Can Apple TV really help video games? From Despicable Me: Minion Rush, we can see the difference between Apple TV and domestic Android hardware

Nowadays, there are more and more smart TVs in homes, and their applications are becoming more and more extensive. TV boxes that integrate various functions have also been born. Among them, major manufacturers such as LeTV, Xiaomi, Wanlida, Sony, etc. have invested a lot of money in them, which also makes the TV box market more dazzling.

Apple, as a giant in smart electronics with many users, has also joined in. The emergence of Apple TV with Apple store resource library has brought many new changes to TV games.

As a well-known IP, Minions have already attracted many fans through film and television, and its adapted games are endless, and are very popular on mobile terminals. Although "Despicable Me: Minion Rush" has already appeared on the IOS platform, for domestic TV game manufacturers, porting to Android is not a difficult task. For this game that appears on Apple TV, can it surpass Android in terms of expressiveness and achieve a satisfactory effect?

Android is troubled by its unsatisfactory system and hardware

Speaking of "Despicable Me: Minion Rush", it was originally a mobile game developed by Gameloft for the iOS platform. Although it has been modified and launched on Apple TV, it is only available on this Apple platform. With the development of domestic Android TV games, this game has been directly ported from mobile terminals to large-screen TVs. Now Apple TV and Xiaomi TV are used as hardware platforms for testing.

Different from traditional parkour games, as a 3D parkour game, the scene production of "Despicable Me: Minion Rush" is grand and exquisite, and it truly restores various scenes in the movie. Every small detail is made very well. At the same time, as a native production platform, Apple under the iOS system can indeed approach the level of movies in terms of picture quality, details and other expressiveness, which is really valuable for TV games.

On the other hand, when running "Despicable Me: Minion Rush" on Xiaomi TV, since the game does not have an authentic TV version and is only ported from the mobile terminal, the picture quality is not as good as that of Apple TV. Although the overall picture experience is still good, tearing and jagged edges may occasionally occur. It has to be said that in terms of porting, domestic Android TV games have indeed not reached a satisfactory level.

At the same time, in terms of operation, Xiaomi TV is not as fast as Apple TV. After all, for the current domestic smart TVs, a game of 300M is enough to test the performance of the hardware, not to mention that this game has a download of 300M and then an update of about 200M. The occasional freezes of Xiaomi TV is enough to show that the Android system is indeed not good enough for games.

The controller is not as good as the remote control and Android control is still a problem

Unlike most of the simple horizontal 2D parkour games released in China, Despicable Me: Minion Rush has a 3D design and has more advanced controls. Although it does not have the diversified and complex controls such as parkour + combat like Rayman Legends on the console, it is also worthy of the player's full attention.

In terms of control, Apple TV still uses a remote control, but the difference is that the Apple TV remote control is touch-sensitive. Although the 3D scene makes the remote control much more difficult, it is sufficient for use.

In the game, players only need to slide their fingers up, down, left, and right to control the movements of the Minions. It is simple and fast. At the same time, the movement method like the upper left is even easier and clearer. What's more, this game also adds various special effect modes that can only be triggered by collision. This is much easier for the Apple TV touch remote control where a light tap is enough to confirm.

This change greatly improves the freedom of remote control operation in the same space, but at the same time, the probability of misjudgment has also increased, making the game more difficult to pass. It also tests the player's control and proficiency in operation.

However, for Xiaomi TV, the remote control seems a bit difficult, which is why a handle is added. With the help of the joystick, the difficulty of 3D parkour is also reduced. This is similar to the touch buttons of Apple TV, but due to the lag caused by operation, the operation of the handle is not so smooth and fast. Sometimes after pressing the button, there is no impact reaction as expected, and missed connections and missed food often occur.

Of course, alternative heavy operation scenes are everywhere in the game, and different operation methods in specific levels also increase the playability of this game. This is more interesting than the traditional one-click clearance of most Android games. However, such a masterpiece should be called a remake on Android...

Jailbreaking, paid Apple TV and weak domestic competition

Despicable Me: Minion Rush is a rare free download game on Apple TV, and it adopts the same props charging as domestic manufacturers. In the game, you need to top up your Apple TV account in advance to make purchases in the store by spending your account balance. However, since Apple TV cannot enter the Chinese market, jailbreaking and many other factors have become obstacles to top up.

However, even if recharge is possible, the charges for game props are really hard to complain about. 16,500 tokens cost US$99.99, which is equivalent to more than RMB 600, which is enough for players to buy two PS4 games.

This is simply incomparable to domestic Android TV games that are free to download but require paid props. The worker costume in the game mall on Xiaomi TV only costs RMB 6, while the same equipment on Apple TV becomes USD 9.99, more than 9 times the price. Although RMB 45 is just a payment of a few dollars for a few clicks from the player's perspective, it is still difficult to pay it off in one go.

As a TV game, Despicable Me: Minion Rush gives people a different feeling. Similar to the previous TV version of Fat Bo's Adventure, both the graphics and the gameplay are the best among TV games. Compared with the bad experience brought by similar mobile game transplants, Apple TV has made obvious improvements. Both the picture quality and the 3D perspective are far better than many domestic Android hardware.

However, this game also shows that most domestic Android TVs and boxes are still not satisfactory in terms of game performance. For users, TVs, boxes and other hardware are still devices for watching video programs. For Apple TV, although the gaming experience is indeed much better than that of Android hardware, in China, which is not friendly to foreign products, the alien species Apple is just a toy for geeks and fans, and still cannot meet the needs of the general public.

At the same time, from the perspective of players, neither Android nor Apple can be considered a good gaming device. Although the quality of games is constantly improving, small games still dominate the market. For those who really love games, it may be better to buy a PS4 or Xbox One.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.