Following in the foot steps of Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and King of Fighters, SoulCalibur has made its way onto iOS. Unlike Street Fighter and King of Fighters, this SoulCalibur release is mostly a port of the 1999 original. 13 years later, does it still hold up? Does the experience get compromised by having to control it with a touch screen device? Most importantly, is SoulCalibur for iPhone and iPad worth the $15 regular price when its closest competition is roughly half of that?
SoulCalibur for iOS is out now. While I am no good at any of the games in this series, I have picked up and enjoyed SoulCalibur II and IV in the past. I’ve been looking forward to this release even more so than SoulCalibur V on consoles because I’d personally get more out of an on-the-go SoulCalibur experience.
With that said, the price for the game is steep for an iOS game. Sure, the graphics look great in screenshots, has 19 characters and is a universal app that works on iPhone and iPad, but the ‘sale’ price of $11.99 is crazy steep. In a world where Street Fighter IV: Volt and King of Fighters i offer amazing fighting game experiences for as low as $0.99 when on sale, can SoulCalibur at a regular price of $14.99 hang? I have put the money up to find out on your behalf. Review coming soon!
…that is the question.
I like to think to myself that I write this blog for me first. I turn to this blog whenever I have a gaming thought I think is worth writing down and I make it happen. It’s a very therapeutic process for me. However, I also love to look at my analytics to see what does well and what doesn’t. Posts about fightsticks? Money in the bank. Posts about sexy video game characters? They never go out of style. Video game reviews? The numbers aren’t pretty.
As the NBA’s billionaire owners and millionaire players continue to argue over money with no end in sight, the league’s fans are left without any professional basketball to turn to. Though it may seem like a poor consolation prize, NBA 2K12 is still coming out this year for all of the platforms you would expect. This year, 2K has taken their award-winning basketball experience on the go with an iPhone version. Will this portable solution be enough to sooth your desire for an actual NBA season?
When Capcom Arcade first hit iOS, I was super-excited to get my hands on an iPhone version of Street Fighter II. I was hoping that Capcom would roll in the same special move assist controls found in their Street Fighter IV iPhone games into the Capcom Arcade version of Street Fighter II. Unfortunately, all of the Street Fighter II ports through Capcom Arcade have suffered from the same faults: the image didn’t take up the full screen, you could only play single player, and the special move assist controls were gimped to the point of being almost useless.
Capcom has decided to make amends and address a number of the issues found in the Capcom Arcade ports. However, they’ve decided to do them outside of Capcom Arcade completely. In a move that is sure to rub some people the wrong way, Capcom is upgrading all three Street Fighter II iOS games and selling them as a separate bundle on the iTunes Store. Is it worth the $3.99 investment, especially if you’ve paid for the previous Capcom Arcade ports?
Over the past few weeks, Words With Friends-mania has consumed my office. It never seems to get old having multiple games of Scrabble going with my friends where turns can be taken at your own pace. Through this experience, I’ve learned a lot about my coworkers as people. They’ve also learned one thing in particular about me: I’m a calculated and cold-blooded Words With Friends player.
While I’m far from a Scrabble champion, I’ve played enough Scrabble in my lifetime to understand some of the game’s beneath-the-surface nuances. If you’d like to learn some of the strategies and tactics I use to infuriate my coworkers, read through this guide!
Ever since the release of the iTunes app store, I have been a devout Scrabble for iPhone fan. I took pride in having the real deal, even though there were countless other imitators that were available for free. As much as I’ve enjoyed iPhone Scrabble over the years, I’ve never had any friends to play with online. The majority of them aren’t willing to pay, mainly because they were playing Words With Friends. I’ve heard a ton about it, but my elitist ways have led me to ignore the title for years.
That is, until a few weeks ago, when I found out that a large number of my coworkers who had iPhone or Android devices had the game, and were all playing together without me. Though I may be years late to the party, I figured if there was any time to give Words With Friends a shot, it was now.
Out of nowhere, SNK released King of Fighters i-002 for the iPhone. Until it hit the iTunes store, SNK hadn’t even acknowledged this game’s existence. Because of the flash announcement and release, it’s really hard right now to find any sort of impressions on it. As curious as I was to try it out, I was initially weary on picking this up immediately, as $7.99 seemed like a lot to gamble on for an iPhone game, especially when I just bought Street Fighter IV: Volt for $0.99.
However, out of my own curiosity and my desire to inform anyone interested in picking this game up, I decided to pony up the funds and give it a go. Does King of Fighters have what it takes to topple the Street Fighter IV series of iPhone games as the king of fighting games on the platform?
Over the past few days, I’ve spent quite a bit of time with Street Fighter IV: Volt’s online multiplayer. I’ve been doing so because I want to unlock Akuma, which can be done either by playing 100 online matches or beat the game with all 18 characters. On paper, 100 online matches is easier to complete than 144 matches against the computer. Boy, was I wrong.
Street Fighter IV for iPhone is hands-down the best fighting game available on iOS. You could even make a solid case for it being one of the best iOS games, period. Despite my initial thoughts that it would suck, it won me over in a big way. Up until the release of Volt, Street Fighter IV on the iPhone has been a near-daily ritual of mine.
While Capcom made a number of huge updates to the original, they’ve decided to release a new app this time around. I would have much preferred paying for this as an add-on to the original, but I can’t complain too much when I was able to get it on sale for $0.99. Regardless of what you paid for it (and/or if you have the original), is Street Fighter IV: Volt worth a purchase?
In Third Person 