Infinity Blade II

[John-117]

When Epic Games purchased Chair Entertainment, the game studio was focusing on DLC games for Xbox Live Arcade like Undertow and Shadow Complex. But with the explosion of iPhone and iPad mobile devices, the small studio of about 20 employees crafted the first Unreal Engine 3 iOS game and launched Infinity Blade. Apple loved the game so much they featured it in their commercials and has had Epic Games on stage for key technology announcements. Gamers loved the game too. The first title sold over 5 million copies and generated over $20 million for the Gears of War 3 developer's Salt Lake City studio. With this success comes a sequel designed for iPhone 5 and iPad 2 (and beyond).

 

[media='']http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/10/04/infinity-blade-ii-teaser-trailer[/media]

 

Geremyy Mustard, technical director and co-founder of Chair Entertainment, said the team wanted to raise the bar once more for the visuals that are possible on Apple's devices. The developer learned a lot from its work utilizing Unreal Engine 3 on the original title, and that was put to good use in this follow-up, which promises a much bigger gameplay experience.

"Whether it's Gears of War 3 on Xbox 360 or Infinity Blade II on iPad 2, Unreal Engine 3 really pushes the envelope of what we can do," said Geremy Mustard. "Everything you see within one of our environments, even in the distant background, is fully 3D and playable. It's above and beyond what we were able to do before. You'll see grass blowing in the wind, light rays, and god rays – these are effects that came partway through the console life cycle of Xbox 360 and we have them running on these mobile devices today and it runs beautifully."

 

Looking at an environment on a computer screen, it'd be a challenge to differentiate this game from an Unreal console or PC game. Geremy Mustard said dual core chips and more advanced graphics processors are enabling the small team to do a lot more -- and not just visually. The original game shipped with just the one castle to explore, although there were cool interior rooms and surrounding areas. The team set out to create a much more diverse world with this sequel.

The world of Infinity Blade II is much more varied.

 

"The player will explore many different environments in this game," said Geremy Mustard. "You'll see some stuff that looks familiar, but the castle in this game is very different. We'll also be exploring environments in a more Asian-themed landscape. With each environment, we wanted to create these water cooler moments -- these areas where players can look back and converse about that battle that took place in front of that huge tower or by that really cool clock. There's always something in the environment that will keep your focus and lead you through the level."

The world itself is four or five times bigger than in the first game. It's just so much more content.

Players will have more choices this time around, as levels will offer branching paths for exploration. Donald Mustard, creative director and co-founder of Chair Entertainment, said everything is bigger. The first game shipped with about 70 items that players could acquire in the game like swords, armor, shields and magic rings. With Infinity Blade 2, the game will launch with over 120 new items in addition to the content from the first game.

 

"All of the weapons and swords will be and then we have some new surprises that I don't want to talk about yet," said Donald Mustard. "There will literally be hundreds and hundreds of items that are all unique with different properties. There are also just a lot more enemies in this game. The world itself is four or five times bigger than in the first game. It's just so much more content."

Battling an Iron Wretch.

 

Players will be able to utilize these new weapons in combat against a wide array of enemies. Chair has invested a lot of time designing an assortment of creatures and beasts that range in size from humanoid to multiple-screen monstrosities like the Iron Wretch.

 

"There are so many awesome enemies this time around," explained Donald Mustard. "One of my very favorite is the Eyeless Noc which comes from this race of enemies that are these more ghoulish, troll-type creatures that have this beaten copper plating all over them. This enemy has a big staph with all these nails beaten into it and he's constantly spinning and whipping it around through the air. Then he'll fake you out with some big thrust and jab the staph right in your face. He's this cool acrobatic enemy."

 

Gamers will be able to dip into their own arsenal of combat styles to go mano-a-mano with these types of foes. Donald Mustard explained that in addition to the traditional sword and shield combat that fans are familiar with, Infinity Blade 2 features dual blades fighting.

The Eyeless Noc is a new, acrobatic enemy.

 

"Instead of having a shield, you'll be able to pull two different swords off your back and fight enemies," said Geremy Mustard. "The other cool play style that we have is a two-handed, axe-style weapon. You'll hold it with both your hands, so you're without a shield. But you can use the weapon to block as well as attack. It's a slower moving weapon, but it does a lot more damage. There's a tradeoff to each of the different fighting styles, but each one adds some really cool variety."

 

Chair has been working closely with Apple to ensure that Infinity Blade 2 takes advantage of the new iPad 2 and iPhone 5 functionality, in addition to the latest Unreal Engine 3 updates from Epic Games. And like the original game, Chair will launch the game and then continuously update it with new features, items and gameplay options.

 

Infinity Blade II will be hitting iPhones and iPads December 1st.

[BraverKING514]

Too bad its only for Ipad/Iphone. I would have to give up xbox live for one of those.