Ripstone Ltd. would like to sell you a time machine. For only a buck, you can download Gun Commando [$0.99] and travel way back to 1993, a year when Bill Clinton was president, Sega and Nintendo went 15 rounds in the 16-bit console prize fight, and first-person shooters didn't bother with radical ideas like aiming up and down.

id Software also released a game called Doom in 1993--maybe you've heard of it--but Gun Commando has more in common with Doom's pappy, Wolfenstein 3D. The Macintosh version of Wolf3D, specifically, since character sprites only have one side. That means no sneaking up on alien goobers and capping them in the back. Levels are made up of rooms cut at 90-degree angles, the graphics are good and pixelated, and the plot, told through beautiful comic-book-style cutscenes, gets no more complex than "aliens are bad so shoot all the aliens."

You might notice that your 99-cent, Gun Commando-themed time machine affords access to a few tricks that B.J. Blazkowicz didn't have on hand when he went up against Robo-Hitler in id's seminal shooter. When you shoot an enemy, you add a few bars to the experience bar at the top of the screen. Fill it up and your one and only peashooter evolves, changing color and packing a mightier punch with each upgrade. Enemies that took four shots to put down soon only require three, then two, and before you know it, you're a one-shot hotshot.

Careful, though. Miss your target and you lose experience points. Empty your XP bar completely and your gun downgrades one level. It's a clever upgrade system that encourages steady aiming instead of button mashing, and makes you feel like a badass every time you topple a previously hearty bad guy in one or two shots instead of a handful or more.

Not that your enemies are sturdy to begin with. Once again evoking the zeitgeist of the 2D era, enemies pack more bite than brains. The base enemy, a grunt who swings a shield as his only form of attack, marches resolutely toward you, giving you plenty of time to take him down before he gets close enough to attack. Gun-packing aliens only fire when you step within a few feet of their position, which means you can round a corner, spot them looking right at you, and pop them off at your leisure.

Other enemies move and fire at the same time, but won't open fire unless you're in a certain range. I cleared most rooms by running in to wake up the aliens, retreating a safe distance down a clear hallway, and knocking them off one by one without taking a lick of damage. Throw in the fact that your health jumps back to 100 between levels and you can stroll right up to the final boss, no sweat.

If you do die, you just head back to the beginning of the current stage with full health and your upgraded weapon intact. Why not dock players a gun level to add tension? Not that most enemy mobs inspire much fear even with a low-level weapon. You'll meet pockets of worthy resistance on the game's twilight stages, but your gun should pack enough oomph to topple them in a few shots or less. The only real threat to Gun Commando's beefcake hero is the control scheme. Invisible sticks move and strafe, but movement fluctuates between choppy and floaty, like sliding across an icy pond.

How much you'll enjoy Gun Commando will depend on how nostalgic you are for a shooter that recalls the bygone days of boot disks and Sound Blaster 16 cards. I grew up on a healthy diet of old-school shooters where the goal was to mow down legions of mouth-breathing monsters, so I enjoyed my brief jaunt through my formative years, and appreciated how the upgrade system added some tactical consideration to the experience. Those interested in more sophisticated shooting galleries should pass.

Regardless of the fact that The Conduit's reviews couldn't be more split, it's still really neat to see a console game this recent heading to iOS devices. Originally released in 2009, I think it's reasonably fair to say that The Conduit was High Voltage Software's attempt at bringing a Halo-like Perfect Dark-ish to the Wii, a console which lacked those kind of "hardcore" games that were exploding on other consoles at the time.

The Conduit is already available for Android, which typically means "coming soon" translates more directly to "It'll be out whenever Apple approves it" in iOS-speak. High Voltage even has a trailer put together of the Android version, if you want an idea of what it'll probably look like on iOS devices:

And, like all upcoming games, if you want to be notified when it's available for download be sure to add it to your TouchArcade app [Free] watch list.

