iPhone developer h.grenade has recently released a lite version of their space shooter Circuit Strike.One [$0.99, Lite].
Circuit Strike.One is a 2.5D shooter that combines elements of Geometry Wars with those of the zero-gravity classic Asteroids to deliver a physics-heavy, top-down space combat experience. The premise of the game is that you are flying a ship within an advanced computer network. To hack into the system, you must first destroy the shield generators and then destroy the Core itself. In the meanwhile, the system will defend itself by sending enemies to destroy you. The game is setup as a classic arcade shooter which always starts on level one and you aim for achieving the highest score possible.
The game made its debut while Touch Arcade was covering WWDC 2009 in San Francisco back in June but was noted to have some performance issues. Many of these issues where addressed in an update that finally went live in early July.
Since then, while a vocal segment of readers have been loving the game, some (including myself) have never quite gotten comfortable with the original control mechanisms offered in the title or the pace of the game as a whole.
Developer Shay Casey indicated to us earlier that, once you get used to the controls, there's a great payoff, "allowing maneuvers like strafing, 180 degree j-turn style attacks and more. .... Once you get the hang of it and the controls 'click' for you it opens up a world of possibilities." That may be, but there may be those for which the controls never quite clicked. For those CS.One players, however, the last update from late July did add a more familiar control mechanism: a dual stick controller.
Now, with a generous Lite version newly available and a $0.99 sale of the full version of the game, there's no better chance to try out this unique space shooter to see if it's for you. We do suggest you try the game as it was originally intended, however, using the "basic" control mechanism first. The developer said of the game, "The real key can't be said enough - it is a zero-g physics game just like Asteroids so do not try and keep your thumb on the thrust."
Chillingo released a free promotional game based on the assets from Knights Onrush. While it uses the same artwork as their castle defense game, A Quest Knights Onrush is actually a different kind of game altogether.
Fight knights, swordsmen, wizards and ballistas, take advantage of the leveling system, do your best to fight as far as you can. Go and kill them all.
While intended as a promotional game for Knights Onrush, they haven't excluded the possibility of making a full featured version of this game.
Certainly worth a download and a proper lite version of Knights Onrush is also included.
Flying Dino has finally released their ambitious online deathmatch arena game called iMech. We first heard about the project back in March during GDC, and had seen a near complete version at WWDC.
iMech is a 3D, over-the-shoulder style combat game that puts the player in control of one of three different mech vehicles to engage in online battles of up to eight players per game, across five different randomly selected maps. While a single player tutorial and practice mode is provided, the core of the game is online multiplayer. At present there are 3 server locations: U.S. West Coast, U.S. East Coast, and Europe.
At the players' disposal are five different weapons: machine gun, laser, flame thrower, missiles, and mines. Each player's mech features shields and a jetpack boost feature (to make quick jumps through the environment) that share energy — so boost sparingly.
Control is handled via dual on-screen sticks with a tap to switch out weapons. The game offers an in-game chat feature where users tap to select a positive, negative, or neutral comment, with a second tap to select from a short-list of quips from each category. The controls work pretty well and are easy to get accustomed to. Left stick offers movement, while right controls view and shooting. By default shooting is automatic when you hold down on the right pad, but can optionally be invoked by double tapping.
Our WWDC preview video shows how the game handles, while this new trailer is provided by the developers:
Matches are short timed rounds in which the individual with the highest number of kills wins. Server match ups are very simple at this point and simply fill up to 8 players per "room" with overflowing simply going into another room. So you may play against anywhere from 1-7 other players. Other gameplay modes such as capture the flag or a team mode would be welcome additions to mix up the play, though would understandably require a large installed base to support.
Without an extensive single player mode, you are dependent on network conditions and server geography for the quality of your online play experience. When all works well, the game delivers a fast paced deathmatch experience that's somewhat simple but fun to play. The aggregate of responses from the early adopters show some mixed network results and even across play sessions on the same server, we've had both excellent and laggy experiences.
The game, however, seems to have captured the attention of a number of our forumgoers who are trash talking and coordinating battles in the discussion thread.
My favorite types of pre-iPhone flash games were always building puzzles, a genre that is just minimally represented on the App Store. Tiki Towers [$1.99 / Free] was the first one I played and beat, then Moonlights [99¢] came along offering similar gameplay. While not a bridge building game, Geared [99¢ / Free] tickles the same part of my brain as these other iPhone favorites of mine.
