Glu invited us into their offices again yesterday to take a look at some of their upcoming games. We saw some old favorites, some early prototypes, and a really innovative take on music games.
Glyder 2
First up, let’s get what I really came to see out of the way… I finally got my hands on Glyder 2. It’s still early for that title — just a few builds past first playable, but this exciting sequel to easily my favorite Glu game ever is already looking good. As we mentioned previously there will be customization of your character available — both in the form of the suit she wears and the wings she uses. The different wings give you slightly different skills — climbing, turning, speed, etc. Not enough to make a huge difference in the game, but enough to be noticeable.
There will be six or seven new worlds to explore. And in addition to the crystal collection aspect of the previous game, you will also have multiple point quests to go on. Glu heard from the passionate users of the game that they wanted more of everything in the first one and new things to try. And we’re going to get it.
Take a look at this hands-on video of Glyder 2 from Slide To Play:
One of the most exciting bits of news about Glyder 2 was that Glu have committed to providing multiple free updates and expansions to the game after it launches. No specific time frame was given, but if the game remains popular, it could be for a good while.
Glyder 2 will be out by the end of the year, and I can’t wait.
Beat It
Beat It takes a new twist on the music game genre. This game actually makes you listen to the music. It turns it from a rhythm tapping game into more of a puzzle game. The result is a very compelling game that I found very hard to put down.
The idea behind Beat It is that you listen to a short 3 instrument rhythm track and you have to re-create it on a sequencer board. You do this by tapping cells to turn on / off that instrument for that beat. You can switch from listening to your current attempt to the original anytime, which is nice to see where you are missing notes. When you have the notes for an instrument in a particular bar correct, they start to twinkle letting you know you can go on to another. The game ramps up from 3 instruments and 4 bars to I believe 7 instruments and 6 bars.
Take a look at this hands-on video from Slide To Play:
It should also be mentioned that this game has some amazing animated art. Your game is separated into multiple worlds and there is a story unfolding behind your sequencer grid in each world. Before each new level you see a little part of the story and as your music clips get more complex so does the story behind you.
In addition to the multiple instruments, there are 5 different instrument sets that are used in the game. These are also available to use in the free play mode that lets you create your own tracks. In a future update you will be able to share your tracks with others.
Beat It should be available sometime this month.
Read on for details on 1,000: Find Them All, World Series of Poker: Hold’em Legends, and Taxi Fight.
This weekend, in a protest against supposedly 3400 emails complaining about the $2.99 price of their app Alchemize, Schiau Studios raised the price to $39.99 for the weekend. Yes, it’s a hilarious protest against whiners who complain about spending a few bucks, but Schiau is not entirely in the right. Alchemize was originally priced at $9.99 and then quickly lowered until it was only $.99 for a short time. I can’t blame people for waiting for another sale. If Schiau truly wanted to protest App Store pricing, they would have come up with a fair price, stuck to it, and never changed it amid protests. By acknowledging the whiners, Schiau has granted them some legitimacy.
Alchemize™
Category: Games / Adventure Released: 2009-08-22 Price: $2.99
PSP Minis
Sometimes it’s good to take a look at our beloved App Store’s rival, the PSP Mini store. The store has launched and two of its biggest name games have already made an appearance on the iPhone (and for cheaper): Hero of Sparta and Fieldrunners. In addition, Chillingo and Mountain Sheep’s Minigore is on the way. What do all of these games have in common? In my estimation, they’re three of the most overrated games on the App Store. Hero of Sparta had good visuals for its time, but the dull one-button hack and slash affair has so many pre-rendered cinematic animations it’s like watching a movie. Fieldrunners has a great art style and was admittedly one of the first open-path TD’s on the App Store, but there’s only a few enemy types and tower types, and it lacks the depth of the genre luminaries such as Sentinel 2 and Defender Chronicles. Minigore has nice aesthetics as well, but it’s an average two-stick survival shooter with little depth, easily outclassed by games such as Alive 4 Ever. Sony, wake me up when you manage to get some good games.
