Epoch (Unreal Engine cover shooter from Uppercut Games)

LookingForGames · Sep 29, 2011

arta said: ↑

http://www.uppercut-games.com/2011/09/creating-the-world-of-epoch/

Screenshots.

Concept Art.

Click to expand...

woooow amazing graphics!!!

arta · Oct 28, 2011

http://wireless.ign.com/articles/121/1210909p1.html

Epoch: iOS Cover Shooting Done Right
Our exclusive hands-on impressions of this promising Unreal-powered shooter.

Thanks to the advanced hardware being stuffed into devices like the iPad 2, iPhone 4S and the Galaxy Tab, making mobile games that look good is no longer especially difficult. But making a game that actually plays well with a touch interface? That's a task that so far has eluded most AAA mobile game developers.

After going hands-on with a near-final build of Uppercut Games' cover shooter Epoch, I'm happy to report that the company has clearly spent as much time cracking how an iOS shooter should control as they have polishing the game's visuals. The title takes full advantage of the iPad's touch interface, instead of just slapping on two virtual thumbsticks and some virtual buttons and calling it a day.

Epoch takes place in a seemingly post-human world. Gamers play as an unnamed robot, booting up among the rubble of a rundown, war-torn city. After each mission the game's back story is slowly filled in via recovered transcripts of news broadcasts, voice logs, and presidential addresses. I don't yet have the whole story, but from what I've seen so far Epoch's premise seems like typical Asimov stuff initially created for peaceful purposes, the machines eventually rose up and turned against their human masters.

After selecting a stage, players are whisked directly from one shootout to the next until the level's end. There is no environmental exploration in Epoch. This limitation serves as a trade-off it has allowed Uppercut to devise an intuitive and fast-paced combat interface.

Players are always "stuck" to a piece of cover. Swiping left or right rolls from one piece of cover to the next. Tapping an enemy targets them, and by swiping up players pop out of cover and begin firing automatically. Players tap icons in one corner of the screen to activate special abilities like a grenade toss, bullet time, or a devastating volley of missiles.

The controls feel very snappy, and more importantly, are completely intuitive. It just makes sense to swipe up to pop out of cover and squeeze off a few shots, and then swipe down to stop firing and hide behind your defensive position.

This simple control setup could have made Epoch feel too simplistic or passive, but Uppercut has done a good job of keeping the firefights dynamic. Enemy grenadiers force players to dive left and right to avoid their explosive ordinance. A laser-firing enemy requires players to jump over its damaging beam, and so-on. All while still popping out of cover to get some damage of your own in when you can.

Structurally, Epoch seems to have the most in common with
Infinity Blade. The game feels designed around looping through the same ten stages on higher and higher difficulties, using credits earned to purchase more and more damaging weaponry. In my initial play session the first loop on Easy took about an hour, and the Medium loop was a considerably more challenging experience.

Epoch is due to hit the App Store later this year (a specific date hasn't been set). In my final review I'll be keeping a close eye on how fresh the game remains after multiple loops, and how balanced (or grind-heavy) the game's weapon-buying system feels. But my initial impression of Epoch is extremely positive. This one looks like a winner.
Click to expand...

backtothis · Oct 28, 2011

Awesome news!

zippoz · Oct 28, 2011

Fantastic graphics indeed, the only thing I'm worried about is gameplay repetition, which seems to plague most games of this type.

wolfpowpow · Oct 28, 2011

haha, they should bring mechwarrior to ipad!

UppercutEd · Nov 4, 2011

Touch Arcade Preview

Check out Touch Arcade's own preview!

http://toucharcade.com/2011/11/03/epoch-preview/

jjjmedia · Nov 4, 2011

Looks great! What's the estimated file size? Just trying to figure out how to make space...

arta · Nov 4, 2011

Game's out next week November 10th!

http://www.slidetoplay.com/story/epoch-hands-on-preview

New trailer:

Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel

Epoch (Unreal Engine cover shooter from Uppercut Games)

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Epoch (Unreal Engine cover shooter from Uppercut Games)

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