In Geared, players are tasked with making the virtual gearboxes work across 80 included levels. Each challenge has a spinning gear and a stationary gear. Utilizing the five different gear sizes, each available in limited quantities, you need to arrange the gears to power the original stationary gear. The big benefit that Geared has over other similar games is that gears can be placed anywhere in game. There is no grid that they snap to or any other alignment requirements other than making sure that the teeth of the gears line up with each other to spin.
Like most puzzle games with static levels, the first few you come across introduce you to the gameplay elements and are extremely easy. It doesn't take long to eventually get to puzzles that will have you moving gears all over the place trying to find a gear placement that works. Eventually areas that can't have gears placed in them appear in levels, and on some of these challenges with these zones require you to utilize the gravity in the game to drop gears through them to wind up in the right spot.
The one main complaint people seem to have about the game is that some of the advanced levels require pixel-perfect accuracy in placing gears. Depending on how neurotic you get about construction games you could either see this as a good or bad. Personally, I'm appreciating the challenge offered in the game, but I can certainly understand the frustration some are experiencing.
If you like these kind of games, you owe it to yourself to at least download the lite. If you're new to the genre, I'd recommend getting started with both Geared Free and Tiki Towers Lite
Konami released screenshots from their upcoming kart racer Krazy Kart Racing due for release in August. The game was announced Wednesday at GamersCon.
Using the traditional third-person view, players guide their chosen character around the laps, using whatever they can to steal an advantage over their CPU or multi-player rivals. Nitro boosts can give a welcome burst of speed, while a wide range of extras that can be picked up during the race and can be used to slow down opposing karts.
The game was said to be due a couple of days ago but is reportedly held up in the approval queue according to Pocketgamer.
It appears kart racing is going to get competitive again. Gameloft also revealed at GamesCon that they have a kart racer in the works called Shrek Kart, but won't be launching until September.
Gameloft's highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto -esque free-roaming sandbox game Gangstar: West Coast Hustle [App Store] hit the streets today with a bang. The thread in our forums exploded, and after spending a hefty amount of time with the game since its release, I'm happy to report that I'm in agreement with the feeling of our forum members in that overall the game is extremely solid despite a few weak areas.
Originally a J2ME game, Gameloft has given Gangstar a complete face lift. The SNES-looking graphics of the original have been completely replaced with a full 3D city complete with cars, pedestrians, and plenty of opportunities for crime. The game opens with a fast paced full motion video cut scene of a bank robbery with getaway chase, and after starting a new game the story of Juanito and P. Thug continues as you stash your SUV used in the robbery and look for some help from a nearby friendly gangster, L.C. He naturally has a job for you, it turns out his boy Lil' T got in to some trouble down at the beach and needs your help.
The rest of the game continues like this, very similar to Grand Theft Auto games. You take missions, complete them, and eventually meet new contacts who will also give you missions. The story is basic at best and downright silly at times. They really lay the whole Mexican gangster stereotype on pretty thick with everything from character names that border on ridiculous to the dialog where "S" is freely interchanged with "Z". The good thing is though, most missions are very quick and really lend themselves to a great portable gaming experience where you might only play for a few minutes at a time.
Along the way you'll run in to various side missions such as street races, and a variety of different cars can be stolen that each have their associated mini games. For instance, stealing either a burger delivery car, ambulance or a taxi gives you a sub-set of challenges that all have to do with driving around as fast as possible delivering food, saving patients, or picking up customers.
While outside of a car, your movement is controlled with a joystick on the left and a button on the right that handles attacking. Tapping the screen locks on to a target, so you never need to aim. When you're near a car, another button pops up that allows you to steal it. There are three options for steering. By default, cars are controlled by tilting the iPhone. Other options include a steering wheel that works similar to Gameloft's Asphalt 4: Elite Racing and a virtual joystick-like slider that is my personal favorite. Accelerating and braking can either be done using an on-screen brake and gas pedal or yet another virtual joystick-like slider. The direction the camera is facing can be changed at any time by swiping in any direction on the screen.
Overall the controls work well, but similar to most games with virtual controls, they don't feel very precise. Thankfully, driving around is fairly forgiving as there is no collision detection in the game between your car and most small objects like street signs, trees, and stop lights. This strange collision detection does create some issues though as there are some odd irregularities in that you can just be cruising down the sidewalk sailing right through trees when you run in to a planter that brings your car to a dead stop.
