Apps Weekly: Street Fighter IV + Splinter Cell: Conviction

Hot on the heels of the announcement of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, I decided that my app of the week should pretty much fit with the moment, and it's a good thing I saved this one for weeks on end.

Street Fighter IV
Capcom
$9.99
Requires iPhone 3.0, compatible with iPad

I love Street Fighter IV and when I first heard of the iPhone version I was skeptical, to say the least. How does one pull off such graphics in a tiny device? Heck, how does one pull off the controls in a buttonless device?

Sure enough, Capcom rose up to the challenged and delivered what is, for the most part, gaming goodness.

While it doesn't have that annoyingly catchy J-pop theme song (oh great, it's stuck in my head again), it does have a lot of things that make the game just feel like its console counterparts.

The interface is kind of similar, and just the sounds alone are unmistakably borrowed from the original tracks. Obviously, it has the single player modes, but it also has local multiplayer (instead of... online) that can connect solely through Bluetooth. I haven't tried the versus yet, but it sounds pretty good so far.

There are 4 single-player modes to choose from: Tournament, Free Sparring, Training Room, and the special mode that is "Dojo".

What the "Dojo" basically is, is a tutorial for those who wish to master the art of fighting with a touch screen- basically this is how you get used to the new controls.

Dan is your teacher in this one, but other than that, I won't really delve deep into this mode.

The more important gameplay mode is pretty much "Tournament". Yes, it doesn't have the complete character roster (but Capcom will be adding more in the future with updates, starting with Cammy), nor does it have the anime cutscenes that start and end the tournament, but it's still pretty much Street Fighter IV, and that's because of the way Capcom handled the graphics.

After the familiar loading screen, we finally get to our battle.

Basically, the game is consistent of pre-rendered character models that were ripped from the console versions, meaning that the character models aren't actually rendered in real time.

But who cares about pre-rendered when the animation and the graphics just look damn good for the iPhone? I mean, the PSP and the DS could've been candidates for this game, but Capcom chose the iPhone, and my is it stunning to look at.

Most of the mechanics are there: health bar, power bar, revenge meter, timer, and of course, the somewhat complex button combinations.

These "button combinations" let the player execute more powerful moves aside from the usual punching, kicking and throwing, and all of them can be memorized with the handy Command List that you will always have at your disposal when you pause the game.

But what are button combinations, when there aren't any buttons? Luckily, Capcom did a bit of playtesting and did quite an excellent job with the touch controls, because they do the job and they are responsive.

It's not perfect, but hey, if I can pull off a Shinku-Hadouken or a Spinning Bird Kick, I'm perfectly content with that.

Oh, and did I mention that the buttons can be placed wherever the user wants?

Now, some of the more nerdy Street Fighter experts won't really like how a few of the moves have been simplified (as in, you can execute a move by moving, then touching the power bar), but it's not like it's the end of the world or anything. What really matters is that a lot of the Street Fighter staples are present: the cheesy lines...

... the Continue screen...

... and of course, the satisfaction of hearing the announcer scream "K.O." as you defeat an opponent.

Now if there was something wrong with the game, it would have to be... the lack of "Indestructible" as the theme song... and oh yes, the bells and whistles (ie, the online mode, alternative character models, anime cutscenes) but hey, you could only pack so much into a 200-some MB download... for the iPhone, should I repeat.

Overall, the game does not feel like a bastardized Street Fighter game, and the effort of putting all that could've been put in the game really, really shows. The controls are not perfect, but they are usable, and the graphics and performance shine... on a 3rd generation iPod touch, at least.

In the purest sense, this game truly is a portable Street Fighter IV. Kudos to Capcom for such an awesome port (and what a relief from the usual half-assery that the company puts on the App Store).

Rating: 8.5/10

Not resting on its laurels, Gameloft isn't one to stop and look at the flowers, because the company's constantly hard at work pumping out iPhone game after iPhone game.

This time, however, we're talking about Splinter Cell: Conviction.

The graphics look cool, and the battles promise to be intense. It's likely that the game will also feature much of the presentational flourishes its console counterpart has, and I really can't wait to see how the helicopter battles will play out.

Just looking at the screenshots makes a few facts look apparent: 1) the game will probably have the "mark and execute" mechanic the console version has, and 2) it will have the same "objectives on the wall" presentational gimmick that made the game distinctive in the first place. My gut tells me that the stealth aspect, which I love, is a bit lost in the shuffle, but we'll see when the game launches on the App Store.

Now excuse me while I wait for the PC version to come out. The real game looks doubly amazing.