There's been a lot of talk lately about Block Fortress [$0.99] and for good reason. Rare have we  ever witnessed a game that manages to combine tower-defense, first-person shooters and creative sandboxing genres all in one game. Foursaken Media's Block Fortress not only successfully accomplishes such a feat, but manages to do it in such a way that truly makes its sum greater than its (individual genre) parts. There's a lot of love about Block Fortress, making it a game that really needs to be checked out.

Simply put, Block Fortress is a game about survival and defense. Players place a barracks on one of several pre-set maps, and are charged with defending it from hordes of enemies. Generally, gameplay is divided into two phases. The build phase tasks you to fortify your barracks with walls, turrets, and a variety of other attachments. This is also the time to purchase and equip weapons and items for your character. This lends way to the attack phase, which starts the enemy waves and puts you into FPS mode, letting you get into the action and supplement the defense of your barracks.

Meanwhile, while Block Fortress features three game modes, I found the most appealing to be Survival, which starts you off with limited resources and challenges players to build up resources while defending against waves of enemies. The other two modes, Quickstart (which starts you off with a ton of resources to instantly build the fortress of your dreams) and Sandbox (which gives you total control of building and enemies) are also great additions and provide entertaining alternatives with emphasis on creativity.

We've seen tower defense games incorporating FPS elements, but nothing to the degree of Block Fortress. The first-person shooter element is fully featured, with a variety of weapons to purchase during the course of gameplay. Meanwhile, the building element is also full featured, with a wide dearth of customizability in both structural choices and defense options coupled with secondary essentials such as power blocks (necessary for anything requiring power), lights (essential at night) and farms (allow you to replenish health). Sure, the FPS controls still suffer from the perpetual issues that seem to occur on touchscreens and the construction menus can be a little obtuse, but the sheer amount of potential and the fact that the game as a whole actually works far outweighs these minor nuisances.

As if the near limitless possibilities for construction weren't enough, Block Fortress's long-term upgrade scheme showcases just how much depth the game can offer to dedicated players. Each weapon and turret (along with certain building blocks) has the potential to be infused with modifications, which can be built with rare minerals that are mined and gathered during normal gameplay. Modifications have the potential to dramatical change the way you play the game, and are an essential component to pay attention to for players looking to truly succeed. One complaint lies in the relatively slow rate of accumulation for rare minerals (particularly at the beginning of the game) but an IAP shop, coupled with the optional nature of mods makes it less of a showstopper.

I'm a huge fan of what Block Fortress has to offer, especially when it comes to the sheer amount of potential strategies that can be employed. While there's obviously some tactics that'll succeed better than others (and with that said, I highly suggest checking out our previous tips postings), a lot of the appeal lies in being able to try whatever you wish. In this regard, Block Fortress has everything needed to offer plenty of replayability. In fact, the only thing truly missing is some sort of co-op multiplayer mode, and it's something that I hope that can conceivably be added at some point in the future.

Of course, if the appeal of Minecraft-like construction (or the controls of iOS FPS titles) doesn't suit your fancy, it's hard to imagine that you'll particularly enjoy Block Fortress. However, for those that are intrigued, Foursaken's latest is a game that simply has to be experienced. With plenty of depth, replayability and a great melding of genres, there's plenty to check out and enjoy.

Unsurprisingly, like anything with even a hint of Minecraft mixed in, Foursaken Media's Block Fortress [$0.99] is absolutely ripping up the iTunes charts. Brad and I bumbled around a bit in game for a TA Plays, there's a stupid-huge thread in our forums, and we've even had the developers share some tips. Well, TouchArcade reader and apparent Block Fortress pro-level player who goes by "Giggles Grimm" sent us some of his tips, and we figured we had to share them with the rest of our community. Keep in mind, these tips are a little more advanced with some assumed knowledge that you as a player have spent some time with the game. Trust me, it'll all make sense once you do.

So, without further ado-

(more...)

