The App Store may have just opened up its iPad wing , but there are already hundreds of apps to select from — and many of them are game . With so many choices , what ’s a mobile gamer to do ?
At least a twelve title have capture our middle since iPad apps begin get in on the storehouse . Here ’s a list of games we ’re particularly eager to look into out , along with our take on the best- and sorry - case scenarios for the iPad - optimise editions .
Plants Vs. Zombies HD
Developer : PopCap
hope : Arguably the most ingenious , humorous , and well - equilibrize tower defense game to arrive out ever , Plants Vs . Zombies has already made a splash in both its Mac and iPhone iteration . With the iPad ’s improved graphics and large screen , might the $ 10 iPad - only variant of the game give us bigger map and perchance even the return of some of the miniskirt - games that did n’t make it to the iPhone tone ending ?
Fears : Given the secret plan ’s stellar course book across multiple equipment , the only real fear is that PopCap does n’t seek to better anything of its winning formula . This is one of the few iPad titles that you could swear on being worth playing .
Real Racing HD
Developer : Firemint
Hopes : Fireminthas a fairly upstanding track record on the iPhone . The secret plan maker recrudesce the first honest multiplayer racing secret plan for the weapons platform , and oh yeah , produced a lilliputian secret plan call Flight Control . Now both games are come to the iPad , though Real Racing HD ’s impressive graphics and acute legal action make it a more intriguing iPad biz . Hopefully the iPad lets Firemint expand the franchise with new content and slick ascendence in this $ 10 racing game .
Fears : It ’s one affair to utilize your mobile telephone as a steering wheel , it ’s another to be able to make your book - sized gadget so exact . The with child question is how the controls will handle — will Firemint outpace the contest or will the awkward controls cause it to barge in and combust ? Either path , it ’s going to be exciting to find out .
Metal Gear Solid Touch
Developer : Konami
Hopes : With the hope of better graphics and a magnanimous filmdom , Hideo Kojima ’s visual sensation of Metal Gear will await that much better on the iPad . And hey , peradventure Konami will finally incorporate some stealth fight like a true Metal Gear Game .
fright : What if the iPad version ( which is a intercrossed offer that also pass on the iPhone and iPod touch ) still plays like the stale shooting art gallery odium that launched on Apple ’s other devices ? On the iPhone , the $ 8 Metal Gear Solid Touch could n’t concord a cd to Metal Gear Solid 4 : accelerator pedal of the Patriots , and it ’d be a shame if ladder the game on an iPad produces nothing more than a really dainty - looking shoot veranda .
Command and Conquer Red Alert for iPad
Developer : EA
hope : With the ranking processing ability of iPad ’s chipset , an impressive declaration , and the wide - open space of a larger screen , all of the problem of Red Alert ’s iPhone reading could be rendered a affair of the past . If the timbre of the iPad version of Red Alert matches its $ 13 terms ticket , we ’re in for a goody — hopefully , the game look beautiful with an unlittered , nonrational interface . It may be wishful cerebration that the cinematics from the console table secret plan make an appearing on the iPad version — oh what we ’d give to see Tim Curry ham it up as the Russian Premier — but if done the right way , this game could prove that scheme games belong to on a fluid equipment .
Fears : Even if Tim Curry is a no - show , it will be a letdown if Red Alert offer the clunky ascendancy , atrocious frame per second , and littered port of other mobile editions .
Top Gun for iPad
Developer : Paramount
hope : This first - somebody fight simulator surprised some iPhone user when it came out last year . Rich with references to the ’ 80s movie and hallow with impressive graphics , Top Gun still seemed constrained by the chopine . The $ 5 iPad version should let you see more of that jet - streak sky and hopefully experience more of the danger zone .
care : Improved graphics by , will the avowed “ new subject ” alter gameplay in meaningful ways or will it just be a duad novel artillery or jets ?
