App of My Eye » WiFi

Mage Story

Art — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:59:13 +0000

What’s fascinating about the App Store is that I can enjoy plenty of RPGs for the cost of a single console version. Whether that game is Dragon Age: Origins or Eternal Sonata for the Xbox 360, I can buy between 6 to 8 RPGs for the iPhone, which would probably more than double my play-through time in the process. But are there enough RPGs worth purchasing for the iPhone? In my opinion, there are and what’s even more impressive is that they get better and better. An example of this is VeryPixel Inc.’s Mage Story, which pays homage to Blizzard’s Diablo franchise (as well as Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings and to a lesser extent, Dumbledore from Harry Potter series), while carving out it’s own niche on the platform with unique features, such as network play via WiFi and level design. While I may not agree with its own description of being the first Diablo-style action RPG on the iPhone (I thought Pixel Mine’s Underworlds had that distinction), Mage Story still has solid graphics, improved controls, and the right gameplay balance to level your character at a fair and steady pace. Although experienced RPGers may find the story a bit light and the game length somewhat capped, improvements and additions to the game by the developer have begun, which is always an awesome experience knowing the makers care about their audience by reading the feedback from the community. It’s definitely something you’ll never get from a developer on another platform. Highly recommended. Price: 99¢.

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iCombat

Art — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:21:19 +0000

A couple of months ago, I was looking for a tank game along the lines of the old Atari vector tank game, Battlezone, but instead, I ran into a slew of games, which were closer in nature to EA’s Desert Strike and Nintendo’s Battalion Wars. Through it all, I eventually did find a comparable tank game to an Atari classic, but it wasn’t Battlezone. As the name suggests, iCombat pays tribute to one of the more popular games to originate from the Atari 2600, Combat, while updating graphics, gameplay, and adding online features. First, with the simple objective of defeating all enemies thrown at you in each level, the mazes themselves are presented in 3/4 overhead view in landscape mode. Therefore, you get to see all the action in a single map, which definitely helps when the addition of power-ups to help boost your success is essential. Next, online head-to-head gameplay via WiFi and global online leaderboards to measure yourself against the best in the world increases replay value tremendously. But the biggest improvement in the 50 level game has to be the controls, which now allows you to steer either by tilt or by a virtual directional key. Either way, it’s easier than ever to be evasive while leading your target for the kill shot. Extremely challenging and fun. Price: 99¢.

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WifiPad

Art — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:08:37 +0000

To take a break from iPhone games (believe it or not), I check out games on the PC. In tough economic times like these, a good source of free games comes from the Internet at websites like AddictingGames.com and Download.com as well as cable channel websites like Discovery, MTV, and SciFi. Call them casual or online games, either way, there is rarely anything to download or register for to play them. In the past, I often wished I had a controller rather than just a keyboard to use so I can really kickback and play with my heels up. But I didn’t want to spend the money. So instead, I downloaded WifiPad for the iPhone, which works by connecting to your computer via a Wi-Fi network. While you’ll need to download a small program to your computer, it works very well, especially for games that uses the keyboard for default controls. Wholly customizable, change and save key configurations, visual themes, and even button layouts. Highly recommended for the cheap gamer in all of us. Price: Free.

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WifiTrak 2.5

Art — Sat, 09 May 2009 09:34:46 +0000

Primarily for iPod Touch users as iPhone users should have unlimited data access based on available plans, this handy app, WifiTrak 2.5, helps you connect to a WiFi hotspot by scanning your immediate vicinity. A list of available networks, both public and private, is displayed in order of signal strength. Filter your preferences by setting your own custom defaults. Easy to use and a definite must-have for iPod Touch devices. Price: 99¢.

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