Codemasters Dizzy

[Dogg Thang]

I think it looks pretty nice. Dizzy's jump doesn't look great but that's because I find it looks wrong when a sprite is so crisp looking and yet lacking the frames of animation to back it up. But, overall, yeah, looks nice.

[MrMarbles]

At the risk of taking the thread off-topic, I've just found out that the same studio is making a Naked Gun game for iPhone with Frank Drebin Jr.

Mind blown.

[Family Fry]

iPhone, Android and iPad *sigh*

[rmoxon]

No iOS device!

Well yeah, then you have reason to complain, but others are complaining about touch screen controls, as I said Dizzy is hardly a hetic and fast paced game, it will probabaly work well with touch screen crontols... Well providing they are done right anyway.

All you need is lift and right and two buttons, there are plenty of platform games on iOS devices that use those 4 things and play fine these days. For intance I have recently been playing Stardash, which is a great little mario-esque platformer with old school mono gameboy graphics and chip tunes for the soundtrack. Its really enjoyable and there are no control problems with it at all.

[Decider-VT]

Dizzy is hardly a fast paced series, there is no reason that it shouldn't work as an iOS game.

Not sure why everyone is complaining really.

I don't own an iOS device, so I can't play it. Oh, and almost every game I've tried that has been shoehorned into one has had terrible controls. If the game has been designed from the ground up with that interface in mind then they're generally OK but sloppy reliance on a non-tactile "virtual joystick" is an immediate turn off for me. I concede that Dizzy isn't exactly twitch gaming but I recall parts like jumping onto that shark's fin and recoil in horror at the thought of the number of unnecessary deaths a touchscreen interface is going to cause.

[rmoxon]

I don't own an iOS device, so I can't play it. Oh, and almost every game I've tried that has been shoehorned into one has had terrible controls. If the game has been designed from the ground up with that interface in mind then they're generally OK but sloppy reliance on a non-tactile "virtual joystick" is an immediate turn off for me. I concede that Dizzy isn't exactly twitch gaming but I recall parts like jumping onto that shark's fin and recoil in horror at the thought of the number of unnecessary deaths a touchscreen interface is going to cause.

While its true that there are alot of games with poorly implemented virtual sticks/pads on iOS systems there are also just as many that play well.

For instance Sonic The Hedgehog has a pretty crappy Virtual Dpad yet Sonic 4 plays fantastic and is actually more fun than the Xbox live version (Yeah its mainly the best version due to the fact that sonic doesnt walk around like he has bricks attached to his feet in it, but the controls are solid too)

It all depends on how much effort the developer has put into the game really.

[FelixofMars]

I thought that it might be a straight port but I am glad to see the HD graphics, that said its all worrying that most mobile games tend to be ports or remakes/clones of games we player 20~ years ago. I am not sure that I would say I want to play a Dizzy game now, especially if the gameplay is exactly ripped from back then. I think games have evolved for the better and most stuff I replay now tends to show that. Even looking back at the new Ico HD remake it was sad to quickly pick up on things that modern games would not do because its not really leading or helping the player. I am not saying that it made it unplayable just that its always a bit rose tints going back to an old game.

In Dizzys case I played them way back when but quickly though that most of the puzzles where a trudge and sometimes illogical, so not really wanting to go through that again 20 years later, would rather play something modern or more fun.

[Decider-VT]

For instance Sonic The Hedgehog has a pretty crappy Virtual Dpad yet Sonic 4 plays fantastic and is actually more fun than the Xbox live version (Yeah its mainly the best version due to the fact that sonic doesnt walk around like he has bricks attached to his feet in it, but the controls are solid too)

It all depends on how much effort the developer has put into the game really.

Well, yes. But saying that iOS Sonic 4 is better than XBLA Sonic 4 is probably akin to suggesting that being shot in the foot is better than being stabbed in the neck. But anyway, I doubt I'll ever be satisfied with completely touchscreen controls for gaming, short of something turn-based. (An iOS/Android/Wii-U version of Etrian Odyssey would be most welcome, for example.)

I'm just a bit gutted that Dizzy has been relegated to mobile gaming instead of getting the Bionic Commando Rearmed-style attempt at a revival I'd hope for. While this port lessens the financial risk that a more substantial effort would incur, it doesn't bode well for future releases if Codemasters decide to judge collective interest on the success of this release, particularly when there's only a handful of people that will remember the original games and notice this version.

[averybluemonkey]

My issue isn't with touch screens and mobile phone gaming but with developers who try and shoehorn in traditional style games that don't take advantage of the opportunities available with the input. It's the same way when the Wii came out lots of developers added stupid waggle motions instead of design fresh games with the controls in mind.

[Decider-VT]

I agree. People should design to the strengths of the interface but there's been a bit too much of a goldrush mentality about portable devices that has resulted in some sorely inadequate control schemes. It's part of the reason why I'm quite excited about the possibilities afforded by the Wii-U controller, as it basically turns the console into a giant DS.

[rmoxon]

This is out now if anyone's interested

You'll all be happy to know that it plays fine, there are separate arrows at the edges of the screen for jumping in different direction s which. Sans you can't really do anything wrong

Not sure about the graphics though, they are pretty boring looking, but then maybe dizzy always was.

[Dogg Thang]

I find the controls on iPad to be fairly hideous. Having the movement controls spread out over the screen is messy and having the jump button under the left movement control is awkward. And picking things up and doing stuff with them seems to me more of a chore than it should be. Way too many info windows. Messy. And the music is godawful.

It looks pretty nice and it's playable but I'm really not feeling the love here.

[rmoxon]

I got the iPhone version, mainly due to the controls being where they are, however it's also cheaper too.

I find playing it on the iPhone really easy but I can definitely imagine that it is more difficult on the iPad, it's probably impossible to play how I imagine the developers intended us too when you have to reach all over the iPads relatively large screen.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah, that's exactly it. I imagine it works much better on iPhone. Although some sort of virtual d-pad or Fargoal-esque swiping would be a good choice for either device.