Foursaken Media's recently released Block Fortress [$0.99] has proven once again that the development studio comprised of four brothers are masterful at blending different genre elements into one cohesive package. Their previous releases like Bug Heroes [Free] and Heroes and Castles [$1.99] made a similar point, but Block Fortress takes it to another level.

It's a base defense style game, but built inside a Minecraft-like world of blocks. This actually lets you construct your own fortress around your base and outfit it with various weapons and defenses. Oh, and did I mention that once the waves of enemies start coming after your base, you're dropped into the map in first-person mode to help blast away at the baddies yourself? Because there's that too.

The mashup of genres in Block Fortress seems to be a winning formula so far, as it's currently ripping up the top of the charts and is one of the hottest games in our forums. It also means that it's a complex game, and when you're first starting out learning the ropes can be a daunting task.

With that in mind, we reached out to Foursaken to get some tips and suggestions straight from the people who made the game and understand it inside and out.

(more...)

Recently we reviewed and enjoyed Gameloft's Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour's [$6.99] single player offerings. While the game's campaign continued the trend of offering a pretty great single player experience, there were a few perpetual nagging issues that seemed to hold it back. Of course, like its console brethren, most folks don't play Modern Combat for its story. Rather, they play it for its multiplayer options, which were introduced with Black Pegasus and greatly refined in Fallen Nation. With Zero Hour, Gameloft has again delivered an awesome FPS multiplayer experience on iOS that really can't be beat.

If you've played any iteration of Modern Combat's multiplayer before, the core of Zero Hour's will be very familiar. Players pick from a variety of game types and compete against others, earning cash and credits for kills, assists and completing objectives. Credits are used to purchase weapons, attachments, killstreaks and more, while experience is used towards increasing your rank. Additional features like WiFi only multiplayer, map voting, parties, and custom matches round out the standard fare.

(more...)

Another year, another entry in Gameloft's Modern Combat series. As was the case with Fallen Nation [$6.99], Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour [$6.99] continues the trend of a decent single player campaign with an established formula made successful with the previous Modern Combat games. While players won't find anything particularly innovative or substantially new to the series, they'll still find a campaign with all the pros (and cons) we've come to know from Modern Combat.

Following an overarching tale of terrorists launching simultaneous attacks around the world and kidnapping the president, Zero Hour puts you in the role of several different protagonists (and antagonists, for that matter) as they each play their parts in the larger narrative. The game employs some interesting techniques, such as letting you play the same event but from the perspectives of different teams. While Zero Hour isn't going to win any awards for story-telling, it still manages to weave a somewhat cohesive story, even if the plot is completely over-the-top (and really, what military shooters these days aren't?). Series veterans will even see the return of an old enemy from Fallen Nation, although he seems to have become a complete caricature of every generic bad guy ever.

(more...)

Dead Trigger [Free] has gone free-to-play on iPhone and iPad as of this morning. This appears to be a permanent design shift for the mindless first-person shooter, which always felt like a free-to-play game hiding behind a premium price. No reason has been given so far as to the sudden change, but it makes sense: Dead Trigger's in-game financial model was far too demanding considering its initial upfront cost.

This change comes alongside a new content update, which added a few new guns, gadgets, and two levels. A new "casino" slot machine has been added, too, as well as the usual bug fixes and tweaks. A list of all the changes is available here.

Dead Trigger went free-to-play on Android in July. At the time, Madfinger said the move was a response to an insane piracy rate. Maybe it was. But it smelled like a publicity stunt, and we openly wondered when this version would go free, too.

Anyway, burning early adopters with a sudden price drop never seems to go over well, but if you're looking for a killer tech demo to see what your phone is capable of now you can do that for free.

There's an element of reality lacking from even the most atmospheric video games. As a survival horror buff, I take masochistic pleasure in waiting until the sun slinks away for the night before turning off all the lights, drawing the blinds, slipping on headphones, and creeping through old mansions and other haunted grounds.

