When it comes to arcade-flavored games with tilt controls, iOS has gamers covered in spades. But before the floodgates opened up and tilt controlled games started rushing in, there was only one that truly mattered: Tilt To Live. This was one of the best received games of 2010 - so much so that it was an a nominee for our Best App Ever Awards that year. Simply put, it helped define what could be expected from tilty arcade games on the platform.
Since then, the game made its way to the iPad in form of Tilt To Live HD, which has recently been graced with an update that adds in full iPad retina support. If you haven't had a chance to check out the game yet, it is completely free and well worth checking out, if for no other reason than the shiny new visuals. Give it a play through and let us know what you think in the comments below. Trust us, it will be well worth your time.
Viva la Tilt to Live! Few games have received the kind of post-release support that Tilt to Live has since its initial release on the iPhone last February, and the updates just keep on coming for the game. A new mode available via In-App Purchase, Viva la Turret mode, has been released for the iPad version of the game, after being released back in December for the iPhone version.
Viva la Turret mode probably changes the way that Tilt to Live plays the most out of any of the other additional modes. Here, your only weapon is the Perforator turret powerup, which, when you pick it up, spawns a turret that locks you in place, which you can then use to shoot at the waves of enemies that spawn around you. Each enemy you kill drops a gem that increases your multiplier by one, which you can collect whenever you get out of the turret. The turret powerup only lasts about 6 seconds and resets your multiplier whenever you leave the turret, though you can replenish this by shooting at the other turret powerup in play, attracting it towards you, which also helps out by blowing away enemies near you, as you are not invincible while in the turret in Viva la Turret mode.
So, the game becomes a balancing act in Viva la Turret mode - you want to try to rack up a huge multiplier, but you need to be careful as you can easily lose all your gems by inadvertently picking up a loose Perforator icon. Also, it can be very difficult to kill enemies that are near you, and you may be helplessly waiting for the escape from your turret lest one stray red dot comes by and kills you. It fits in the game's original formula, but it really does feel like a brand new game in the original Tilt to Live shell. If you want to hear more about the development of Viva la Turret, listen to the episode of The Portable Podcast featuring developers One Man Left where we talk about the expansion.
This mode is available as an in-app purchase in both the iPhone and iPad versions. It's just $0.99 for the iPhone version, but the iPad version (which features the same larger playing field of the other HD modes, as well as a new enemy wave only in the HD version) is priced slightly differently. If you have bought the full version of Tilt to Live HD in the app, Viva la Turret will cost you $0.99 to unlock. If you haven't bought the full version in-app yet, then you can unlock all the modes, including Viva la Turret for $4.99. The updates aren't quite done yet, either: a cooperative multiplayer mode via wifi or Bluetooth entitled Viva la Coop will be coming to the iPhone version of the game as a free update to the Viva la Turret expansion, where one player mans the Perforator turret, and the other player collects jewels and powerups. This update should hit in February for the iPhone, around the one year birthday of the original Tilt to Live, which is practically an eon in terms of App Store gaming.
Carter speaks with One Man Left's Adam Stewart and Alex Okafor about the upcoming Tilt to Live HD, and how they adapted the game from the iPhone to the iPad, including a reworking of the Gauntlet mode. Tangents are also gone off upon.
Carter speaks with Vijay Thakkar, Technical Director at Newtoy, talking about the challenges of working with server-based architecture with their games, and he sets the record straight about any alleged cheating anyone might have done in Words With Friends.
Who Are We:
Host: Carter Dotson
Guests: Alex Okafor and Adam Stewart, One Man Left
