Old school dungeon crawlers FTW!

Old school dungeon crawlers FTW!

Carmack made a dungeon crawler game just like this called Orks & Elves for the Nintendo DS (hardly a constricted platform) and it was fun. The mechanics of this game mimics RPGs from the 80s and 90s.

I think you're getting hung up on two things.
This was originally on a tiny screen old phone. (big deal, it was fun then.. fun now)
It's using Wolfenstein 3D as it's universe.

Carmack made a dungeon crawler game just like this called Orks & Elves for the Nintendo DS (hardly a constricted platform) and it was fun. The mechanics of this game mimics RPGs from the 80s and 90s.

I think you're getting hung up on two things.
This was originally on a tiny screen old phone. (big deal, it was fun then.. fun now)
It's using Wolfenstein 3D as it's universe.

Port =/= retro. A port is merely a port from one hardware to another. So this is, in fact, a port. Of a J2ME game. There have been others on this platform (*points at Galaxy on Fire). If you meant otherwise, then perhaps you should've written out your thoughts in a clearer manner, because, as written, it seems to allude to the idea that if it ain't retro it ain't a port, or if it ain't a port from PC it ain't a port. Doesn't make much sense.

Plus, y'know...the game has, in fact, been upgraded for the platform from the original J2ME game, as Eli pointed out...with a comparison pic no less. All the artwork has had a pretty massive face lift, and the resolution of said artwork has been bumped up considerably to boot. Or do you think 2D sprite graphics don't show off the platform either? Just because Sony attempted to put that in the minds of gamers two gens ago doesn't make it so.

Sure, it would've been just GREAT if they changed everything to DOOM Resurrection or Real Racing quality with 3D polys and great texture and lighting work and blah blah blah, but, y'know what? Would that have been worth it on the monetary end for the developer? Probably not. Would it have made much difference in this game, which is SUPPOSED to remind people of old school dungeon crawlers to begin with? No, not really. Unless you're a graphics whore, and a polygon graphics whore at that.

BTW, did you complain this hard when Wolfenstein 3D Classic came out? Because, y'know...that game ain't exactly a looker.

As for the texture seams...those can be fixed with an update similar to how it was fixed in other iPhone/touch games.

Port =/= retro. A port is merely a port from one hardware to another. So this is, in fact, a port. Of a J2ME game. There have been others on this platform (*points at Galaxy on Fire). If you meant otherwise, then perhaps you should've written out your thoughts in a clearer manner, because, as written, it seems to allude to the idea that if it ain't retro it ain't a port, or if it ain't a port from PC it ain't a port. Doesn't make much sense.

Plus, y'know...the game has, in fact, been upgraded for the platform from the original J2ME game, as Eli pointed out...with a comparison pic no less. All the artwork has had a pretty massive face lift, and the resolution of said artwork has been bumped up considerably to boot. Or do you think 2D sprite graphics don't show off the platform either? Just because Sony attempted to put that in the minds of gamers two gens ago doesn't make it so.

Sure, it would've been just GREAT if they changed everything to DOOM Resurrection or Real Racing quality with 3D polys and great texture and lighting work and blah blah blah, but, y'know what? Would that have been worth it on the monetary end for the developer? Probably not. Would it have made much difference in this game, which is SUPPOSED to remind people of old school dungeon crawlers to begin with? No, not really. Unless you're a graphics whore, and a polygon graphics whore at that.

BTW, did you complain this hard when Wolfenstein 3D Classic came out? Because, y'know...that game ain't exactly a looker.

As for the texture seams...those can be fixed with an update similar to how it was fixed in other iPhone/touch games.

The app store is great because you can actually get games like Wolfenstein RPG that use intentionally old school graphics. You can get games with stylized or intentionally minimal graphics, and developers actually work under limitations instead of just shoveling massive amounts of post-processing effects over generic, homogenized art and calling it good. I think it’s fantastic that Carmack made a game with cartoony sprites instead of trying to do the same exact thing everyone else does.

I’m sure there was likely nothing stopping the developers from just replacing those sprites with some generic 3d models when they ported it to the iphone and making the game look all gussied up for you. But they didn’t, and that’s why its good.

The app store is great because you can actually get games like Wolfenstein RPG that use intentionally old school graphics. You can get games with stylized or intentionally minimal graphics, and developers actually work under limitations instead of just shoveling massive amounts of post-processing effects over generic, homogenized art and calling it good. I think it’s fantastic that Carmack made a game with cartoony sprites instead of trying to do the same exact thing everyone else does.

I’m sure there was likely nothing stopping the developers from just replacing those sprites with some generic 3d models when they ported it to the iphone and making the game look all gussied up for you. But they didn’t, and that’s why its good.

I didn't say the game was shitty. I said it looks shitty. I expect more from Carmack than this. I mean if the iPhone is capable of producing graphics like in "Real Racing" how on earth can you defend these Dungeon Graphics? They look like "Lands of Lore" which is Fifteen years old. If this WERE "Lands of Lore" then I'd give it a 5/5 star rating because it would be a port. But this is a game developed for shitty Nokia phones and they are not "Retro".