These inconsistencies can be rather annoying when running in to an immovable potted shrubbery ultimately leads to your apprehension in a fast-paced police chase, but other than that tooling aound the city is enjoyable. There are even ramps scattered around to get huge air off of like most Grand Theft Auto games.
A mini map guides you to different objectives as well as serving as a button to pause the game. On the pause screen, you can see and start available missions as well as purchase weapons and ammo. Some weaponry, however, is only available from a local gun shop. These gun shops are also shown on your map along with areas that you can get your car repaired if it's too banged up.
One of my major disappointments with the game is how poorly the police response scales up with your wanted level. One of the first things I did after completing a few missions outside of the tutorial was see how much trouble I could stir up by just murdering everyone walking down the street. I was able to stand around, basically farming the constantly spawning police officers for money, ammo, and when my health got low I was able to just pause the game and buy a health pack.
In comparison, most Grand Theft Auto-like games have police forces that significantly ramp up with each wanted level. In Grand Theft Auto, there was almost no way to survive in a five star wanted level against the onslaught of tanks and other insane police forces that come after you without some serious planning and an inventory full of weaponry. In Gangstar, the police simply drive up, stop their car in front of you, get out, and allow you to shoot them to death while maybe firing a few return shots.
The graphics in Gangstar are great, and performance across the board seems to be decent on all devices although obviously better on the iPhone 3GS. Some forum members have been experiencing crashes or inconsistent performance, but by and large most people seem to find the game completely playable, even on the first generation iPod Touch. The draw distance of the game does seem obviously low at times, and it would be nice to be able to increase it on the 3GS, but other than that the game runs great. Unsurprisingly, load times can be fairly significant even on the 3GS and it would be nice to be able to disable the intro movie instead of skipping through it with every launch of the game. (But the same thing can be said for most Gameloft games.)
The in-game music stations are fantastic, and even feature fake advertisements and DJ's like the radio stations in Grand Theft Auto. The different stations add a lot of atmosphere to the game, and I find myself preferring 42.0 FM, "Legalize-It" that features instrumental gangster rap style music. There is also a rock station, an electronic station, and even a few others. You can even select a playlist in the options to add another radio station that selects from your own music.
For the amount of content you're getting in Gangstar the current price of $6.99 is pretty crazy and even though the game has its flaws, I've still found myself really enjoying it. Included are a total of 50 missions across 6 chapters, all the side jobs, an entire city to explore, achievements to earn, and a mobile experience surprisingly similar to a slightly watered down Grand Theft Auto 3. If you enjoy these types of free-roaming crime sandbox games, you really need to get Gangstar.
Fresh off the press from German Apple news and rumor site MacNotes.de are some new screenshots and previously unrevealed details on several upcoming Gameloft games. Apparently only a few select members of the media at Gamescom were given early access to these games, so this information is all coming from Google's German to English translation which may have questionable accuracy.
Asphalt 5 is said to offer more of everything seen in the previous game and feature 12 tracks as well as 33 licensed cars including a Mini Cooper S. Asphalt 5 is also will offer additional DLC packs along with online rankings and multiplayer. The translation is unclear whether the "network" multiplayer is online or local only, but Bluetooth will definitely be included.
Shrek Kart is being compared to Mario Kart with automatic acceleration, tilt steering as well as brake and turbo buttons for the controls. 15 tracks are included along with 3 "arenas". Shrek Kart will also have WiFi and Bluetooth multiplayer and is launching in September.
The description of Earthworm Jim makes it sound like the controls are good but share the problem that all virtual D-Pad games have in that the lack of tactile feedback makes the precision jumping required in a platformer fairly difficult.
One of Konami's first App Store releases, Frogger [App Store] for the iPhone is available for more than 80% off August 20th (today) through the 22nd.
The game is an adaptation of the studio's 1981 arcade original featuring updated graphics, an updated soundtrack, and a choice of touchscreen or accelerometer controls–or both combined.
Like the 28-year-old original, the goal of the game is to direct five frogs, one by one, from the starting point at the bottom of the screen to their homes at the top before the timer runs out. It's a treaturous journey. The lower half of the screen consists of a busy roadway with five lanes of speeding traffic. The upper half contains a rushing river filled with logs, turtles, alligators and other such hazards. The challenge is getting the frog home safely without getting flattened, drowned (this was always puzzling…), or eaten. It sounds simple, but can be rather frustrating challenging.
