Apple Arcade on TV: Eight months later, still not much progress

It’s been over a year since Apple Arcade was first announced, and more than eight months since the subscription video game service was released. One of his great pitches is the ability to play his Library of games not only on your iPhone, iPad or MacBook, but also on your couch at home with the Apple TV. I last watched Arcade for Apple TV on an Apple TV 4K in October, paying particular attention to how it plays on the big screen. Now with that Corona virus I left everyone hungry for new home entertainment and decided to try again to see how the platform grew.

I’ve played a variety of arcade titles on an Apple TV HD, Apple TV 4K, and a 65-inch title in the past few weeks 4K TV, especially with the Xbox One and Playstation 4 Controller as well as the Apple TV remote control. In short, Apple’s monthly service for $ 4.99 ($ ​​4.99, $ 7.99 AU) has gotten a little better and now stands at over 110 titles. Until then, however, there is still a long way to go to offer a real alternative to the Xbox PlayStation or Nintendo Switch.

Update, June 8th: After the May release, we found that the Apple TV we took out of our office and used in the last test round was actually an Apple TV HD and not an Apple TV 4K. We have since ordered a new Apple TV 4K for in-home testing and updated this article to reflect the progress of Arcade on both models.

Continue reading: All the hardware you need to play Apple Arcade games

What’s good: Some games play well, especially with controllers

I suspect that many, if not all, of the arcade titles are designed for millions of potential iPhone and iPad players, and not for the much smaller number of people who own an Apple TV. In my experience, these games generally play much better on mobile devices than on the big screen.

In some cases, these games also work well on TV. Ultimate rivals: The ice rink, which puts top athletes from various professional sports in an arcade three-on-three hockey game, is an example of a current game that is fun on the phone and can also be easily transferred to Apple TV. Racing games like Sonic Racing and Super Impossible Road still looked good on TV and can be combined well with an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 controller.

Continue reading: My Apple TV 4K wish list: 4 things I want to see in a 2020 update

Pairing these controllers with Apple TV is also pretty easy. Go to Settings and then Bluetooth. There is a short guide to help you pair the individual controller types. For Xbox One, this means holding down the main Xbox button and the “Connect” button at the top, or the “Share” and PlayStation buttons on the PS4 remote. You can also pair other controllers that are MFi certified.

Apple’s software automatically assigns the right joysticks and buttons for each game, and the controls in the game also change to match your device. You can even use the Xbox or PS4 controllers to navigate the normal Apple TV interface. And you can connect too Xbox or PS4 controller on an iPhone or iPad.

You can also use Apple’s own Apple TV remote control for games, but the experience is worse. In Super Impossible Road, for example, controlling the ball with the Apple TV remote was much more difficult than with an Xbox One controller. Likewise for Sonic Racing. Even a simpler game like Mini Motorways played better with a PlayStation 4 controller than the touchpad on Apple TV.

Interestingly, as a sign of the platform’s maturity, more and more games on Apple TV require a third-party controller.

Arcade also has other good points. The loading times were mostly pretty fast on the older HD box, as were the download times via my Altice One connection in New Jersey. Compared to other Game servicesThe price of $ 4.99 is relatively cheap and, like Apple Music, TV Plus, News Plus or iCloud, can be shared with up to six family members using Apple’s family sharing function.

Continue reading: Game subscriptions: How to choose between Apple Arcade, Xbox Game Pass and more

What still needs work: gameplay and game selection

Although Apple Arcade has a lot to like on Apple TV, those who hope that Apple TV will become a miniature Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch will be disappointed. Eight months after launch, the biggest problem is that there aren’t many great games that use the TV.

I start with graphics because a big TV is much more revealing than a tiny phone screen. Nevertheless, some games like Sonic, the fighting game HyperBrawl and Super Impossible Road can be transferred to the screen very well, whereby Sonic Racing still looks (and plays) like a Mario Kart tee. (It plays more like traditional Mario Kart than like that Mario Kart Tour Mobile game.)

Other games, not so much. Playing Oceanhorn 2, Capcom’s Shinsekai in depth and Beyond Blue reminded me of the graphics of an iPhone or switch game blown up on a 4K big screen TV. Although these games looked much better on the more powerful Apple TV 4K, they lacked the sharpness even on the latest box compared to an Xbox One or PlayStations. The adventure game Oceanhorn 2 and the ocean exploration game Beyond Blue were particularly disappointing on the Apple TV HD box, although they looked better on the 4K model.

I’ve tried over a dozen games and none had graphics that came close to the realistic images of a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.

Many weren’t that smooth either. For example, while playing The Rink, Shinsekai and HyperBrawl, I experienced moments of delay and drop in frame rate on the HD box that would be difficult to forgive in a large console. While the delay on Apple TV 4K was improved, gameplay was slower, but moving players or characters lacked the sharpness of even a good mobile game.

Apple Arcade’s range of titles is also still quite tight. There are no staples for video games like first-person shooters, few open-world role-playing games, and even fewer that allow multiple people to play offline together, which I hoped for at home with my family during quarantine. Two I found, HyperBrawl and Super Impossible Road, didn’t play very well, and it was particularly difficult to play Super Impossible Road on a split screen.

Arcade still lacks the great, legendary “AAA” titles of traditional drive consoles and there is no “killer” game that resembles the TV experience of a dedicated console.

You can download some of these titles separately from Arcade on your phone. Fourteen days, NBA 2K, FIFA and Call of Duty are some outstanding examples of AAA games – but Arcade doesn’t yet offer these high-profile games. You can transfer them from an iPhone or iPad to an Apple TV, which I’ve tried on both Apple TV HD and 4K with Fortnite on an iPhone 11 Pro Max.

On the HD box, the experience was filled with delays despite a strong Wi-Fi connection. Things have improved on the Apple TV 4K because the game is much more playable, but it still felt a bit choppy and wasn’t graphically clear. Those looking for a better experience want to play directly on their iPhone or iPad.

Arcade’s number of sports titles has increased since launch, but Sociable Soccer does not consider candles for EA Sports’ FIFA franchise.

In addition to the graphics and game selection, I had several other problems:

• There are also signs of mobile-first design in some game surfaces. Mini Motorways and Sonic Racing, for example, have cursors that emulate your finger either while playing the game or on the menu screens.
• Game continuity has improved, but there were still some issues syncing iPhone to Apple TV, especially restarting tutorials even though the game was previously played on an iPhone or other Apple TV.
• If you switch the controller back to an Xbox or PlayStation, you will need to pair it with Apple TV every time you want to use it.
• Online multiplayer games were difficult to find in a variety of arcade games, including The Rink, Sonic Racing, and Pac-Man, at various points of the day.

Even after a year, it feels like early for Arcade on TV. We may see progress on Apple’s vision at WWDC next month, especially at Rumors of an updated Apple TV with an improved processor in progress. Given the advances Apple has made with its silicon in recent years, an A12X or A13X bionic chip in an Apple TV could make a real difference and give developers a lot more performance at work.

However, Arcade is currently more suitable for phone and tablet games. Players looking for a large-screen experience are better served by a Nintendo Switch or a traditional PlayStation or Xbox console.