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App review: Blokus HD is shiny, way too shiny
The difference between a port of a tabletop board game to the iPad by someone like Gameloft – makers of games like James Cameron's Avatar for iPad and Asphalt 5 – and smaller, independent companies is pretty stunning. It's also quite pretty. Take a look at the flashy images in the Blokus HD screenshots below. The game, originally released in 2000 by a small game company and more recently published by Hasbro, is a beautiful, colorful plasticky thing in the real world. Gameloft has emphasized the bright look of the game with a lot of panache in the US$4.99 iPad version (Gameloft also makes an iPod/iPhone touch version of the Blokus app that looks about the same, just smaller. We didn't test that version). Are all of these fancy graphics a good thing? Well, it certainly shows that you can make a bubbly and light board game app that should appeal to the video game crowd (although, to be fair, this is ground that Zooloretto has already covered pretty well). It's also, for a traditional board gamer like myself, hard to criticize the push to get more tabletop games onto our iDevices, so I've got a soft spot for developers who try. But Blokus, while quite impressive, needs a little more time in the oven before it joins the ranks of great board game ports like Carcassonne or the Settlers of Catan on the iPhone. Read on to see if Blokus is a game you want to add to your digital collection. %Gallery-96810%
Settlers of Catan in development for Microsoft Surface, still can't help you trade sheep for wood (video)
It's a pretty well-known fact that The Settlers of Catan / Die Siedler von Catan is fantastic fun, and though the original board game has seen a few digital incarnations, all the cutthroat hexagonal colonization sim ever really needed was a giant screen with multitouch. MayFair Games let Vectorform build this version for Microsoft Surface, which is on display at the Origin Games Fair this week; CNET reports the final version will be available this August. Good luck finding enough resources to trade for the table to play it on. Video after the break, more details at our source links.
TUAW Review: Carcassonne finally, gloriously comes to the iPhone
After Small World, Carcassonne is one of the most anticipated designer board game apps to hit the App Store. It took a little longer than expected, but everything from the basic Carcassonne game is here. Nothing more, nothing less. There are no river tiles, no traders, no princess or dragon. It's completely easy to play, and the plethora of options - local or online human opponents, very well-created AI players and a new solitaire version - mean this is the game to get if you know what a meeple is and enjoy sending them off to do your bidding. Sure, we've had the clone (or not, depending on who you ask) app called Might And Card: Golden Edition, but now we finally and awesomely have an official Carcassonne app for the iPhone / iPod touch [$4.99] and it was well worth the wait. Read on to see why board gaming on the iThings is only getting better and better. %Gallery-94410%
Carcassonne now getting medieval on App Store
The territory-expanding German board game Carcassonne continues to spread its reach to as many digital platforms as humanly possible, landing recently on the iPhone and iPod Touch. The game, which is available for $4.99 on the App Store, includes both single-system and local network multiplayer modes. It also caters to both English and German-speaking players -- just like us! Sehen Sie, wir sprechen Deutsch jetzt! Hallo, Franz! Welcher Weg in die Diskothek? Carcassonne ($4.99): %Gallery-92298%
Battle vs. Chess coming this Fall to just about every platform
SouthPeak's infringement-skirting Battle vs. Chess has apparently been pushed back from its initial May launch window, according to a press release. And the fact that May's almost over and the game's not out yet. However, the game is now set to launch this Fall, and will be released for 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP and PC. So, like, everything except the iPhone and the Lynx. According to the presser, the game will include an "Action Mode," where pieces won't automatically kill one another in scripted animations, but will rather place players in a "beat-'em-up style encounter." Somewhere, Garry Kasparov is openly weeping.
App Review: Might And Card - Golden Edition
Might and Card: Golden Edition [US$4.99, iPad only] is not Carcassonne. This much an unnamed member of the UWinGame Dev Team wanted to make clear when he or she provided TUAW with a reviewer code for the game: I also would like to take this opportunity to express some more info about this game. Some said our game looks much like Carcassonne. Here I want to claim it totally wrong. This version we have released was just a base, and we will add many more features and packages to make it even more beautiful and interesting. Whatever. The app is a Carc clone, no matter what anyone says. For anyone who is familiar with that brilliant game, here's the scoop: this is a dumbed down, even more luck-driven version of the game. Might And Card: Golden Edition is missing the farmer scoring, it throws in a few unique bonus tiles, and there are animated little soldiers instead of Meeples. For anyone who doesn't understand what that sentence means, read on for the full picture. %Gallery-93693%
Zombies enter the Risk: Factions fray
Well, naturally. This is how we assumed the make-up of the five different armies featured in Risk: Factions would evolve: first, there are humans, and then there were cats, who were bested by robots, and now somehow there are zombies. You wouldn't think them to be brilliant global strategists, but judging by their introduction cinematic which we've posted above, we think they won't have any problem holding their own. Until, of course, they start infecting the robot faction. The resulting zombie-robots (or, if you will, "zobots") could pretty much run the board in less than three rounds.
