First shown at WWDC to demonstrate Metal (Apple’s new graphics API), Epic Zen Garden is now available in the App Store to download and try out on your newly-updated iOS 8 device. Although this is more of a tech demo than a fully-fledged game, you can still get some enjoyment out of raking the sand or playing with the fish in the pond. There are several different areas to explore which show off the power of the GPU in your iOS device. It does look good.
Note that Epic Zen Garden requires an A7 (or A8) SoC, so whilst it will download onto older devices, it will crash upon launch without warning. As such, the game will only run on an iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air or iPad mini with Retina display.
In the App Store, Apple is highlighting other titles that use Metal to power their visuals, although none are as beautiful as Epic Zen Garden. It will take time for developers to take full advantage of the graphical power in ‘proper’ games.