Apps Weekly: Opera Mini + Orion Racer

Apple introduced a new firmware version (to be released June-ish) and one of the biggest controversies surrounding the new terms and conditions Apple set for iPhone app developers was that if developers used anything other than Apple's supplied tools to build an app (somewhat like an app being emulated through a system that bypasses Apple's own), the app would be rejected. It's hard to say for now if the fire Apple is getting prompted them to actually approve the app I'm about to review, but this somewhat surprising move is a sign that Apple actually has a heart despite the megalomaniacal quest for control of the platform. At least that's how PR for the company would be.

But now that I'm severely off-topic and unwilling to think of some witty segueway for the review, I'll just say "LET'S GET ON WITH THE REVIEW".

Opera Mini
Opera Software ASA
Free
Compatible with iPhone 2.2.1 or later

Apple's SDK rules dictate that if a developer were to create a browser, the browser cannot execute proprietary engines and must run off Safari, so basically, most of the browsers in the App Store are pretty much Safari with a new skin. Opera, however, is not a new skin, but it doesn't run off a proprietary engine either. What Opera Mini is, since its Java versions a long time ago, is basically a browser that compresses a web page you want to visit by as much as 90% and displays that version of the website on the screen, slimming down the expenses made on your cellphone bills considerably. This is done through Opera's own servers, which may actually prove a security risk for banking or shopping sites, but I'll elaborate more on that later.

First and foremost, you shall see the "Speed Dial" screen which lets you go to a favorite website in a tap of a thumbnail.

Like the desktop and Java versions, these slots are customizable.

Also brought over from those versions are real, full-fledged tabs.

When you tap a certain menu item below the screen, you'll be able to see the thumbnails of the web pages you have open, and you can scroll to the end to open a new tab. This system is quite slick and fast compared to the Safari version of tabs, and it's extremely easy to just leave a tab while it's loading and open another tab to load another page.

Like any browser, Opera also offers Bookmarks, History, and access to Settings. What Safari doesn't have that Opera has is a basic (but sorely needed) "Find in Page" feature, the ability to access your favorite pages in a cached state ("Saved Pages") and a Help manual.

In the Settings, you'll be able to customize the quality of images, size of text, the ability to enable "Opera Link" and more.

I'm not gonna delve too much into "Opera Link" (because I didn't try it), but if you do use Opera on a computer, you'll be happy to see that this will enable the iPhone and the computer to sync together. This means that whatever Bookmarks and pages are open and stored in the computer will be transferred to the iPhone.

What I am going to let you see is the "Fullscreen mode" and it's basically the app hiding out most of its interface elements and leaving out two buttons that'll let you summon said interface elements.

Another thing that Opera has a leg up on Safari is the ability to switch between search providers on the fly.

Granted, you can't really add more search providers to the list even in the settings, but the ability to choose is much appreciated. A feature that actually makes search super-easy is that you can actually select a block of text and you can just tap "Search" and the block of text will instantly be copied to the search field, saving you much time copying and pasting.

At this point, Opera Mini sounds like a real threat to Safari, but like any product, it has its flaws. One criminal flaw is the inability to granularly specify a zoom level, meaning that you're stuck in two levels of zoom:

This is the zoomed out view of a typical website...

...and a single tap will bring you a close-up. That close-up will be the only zoom level you'll be afforded, meaning that you won't be able to pinch the screen and zoom it out slightly, because that will only bring you the zoomed out version of the whole website. This kind of sucks, quite frankly, but that's not to say it actually makes browsing near impossible.

To save time, I've made a little side by side comparison of Opera Mini and Safari all running my blog.

If you noticed, Opera Mini does quite the crappy job of rendering certain web page elements, like my Shoutbox which becomes downright unusable. Apparently, the compression also seems to be limited to rendering a standard, bland font, which makes the web page look rather iffy. In addition to that, the system with which Opera actually displays web pages can be quite the security risk. Since Opera sends out the URL you want to visit to their own servers first before displaying it all, anything involving user names and passwords may be at risk in case an Opera employee goes rogue. If a log-in screen is sent for compression, all that private data will be transmitted to Opera and it might instill quite a bit of paranoia now that I think about it. If you're gonna do that, please please please use Safari.