But for as fast as my pulse races during such excursions, I can't forget that I am ultimately safe and sound in my apartment, furnace or air conditioning chugging along, my thumbs twiddling instead of scratching desperately at a locked door to get away from some grotesque beast. Affliction: Zombie Rising [Free] aims to rip you out of your comfort zone by introducing a level of immersion not often seen in video games, much less mobile ones.

(more...)

Do you like zombie games? We sure hope so. It's clear that studios aren't going to be giving the undead a break despite how clotted the market is with their moans and groans and brainless wanderings. On the other hand, we're still finding interesting things in the latest crop of zombie games. Dead Trigger, for example, is tickling us because its production values appear to be off the chain. We guess we're not over the whole zombie thing quite yet, either.

Dead Trigger is the latest title from Madfinger Games, the visual gurus behind Shadowgun and the Samurai franchise. It was announced late last week, and will be appearing on the usual Madfinger platforms -- iPad, iPhone and Android devices with beefy NVIDIA hardware -- at some point in the near future. And it looks like it'll definitely require some hardcore innards. Seriously, check it out:

(more...)

In February of 2011 we learned that Daniel Blezek, a programmer and passionate fan of Bungie’s classic Marathon first-person shooters, was bringing the trilogy of games to iOS. Things went quite for a while after that and people started wondering what was up, but several months later it was revealed that Bungie themselves had given the project their blessing.

During the second half of the year, both Marathon [Free] and Marathon 2: Durandal [Free], the first two games in the trilogy, hit the App Store. And the kicker? They were free. But not just that, they also played surprisingly well on the touch screen and offered optional enhancements by way of inexpensive IAP. Yesterday, the classic trilogy finally became complete when Marathon Infinity [Free] launched in the App Store.

If you’re familiar with the iOS incarnations of the first two games, you’ll pretty much know what to expect with Infinity. You get the complete game in standard definition for free, which still looks pretty darn good after all these years, but alternately for $1.99 you can download the high resolution texture pack to take things up a notch. Then there’s a Master Chief mode for 99¢ which will give you tons of cheat options and a level select, an another 99¢ IAP for a variety of different crosshairs.

Just to reiterate, you can get the entire Marathon trilogy in Universal form for your iOS devices of choice for the low price of zero. The IAP is non-essential and serves as more of a tip jar to show your appreciation to the developer, but it does offer some interesting extras if you so choose. If you were a fan of Marathon back before Bungie became known for Halo, or if you have an interest in old-school FPS games, then all 3 Marathon games should be a part of your iOS game collection.

If there was a list of things that I never expected to be talking about today, Duke Nukem 3D [$0.99] getting an update would probably be right near the top. But that’s just what has happened as MachineWorks has issued a new update for 3D Realms' classic first-person shooter that looks to address the long-derided virtual controls in the game.

For a quick backstory, Duke Nukem 3D launched in the App Store way back in August of 2009. Id Software’s Wolfenstein 3D [$1.99 / Free] had hit iOS several months earlier and received critical acclaim, mostly centered around how well their controls worked. With a Doom [$4.99] iOS port also on the horizon, having Duke Nukem on my iPhone seemed like the greatest news in history for a long-time FPS fan like me.

However, the initial version of Duke had possibly the worst controls I’ve ever encountered. I mean downright unplayable. To the developer’s credit they quickly issued an update about a month later with a bunch of new control options, but sadly it did little to help. Sure, some people could find a scheme that was workable for them with some heavy tweaking of options, but the controls still felt pretty bad and have remained that way ever since.

Until today that is, closing in on 3 years after the last update to Duke Nukem. Surprising to say the least, but unfortunately it’s also a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that the controls are actually quite decent now, offering an improved (but still lackluster) dual-stick option as well as a very good "drag anywhere to aim" scheme which really nails it. It may have taken a long time (that’s an understatement) but I can finally enjoy Duke Nukem 3D on my iPhone. Also, it appears that the visuals have been cleaned up considerably, and actually look quite good for a 16 year old game.