Nimblebit’s Freebie Friday
This Friday, Nimblebit lowered all their apps to free in celebration of their newly launched site App Classics! Even if you missed the deal, the apps are still worth buying; Nimblebit is the best in the business at creating fun, short, and addictive games such as Scoops and Textropolis. This move was interesting from a marketing standpoint, and certainly created buzz. In fact, Ian Marsh reported via Twitter that Saturday’s sales were double normal and more than made up for Friday’s losses.
This week’s upcoming app that looks frickin’ awesome!
This is the inaugural issue of this feature where I’ll be showing off some upcoming games that look awesome (though I’ve been doing it unofficially for quite some time). This week, we have Jet Car Stunts, an awesome-looking racing game in the vein of Track Mania. The game is due to be submitted within the next week. Enjoy!
This week’s sign of the apocalypse
A few weeks ago, Chris used this space to talk about how happy he was that Glu’s awful Family Guy cash-in was doing poorly in the App Store. Well, times have changed, and apparently Stewie is enough to make a poor game reach #9 on Top Grossing Apps.
Family Guy: Uncensored
Category: Games / Arcade Released: 2009-09-23 Price: $4.99 ON SALE: $2.99
App of the Week
Soosiz
Soosiz is without question the best platformer yet on the App Store. The game uses gravity-centered gameplay, like that of Gomi, but much more fast-paced, to turn a good platform adventure into something extraordinary. The level design is excellent, and the difficulty curve is just right. Controls are great as well. There’s only a left arrow, a right arrow, and a jump button, but they are all perfectly responsive and work brilliantly in unison, making you almost forget you’re playing on a touch screen.. The graphics are cartoony and playful, and the only big flaw of the game is the sometimes overly-childish music. Other than that though, Soosiz is a magnificent achievement is App Store platforming, and it’s one of the most fun games I’ve played in a while, coming highly recommended.
Just released by Glu, here are some screenshots for the upcoming Glyder 2. The original was an unassuming little title that was very easy to get drawn into. Turned out to be a fantastic game, we rated the original five stars. No official word on when we’ll see Glyder 2, but we’re hoping it’s soon!
Check after the jump for a couple more screen shots of the new Glyder 2.
Yesterday we got a chance to get our game loving fingers on some new games from Glu. The biggest of which is Super KO Boxing 2, a continuation of one of Glu’s biggest selling games on feature phones. We also got a chance to see a new tube racing game, Alleygator, a Family Guy game, and the nearly final version of Minigolf Wacky Worlds. Also got some great news about updates for Glyder and the Transformers Cypertoy.
Super KO Boxing 2
Super KO Boxing 2 is a very fun, comical boxing game that works well on the iPhone, even in the early version I saw. The game controls were an incomplete early version that we played but consisted on taps and combinations on certain hot spots on the screen.
You can play in multiple modes, career, challenge, verses, and endurance modes in 3 different circuits. Your opponents include some favorites from the original game and a some new ones, 12 fighters in all.
Meet Big Gip
[caption id="attachment_14426" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="15 Cent, He\'s All Pose, no Posse"][/caption]
Name This Tough Guy
Super KO Boxing 2 is currently scheduled for a September release. No multiplayer is currently planned, but they are considering adding it.
Super KO Boxing 2 – Name A Tough Guy Contest
In conjunction with the release, Glu are holding a contest to name one of the new boxers in Super KO Boxing 2. It’s this cave-man looking guy, one of the games most powerful boxers that you need to come up with a name for.
The winner will get a $250 iTunes Gift Card and an iPod Shuffle. 4 runners-up will also win prizes.
For full contest details and to enter, you can submit a comment on this post, or enter at the event page on Facebook.
Alleygator
Alleygator is a casual game title from Glu, what they call a Glu Snack. In this timed racing game, you are an alligator trying to get out of the sewers as quick as possible. You swirl around the sewers avoiding obstacles and grabbing powerups on your way out.
There are 6 different sewers in the 25 different levels.
Alleygator is expected to release in September.
Family Guy Uncensored
A series of 7 different mini games, all of which contain lots of little inside jokes for Family Guy fans. The mini games in general look really fun and re-playable, and there’s also a very cool story mode that guides you through all of the 54 levels. I think overall this will be a pretty good title. The only problem I see with it is that it doesn’t have any voice acting in the game.
