Apple Arcade is actually pretty awesome
About ten years ago, Sony promised they'd change how we play games. With the launch of the Playstation Vita, they showed us a world in which one could start playing a game at home on your big powerful console, and then you could take it with you in the form of cross-play, where your saves synced via the cloud and you could play the Vita version right where you dropped off. And of course, for games that didn't have a Vita version, there was always the option of streaming your games.
Of course, we know how well that worked out. There were maybe 5 games where you could buy both versions of the game at once, and the majority of the games that supported cross-play required you to buy the same game twice. Streaming is still what everyone's pushing today, but in many places (coughAmericacough) there isn't a good enough connection to stream games with a good experience - especially if it's got twitchy gameplay.
Time has passed and many companies have began to offer a service model for games - subscribe to a program, and you get free access to games. And many of these services have some sort of cross-play component to them, where you get access to multiple platforms, or even with streaming versions, but they all have their downsides.
But it turns out that one company offers a gaming service that actually does offer each of their games in native versions across computers, consoles, and phones, has cross-play support, and doesn't have any of the downsides of streaming, and it's from a company that most people don't associate with gaming - especially when it comes to computer games. I'm speaking, of course, about Apple Arcade.
Sure, it all only works on Apple hardware, and the console part is a bit of a stretch (who actually owns an Apple TV?), but it works remarkably well. And unlike a number of other systems I have tried, it works seamlessly - you can save your game on your mac, launch your game on your iPhone, and instantly be playing your game. And the higher-end games with nice 3D graphics actually do look remarkably better on the big screen.
Of course, the selection of games is much different than any other games service, but I find myself surprised at how many games I legitimately want to play. Sure, there are a lot of 'iPhone' style casual games - right now they just released a bunch of previously released iPhone games cleaned up and stripped of monetization schemes - but I view that as a positive thing - sometimes you just want something simple to pass time with that doesn't need to take space in your brain. But at the same time there are also bigger and more aspiring titles available. There's a new action game from PLATINUMGAMES with an Okami-like artstyle, a brand new RPG from Mistwalker built on top of dioramas, and complex adventure games like Beyond a Steel Sky.
Apple arcade, is, however, missing one notable meta-genre from it's library - Triple-A games. And honestly, I kind of love it for that. The majority of the games companies represented are independent, and that means that many of them are going to be able to offer me new types of gameplay or narratives that you won't get from the big guys. What other service is going to offer experiences like Assemble With Care? And from an ethical point of view, I'd rather reward independent creators who are pushing out these high-quality pieces of work than giant companies who are famous for exploiting their workers.
While Apple Arcade obviously won't be a good choice for everyone since it's limited to Apple hardware, and if you're already in Apple's ecosystem, you probably already know about it (they're surprisingly aggressive at marketing their free trial - which is actually what got me to write this in the first place). I had originally written them off as all casual games, but with the last big release of games it's got some pretty fantastic releases. It's worth trying if you've only got an iPhone, but it's more than worth it if you've got a recent Mac or Apple TV.
Apple is in a great position with Apple Arcade. They could be the first company to successfully move mobile gaming into a full fledged console alternative with Apple Arcade and Apple TV. An apple pippin 2 type of of device is highly unlikely but I can definitely see an Apple TV arcade edition with expanded storage and an m1 or a14 chip packed into it. Pack a controller in with it and you have a winning combo, it could be a serious Nintendo switch competitor. Just imagine playing your games on your tv, then switching over to your iPhone or iPad to keep playing upstairs or in the next room. Cloud storage with iCloud would make the transition easier. This is the kind of innovation I’ve wanted in the gaming market, not bigger open world games filled with the same stuff from the past 2 or 3 games in the same series. This is also why I’m a huge fan of vr.
Yeah, I love Apple Arcade. I play on every device I own. (And yes, I have an AppleTV. Its ad-free UI is so ... not irritating like every other set top box I've ever used.) I don't have a lot of interest in Triple-A shooters. (I don't mind playing one occasionally, but it's not my main jam.) I prefer puzzle games and adventure games. I use a game controller when playing on the TV, and mouse and keyboard on my Mac, but I play most of the games on my phone because it's more convenient.
I liked these titles:
Stranded Sails - I had no idea what this would be and it really blew me away. It starts out a little odd, but it really gets fun.
Outlanders - Like SimCity, but you're building a village on an island in an era that looks like it's maybe ~1700.
Beyond a Steel Sky - it was kind of broken when I first played it, but the developer actually responded to my bug reports and it looks like they've fixed all the issues I mentioned.
Creaks - cool little puzzles with an interesting cartoon art style
Little Orpheus - Really good story. The game play is fine, but nothing too tricky, but the story makes it worth it.
Stela - Really cool runner similar in style to Play Dead's Limbo or Inside.
The Last Campfire - Fun puzzler/adventure game - however, the voice acting was incredibly irritating so I had to turn off sound
Sayonara Wild Hearts - Agree with others here
Beyond Blue - This is a scuba-diving game. It's more of a story than a game, but the underwater world you're in is pretty cool.
NUTS - A surveillance mystery - Similar story to Beyond Blue, actually. It's more of a story than a game, but I enjoyed the artwork. Controls are a bit fiddly on the phone.
Sping (also written as Sp!ng) - really fun casual game
All of You - Another casual game, but this one is a puzzler that I really liked. You play a mother hen who has to travel the country to reunite all of her baby chicks.
Discolored - A straight-up adventure in the style of Myst. I thought it was a bit too easy, but I enjoyed it nonetheless
Down In Bermuda - Another casual puzzler
Where Cards Fall - A puzzle where you build houses of cards. The puzzles were fun, but the "story" was a bit depressing. I find a lot of games on Apple Arcade have really depressing stories or at least vibes for some reason.
