E3 2012: Infinity Blade Dungeons Preview
E3 2012: Infinity Blade Dungeons Preview
Infinity Blade Dungeons delivers the same fantastic graphics and control scheme in a hack-and-slash, Diablo-esque package.
Infinity Blade and Apple media briefings tend to go hand in hand, and when the new iPad was announced this spring, Epic trotted out a new extension of its hit original franchise. But what the publisher showed wasn't built around a series of one-on-one swordfight duels, nor was it to be developed by series creator Chair Entertainment; furthermore, it wasn't anywhere near ready for release, as even now, at the E3 expo this week, the only release target offered is "sometime this year."
Luckily, I had a chance to play Infinity Blade Dungeons at E3, and even though the hack-and-slash, loot-grabbing, Diablo-esque dungeon crawler diverts significantly from the series' core template, its lineage is quite clear when it comes to fantastic presentation and a control scheme built from the ground up for a touch-based platform.
Set thousands of years before the now-iconic iOS adventures, Dungeons puts you in control of the apprentice to the Master of the Forge, who must assist with the creation of the series' titular sword. From the two missions I played, that means storming through stunning mountainside exteriors and beating the heck out of menacing creatures, whether you have a sword, axe, or some other melee weapon. And both small-potatoes common foes and hulking, monstrous bosses are found in the mix, with the stages kept relatively short to fit within commutes and such.
The graphics in Infinity Blade Dungeons look as amazing as Torchlight on the Mac.
Designed exclusively for iOS, the game doesn't attempt to maintain an exact PC or console-esque approach by using virtual movement or control buttons, and instead simply uses a variety of touch commands all around the screen. Tapping anywhere on the ground leads your warrior in that direction, and holding down on the screen works as well. Swiping on an enemy or box unleashes a common attack, while tapping twice triggers a powered-up move â€" like vaulting into the air and swinging his large sword downwards â€" which pulls from his limited ability meter. You can also press and hold on the hero to set a special attack, and then draw a line to one or more nearby enemies to begin the onslaught.
It feels pretty intuitive at this point, though it took me a few minutes to get my bearings around the screen. There were a few instances where movement taps weren't registered, perhaps because I'd tapped the side of a shack or tree instead of an actual spot on the ground; ideally, it'd be great to simply tap anywhere on the display and have my warrior start heading in that direction. I'm also curious to get a better sense of how the controls hold up in the heat of intense battle, as the limited sample size of the demo didn't offer a ton of opportunity to take that in.
Expectedly, the game looks fantastic, with excellent detail in the environments, great character animations, and a seriously impressive explosive fire effect when special moves are executed. And it's not all about hacking and slashing, as I discovered. While wandering the levels, you'll encounter opportunities to mine resources via a timing-based mini-game, and then those let you craft weapons on the between-mission Forge screen, which has its own interactive element â€" the need to clear blemishes from the steel by tapping or rubbing the weapon, which in turn helps determine its quality in battle.
Epic Games is staying curiously tight-lipped about a large chunk of remaining details, though, including an expected release target this year, on which iOS devices it'll run (I played on an iPad 2), and what to expect from the returning social Clash Mobs feature, which I spotted on the menu. It's not a game worth keeping mum about, however: Infinity Blade Dungeons looks as slickly produced and carefully considered as its predecessors even in this pre-release state, and will likely be the title to bring this typically PC-centric genre to iOS in a comfortable and intuitive manner.
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