GAME OF THRONES (iOS)

Due to have deleted GTA Vice City, I now have space for other games to be installed in my iPad. Since I'm now working on the interactive drama genre, I think it's time to try some of those games and I started with Telltales' Game of Thrones

The game has fairly good ratings, but it hasn't impressed me much. On the positive side the story is engaging, it fits smoothly into the universe (which is no little feat) and most of the original TV series cast lend their voices for the game

On the minus side, practically there is no other mechanic than selecting dialogue options - Just a couple of times you're allowed to wander around a limited space - and above anything else other problem I already detected on (also Telltales') The Walking Dead; The outcome of the episode is defined no matter what, and aside from some minor decisions the story is a one-direction tunnel you cannot really change

I understand it's not easy to change that design (common to other games in this genre) since other options are too costly, but somehow I'm a little tired of these limitations. Maybe it's time for someone to come up with new approaches?

By the way, I feel a little uneasy listing the game here, where I only include finished games. After all, I've only played the first episode. But since I won't be playing the rest, and the business model allows you to put a stop after the first chapter, I think it's fair

GRAND THEFT AUTO VICE CITY (iOS)

I’ve been fairly focused on WoW lately, but now I hit the 21k achievement points I’m cutting down gradually. So in the last days I pushed for finishing a game I’ve had waiting in the iPad for many months: GTA Vice City

I deeply enjoyed the original PS2 version, and when I learned it was available on iOS I bought it and played it mainly on air trips. I often rank it among the best 10 games I’ve ever played. However at a point I run out of missions and couldn’t unlock the end. Now I’ve done a comprehensive search of missing properties and hidden quests, and I’ve finally completed it

The port itself sucks big time. It often crashes and the FPS drops dramatically very often. Controls are not particularly good (but not different from similar games). I suspect they dropped the difficulty substantially to make it bearable. And furthermore it is the game which occupies more space in the iPad by far of all the ones I’ve played. I don’t think they invested much time on testing, they just pushed the original build into the Apple store without much consideration

Aside from these issues, the game retains its flavor. And being a fan of the 80s and games set on past times I really value the effort. The dialogues and cutscenes are fun, enjoyable and these pals at Rockstar don’t have any shame when depicting a very ironic version of the US society. I don’t recommend it on iOS but if you can play the PS2 version and you’re not a pixel whore you will probably enjoy it