A Tall Upgrade

Well its finally here and its in my hands and the iPhone 5 is a really impressive toy... I mean phone, yea! The phone is taller, weighs less, up to two times faster, has double the ram of its predecessor, 4g internet speeds, very very cool!

Visually, gone from the backside is the fragile glass though to be honest that bums me out a little bit. Apparently alot of people had breaking issues with it but I never did. I loved its clean look heh. Of course the finish on the i5's backside is really nice too, but its that type of material that loves finger prints just as much as it dosent want to give them up. On the i4 you could swipe your finger and the smudges were gone. On the i5 you'll probably end up getting a cloth or something. The sides are metallic but feel more rounded on the sides. The top has some sort of reduced glare built in to it. Not a overwhelmingly large reduction but it helps. Oh and the black model is literally black this time, top to bottom, no shiney silvers or polish.

The screen as we all know is a half inch taller though the phone itself not quite so much. They reduced the top bottom bezels a little bit as they increased screen size in an attempt to keep the phone from getting too much bigger. Apparently the pixels in the screen have been reworked to be brighter or some such.

Hardware specs. Apple says the processor is at least two times as fast and a few websites have reported 1gig of ram. And it shows. Everything loads fast, navigation is silk smooth, very very cool! Touch Arcade snagged asphalt 7 and loaded it on a 4s and 5. The 5 loaded 7 seconds (twice as fast) faster than the 4s.

Comfort, I was expecting it to be ackward holding this thing as a phone and when I first opened the box the height increase looked odd to my eyes but she holds fine, I no longer have a spare finger along the bottom, all my digits simply rest on the sides. Probably a good thing too, no chance of my smudging the antennaes anymore heh!

The lightning connector is really really freakin small but can fit in to the iphone5 either way you turn it. Its also a deeper connection in to the phone so the accidental cord tug popping half the old connector out days should be done and gone.

Over all this is a really really nice phone, best one from apple yet! Can't wait to see all the game studios catch up to the screen size increase. The games already making use of it are really really well improved visually, more realestate on the screen of a 3d game is always a plus. Note, games that do not yet have this support of screen size will instead have borders along the top and botton of the screen, much like watching a whidescreen movie on a tv at home. These borders are non responsive in regards to gameplay and should be treated as extra large bezels on the phone for such games.

Also of note, there is a massive list of game studios putting their games on discount to celebrate this phones arrival, here's a link to touch arcade's discount list :

http://toucharcade.com/2012/09/21/load-your-new-iphone-5-up-with-this-huge-list-of-games-on-sale/

o/

Demons' Score

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/demons-score/id532473429?mt=8


This app is designed for both iPhone and iPad

$6.99

Category: Games
Released: Sep 19, 2012
Version: 1.0.0
Size: 734 MB
Language: English
Seller: SQUARE ENIX Co., Ltd.
© 2012 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.
Rated 12+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes
Infrequent/Mild Realistic Violence
Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content or Nudity

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation), iPad 2 Wi-Fi, iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G, iPad (3rd generation) and iPad Wi-Fi + 4G. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

They Say

Get ready for off-the-hook break beat action. Surrender to the rhythm and tap like hell. Brave furious battles that combine stunning graphics and amazing background music!

■ Story
Where are you, Dad?

Salem, Massachusetts
Present day
Serenity is just your average college girl, but when she suddenly loses contact with her father Dr. Aleister, she sets out to find him at the Salem State Hospital & Asylum where he works.

Serenity arrives to finds she barely recognizes the hospital anymore. Stepping warily into the shattered ruins, she meets a talking teddy bear.

Introducing himself as David, the talking teddy bear claims to have once been human, but when Serenity asks him about her father’s whereabouts, countless demons suddenly appear.

Just before her father disappeared, he had sent a mysterious app to her smartphone.

Known as the Demons' Score, the app is a powerful program that enables her to take control of demons that possess her body.

Where has her father gone? How will she ever find him? And what’s up with that talking teddy bear? Serenity’s battle to the tune of Hell’s minions is about to begin.

■ Game Features
• Break beat action in which you battle demons in time to the rhythm.
• Stunning graphics driven by the Unreal Engine.
• Thrilling battle scenes and a story that sucks you in.
• Fierce battles with boss demons, all portrayed using dramatic camerawork.