Review: Keltis Oracle is a great, light strategic board game for iPad, iPhone
Keltis is a relatively new marquee family of board games – in Europe, at least – with a somewhat meandering history. The series started as the Lost Cities card game, which evolved into the original board game in the series, Keltis. That game won the Spiel des Jahres, Germany's highest board game honor, in 2008. Since then, there have been two expansions: a card game version (different from the original Lost Cities card game) and, most recently, a new board game called Keltis Oracle. U.S. board gamers will most likely recognize the Keltis games in the similar Lost Cities: The Board Game. Are you wondering why the European version of the game made it into your iDevice? Because the developers in Tribeflame are based in Finland. In any case, the universal app (US$4.99) that's now available on the iPad and iPhone (and iPod touch) is the latest Keltis game. Is it the greatest? To some, maybe. It's certainly the most player-friendly of the batch, and it looks good on the iPad screen. The game works, but as you can see in the galleries below, it's crowded when packed into the iPhone's 480 x 320 pixel screen. Read on to see what the Oracle can do for you. %Gallery-92858% %Gallery-92913%
Review: Gorgeous Small World app shows board games can be great on the iPad
Considering how good Small World (US$4.99) – the first big Euro board game of the iPad era – is, fans of these sorts of games are in for a really wonderful ride. While this app isn't perfect, we're here to tell you that it's well worth your time. Maybe you've seen Apple pushing this game in the App Store, with the motley crew pictured above staring out at you from the flash screen. Without a familiarity with the physical board game, though, it's kind of hard to know what to make of it. Here's what's going on: Underneath the pretty fantasy graphics, Small World is a clever area control game, an almost completely luck-free strategy game that gives players a lot of great in-game choices. Each turn, you have a small number of tokens representing one of about a dozen tribes (trolls, halflings, tritons, etc.) that all have a random bonus power (one of twenty) attached. You send these little minions out to take over some territory and score points based on where you are at the end of your turn. Spread yourself too thin and you won't have much to do next turn. Stay too bunched up and you won't score enough points to win. In short, the game is brilliant if you're looking for something a little more strategic than Risk and don't need a twitchy tapping experience to have fun. Read on to find out all just how big Small World can be. %Gallery-92357%
See the sites in EA's Monopoly Streets
When you're locked in one of those days-long Monopoly games that just won't end (in other words, pretty much every Monopoly game ever), wouldn't it be more thrilling to spend that time in a 3D Monopoly board-world? We'll find out with the release of EA's Monopoly Streets for Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 this fall. Monopoly Streets reimagines the classic board game as a dynamic gameworld encountered from street level. As players buy and build up properties, they'll see actual buildings erected, styled in accordance with the neighborhoods' economic status. That's right -- you'll be able to see the Water Works for yourself! Each player will also have a headquarters that grows and crumbles with the player's fortunes. And if none of this sounds at all like the Monoppoly you know and love, "classic game board" modes will also be playable. The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions will also feature online play and DLC. In addition to Streets, EA will release a more traditional Monopoly game for DS this fall. As if that's not enough unilateral control of the virtual board game market, the company has also revealed the browser-based Monopoly City, currently in development for release on EA's Pogo portal.
