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The largest company in the world (in terms of earnings and market capitalization) is attacking the world's largest cultural market: Apple launched its Sept. 20 Arcade, its unlimited video game subscription service. For 4.99 euros per month, owners of an iPhone (6 or more recent) can access an impressive catalog of mobile games exclusive to this service. There are some 70 for the launch and there will be more than 150 futures, promises Apple. Europe 1 presents the four games that have marked us the most for the moment.
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Assemble With Care
One of the strengths of mobile gaming is its ability to offer more "intimate" experiences than the computer or the home console, just like the use you make of your phone. In this sense, narrative games, when they are well made, are often real nuggets rich in emotions. Apple Arcade offers several, including the beautiful Assemble With Care . It tells the story of Maria, newcomer to the village of Bellariva. In cold weather with her parents, the young woman will build bonds with the inhabitants by ... repairing their broken objects.
Assemble With Care is based on a written story (in French) and read (in English) about the meetings made by Maria. The story, fairly classic but nevertheless endearing, is the thread. But what makes the salt of the game, it is the phases of repair. Watch, turntable, game console, music box ... You must use the screwdriver to carefully disassemble the objects and replace the defective parts with new ones. Far from being boring, the game is quite enjoyable, as we take pleasure in focusing on these virtual manual tasks, on a background of relaxing music.
Oceanhorn 2
To boost the launch of Apple Arcade, the catalog was very well provided in games. It contains especially some "blockbusters" intended to prove the graphic power of the latest models of iPhone (and thus make people want to crack for 11). This is the case of Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm . Let's be clear: this is an almost tone-for-tone copy of a Zelda, as much in the colors as in the design of the characters and the gameplay (the blond hero, the pots to break, the lives in shape of heart, etc.), everything here recalls the universe of Zelda .
Visually, Oceanhorn is beautiful. Above all, it is surprisingly handy for an adventure game in open world on smartphone. However, it is not on this kind of games that Apple Arcade will make the difference. We will always prefer to play Zelda: Breath of the Wild (if you have a Switch) rather than Oceanhorn 2 , which does not fully recreate the magic of its model. Still, if you have an iPad or an Apple TV box, but no Nintendo Switch, the game fulfills very well its role of substitute by proposing an adventure licked and colorful.
Mini Motorways
We knew Mini Metro , a game that consisted of creating subway lines, here is Mini Motorways. It's the same principle but with roads. In a minimalist interface, colored buildings gradually appear as well as houses with cars. The goal: to connect the buildings to the houses of the same color so that the cars make the journey.
Easy ? Not exactly. Soon, the playground gets bigger, the buildings require more and more visits, traffic jams are formed and your resources (roads, bridges, traffic lights and highway) diminish. As soon as a building is overloaded, you lose. Mini Motorways makes perfect use of its very simple but devilishly effective concept. Thanks to the random placement of buildings, all parties are unique and it is sometimes surprising to organize the traffic for more than one hour!
What The Golf
At first glance, What The Golf is a game of golf a little cartoon as there are dozens. You start your game with a ball and a hole. In short, golf in one shot (at best), and it's folded. Part two, cats appear on the green and must pass between them to access the flag. Third part, you are entitled to the golfer, you shoot so ... except that it is not the ball that flies but the poor guy! This is not a bug, just the madness of What The Golf is revealed to you!
Therefore, this absurd game will ask you to send anything and everything to the flag: football, couch, television, various animals ... Surprising and funny, What The Golf is the ideal game when you have 10 minutes to lose in public transport.
Apple Arcade, on iPhone (available), Mac, iPad, Apple TV (on 30/09), 4.99 euros per month.