September is the planned release for Family Guy Uncensored.
Glyder Update Coming!
We also got some good news for Glyder fans. If you have completed the game, you’ll be happy to know that Glu have submitted an update that gives you more gems to collect.
Category: Games / Adventure Released: 2009-04-06 Price: $0.99
Transformers CyberToy
We also got to see an update to the Transformers CyberToy that takes great advantage for the music library access in iPhone OS 3.0. With this upcoming update you can make Bumblebee dance to the music you are playing on your iPhone. He has 4 different dance routines and will choose one based on the genre of music you are playing.
Transformers CyberToy is available now. The version 1.2 update will be available soon.
TRANSFORMERS ™ CyberToy
Category: Entertainment / Family Released: 2009-06-18 Price: $1.99
The team over at Glu were kind enough to give us a little hands on time today with their latest title, Deer Hunter 3D. This is their first Atari license on the iPhone and it looks really impressive. You can definitely tell that a lot of care went into the production of this game.
For those of you not familiar with the game, the idea is that you are a game hunter looking for deer, moose, bears, and various other wildlife. The game starts out on the GPS screen looking for animal tracks. Once you find the tracks you can then zoom into a very lush and wonderfully rendered environment. From there, you aim your gun, zoom in with the scope, and try to bag a kill. Continue reading Deer Hunter 3D from Glu »
Glu have been a little cautious on their adoption of the iPhone platform. While they have a few games out thus far, they have yet to really make their voice heard on the iTunes App Store. However, it looks like that is about to change. Glu gave us a sneak peak at some of the games they will be releasing over the next few weeks. We were promised that this is only the tip of the iceberg, as they are planning on releasing 20 games for the iPhone this year. Here’s some info on the ones they are ready to talk about now.
Build-a-lot strikes me as a simplified SimCity, smashed up with a time management game like Sally’s Salon. In this game you buy, sell, and build property in a small segment of a city. The goal is to make as much money as possible by selling and renting properties. There are plenty of levels and plenty to keep you busy. Some of the later levels really turn up the heat and require that you really move your fingers. Approximate release date: March 30, $4.99
Cooking Star is a mini game collection that obviously reminds me of Cooking Mama. But from what I’ve seen of both, this one plays better. An achievement system in this app has been includes where you unlock real recipes, an innovative features. Glu plans to add additional mini games to this title every once in a while, which will increase the value of this app. Approximate release date: April, 2009, $2.99
Cops and Robbers is a cross between a racing game, a platformer, and a timing game. You play as one of two robbers, and run and jump your way through multiple levels. You goal is to collect money to pay your rent. Once you complete a level, you can re-play the level as a police officer and try to catch yourself from when you played as the robber — like ghost racing. This game is one of the more originals we’ve seen from Glu and has good potential. The only problem we see in the current build is that the action can be a little stop-start with the camera changes. Approximate release date: Late April, 2009, $4.99
Glyder is a collection game where you are on a glider, trapped in another dimension. This is a slow play game where there are no time pressures or enemies attacking you. There are also no negatives to crashing; you just restart the last place you landed. It makes for an interesting concept for a game, and there’s plenty of variety with the multiple worlds. An achievement system is nicely varied and provides progress info on each of the achievements. My current feeling is that this game has great potential but the graphics in the game’s landscape are a little flat. But for a relaxed, casual game, it does have something going for it. Approximate release date: April, 2009, $1.99
Mini-Golf: Wacky Worlds is a mini golf game set in four themed and very oddly interesting 3D worlds. This was the least finished of the games so we won’t make any critical remarks about it. It’s just not done yet. Approximate release date: Summer 2009
Thanks to Slide To Play for providing video of the first 4 games, embedded below.
One thing is for sure, Glu are one of the most popular and prolific mobile game developers. They have been a little slow on the uptake on the iPhone but are planning to go full force now. They haven’t tipped their hat to what they are doing in the social games area, the segment that the iPhone can really excel in, but assured us they just aren’t ready to talk about their plans there yet.
They have some exciting things coming with the above and beyond and we can’t wait to see what they do.
:: AMAZING
