Imagine you’re playing your favourite

mobile game and you’re enjoying it. You get to an exciting part and realise you

can’t move forward because you don’t have enough coins or you’ve “run out of

energy.” The game then asks you if you would like to purchase coins with real

money or watch another ad to boost your chances of success. Apple Arcade promises

to alleviate the burden of in-app purchases and annoying ads with a more

straight forward experience.

Apple Arcade is Apple Inc’s game subscription service that launched on September 19. For US$4.99, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and Apple TV users running compatible software can download and play exclusive titles.

Instead of searching for and purchasing

premium games individually, Apple Arcade puts all its exclusive titles in one

place. For one fee, gamers get access to curated games from several top game

developers like Capcom and Konami.

The games so far have been very polished

and enjoyable, ranging from fast-paced titles to more laid-back games requiring

strategy. This may be due to Apple’s strict requirements for entry. Here are

our thoughts on a few Apple Arcade games.

Sayonara Wild Hearts

This game is arguably one of the best

titles in Apple Arcade right now. It’s a fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping, synth-pop

thrill bathed in neon colours. It requires good hand-eye coordination, a good

ear and proper timing. The game follows a broken-hearted female protagonist as

she rides, flies and fights for good.

The music is very impressive and changes

with each stage. Tasks are tied to the beats and more points are awarded during

fights if the player can correctly time punches, jumps and dodges, all while

racing through neon streets, collecting hearts.

LEGO Brawls

RED Games and LEGO have teamed up to bring

a fun, chaotic game you can play online. It’s quite like Nintendo’s SuperSmash Bros. series with big crashes, dashes and melee. However, it adds itsown unique elements like giant robots, customizable characters and its own spinon how to win the game. Instead of hitting players off a platform, one wins thegame by ensuring their team of 1-4 online players controls a level.

Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the LostRealm

Oceanhorn 2 is the most visually stunning

game I’ve seen so far. Its colourful, fun and reminds me of “The Legend of

Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Your character is armed with a sword and goes on

various quests to retrieve items. Sound familiar?

The storyline is appealing as is the music.

Characters are likeable and each discovery creates more curiosity as to what

will come next.

You can only access the service from Apple

devices, so if you don’t already own one, this may not be for you. Plus,

Android users can opt for Google Play Pass; devoid of ads and in-app purchases,

for the same price.

Apple now joins a host of other companies

like Netflix and Amazon that are vying for our attention and our hard-earned

cash. The upside is that it puts great games in one place and gets rid of

annoying ads and excessive in-app purchases.

— Written by Renor C.