Following up on yesterday’s public release of thefree iOS 8 software updatefor Apple’siPhone,iPadandiPod touchmobile devices, French games makerGamelofton Thursday unleashed a pair of updates for its two highly-successful titles:Modern Combat 5: Blackout, a first-person shooter, andAsphalt 8: Airborne, a crazy racing game driven by a powerful physics engine which has you performing dynamic, high-speed aerial stunts.
Both games are now powered by iOS 8’s newMetalframework which provides low-level access to the GPU inside the Apple-designedA7chip (theiPhone 5s,iPad AirandiPad mini with Retina display) and itsA8counterpart (theiPhone 6andiPhone 6 Plus). When played on these devices, both of these games benefit from close-to-the-metal access to graphics cores, without the overhead of the OpenGL graphics run-time.
Before you jump straight for the comments, let me reiterate that you won’t benefit from Metal-enhanced visuals unless you play these games on the iOS 8-enabled iPhone 5s/6/Plus, iPad Air or Retina iPad mini because Metal is a hardware-dependent feature requiring the A7 or A8 processor.
What Metal does for Modern Combat 5 is enable up to five times more particles, resulting in denser explosions and RPG rocket trails, impact particles for intense gunfights, richer environments and weather effects and improved heat haze and god rays.
“Please note that app resources have been improved and the game will require re-downloading the DLC packs,” Gameloft cautions.
As for Asphalt 8 (pictured above), playing the game on the A7 or A8-powered iOS 8 device will enable three times as many opponents.
Here’s the full Asphalt 8 changelog:
Modern Combat 5 comes in at 694 megabytes and Asphalt 8 is a massive 1.04 gigabytes so make sure to leave them downloading overnight unless on a speedy broadband connection.
Both titles are available on a free-to-play basis so downloading is free and you can buy optional extra features later through the In-App Purchase mechanism. Gameloft is also offering the Modern Combat Pack bundle comprised of Modern Combat 3, 4 and 5 for just $9.99 (purchased separately: $20.97).
Other app and game bundles areavailable on the App Storeas well.
While we’re at it, Electronic Arts’sfree-to-play Real Racing 3received a major update yesterdayadding new content likethe Classic Lamborghinis, 8-player multiplayer across platforms, a brand new racing school, redesigned menus and enhanced race replays but, sadly, no Metal support.
Want to see Metal running on Epic Games’ recently released Unreal Engine 4?
Check out Epic Zen Garden, a beautiful koi pond simulator.
As seen in the video below, the technology showcase demo really pushes the envelope in terms of mobile graphics, with more than three thousand butterflies and more than five thousand falling petals being rendered in thirty frames per second.
Hungry for more Metal-optimized games?
Apple has you covered with a brand new iOS 8-themed games section on the App Storeentitled “Gorgeous Games for iOS 8 Enhanced by Metal”, pictured below.
In addition to the aforementioned Epic Zen Garden and Asphalt 8: Airborne, I spotted a few other games in the Metal, such as Defenders, Mr. Crab, Beach Buggy and Plunder Pirates, which wasreleased yesterday under the Rovio Stars label.
Eager to find out more about Metal?
Check out the Metal sectionon Apple’s portal for developers.
And lastly, here’s our list of the25 best features in iOS 8.