Pole Position: Remix [App Store], Namco's iPhone adaptation of their classic 1982 arcade racer, is available for a limited time at 50% off.
As the title suggests, Pole Position: Remix is a (somewhat) modern adaptation of Namco's 27-year-old classic arcade racer. Retro gaming nuts will appreciate the fact that, although the title brings a graphical overhaul, the gameplay remains rather faithful to the original.
The game offers three methods of control: tilt (accelerometer-based), slider (swipe right and left), and steering wheel mode (radially control a steering wheel, capable of flick-spin, with your finger). A semi-translucent, on-screen pedal controls either braking or acceleration, depending on settings.
PopCap Games announced this morning that Plants vs. Zombies will be available on the App Store by the end of the year. Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense game for the PC and Mac that has been well received by critics and so far has sold more copies since its release earlier this year alone than any other game PopCap has published.
In the game, players plant various types of plants to stop an army of zombies from reaching your house. As you survive through the different levels, you encounter new zombie types and unlock new seeds for your horticultural arsenal. Plants vs Zombies has the same cartoon art style seen in other PopCap games, and is dripping with charm as zombies equipped with pots for helmets and screen doors for shields are slowly dispatched by your pea shooters. There's even a Michael Jackson lookalike zombie that dances and raises other zombies.
The PC and Mac versions of the game also include an endless survival mode, a puzzle mode, and a set of mini games based on other PopCap titles. If they manage to pack all of these features in to the iPhone game, Plants vs. Zombies is going to be very hard to pass up.
Here is the trailer PopCap released for the computer game:
Plants vs. Zombies is a surprisingly fun game that seems to appeal to both casual gamers and tower defense nuts alike. If you've never heard of it, I highly recommend downloading the free trial from the PopCap site.
Gameloft just released their much anticipated Gangstar [link] game to the App Store today at the promised $6.99 price.
Gangstar, which is an enhanced port of their 2006 mobile handset title, is set in an expansive world (Los Angeles) that strives to bring the modern, 3D home console Grand Theft Auto experience to iPhone gamers. We took a detailed look at a preview copy of the title back in July.
The game is a free-roam sandbox affair, with LA being the sandbox. And the game world is actually modeled after LA with some accuracy. Hollywood, Santa Monica, South Central, and other well-known areas of the city are represented with many distinguishing characteristics in place. Portions of the game are also played through sequences that are flashbacks to Pedro's time in the Mexican pen.
This new trailer was also released today:
We were impressed by the game during our preview and will spend more time with the final version. Early impressions of the game are being collected in our forum.
Monster Ball is a simple turn-based strategy game where you command an army of different sized balls across a hex grid in a survival of the fittest battle where big balls eat smaller balls. To win the match, you must eat your opponent's entire army. The basic gameplay is extremely simple, and almost has a checkers-like feel to it.
Each map starts you out an army of differently sized balls. Two small balls can be combined to a larger ball that can then eat smaller balls, but if any ball eats too much they will explode, leaving you with one less unit on the battlefield.
This basic gameplay is spiced up with various special tiles that do things like split one ball into two, clone a ball into two equal balls, and there are even special weapon tiles that allow you to fire bazookas at the opposing team. In single player you play against an AI opponent across ten different maps (in the current preview version). The single player is decent, but aside from a set of unlockable trophies there isn't much replay value yet. But that's where the online multiplayer comes in.
The really cool part about Monster Ball is that it isn't just an iPhone game, it also is going to be released for the Mac and PC. Packaged with our preview copy of the iPhone version was a pre-release build of the Mac client which played absolutely identical to the iPhone game aside from the differences in user interfaces between clicking with the mouse and tapping with your finger.
These different clients can even play against each other seamlessly in online multiplayer matches. The latency is amazing, and sitting at my computer playing against myself on my phone there is almost no delay between the two screens.
I shot the following video showing an online multiplayer game. The picture in picture is a screen capture from my MacBook Pro playing against the iPhone client both connected to a server in Germany:
Monster Ball is still in development, but there's no doubt that the cross-platform multiplayer is pretty cool. The ability to play against your friend at home on their computer using you phone sitting on a bus is exactly what I imagined when I first started thinking of the potential of a constantly connected cellular gaming device like the iPhone.