Now for the bad news. The update is full of bugs, one of which can render your controls unusable. You can avoid causing this by going into the control options before loading or starting a new game and selecting and then deselecting the dual-stick controls, but that will erase whatever custom scheme you might have previously created by dragging the virtual buttons around the screen. Basically, it’s not much of a solution.

In addition, there’s also a bug that silences the sounds from the game which I’ve only been able to fix by saving my game and killing it from the multi-tasking screen and then starting it up again. Also, for some reason the end-level stats screen is upside down and they've disabled the mirror reflection effect in the game. Finally, advertisements have been inserted into Duke Nukem 3D which will pop down when you first start the game and when wake your device from sleep with the game running. Lame.

As delighted as I was to see a surprise update to one of my all-time favorite games, unfortunately this latest update for Duke Nukem 3D is a complete mess. If they can sort out the bugs then I really believe the new controls are a huge improvement, and bring the game more in line with the newer FPS games on the App Store. However, given the lack of attention paid to the game the past few years that seems like a pretty big “if”, especially since the iPad version Duke Nukem 3D SE [$0.99 (HD)] hasn’t been updated at all. Also, I’m not crazy about ads being put into a game that I previously paid for.

At any rate, Duke Nukem 3D is currently free right now, so if you didn’t have it already you might as well grab it just in case they do sort out the bugs. If you could manage just fine with the controls the way they were before, then you’ll probably want to hold out on this update altogether until (and if) they can fix this situation.

In our previous review, we covered N.O.V.A 3’s [$6.99] single player experience with the promise of reporting on its multiplayer after the game hit the public and the online servers filled up with players. Unfortunately, after a few days of blasting away against fellow iOS gamers, N.O.V.A.’s multiplayer hasn't quite lived up to expectations.

From a generalized standpoint, N.O.V.A. 3 appears to have everything needed for a successful multiplayer experience. There’s 12-player support across six different game types, ranging from staples like free-for-all and Team Deathmatch, to objective-based modes like Capture the Flag, to even some novel gametypes such as Freeze Tag. There’s also a wealth of customization options including a full selection of weapons, weapon upgrades, power-ups, reward streaks, and even trash-talking statements. A decent amount of custom slots also means that you can plan out a variety of different load outs once you unlock the various weapons and options.

(more...)

Say what you will about Gameloft, the developer occasionally does a good job of filling the App Store void with iOS versions of console staples. N.O.V.A. 3 [$6.99], the third game in the company’s perennial FPS series is one such title.  Capitalizing on the success of the previous two titles, as well as offering full support for the latest and greatest in Apple hardware, N.O.V.A. 3 offers a great action-packed single player experience complete with some very impressive visuals.

Following the never-ending trials and tribulations of Kal Warden, N.O.V.A. 3 continues the story as Warden is yet again recalled into action, this time to the ruins of San Francisco to aid an old friend. From there, you’ll travel to several more planets, a derelict ship, and even the home planet of the Volterites. I’ll save the spoilers for those of you that care about the story, but suffice to Kal gets tasked with saving the human race (again) from certain doom and will go through humans, Volterites and Judgers alike to accomplish that feat.

You’ll be saving humanity via gameplay that should be largely familiar for genre veterans. Like its predecessor, N.O.V.A. 3 has you exploring a wide variety of locales while battling enemy archetypes and hitting objective-marker based goals that shouldn’t offer much in terms of surprise. Also, you can expect the occasional break from the on-foot battle heroics by piloting Mechs, manning the weaponry on top of AI driven trucks and serving as sniper support for other NPCs. By now, it should be apparent that Gameloft has uncovered the formula for a successful FPS, and while N.O.V.A. 3 doesn’t offer much in terms of revolutionary gameplay, it certainly succeeds in what it does implement.

