Gridrunner (iOS, 24th Feb 2012)

[Icarus]

Llamasoft fans with iDevices should be notified that Jeff recently submitted the iOS version of Gridrunner to Apple for verification and distro, and it should hit in the next few days. One of his more normal-looking releases in recent memory - no minotaurs, goats, camels etc, lol. New powerups (I especially like the look of the powerup that turns you into Hibachi), attract sequence and other bits have been added to the original Gridrunner, and should feature Jeff's excellent touch control sensitivity that's a staple of his past releases.

http://s349909351.websitehome.co.uk/blog/?p=208
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGZ7IUnoVwY (from Jeff's YT)

Consistently good stuff from Llamasoft on iOS so far, and at a good price too. A few of them are iCade-compatible as well. I've got all five releases so far, worth every penny.

EDIT: Seems to be a few different versions of Gridrunner in the iOS game too, which are selectable by rotating the device to different orientations. Hope this feature is in the actual game, and not for demonstration purposes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... etI#t=167s

[OBSCVRA]

very keen for this

I have been a fan of Gridrunner since i was 7, love it

[BrianC]

Looks cool. The only Minter game I have for iOS is Minotaur Rescue, but I like it quite a bit and plan to pick up the others as well.

[Marc]

Looks good, I probably put more time into Minotron than any other title last year, phone or otherwise. Got the full 100-level clear in one run eventually. GoatUp is superb as well, been half and half about the other releases but this coukd easily be best thing on iPhone this year for me.

[OBSCVRA]

this is up now

loving the few games of it i have played, the strict anti inertia crusaders might not like the controls for it, but I'm quite fond of it

feels like a trackball shooter from way back, kinda, which considering its roots as a Centipede "tribute" makes sense

[KidQuaalude]

Just got it, superb game (always was) and an absolute steal @ tier 1 prices (69p/99c)

Includes 3 versions of Gridrunner : the new iOS version when held in portrait orientation, Vic20 Gridrunner when rotated left in landscape, Commodore 64 Gridrunner when rotated right! Brilliant! I hope he does the same with the Gridrunner sequels 'Matrix' and 'Voidrunner'.

[Icarus]

Nice heads-up, looks like I'll be completely unproductive at work today. (￣▽￣)

EDIT: Wow, it gets pretty hectic pretty quickly. Retro bullet-hell, lol. The Hibachi powerup is hilarious.

[KidQuaalude]

Tip : Pause the game and switch controls to 'expert' for better control (works better for me anyway, ymmv)

[Icarus]

The controls are a little floaty on the iPhone - play it like Minotaur Rescue for best effect - but are extremely responsive, almost 1:1 on the iPad.
And man, does the game go nuts at around Grid 7, with the missiles, pods, cubes and everything flying all over the shop. Got to about Grid 16 with 88k on the board so far.
Still trying to work out the powerup colors at the moment. Getting at least three-way is the only easy way to last out the higher grids.

EDIT: 246,609, Grid 31. (On iPad 2.) Whoooo! What a rush. http://t.co/mlm7Flao

[geremy]

A little floaty? I'd call them a lot floaty. It feels like I'm fighting the game...

[OBSCVRA]

consistently being killed by grid 17 here, 107567 from my best run

small screen definitely makes it pretty twitchy once the enemies start to get a bit more aggressive, but is doesn't feel like an insurmountable challenge

would like to give it a crack on an ipad to see how it feels

[Icarus]

There's definitely survival rank in this game, in addition to the basic incremental difficulty curve of each grid. It's obviously more dangerous to be at higher rank - the shrapnel bombs can spray so many bullets that the only gap is directly underneath it - but it can be a benefit in that the more lucrative enemies, like the pods that release swarmers (the little red things that look like they're from Defender), appear more frequently.

You have to play very aggressively on some of the grids in order to survive, and on other grids the lack of power-ups means you have to back off and play conservatively. There are a few high-risk scoring techniques as well, such as ramming everything while invincible, purposely generating missiles (100pts each, very difficult to do), and stalling a grid to milk blobbies from the vertical turret. There's even a way to save a life on difficult grids by suiciding into the last primary enemy - only centipede segments count, all other enemies are additional grid extras - since the game doesn't count a death until your current ship is phased out of the grid.

