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Not too impressed with high-end game performance on iOS


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#1 King Mustard

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Posted 29 August 2012 - 19:44

Tap Tap Revenge (2008) was very slow on my iPhone 3G (the 3GS had not been released at this point), to the extent that it made the game unplayable (due to the nature of the game). Despite this, Apple refused to refund me at the time, which I felt was very unfair.

Real Racing wasn't fluid (i.e. no jitters) on my old iPhone 4, Real Racing 2 isn't fluid on my iPhone 4S, so I am naturally doubting Real Racing 3 will be fluid on the sixth-generation iPhone, either.

Yesterday, I got Zynga's new RPG Horn. Again, it judders quite a bit. Not enough to ruin the game at all, but also far from silky smooth.

This can't just be me, as I've owned 3 generations of iPhone and they all had similar issues.

This only happens with high-end, graphically intensive games.

I presume developers of visually demanding iOS games try too hard to make the game visually appealing rather than concentrate at a fluid framerate?

Anyone have any thoughts?


#2 notuptome2004

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Posted 29 August 2012 - 21:21

View PostKing Mustard, on 29 August 2012 - 19:44, said:

Tap Tap Revenge (2008) was very slow on my iPhone 3G (the 3GS had not been released at this point), to the extent that it made the game unplayable (due to the nature of the game). Despite this, Apple refused to refund me at the time, which I felt was very unfair.

Real Racing wasn't fluid (i.e. no jitters) on my old iPhone 4, Real Racing 2 isn't fluid on my iPhone 4S, so I am naturally doubting Real Racing 3 will be fluid on the sixth-generation iPhone, either.

Yesterday, I got Zynga's new RPG Horn. Again, it judders quite a bit. Not enough to ruin the game at all, but also far from silky smooth.

This can't just be me, as I've owned 3 generations of iPhone and they all had similar issues.

This only happens with high-end, graphically intensive games.

I presume developers of visually demanding iOS games try too hard to make the game visually appealing rather than concentrate at a fluid framerate?

Anyone have any thoughts?


a good friend of mine has RR2 on his ipad 2 and it runs fluid as can be on ther and it runs the same SOC as the iphone 4S and runs higher Resolution so not sure why it not be fluid on your iphone

#3 myxomatosis

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Posted 29 August 2012 - 21:27

Dunno. I play Dead Trigger on my 4S, and it’s fluid and smooth. This is probably one of the most demanding games at the moment on the iOS platform.

Posted Image

#4 notuptome2004

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Posted 29 August 2012 - 21:36

to the OP maby you need make sure you close the rest of your apps down before ya go to play a game double tap the home button bring up taskbar system and close other down free up ram and stuff

#5 OP King Mustard

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Posted 29 August 2012 - 21:42

View Postnotuptome2004, on 29 August 2012 - 21:36, said:

to the OP maby you need make sure you close the rest of your apps down before ya go to play a game double tap the home button bring up taskbar system and close other down free up ram and stuff

Apple implemented iOS's multitasking to not need to do it this. It's unnecessary.

View Postmyxomatosis, on 29 August 2012 - 21:27, said:

Dunno. I play Dead Trigger on my 4S, and it’s fluid and smooth. This is probably one of the most demanding games at the moment on the iOS platform.

<image snipped>

I'll try it.


EDIT: It's smooth, but there are just frequent short "jolts". e.g. when you first shoot after loading the game etc.

#6 +Stocker360

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Posted 29 August 2012 - 21:46

View PostKing Mustard, on 29 August 2012 - 21:42, said:

Apple implemented iOS's multitasking to not need to do it this. It's unnecessary.

Hmmmm, why is it that when I used to run Football Manager it said to close apps to make sure it runs properly?

#7 guitmz

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Posted 29 August 2012 - 21:46

Dead Trigger runs smoother on my Motorola XOOM as well (jellybean) so you should get some good results

#8 OP King Mustard

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Posted 29 August 2012 - 21:47

View PostStocker360, on 29 August 2012 - 21:46, said:

Hmmmm, why is it that when I used to run Football Manager it said to close apps to make sure it runs properly?
Poorly programmed game, perhaps?

#9 HawkMan

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Posted 29 August 2012 - 21:50

Certain things will still run in the background, at least for a while, mostly media players(including in the browser) and stuff like irc chat. But also some games. Not bad programming, but the way the multitasking is made to work.

#10 OP King Mustard

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Posted 29 August 2012 - 21:51

View PostHawkMan, on 29 August 2012 - 21:50, said:

Certain things will still run in the background, at least for a while, mostly media players(including in the browser) and stuff like irc chat. But also some games. Not bad programming, but the way the multitasking is made to work.
Only services stay running. If apps need the memory, the "background apps" should be making the memory available.

#11 HawkMan

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Posted 30 August 2012 - 09:53

Still a lot of services that can take a lot of resources in the background. irc apps will run until the stupid multi task timer says it will close unless you open it. media players will stay until you stop them.

#12 z0phi3l

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Posted 02 September 2012 - 15:06

I think the OP needs to tone down his expectations, this is a mobile platform, there are certain limitations because of that, don't expect top end PC level performance out of a phone

#13 OP King Mustard

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Posted 02 September 2012 - 15:07

View Postz0phi3l, on 02 September 2012 - 15:06, said:

I think the OP needs to tone down his expectations, this is a mobile platform, there are certain limitations because of that, don't expect top end PC level performance out of a phone

I expect better high-end game performance than this out of a £550 device.