Despite its flaws, Opera Mini is a perfect mobile browser for iPhone users that surf with 3G or GPRS because the real goal to the browser in the first place is giving you the web in smaller chunks of data, thus putting less strain on the network, as well as your pocket. It's not about rendering web pages perfectly, which means that if you're gonna use a Wi-Fi hotspot anyway, you might as well use Safari to see web pages in the way it was intended. But if you're really into speed, Opera Mini can and will do the job for you. Now it must also be noted the Opera Mini is merely a first generation product, and updates will happen. For now though, I don't see much reason in switching to this one, other than to save some time and money, which for a lot of people, is reason enough.

Rating: 7/10

Now let's go see a little game that looks promisingly fun, and it's called Orion Racer.

It looks like a basic racer, because it kind of is, but hopefully the space motif and hovering going on will bring on a sense of speed, which is actually the appeal to these types of racers.

There are a few unlockables to be found, and... well, it's pretty barebones. The crisp visuals and general fun to be had with a racer can justify the not too demanding $2.99 the developers offer, and I'm off to download this one myself.

Apps Weekly: Minigore

Due to technical difficulties with my main blogging computer, I'm forced to blog using my iPod once more. It's not that it's bad, it's just awkward the way it handles multiple photos.

But the show must go on with indie favorite Minigore.



A zombie killing rampage in the most literal sense, Minigore is a top-down shooter that has a lot of power-ups and unlockables that'll keep you awake all night trying to rack up more kills to buy that character from another iPhone game.



You start out by selecting a character, John Gore at first, and when you select play, the game loads instantly and you can start mowing monsters down.



The left digital analog stick is used for movement, while the red analog stick is used for instant aiming and shooting, which works very well for this kind of shooter. Very basic, but still pretty fun.



As the monsters start coming, the screen alerts you of their position, so you can brace yourself for the oncoming onslaught.

Time goes by and the monsters get progressively harder to kill, as they do get rather huge. Sometimes, the monsters drop 4-leaf clovers which will aid you through granting you new weapons, or if you're really lucky, turn you into a freaking bull so you can ram them over.

But why are the prices for the characters so high, you say? Well, the game's main source for replay value lies in its unlockables which can be purchased once you reach a certain amount of kills. Kills, in this game, are like currency which you can cumulatively gather after you die (oh, and you have 3 lives too, which are visually indicated instead of placing it in the HUD). This is an aspect that was smartly placed because it'll definitely keep the player coming back to unlock Lizzie from Illusion Labs' Sway or that dude from Zombieville USA.

Of course, the characters do speak at times, but I found them to repeat quickly overtime.

Still, Minigore is worth a purchase if you're into top-down shooters that waste a whole night of your life.

Rating: 7.5/10

Apologies as I could not gather an iTunes Store Link. Heck, I don't even have a preview for this week.

Super Ramen BROTHers: Made in 24 Hours

iPhone development is booming, there's no doubt about that, and while anything coded within 24 hours undoubtedly won't ever be a match to the better games/apps on the App Store, you can bet that this free game, Super Ramen BROTHers, for the iPhone and iPod touch of course, looks much more polished than any of the bazillion (which, I just found out, is a legit word) other free games.

The concept, which was nominated and selected from a forum of ideas, ultimately came from a forum member named Sailor Jensen (so yes, I was literally talking about an actual web forum), and it goes like this: two ramen packets want to escape from the barcode reading laser of doom as they do not wish to go through a flesh ripping, boil-inducing hell of hot fire and boiling water.

In other words, it's sheer absurdity.

Which isn't a surprise because the developers really intended to base the 24-hour app on an absurd concept, and while they did code it- graphics, gameplay, art, music, and all- they were one minute late, but as they say, who gives a crap?

And did I mention that even more impressively, there are online leaderboards? Other games that take months to develop don't even come with online leaderboards!

Apple review process achievement unlocked...

Common Sense - Level 1.

A lot of App Store developers have gone under fire from Apple for including native hardware images.

One such example was the ConvertBot app that was rejected for having a similar clock icon as the "Recent Calls" clock icon used in the native Phone application, citing "user confusion based on the conflicting purposes that the icon was used for". Come on now, are you saying that a user can't know crap whether a clock is used in a context for conversion or for history? Get real, Apple.

Apparently though, Apple has finally become lenient on this policy, as it has started to allow apps that use "trademarked" Apple hardware images. An app called Mactracker is one of those apps that can finally breathe a sigh of relief as it is actually an app that relies on Apple hardware images to serve its purpose.

While Apple's app approval process means well, it still needs a ton of work. This move of common sense is a huge step forward.

And so is this personal move by Phil Schiller. Devs who put in fake reviews are simply despicable and need to be punished.