I can make it to at least Grid 30 on both iPhone and iPad, with around 230,000 averaged on each run.

[Daigohji]

A little floaty? I'd call them a lot floaty. It feels like I'm fighting the game...

Same here. The controls are crippling this for me (on iPod Touch). The only way I can exert any consistent control is with quick swipes at the screen; if I hold my thumb on the screen the ship just zips all over the damn place. Compared to the precision of Espgaluda II's controls, this is ridiculous.

[OBSCVRA]

grid 20 with 136266 now

getting those pods to spawn more often is pretty lucrative, am I correct in assuming the rank also controls the amount of swarmers (look like fish to me ) each pod ejects?

i have been using invincibility to "bull" the baddies at every opportunity i get, in the heat of it though Im not so sure how many more points you get out of it tho... still its fun to do (as is suiciding into the last centipede segment to finish the level)

think this is a game that will keep me chained to my iThing for a long time to come, doesnt feel like a game that would be better off played on other hardware to me, like most ios games i play.

[Icarus]

374,834, Grid 42. (On iPhone 4.) 20 lives stocked on Grid 28, nice and handy.
http://t.co/996kJZzk

getting those pods to spawn more often is pretty lucrative, am I correct in assuming the rank also controls the amount of swarmers (look like fish to me ) each pod ejects?

i have been using invincibility to "bull" the baddies at every opportunity i get, in the heat of it though Im not so sure how many more points you get out of it tho... still its fun to do (as is suiciding into the last centipede segment to finish the level)

Rank certainly seems to have an effect on the amount of everything that appears - blobbies, swarmers, cubes, jets etc. One tip I can give is to keep an eye out for the invincibility powerup - I think it flashes dark green - and as soon as you get it, charge into everything head-first. I cleared many higher grids this way. There's no extra points for "bulling", but the speed in clearance is often a better reward.

[Icarus]

457,299, Grid 45. (On iPhone 4.)
Grid 42 is the nastiest piece of work ever - hardly any powerups, and long, fast, diagonal-moving centipede chains. If you don't have a bunch of lives here, you're screwed - I lost 10 to this stage alone. Later grids have stacks of X-bombs all over the place.
http://t.co/U7YRm0L8

[Illyrian]

This game has without a doubt the worst touch controls I've ever used, your ship just randomly spazzes across the screen at the slightest touch, do we know why the controls aren't 1:1 like with Mushi/Espgaluda II etc?

[MX7]

My guess was the game had deliberately floaty controls, like Minotaur Rescue et al. But it's just plain frustrating here. Especially so after hearing that the game has 1:1 control on iPad. Big shame. Have been playing the excellent Ziggurat instead, which is also 69p, and should very much appeal to shooting game fans!

[Icarus]

The original game that Gridrunner was based on, Centipede, used a trackball, and the way Gridrunner iOS controls has that distinct analogue controller feel to it, much like Minotaur Rescue does. It's the size of the screen that makes the iPad feel like it has 1:1 control, when in reality they both control exactly the same - floaty.

The most important thing to remember in Gridrunner is that you shouldn't be making huge sweeping motions around the screen - you become a lot more accurate when you're just gently nudging the ship around the screen. My current best score (and the #1 score currently by a big margin) was done on an iPhone, which should tell you how important it is to put aside any notion of 1:1 control and learn to play it like a trackball shooter instead.

Replay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzcp38bNvSY

[MX7]

Thanks for the replay Icarus: tried playing more aggressively and instantly managed to beat my previous meagre score. just as a matter of interest, what finger do you use to control the ship? Currently using my right thumb as per the Cave ports, but considering the value of switching to an index finger.

[Icarus]

Thanks for the replay Icarus: tried playing more aggressively and instantly managed to beat my previous meagre score. just as a matter of interest, what finger do you use to control the ship? Currently using my right thumb as per the Cave ports, but considering the value of switching to an index finger.