The developers are still hard at work on the game and expect it to launch sometime this fall. For more information on Monster Ball check out the thread in our forums, or the official web site.
Chillingo's Inkvaders arrived in the App Store tonight for only $0.99 [link]. The side-scrolling shooter carries a hand drawn art style and delivers gameplay similar to Zombieville.
The controls are simple and work like every other side scrolling shoot 'em up. The left and right arrows obviously make you move left or right and the red button fires. A jet pack, however, gives you the ability to hover for as long as your fuel meter allows. This lets you collect moon rocks (for money) and fly over the aliens themselves. There are three weapons in game, and each can be upgraded multiple times. Killing aliens and picking up floating rocks gives you money to buy upgrades. Additional bonus items are provided in randomly scattered crates throughout the levels. Finally, the crate labeled with the letter "R" starts rush mode, where the music ramps up and swarms of aliens come from both sides.
Three difficulty modes are included, as well as a story mode that is said to take around two hours to complete as well as an endless endurance mode.
Here's our gameplay video showing the tutorial and the first two levels:
The production value of the package is great as evidenced in the video above, which makes it feel like a very good value at only $0.99. The game play, itself, falls back to a side scrolling survival shooter with a few nice touches. Early impressions are being collected in our forums.
PC, Mac, and iPhone developer MythPeople recently released their second match-3 game into the App Store with Dragon Portals. The follow up to the well receivedAzkend puzzler certainly meets and exceeds the quality we’ve come to expect from MythPeople when it comes to eye-catching visuals.
Dragon Portals' asian theme resonates nicely throughout the game from the Far East melodies and richly accented visual touches to the intriguing storyline and dragons on which the game played. The objective is to keep the dragons in the air for as long as possible until enough energy can open the dragon portal. This is accomplished through the power of match-3. A power gauge fills up as matches are made, and once filled up, the portal opens, thus clearing the level. Also, height flags show how fast the dragons are descending, and when matches are made, the dragons will increase in altitude.
The game can be challenging and ratchets up pretty quickly by the time you’re on level 2. Unlike typical Match-3s, matching takes place by dropping orbs from one dragon to the next in order to line up three or more like-colored balls amounts. Not as easy when the game is in motion, but still fun nonetheless. As you earn more power ups, Story mode allows you to select up to three specific power ups to use on any given level. My main critique for the game is that it can be repetitious because while the objectives may change, the gameplay doesn’t. Having said that, Dragon Portals should be able to provide hours of playability given the degree of content and depth.
The iPhone version of the game currently offers two modes of play: Story and Survival and takes you through 80 levels of play. Progress within Story mode is illustrated on the map covering 8 islands while Survival allows you to choose the power up of choice and see how long they can keep dragons in the air with stars awards based on specific scoring milestones.
Video of PC version
Dragon Portals has 10 power ups arranged in three categories: Destructive, Creative, and Passive. These power ups can help destroy similar colored orbs, clear out a line of orbs, and even highlight matches. If you’ve played Match-3s in the past, then these power ups will look familiar. In addition, as part of the achievement system, trophies can be earned for combos, chain reactions, and stars earned.
Dragon Portals is a solid game, and if you’re a die-hard Match-3 gamer, then this should certainly be a must have. The game is well-designed has very high production values and a worthy casual pick-up-and-play title.
Back in June we reported the existence of a fully functional Commodore 64 emulator for the iPhone, written by Manomio, that was rejected from App Store approval by Apple.
It seems those holding out hope for the official release of this emulator have something to look forward to, based on a recent tweet from the developer.
C64 for iPhone UPDATE: Contacted by senior director at Apple today and we have BIG news coming. Thank you to EVERYONE for the support
Stay tuned everybody. It seems some retro goodness may just be around the corner....
In the meantime, see our hands on look (with video) at Commodore 64 for iPhone.
Since then, while a vocal segment of readers have been loving the game, some (including myself) have never quite gotten comfortable with the original control mechanisms offered in the title or the pace of the game as a whole. 
One of Konami's first App Store releases, Frogger [
Pole Position: Remix [
PopCap Games announced this morning that Plants vs. Zombies will be available on the App Store by the end of the year. Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense game for the PC and Mac that has been well received by critics and so far has sold more copies since its release earlier this year alone than any other game PopCap has published.
Chillingo's Inkvaders arrived in the App Store tonight for only $0.99 [
