Gameloft has a slough of sexy up-scaled titles coming out this summer.
Gameloft has released a lot of key titles for the iPhone in the past couple years. We got a chance to play the upcoming “HD” versions of the games for the iPad. Overall, the games looked great and played well. Here’s a quick synopsis of each game and it potential release window.
Hero of Sparta 2 HD – “Coming Soon”
Nigel got some great hands on time (including a video) with the next Hero of Sparta game last month for the iPhone, and the iPad version looks even better. The iPad version boasts upgraded textures and customizable control locations. The game looks good, but the iPad seems to show the age of the Hero of Sparta engine a bit, at least compared to other Gameloft games like Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia. There are framerate issues with this build, but considering it’s a beta, I’m assuming they will be ironed out before release. We got to play a sweet boss battle against a sea serpant that looked great! Looking forward to this one.
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within HD – “Summer 2010″
Same game as the iPhone version, with quite pretty updated graphics! This game looks better than Hero of Sparta 2 on the iPad, and plays well with the extra screen real estate. There were also some framerate issues with this build, but again, it’s early. In the iPad version, you’ll be able to play your own music as you play, which is cool. Also, the controls are fully customizable, as with all the other Gameloft iPad games. You can check out Nigel’s review of PoP for the iPhone for more info.
Splinter Cell: Conviction HD – July Release
Same game, shinier lighting effects. In all honesty though, this was probably the best looking iPad we saw from Gameloft. Splinter Looks fantastic, and seems smoother to play as well. Same control customization, and exact same levels as the iPhone version. If you haven’t picked this up on the iPhone, it should be worth the look on the iPad. Check out our review of the iPhone version here.
The Settlers HD – July Release
Higher res version of the mobile release. Check out the review by Kamblad for more info.
Blockus HD – June Release
We somehow missed the iPhone version of this game. Our apologies. This definitely looks like a “made for iPad” kind of game, though, so we don’t feel too bad. Blockus involves placing up to 21 Tetris-styled block on a grid game board to cover as much of it as possible. The goal of the other players is the same, and to block your pieces from allowing you to place down more. The presentation and interface for Blockus is very polished, and it definitely seems like a good tabletop game to have around for friends. The iPad version features a pass-n-play “hotseat” mode for up to four players. There is also a colorblind mode.
