Sitting on an uncomfortable wooden bench waiting for other people to finish eating before I could order my own food I pulled out my DS. Eriko gave me a look as if to say “Really? Now?” and I responded with an odd contortion of my face in an attempt to be cute. Mission failed. She sighed and received a peck on the cheek before my attention went back to the electronic device in my hand. I had progress to make in a game, dammit! If I felt this site was important enough, I could try to pass it off as work.
As someone who bemusedly refers to himself as a gamer I tend to look for any opportunity to play. It is not that I need to but rather that I want to. I realize life is short enough as is to not spend all my time at home gaming. On that same token I also have to realize that if I want to actually play all the games I intend to, I will have to spend a few minutes playing a game instead of sitting in silence. And hey, she wasn’t saying anything either.
As a moderately satisfied but ultimately annoyed owner of the iPhone, I have been trying to get a grasp on the gaming scene of the device.
Many of the games that I have played feel like flash games gone awry. A large bulk are of the traditional puzzle solving types or score attack based time wasters. I feel bad attributing the term waster to the games, but a lot of the games do have weird skill curves and seem, at least to me, designed to be played in bursts until the player doesn’t feel like ever touching the game again. Some may become addicted longer that others but none really have given me the “sink my teeth into” feeling that I tend to want out of my games. These are meant to be hit and then subsequently quit upon. Like most Flash games.
Now, the beauty of a Flash game is that I’m usually not expecting it. Someone sends me a link or I stumble upon it myself. The experience tends to be short. I play it until it finishes or I am satisfied and with Flash games it tends to be the former. As the kind of gamer I am, I don’t tend to return to these one-shot games unless I run into a link again a few months later. The best games I do find myself replaying, perhaps, but I never quite get the experience that I did the first time. As someone who replays a lot of games, I really see a lot of these games as ones to be experienced but not necessarily loved. Whacking that penguin with a club toting polar bear was hilarious the first time, but there was nothing to make me go back to it again. That’s not to say it was a bad experience. Just not one that can sustain itself longer. That is something I personally tend to look for in all of my games.
I don’t believe this experience can be replicated elsewhere at this time. I’ve tried some more “fleshed out”, if you will, games on the iPhone and still haven’t found myself entirely satisfied.
While I have played a number of games, the two I have spent the most time with are Crystal Defenders and Zenonia. The first is a “Tower Defense” game from Square Enix featuring classes seen in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. The latter is an action RPG from a South Korean company named Gamevil.
Crystal Defenders has a bit of an interesting hook to it, as I assume all games of the Tower Defense genre have. When I first expressed some complaints with the game, although, many were quick to blame it on the game being a port from the original iPod. That may cause some issues as the sprites being too small for accurate touching at times, but the majority of my issues are with the game’s intricate design. It could use a few user interface tweaks, to be sure. But it could just give me more information. How did I do compared to what would be considered a “good play”? I have my high score but am I even close to cracking the top score? How much better could I be doing? Cliched as it is a Failed/Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum marking would really help me keep motivated in playing this game.
Zenonia is mildly amusing but mostly frustrating. The way the directional movement handles would have to be my biggest complaint. A directional “pad” is on the screen and pressing the “buttons” allows for movement. Alas it turns into having to pick up my thumb after every movement to not go up or down when I want to go right or so on. Some have told me they have found it to “suffice given what it is” but I don’t know if I can be so lax just because the iPhone is what it is. If it wants to play with the big boys it has to satisfy like they do.
That’s some potentially awkward innuendo.
Looking up Zenonia on Wikipedia I am surprised to see that it is only available on the iPhone. I really had a feeling it would also be found on one of the whatever variations of the GamePark console that is released in Korea. I thought this would explain some of the weird UI quirks the game has along with oddities such as being able to move your character beneath your onscreen controls. Now I’m not sure what the excuse is. Don’t get me wrong, the game is enjoyable. I just wouldn’t consider placing it among the ranks of other games I have enjoyed.
Perhaps the game will come that convinces my otherwise but as of now gaming on the iPhone is a fun enough novelty that only adds a bit to my gaming experience and won’t soon be replacing any of the handhelds I carry with me.
I am, although, open to any suggestions of games to try on the iPhone to convince me otherwise.
