Board And Dice

I’m going to start with board games, since in my opinion this is one of the best genres you can enjoy on your tablet and less so on a PC. Unsuprisingly, there are dozens of popular games of this kind on the AppStore. Why? Let’s check what you need to play a tabletop under normal circumstances (ie. in your living room with friends around):

• a table or, well, a floor, any kind of flat surface will do
• the game itself, likely flat as well, some dice, etc.
• willingness!

This is not the most demanding of lists, is it? The amazing quality of tablets is that their big screen can emulate pretty much any piece of paper (for RPGs) or game board you can imagine. Furthermore, one can play card games easily! Games that do it right, the best examples of iPad board/card gaming:

• Magic: The Gathering 2014 — Duels of the Planeswalkers; this is pretty much a must-have, very well done port of the most popular TCG in the world, free with IAPs (In App Purchases)
• Battle of the Bulge; excellent historical wargaming, hardcore tabletop for strategy diehards, although at a steep—for iOS—price of 9,99$
• Neuroshima Hex; a patriotic entry (this is a Polish game), well-known post-apocalyptic hex-based (that’s a lot of dashes!) title, 4,99$ with IAPs

PC Ports

Now this is a hard one to assess. Most games ported to iPad from PC are absolute timeless classics, but are they any good in the new environment? It depends. I’m going to use a few examples to illustrate what I mean. Obviously, these games can be played with a keyboard and mouse—as originally intended—but this trait may prove to be their undoing on iOS.

Grand Theft Auto.

GTA everybody knows and loves. Third one was ported to mobile devices on its 10th anniversary, same story with the Vice City and most likely San Andreas next year. Great games, amazing games! I have played hours upon hours of each game in my time, and yet, on iOS, it sucks. I do not enjoy the control scheme implemented in both games (which you can customize, by the way). You can move the virtual buttons, sticks, but it’s still a terrible experience to drive a car or shoot (no fun at all—autoaiming!). I understand that this is pretty much the best devs could do without a proper controller, but this solution simply lacks accuracy needed to play GTA.

Baldur’s Gate.

A classic RPG from ancient past, when monitors were equipped with a giant ass by default, was revitalized and enhanced almost a year ago on most platforms, including iPad. It was a success, although not without problems: the game was pulled from the AppStore over some contractual issues (but has been brought back), performance was not great either. Some spells (Entangle in particular) cast on the iPad version made the game slow to a crawl, there were problems clicking on doors and picking up loot. Most issues, at least as far as I know, have been fixed, control system is tight and it remains a playable, enjoyable game across the board—especially given that it’s one of the biggest, most complete games on the AppStore. The developer is also releasing Baldur’s Gate 2 Enhanced Edition this Friday (15th of Nov. 2013), which I’d assume will adress most problems with the original. Oh, and try Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (originally made by Bioware too)!

Bastion

This will, unfortunately, serve as a bad example here. Bastion for iOS is a port of a fantastic action adventure game (no, it’s not an RPG, being able to customize weapons do not constitute the genre) I’ve played on a PC. Really nice story, character development, setting, as well as combat itself which was particularly well made and fun. Where’s the problem then? Performance. I have an iPad 3, which, a year ago when the game was first released was 2nd best following iPad 4. I’m aware 4 has significantly better specifications than 3, but FPS dropped consistently during fights back when I was playing. Maybe they fixed it in recent patches, as the dev updates the game regularly, but for a title that “requires an iPad 2 or newer” this could’ve run better. Most of you may have never experienced such problems, but this is b(i)ased on my own experience.

Toilet Games

This section covers pretty much 3/4 of all games ever released on iOS. Yes, Angry Birds too. In fact, this is an excellent example! Toilet games are by far, without a shadow of a doubt, the most successful ones on the AppStore. What are the characteristics of such a title?

• small and short levels, ideally ones you can finish in 2-3 minutes
• free or extra cheap, although likely with plenty IAPs
• perfect entertainment while on the (iron?*) throne

You all know what I’m talking about. Cut The Rope, Fruit Ninja and it’s prettier twin Infinity Blade, a series of bird flinging simulators and endless runners, hundreds upon thousands of other games. Most people, in all honesty, do not play on their mobiles at all, but if they do, they play games like that. Simple, easy, just something to pass the time in a queue, in a bus, or, well, on a toilet.

*I can imagine King Joffrey playing Infinity Blade, I’m so sorry.

A Bright Future

I know, I know, there are games, even genres, I didn’t cover—which I hope is reasonable given the sheer amount of titles. Hence, I want to point out at least some special examples of innovative solutions I like.

Gyro is a cool way to control a game, even though it’s not always the best of ideas. It works just fine in a racing game, but recently released, magnificent Papa Sangre II (starring Sean Bean) requires a player to literally stand and rotate as they play in gyro mode—hardly convenient, but one may argue that it’s immersive (thankfully the game offers 3 control schemes to choose from).

There are apps in which whole control is restricted to a single touch—no gestures whatsoever—anywhere on the screen (see Rayman or Tiny Wings), and yet they are amazingly fun to play.

I also absolutely adore interactive stories—no games per se, but close enough, especially given that I can’t live without books. All you do is choose a path in Choice of the Vampire, the adventure adapts. In Sorcery! and freshly released sequel, you create your own narrative in an amazing fantasy world.