If you’re reading this article you will have probably got tomorrow highlighted in your diary. Yes, iPads go on sale from Saturday if you’re based over in the United States; we Britons will have to wait until later on this April until we can get our hands on Apple’s latest gadget. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t publish articles about this new product, and so we’ve compiled a list of games that we think will do well. Some we’ve previously covered, some we haven’t and most are available today. There’s a couple of bargains in here too; so let’s get started.
Everyone and their dog is trying to capitalise on the early rush; whilst the iPad library is small now is the chance to get content seen by as many people as possible. And what better way than to slash prices? We can’t think of one.
Act now; Smiles HD is free for launch day. As we noted in our original review it’s the swiss army knife of tile matching puzzlers; there’s always a situation where a game like this is ideal. Even if you don’t have an iPad yet you can download the game over at the App Store today and pay nothing.
Similarly, Igloo Games have gone and revamped each of their four games, bundling them all into what they call Igloo Games Arcade. A £3.99 value is currently being offered for a mere 59p as part of the developer’s pre-launch sale. We’ve reviewed three out of four; Dizzy Bee, Dizzy Bee 2 and Bed Bugs and you’d be mad to miss this incredible deal. You can buy the game here.
Plus, Imangi Studios is offering Harbor Master HD for absolutely nothing as a gift for brand new iPad owners; as it is a multitouch game you will be able to play cooperatively on the much larger iPad screen, and it includes a brand new map. As we noted in our original review it is an intelligent mix of gameplay ideas in which each map has its own unique twist; but for free you might as well download this gem from the App Store today!
There’s no special promotion that comes with these games, but the increased resolution of the iPad makes them that little bit more special. Whilst not strictly high definition, the larger screen has much more room for cooperative play and more controls; the Apple A4 chip underneath providing more power for developers to work with.
Flight Control has come a long way since its first inception; now the quirky air traffic control game that spawned dozens of games with similar mechanics has been re-imagined for Apple’s tablet. With super slick graphics, cooperative play and three brand new HD maps the game looks really fantastic; you can get it from the App Store for £2.99. You can also pick up Firemint’s Real Racing HD for £5.99—although we didn’t cover the original game it has received rave reviews from just about every iPhone review site. The iPad version includes stunning new graphics, user created racing modifications and a new replay feature amongst others.
The marble rolling goodness of Labyrinth 2 gets an iPad version too; the HD version sports (obviously) a much larger canvas for users to play with, in creating their own levels for the new version of the game. Plus, this version also plays all of the old iPhone levels; for £4.99 it will probably be the only wooden labyrinth game that you’ll need.
Tower Defence fans will have something to sink their teeth into with the releases of Fieldrunners for iPad, The Creeps! HD and Plants vs. Zombies HD; the latter sporting all of the mini-games from the PC/Mac versions plus an iPad exclusive called “Buttered Popcorn”. Each of these games we’ve highly enjoyed playing and have reviews for their iPhone originals: see here, here and here.
Gameloft are renown for producing slick iPhone games and it seems that the iPad will be no exception. Their trailer shows off eight of their launch titles, but knowing this studio they will be producing many more as they figure out how to push the iPad hardware to its limits.
A couple of other big name games are coming to iPad; Geometry Wars: Touch (£5.99) should please fans of games like Critical Wave; and Worms HD (£2.99) is also available. Worms for iPhone has been available for some time now but was plagued with poor controls and performance issues on initial release. These creases have since been ironed out and the iPad version sports enhanced visuals; the only true way to play this game is on a large screen so we have high hopes for the game.
Puzzle fans will be delighted to know that Zen Bound has been translated over to the iPad in the form of Zen Bound 2. Including the original iPhone levels plus new content the level count is over 100. This sequel also brings new gameplay modes with paint bombs and an even more striking visual aesthetic than the first time around.
We’re also excited about the release of Angry Birds HD (£2.99)—the greater resolution of the iPad means that it will be easier to plan your shots this time around and the game also has visuals optimised for the new device. We’ve only just got through the fairly recent update which added many new levels but we reckon that the iPad game will be just as much, if not more fun than its predecessor.
The recently covered Thumpies is also available for iPad in an extra large version (£2.99) that looks particularly piquant with new multiplayer features; if you like music games this one should definitely be on your buy list if you’re lucky enough to own an iPad. Also, Orba is available in an XL version (£1.19); its iPhone counterpart has been an excellent companion on bus journeys, especially when the new update was released, adding a quick mode for short gaming sessions.
We could go on, but we hope you get the picture; the iPad is going to be big for gaming. There’s many great games that we’ve played on iPhone that are going to be even better on this sleek new product. We can’t wait for these new titles that utilise the surface to its fullest extent, rather than upscaling original App Store content; and how good the games are going to be as developers explore the hardware further. It is an exciting time indeed.
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