Apps Weekly: Stair Dismount + Mirror's Edge iPhone

This week's app review is not much of a game, but more of a therapeutic physics simulator that's still loads of fun.

iPhone App of the Week: Canabalt

Ported from a free Flash game, Canabalt is a paid app that runs on a very simple premise: escape.

The only thing you actually need to do is jump. Now it sounds extremely boring, but this is where some of the subtle additions come into play. Like any platformer, you'll also have to jump across obstacles, huge gaps, quickly crumbling buildings, even the occasional vaporizing robot or so.

The pace quickens in Canabalt so contrary to the barebones premise, it never really bores. Combined with an aesthetic that is teeming with a retro sensibility, and some awesome music (although I have to admit, it's the same track looping over and over again), it's a perfect game to play on a brief commute.

The addictive thing about the game is how it simply never ends until you die. The game over screen gives you a hilarious description of how you fell, and it even offers an option to post this same description on Twitter so you can challenge friends who have the game (or just plain promote the game to your circle of pals).

It's a very basic game that's well worth purchasing as it is just as well presented as it is addictive.

Rating: 8/10

iPhone App of the Week: Eliminate Pro

ngmoco has a large presence in the App Store, but aside from Topple, there's not a free app in their arsenal... until now.

This menu screen, my friends, is of Eliminate Pro. Despite the "Pro" moniker, this online first-person shooter is far from costly (that is, unless you wish to buy energy cells) and it's well-made for a free app.

Instead, Eliminate takes advantage of Apple's in-app purchases, which just opened up to free apps. I've always worried about how Apple's new stance on in-app purchases would make developers lazy and get money through nickel-and-diming customers instead. Quite frankly, Eliminate kind of proves this theory, except that it is far from lazily made.

The meat of the game lies in the online-only deathmatch which pits you against either random players around the world, or a private friends list. If you wish to improve your shooting skills, tapping "Bots" is the place to go (and it's the only offline mode of the game).

And this leads me to how the game controls.

Basically, you have two analog sticks, the one on the left lets you control the character's movement, while the right one lets you rotate the camera and aim. Tapping the right analog also lets you fire your weapon, while tapping the central part of the screen allows you more precision with your shooting as it closes up to reveal the reticle... err, you know sniper-style. Tapping the bottom part lets you jump through platforms, while tapping the upper part lets you access the menus. The thing about the control overlay is that it disappears overtime, which can be both a blessing and a curse. For one thing, it makes for a more immersive experience since the buttons are not in the way of your view, but adjusting newbies will find it a bit uncomfortable, especially when controlling the right analog stick to aim. It can be quite awkward, really, and the zooming reticle can be annoying if accidentally summoned. In fact, the reticle caused me to die before I could shoot someone accurately.

Thankfully, the game offers options to customize the controls, but it's not as powerful as that of Duke Nukem's (although Duke Nukem's controls are crappy). Still, just being able to uncheck the box that says "Tap Center to zoom in" or whatever is a saving grace for the game. Auto-fire can also help newbies adjust better.

So okay, the game's controls are decent, but how about the actual game? Well, the maps are varied since they're picked at random (and they're kinda decently made to boot), and more importantly, getting into an online match is pretty darn fast, and better yet, it doesn't sacrifice the graphical quality of the game just to get it loading fast.

Still, I was playing on newer hardware, so if you're on a first generation iDevice (be it iPhone or iPod touch), be wary as the game's performance could take a hit due to more outdated innards.

So if you think you want to opt out of the game, you can tap on Menu, get a glance of your performance, and just get out. But the catch is, when you quit, the game shows its evil, corporate side by depleting your "energy" as shown in the main screen. The purpose of this "energy" is to limit your playtime, and if you wish to play more despite depleted energy, you can wait for it to recharge the next day or purchase this energy through iTunes, which is actually a big load of bullcrap. In a corporate point of view, this is a bit of a creative way to limit server load (and even fund the server maintenance), heck, people actually buy the $139.99 power pack for Christ's sake! Madness, right?

Quite ironically, depending on your performance, you can also earn some in-game currency called "Credits" to do the same thing, and then some.

I think it actually makes more sense to price the armor and gear than the energy, but the equipment, apparently, can only be had through the in-game credits. Puzzling, to say the least.

But at the end of the day, only the level of fun you had matters, and I, quite frankly, had a bit of that as well. Despite the limiting energy mechanic, the free app doesn't require you to purchase anything with real money, really. If you can control your urge to play continuously, you can pretty much have this game and not mind the in-app purchases. It's a competent FPS that connects to a game really quickly without sacrificing graphical fidelity, which is rare in the App Store nowadays. ngmoco does a good job with this app, and I recommend you download it.

