Fresh, hot summer games here!
Also, the new era of iPhone gaming
I’m swinging my Blasphemous Blade again. I’m triple-jumping up and down the Traveller. I’ve slurped up more ghosts than I can count.
As a heatwave simmers down and my birthday approaches, I’m feeling bolstered by the oncoming summer and the intriguing games it’s already brought.
First up: Elden Ring: Shadows of the Erdtree, which I’m indeed enjoying much more now that I can properly share the experience. Just last night my buddies and I discovered a new boss: a giant malevolent sunflower! It’s been a blast.
Second: Destiny 2: The Final Shape. I’m a bit late to this one, since it came out in early June. But I can see what all the rhapsodizing’s about. The main villain may inspire mockery, what with the Megamind suit and the BoohBah eyes, but the story has moved me and the gameplay has enticed me. I look forward to my expert friend shepherding me through more of its campaign.
Finally: Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. I’m not quite over the moon for this one. The 3DS original failed to keep my interest for long, but I will say that this new version is clearer and more approachable than Luigi’s Mansion 3, which I played start to finish with my little nephew.
You can hear me speak about all these games and more on today’s episode of Here & Now Anytime.
Also, we aired my conversation with Here & Now’s Scott Tong on mobile gaming this week! I concentrated on the topline games the iPhone 15 can (mostly) play, since that’s part of a new push by Apple:
I spend most of my gaming hours on PC and consoles, but since Apple loaned me an iPhone for this project, I’ve steadily increased my mobile gaming diet — all while cajoling Here & Now’s Scott Tong to sample Apple Arcade, the company’s game subscription service. Arcade certainly has some bangers, from the adorable stealth game Sneaky Sasquatch, to the hilarious What the Car! to the classic, Escheresque Monument Valley.
While these games are built for small screens, the Resident Evil 4 remake fits the shrunken dimensions rather uneasily. It ran relatively well (honestly, about as well as the PC version ran on my Steam Deck), but many of its details didn’t translate to a six-inch screen despite its high resolution and bright OLED pixels. The game’s omnipresent shadows obscured just a bit too much; all but the closest enemies were a bit too small to make out. These problems compound with on-screen controls since your fingers will leave very little real estate to play comfortably.
But I’d still recommend this version of Resident Evil 4 to curious iPhone owners with no other means to play it. It’s cinematic enough that you could cruise through on lower difficulties and still get a pulse-pounding experience. That’s really who Apple’s trying to recruit anyway — not the freaks like me who already have a half-dozen gaming devices, but a fraction of their vast user base interested in a more accessible entry point into the hobby. The extra dollars the Apple faithful might spend on such services could help offset slowing iPhone sales, after all.