Super Impossible Road - A space racing game that's a little hard to describe. It's a marble/roller game, but seems to not fall into the pitfalls that other such games do, at least for me.
Warp Drive - Another racing game that's fun, though there are limited tracks to play at this time.
Don't Bug Me - A tower defense game set on Mars
Legend of the Skyfish 2 - Sort of like the Legend of Zelda in a good way
Now all we need is a powerful apple tv. My hd is awfully long in the tooth, but it’s some testament to apple platform that it handles all the games reasonably well.
Yeah, I've held off getting the current 4k one because I figure they have to be releasing a new one at some point. I thought it'd be last year but somehow no.
Same boat here. I upgraded to a 4K TV a few months back, but I can't bring myself to replacing my Apple TV HD when the 4K is so long in the tooth, and rumors about an upgraded box keep swirling.
Maybe we'll finally see it drop this month with tvOS 14.5? *crosses fingers*
I have also recently been lured into activating the 3 month trial they keep bugging me about by Fantasian. So far it's been pretty good; game looks great on iPhone, uh, not so great on a larger display on a mac, but the controls, while touch centric, are fairly similar to how CRPGs control anyhow, so other than a copious amount of dragging things the UI feels fairly good on both platforms.
I have also grabbed fruit ninja to relive some nostalgia, but would appreciate other recommendations.
If you're looking for a light, touch-friendly game that also supports Mac and Apple TV, check out What the Golf. It starts as a pretty straightforward putt-putt style game, but very quickly goes off the rails into some of the most bizarre, creative minigames I've ever seen.
Another old favorite that just got added is Threes, aka "The Game That 2048 Ripped Off". Unlike 2048, it's packed with personality, which might sound surprising from a sliding tile game, but it's absolutely worth checking out.
Oh and how can I forget Monument Valley, a wonderful perspective-shifting puzzlebox game? And PlatinumGames' new ARPG World of Demons looks pretty great, though I haven't had a chance to try it myself yet.
EDIT: Okay one more: Sayonara Wild Hearts is a trippy, beautiful rhythm game with a phenomenal original score. Play it on as big a screen as you can.
Assemble With Care looks interesting. Any others that you’d recommend?
I've been really into Beyond a Steel Sky, the long-belated sequel to Beneath a Steel Sky. It's got the same wry sense of humor Revolution is famous for, and it's got a simple 'hacking' system that gives you a fun way to solve puzzles, but it doesn't use any actual programming logic (so far, at least).
If you haven't played it before, I just found out that The Room 2 was just added; it's a 3d puzzle box game with an occult theme. It's old, but it's one of those games so good that I bought it for full price when it originally came out.
If you like Visual Novels, Necrobarista is a pretty good choice; it has a very cinematic presentation that I feel elevates the genre somewhat. I would also recommend World's End Club if they bothered to finish the fricking game - but you might want to wait on that one.
If you like classic 2d platformers, you'll probably love Shantae and the Seven Sirens. The only caveat is that the touchscreen controls are pretty bad, so you'll probably want to use a controller for it.
They also just released a bunch of new games that look like they're worth playing. Fantasian looks like a pretty good RPG from Mistwalker. World of Demons is the PLATINUMGAMES title I was referring to earlier, I've played about 10 minutes worth of both of these games and they're pretty good - WOD has some, uh, interesting dialogue.
Also in the new batch is a new Taiko no Tatsujin game, an 'arcade' version of NBA2k21, and Clap Hanz Golf - basically a new Hot Shots Golf / Everybody's Golf / Minna no Golf but without the name because Sony owns those trademarks.
Finally, I'll recommend Sayonara Wild Hearts. It's a crazy pulsing neon rhythm game. It's best enjoyed with a big screen, though.
The best thing about Apple Arcade, IMO is that they are providing a platform for indie devs and allowing users access to tons of games for a fixed rate with the confidence there won’t be any micro transactions. I haven’t bought into Xbox GamePass, but it seems like a similar model and it seems it may be where the industry is headed? I just can’t see Nintendo or Sony following suit, though. The thing I don’t like about all this in the long term is that these platforms (like music streaming platforms) can cause content silos to disappear, eventually. It can be difficult or impossible to preserve media when consumer access is dominated by content-as-a-service models, esp. when it’s exclusive (the way Arcade is).
Edit: Apple Arcade recently updated and added some new games. Some of these new games are not exclusive titles, which is fascinating and unexpected. One I really like is the aptly named Good Sudoku, which is available in the App Store as a normal app, but also available through an Arcade subscription.
I'm mixed. It's great that Apple is footing the bill themselves to provide original games, but we also know historically that it only takes a few big blockbusters to really make a service valuable. And incentivizing a multimillion dollar production on a $5/month service may be a hard sell unless Apple has some genius monetization going on (I don't belive AA has ads?).
ultmimately, Apple can't fund indies forever, so that boat will dry up if there is no organic reason to consider AA.
My mom. It's a coinvent set top box if you don't have a need for gaming. If more titles like Fantasian come to the service, I wouldn't mind dropping $100 for my own to play those kinds of games. So I wish it the best of luck.
I wouldn't be surprised if Apple's able to do it on good old fashioned salesmanship alone. When you buy a new iPhone for the first time they make a pretty big deal about it. Add to that the fact that their app store promotes Arcade games, which require your subscription, and they've got a nice media machine leading people to it. I have to admit that I fell for the threat of removing access to the trial - you know, the one I previously wasn't going to use.
I'm not really sure how their monetization structure is working for creators. One of the stranger things about the service is that you have fullly-featured experiences built for a single purchase right alongside rereleases of previous app store releases stripped of their harmonization structure.
(And as a side note, I was being facetious about the Apple TV. I know people actually buy them, I just don't get the appeal)