My Brute is apparently a port of a web-based fighting/RPG that is quite popular. It’s another of these social simulation style games, where connecting with other players helps you grow stronger. Personally I’ve never had an interest in games like these. Maybe it’s just me, but spamming the web address of your created creature around the internet to recruit trainers, pupils, etc. is not my idea of interesting gameplay (and the internet has more than enough spam as it is). Games should be self-contained and not dependant on gimmicky external factors like self-marketing. Is it any wonder these games become ‘viral hits’ when people are spamming the praises of their creatures across the breadth of the internet for all to see, in an attempt to build up their character, providing the developer with free marketing?

While I may not care for the premise, is My Brute actually worth investing any time in? The iPhone version is a standalone version from the PC version, meaning the My Brutes from one version can’t compete or interact with those from the PC version. This limits the scope of the iPhone version, especially as this version runs gamers $5, while the PC version is free. The small number of players at present really limits the appeal of the game (which as stated is largely based on its Master and Pupil social networking system, and the ability to indulge in tournaments against other players).

You begin by naming and creating your brute. You can choose from a number of different styles and colors, though not nearly enough to create anything that would be unique from the creations of other players. Your creation will gain experience by completing tasks and defeating other fighters, which helps them develop their skills and increase their stats. The RPG elements help disguise what is otherwise a fairly shallow game.

Instead of actually getting to fight your opponents in challenges, which would’ve made the game immensely more interesting, the fights play out entirely with computer A.I, and are decided based on skills, stats, and weapons (which are also randomly gained by beating challenges, you have no say in what skills or equipment you acquire). You can also acquire pets, and unlock other things like different arenas, but it’s all rather unexciting given the nature of the game. To top it all off, you can only fight 5 opponents per day which amounts to only a few minutes worth of play time.

If the fighting was real-time, or at least involved some level of strategy, such as allowing you to choose between different fighting styles, it may have been half decent. Even allowing you to simply choose what weapons or skills you get when you complete tasks would’ve helped somewhat. Instead the game is nothing more than a completely non-interactive and random waste of time.

The graphics are fairly nice, with decent designs and animation, and the backdrops fit the style well. The music wasn’t quite as compelling and grows tiresome quickly, despite the short bursts of play time.

Considering the shallow and completely non-interactive gameplay, there’s no way I can recommend My Brute for purchase on the iPhone, especially considering it’s free on the PC and has a much larger fanbase there. It may be fun to kill a few minutes a day with on PC, but that’s not worth $5 on the iPhone. Pass on this effort and play the PC version instead if you must.

Pros:

• Nice graphics
• Plenty of things to unlock and use

Cons:

• Small number of players
• Gimmicky Master and Pupil system
• Items and skills are acquired randomly
• Completely non-interactive, choose to fight or train, that’s about it

Score: 4/10

Price: $4.99

My Brute on iTunes

As an RPG gamer for 20 years, I naturally gravitated to MMO’s when they first hit the scene. If you name the MMO, I’ve probably played it, at least for a short play test. Eventually I took my leave of the genre for numerous reasons, the main one being that MMO’s are far too time consuming, and I found when I got away from them that I simply enjoyed playing single-player games more (a fact that isn’t always easy to realize when you’re immersed in them believe it or not, as you’re driven on by factors other than the simple enjoyability factor of the game, which doesn’t cloud your judgement when playing other games).

This of course segues into the fact that I’m reviewing an MMORPG, so I’ve clearly broken my avowed back-turning on the genre. Admittedly I was intrigued by the concept of an MMO on the iPhone, and as I knew the game would not have nearly the amount of content as seen in PC MMO’s, there was no fear of being sucked into a game that could take months to beat.

CozyQuest has a decent amount of quests and content for an iPhone game, but of course comes nowhere near the amount seen in a PC MMO. The game contains about 10 hours of content at present, with fairly regular updates coming from the developer.

CozyQuest is not structured like a typical MMORPG, instead functioning more like any of the numerous text-based MMO’s found online. In this sense it’s more like an RPG with online features as opposed to a persistent world game that the term MMO would typically refer to. Being largely text-based, the writing is of major importance, and the developers have done a good job of presenting well written text for players to read.

You begin by creating and customizing your character from a number of different races and classes. You can further customize your character in game with stat boosts, professions, and equipment. You develop your character by taking on quests, throughout which you’ll fight numerous enemies in a traditional turn-based text fashion. You’ll find you need to perform the same quests multiple times to reach a point where you can move up and take on new tasks, which can grow tiresome, but as mentioned there’s a fair amount of content at present to satisfy players. Besides questing, players can participate in lotteries and auctions, chat with fellow gamers at the tavern, or develop their skills.

One of CozyQuest’s better features is that it doesn’t feature any sort of money sink in the form of purchasable items or points that need to be bought and used in-game, something that has plagued not only the majority of iPhone’s early MMO’s, but the majority of major PC MMO’s coming out of Asia in recent years. You simply pay your one-time fee for the game and that’s it, you have access to all of the game’s content without having to worry about other players having better gear than you because they spent more money for additional items, or having an easier time of it because they used purchased points to level their character quicker.

Giving a verdict on CozyQuest is difficult. While the price is fair for a moderately sized iPhone game, the other side of the coin is that there are dozens of free to play MMO’s available on PC, which makes recommending this game for a $5 purchase more difficult. If you’re intrigued by the concept like I was, by all means give it a shot. Everyone else should likely steer clear.

Pros

• No money sink
• Well-written (though fairly generic)
• Nice artwork

Cons

• Not enough content to make reaching the current ‘endgame’ smooth
• Slow loading at times
• Gameplay will only appeal to a small collection of gamers

Score: 6.5/10

Price: $4.99

CozyQuest on iTunes

iMafia is one of the growing entrants in the iPhone MMO genre. In it, your goal is to build up your criminal empire and conquer the vast sea of degradation that is humanity. You can buy up real estate to build up your wealth, beat down the poor saps that try to cross your path, and even knock off your rivals, all in the name of sticking it to the man, and the poor fools that try to cross you.

Now before you get excited about that free price tag dangling down there at the end of the review, you should know that iMafia works much like the multitude of free-to-play MMO’s on the internet. While it is indeed free to play, players who are willing to invest real money to purchase in-game points have a decided advantage over those who don’t. And points are by no means cheap, you could easily spent $20+ on points just trying to build your gangster up to a level where he’s even moderately competitive with the other top players. A steep price tag for what amounts to little more than a text-based game.

iMafia has three different character classes to choose from, the brawler, mogul, and workaholic. Each comes with a unique bonus that will cater to different play styles. Brawlers get faster health regeneration, the workaholic has fast energy regeneration, and the mogul earns income faster. The game comes with some handy tutorials to help get you up to snuff, a feature lacking in many iPhone games.

As mentioned your main goal is to collect income, increase the size of your gang, develop your skills, and keep an eye on your stats to make sure your ready for any forthcoming missions. Unlike the nearly identical iMob, there is less of an emphasis on friend codes to increase your ranking, and more of an emphasis on actually playing the game, which is naturally a step in the right direction.

The game is presented entirely in text, menus, and graphical stills. There’s not much in the way of art, or even much story or dialogue for that matter, making the game far less interesting than other MMO’s. You simply continue to perform your daily routines in a relentless task to build yourself up, with no real driving motivation to do so.

Connection issues are also rampant. Most iPhone MMO’s have had severe troubles in this area, so iMafia is by no means unique in this respect, but even so, waiting as much as 10 seconds for the game to connect and load up a simple text-based menu is not my idea of a good time. The app will also close at times without provocation.

I have a hard time getting excited about games like this, but I’m sure there’s enjoyment to be had for the right people. It’s a decent enough game, though entirely derivative and nearly identical to iMob. It’s free to play, so if it sounds like something up your alley, go ahead and give it a try.

Pros

• Good tutorials to help newbies get started

Cons

• Connection issues
• Plays like any other text-based MMO
• Art and dialogue is lacking

Score: 5/10

Price: Free

iMafia on iTunes

The RPG genre has begun to pick up on the iPhone recently, with traditional games, unique hybrids, and even MMO’s beginning to surface on the device. Action RPG’s are also starting to come in spades, and as a lover of RPG’s, I’m thrilled that the genre is receiving an increasingly strong presence on the iPhone. Chronicles of Inotia: Legend of Feanor was released last year with a good amount of fanfare, as it was one of the more prominent RPG’s yet released on the system. The game received generally positive reviews, but had the effect of leaving the more demanding RPG gamers like myself largely unsatisfied.

Feanor is the main character, and his legend begins as he mysteriously appears from the sky one day and begins his quest to rid the land of evil. As you might gather from that introduction there’s little in the way of storytelling in Feanor, and the character itself rarely has anything to say and no character development whatsoever. The mute (or nearly mute) hero is a common RPG staple (so as to not potentially alienate the player from his character), but those games typically consist of full parties of other characters who pick up the vocal cord slack, which Feanor lacks. If you like RPG’s for the storytelling, you’ll be severely disappointed with Inotia.

