Last week, gaming developer Firemint released their newest iPhone game into the App Store called Flight Control [App Store]. Yes, the same Firemint that has been hard at work on the impressive Real Racing iPhone game due later this year. For their first self-published release, however, they focused on a simpler time management game which involves routing incoming airplanes to their proper landing strips.

While the game seems incredibly simple on the surface, the company has managed to hit upon the winning balance of easy pick-up gameplay, ramping difficulty and tickling the need to try "just one more time".

Flight Control presents you with a single map with two runways and one helipad. Airplanes and helicopters fly onto the screen and your job is to simply direct each plane to their respective landing pads (designated by color) while avoiding mid-air collisions.

Airspeeds vary by aircraft type. The large red airplanes travel the fastest which can cause some timing issues when coordinating landings with the small red airplanes.

The intuitive controls of the game, however, are what tie everything together into an addictive package. By simply swiping a path from the plane, you can quickly redirect a plane. You may choose a longer or shorter path depending on the desired timing, and planes can be redirected at a moments notice.

The developer provided gameplay video shows how it works:

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

While we're big fans of the game, we should be clear that this is a rather simple package with a single map, 4 types of aircraft and a single goal. Still, as always, gameplay is king and we feel it's easily worth its $0.99 introductory price.

Those looking for a more in-depth Air Traffic Control experience could consider the other two options in the App Store: iATC [$1.99] and ATC 4.0 [$2.99] -- as they try to offer more depth but with arguably less of a "fun" experience.

App Store Link: Flight Control, $0.99 (introductory price)

Chillingo today posted details of an upcoming update to their 3D vector-based retro title Vector Tanks [App Store] in our forums.

The game will bring:

• Fixed shooting stars that were broken in 1.0
• Added menuing system
• Pause / exit current game feature
• Game settings for:
  • vector glow
  • brightness
  • filled shapes
  • reverse controls
• How to play button
• About screen
• New starting skill level selection
  • expert
  • medium
  • novice
  • practice (enemies do not fire at you - scoring is disabled)
• Added some low frequency engine sound

App Store Link: Vector Tanks, $2.99

Retro gaming fans--those partial to the Commodore 64 in particular--will be pleased to hear that a port of the classic 1985 Hewson title, Paradroid, has come to the iPhone and iPod touch in the form of Droidz [App Store] from Glen Ames.

As Wikipedia describes the original,

The game is set on a spaceship viewed from a top-down perspective. The ship consists of numerous rooms and levels, each one populated by hostile robots or "droids". The player, in control of a special droid called the "Influence Device", must destroy all the other droids on the ship. Each droid (including the player) is represented as a circle around a three-digit number. The numbers roughly correspond to the droid's "power" or "level", in that higher-numbered droids are tougher to destroy.

The Influence Device is numbered "001". The primary way in which the Influence Device destroys other droids is by "linking" with them, effectively taking them over. When the player takes over another droid, the previously-controlled droid is destroyed.

Taking over a droid is done via a mini-game involving basic circuit diagrams and logic gates. Each droid has one side of the screen, with a series of logic gates and circuits connected together. The droids have a number of "power supplies" that can apply power to one circuit. Higher-numbered droids have more power supplies. At the end of a short time period, the droid supplying the most power to the circuit "wins". The logic gates are the key to allowing lower-numbered droids to beat higher-numbered droids. There is also a strategy in timing when power is applied to a circuit (as two supplies of power to the same circuit result in the later supplier of power gaining control of the circuit).

Droidz utilizes accelerometer control for movement and a tap in the direction of an enemy for firing.  The game features a 16-level ship from which the player must clear all droidz.  Once a level is clear, it will shut down and other levels can be explored by way of elevators.  Droidz features audio similar to the original and an updated set of graphics taken from the Freedroid project.

A review of the original Paradroid (published last year) lavishes the game with high praise.

Paradroid is an absolute masterpiece. The keyword is balance: Where most shooting games restrict themselves to a linear path of upgrading weapons, the power is inversely proportional to the time it can be used here. So the player is always on the run here, jumping from robot to robot, always anxiously watching the remaining time until burnout. Not to be missed!

See our brief gameplay video to see a bit of the action.  A video of the C64 original can be seen here.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

It's worth mentioning that Droidz is very much a retro title.  Those without an early attachment to the original may well find the gameplay and overall presentation somewhat basic as compared to today's shooters.

App Store Link: Droidz, $1.99

Last month I posted a review of ChronoSoft's Rogue Touch [App Store], an iPhone adaptation of Rogue, the classic dungeon crawler that dates back to 1980.  Being a fan of the genre, I found the game to be highly engaging and have spent a great deal of time with it since that review.  It's an impressive effort and easily the best Rogue in the App Store.