• Once you complete a stage in Story mode, you can purchase the powers of boss demons that you defeated.
• You can change the demon powers Serenity controls by having different demons possess her.
• Having different demons possess Serenity expands gameplay and battle scenes.
• Serenity's costumes change according to the demon that is possessing her.
• Abilities, voices, and special attacks vary by the possessing demon.
• Satan's (US$9.99) difficulty level soared up!
With severe survival conditions, you can enjoy the game even more stoically.
• Helpful items are also available in case you get stuck.

• Enjoy two game modes: Story Mode and Free Mode.
• Select the difficulty level you want to play. Easy, Normal, and Hard are available, but to enjoy the entire story, you have to... (You'll just have play to find out!)
• Your scores in Free Mode can be sent to the online rankings at the Game Center.
• Saved data can be synced with iCloud.
* Your Soul Eaters (a special item) are not stored on iCloud.
* You must be running iOS 5.0 or later to use iCloud.

Try to completely conquer each stage by gaining the powers of Hell!

I Say
Alot of people are going to either refuse to buy this game because of its iap system or they are going to be misled in to buying it thinking they are paying premium pricing for a premium title only to discover what lies within. What you get for your 6.99usd is the normal and medium difficulties for the game, the outfit your character starts with and the outfit awarded for beating the first boss. Each additional boss rewarded outfit costs an additional 2.99usd (3.99usd for the upper sets) and Hard difficulty will set you back an additional 9.99usd. The game is fully beatable without spending beyond the initial investment but it won't have as much replayability without the additional difficulty setting and there will be a bit of grinding as you won't benefit from the improved stats on the better equipment.

Square Enix seems to be in a state of confusion as to how they want to handle their games iap. We have seen games set at console/handheld quality and pricing. We have then seen games where the initial chapter is free with additional chapters costing iap. And now... this. The fact that the game is enjoyable and fully beatable without the iap purchases being forced down my throat is the only reason its still installed on my ipad... but even those perks won't keep it around for very long because the gamecenter is leaderboards only.

Anyways, lets move beyond the iap blah blah and talk about the game. Square Enix also lately has been trying out variations on control schemes for their games and this title is as different from the rest as it gets. Anyone who has ever played Elite Beat Agents will be somewhat comfortable here. Circles appear at various points on your screen and your action towards them depends on what the circle is up to. Arrows mean tap when it hits optimal point. Swords mean swipe in the direction of the blade. Double circles mean two finger tap and so on. The tutorial is quite decent and is actually shown in the video above. This control scheme lends to a frantic and entertaining gameplay experience though it does bring out one long existing problem with touch games, your hands will spend most of the time covering up the screen so you won't be paying attention to the games graphics at all. Not to worry though, 90% of the combat is the characters mindlessly swishing weapons, shooting guns and taunting eachother.

Completing fights awards you experience, leveling up increases your hit points. You spend real money to buy new outfits as you beat bosses. The outfits boost your exp gain and hit points. Thats the summary of the rpg experience of this game.

Voice acting, its a japanese company translating a japanese game in to english using voice acting that is... heh. Yea. Anyone who's played a japanese port to usa shores knows what I'm talking about. Apparently Japan thinks we talk in deep grunty voices, high pitched excited voices and our females sound like they could cry at any moment, all the time. There is a limited variety to whats said in the game and each suit gives your character the voice of the demon you killed to get it. Most demons are male so you'll have to get used to your female character sounding like a guy most of the time. The selection of things they say is also somewhat limited so pretty soon you'll of heard everything a suit can possible have to say during combat, a hundred times. The exception to this is inbetween combat when the story plot advances and you talk to your companion or you talk to the boss. Regarding music, the song played in the tunnel sequence leading up to a boss is unique to the outfit you are wearing. The music played during the boss fight is unique to the boss and the outfit he rewards upon defeat matches that music.

Visuals. The visuals remind me of infinity blade 1. The enviroments are detailed, not offensive to the eyeballs but the characters looke 'shiney'. I'm a guy here so forgive me for observing that the main characters boobs look like semi melted wax most of the time. There's no physics here so dont expect jiggling, waving hair or tossled outfit trims.

