Aurora Feint II: The Arena

[mkrishnan]

Did anyone notice that Aurora Feint's sequel quietly slipped onto the App Store? Apparently it came out two weeks ago, and I haven't seen much discussion about it...

Reviews:

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3171223
http://toucharcade.com/2008/11/21/aurora-feint-ii-the-arena-now-available-for-799/
http://kotaku.com/5093436/aurora-feint-the-arena-brings-asynchronous-mmo-to-iphone-this-fridayish

Danielle Cassley and Jason Citron’s sequel to their popular game Aurora Feint has been released to the App Store. Aurora Feint II: The Arena brings multi-player online action to the puzzle game. Features include:

* Real-time asynchronous player vs. player dueling
* Continuous personal news feed
* A thriving multi-player community
* Powerful new character classes
* Player profiles with walls
* Friend and global leaderboards
* Amazingly beautiful artwork and particle effects

It seems that basically, the gameplay is just like Aurora Feint: The Beginning, but with some multiplayer elements.

Costs $7.99 through Christmas and then $9.99.

The first game, to me, was outstanding -- one of the most polished iPhone games. But at some point, after leveling up quite a ways, it did just become tiresome, because they game gets a little faster and a little harder, and forging some of the spells is quite difficult, but otherwise what's the point?

It seems like Arena it's really more of an upgrade than a sequel, although perhaps a worthy one? The asynchronous online play sounds kind of interesting. It's not clear though whether this means round three will offer a lot of new things or really just make features work. Like now there are new character classes in Arena, but I still don't understand what a character class is for -- what does it actually do in the game?

I haven't gotten it yet, anyway, has anyone else? Thoughts?

 

[WilliamG]

I downloaded this one today, and it's pretty awful. Nigh-on unplayable on my iPhone 3G, even after reboots etc. It runs SO slow. The first game ran silky smooth and this one, like what happened? There's a constant chat stream running at the bottom of the screen that can't be turned off (annoying). The only redeeming feature currently is more help for the noobs (a nice help screen), and the ability to turn vibration off on combos which the original game did not have.

But for now, AVOID this game. A total waste of $7.99 unless you enjoy a terrible framerate. Stick with the first game till this one is fixed.

 

[mkrishnan]

Oooh, that's really good feedback, thanks! What a shame. Hope it isn't affecting all users and/or gets fixed soon.

 

[WilliamG]

Oooh, that's really good feedback, thanks! What a shame. Hope it isn't affecting all users and/or gets fixed soon.

Well, it behaves this way on my wife's iPhone 3G as well my own 3G, so I'd say it's normal (ugh).

 

[ltldrummerboy]

Edit: should've read your post all the way through. If someone posts here that it's running good after an update, I'll probably get this.