Since my review of the debut v1.0 release, the developer (forum member CommanderData) has been listening to feedback from our readers and has been hard at work in updating the title.  His second update since our review, v1.2, has just hit the App Store.

I thought that fans of the game (and our readers are loving it) might appreciate a list of enhancements brought through both the v1.1 and v1.2 update releases.

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Pangea Software has just released an iPhone version of their 3D action adventure game Otto Matic [App Store], first released for the Mac in 2002.  According to the developer Otto Matic is "simply the best game that Pangea Software has ever produced."

The year is 1957 and a fleet of flying saucers from Planet X have come to Earth. These saucers are under the control of the evil Brain Aliens who are abducting helpless human beings and taking them away to strange alien worlds to become slaves of The Giant Brain. Luckily for the human race there exist the Otto Matics, robots who police the galaxy in the name of all that is good and decent.

You are Otto Matic, the robot who is given the job of saving Earth from the clutches of The Giant Brain from Planet X. You must rescue as many humans as you can while defeating the Brain Aliens and all of their evil minions. Your mission will take you to strange and fantastic alien worlds which are often treacherous and will require Otto to perform amazing feats.

Developer Brian Greenstone indicates that Otto Matic uses a 3D engine that's a mix of Bugdom and Cro-Mag Rally's engines, with significant enhancements for special effects.  The engine allows for surface rippling, multitexturing, and enhanced lighting and specular maps.

Pangea's list of iPhone version features:

• 10 levels on amazing 3D alien worlds
• Battle 25 different alien creatures
• Attack with 7 different types of space-age weapons
• Fight off giant radioactive killer vegetables
• Ski behind giant metal sea monsters on a river of toxic ooze
• Ride soap bubbles across noxious lakes of slimy goo
• Get shot out of a cannon
• Rescue humans from flying saucers
• Ride bumper cars
• Drink radioactive potions to grow to 50ft tall
• Ride a zip-line to escape mutant radioactive robots
• Pilot a flying saucer and lay waste to an alien fortress

See the following clip of the Mac version to get a feel for the gameplay, or download the free Mac demo version to have a better look.

App Store Link: Otto Matic, $6.99

This is a developer guest post written by Freeverse's Mark Andersson and details some of the design challenges in Freeverse's upcoming Flick Baseball game. While the content is aimed more at developers, it also provides fans an early peek at this upcoming game.

My name is Mark Andersson, and I have been working with Freeverse for over a decade. I was the Lead Programmer for Burning Monkey Puzzle Lab, Burning Monkey Casino, Wingnuts, Wingnuts 2: Raina's Revenge and Neon Tango. Most recently I've been working on games for the iPhone, and developing versions of Burning Monkey Puzzle Lab and Burning Monkey Casino.

In that effort big chunks of code came over from the original Mac versions largely unchanged, making development on the iPhone that much easier. You really can consider the iPhone platform to be like a tiny Mac, which is great for old-school Mac developers like me and the other Freeverse guys. The real effort goes into rethinking the interface for the smaller screen and the innovative control methods, and of course maximizing performance within the limitations of the hardware.

early development shot of Flick Baseball

My current project for Freeverse is an original, ground-up, iPhone game and the next title in the Flick Sports series: Flick Baseball. So when you're not bowling or fishing you will be able to enjoy America's favorite pastime in your pocket! (Hmmm... that didn't come out quite right)... In this post I hope to give you some behind-the-scenes peeks at the game during development and touch on some hopefully interesting aspects of the process.

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Warner Bros has released their online multiplayer Watchmen: Justice is Coming game [App Store]. The $0.99 release is described as an "advanced release edition" with promises for "more updates to come".

WATCHMEN: Justice is Coming is an online role playing game developed exclusively for the iPhone and iPod touch and inspired by the highly anticipated WATCHMEN film.

Explore the incredible Watchmen universe in the year 1975, where crime is rampant and average citizens take matters into their own hands. Create your own unique character and begin adventuring through the dark and gritty streets of New York City while following an original Watchmen inspired storyline through a real-time 3D world. Discover hidden artifacts and level up your character by completing story objectives, defeating criminals and challenging other players to battle in a dynamic strategy fighting game.

Our forum users have had mixed experiences with the game. Those who have been able to log-on seem to be happy with the game:

You start out by creating a new character with a name, gender, skin color, and personality type(chosen by looking at an ink blot and choosing ''what you see''). You're then thrown into a 3D ''New York'' where the story is set for you.

The load time for this true MMO is great for an iPod/Phone. Like others have said, you touch the screen to where you want to go in the fully 3D environment. You collect costume parts, follow a story, fight RL players and in game bots. All of this gains you EXP so you can level up. When you level, you gain ability points when you level that can go into health, attack, defense, and movement.

