iPad Games

I got an iPad 2 as a birthday present a few months ago. Very cool device. Mostly because I don't have to sit at a desk to do a lot of the tasks I do on a computer and on line.

Among the 200,000 apps available quite a few of them are games. I've bought several. One of the nicest things about them is I don't need to go to a physical store to buy them and they're small enough it takes only a few minutes to download them.

One thing about all the games I've played so far is they make excellent use of the touch screen of the iPad.

Here's reviews of the games I've played on it so far.

Infinity Blade

Infinity Blade This is a very fun game. Basically a dungeon crawl, and not a very big one, you guide your character through a castle and its environs fighting assorted creatures along the way.

Fighting consists of various taps and swipes on the screen. You can dodge in either direction, block or parry. Dodges and blocks are performed by tapping on the appropriate icons, and you have a limited number of blocks. Parries are performed by swiping in the opposite direction of the opponent's attack. They are rather tricky and I prefer dodging over all.

You do this until the game decides you have an opening and then you attack by either tapping or swiping. You tap at a particular spot if you have a 'stab' opening. Swiping slashes the opponent and if you do the right combinations you get extra damage. Sometimes if you parry an opponent you lock blades and you must tap the screen rapidly to win the pushing match that results. If you win you get a stab opening.

There is a 'super attack' icon that you can tap occasionally to stun your opponent. This recharges but slowly.

You can use magic as well which is activated by touching an icon and then drawing the appropriate sigil on the screen. If you want to use cold and draw the fire sigil the spell misfires and you lose it. I thought this a rather nice touch.

After each fight you gain experience, gold and sometimes equipment.

Like all such games the once you go over an experience level you get points to add to your stats. One thing, using experience is related to the equipment you wear. Your experience is divided amongst them. If you gain 2,000 experience and are wearing five pieces of equipment, you get 400 points per piece. Once piece has been 'mastered' you lose any experience you'd gain for that piece. This means you must constantly be upgrading equipment. More powerful pieces absorb more experience so at later levels you'll be using equipment for quite a while.

The castle isn't exactly linear but all paths lead to the same bosses. Yes you have to fight two bosses to win. The result of beating them, and it is a tough fight, is a rather well done cutscene then you get to do the whole thing all over again.

The graphics on this game are amazing, easily the equal of anything on a table top computer. Some of the opponents look like they were designed by Clive Barker and are very disturbing. There's quite a mix of opponents from golems and trolls to knights and jesters. The jesters are, in my opinion, the toughest opponents because they are tricky. The only opponent that fakes attacks to open you up to another.

There is a 'freemium' component. You can use real money to buy game money, but it's not necessary to do this.

Over all, an excellent game. Fun to play, can be played in short swatches and tough without being frustrating.

Army of Darkness Defense

Army of Darkness Defense This is just what it sounds like: a game based on the cult classic movie Army of Darkness.

Basically you defend a castle against the undead using Ash. He comes with his equipment, the boomstick and the chainsaw. As opponents go down they drop iron and money.

The iron is used to summon units to help Ash. Swordsmen, spearmen, archers and several other units are available. They're quite necessary as Ash just can't do it alone. Iron can also be used to upgrade the smithy which allows units to be generated more quickly.

Ash also has other weapons at his disposal. He can call in arrow and catapult volleys, use magic books and use the deathcoaster which is his car outfitted as a combine that harvests undead.

After each level you use the money you've gathered as well as that awarded for finishing the level to buy upgrades. You can upgrade Ash and his equipment, the various troops under your command and the castle defenses. I've found it's best to concentrate on a few units as the deadites get tougher and it's hard to stay ahead of the curve if you spread upgrades around.

One thing about this game is that not all units and equipment are available to you in any one level. You have to choose fine units and two weapons. Pick wrong and you're zombie food.

The game is simple to play, not terribly hard to beat and a real hoot. It has many of the favourite quotes from the movie (Oh! That's gotta hurt!) which really adds to the flavour of it.

As is often the case, there is a 'freemium' component where you can use real world money to buy game money. Luckily you don't have to do so in order to play. The game provides enough gold that you don't need to waste your hard earned cash.

At $0.99 you can't go wrong with this game. Hours of giggling fun.