The Story. Your father found a demon song (score), his secretary played it, a portal to hell opened, demons came out, your fathers secretary was turned in to a teddy bear and is your companion throughout the game. The main character enters the facility intent on rescueing her father and thanks to an app on her iphone she can apparently naturally fight, fly and absorb defeated boss demons. Each 'stage' involves a flying tunnel sequence where you shoot a bunch of lesser demons, get kicked back to the start of the tunnel, kick down the doors, have a long conversation with a demon, kill it, have a conversation with the teddy bear, go to the victory screen, have a new expensive outfit flaunted at you, hit next and start the process all over again.

Funny, reading that paragraph makes the game feel miserable. It isn't and I do enjoy the game that my money lets me play. It gets real fast paced later on in the game and over all its very rewarding. Missing moves deducts from your hit points, hitting moves replenishes your hit point bar. The string of moves flows with the music and the plot isnt totally horrible. It looks like the game can be completed without purchases beyond the initial entry fee though the map appears to be skipping certain stages which means those stages are limited to medium and hard difficulty or those stages only popup with certain outfits. Not sure which.

My plans? I'm going to play the game until i either beat it or something else comes up with achievements and i need the space. I won't be buying every outfit that shows up but I will probably buy the very last very best outfit when/if it becomes available.

My suggestion to squarenix? Squeenix, your full price and your pay by chapter models are nice, this pricing model sucks. The most offensive part about this pricing model is that this game in japan costs 14 bucks and has no iap in it. Your on a great roll, finally paying attention to the iOS but a warning, the iOS community will only pay so much attention to you if you keep treating us like wallets waiting to be plucked.

o/

Lili

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lili/id560692867?mt=8

This app is designed for both iPhone and iPad

• $4.99
• Category: Games
• Updated: Sep 19, 2012
• Version: 1.0.1
• Size: 388 MB
• Language: English
• Seller: BitMonster, Inc..
• © Copyright 2012 BitMonster, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Rated 12+ for the following:

• Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
• Infrequent/Mild Simulated Gambling

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation), iPad 2 Wi-Fi, iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G, iPad (3rd generation) and iPad Wi-Fi + 4G. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

They Say
Lili is a quirky adventure RPG hybrid with stunning visuals, silky-smooth graphics and a cinematic storyline. Tuned for new devices, Lili is one of the most visually-stunning games available on iOS.

On the mysterious island of Geos, Lili will meet a number of hilarious locals, explore beautiful environments, solve some puzzles, and even challenge an oppressive regime or two along her way. Lili uses an amusing "non-combat" system for dealing with enemies, and sorts out a few personal issues along the way.
FEATURES:
Jaw-dropping console quality 3D visuals
Support for new larger screens
Full Retina support
Innovative controls designed specifically for touch devices
Free roaming RPG world
Hilarious story, characters, and quests
Whimsical gameplay, appropriate for nearly anyone
Loads of items and outfits to collect and upgrade
Difficulty option specifically for kids

I Say
What we have here is a non combat focus exploration game based around collecting flowers, completing quests and buying equipment/upgrades as you go. The story is pretty simply, Lili as a class assignment comes to what is supposed to be a deserted island to collect flowers. What she finds is a full town filled with two different 'races' of creature and plenty to do beyond her original goals.

The races consist of spirits and the constructs they've created to do all the menial labor. The spirits are snobbish and abusive of their creations and after one steals from Lili and she finds out that the rarest of flowers spawn literally on the spirits she decides to start collecting.

This game is largely about exploration, your looking around corners, exploring buildings, chasing spirits around, completing quests, selling flowers for coin, spending the coin on equipment and upgrades. IAP is present in the form of currency for the impatient but I havent seen anything to date that forces you in that direction.

Controls are simple. Tap to walk. Double tap to run. Hold your finger down while moving to turn. Hold your finger down while not moving to look around Lili. Tap on doors, chests and pots to break them. Hold down your finger and drag on flowers to pluck them. The Camera works well enough 95% of the time though it does have one annoying habit of getting twitchy and jerking around if you walk her in to a corner. This happens because the area of the screen you tap on does not determine the direction she walks in, it just sets her walking. So taping behind her when she's facing a wall will send her bumping repeatedly in to the wall. That is the only real annoyance with the controls though.

