Road Blaster (AKA Road Avenger) on iPhone/iPod/iPad

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Another laserdisc classic finds its way onto iOS!

Following in the footsteps of Don Bluth's classics Dragon's Lair and Space Ace (both released via Digital Leisure), Revolutionary Concepts (the developers behind the iOS version of Cobra Command) brings one of my personal favorites: Road Blaster (also known as Road Avenger and Road Prosecutor) to the platform!

At the introductory price of 99 cents, it's hard to pass up, and it looks and sounds absolutely fantastic.

However, similar to their Cobra Command release, the controls take a bit to get used to.

Both steering wheel and tilt control are offered, and while the touch screen steering wheel control is responsive (once you're used to the level of sensitivity), the gas/brake seems to be programmed a bit ... wrong.

In Road Avenger, if you have the gas or brake pressed that should take you through a series of requirements (typically three smashes into the rear bumper of a car) without failure ... but this version wants the user to press release and press the gas three times to pass a section requiring it. It's odd, and it's non-standard as far as the game goes, but I'm not strictly complaining, the game still looks sounds and plays as good as it should otherwise.

Another bonus of this game is that (unlike Dragon's Lair, Space Ace and Cobra Command) you're not required to put your thumbs over any of the action/video as all the touch screen control functions (steering wheel and gas/brake) are on the car's console.

While I haven't put much time into it, it seems to be a really great port. It's retina screen resolution compatible and the audio and video look to be remastered.

If you enjoyed this classic in arcades or on the Sega CD or Laseractive check it out, tough to go wrong for a buck!

There's some gameplay in this video. Check it out!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgblr1_road-blaster-iphone-trailer_videogames

[megasdkirby]

Nice!

That will be an instant purchase once I get an iPad.

I just I could find the complete, extended theme song from the US version!

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Just gave the tilt steering a go and that is ABSOLUTELY the way to go where steering control is concerned. Very very responsive, moreso than touch control.

[Nebagram]

99c? Hell, I'll buy it just for the intro song. :D

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

99c? Hell, I'll buy it just for the intro song. :D

FYI It's got the arcade intro song, not the super awesome Sega CD intro song.

[megasdkirby]

Will it work with an iPad? Can I get it now before getting an iPad?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Will it work with an iPad? Can I get it now before getting an iPad?

It's an iPod/iPhone app, but yes it will work fine on an iPad.

And yes, if you have iTunes on your PC or Mac you can purchase it and download it, then when you get an iPad you can either re-download it directly to the pad at no cost or you can sync your pad with iTunes and transfer it over. Just make sure you register your iPad to the iTunes account you purchased it with.

[InsaneDavid]

I know I'm gonna revive...

Awesome. No iPhone/iPod/iPad here but it's great that more people can check out this overlooked LD game.

Now go play some Super Don-Quixote dammit.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

For those who have never heard the amazing Sega CD opening theme song, listen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CNf3luFiLw

I always thought it sounded like the vocal track accidentally got put through a washing machine cycle but they dried it off and used it anyway.

[dgdgagdae]

It's an iPod/iPhone app, but yes it will work fine on an iPad.

And yes, if you have iTunes on your PC or Mac you can purchase it and download it, then when you get an iPad you can either re-download it directly to the pad at no cost or you can sync your pad with iTunes and transfer it over. Just make sure you register your iPad to the iTunes account you purchased it with.

Just be warned, it's not a universal app. Which means that when you run it on your iPad, you'll be running it in a sort of iPhone emulation mode. Something like this will probably look fine on the iPad screen with 2x zooming, considering it's cartoonish to start with. But they really should have just made it a universal app.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Just be warned, it's not a universal app. Which means that when you run it on your iPad, you'll be running it in a sort of iPhone emulation mode. Something like this will probably look fine on the iPad screen with 2x zooming, considering it's cartoonish to start with. But they really should have just made it a universal app.

Yes, this is true, it's not universal and there's not an HD/Pad version on the store right now, but it's fully compatible and there are no odd glitches between hardware.

I can also confirm that it does look fine zoomed, and in general I haven't personally encountered many iPhone/iPod apps zoomed to 2X that look as bad as some people tend to go on and on about.

[megasdkirby]

How much of the screen will the app take?

I just created an iTunes account and was about to purchase the game...but it was close to 400MB. Where do the games save? What folder? Can I copy them to another location and then put them back on the same location once I have an iPad?

Edit: It it under "iTunes Media"?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

How much of the screen will the app take?

I just created an iTunes account and was about to purchase the game...but it was close to 400MB. Where do the games save? What folder? Can I copy them to another location and then put them back on the same location once I have an iPad?

Edit: It it under "iTunes Media"?

iPhone/iPod apps display actual size or can be "zoomed" to full screen. In some cases they sacrifice some resolution and wind up looking a bit pixelated. I didn't find that Road Blasters suffers from any extreme pixelization.

I'm really not sure where the downloads go, but iTunes is just like XBLA, PSN and the Wii Shop from a purchase tracking standpoint where APP purchases are concerned.

If you've purchased an APP and the purchase is in their cloud tied to your registration, you can re-download it directly to the device (even if it has a price on the icon) and once the download starts you'll get a pop-up message that says "You've already purchased this app there will be no charge" (or something similar).

So, if you don't want to miss out on the 99 cent introductory price of this app, you can go ahead and buy it, download it and then delete it. When you get your iPad register it to the account you used to buy the game, fire up the app store, find the App and re-download it at no additional cost.