Does Back To The Future Run Any Better On The iPad 2?
by Staff Writer
March 17, 2011
To be completely honest, I was skeptical running a Back To The Future test because I didn't think that the iPad 2 would run an app better without any work done on the developer's end. Let's see what actually took place. Take note that the screenshots don't show the difference. You need to watch the video with everything in motion to truly see the differences.
Back To The Future: Episode 1 is one of the few games that causes a slow down on the original iPad. The game is graphically intense, and TellTale Games didn’t do the best job in making the game run well on the iPad. The game is practically a port of the Computer version, which requires a bigger processor, more memory, and a better graphics processor to run. Without that hardware, the game slows down whenever there is a bit of action on screen.
There are points where the game seems to go frame by frame, and there is noticeable pixelation of the characters. Well, now the iPad 2 has come along with hardware boosts across the board, so maybe Back To The Future runs better on it. TellTale games has not updated Back To The Future to run better on the iPad 2. The only differences we could see would be from the sheer power of the iPad 2.
As soon as you launch the game on the iPad 2, you see a monumental difference. The intro menu has a DeLorean driving through the Twin Pines mall, and it drives in especially smooth. The car and the shops are rendered with fine edges, especially compared to the relatively boxy look on the iPad 1. Once you actually start the game, the differences become more apparent.
The opening cut scene where the DeLorean reaches 88 MPH and vanishes with flaming tire tracks doesn’t stutter once on the iPad 2. The iPad 1 can barely make it through that scene. When you reach a point where you can interact with the game, you can move about fluidly. At points, it seems the game on the iPad 1 isn’t recognizing your actions, but that feeling is gone on iPad 2. The iPad 2 runs Back To The Future the way it should be run, and it really is close to the Mac/PC version.
It’s amazing that there is such a difference between the two devices when running the same exact app with no differences in the app. Back To The Future is one of the best examples to show the power, and the before and after contrast, of the iPad and iPad 2. If Back To The Future is any indication, the iPad 2 can improve the performance of any app in the App Store. It also begs the question of which future app will push the iPad 2 to the limits?
iPad 2:
