The Circle sent two of its writers to a recent Apple games showcase. Here are Ronald’s and Karila’s impressions.

By Ronald Gordon and Karila-Monique Warner

Ronald

Recently, Apple has been doing a lot to improve the quality of mobile gaming far beyond what people expect. From their rapidly expanding Apple Arcade roster to the various improvements made to the iPhones and iPads, Apple is gearing up to be one of the biggest names in the gaming industry. Most of these games below are available right now for those who are subscribed to the Apple Arcade, while some others are coming exclusively to the App Store before the end of the year.

Having been to two other developer showcases hosted by Apple, I didn’t think I could be surprised any further by what they were putting onto their hardware. Yet there I was, awestruck as I had my hands on a controller piloting Leon S. Kennedy in Resident Evil 4 Remake, coming to the Apple App store soon, all on a Macbook. It was running smoother than I could’ve imagined it could on a non-console set up, and felt like how it felt when I first used my Xbox Series S just to play the game as it first came out. Having heard about Resident Evil Village being on iPhone before, seeing and comparing the true fluidity of games I had only seen on consoles was intriguing. While there was a bit of lag with some segments of the game, such as certain high action cutscenes stuttering a bit, I was ready to accept that there’s no comfortable, easy way to convert a console steady game to other platforms just yet. Apple systems could still use a bit of tweaking when it comes to handling high frame rates like the 60 frames per second that RE4 Remake is capable of reaching in most cases. It comes out December 20th. At $60 on the App Store, if you’ve already got it on consoles you’re not going to be missing much from the experience. If you haven’t, you’ll want to check out one of the best Resident Evil games ever made.

Yet when it comes to games such as Sonic Dream Team, an exclusive 3D platformer made by SEGA HARDlight for Apple products on the App Store and in Apple Arcade, there was no frame rate issue at all. Blitzing through the new world on an iPad, I was taken by the colorful toy-like sights and upbeat sounds that could come out of a mobile platform. I wished for a wider screen, though, as there was a lot of room to explore with it an open world. I wanted to take in more sights and the experience would’ve been more enjoyable with a bit more room. Yet I’m looking forward to playing it more when it drops early next month.

The biggest bit of optimism that I took away from this showcase is the ability for developers to not only appease console gamers, but for mobile gamers to get the same experiences as everyone else. Mobile gaming had gotten a bad rap because of the lack of true storytelling within the ad-riddled attention grabbers that have taken over. But Arcade games don’t have ads – at all!

Karila

I had never intended to ever game on any Apple device. In fact I had been an anti-advocate for any gaming done on the platform. I remember trying to play The Sims 4 on my MacBook and the graphics card couldn’t even run the full version of the game. But I’ve changed my mind.

Getting the opportunity to not only try out Baldur’s Gate 3 for the first time, but also playing it on an Mac was exhilarating. The developers at Larian Studios came together and worked their magic to make this game compatible for mobile gaming. The beauty of this game was seeing not only how amazing it ran but the lack of lag present while playing. 

I had never played Baldur’s Gate 3 before this event, or any Baldur’s Gate game. I was a bit skeptical of playing it on an Mac, especially as my first gaming experience on an Apple device. They connected a PlayStation controller via Bluetooth, and I was allowed to play through a cutscene and battle sequence. If I hadn’t been pulled from the game by the developers, I would’ve sat there the whole time trying to figure out how to beat my first encountered enemies. The one drawback was there was a lot on the screen happening at once, so it was hard to keep track of the characters I was in control of. There also wasn’t an opening sequence, which meant players at the event that aren’t familiar with Baldur’s Gate 3 were left confused on what to do. 

The use of a connected console controller did highlight the potential for cross play, but it also made me question if the gaming experience would be better on a console? The smaller screen did create a situation where everything was crowded on the display. I, myself, have a visual impairment so I was a bit frustrated and felt a bit dizzy when trying to advance the characters in battle. The UI was also very busy, which made it even harder to track my movement points and fighting abilities. On a smaller screen, this would make this even more confusing with all the button presses and information displayed on the screen during gameplay.

They did not have a version of this game on a TV which I think would’ve been the better option. On a smaller screen, gamers are more likely to run into problems when they access Baldur’s Gate 3. There was a slight lag when running both attacks and movements when I ventured to the cutscene to accept a mission and when I would choose the attack for the characters. The busy screen would become even more crowded when I chose attacks, and the text was a bit too small when offered demo instructions of each attack or movement made. All that aside, it still ran nicely on the Mac and the experience was groundbreaking – especially when I considered how far mobile gaming has come since I was a kid. 

This, of course, wasn’t the crown jewel of the evening. Death Stranding: Director’s Cut Edition took the room by storm. This game is not only the largest game to be released for a mobile platform but it also is the largest game playable in the Apple Arcade. When I asked about the quality, a representative of Kojima Productions said they worked extra hard to make sure that mobile gamers got the same experience as console players. And my, oh, my did they deliver. Every pixel was beautifully cast on the large screen and Sam Porter looked as immaculate on the big screen as he did on the smaller iPhone screen. 

The demo quest they set up took you through the world of Death Stranding and you got to experience all that it had to offer in the quick 15-minute play through. Not only was it running smoothly but it didn’t look any different from the console version of the game. I found myself hooked into the graphics and seamless integration between devices. Adding Death Stranding to the roster has now created a whole new generation of mobile gamers, encouraging players to venture from the usual tap to play or arcade style gaming usually seen with mobile apps. Mobile gaming is taking on a new face with AAA developers now including them in their timeline when preparing games to be released. 

When I hear mobile gaming, I used to think of games like Candy Crush. But Kojima Productions, Larian Studios, and Sega have changed my mind. Now mobile games can include larger titles like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Death Stranding; beautifully translated this to Apple Arcade.

Ronald Gordon is a New York Videogame Critics Circle Member & Mentor. He was the first of our writers – or any intern anywhere – to complete an internship at Rockstar Games.

Karila-Monique Warner has streamed games on Twitch for the NYVGCC and is chief editor of the Bronx-based Tribes magazine.

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