Villain and Munkyfun‘s online first-person shooter Archetype [99¢] received a massive new update over the weekend, adding some new features to the original game for free and and even more new stuff through an available in-app purchase. The game has once again dropped to 99¢, and it sounds like that may be the new permanent price for the “base model” of Archetype, which is now referred to as Chapter 1. This new update adds a new arena for multiplayer called Shotgun Arena and a new advanced training level.
Buying the IAP Chapter 2 will add even more content to Archetype. The major addition with this purchase is a capture the flag mode, which has been oft requested since the game’s release. There are also 3 brand new environments in this chapter, and 6 new arenas. Crimson Moon and Aqua Lock each have team deathmatch and capture the flag variants, Obsidian Skirmish adds a brand new team deathmatch arena, and previous arena Avarice has been reworked for capture the flag play.
Both chapters now feature story elements that are gradually unlocked as you play through multiplayer matches and earn experience, adding a cohesive campaign to go along with your online fragging. Game Center support has also been added for unlocking achievements and tracking high scores. Rounding out this giant update is a number of fixes and optimizations to Archetype, which smooth out the entire experience and improve matchmaking speeds considerably.
Perhaps the best part of all this is that the additional chapter available through IAP launched on Saturday for $2.99, but has since been discounted to just 99¢. This move was probably made to increase the amount of people playing the capture the flag mode. If you already own Archetype I would definitely recommend updating to the latest version and purchasing Chapter 2 while it’s only 99¢. If you don’t yet own Archetype, but like first-person shooters, check out our original review as we think it’s one of the best ones available in the App Store.
You can drop by the game thread in our forums for more information or to find some people to add to your Archetype friends list. As it seems the new game model for Archetype is this downloadable chapters system, we’re eager to see what more will be added to the game in future updates. The enhancements found in this latest update to the iPhone version of Archetype are expected to hit the iPad version soon too, presumably after the release of iOS 4.2 sometime next month.
