A heavy workload coupled with a teething 8 month old son has resulted in my gaming time being squeezed of late, but fear not because I have made offerings at the caffeine alter to counterbalance these minor gaming distractions! For some game experiences, the iPad has struggled to provide quality content, including RPGs. This week I have been role playing on my iPad, and by role playing I mean playing several RPGs on it, not standing on it dressed as an orc. So without further delay here are my iPad game musings for this week.

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Despite it being an unusually busy time of year for me, coupled with some very muggy weather here in old London town, I still managed to rustle up the energy to play on my iPad and recommend a couple of gems for you.

Sid Meier’s Pirates

In an effort to escape the sticky temperatures this week, I took to the high seas. I should warn you from the very start that this game has the potential to distort time. A few hours playing Sid Meier’s Pirates can actually seem like just a few minutes. I was rather taken back at just how immersed I was pillaging and cursing my way through the Caribbean. The game itself has a long tradition having been originally released in 1987, before being remade in 2004. So I guess it was only natural for an iPad version to make its way into the App Store a few weeks ago.

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This week I have had slightly more time than usual to peruse all things game-wise on the iPad. I am currently away from work and so have more flexibility in exploring the world of tablet apps. This is, of course, dangerous to both my wallet and time with friends and family. For the sake of my profession, and so that all you nice people get a heads up about some of the better games out there, I’m willing to sacrifice both my money and my friends. So without further ado here are this week’s recommended iPad gaming apps.

GeoSociety

First up we have GeoSociety, which is quite new to the iPad App store. Don’t be fooled by the name, however, as it hasn’t anything to do with a geography themed hiking society. It has everything to do with monster taming, battling, breeding and hunting. Yep, there is more than a whiff of Pokemon here, but this is a fun RPG in the same vein as Dragon Warrior Monsters and Revelation Demon Slayer. If you ever played Pokemon on any Nintendo handheld, you should feel right at home with GeoSociety. The game looks cute (enough for my fellow commuters to cock quizzed eyebrows at me during play), and a recent upgrade has improved its playing interface. All your favorite monster types are included (fire, water and earth), and there are tons of attacks and mutations with which to progress them. The monsters have their own abilities (attack, defense, speed or intelligence) and through experience points can be trained. Additionally, monster breeding is alleged to be on the way (and I can just see more looks of concern from the folks on the train), and currently sports a themed plot with sub-plots and random encounters with over 350 monsters.

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Having admitted to being loaned the use of an Apple iPad, I have unwittingly thrust myself into the new job of summarising games for the device. Still, any excuse for more gaming is worth my self-sacrifice! So my first foray into the iPad gaming world starts here.

Hunters HD

My first game hurled me back two decades to memories of completing my PhD. EA in 1993 published the king of all tactical floor-tile games, Space Hulk, which was based on the board game of the same name from Games Workshop. Flash forward two decades and we have Hunters HD. The look and feel of this game offers more than a sniff of homage to Space Hulk and Legions of Steel. You lead an intergalactic team of mercenaries to complete various tasks, from hostage rescue to artifact reclamation (stealing in the 21st century). You can choose the members of your squad and equip them from a wide-ranging arsenal of armor and weapons. Each soldier has action points according to his armor to spend for movement, combat or overwatch.

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