Okay, I'm not a hardcore gamer as some of my friends are...but I do enjoy PC / PS / Wii / DS games whenever I can. Especially when certain games pique my interest...to which I will be playing in earnest SOMEWHAT like a hardcore gamer (play non-stop for few hours / until I feel sick, eat, then continue playing until I finish it or I get bored with it. LOL!)
Recently though, my sis has been rather obsessed with her iPad 2 (and with good reason...I mean, who WOULDN'T be obsessed when they have an iPad 2 right??!) and I noticed that she's been playing this game rather religiously. So, curious I asked her about it...and decided that hey, I would go download the game and play it myself on my iPhone. And omigosh, it's so addictive that I find myself writing this entry JUST to say how epic it is! LOL!
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| The very cool intro screen of Infinity Blade |
A little intro on the game itself...Infinity Blade is an RPG created by Chair Entertainment and Epic Games for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. We play a character who is in pursuit of the 'God King' to seek revenge for killing his father. At the start of the introductory cut scenes, the story is that this God King killed the father and started a bloodline for his magical weapon. From then on, every descendant from this family who goes up against the God King (and subsequently slain) will create a new bloodline...hence the photo above.
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| Hello big brute of a monster! |
What I really, REALLY loved about the game is the very cool graphics especially with the HD retina display feature on the iPhone 4 and iPad! Not only is it realistic looking, but the details to the characters and the surroundings are astounding. Even on my iPhone 4 - with its small screen - it is a joy to watch the cut scenes and also play; let me tell you that the gameplay graphics are exactly the same as the cut scenes! I'm probably going out on a limb here to say that this game's graphics is on par with those on the PS3. Not bad for a tablet / phone game right?? I thought so too *wink*
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| Uh oh...he's going in for the kill! |
The gameplay is rather simple, I would venture....since it is made for the touch screen, controls are based on taps and swipes that we make on the screen. We explore the castle by tapping on the areas highlighted on the screen, from which we could collect items like gold, weapons or healing potions. But of course the main game-playing is through the battles with the thugs in the castle. When we face the enemy, there will be 'buttons' on the bottom of the screen to make your character dodge or block the incoming attacks. At the top of the screen (just below the life meters) are buttons for the character's super power and magic skills to help you defeat the enemy. Attacking and parrying comes from the swipes we make on the screen...and the character really does follow the direction of the finger swipes, so different directions = different kinds of attacks / combos. With the magic button, there are also 'symbols' to draw in order to activate said spell, so it is quite hectic especially when the attacks are coming in real time!
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| My character at Level 8 |
What is game playing without level-ups and customization right? With the gold collected from your exploration, we get to buy sword, armor, magic rings and helmets to help us fight better in battles. Each item bought has a mastery level, from which we fill it up with XP points gained by defeating said thugs in the castle. When an item has been mastered, it will be of a better value should we wish to sell it later in the game. XP points also levels up the character and with each level up, we can use it to gain extra points for either the health, attack, shield, or magic levels (as seen in the photo above).
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| Facing the God King again...at level 8, when he's at Level 50! WTF! |
Of course, nothing is all perfect. This game has some downsides to it as well...for one, the whole premise of the game is rather small. It doesn't take much to explore the whole of the castle as the highlighted areas available for us to tap on are rather limited. Hence, you'll probably find yourself facing the God King in no time....like me, I was only at Level 3 when I reached the God King! And the funniest thing was, there is no other choice BUT to fight the God King (you can't move away as the only available place to tap and move forward is towards him. *rolls eyes*) So, needless to say, I got killed off just like that *snaps fingers* and it's the end for the character.
But wait! Just when I thought I had to start ALL over again like some arcade game, I find that my character has re-spawned into another descendant (hence Bloodline 2), and while I start again from the outside of the castle, I remain at the current level that I was when I 'died', and with my items all intact too! YAYY! The only thing that changes is that the thugs' levels are also subsequently higher, so it gets progressively more difficult to get in to the God King. And here's where it'll probably get boring (for the hardcore gamers I guess): you'll have to keep fighting almost the same beasts over and over again just to level up and buy enough items to be able to FINALLY face the God King. But meantime, because the castle is so damn friggin' small, you'll also be slain time and time again by the God King and start all over with the bloodlines. I am currently at Level 9 and have already faced the God King twice...LOL!
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| My character facing the 'Wood Jester'....dang hard to defeat this one. Just looking at the height difference makes you feel like a Chihuahua trying to fight a Rottweiler. LOL! |
The other thing that kind of kills (pardon the pun) is the sheer size of the app. Infinity Blade is a whopping 500+ MB game! It is understandable I guess, considering the hardcore graphics in the game. So, be sure to have enough space in your iPhone as it takes up more than half a gig of space in it! But other than those few points, it's quite the addictive game *grins*
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| Close up on the Wood Jester...I heart the graphics! |
So, if you are looking for an iPhone / iPad game with some really awesome graphics and some rather addictive gameplay, give Infinity Blade a go. It will not disappoint! It seems that quite a few gaming sites have also given the thumbs up for this cool game, so it's definitely worth a try even if it's just to gawk at how well they utilize the iOS 4 =) It's in the App Store now for USD5.99, and hey since it's an app, there is bound to be updates so I can't wait to see what else they would put in for this already cool game! I'm still playing it at the moment to see how far I can get before becoming bored of looking at the same faces, or if I can stay motivated enough to keep playing to level up....LOL!
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