That said, action-RPG’s are more about gameplay than storytelling for the most part, but Feanor, sadly, is fairly shallow in this department as well. The gameplay consists of wandering around random fields, hacking up the random spawning monsters that appear, and that’s about it. This in itself wouldn’t be so bad if the combat was actually fun, but it amounts to little more than tapping an enemy and watching as the action unfolds. A combat system similar to the early Ys or Zelda games would’ve made a much better choice; instead the game mimics Diablo’s endless clicking with its screen tapping, minus the fun of collecting tons of loot, which is what drives most PC action-RPG players onward. I almost hesitate to even call it an action game, as it basically amounts to a battle of stats with the monsters. There’s no real skill involved in playing the game, which naturally gets boring fairly quickly.

Feanor picks up a pet companion on his journey which is a nice touch, though not nearly as interesting as it could’ve been. Your companion doesn’t fight with you, it merely exists within your menu, levelling up via the items you feed it, at which point it will bestow stat bonuses on yourself. The pet feels like little more than a cosmetic middle man that could easily be removed from the game with little loss (a system where you simply consume the items yourself to reap the benefits would’ve amounted to the same thing).

Another disappointment is the lack of save spaces. You’re only given one save slot, meaning it’s impossible to have back up files in case you want to go back and try something in a different manner, or even in the event you simply want to replay the game again, in which case you’d have to delete your original file. Granted, the first point is rendered somewhat mute, as the game is fairly linear, with simple quests and little customization to switch things up, but it stands as a disappointing oversight nonetheless.

The graphics are unquestionably attractive for an old-school gamer like myself, consisting of beautiful (and beautifully animated) sprites. There is some degree of choppiness in the action at times, but the game runs at a good framerate for the most part.

For gamers looking for some simple mindless fun wrapped around an RPG shell, Feanor may suffice, but with more and more quality titles hitting the app store, more discerning gamers may want to look elsewhere for their mobile RPG fix.

Pros:

• Charming sprite graphics

Cons:

• Little to no story or character development
• Mindless combat

Score: 5.5/10

Price: $2.99

Chronicles of Inotia on iTunes

As big a sports fan as I am, there’s one sport that towers above all the rest in my heart, and that is baseball (and I could lose my Canadian citizenship for saying that, though hockey is second). Sadly, on the videogaming front, baseball games have largely missed the mark. The simulation style games tend to excel with stat tracking and realism but ultimately fall flat in the realm of fun, while the arcade style games simply don’t have the depth a hardcore baseball fan wants. There have been a few games over the years from each category that have impressed though, with MLB’ 09 The Show and MVP Baseball 2005 being standouts on the simulation side, while classic games like Baseball Stars and Extra Innings were simple but fun arcade style versions.

Extra Innings is the game that immediately jumped to my mind when I first saw Baseball Superstars, and there are definitely some similarities. The graphics are colourful and charming, with superdeformed (big-headed) players, and cute animations. Another series it draws inspiration from is Konami’s brilliant Jikkyo Powerful Pro Yakyu series, which we finally got an English version of a few years back in the form of MLB Power Pros, after years of it remaining a Japan exclusive.

Baseball Superstars’ My League mode is very similar to Power Pros’ character and team development modes, mixing RPG and baseball into one beautiful package (at least for an RPG and baseball nut like myself that is). In this mode you can train and develop your character, right down to developing his social life off the field. It’s like a bizarre fusion of baseball and Persona that works quite well. While lacking the level of depth seen in the Power Pros games, it’s an impressive feature that I had a ton of fun playing around with. In addition to the My League mode there are plenty of other modes available to test your skills in, such as the homerun derby mode, the season mode, or just a simple exhibition game.

Baseball Superstars does not feature an MLB licence unfortunately, so the teams and players aren’t real, but this is relatively common for arcade style games and not a huge detriment. There are 10 teams available and a number of different stadiums to play in.

Baseball Superstars is played entirely via a virtual d-pad and buttons on the touch screen which was perhaps a curious choice, though it works out fairly well. Touch screen controls could have easily been implemented for pitching and hitting and likely would’ve been both more intuitive and fun to play around with than the onscreen buttons, but regardless the game plays well with the virtual pad. Games play fast, while featuring just enough depth to keep the more serious baseball fan interested.

An excellent addition to the iPhone’s growing library, Baseball Superstars mimics well the classic arcade style baseball games of the past, while adding new features to make it stand on its own merits. Every iPhone toting baseball fan would do well to pick this one up.

Pros

• Many play modes to choose from, including the excellent My League mode
• Cute graphics and animations
• Fast and fun baseball game

Cons

• No real teams or players (though this isn’t surprising)
• Curious choice of control scheme when direct touch screen could’ve worked well

Score: 8.5/10

Price - $2.99

Baseball Superstars on iTunes