Just mere days away from the release of the iPad, and here at TouchGen we’re very excited to see what will come from the iPad in terms of gaming. We have seen a few things here and there, but overall, we are unsure what to expect in the gaming market on day 1; which makes it all the more exciting. Yours truly will be at my local apple store, (no, I’m not telling you where that is, stalker!) waiting to get mine home and review some games for your reading pleasure. In the meantime, let’s talk about what I know, and what I hope to see, both at launch, and a little down the road.
Games confirmed for day 1.
The fine folks at pocket gamer have worked up a great list of all the games that have been confirmed, through various sources, to be coming out on the iPad on day one. As of my writing this there are 117 games confirmed. Rather then regurgitate the list, just click here and take a look. Here is my top 5 most anticipated games on that list. (This is not necessarily based on what game I think is better as it stands now, but what game I think will be better on the iPad. I will also not include games not on the iPhone now, simply because I don’t know enough about them.)
5. Astro Ranch HD: Astro Ranch was a top tier game on the iPhone, and I have no reason to expect anything less from their high definition version of the game.
4. Touchgrind HD: I really saw a lot of potential in Touchgrind on the iPhone, but the small screen really limited how far you could see in front of you. It was incredibly hard to tell when a ramp or rail was coming. With the iPad’s larger screen, they can zoom out more and let you see what’s coming sooner.
3. Flight Control: It’s Flight Control, on a bigger screen, with better graphics. If you don’t think Flight Control is perfect for the iPad, then flat out, you’re wrong.
2. Real Racing – Real Racing looks incredible on the iPhone; now just imagine that with a nice big screen and a higher resolution.
1. Sim City: Somehow EA actually made SimCity playable on the iPhone’s small screen, so I’m confident that they will knock it out of the park with the extra screen real estate and lines of resolution.
What I want.
Let’s begin with genres before diving into specific games. Here’s the top 5 genres I think will be most effective on the iPad.
Beautiful graphics will make racing games so much better!
5. Time Management: Any game game that requires a lot of frantic tapping and touching will always benefit from having a bigger screen. Time management games (like flight control and diner dash) often require you to do a bunch of different things at once, and it can be really easy for your fingers to get in your way. Having a large screen alleviates much of that problem.
4. Racing: Racing is an odd one, because they were not particularly problematic on the iPhone like some other genres were. That being said, I want my racing games to look as pretty as possible. Having a big high resolution screen will be great for racers, and I can’t wait to see what developers do.
3. Puzzle games – As sick as I am of any game that involves matching colored pieces to other colored pieces, I have to admit that a larger screen would make them much easier to play. My only hope is developers take the genre to the next level, now that control accuracy will be much less of an issue.
2. Point and click adventures – Adventure games are all about beautiful art, and the high res screen on the ipad will be great for them. The big screen will also make it much easier to find hidden items that these games tend to have.
1. Strategy games – Real time strategy will benefit the most from the big screen but turn based and tower defense should also see some improvement. In a game like Command and Conquer where you have to micromanage a lot, a small screen is devastating to the fun. Hopefully the iPad will resolve this issue.
Now that we have genres that I see being great on the iPad, let’s look towards the top 5 unannounced games that I want to see on the iPad at some point. (Hopefully sooner then later.)
5. Command and Conquer – As I mentioned before, I think the strategy genre would be awesome on the iPad, and when I think of the this genre, C&C is the first game that comes to mind. (Well maybe Starcraft, but I know that will never happen.) If EA put in some extra work, an iPad version of C&C could be truly awesome.
4. Peggle – Peggle does not necessarily need a bigger screen, but Peggle is awesome, and if they threw an update that included the Peggle expansions I would be sold.
3. Scribblenauts – I’m not sure why Scribblenauts never came to iPhone, maybe they felt the screen was to small to write out the words? Well if that’s the problem, boy do I have a solution! Hopefully they will take this game that was very interesting on the DS and bring it over. After all, developers like money, right? Turns out there’s a lot of that to be had on the app store.
2. PuzzleQuest – If you didn’t expect to put this on the list, then clearly you don’t know me very well. PuzzleQuest is one of my favorite games of all time. Since the iPhone version had some problems with blurry images on the screen it wasn’t as great as it could have been, and I think an iPad version could rectify that problem.
1. Who knows? – No, that’s the name of a game; it’s me saying that I just don’t know what developers are really capable of. I look forward to seeing what kind of games that already exist on the iPhone, and ones that don’t, will come out and really make a splash on the iPad. It’s a whole new game out there people.
The Bad Stuff
Looks kind of big to hold and play games, right?
It’s not all puppy dogs and rainbows in my head. I see a lot of potential for gaming on the iPad, but I also see a lot of possible drawbacks. Here is my top 3 reason why the iPad may not be the best gaming machine to ever exist.
3. The weight of the device – When playing a video game you want a nice light, easy to hold device in your hands, and at 1.5 pounds, the iPad is not that. I’m afraid that playing any game that requires you to hold the device will become uncomfortable after a short time. This may make sound like a baby, but I’m just not looking to be in pain while playing a video game (if I wanted that I’d buy a wii). I hope I’m wrong, or at least that developers realize this and make games where you can play with the device on the table instead of holding it.
2. Lack of portability – This kind of relates to the first problem, but it also really includes the height and width of the device. The main reason I prefer my iPhone as a gaming device over a PSP or DS is that it’s always with me, and it’s small enough that it fits right into my pocket. The iPad is going to require some sort of a bag to carry around, and it’s a seperate device that I have to lug around with me. If the games are good enough then it will be worth it, but only time will tell.
1. The boarder around the screen – As many people said with their first hands on, the boarder around the screen makes it tough to play any game that requires a virtual D-Pad, as you have to really stretch your fingers to get to the controls. In the end this could be a good thing, because it will force developers to innovate their control methods, and not take the easy way out.
My final word
In the end I’m very excited for April 3rd. I can’t wait to pick up my iPad and check out the app store for some good stuff (and of course review it for all of you). I have some reservations about the device, but they are not enough to keep me from wanting to get one and try it out. Keep your eyes here on April 3rd for my unboxing, and first impressions of the device as it pertains to gaming, as well as some reviews of launch games.
