INFINITY BLADE II

Are you ready to taste cold steel in an epic fantasy world?

DEVELOPER Chair Entertainment Group

PRICE £4.99 US$6.99 5,49€

SIZE 930 MB

AGE RATING 9+

Once in a while a game comes along that moves the bar of expectation for what can be achieved on the format. Infinity Blade II is such a game. There are some impressive-looking titles available for iOS5 devices but none can challenge the high-end home consoles – until now. Infinity Blade II really does look that good.

The game builds on the ideas behind the original Infinity Blade, taking and distilling the good parts and addressing pretty much all the issues players had with it. In many ways the original Infinity Blade was more of a tech demo. Infinity Blade 2 uses Unreal Engine 3 to spectacular effect, creating a vibrant world of epic vistas. Fish flit beneath the surfaces of sparking streams and plants sway gently in the breeze, giving a real sensation that this is a living, breathing world and not merely an artificially constructed backdrop against which to slice and dice a procession of monsters and beasties eager to taste your cold steel. This is, of course, what it’s all about.

The control system is deftly crafted to ensure movement within the world is seamless, and combat quickly becomes intuitive. Many iOS action games attempt to replicate a traditional game controller with a virtual stick and buttons on screen. The results are usually fiddly and will never afford the precision of a real joypad.