One interesting inclusion is an in-game store that offers unique weapons and upgrades that takes currency you earn by completing single player levels. It’s nice to see a system that actually provides rewards proportionally to how well you complete a level run. Unfortunately, the inclusion of IAP to bypass said currency collection lessens experience somewhat.

A well-done FPS is in some ways far more reliant on its controls than other genres. Thankfully, N.O.V.A. 3 works within its limitations to provide a competent scheme for a touch screen. The standard dual-stick controls are available, as well as generous use of a swipe gestures for swapping weapons and powers. I was particularly a fan of the gyroscope inclusion, as proper use of that option goes a long way towards making the game’s aiming accurate and fun.

N.O.V.A. 3 plays well on the iPhone, but I found the screen to be a bit cramped compared to the roomy iPad controls. Either way, a host of options such as auto-aim, attempt to help even touch-screen novices blast away with ease. While I imagine there are some folks that will never get used to touchscreen controls for an FPS, the fact remains that N.O.V.A. 3’s control schemes do a decent job of letting you take out baddies and navigate the environments with ease.

By the way, those environments you’ll be traversing across look absolutely gorgeous. N.O.V.A. 3 takes full advantage of the hardware offerings of the iPhone 4S and new iPad, which leads to one of the most visually impressive FPS titles I’ve played on iOS. The textures, weather and visual effects – even the shadows are all well done and simply stunning.

As nice as the game looks on the small scree, N.O.V.A. 3 begs to be played on a new iPad. The larger retina-display of the tablet lets you truly appreciate just how far the visuals have come in the series. The fact that the game manages to look this good while successfully running (for the most part) at a decent framerate is probably the most impressive accomplishment. Granted, there were a few mishaps with the graphics engine, such as a few instances of falling through environments, the occasional slowdown when there’s a lot of action on the screen and the unusually lengthy loading screens (that occasionally make you think the game crashed), but these do little to detract from what is an otherwise impressive visual system.

It would be easy to simply classify N.O.V.A. 3 as impressive eye candy and leave it at that, but Gameloft deserves credit for continuing the trend of creating a well-rounded FPS experience complete with a full story-driven campaign, a plethora of control and gameplay options and a balanced gameplay experience. We sometimes talk about games that possess that certain something that make them ideal for showcasing the might of iOS. I’d argue that, while N.O.V.A. 3 may not necessarily be at the top of that shortlist, it has enough going for it to warrant being close to such a classification.

This is part one of our two-part N.O.V.A. 3 review. In previous N.O.V.A. games, multiplayer played a very large component of how much our community enjoyed the game. With our early review copy, there obviously wasn't anyone to be found to play with online. As soon as the game is released, and we can spend some quality time with the multiplayer we'll post a follow-up focusing on the multiplayer aspects of N.O.V.A. 3.

In March of 2009, id Software released the grandfather of all first-person shooters, their 1992 classic Wolfenstein 3D [$1.99], to the App Store. Besides being a piece of gaming history that you could fit snugly into your pocket, Wolf 3D was also noteworthy for having the most usable touch screen controls for an FPS seen thus far on iOS.

Not long after its initial release, Wolfenstein 3D on iOS received a huge update that added in all of the Spear of Destiny expansion pack levels as well as the ability to load custom levels into the game. Then last summer, another sweet update hit that added Universal and Retina Display support to the game, and it played fantastically on the large screen of the iPad.

Now for the first time ever id Software is offering Wolfenstein 3D Classic on iOS for free, most likely to celebrate its 20th anniversary. If you’ve somehow never got around to picking up Wolf 3D on the App Store, now is your chance to strike, as the game is an absolute classic that plays wonderfully on iOS and must be experienced.

I have a sneaking suspicion we’ll be hearing more iOS plans from id when QuakeCon gets rolling in August – I refuse to give up hope on the long-awaited iOS versions of Quake and Doom II – but until then make sure you don’t miss out on grabbing the grandfather of FPS on iOS while free.