Update: Incredible-Looking RPG Coming to iPhone (et al) from Epic

[John Funk]

Update: Incredible-Looking RPG Coming to iPhone (et al) from Epic

If you thought that games on the iPhone and iPod Touch had to be silly-looking glorified minigames, Epic Games' new Project Sword may blow your mind.

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If you think of iPhone games, you probably think of silly little minigames like Angry Birds [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102891-Angry-Birds-Possibly-Flapping-From-iPhone-to-Movie-Theaters] - short, bite-sized, and easy to control with a touch-and-drag interface.

Gears of War developer Epic Games thinks otherwise. Moments ago at a special Apple event, Epic president Mike Capps took the stage from Apple boss Steve Jobs to announce a project codenamed Project Sword for the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad.

Powered by the exact same Unreal technology that runs Gears of War (and practically every other game this generation), Project Sword is an action-RPG that allows players to explore a fully 3D world in hopes of taking down the "legendary god-king." Combat is controlled either by "slashing" your finger across the screen, or dragging-and-dropping special attacks (like a boot to the face) for less-twitchy players.

Also, for an iPod/iPhone/iPad game, it looks seriously fantastic. I certainly never thought I'd see graphics like that on a mobile game. Hopefully screens will be out soon.

Accompanying the announcement of Project Sword was the reveal of Apple's Game Center, which is essentially the iOS version of Xbox Live. It's a social network for gaming that should make it easier to play iProduct games with your friends - Capps and Epic creative director Donald Mustard instantly jumped into a head-to-head battle in Project Sword in a matter of seconds.

Game Center will be coming to iOS next week, and Project Sword is scheduled for release this holiday season. In other news, Epic has announced that the Unreal Engine 3 is now available for use on iOS, meaning that other great-looking mobile games won't be far behind.

Update: We got a chance to look around the iOS Unreal Engine 3 tech demo Epic Citadel on the iPad, and it looks great. Take a look at our screenshot gallery above!

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[omega_peaches]

Wow, an iPhone game running of the unreal engine?
I'll check this out.

 

[Brotherofwill]

Taking down the 'legendary god-king'? Story sounds promising.

It does sound like it has a lot of potential though. I'll check it out.

Is this it?

 

[NeedAUserName]

Excellent, although I'm imagining it will cost a lot of money...

 

[happysock]

Looks good, I hope something like this comes out on android phones though so I can give it a go.

 

[Myoukochou]

?and? Android?

 

[Daemascus]

Yet another reason to want an iphone.

 

[Jared]

Epic...pardon the pun. Will be looking for this, for sure

 

[Irridium]

First Rage, now this.

It almost makes me want an iphone.

 

[Outlaw Torn]

That CAN'T be an Epic game, there are colours other than grey and brown...

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

I would get an Ipad if I wasn't poor

 

[Guru Cube]

And WebOS? There are much better and quicker platforms out there, I feel so saddened that all these developers forget to look for the other options. It's a shame. Unreal engine is already working on the Palm WebOS (Palm Pre smartphones etc.).

Edit: Whilst finding a link to the Unreal Engine demo, I was reminded that the demo was made by Epic games, so maybe they haven't forgotten us after all!

http://www.precentral.net/unreal-engine-3-demoed-webos

 

[Alex Cowan]

I'm really looking forward to some Unreal 3 games coming out - we could be looking at pretty much ports of AAA titles here - Dragon Age for iPad, anyone?

 

[Spinwhiz]

Now if Verizon would ever get the iPhone, that would be helpful.

 

[hansari]

Wait a minute. Wait a minute!!!!!

Why hasn't anyone else brought this up?

Combat is controlled either by "slashing" your finger across the screen, or dragging-and-dropping special attacks (like a boot to the face) for less-twitchy players.

Can you guys imagine action on par with God of War 3, but your missing out on it cause you keep waving your finger in front of you so don't fail?

 

[Rad Party God]

Sure it DOES look fantastic, but I wonder how much battery will it need to power this beast of a game on a small little phone.

 

[mjc0961]

Slashing across the screen, huh? Nothing personal Epic, but Nintendo already tried that in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, and it sucked. It was hard to see what you were doing with a finger/stylus over the screen all the time, and it made combat boring.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

?and? Android?

We never get any love...

Taking down the 'legendary god-king'? Story sounds promising.

It does sound like it has a lot of potential though. I'll check it out.

Is this it?

Looks impressive, but you wouldn't BELIEVE how fucking sick I am of hearing that song on anything action oriented on YouTube. Seriously it should be banned...

Let's wait and see.

 

[Bobzer77]

I will enjoy playing that for the 10 minutes the battery will last while it's running.