Today, Gameloft announced that they are teaming up with Epic Games to release four Unreal Engine-powered iOS games, which will also be released on other platforms like Android and Playstation Network. The games themselves haven't been revealed, but two will be out in 2011 and two will be out in 2012.
Unfortunately, we don't have any other details at the moment, so we'll refer you to the companies' press release here. But let us know in the comments-- which Gameloft games do you want to see rendered in the ultra-realistic Unreal style? Two that stand out for us are Modern Combat 3 and N.O.V.A. 3, but let's hear your thoughts.
19 Comments
My problem with Gameloft is that their approach is to try and shoehorn a console game onto the iPhone rather than make an experience based on the platform's strengths. The games are intermittently impressive but I find myself spending far more time with Osmos, Plants vs Zombies, Infinity Blade, Dead Space... I have little to no interest playing Halo or StarCraft on my iPhone when I can play Halo or StarCraft on PC and XBOX, where they seem much more natural.
That's you. Me? I'm glad to have traditional gaming on my iOS, and milions of other people love it as well, especially since the console game devs couldn't be bothered.
If you don't like Gameloft games and want to play Angry Birds all your life, DON'T PLAY THEM.
Wow, good speech until the last paragraph. You kinda went from regular person and morphed into a troll.
Really? :( Troll wasn't what I was going for at all! The only reason I wrote stuff up was because I felt Jakarta was trollin' me, and I felt I needed a rebuttal that people would have a hard time re-rebuttaling. :P Those are my honest views, though, and if they sound troll-like I apologize, cuz they weren't meant to be.
Wow, Jakarta, where to begin. Firstly, I'm not entirely sure why I'm being attacked? I was stating my opinion; Gameloft games don't work for me, but I certainly wasn't calling out the developer or its fans, no matter how rabid they might be. There's no need to yell and contrary to popular belief TYPING IN ALL CAPS DOES NOT VALIDATE A WEAK ARGUMENT.
Assuming by "traditional" gaming you're talking about the big-name console games Gameloft tries to emulate, it is extremely tough to make it work on a console as unconventional as the iOS. For simple games, see League of Evil, Bug Heroes, Bug Panic, a virtual button setup can work okay, but for anything larger? A 360 or PS3 controller has sixteen buttons plus two joysticks (as well as SIXAXIS support for the latter) and most games use most or not all of these buttons, sometimes for multiple functions, depending on the situation. The iPhone, however, has a touch screen and a accelerometer. Starting to see the problem?
I can basically think of two different methods to craft a "console quality" experience on the system. The first is the one employed by EA Mobile and Epic Games, among others: find a different method of control that suits the system. Dead Space iOS did not just make the interface invisible, it created a control system around context-sensitive gestures so that you didn't have to try and switch between different buttons in a heated moment. It's a simple solution, but it avoided the cluttered feel of Gameloft interfaces, stayed true to the game's console roots, and felt downright elegant. Infinity Blade was more ambitious, making a hard-core Punch-Out!!-esque battle system that was almost entirely touch-controlled and, more importantly, felt like it couldn't have been possible with any other control scheme.
And then we come to the second method, the one Gameloft is so fond of: cut corners, cut cut cut till you have a manageable amount of commands, and then throw a whole bunch of virtual buttons onto the screen. I could not play NOVA or Black Pegasus because they lacked the ability to crouch and jump, respectively. It feels clunky and unintuitive to be switching between virtual buttons and, because there's no physical indication when you're pressing one, makes it difficult to do when you're in the middle of a firefight or another intense moment. I've failed to throw a grenade or reload my weapon so many times because I misjudged the button location.
The last point is that we've gotta think about how the rest of the gaming community is viewing us, with someone like Gameloft as our flagship developer. I don't know about you but my 'ardcore console gamer friends have a hard time believing that the iOS is a serious platform for games, and when the games that get the most press are subpar knockoffs of console franchises, well, it's even harder for them to swallow. When someone asks why we're content with bad versions of Call of Duty, the standard iPhone gamer response is "well it's on the iPhone," giving us the appearance we've got lower standards than the rest of the community.
The iPhone is a platform known for, seen for and in all likelihood a success because of its uniqueness, and so gamers and developers have to embrace that. Copycat developers like Gameloft are setting iOS gaming back.
I'm going to have to agree with you Max. As someone who owns every current console, a PC, a DS, and an iPhone 4 I usually cringe with Gameloft releases. Recently this Starfront Collision has rubbed me the wrong way. It's trying to be something it's not. You cannot Micro, and Macro is barely there, it's just trying to be something it's not.
