Game Centered features roundups and in-depth reviews of the best in iOS games and related gaming news. Among the App Store’s myriad games, it’s all too easy to overlook some of the greats. Each installment of Game Centered will take a close look at a select few worthy of special recognition. In this week's installment we deviate from the norm and discuss an ebook, the new Infinity Blade novella, Redemption. This week also sees the debut of a game I've been impatiently waiting for, 2013 Infected Wars. Read on to find out more.
1. Infinity Blade: Redemption ($2.99)
To call the Infinity Blade franchise successful would be an understatement. With a multiple award-winning iOS video game series; an immersive, complex, and fantastic storyline; graphics that changed the way serious gamers look at iOS; and what is arguably some of the best, most intuitive gameplay available on the platform; Infinity Blade has gone a long way in establishing iDevices as the most formidable emerging gaming consoles of the day.
If you are familiar with the franchise you know that our first exposure to the Infinity Blade universe was through the premier game Infinity Blade. As a segue between Infinity Blade and its sequel game, Infinity Blade II, we were treated to a great novella by acclaimed fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson, entitled Infinity Blade: Awakening. Now, as a segue between Infinity Blade II and what I'm assuming will be Infinity Blade III, we have the new, just released iBookstore novella, Infinity Blade: Redemption, also by Sanderson.
I was on the waiting list for this title and downloaded it as soon as it came out. Now, without giving anything away (trust me, this book gets off to such a twisted start, you don't even want to know), I can tell you that this latest chapter ties together major plot elements that have intrigued me since the first Infinity Blade, and it sets us up for a really mind-blowing third video-game installment. The book is well-written and spellbinding, and it’s totally built my excitement and anticipation for whatever the next and possibly last installment in this epic franchise has in store. If you love the Infinity Blade saga, don't delay, go download this ebook today!
2. 2013 Infected Wars ($6.99)
The highly anticipated iOS game 2013 Infected Wars is due to hit the App Store on Thursday, September 5. This impressive first-person-shooter (FPS), multiplayer adventure game puts you right in the crosshairs of the seemingly inevitable zombie apocalypse with mutated undead monsters, rotting flesh, desolate post-apocalyptic locations, and high-powered combat weaponry. This new FPS game is the first iOS game to allow you to play from start to finish in multiplayer mode. Of course, you also have the option of playing through the game in single-player mode. Either way, get ready for some gnarly zombie warfare of epic proportions.
Speaking of epic, this new gore fest is powered by none other than Epic's infamous Unreal Engine, the same engine behind the Infinity Blade games. With a level of detail and visual acuity that is rare and hard to find in the world of iOS gaming, Epic’s Unreal Engine does an awesome job of transporting you into the bleak and dismal heart of the Zombie apocalypse, where your virtual survival is anything but guaranteed.
Click HERE if you can't see the embedded gameplay video above.