Want a glimpse at what the future of mobile gaming looks like? Take a gander at Infinity Blade, a just-released game for the iPhone and iPad that looks like it belongs on a console.
Developed by the hardcore, blood-drenched gamers at Epic, which brought you Gears of War for the Xbox 360, Infinity Blade is the first iPhone game I've seen that truly could be mistaken for a console game. Others have come close (take Gameloft's sci-fi shooter N.O.V.A., for example, or Archetype, a fine multiplayer shoot-em-up) but this new swords-and-sorcery role-playing game takes the cake — in the looks department, at least.
With visuals powered by the Unreal 3 gaming engine, Infinity Blade ($6, available as a universal app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad) takes place … well, a long time ago in a land far, far away, where an evil king lurks in a dark tower guarded by all manner of brutish guards, cutthroat assassins, and hulking monstrosities — and yes, they're armed to the teeth.
As the hero, your quest is to (single-handedly, of course) storm the castle, eliminate a parade of bloodthirsty creatures along the way, break into the king's chambers, kill his champion, and finally take out the king himself. Your motivation? How's this: He killed your dad. And your dad's dad. And your dad's dad's … well, more about that in a moment.
Unlike many other iPhone action games (including Epic Citadel, an Unreal engine-powered proof-of-concept created by Epic prior to this new title) in which you control your movement using a pair of virtual joysticks (one for movement, the other for looking around), you move about in Infinity Blade by tapping the pulsating circles that appear here and there during the action. Tap a circle, and your character will walk to the designated location: a treasure chest, a doorway, a flight of stairs, or a foul-tempered opponent.
When it's time to pull out your sword and fight, you swing your blade by swiping the screen left, right, up, or down, or you can tap buttons to raise your shield, cast a spell, or activate a "super" battle mode.
The action is fast and furious — split-second timing is required to parry blows from your opponent or conjure a bolt of lightning between attacks. You can also string your swipes into devastating combos, and if you prevail, you can end the combat with a frenzy of finishing moves.
Being the action-oriented role-playing game that it is, Infinity Blade lets you customize your character with dozens of accessories, ranging from swords and armor to magic rings and potions, and as you level up, you can add points to your strength, magic, health, and defense (or "shield") attributes.
All very nice, but the main attraction of Infinity Blade is, as I've already said, how it looks: in a word, awesome. The creatures in the game have been painstakingly rendered, with rich, detailed textures, smooth character movement, and realistic environmental elements, like swaying trees and flags that flap in the wind. Animations that in other iOS titles might normally be handled by Quicktime movies are (handily) rendered here using Infinity Blade's in-game engine. We're talking eye candy galore, particularly on the iPad's 9.7-inch display.
To my mind, Infinity Blade represents the future of mobile gaming — and I mean that literally, because (if you ask me) the current game, as it stands, isn't quite there yet.
One of the joys of the Epic Citadel demo was how you could take your time, wandering from a dark, foreboding monastary to an ivy-covered street with laundry pinned to a clothesline, swaying in the breeze. In Infinity Blade, there is no leisurely wandering; instead, you topple a bad guy, tap your way to the next treasure chest or doorway, and battle again. You could almost say it's on rails, like the recent Rage HD from Id.
And here's the other thing … although I should warn you right now: Spoilers ahead.
Still here? Good.
The conceit of Infinity Blade is that you're avenging your father's death at the hand (or the sword, rather) of the evil God King. From the moment you start the game, it takes about, oh … half an hour or so to battle your way to the God King Himself, and he'll most likely clean your clock the first time you meet him.
After which … the screen fades to black, and you start all over — in another "bloodline," as the game calls it. You have the same abilities and equipment as you did before, although this time through, you're playing as your "son," avenging the death of the father … whom you'd been playing just a few moments before. And if you lose to the king again (you probably will), you — once again — start over, in a new bloodline. Rinse, repeat.
So wait — that's it? You just play the game over and over again until you beat the God King? I haven't finished the game yet, but I checked with reviewers who have, and yes … that's it. Hmmm. (This "if at first you don't succeed, try try again" style of gameplay will be familiar to anyone who played last year's "Demon's Souls" on the PlayStation 3.)
Now, this isn't to say that Infinity Blade isn't worth the mere six bucks that Epic's charging on iTunes. It's a thrilling look at how mobile games of the future will look — and, if you ask me, anyone interested in portable gaming would be doing themselves a disservice by skipping it.
Infinity Blade also happens to be a universal application, meaning it'll work on both the iPhone and the iPad (although owners of older iPhones might see diminished performance) — so no need to buy both regular and "HD" versions of the same game.
Still, the game's limitations are frustrating, although many of those frustrations (like no wandering around using clumsy virtual joysticks) are likely borne out of design decisions intended to keep the game fun on a touchscreen tablet like the iPad.
But what about bringing graphics like these to a turn-based RPG, or a real-time strategy game, where you don't have to worry about fast-twitch accuracy or hard-to-handle joysticks? How about something like Chaos Rings — the addicting fantasy RPG from Square Enix, which is already looking a little dated — or Galaxy on Fire 2 (a satisfying Eve Online clone), powered by the Unreal engine? Count me in.
Anyway, that's my (long-winded) take on Infinity Blade. Buy it, I say — but know what you're in for.
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