Case in point, this infinity blade game.

Of course it could be argued that the game was dumbed down because casuals cant be bothered to figure out advanced controls. I suspect its both, but either way games suck on touchscreens.

 

[sparkso]

So when is the Unreal Dev Kit available for the iOS?

 

[Jare]

Honestly, I already got up close to level 30, have the best gear, the God King is level 100+, although I still can't beat him 100% of the time all you need to learn is how to Dodge and Parry properly and then the game is cake. Now all there is to do is get insane amounts of money and level up.

 

[petvas]

Actually, I listed 1 world building game, 1 turn based strategy game, 2 adventure games, and 2 Action RPGs. I didn't go for any particular genres, just listed games that were cheaper than 5.99$ and had more depth, to rebute the fact that people are saying "this is the most depth you'll get for 5.99$".

The only difference is that Infinity Blade is a universal app.

 

[bobob]

I can see it now:

"You've never seen graphics like this before on such a tiny screen! Even more fun than Farmville!" —Gizmodo

"Infinity Blade is without a doubt one of the most impressive games in the App Store.

There isn't a huge deal of variation from fight to fight, but the combat dynamic is fresh, difficult, and engaging.

Shading, lighting, shadow—all of these things look as nuanced as they ever have on iOS, creeping ever closer to console quality.

It's tough, but it's enjoyably responsive." —Gizmodo

 

[gari22]

What is depth in gaming?

Help me out here. Is it the same thing as lifespan?
Seems like you're arguing about which game has more of a very subjective and impossible to measure quality.

 

[Hal Itosis]

What a crap game when compared to the Epic Citadel tech demo (free on app store)... Citadel was mind blowing but Infinity Blade is just crap. I mean in Infinity Blade you can't really move at all. Just click to hot spot and go there in cut scene like animation. You can't even pan more then 180 degrees when standing still... The game is also very short and boring. In Citadel you can go anywhere in full first person mode...

Unfortunately i must agree.

I had much more fun playing marathon 15 years ago on a 68030 machine with a 25 MHz clock and only 8 megs of RAM. With its combination of motion, puzzle-solving, story-telling (encompassing elements like humor, irony as well as imagination), and for simply being both mentally stimulating and physically challenging... the marathon trilogy (along with its numerous 3rd-party scenarios such as EVIL, Rubicon, Tempus Irae, etc.) will never be outdone.

Never.

I would pay beaucoup bucks to get marathon running on my iPad, with these gorgeous graphics.

 

[BC2009]

CRPGs, except for things like Ultima/Fable, have never really been actual RPGs like their table-top counterparts where your actions have influence on the world around you. Most CRPGs have been adventure games with statistics, where you follow a linear or semi-linear story. That's just been the accepted definition of RPG when it comes to video games.

Yeah, I know -- I just really like it when they try to bring some elements of role playing to affect the attitudes of the others in the virtual world torward your character/avatar. I think some of the Star Wars titles have done this to a small degree (providing multiple sets of rails) with regards to choosing the light side versus the dark side. Waaaaay back in the day, I played a game called Legacy of the Ancients on my Apple IIc. One cool thing about the game was if you did something in town to upset the local authorities that they actually remembered you for a time. So if you left town and entered the world map, but then turned around and came back in town too quickly they would immediately try to arrest you. That was one of the first attempts I saw at having your in-game actions have some lasting effect.

 

[BC2009]

Have you checked out The Quest? It's for iOS
It has the base game and like 10 expansions. Each with about 40 hours of gameplay. It's exactly what you described. Possibly my favorite game of all-time!

I will check it out.

 

[globalist]

If it requires a moderate amount of control, it will suck on a touchscreen device.

This.

 

[Osarkon]

Just to deviate from the whole depth vs graphics debate briefly, it shows as being compatible with the iPhone 3G.

Can anybody with a 3g confirm whether or not it plays well?

It seems like a far-fetched claim when iOS 4 barely runs smoothly on the phone, let alone a game like this.

 

[0098386]

Quake and unreal don't have depth, either.

Well, actually they do.

They have control depth. That is there are little techniques the player can pull off to keep ahead of other players (bunny hopping etc). There is also a massive amount of content. Quake 1 has 4 episodes and a full functioning multiplayer mode that became the standard for every game to hit, it's engine was so good it spawned virtually every FPS engine used today.

Unreal has a massive story, the same game-changing techniques players can learn, lots of weapons, lots of enemies and large, free-roaming levels.

Both those games are deeper than Infinity Blade. Which, at best, is a casual RPG.

 

[KnightWRX]

Well, actually they do.

They have control depth. That is there are little techniques the player can pull off to keep ahead of other players (bunny hopping etc). There is also a massive amount of content. Quake 1 has 4 episodes and a full functioning multiplayer mode that became the standard for every game to hit, it's engine was so good it spawned virtually every FPS engine used today.

That's not depth, that's a tech demo. Input is also part of the game engine, it's tech, not depth. You're mistaking depth for raw code. Quake had no depth, the 4 episodes were bland, rehashing the same textures/models all around just tossing different levels with same linear "find keys, get to last door" type of play, new guns, new monsters, that's not depth either, that's just rehashing what has already been done.

By your definition of depth, Graphics depth also exists.

Unreal has a massive story

That fits into one 10 word sentence.

And please don't call Infinity Blade an RPG. Stats and equipment don't a RPG make. It's a fighting game or a hack n'slash action game.

 

[Hal Itosis]

jesus, calm down, can't i be away from the computer for like 3 hours ? You guys are ranting and foaming at the mouth as if i'm evading the question or something.

Cheaper and more in depth (more than 5 minutes of repetitive gameplay that gets old) :

- zenonia
- zenonia 2
- the secret of monkey island (yes, oldie, but way more goodie than a simple tech demo).
- monkey island 2 : Lechuck's revenge
- sim city
- battle for wesnoth

these are just the ones i know. More in depth.

|_. /\/\. A. O.

 

[Kenrik]

Combat reminds me of demons souls... playing the same level over and over... Same.