Horn game, iOS or Tegra3?

If you happen to have both and iOS device and a Tegra3 Android device, you may be wondering which version of Horn is the best before plunking down your hard earned money.

Well I’ve plunked down my hard earned on a copy for each device and have some observations that may help you out.

(*update* iOS Screenshots taken on a Retina display iPad, Tegra3 shots on an Asus Transformer Prime)

First, the Android Tegra3 version has some nice graphical touches that the iOS version doesn’t. For instance the main character, Horn, has a kind of scarf/cape in the Tegra3 version that sort of flows around depending on Horn’s movement.

Note in the screenshot above the scarf thing hanging over the sword.

Above is the iOS screenshot from a retina iPad. The scarf thing is missing.

The Tegra3 version also has some other touches, like lights floating around certain areas of the game world, as seen below near the lamps.

Again, in the iOS version seen below, the lights are missing.

The Tegra3 version also has rubble strewn about some parts of the world that reacts when Horn runs past them by bouncing out of his way. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the iPad screenshot feature to work properly in those areas, so you’ll just have to trust me, the rocks in the below Tegra3 screenshot are missing in the iOS version of the game.

As for other areas of the game, as far as I can tell they are the same. The textures look the same across both versions. The Retina iPad has clearer text and icon buttons, but the world itself looks like it has shared textures across both games. The iOS version wins hands down for multi-tasking. It is much easier to back out to the homescreen and pick up right where you left off in the iOS version than it is in the Android one. For some reason, every time the Android home screen is pulled up, the game has to be restarted and you fall back to the last save point. iOS handles this much nicer, simply pausing the game and returning you to the exact moment you stopped when returning for more play time.

I’ve also heard about multiple crashes in the Android version, although I haven’t experienced any myself in the first hour or so of playtime. I’m sure that this will be corrected by patches and updates before too long. So if you have both devices and want the best graphical mobile experience I’d say go with the Tegra3/Android version but know that in the short term, while they patch up the game, you may experience crashes. And in the long term you won’t be able to hop out and into the game as smoothly as you would be able to on an iOS device. So if convenience is your thing, go with the iOS version.