The 'combat' in this game involves collecting flowers from the backs of the spirits. You chase them down and jump on their back. From there you drag flowers off them while then freak out running around the place trying to get you off. Dragging flowers lengthens the timer that you can spend on their back. There are spikes to avoid draging over, enrage moments where they sprout bombs and the like. Once you finish you get a star rating based on how many flowers you plucked and that spirit becomes a permanent spawn in town and on your map so you can try to perfect your plucking skills.

Speaking of skills, Lili has three. Speed, how fast she runs. Grip, determines how long she will stay on a spirits back. Stealth, how close she can get to the spirit before it notices her and starts running. Skills are upgraded at the trainer and the currency he requires is flowers.

Flowers come in two varieties. White (normal) and Red (rare). There are also keys that you use to unlock doors and coin that you use to buy equipment. Coins are found in chests, pots and can be acquired by selling flowers to the shop keep.

There are lots of quests to complete and most quests involve finding something laying about the town thats found randomly. There are dozens of items each with backstories and most with a construct that has a need for them.

Graphically this is an amazing experience. All the little details were given great effort, flowers sway, branches and leaves move about, everything is very well animated, even lili herself. I found myself running around at sharp turns more than once just to see the liquid in a bottle on her belt swish about.

Sound is nice though aside from a few generic comments there are no voice overs. Much reading will be required when you have Lili engage constructs and spirits in conversation, and everyone can be talked to.

This in my opinion is a fantastic game for all ages, it even has a kid difficulty setting heh. It feels like a nintendo zelda game without all the swishing and fairy harrassment so far. Fully worth the asking price, I'll no doubt be blogging about this one as I get further in the game.

o/

Whats New 9/19/2012

Wednesday night is considered to be the unofficial new release date of the week for the iOS app store. All games that follow are available some time between now and 1130pm EST... usually.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lili/id560692867?mt=8
Lili
Looks like an action rpg hybrid, stunning visuals.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rayman-jungle-run/id537931449?mt=8
Rayman Jungle Run
Auto-runner platformer, came out late last night. Controls are fluid, graphics gorgeous, solid grab!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-room/id552039496
The Room
Not sure, looks like a puzzler.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/demons-score/id532473429?mt=8
Demon's Score
Rythm based rpg from square enix.

(No Video Available)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lunar-silver-star-story-touch/id492598036?mt=8
Lunar Silver Star Story Touch
Oldschool rpg hits the touch screen!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/townsmen-premium/id549432607?mt=8
Townsmen Premium
City Builder!

----------

On a related note, the new iOS 6 app store for the iPad rocks!

iOS 6 has landed!

Free up some space friends, apparently this package is at a minimum 700+mb download and we all know how apple handles updates to anything app store, same applies here. Will likely need at least double that during the install process to complete. Also, battery plugged in shouldn't be to much of an issue for us, my ipad lost about 7% total battery during the entire process.

Hit settings, general, update button and go get something to eat, takes 30 minutes to an hour depending on your device. Oh and once thats done get ready for a flood of app updates for all your games...

In all honesty I like iOS updates for that reason. I watch my games... of which I have entirely too many and the ones that don't receive an ios update after say... 45 days I consider to be dead and usually uninstall to make room for more games.

o/

Clash of Clans

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clash-of-clans/id529479190?mt=8

This app is designed for both iPhone and iPad

• Free
• Category: Games
• Updated: Sep 19, 2012
• Version: 2.44
• Size: 43.5 MB
• Language: English
• Seller: Supercell Oy
• © 2012 Supercell

Rated 9+ for the following:

• Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

What They Say
Lead your clan to victory! Clash of Clans is an epic combat strategy game. Build your village, train your troops and battle with thousands of other players online!

★★★★★ “This game is phenomenal”

★★★★★ “If you were looking for a game to play that's fun and strategic this is better than any other game out there”

Clash of Clans is an addictive mixture of strategic planning and competitive fast-paced combats. Raise an army of Barbarians, War Wizards, Dragons and other mighty fighters. Join a clan of players and rise through the ranks, or create your own Clan to contest ownership of the Realm. Driving back the goblins is just the first step - your quest isn't over until your clan reigns supreme over all others!

