I truly wonder how many people will realize the pure genius behind the GPS system, on the surface it is a bare looking system that you find your prey with.  However once you get into the depth behind it, it’s quite intense.  You have your location, and you tap to go to another location, so your dot will travel, and you have 17 hours to complete your hunt.  Where you touch, the game places a marker, which is the GPS estimation icon from the google maps app, and the animals appear on the map as a set of paws.  You run into a set of paws and it tells you what animal you have found and it’s weight, and sometimes the weight is unknown and you find out when you enter the area.

When you enter the area, you get a nice cinematic showing you what the area looks like.  It also reminds you of something very important, “Pick your shots carefully,” and this is a huge thing.  One missed shot and you scare all the animals in the beautiful hidden area.  Once you kill your target it brings up what you’ve killed and points in the bottom of the screen.  You then return to the GPS screen, if you have killed the animal, if puts down a pin from the google maps app.  If you have not killed the animal, the animal paws become red, and continue to walk around.

Something the game does really well is the intuitive touch controls.  You touch and drag anywhere on the screen to move the reticle, and tap anywhere on the screen to fire a shot.  The cool thing about the reticle is that it is constantly moving and you get one breath to steady the aim.  Also for most weapons you can unlock a scope, which appears as a button in the bottom left of the screen.  When you tap on it, it takes you into a new view, that shades all of the screen except for a circle in the center of the screen.  You have the ability to zoom in using the scope, you touch the metal ring and spin clockwise to zoom in, and counter-clockwise to zoom out.

The game has some cool features like, “How did I actually kill this animal?” which shows you a bunch of information on the kill, like location, weapon, weight.  It also shows you how the animal looked before you killed it, and where the bullet entered and exited.  You also have the ability to upgrade your character’s accuracy, reflexes, endurance, and tracking.  The first two help you ‘upgrade’ your weapon, and the last two upgrade your speed on the GPS and the size that the GPS encompasses.

Some gripes about the game, is sometimes I got a headshot, however the animal looked stunned as hell, and ran away because the game only called it a hit.  Another thing that isn’t huge but is sorta weird, is that the game during menus had an “X” button and a “Done” button however they both do the same thing so I feel that the “X” isn’t really necessary in those cases.  Another thing is the game is sorta short for a $4.99 price tag, but still worth every cent.  As you notice I don’t have a lot to say negatively about the game because it feels quite polished.

But let’s end on a good note.  The graphics of the game are a notable mention because they are done very well, the game has rain, trees, leaves, and bushes.  Not to mention the animals that react to the environment and act pretty real.  Another thing to say is quite well done is the trophy/”How did I actually kill that animal?”, I freaking love the way this is done.  I loved finishing killing 4/5 trophies for the hunt and then going back and looking at how I killed them.  I am sorta glad that the game didn’t include gore, because I don’t think I would have enjoyed as much as I did.  The only blood I wish was included is if I shot and didn’t kill the animal, then I wish I could see a visual, I have shot you before.

Loved the game, and think that anyone who wants a good game should check out.

~Nick McGuire

]]> http://impodcast.tv/2009/05/20/iphone-game-review-deer-hunter-3d-by-glu-mobile/feed/ 0 http://impodcast.tv/2008/12/22/implive034/ http://impodcast.tv/2008/12/22/implive034/#comments Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:58:35 +0000 International Mac Podcast http://www.impodcast.tv/?p=449 Subscribe to IMP Live ! : iTunes / RSS

This week’s panel : Keaton Brant, Stu Helm, Will, Phelim Brady and guest Zach Flauaus

We’d like to take the chance to announce Keaton’s promotion to executive producer and welcome Phelim Brady to the team, especially with this being his first apperance.

Special thanks to Zach or joining us this week and to all of you for listening and subscribing.

We’d like to hear from you so send your email / audio clips to haveyoursay [at] impodcast [dot] tv and we’ll get them into the mix

This week’s show notes can be found here

Force Unleashed is set at some point before A New Hope (the first Star Wars movie) and you take on the role of Darth Vader’s apprentice bent on destroying the remaining Jedi

Firstly the graphics are stunning, with beautifully rendered 3D. As many in the blogosphere and podcaating world have commented it’s amazing to see this on a device such as the iPhone. There is no noticeable lag when battling multiple enemies or carrying out multiple moves at the same time.

The control system is supberbly well thought out and responsive, the gestures can be done on any part of the screen and the game is developed to be able to tell what gesture you are making without you having to make the perfect shape on screen. The game makes extensive use of multiple finger gestures to control your force powers and is a pleasure to use.

My only negative comment would be regarding the game’s audio. Although the sound effects are authentic and well placed within the game, the music track is sadly lacking and sounds like something from a 90s point and click game. Also worth mentioning is the lack of voice work, although this would likely bring the game’s footprint on the iPhone up to several hundred megabytes.

I have only had a few hours with the game so far but even based on this I can safely say that Force Unleashed is a great addition to the line up of games for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I’ll be coming out with a post on my thougths of the gaming expeience on Apple’s multi-touch devices soon.