I use my right index finger to control both Gridrunner iOS in all modes and Minotaur Rescue, as well as all the vertical Cave iOS games. Making small swipes to control the ship works best in both Llamasoft games, while slowly sliding the finger around the screen works best in Cave iOS games.
For Darius Burst SP and Deathsmiles iOS, where the fire buttons are on the right, I use left thumb on iPhone, and left index on iPad, for comfort.

[Illyrian]

You know what, when played like that this game does make some sense actually.

Lol top score for me 43,000 >.>

[Daigohji]

I'm getting a feel for the controls now and starting to enjoy this. My best is still only about 84,000.

[BrianC]

The original game that Gridrunner was based on, Centipede, used a trackball, and the way Gridrunner iOS controls has that distinct analogue controller feel to it, much like Minotaur Rescue does. It's the size of the screen that makes the iPad feel like it has 1:1 control, when in reality they both control exactly the same - floaty.

I find it interesting that one thing a lot of people forget (including me) is that Centipede and Missile Command used weighted trackballs in the arcade, so you couldn't just sweep around the screen. I was using the highest sensitivity for the ports, when the defaults are actually more accurate.

[OBSCVRA]

Glad to see everyone is coming around on the controls for this, such a bloody good game would be a shame to dismiss it because of its controls (which are part of the character of the game)

Great replay there Icarus, I cracked grid 20 last night, but was a good way short of my high score.

[Icarus]

After an age of scoring complexity and convoluted control systems, it's refreshing to be back to basics, with wall-to-wall enemies (literally), relentless difficulty, and purity in gameplay and scoring.
I'm liking this a lot more than the Cave ports at the moment (which are all very good in my opinion), that's how highly I rate it.
Looking to break the 40's grids - which are all brick-hard, by the way - and hit 500k.

[KidQuaalude]

The original game that Gridrunner was based on, Centipede, used a trackball, and the way Gridrunner iOS controls has that distinct analogue controller feel to it, much like Minotaur Rescue does. It's the size of the screen that makes the iPad feel like it has 1:1 control, when in reality they both control exactly the same - floaty.

The most important thing to remember in Gridrunner is that you shouldn't be making huge sweeping motions around the screen - you become a lot more accurate when you're just gently nudging the ship around the screen. My current best score (and the #1 score currently by a big margin) was done on an iPhone, which should tell you how important it is to put aside any notion of 1:1 control and learn to play it like a trackball shooter instead.

Replay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzcp38bNvSY

Yeah, this is exactly how to control it. If you try to control with 1:1 control it'll feel horrible. Took me a little while to get used to it but now I'm rocking. It supports iCade too and it work brilliantly on that but so far I'm getting higher scores using touch controls on my iPod so the controls are definately not shitty or broken, there definately should have been a 1:1 setting or a tutorial or other info on how to control it as everybody's just going to get pissed off playing it for the first time and not understanding the controls.

Early contender for game-of-the-year for me. One of the best designed, purest shmups I've played in ages.

[MX7]

All my score has rocketed from 6k to 100k after changing my play style. Really extremely satisfying game. Also of note is the amazing 'soundtrack', which references lots of classic games. I particularly like the lo-bit 'thank you' when you die: somewhat absurdist, but it fits with the general ambience of the game!

[Illyrian]

I thought it was "Thanks noob!" but there ya go.

Sitting on 118k after a run on the tube this morning that got to about grid 20, this is gonna be my 'public transport' game for a while now

[Icarus]

602,002, Grid 57. (On iPhone 4.)
Had nearly 30 lives stocked at one point, then lost nearly all of them to the 50+ grids. Lots of lucky breaks, but tried a new method to get past Grid 32 and 42 and it seems to have been successful. Missed a couple of swarmer pods towards the end of the run, each of them spewing 10-12 swarmers each at this point, so scoring potential is higher here.
http://t.co/lhCnBy21
Got a replay recorded, will upload once I find a suitable soundtrack to it. ^_-