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The Collectables assaults iOS, mixes eye candy and cards
I've been looking forward to The Collectables for a while now. When I got my first look at the game several months ago the gorgeous visuals grabbed my attention immediately, and being able to micromanage a team of military renegades seemed like a perfect fit for the iPad. Now that the game is officially available on the App Store, I can safely say that I was right to be excited about both of those things, but there's much more to The Collectables than that -- for better and worse. You command a team of up to four unique soldiers as they wage war on enemy troops in a variety of lush environments. The back story is offered in small chunks but you never really get a solid grasp on the overarching motivations of your group -- not that it really matters, you never need a reason to wipe out "bad guys," right? Easily the most impressive thing about the game is its graphical flair. Coming from Crytek, the folks responsible for some of the most gorgeous console and PC games of all time, The Collectables is very easy on the eyes. Trees sway in the wind, blades of tall grass spin and lean as your soldiers run through them, and explosions produce impressive fire effects, all without the slightest hint of slowdown. The top-down camera offers a view of the battlefield and allows you to position your soldiers by dragging their paths and tapping on various areas of the environment. Your soldiers automatically attack enemy forces within range, but you can also command them to use specific weapons like grenades at specific times. The core mechanic of the game, and the reason for its title, is your ability to collect cards that allow you to use specific soldiers, items, and power-ups. You gain cards by completing missions or by outright purchasing card packs via a microtransaction store. Just about everything in the game has its own card, and opening packs that may contain rare or "epic" cards is actually pretty addictive. Your squad is only as badass as the cards you have available, so wasting powerful cards on one battle might leave you a bit underpowered during your next mission. Thankfully, you're given the option to replay already finished missions and earn extra gear and bonuses. It's a risk and reward system that benefits those with the patience to replay missions, as well as players who don't mind buying card packs to flesh out their crew. Like many titles that rely on in-app purchases, The Collectables is free to play. The impressive graphics and easy-to-grasp gameplay are enough of a reason to give it a shot, and as usual, those willing to toss a few bucks in will have more fun, more quickly than those determined to grind their way through. Either way, you should give it a spin.
Crytek's free-to-play strategy game The Collectables assaults iOS
Crytek's partnership with DeNA has finally borne fruit in the form of The Collectables, a new iOS tactical strategy game powered by the famed CryENGINE. If you're wondering about the title, it's a play on both Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables and the game's collectible card game nature. Players will assemble a squad of hardened military types who must battle foes using a traditional, turn-based interface, though they'll be aided in combat by upgrades that appear in the form of collectible cards. The real coup for the game though, is the inclusion of CryENGINE technology, which renders The Collectables a "visually stunning and explosive gameplay experience that pushes the boundaries of what can be achieved on mobile devices," according to Crytek. Though currently exclusive to iOS, The Collectables will soon grace Android devices as well. Those eager for that incarnation of the strategy game can register for information on its release, and by doing so will earn an exclusive, in-game character. [Image: Crytek]
Equip your virtual soldier with TUAW gear in The Collectables
The upcoming team-based shooter from Crytek and DeNA called The Collectables promises lots of guns, big explosions and plenty of mayhem. The game will be free-to-play when it launches a little later this year, but you can already begin your account registration right now and claim some exclusive gear in the process. If you head over to The Collectables official website, you can input your email address and "TUAW" as the optional referral code. By doing this, you'll get access to two exclusive in-game items: A blue-and-white TUAW-branded T-shirt, and the M4 assault rifle. These items will only be available to those who register with the TUAW referral code, so claim your gear and then show it off in-game as soon as the game goes live in the App Store! Here's an example of a character sporting our exclusive items. Try not to drool.
Crytek and DeNA partner for F2P mobile game The Collectables
Crytek, a company best known for graphically stunning first-person shooters, is joining forces with DeNA to join the free-to-play mobile game space with The Collectables. Using a modified version of the Crytek engine, The Collectables is what you'd hope for from a Crytek game: "intense combat, extreme gunfights, 3D battlefields and classic larger-than-life action heroes to bring players an unparalleled mobile game experience." Those who pre-order the game will receive access to an in-game character equipped with special limited-time-only gear. There's currently no word on when The Collectables should debut, though Crytek and DeNA hope to have it out at some point during 2014.
Crytek showed off a new iOS title called The Collectibles at WWDC
Crytek is the company behind the Crysis series of games, as well as the CryEngine game engine that powers them, and it's released a game on iOS before. Now, it looks like the AAA developer is planning to make a return to Apple's touchscreen platform, with a new game called The Collectibles (or The Collectables, depending on who you hear about it from). Last week at WWDC, Crytek showed off the new game during a panel, and as you can see above, the game looks like a top-down action title, probably a shooter of some description. The other interesting thing you'll notice about the game is that the developer demoing it was using a controller. iOS 7, you'll remember, adds official Apple support for "Made for iPhone" controllers, and we've already seen this hardware leaking out into the world. There have already been a number of third-party controllers available for iPhone and iOS devices, but it looks like Apple is finally supporting buttons officially, and Crytek's game might be one of the first titles to work with this new standard. The game also uses the touchscreen, however, so you probably won't absolutely need to have a controller just to play. Of course, that probably also means we won't see The Collectibles in action until iOS 7 is out, which means sometime later on this year. Hopefully we'll get a chance to see the game in action sooner rather than later.
