Coming Soon: ‘Bioshock’ for iOS, with MOGA Rebel Gameplay
A game announced 5 years ago played with a controller announced 5 months ago
Bioshock for iOS. It’s real. It’s happening. It has MFi controller support. And later this summer, you’ll be wanting to download it immediately.
This is a game with a long history. Bioshock for iOS was announced years ago, at least as far back as 2008. It immediately became one of the more highly anticipated iPhone games, but ended up dropping off the radar entirely. This all changed a few weeks ago, when publisher 2K Games tweeted an image that seemed to imply Bioshock for Apple devices was back on.
At some indeterminate point over the past few weeks, members of the press (no not including myself) were allowed to spend some hands-on time with Bioshock. Interestingly enough, they were allowed to play it using the MOGA Rebel controller. A controller which was promised to be revealed months ago, then which completely vanished, along with MOGA themselves.
Hands-on Impressions
First, TouchArcade provides an exhaustive, excellent hands on preview of the game, complete with 20 minutes of gameplay footage. Interestingly, they make no mention of the unannounced Rebel controller, perhaps implying that they already have one and are under NDA. Still, their impressions of the game are absolutely worth a look.
Jared from TouchArcade says:
[…] All in all Bioshock on iOS is the same Bioshock we’ve known for the past 7 years. It controls just as good as any first-person shooter on a touchscreen, and paired with an MFi controller it’s just like playing on a console. The visuals have been ever so slightly toned down, but you’d be hard-pressed to tell. There are a couple of nifty extras like a digital art book and Game Center integration for leaderboards and achievements, but the biggest benefit of all is that the whole shebang fits snugly in your pocket. Or bag if you’re playing on iPad. But either way, it’s quite a marvel.
Next up, GameSpot shows a full video of actually playing the game with a controller (which they incorrectly refer to as the Moga Hero Power), and writes up additional detailed impressions of the game. Notably, GameSpot is NOT an iOS focused organization, so their impressions of the iOS version are the occasionally jaded views of PC and console gamers.
Justin Haywald from GameSpot says:
If the only thing stopping you from experiencing last-gen classic BioShock was the lack of a portable option, you’re about to have one less excuse. Publisher 2K announced today that BioShock is coming to iOS.
But in a hands-on session with an early build of the game, it seems to be a remarkably faithful port of the original. Obvious concessions had to be made to fit the game on less-powerful hardware, so there’s a noticeable dip in quality in the game’s textures, lighting and shadows, and sound compared to the original. Yet even with the downgrades, it’s still an impressive mobile accomplishment.
The Moga Rebel
While it might not compare with Bioshock’s 6 year period between announcement and release, the MOGA Rebel has still been missing in action for quite some time. Originally teased back in February, MOGA revealed a partial image of the controller, and promised more information at GDC.
Unfortunately, after inviting members of the press to a meeting at GDC, MOGA abruptly cancelled the reveal. Since that time, their status as a company is unclear. Their controller has fluctuated in availability, having been pulled from the Apple Store for a few months, only to be returned recently. Requests for comment have gone unresponded.
It’s great to see that both the MOGA Rebel and Bioshock for iOS are making progress – it’s been a long time coming in both cases. Bioshock for iOS is scheduled for release later this summer. Hopefully the MOGA Rebel won’t be far behind.