- Nov 27, 2001
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Because I did, and I was a bit surprised. I'll usually check out the Apple Arcade options ever so often just to see what's there, and honestly... they seemed like decent offerings, but not much different from standard mobile games. (Of course, keep in mind that Apple Arcade games cannot be "freemium" games as they have no micro-transactions.) The other day, I was looking at Apple Arcade on the Apple TV before firing up Disney+, and I noticed a bunch of new and interesting games. Here are a few that come to mind:
Taiko no Tatsujin Pop Tap Beat - This is a pretty simple rhythm game, which I'm going to assume is based off of an arcade game. The game doesn't have an incredibly long song list (I'd estimate it somewhere between 20-30 songs), and some of them might be... a bit of a choice. (One of them is literally the alphabet song, but I guess young kids could sing along as you play!) Although, I will admit that I enjoyed the inclusion of anime themes such as "We Are" from One Piece. I've actually played this one a fair bit so far, and apart from what could be a bit of an annoyingly squeaky announcer voice, it's a fun game. Note that this game requires a controller for the Apple TV.
World of Demons - This sounds like a fairly generic game that you'd expect on mobile, but this is actually a third-person slasher by none other than Platinum Games. I really haven't had a chance to dig into this one just yet, but I'd like to give it a shot soon.
The Oregon Trail - This might be more of a nostalgic inclusion for me as my introduction to the original game was on a Mac back in elementary school. It is interesting to see how the game's presentation was heavily beefed up to be a more visual affair, but I do admit that I worry about it a bit since it's Gameloft. Anyone that has dealt with them over the years probably knows how they started out great (more pay-to-play offerings) and then descended into typical slop (freemium games with micro-transactions). Fortunately, as noted before, games on Apple Arcade cannot have that.
FANTASIAN - No, this isn't a game taking place in The Neverending Story's Fantasia, but rather a game from Mistwalker studios, which is headed by the "Father of Final Fantasy", Hironobu Sakaguchi. As an added bonus, it also includes a soundtrack solely composed by Nobuo Uematsu. I have given this game a try (surprising), and I'm a little mixed. The introduction to the main character was not terribly engaging, and some of the music has arguably let me down. I'll talk about another issue later on as more of a general problem.
Cut the Rope Remastered - This one is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me as I used to play the original game quite a bit. Generally, I like puzzle games, and consequently, the original Cut the Rope was right up my alley. I haven't had a chance to dive into this one yet, but it doesn't appear that this is only a simple graphical increase, but that they did add new content as well.
One reason why these games and the influx of interesting titles has been on my mind is that people have been saying for years that Apple wants to make that strong gaming-oriented push. We first saw that push with the ability to use controllers with the Apple TV, and then the introduction of Apple Arcade. There's also the rumor that the Apple TV will be updated during tomorrow's Spring Forward event. Although, I'm still kind of mixed on the entire thing.
I think the biggest drawback is that Apple Arcade tries to be a one-size-fits-all solution for iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and MacOS, but it doesn't always stick the landing that well. The one big problem that I see (and what I was alluding to when talking about FANTASIAN) is that the UI generally doesn't change between platforms. A proper UI should be designed around the expected viewing medium, and that is vastly different when going from my iPhone's iOS being on a 6" screen to my Apple TV's tvOS being on a 65" screen. There's also the fact that some games are available on iOS and iPadOS, but they aren't available on tvOS and MacOS, which my bet is that largely deals with whether the developer added controller support or support for the Apple TV's remote.[/URL]
Taiko no Tatsujin Pop Tap Beat - This is a pretty simple rhythm game, which I'm going to assume is based off of an arcade game. The game doesn't have an incredibly long song list (I'd estimate it somewhere between 20-30 songs), and some of them might be... a bit of a choice. (One of them is literally the alphabet song, but I guess young kids could sing along as you play!) Although, I will admit that I enjoyed the inclusion of anime themes such as "We Are" from One Piece. I've actually played this one a fair bit so far, and apart from what could be a bit of an annoyingly squeaky announcer voice, it's a fun game. Note that this game requires a controller for the Apple TV.
World of Demons - This sounds like a fairly generic game that you'd expect on mobile, but this is actually a third-person slasher by none other than Platinum Games. I really haven't had a chance to dig into this one just yet, but I'd like to give it a shot soon.
The Oregon Trail - This might be more of a nostalgic inclusion for me as my introduction to the original game was on a Mac back in elementary school. It is interesting to see how the game's presentation was heavily beefed up to be a more visual affair, but I do admit that I worry about it a bit since it's Gameloft. Anyone that has dealt with them over the years probably knows how they started out great (more pay-to-play offerings) and then descended into typical slop (freemium games with micro-transactions). Fortunately, as noted before, games on Apple Arcade cannot have that.
FANTASIAN - No, this isn't a game taking place in The Neverending Story's Fantasia, but rather a game from Mistwalker studios, which is headed by the "Father of Final Fantasy", Hironobu Sakaguchi. As an added bonus, it also includes a soundtrack solely composed by Nobuo Uematsu. I have given this game a try (surprising), and I'm a little mixed. The introduction to the main character was not terribly engaging, and some of the music has arguably let me down. I'll talk about another issue later on as more of a general problem.
Cut the Rope Remastered - This one is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me as I used to play the original game quite a bit. Generally, I like puzzle games, and consequently, the original Cut the Rope was right up my alley. I haven't had a chance to dive into this one yet, but it doesn't appear that this is only a simple graphical increase, but that they did add new content as well.
One reason why these games and the influx of interesting titles has been on my mind is that people have been saying for years that Apple wants to make that strong gaming-oriented push. We first saw that push with the ability to use controllers with the Apple TV, and then the introduction of Apple Arcade. There's also the rumor that the Apple TV will be updated during tomorrow's Spring Forward event. Although, I'm still kind of mixed on the entire thing.
I think the biggest drawback is that Apple Arcade tries to be a one-size-fits-all solution for iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and MacOS, but it doesn't always stick the landing that well. The one big problem that I see (and what I was alluding to when talking about FANTASIAN) is that the UI generally doesn't change between platforms. A proper UI should be designed around the expected viewing medium, and that is vastly different when going from my iPhone's iOS being on a 6" screen to my Apple TV's tvOS being on a 65" screen. There's also the fact that some games are available on iOS and iPadOS, but they aren't available on tvOS and MacOS, which my bet is that largely deals with whether the developer added controller support or support for the Apple TV's remote.[/URL]
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