Last week I bought an Apple TV 4K and had the pleasure of experiencing the Apple Arcade for the first time. I’ve had my eye on the service for a while now. So, I waited patiently for the device to arrive, quickly set it up, paired my Xbox controller, and loaded the app. I was amazed at the ridiculous amount of titles on the service. And yes, I know their mostly indie titles, but that’s what makes it so glorious for me. Because not only am I a retro gamer but an indie gamer as well. But something caught me off guard when I started to play a variety of games. Graphically the service is far more impressive than I had anticipated.
Oceanhorn 2
In particular, one game was so graphically impressive I had a hard time believing I was playing this on a streaming media player. Oceanhorn 2, the game is gorgeous and one of the best Zelda clones I have ever played. Not only is it beautiful, but fully voiced as well. And the performance was quite good too. I did experience frame dips here and there, but no matter because I’m playing this game on a device that fits in the palm of my hand.
Little Orpheus
I wanted to dig deeper into what other excellent titles are on Apple Arcade? I decided to search for the most graphically impressive games I could find. I soon came across Little Orpheus, which again, is not only a gorgeous platformer but an original one as well. The game is fully voiced and has a great theme too. My best description would be a supercharged version of Pitfall with a mix of Space Quest humor. Little Orpheus is a perfect example of why indie titles are so crucial to the gaming community. The game is so good it’s bound to become a cult classic.
Agent 8
But this still wasn’t enough for me. What other fantastic games does this service offer? I continued my search for the most impressive games I could find. Alas, I found Agent 8 another beautiful and unique game. You control a superspy or miniature robotic spyder that saves the world by solving clever puzzles. And, though the game was not fully voice-acted, it had a terrific soundtrack. But what was most surprising was how well it performed on the Apple TV 4k. The game looked like it would be a graphical hog. Still, it ran smoothly and looked clean.
How did I miss gaming on Apple TV?
I have always just used my Fire TV Stick for streaming in the past, but let’s be honest, the games on there are terrible. But, then Apple Arcade was introduced in 2019, and it sparked my curiosity. So researching the new platform, I came across the Apple TV 4k as a potential device to try the service on. And now, I’ve ditched my Fire TV Stick and wonder if Apple will be releasing a new model shortly. Because I like it so much, not only for gaming but also for all the other features, I would be happy to upgrade from this older model. I have another tv that would love to call this older model home.
So what’s under the Apple TV 4K hood?
I was eager to find out what was under the hood and pushing this impressive performance. The A10X Fusion chip with 64-bit architecture was the star of the device. This was the chip that gave us this outstanding performance. And what’s even more impressive to find out was that this wasn’t even Apple’s flagship chip. There’s also the A12Z, A13, and now the A14. Which performs up to 40% faster than the A12 (16% faster than the A13), and the (GPU) is up to 30% faster than an A12. I can only imagine all frame drops would be gone. Developers could even push graphical performance more, especially as they optimize their games further.
In the end, I’m now a fan of the service and will be covering it and the impressive lineup of games the platform has to offer. Thank you, Apple, for this fantastic platform, and keep up the solid work because you’ve made a believer out of me, a life long gamer.
Apple Arcade costs $4.99 per month. You also get a one-month free trial. You can also sign up for the annual plan, which is $49.99. The service offers over 100+ games, and they just keep adding them.
For more information on the Apple Arcade, visit Official website
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