After boxer Manny Pacquiao was robbed of the WBO Welterweight title on June 9 by two judges who must not have been watching the Pacquiao-Bradley fight, I wanted to see Pacquiao redeemed. Because he doesn’t fight on my command, I settled for playing Manny Pacquiao: Pound for Pound on the iOS. This boxing game is presented in third-person with the camera behind Pacquiao featuring boring fight mechanics, an upgrade path that isn’t fun, and a ridiculous story.
After sharing a short clip of the Chuck’s Challenge 3D beta the other day, I decided to record some more. There are different packages of levels, and this is a full playthrough of the first package. Keep in mind that this is only the beta. Things are likely to change.
Despite playing Chuck’s Challenge on the iPhone, I had a great time playing CC3D. Besides being 3D of course, there were a few other changes that made it different enough to keep it fresh. If you fond memories of playing Chip’s Challenge on the PC, make sure to try out Chuck’s Challenge 3D!
I recorded my first match in the Guns of Icarus Online beta. I don’t have the intention of writing a full preview right now, but I have a little bit to say. My opinion on the game is mixed. As a proof of concept, it’s good. We’ll just need to see how popular the game is when it retails and if the bugs are fixed.
Audio is fine, and the style of the graphics is very cool. It doesn’t look to be a AAA title in this department, and that’s okay. However, the gameplay is a little troublesome. I had a lot of trouble just running around the airship. The core concept of the game is fighting with other ships; the core of the gameplay I saw was trying not to fall off the ship, especially when it felt like I’d sometimes move through the railing.
The beta didn’t have enough people playing to have full teams. This meant that I was running back and forth between gunning and piloting. I imagine the game would be much more awesome if I was working on a coherent team. Note that I said “coherent team.” Simply being on a team that doesn’t work together isn’t enough. However, if the person piloting is actually talking to the gunners, it could be very cool. The game pitted two ships on the red team against two on the blue team, I think. It would help if I could figure out whether another ship was red or blue though!
It’s too early to know for sure how the game is going to be. I’m definitely still excited to play it more. I think the true test will be when there are enough people to have full games!
The beta of Chuck’s Challenge 3D was released for some Kickstarter supporters recently, and I had the chance to try it out. It’s a port of the iOS game, Chuck’s Challenge, which is itself similar to the amazing Chip’s Challenge from the Lynx and PC. The video is short because it’s just a quick look at the game. You’ll have to excuse a couple times where nothing seems to be happening; I was trying various inputs just to see how it worked.
Sonic x Vapor | Blog | Game Boyz
Nike has a campaign called “My Time Is Now” that uses an interactive video. As the video progresses, you can click on various soccer players to read about them. You can also sometimes find areas to click that branch the video in a new direction.
One of these branches leads to a playable Sonic game, Sonic x Vapor!
Portal 2 Sounds | A Portal 2 Soundboard containing all in-game quotes and dialog.
I think I may have found the greatest site on the Web. Yes, of course it’s a Portal soundboard. It lets you choose between Portal 1, Portal 1 Music, Portal 2, Portal 2 DLC, and Portal 2 PTI (as well as TF2 and TF2 Music). It also lets you search quote text and search by the speaker. It’s really easy to find your favorite quotes, which is good because I didn’t know how often I wanted to listen to Portal quotes until I found this site!
Capcom recently brought Marvel vs. Capcom 2 to the iOS, and I tried it out on my iPhone. In case you don’t know, this is a fighting game featuring characters from Marvel and from Capcom. It was originally released in arcades and on Dreamcast and has since been ported to many other systems. The iOS doesn’t usually do well with games that require buttons, and fighting games really do. I was cautiously optimistic because Capcom’s Street Fighter IV did decently on the iOS. Unfortunately, I was let down by Marvel vs. Capcom 2… However, it seems like Capcom just wanted to cash in on hype for the Avengers film. At $4.99 on the App Store, I recommend you pass on this one.
Beat Hazard Ultra is an awesome Steam game turned iOS title that has found a way to eat at my time even when I’m not at my computer. Published by Cold Beam Games, it’s a “twin stick shooter” without the sticks. Beat Hazard Ultra features procedurally-generated levels based on your own music. I loved the Steam version but was doubtful about the iOS version. However, I was proven wrong when I tried it and was amazed!
Chuck Sommerville, creator of Chip’s Challenge, autographed my copy of the game! Chip’s Challenge has been one of my favorite games for as long as I can remember. I’ve been wanting to get Sommerville’s autograph for a while but only recently actually asked him. He’s also the creator of Chuck’s Challenge and the soon-to-be-released Chuck’s Challenge 3D. I’ve interviewed him for Game Boyz, which you can read here.
