The new iPad has finally arrived! We can’t wait to play brand new games like Infinity Blade: Dungeons, as well as updated older titles optimized for the new device. The new iPad packs a quad-core processor in the A5X chip, plus the insanely high pixel count of a Retina display. Simply put, great-looking iPad 2 games look pretty amazing on the new iPad, and that’s to say nothing of the possibilities offered by a much faster 4G LTE data connection for online play. If you are lucky and motivated enough to have a new iPad already, we recommend you download these five games right away.
Infinity Blade II $6.99
Epic Games’ Infinity Blade series has represented the high-water mark for the graphical capability of iOS devices for almost two years now, and Apple brought Epic’s president to the reveal of its new iPad to announce the next Infinity Blade chapter. There’s a reason the games are so popular: they’re graphically beautiful. With the A5X chip and the new iPad’s Retina display capabilities, Infinity Blade 2 should be even more impressive than it already is on Apple’s latest iOS devices. Developer ChAIR also is likely to optimize the game to take advantage of the quad core processor in the new iPad, so Infinity Blade II will likely be remain among the best-looking titles available.
Galaxy on Fire 2 HD $9.99
Speaking of great-looking games, Fishlab’s Galaxy on Fire 2 HD is on the short list for graphical trend-setters on the iPad. It’s another title that makes full use of the ramped-up capabilities of last year’s iPad 2, using the speed and power of the A5 dual-core chip to render the game’s great looking spaceships and interstellar battles. Having leveraged the best that Apple has to offer so far, it’s not hard to imagine Fishlabs updating its game again to push the limits of the new iPad and find out what the device is capable of accomplishing. Expect to see some great space scenes rendered with a whole lot of pixels.
Real Racing 2 HD $6.99
Real Racing 2 is a double threat when it finds its way to the new iPad. First, it carries some best-in-class graphics, finding itself atop the heap of great-looking games on the iPad 2, and in fact was the first game to be optimized for the device and its A5 chip when it was released. That bodes well for the even more powerful new iPad, since developer Firemint seems eager to put Apple’s new processors through their paces. But Real Racing 2 HD will do more than look pretty on the new iPad’s Retina display – it’ll also offer some great online multiplayer action with as many as 16 players competing in a single race. That should mean that a 4G LTE Internet connection and the faster A5X processor will let Real Racing 2 really burn up the track on the new iPad.
Dungeon Defenders: Second Wave $2.99
The Dungeon Defenders series offers some quality 3-D graphics, thanks to Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 (the same graphics engine used by the Infinity Blade series). It’ll be pretty with the A5X chip in the new iPad driving it, but it’ll really excel with the backing of the chip’s speed and the iPad’s 4G LTE data capabilities. That’s because Dungeon Defenders: Second Wave is really at its best when you’re playing online with friends. The game offers a cooperative mode to play with friends and several competitive game types that are new to this second installment in the series. With the new iPad, players should be more than ready to take the fight to the Internet.
Order & Chaos Online $6.99
Speaking of online play, there aren’t many games out there that rely more on a powerful Internet connection than Order & Chaos Online, Gameloft’s mobile take on the massively multiplayer online role-playing game. If you think of World of Warcraft but on an iPad, you have the thrust of what Order & Chaos is, and MMO games are all based online. Right now, Gameloft relegates Order & Chaos to a Wi-Fi Internet connection, but with the 4G LTE power of the new iPad, it’s very possible that players will be able to take Order & Chaos truly mobile for the first time since its launch.
A comprehensive list of additional games and apps optimized for the new iPad can be found here, courtesy of Padadvance.com.