Gameloft is like a really good cover band, they already know what works, but they don't feel like making anything unique. I much rather experience something unique.
In conclusion, you wouldn't buy a cd of your favorite artist if it was just a lesser quality cover version, so just get the real thing when it comes to most of these gameloft games.
i sorta agree Max.
Gameloft should try to make more games like Dead Space iOS
honestly i'm just excited to see how iOS games will change with the unreal engine running them. i can't wait to see the new batch of these coming.
@Max
But u know, with mobile Unreal Engine Gameloft can finally make games with "big-console" experiance on iOS's devices. UE is much powerfull than Gameloft's standard engine and with it games can comes really great. Gameloft has good ideas, but they have lack of abilities in making engines.
And only one, last thing concerns this news: "FIIIINAAALLY!!!!"
@greg: Gameloft's problem has never been about its engine or technical limitation. It's how they approach the game. With PvZ, Osmos and Dead Space, the devs tried to craft the game mechanism and controls to iPhone's touchscreen and it shows. Those games feel like they're native iPhone games.
On the other hand, Gameloft always attempt to make their games with virtual buttons madness. They never even try to craft a native iPhone game.
Not to mention their lack of originality or effort to come up with at least a decent script, story and characters.
Oh give me a break. Dead Space's controls ARE THE SAME AS GAMELOFT'S STANDARD CONTROLS, they are just invisible.
Actually they are fairly different.
In Dead Space you simply tap anywhere with your right thumb to enter aim mode, aim up a shot, tap anywhere to shoot. It you want to exit aim mode you simply start running. Want to pick up an item? You just touch it. It's really intuitive.
In all the gameloft games I've played (e.g. Shadow Guardian) you need to line up a shot, then press a button down the bottom right to fire. This is totally awkward, especially if you have a machine gun for example and have to hold the fire button while adjusting your aim (if the enemy runs to the right, or the gun has some kickback then your thumb will soon slide off the screen), also the shoot button is right near the "exit aim mode" and "exit cover" buttons. :-/
Dead Space makes a bunch of smart decisions while gameloft seem to just add a button for everything. Do they really need a button for picking up a weapon? Did they just add it cos Uncharted had one?Is there any reason I wouldn't want this weapon?
Don't get me wrong, I like their games I just hope they put more thought into their controls.
@don_k
Well, You're right. When we look on greatest iOS's hits, we see simply games, which uses touch screen in intuaitional way. When I looked again on this, what I wrote, I remembered how I wanted to throw my iPod in wall, when I was playing on virtual buttons. And games as Tiny Wings are so naturaly to play on touch screen you don't want to go back to virtual buttons...
They need to try a Golden Sun type of game. No dialogue, just words!
I really hope that they will make hero of sparta 3 or sacred odyssey 2 or gangstar 3 with it. Maybe they could make a new 3d beat em up? Asphalt 7 would be cool too.
Thoughts to me meant what games would you like to come out . Humored how anything can break out as an argument online. Don't like gameloft games wish for something else. You like gameloft games list what you would like. The way to defeat a troll is not to reply to him, if that is what you think is happening.
*Rolls eyes*
Anyways. I'd like at least one to be something we have not seen before and original like Dungeon Defenders. Since it is something unseen and original I could not possibly list what that would be. I'm not a first person shooter fan so I for one am not for NOVA or MC3. I think my number one would be Dungeon Hunter 3.
I did not come here expecting to start an argument, and definitely didn't try to go down in the STP users' books as a troll! I felt an argument was being provoked and I was being made fun of for no concrete reason; I did not want to leave that as the last word of the situation!
I get that my views on Gameloft aren't popular. That does not make me a troll, that just makes me opinionated. :)
I really hope Modern Combat 3
I doubt Modern Combat 3 will be using UE3. MC3 should have already been in development before UE3 was made available on iOS and Gameloft already uses a sufficiently advanced engine for the PS3 version of Modern Combat that seems like a waste to just be a dead-end. NOVA 3 and 4 in 2011 and 2012 seems likely. The other pair I'm not too sure. I'd like to say Gangstar for the other, but doing a full open world in high enough graphics to warrant using UE3 would be kind of pushing it for an iDevice at least until the 5th generation devices are released. So I'm thinking the other title might be a new franchise released before a UE3 NOVA 3 to test the waters.
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