Get some Carcassonne on your iPhone and iPod Touch
Not right now, but soon: The official site says the popular German tile-based board game Carcassonne (which is also available on Xbox Live right now) is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch. It'll release sometime this month -- we'd like to imagine it's on a long trek, crossing babbling brooks and fertile fields, as we write this. Daydreaming aside, the app will cost $4.99 when it launches -- available in both English and German flavors -- and will sport multiplayer either via passing the device around (so many fingerprints!) or local network play. If you're looking for more, hit up the Carcassonne dev blog, which details plans for expansions and even an iPad version, and feel free to check out some screens below. [Via TouchArcade] %Gallery-92298%
Review: Bananagrams is addicting without the clicking
Perhaps you've seen them, in Word Wars or another Scrabble movie; people who are a wee bit obsessive about their word games. For the iPhone-carrying among them, there is the official Scrabble app or Words With Friends. For people who like a little more variety in their word game apps, there are a hundred other options. Today, we look at one of the better ones, Bananagrams [$.99], which is quickly developing a fanatic player base similar to the Scrabble fans. In bookstores, libraries, and cafes around the world, people are playing Bananagrams face to face. There is also an online version through Facebook. While Bananagrams shares a lot of gameplay with Scrabble, it's really much more similar to a less famous game called Pick Two!, which was released in 1993, and to the homebrew game of Speed Scrabble. Since Bananagrams hit it big a few years ago, Parker Brothers has responded with the Scrabble Apple, and the Bananagrams company also released Pairs in Pears. There was also an official Bananagrams tie-in book. As we said, there are a lot of word game freaks fans who like to build crosswords competitively. If you're interested in ways to play a quick game like this on the iPhone, read on to see what all the fuss is about. %Gallery-90908%
Gameloft bringing downloadable UNO to PSP on April 22
There are only two ways we could think to improve the UNO experience we currently have access to on the PS3 and 360: Make it available on a handheld console, in order to emulate the joy of holding tiny cards in our hands. Remove all camera functionality, in order to lessen the frequency with which we're exposed to strangers' bathing suit areas. Fortunately, Gameloft is coming through for us in both respects with a downloadable PSP version of UNO, which is set to hit the U.S. and European PlayStation Stores on April 22. The game's video announcement (posted after the jump) mentions it will support local and online multiplayer matches, but doesn't say anything about a price. We've contacted Gameloft to discern this ever-important (yet, surprisingly, often excluded!) detail.
TUAW Faceoff: Skat vs. ProSkat on the iPhone
We've covered quite a few board and card games in this ongoing series of iPhone / iPad app reviews, but I haven't been as excited about any of them as I was when I saw that there was not just one but two Skat apps available for the iDevices. Considering that Skat is my absolute favorite card game of all time (in second place: SWCCG, an entirely different beast), I knew I'd need to download them both (at US$4.99 each, sadly) and see if either one offered an experience that is in any way similar to playing against real humans. The answer: as much as a touch-screen interface can replace your friends, they do. The first of the two apps is called Skat and its icon looks like this . The other is called ProSkat and has this icon . Skat's icon is much better-looking and does a better job of instantly identifying the app as Skat, but in almost every other aspect, ProSkat is the winner. Read on to see why both of these apps have their place and how they allow you to cleverly bid and take tricks in style on your iPhone. %Gallery-90381% %Gallery-90380%
Review: here's hoping the Kachina board game app gets some serious kinks worked out
The tile game Kachina came to the iPhone/iPod touch platform in waves. First, the app appeared as a single-player puzzle game using the Kachina rules. Then, an upgrade with in-app purchase allowed you to spend US$2.99 to get multiplayer functionality. Now, the Kachina app [$2.99] that you can find in the App Store is the full-featured version that includes both the puzzle and multiplayer modes. The developer, Gourami Games, has posted a mea culpa of sorts, saying: The in-app upgrade has been removed and all copies are now enabled to play 2,3,4,5 player games. Now with an option to chose the computers difficulty level. Those of you that have made the in-app upgrade purchase, Thank you for your support, and we will make it up to you in a future update that will automatically detect the sale. We like the idea behind the Kachina game, which uses Hopi spirit imagery and tests your math skills as you race for the high score, but this is a situation where too many serious bugs destroy what's really an elegant game. Read on to see what we mean. %Gallery-90109%
Review: Hey, That's My Fish Honey, That's Mine!
