I’m not a gamer. Not anymore at least. I remember when I used to marvel at the ‘raw polygon pushing power’ of the new GeForce 5900 Ultra and thinking about how realistic playing Doom 3 in full resolution would be. These days I’ve sobered down to the point that I can’t play a game for more than five minutes.
iPhone gaming on the other hand is different. Launching a game doesn’t require you to clear the room, nor does it need you to set up any sound system. Tap an icon and your game is ready. They’re geared for short bursts of gameplay, where you can whip out the phone with just five minutes to go till your appointment with the dentist. Plus it feels so natural using the touchscreen!
We’ve so far gone through a lot of simple games on SA, but so far I haven’t played many a 3D games. I repeat, I’m not a gamer. After a lot of recommendations however I felt compelled to check out Gameloft’s Hero of Sparta. Gameloft has been one of the top game developers on the App Store, with pushing-the-limits 3D graphics on the world’s best gaming platform.
The role playing game follows the adventure of this muscular spartan King Argos (probably inspired from the movie ‘300’). He’s stuck on an island full of evil goblins and monsters. This reminds me of the days I wasted hours playing Diablo on a Pentium II. Actually I think the graphics are better on the iPhone!
Yes, the graphics are good. If Gameloft knows one thing, it’s graphics. The colours are rich, bringing those levels to life. Visual quality is, considering this is an iPhone, superb! I’m surprised things were so smooth, considering my iPhone is a 2G jailbroken one. The character is also animated beautifully, with sword strikes leaving trailing lines, and very Achilles-like moves when he attacks. Very cinematic.
Which brings me to the soundtrack. You must plug in your earbuds while playing this game. The high quality soundtrack in this game, coupled with a good headset, really brings in a cinematic experience to this small little device.
In-game rendered cinematics throughout the game
Another thing I love about Gameloft titles is the innovative controls they design. With Alphalt 4 Elite they brought in three different ways to control your car instead of relying on the hard to control accelerometer. Hero of Sparta features a joystick control, where you just slide your thumb over the large button in the direction you want your character to move. How far you take the button determines your speed. This is very accurate, as you don’t have to look at which directional button you are tapping and does not require any complicated gestures while moving your character.
I’m not a gamer. But I loved playing Hero of Sparta. Right now I’m running around in some sort of colosseum with a big monster in the middle, and I can’t wait to get to the next level. At $5.99 at the App Store, Hero of Sparta is one of the best 3D games I’ve played in a while.