Mirror’s Edge for iPad
Hopes : You play as Faith , a rebel “ Runner ” in a dystopic future . base on the award - win cabinet biz that was later ported to the iPhone , the $ 13 Mirror ’s Edge for iPad not only looks beautiful , but hopefully delivers the first real platformer remove to the platform . Of all its iPad - optimise launch titles , EA looks to have enthrone a lot into this one in special , forebode the game will provide “ all - new multiplayer features made just for iPad . ”
fear : Part of the collection of the initial release was its jarring first soul perspective — which seems to be absentminded in the iPad sack . The original was also hampered by some clunky indoor sections and a regretful scrap mechanic , and it remains to be seen what this latest version keeps .
Call of Duty: World at War Zombies for iPad
Developer : Activision
hope : What begin out as an extra set of missions tack onto Call of Duty 5 : World at War has now become an madly popular first - person survival repulsion back itself . First port for the iPhone , the $ 15 iPad version looks to have much improved computer graphic and the hope of a better first - person shooter experience . We ’re hoping that this will be the first among many unassailable first - person gunman titles on the machine .
Fears : Our follow-up praised the iPhone edition , so the real fearfulness here is that the iPad adaptation exasperate the already somewhat unwieldy controls and players wind - up spending half the time inject at the ceiling and missing the beautifully render zombies . Oh , and for some rationality EA decides to supercede the zombies with pup .
Worms HD
Developer : Team17 Software
hope : This extremely - addictive turn - based strategy game starring cartoonish competitive worms get a ocular upgrade in its $ 5 iPad incarnation . According to the plot ’s iPad page , there should be more than 50 challenge full of comical mayhem . The hope is the biz sets the standard for fun , cunning , and humourous scheme games on the platform .
Fears : The idiom “ visual climb ” is always a chip worrisome , indicate that the game is nothing but a prettier variant of the iPhone adaptation of Worms . But unlike other iPhone game , the core gameplay of Worms is so strong that translating it to a new chopine is n’t a high-risk thing .
N.O.V.A. HD
Developer : Gameloft
Hope : Gameloft has get better and better with its first - soul shooters . What was once considered an impossible genre to grow for on the mobile platform has become a rigorous field with some truly neat deed . N.O.V.A. is Gameloft ’s “ homage ” to Halo , and the sci - fi FPS will belike profit from the improved user interface on the iPad , including more buttons and improved touchscreen control condition that will allow you nail your grenade arcs .
Fears : While the $ 10 iPad version of the game will look better and the amount of interactivity is vastly improve , will the game play more fluidly ? Can you aim and shoot with proportional repose ? Like other first person shooter iPad launch championship , we ’re taking a “ expect and see ” access to the N.O.V.A.
JellyCar 2
Developer : Disney / Walaber
hope : An adorable puzzle car plot that task you with guide a squishy car to the departure of a level , JellyCar was a distinct title when it first launched for the iPhone . Now a new translation of its subsequence promises to offer 30 levels of fun , unexampled mode , a custom level editor , and much more undivided content for the iPad . You do n’t see too many game that are fun for both kids and adults , and maybe the $ 3 JellyCar 2 will be the first to have that kind of crown of thorns over appeal on the platform .
Fears : The artwork look much improved and the new style actually look to be reasonably impressive . The real fear is that suddenly the iPad becomes a premiere children ’s educational prick and all of a suddenMacworld’shardened crew of biz reviewer have a inundation of lovely cartoonish tike ’s games to review .
Tap Tap Radiation
Developer : Tapulous
Hope : With the iPad ’s improved user interface , your ability to “ tap ” along to bump off medicine will make the Tap Tap franchise a vast striking on the iPad .
Fears : The free Tap Tap Radiation only start with eight songs and though it ’s loose to spiel , you ’ll want to keep paying more for additional songs . These smaller packs will sap you dry out pretty nimble , and ultimately circumscribe what could be an even more pop deed .
[ Chris Holt is a Macworld associate editor . ]