Board gamers looking for ported game apps on the iPhone (and now, finally, the iPad) might overlook the just-released offering Honey, That's Mine [$1.99]. The game uses little honeybee characters that fly across a board of hexagons to collect drops of honey. As they leave a location, that hex is removed from the board. Even though the bees fly, they can't cross an open space; this rule sets up a game that is much, much more than meets the eye. Honey, That's Mine can be played in three flavors: simple, normal, and advanced. The simple game is almost an exact clone of Hey, That's My Fish, a 2003 game designed by Günter Cornett and Alvydas Jakeliunas that used penguins jumping around ice floes. Honey, which claims to be the design of Jeffery Vanneste, does have a few alternative rules for different bees, but the fact that it fails to mention its penguin roots makes us suspect it won't be available in the App Store for long. Hey, That's My Fish was ported to some mobile platforms and the Wii, but not (yet) to the iPhone Why? No one knows. However, the fact that this is at least the second version for the iPhone – a short-lived clone called Mining Bots is no longer available – proves that the original game designers should look into licensing the game for Apple's iDevice line. There's a hunger for a game like this out there, whether it's using bees, penguins, or robots. Read on to find out if you'd be interested as well. %Gallery-89783%
Hands-on: Risk Factions (Classic Mode)
Risk: Factions is coming to Xbox Live Arcade this summer, and a version of the classic Risk board game, dubbed Classic Mode, will be included. The verdict? It's classic Risk, albeit with a couple of key tweaks. Most game-changing is a bonus star feature, which randomly awards players 1-2 "stars" at the end of a turn. Stars can be used to make additional troop movements. Additionally, Classic Mode abandons the card system of the original game. Getting rid of the cards streamlines the game a bit, and so does the option to skip the dice-rolling attacks (and just view the results), but the random star bonuses can lead to one player steamrolling the opponents rather quickly -- as happens to me and another human player in the video above. Just like in the original game, once a player builds up a powerful army, there's nothing to stop total domination of the game board. But that's always been a part of the game of Risk, and now, through Xbox Live, diehard tabletoppers can test their riskiest maneuvers on a truly worldwide battlefield, say, against an opponent from the Ukraine. One thing Risk: Factions is sorely lacking, however? Little wooden cubes. Toss in some DLC wooden cubes, and I'll be happy. %Gallery-89574%
Print your own copy of the unofficial Advance Wars board game
This is one of those cases where we really want to share something magical with you, but fear the tremendous weight the Joystiq Biomass carries will crush the life out of the magical thing in question. Still, though we don't want to bring Nintendo's attention to this, we couldn't not share this incredible, homemade Advance Wars board game with you -- especially since you can print out all the assets and start playing it with your fellow tabletop enthusiasts immediately. The name of the game is actually Skirmish Wars: Advance Tactics, but considering all of the art assets were straight yoinked from Intelligent Systems' series of turn-based strategy games, we don't actually think they're fooling anybody. Seriously, board game fiends -- grab this one while it's still grabbable. [Via GoNintendo]
Hands-on: The Path of Go (XBLA)
Ready to frustrate yourself forever? Learn the game of Go. It's an ancient Chinese game that's over four thousand years old, and games can last up to 16 hours in tournaments. Sounds just perfect for an adaptation into the frenetic world of video games, right?! Well, your wish is granted. The Path of Go or How We Came Up With A Proprietary Name For The Public Domain Game of Go is being developed in-house by Microsoft at the likewise excitingly named Microsoft Research Cambridge division. We played the game briefly at GDC, and it's actually very robust. It includes a tutorial where your avatar has some faux back and forth dialogue with an ancient Go master, in which he really does teach you the game. I tried reading an old instruction manual for a set of Go I found at a thrift shop once, and was so confused by terms like "ko" and proper stone placement that I just re-thrifted the set. Now, I'm ready to take on Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind and kick his ass. Additionally, the game features single player or two player both locally and through Xbox Live, multiple backgrounds, and full 3D environments where you can control the camera. There's also an actual story mode in here, where you learn the nuances of the game in "beat the situation" scenarios while heading down a path. The ... wait for it ... Path of Go. %Gallery-87790%
Review: Viva il Re board game app asks to be crowned
The iPhone might be the most amazing computer you can slip into your jeans, but there are some things it just doesn't do very well. For example, you can't really get into a bluffing match against the machine, at least not with the iPhone/iPod touch app Viva il Re ($1.99). Here's what we mean. Viva il Re (which means "Long live the King" in Italian) is a well-designed board game by Stefano Luperto that has been beautifully ported to the iPhone by by Pro-netics S.p.A. The object is to score points and hopefully get one of your characters to become the new king, because the old king has decided to retire (can kings do that?). With the retirement announcement, "the pirouette for succession begins!" according to the official game setup. Each player is secretly hoping one of their six characters manages to reach the top, out of 13 total. When you play the board game version of Viva il Re, called King Me!, the reasonably slow pace of the game and the face-to-face interaction means that there is time to develop guesses about which characters each player is hoping will take the throne. While the app looks almost exactly like the tabletop version and most of the functionally is the same, it's just not as much fun to compete against bots as it is to outwit other people. Continue reading and see if you agree. %Gallery-86560%