Rating: 7.5/10 [Online FPS fun for (deceptively) nothing!, iTunes Store Link]

iPhone App of the Week: Rock Band

Even though the land of the App Store already has the musical stylings of Tap Tap Revenge and Guitar Rock Tour, the king of console peripheral-based rhythm games Rock Band is now making a splash to the App Store, making all of those knock-offs bow down. Still, when you clear up all that hype, is it worth the $9.99?

If you're a big fan of the Rock Band series, you'll instantly be at home with the aesthetic, because it's pretty much a duplicate of the one you'd find on the consoles.

You have all the usual modes: Quick Play, World Tour, Multiplayer, and the Music Store where you can purchase more songs in the app.

Before I even get to the modes, however, you're probably wondering how the gameplay, which is famously tangibly made of plastic, translates to the touch screen. Well, it's really what you'd expect, only multiplied four times. Why 'multiplied four times'? Because you get to play guitar, bass, drums and vocals, but for the most part, the gameplay is really all the same across these instruments.

In the case of the guitar and the bass, you can strum the four frets by tapping on the colors as the markers hit the hole.

When you're on drums, a visual representation of the peripheral is shown on screen and you can tap them as the markers hit the hole.

And more interestingly, the vocals also do not require you to sing, which may or may not piss off some of the fans out there. Instead, you tap the four tap points as the rhythm markers pass as well.

To double the points, you should be able to tap some special colored markers. Tapping them all fills up the yellow meter called the "Overdrive" meter. When you fill that up, you can shake the iDevice so you can activate Overdrive and double the points. Just like Tap Tap Revenge.

But enough about the gameplay mechanics, let's get on with the various game modes. First thing you'll probably tap on is Quick Play, and a lot of the songs in the game are already unlocked when you first tap the mode. At first, you'll need to choose the song you want to play.

Like its console counterparts, the setlist is sorted by difficulty by default, but you can change this by tapping the left or right arrows. It's sad that you can't make a multi-song setlist though.

After that, pick the instrument you wish play. Then, the difficulty of the song's chart which only ranges from Easy, Medium and Hard.

Like so, you will be greeted by the Loading screen which also holds a bit of information be it gameplay tips or about the band whose song you are about to play.

When you finish playing the song, you are greeted with a screen that shows you how well you did.

You can either post your score to the leaderboards, retry the song, or just pick a new song. When you do decide to post your score, it'll open a Facebook Connect dialog box, as the app's online component revolves around Facebook.

But what if you want to play the World Tour? Well, it'll lead you to a screen that lets you choose whether you want to play a gig by yourself, or even online.

When you choose to play online, you will be redirected to this screen.

When you press Get Rockin' you'll start to play a song while the game looks for other people who wish to join your band online.

If you want to invite a friend though, make sure that friend has a Facebook account as well because the game fetches Facebook contacts so you can invite them for a game of Rock Band.

But if you wish to play solo, that's fine too. Basically, the World Tour mode is somewhat reminiscent to that of its console counterpart as well, albeit a bit more basic. In fact, it reminds me of the progression of the older Guitar Hero games wherein you play a song, unlock a mystery song, and gather enough stars to open a new location.

I kinda like the setlist, really. It's pretty much a mix of Rock Band and Rock Band 2 songs, as well as its DLC. You can download more songs through its Music Store if you get bored though, and the rates come in at a dollar for 2 songs. I don't think you can manipulate the song packs (ie, pick any two songs to pay a dollar for), but I'm not too sure.

There's actually a free pack right now that you can download so why not get on to that?

Also something of note: some achievements. They're called "Claims to Fame" in this game though, and the achievements are buried in the Extras menu.

Still, some issues persist with this app, and they're actually enough to keep the app from being perfect. For one thing: the constant loading screens. Seriously, expect to see this symbol every few seconds.

Oh, and how about that lag? Lag in rhythm games are simply a strict no-no, but then again, I'm on a first-generation iPod touch, so your performance can vary.

Overall, this game is a very solid package that for the most part, emulates its bigger brothers well. Some performance issues here and there, but the setlist is something to like since they're all masters unlike Guitar Rock Tour, and they're more known unlike the songs that Tap Tap Revenge 3 comes with. With some more updates, it could very be well worth the $9.99 price tag, which isn't too much to ask since it's a $170 dollar console game adaptation we're talking about.

Rating: 8.5/10