= FEATURES =
✔ FREE TO PLAY
✔ Build your village into a undefeatable fortress
✔ Battle with players worldwide and take their Victory Points
✔ Join together with other players to form the ultimate Clan
✔ 10 unique units with multiple levels of upgrades
✔ Defend your village with Cannons, Towers, Mortars, Bombs, Traps and Walls
✔ Fight against the Goblin King in an epic campaign through the realm

Having any problems? Any suggestions? We would love to hear from you! You can reach us at support at clashofclans.feedback@supercell.net

Note: A network connection is required to play

What I Say
This is a sweet game, despite the iap presence. At the most basic level you build your town and smash other players towns. You will amass coins and elixir that you spend on troops and upgrades for your many buildings. Eventually you will log out and be attacked by another player, usually resulting in the loss of your town. The next time you log in the town will repair itself over roughly a minutes time, and then you'll start the process over again.

All your construction options are nicely organized by resouce producing, defensive, offensive and decoration catagories in the build menu. Buildings can be moved around after being placed, even if their under construction. Selling buildings refunds you partial building costs, as does cancelling construction. Everything is upgradeable, even your walls.

Visually this game is pleasing, looks to be full 3d rendering. As of todays update your units change visually depending on their levels. All buildings have level based visuals as well.

Sound is enjoyable. The music appropriate to your situation and the combat sounds of swords clashing and spells flying is awesome!

There is iap present though it isnt forced upon you. You really can play this entire game without spending a dime, the only cost will be patience on your part. Additionally you will randomly receive iap currency (gems) for taking down the rocks and trees on your map. The trees respawn over time so keep dilligent and you can amass a nice fortune of gems. I suggest spending them to offset the initial construction cost. Never use them to speed up construction in progress, all your doing there is buying your lack of patience. Rather buy a nice new building sooner!

This game is online at all times so if the server is down for maintenance or your out of internet range, no play for you.

There is a lengthy single player portion to the game involving various goblin bases that you are tasked with destroying. The rules of victory apply in you versus goblins as well as you versus players. You need a star to win. Killing their main building equals instant victory, one star. Killing 50% of their buildings equals instant victory, one star. 100% of their buildings is required for a three star victory. Also note, when a player attacks you if they get one star you get a free 12hr shield preventing anyone from attacking you. If they get three stars, you get a 16hr shield. Win, win!

A player attacking you can not loot your entire supply of coin and elixir. Only a percentage of it is available, looks like roughly 25%.

Some tips :
. If you are looking to save coin and elixir for construction purposes, place your main building outside and away from your defenses.
. If you are looking to rise in leaderboards, kill your enemies main building Top priority.

Both those tips are related and here's why. When a person is looking to rise up the leaderboards they are going to go after the main building of their enemy above all else. Killing it equals instant victory. If you are looking to save up your currencies, by placing your main building off by itself your offering potential opponents an eash victory. More often than not they will spend just enough forces to kill your main building and then move on because doing so saves them troop costs and time elsewhere.

. Wall up your defensive buildings. The longer it takes a player to get to them, the longer it takes a player to kill them.
. Wall up buildings in groups of two and three, this forces the player to go through more walls over time and losing more of their troops in the process.

All in all, this is a well polished game that currently is receiving a good amount of attention from its development team. Update three just hit, I'll finish this write up with its patch notes. Enjoy :)

Whats New in 2.44
✔ Full support for iPhone 5 and 5th generation iPod Touch
✔ Big new feature: Spells! (Spell Factory unlocks on Town Hall level 5)
✔ Introducing three spells: Lightning, Healing and Rage Spell
✔ Replays added to Battle Log! Now you can see what happened when someone attacked your village
✔ Added Wizard Tower unlock to Town Hall level 6 and another Hidden Tesla to Town Hall level 8
✔ Matchmaking now gives you better matches and works faster
✔ Troop upgrades are now visualized
✔ Many visual effects were improved
✔ Support for iOS 6 Game Center challenges
✔ Shop and Battle Log redesigned for iPhone and iPod Touch
✔ You can now view helpful hints while the game is loading
✔ Added 3rd upgrade level for Dragon
✔ Fixed the troop donation bug
✔ Troop training and housing mechanics improved
✔ Canceling building upgrades does not give the full price back anymore
✔ Building Walls is instant but requires available worker
✔ Combat balance tweaks
✔ Confirmation popup when speeding up building construction and upgrading
✔ Players gain a very short Shield if disconnected from the server unintentionally
✔ Server now runs battles to the end if user gets disconnected during battle
✔ You can now view the clan before you accept the invitation