Platforming using exclusively touch screen controls has been a mixed bag for me, and mostly I haven’t liked it. League of Evil is truly one of the only games on the iPhone that does it perfectly, or at least the best it can on a touch screen.
League of Evil is about this dude who is rad, who has been appointed by some dudes to kill some evil scientist dudes while staying alive and killing other dudes along the way.
We’re talking like chopping off their big ol’ scientist “i’m smarter than you” head to complete a level. It’s awesome, and a pretty satisfying way to reach a goal.
Gratification.
I buy and try a lot of iPhone apps and games, and sometimes they don’t keep my attention for very long, but League of Evil has done a phenomenal job of keeping me coming back. It has short difficult levels with insta-death that is very similar to Super Meat Boy, but unlike Team Meat and their childish hatred of the App Store, Ravenous Games have embraced iOS and really perfected smart and tight platforming controls on the device.
Plus it’s only 99ยข and I feel kind of guilty only paying that little for it. It’s that good.
- Kyle
I want an iPad for two games, and as it turns out both of those games happen to be from Adam Saltsman.
Saltsman once wrote in a Gamasutra article about his answer to why he makes games and he says “If you can play it, then you are inherently exploring and learning. You might not be learning things that apply anywhere in this universe except to this particular game, but these are the core processes implied by the Unique Properties of Game.”
The fantastic thing about Canabalt and Gravity Hook HD is that Adam Saltsman’s actions define his words and the games have such simple learning curves and exploration.
Almost to the point that the play begins to think it second nature to be running and leaping across buildings in a monochromatic apocalypse while trying to reach an end that doesn’t exist and in Gravity Hook HD’s case, jumping up, attaching to bombs and floating nodes to try and reach a top which doesn’t exist.
The games themselves are categorically score-chasers with habit-forming one more time play sessions that keep you always keep you restarting.
While both games can be played for free in your web browser, you can purchase them on the App Store for your iOS device. The only reason you’ll want to purchase Canabalt is to have it in your pocket, to play it on the gorgeous iPad screen, or to support Saltsman which is a pretty good reason. It works fine with a mouse click, or your finger tap.
Gravity Hook HD needs to be played on a touch screen. It is the definitive way it’s meant to be played and is indicative of the relevance of touch screen gaming.
Gravity Hook HD is Adam Saltsman and Danny Baranowsky’s new must-have App Store gem, and it proves (once again) that catchy gaming doesn’t need to be pop, nor expensive to create.
The industry could benefit from less ambiguous ideas and more specific ones like Saltsman’s. Gravity Hook HD’s magic lies within it’s simplicity.
- Kyle
