This week I reviewed Flat Pack. The game itself was fun. I thought the retro style and soundtrack was great. The level design was creative and gameplay flowed smoothly. Unfortunately, that smooth gameplay was lost in AR mode. The creators made a valiant effort trying to translate the dynamic level design into 3D space, but the restrictions that AR impose mean stages cannot have the interesting gravity changes the original has. What we’re left with is a charming game with a much slower pace than the phone version. I don’t think the overall design of the AR mode lends itself to the gameplay. Forcing the player to walk around the map removes them from the action and demands they slow their avatar movement so they can physically catch up. Having a floating map just doesn’t seem like the most creative solution to AR gaming. I really believe there has to be a better implementation. In addition, with the external environment not impacting anything in the game, there simply isn’t a good reason to display it. To me it doesn’t add to the experience and stylistically it detracts from it. I think my conclusion with my limited AR game experience is that mobile just isn’t a good platform right now. The hardware isn’t powerful enough, none of the games I’ve played could get past the gimmick stage and users are not yet familiar or perhaps even AR gaming conventions as a whole haven’t yet been established to facilitate easy interaction with games. That being said, the advent of AR glasses powered by your phone has huge potential to change the landscape. I look forward to seeing the immerging technologies of mobile AR, but in it’s current state I’m not a big fan.
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