However, some users have been unable to login -- instead, seeing server-timeouts and crashes. In fact, we've also seen some timeouts and crashes, so we can't really recommend paying for this title yet.

App Store Link: Watchmen: Justice is Coming, $0.99

FDG Entertainment has temporarily discounted Bobby Carrot to $4.99 until the 1.1 release. Bobby Carrot is a puzzle game that we reviewed in January and found to be fun and challenging:

Bobby Carrot Forever is a level-based puzzle game that requires you to navigate obstacles in order to collect all the carrots and reach the exit. 60 levels provide a refreshingly challenging puzzle game that offers well over 15 hours of gameplay. This game is easily a “must have” for fans of the genre and is also highly recommended for others.

The 1.1 update has already been submitted to Apple and the price will return to $7.99 when that update is approved.

The 1.1 update will bring further improvements to the controls as well as add a 3rd control option.

App Store Link: Bobby Carrot Forever, $4.99

Konami has released new screenshots for their upcoming Metal Gear Solid Touch. The new screenshots are included below (click on thumbnails for full view).

In Metal Gear Solid Touch, players join forces with Old Snake as he battles the money-driven mercenaries of Private Military Companies (PMCs), Haven Troopers, Gekko, and the beautiful yet terrifying bosses of the B&B Corps. This commercial warfare adventure follows Old Snake across the Middle East, South America, Eastern Europe, and Shadow Moses as he depletes his enemies' stamina with various short-range and long-range weapons

The game will have twenty levels of gameplay, with a special "advance edition" of the game arriving with the first 12 stages in March. The final release will deliver the remaining eight stages and be a free upgrade.

New member of the Ngmoco team, Stephanie, sent out a tweet tonight that should give tower defense fans something to look forward to.

Hey, I’m Stephanie a brand-new ngmofo and loving it! I wanted to start sharing some cool pics of the games I’m working on right now and totally had to kick it off with Star Defense.

3D worlds + tower defense action = happiness

Along with her tweet, Stephanie pointed to a single screenshot of Star Defense in action.  That's about all we've got right now, but stay tuned for more on this.

Mobile developer C2Matrix announced that they have submitted their Hotfield shoot'em up to the App Store. The $2.99 game offers a long list of interesting features, including the use of "bullet time" (slow motion):

• 3 type of ships with 4 level major fire.
• 6 stages, 6 mega bosses, 5 game modes.
• "bullet-time", "Fury state", amazing and addictive gameplay system.
• Boss mode for fight with bosses.
• Load/Save game.
• Online top 10, one click to sync your scores to global server.
• Record your playing for replay later.
• Textured and huge 3d live elements, 3D layers.
• Plenty of blended sprites.
• Vibration support.
• Original background music and sound effect, volumn adjustable.
• Support portrait and landscape display mode.

We first saw the use of "bullet time" on the iPhone in Yose Widjaja's Space Ninja which allowed you to slow the onscreen action in order to dodge enemy fire with increased accuracy. The system worked remarkably well for that title, and we've been interested in seeing it implemented in a true shooter.

Double-tapping on the screen will reportedly allow you to enter this slow-motion bullet-time mode. We're anxious to see this in action.

The developer provided us with this gameplay video which we've posted on YouTube.

The developer has also been active in our discussion forums answering questions about some obvious comparisons with the just released Sky Force Reloaded. The above video shows a seemingly well implemented game with a robust load/save game system. Unfortunately, bullet time is not highlighted and the video seems to focus on the Boss fights.

We'll definitely take a look at this title when it's released in the coming week.

Finnish game development house RedLynx has just submitted their latest title to the App Store, a version of their popular PC and Mac game Monster Trucks Nitro for the iPhone and iPod touch.

RedLynx indicates that, while the game delivers all the playability of the PC and Mac original, it includes a new "Bubble Level" rotation control and many other new features unique to the iPhone and iPod touch.

The developer's feature list includes:

• Real Monster Trucks physics with iPhone
• Includes multiple camera modes including Holographic Pro camera mode
• Extremely powerful RedLynx Monster Truck and Miniclip monster Trucks
• Extra achievement Trucks Schoolbus Monster Truck and Formula Monster Truck
• Thrilling tracks with medal achievements including The Loop, The Gap, Nitromus oximus and many others
• Top hiscores lists for each track
• Gesture camera controls

See RedLynx's iPhone game trailer video.

Monster Truck Nitro should be appearing in the App Store in the next few days and will be priced at $1.99.  In the meantime, see the playable 2D Flash demo and the free, trial 3D Windows demo on the product site.