A Quick Look at Pangea's First iPhone-Only Title 'Antimatter'
posted by Blake Patterson on November 30th, 2008 8:40 PM EST in $0.99, Action, Reviews, iPhone games, iPod touch games
Pangea Software, creator of Enigmo and Cro-Mag Rally, has recently released a rather unique physics-based iPhone arcade-style action game known as Antimatter [App Store].
Antimatter is the ultimate arcade game for the iPhone and iPod Touch! You control a stream of Antimatter particles and use it to affect the Cosmic Strings while collecting powerups and bonus points. This game is so unique that it is hard to describe. The graphics are stunning, and the gameplay is very addictive.
Hard to describe? Quite. The playfield is comprised of a number of "cosmic strings" (lines) that lazily drift across the backdrop of space. The player controls a "stream of antimatter" (a really sparkly dot) by way of flick control anywhere on the screen surface. The goal is to turn the cosmic strings from blue to red by impacting them with the stream of antimatter. Once. A second impact turns the cosmic string back to blue, and so forth. It's not a simple task, as the stream of antimatter is subject to inertia and, once it bounces into a cosmic string, it bounces right back off–frequently into a string that's already been turned red. Various powerups that aid with the task at hand drift about the playfield, as well–shortening the cosmic strings, destroying strings on impact, etc. Bonus energy-catching levels are interspersed with the standard ones.
Ultimate arcade game? Well, perhaps not. I personally find Antimatter fun to play for the price but, granted, was wooed to some degree by various retro touches present in the game. A recent thread in our forums shows certain of our readers to be rather disappointed with the title. Hopefully our demonstration video will help readers make an informed decision.
Antimatter is Pangea's first designed-from-the-ground-up game for the iPhone platform. Pangea was formed in 1987 by Brian Greenstone as an Apple II development house and shifted focus to the Macintosh in the early '90s. Pangea has recently indicated it is dropping all Mac development and focusing exclusively on the iPhone platform.
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This looks pretty slick. I'm going to have to seriously think about getting this.
i been playing it and its really nice, very nice graphics and everything, the game gets hard, I can't past level 11, but for 99 cents its an awesome buy, you have to move a ball and hit the floating lines and change em all red before time runs out, very fast past. its a top notch 99 cent app you gotta buy and try
Gets to be a pain in the butt after level 10 and your “stream of antimatter” is hard to find sometimes. Otherwise, this game looks really awesome!
Not sure it's for me, but it sounds like the price is right for what it is. Kudos for that.
Still hate the controls!
Nifty little title, and a snip at 99¢. ^_^ Somewhat surprising, but good, to hear that iPhone development's worked out so well for Pangea. I can't help but wonder if the company's Mac sales would've been greater had those prices been similarly low – whatever platform you consider, a game for $20-50 is a much more deliberate decision to make than a title for $1-5. Multiply that by several titles a month, and one of those pricing models breaks down..
I find it baffling that Pangea would abandon development for the Mac. If they made so much money recently, it is because all their iPhone games were easy ports of the Mac versions. Even if they develop now for the iPhone first, why wouldn't any of their future games profit from a larger screen version as it would be just as easy to port them to the Mac? I thought the iPhone would bring more game developers to the Mac, not less!
@Grand Lapin
According to the article linked, Pangea's iPhone revenue in 6 months has "matched the retail revenue of all of Pangea’s preceding personal computer games combined"
arn
Wow, verrrry slick game, beautiful sound and graphics, it is simply candy to the eye. The game play is pretty fun too, though it gets progressively difficult and you may get tired of the repetitive and sometimes frustrating game play. Excellent value for money!
If Pangea can earn enough money creating games for the iPhone then I'm sure it's an eye opener for the other games developers. They should of course look at the quality of their games maybe that's why they are so successful. Certainly, good news for the iPhone gaming world?
@fearless: I agree. At times it can be hard to find one's stream of antimatter amid the on-screen sparkling particulates.
Can't get past level 10… will have to read the instructions again :p
The controls can get in the way – or rather, your finger/thumb gets in the way, and it's annoying when you get stuck on a string.
All considered though, I like it. Better than a king size mars bar, at the same price.
Just that level 10….
Hey Brian Greenstone! When will you be porting Senseless Violence to the iPhone??
I am on level 12, I wish they explain the game more clearly in the menu, only way I pass levels is there is a certain floating red orb that when you get it, destroys all the lines it touches and lasts for a few seconds so you can pretty much get rid of most of them on the screen and work with whats left, without that power up I find it impossible to beat a level.
Pangea bring back Power Pete! ( AKA Might Mike )
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