Last week during the QuakeCon keynote address, John Carmack pulled an iPhone 4 out of his pocket and shocked the audience by showing a demo of id Software's next game, Rage, running on the device. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Rage will have elements of racing games and first person shooters. There's also said to be RPG elements in the game as well, making it sound similar to both the Fallout series and Borderlands. Information is still limited as the game isn't slated to launch until 2011, but either way the following demonstration is beyond impressive:
We've spoken at length with John Carmack in the past, where he's mentioned potential upcoming id Software titles such as Doom 2, Quake Classic, and the rest of the id back catalog coming to the App Store. Wondering what the state of all these projects were, we once again pow wowed with Carmack to see what he's been up to since we last spoke.
According to John, id has restructured a lot last year and several people from the mobile team has since been sucked in to other big projects, and they've only recently got the mobile team staffed back up to the proper size for iPhone development. Carmack admits that after releasing Doom Classic [$6.99] he hadn't even opened up Xcode until last month to start working on Rage technology.
Currently, id is completely focused on Rage, and John isn't sure when they will get back to the classic games "even though it makes a lot of sense." He also explained that while both Doom II RPG [$3.99] and Wolfenstein RPG [$1.99] have done well on mobile phones, their performance on the App Store has been less than ideal, leading to the decision to not bring the Orcs & Elves games over to iOS.
Carmack admits he's had a lot of fun working with iOS 4 recently, and wished he had more time to devote to it. And while it's more than a little disappointing that we won't see the classic id games anytime soon, with how impressive the Rage demo was, I'm A-OK with John Carmack and the rest of the id Software team working on the forefront of iPhone development instead of focusing on porting retro hits-- I doubt I'm alone in that.
QuakeCon 2010 is a free four day gaming festival that takes place down in Dallas, TX every year. QuakeCon is host to a massive LAN as gamers from all over bring their PC's to come play games locally, see the latest software and hardware from various vendors, and compete in various tournaments. I've never been able to make it to the event, but it's always been high on my to do list as friends of mine who go every year routinely rave about what an awesome time QuakeCon is.
...But just because we're not in Texas this weekend doesn't mean we're missing out on all the QuakeCon festivities, as to celebrate the event id Software has significantly dropped the price of all of their iPhone games. These games are all worth owning, and highly recommended.
DOOM Resurrection, $6.99 → $1.99 - Everything that is awesome about a modern Doom game applied to a rails shooter. The fact that the game is on rails was a point of tons of controversy when the game was originally released, but we thought it was absolutely awesome in our review and is still high up there among the best looking iPhone games to this day.
Wolfenstein 3D Classic Platinum, $1.99 → 99¢ - It's hard to get much more classic than Wolfenstein 3D when it comes to first person shooters. The iPhone port has a wide array of control options and since its initial release was update to Platinum which includes more maps, more bosses, and even custom map support. There's also a lite version to try.
DOOM Classic, $6.99 → $1.99 - This game hardly needs an introduction, but much like Wolfenstein 3D, this classic first person shooter is right at home on the iPhone with a ton of control options, along with 36 missions to play through across four episodes. Doom Classic has both deathmatch and cooperative multiplayer, but unfortunately you can only play with local players.
DOOM II RPG, $3.99 → 99¢ - This odd spin on the Doom universe still has you killing demons with huge guns, but this time it's in a turn based RPG setting. It's a little weird, but once you get past the whole Doom going from a first person shooter to an RPG, Doom II RPG is a ton of fun. For more details and gameplay video head over to our review.
Wolfenstein RPG, $1.99 - This isn't on sale as it's published by EA, but it's odd to mention the rest of id's lineup without Wolfenstein RPG. It plays very similar to Doom II RPG, although the plot and events that transpire in Wolf RPG seemed substantially more wacky. Check out our review for more information on exactly how many chickens you'll be kicking in this game.
QuakeCon goes all weekend, and these sales will only last for the duration of the event. If you've been thinking of picking any of these games up, make sure you do it by Sunday night.
If you're like us and have way more apps in your iTunes library than you can manage without a dedicated personal assistant on the job (Ahh, first world problems truly are the worst.) then you might have missed some of these updates that have hit the App Store recently. If you've grown tired of any of these games since you first downloaded them, mash the "update all" button and give them a go again.
Archetype, $2.99 - We were blown away by Archetype as evident by our review. The game features gameplay similar to Eliminate [Free] in that it's an online first person shooter that's playable over everything from EDGE to broadband via WiFi. Archetype ups the ante significantly by providing 5v5 team-based deathmatches that are a ridiculous amount of fun, and the fact that it runs at Retina Display resolutions on the iPhone 4 is the proverbial cherry on top of this multiplayer fragfest sundae.
The update that just landed adds a new level called "Avarice" which focuses on vertical combat with tons of jump pads. Also, the new game mode "Rocket Arena" pits players against each other using only rocket launchers. If you're playing with an iPhone 4, the game now can take advantage of the gyroscope, and there are a number of other tweaks and fixes as well.
Bejeweled 2 + Blitz, $2.99 - This game should hardly need an introduction, but in case you've been living in a cave on Mars with your fingers in your ears and your eyes closed, Bejeweled is PopCap's insanely successful match 3. The original Bejeweled was released nearly 10 years ago, and since then the game has seen a few sequels and spinoffs which have been ported to nearly every platform imaginable.
The latest update further fleshes out the Blitz game mode which can be played sharing online leaderboards with any friends of yours who play the Facebook version. The iPhone version of the game now has coins and boosts, which basically just amount to yet another layer of complexity on top of the game where your Facebook friends can score millions of points more than you, leaving you wondering how people get so good at this game. Coins spawn randomly and are collected by matching the associated blocks, and then those coins are spent on power-ups (or "bosts") to boost your score even more.
Doodle God, 99¢ - I fully admit I don't understand the appeal of this game, yet nearly everyone I know can't get enough of it. Peter explains how the gameplay works in our review, and Doodle God basically amounts to combining various "elements" to create others such as combining earth and fire to create lava. From there, lava can be combined with other elements to create even more, and it just snowballs from there.
Episode #3 just landed which adds even more content to the game. There are over 100 new reactions along with 40 new "modern age" elements. There are also now parental controls to make sure your kids can only create kid-safe elements along with several other additions and tweaks such as not draining your battery quite so much while playing.
Aqua Moto Racing 2, $2.99 - Free - I really liked this arcade aquatic racer in my review, and while these updates haven't been released yet, they're worth keeping your eye out for. 1.0.2 is adding Retina Display support, 1.0.3 is adding universal support to turn the iPhone game in to an iPad game, and 1.0.4 is adding a new "storm mode" which apparently is going to be for "hardcore riders" only.
It's always exciting to see a game get this much post-launch support, and I love when iPhone games I like turn in to universal apps so I can play them full screen on my iPad. Aqua Moto Racing 2 already looks great on my iPhone, and I can't wait to see it at Retina Display resolutions.
Ever since the demonstration of the iPhone 4 at the WWDC keynote, the far and away most talked about feature has been the stunning Retina Display. When the iPhone 4 finally released, some developers took the opportunity to update their existing games to harness the power of the eyeball burning high resolution. Previously, we've covered games that have added retina support including Real Racing, Flight Control, Archetype, Sword of Fargoal, Jet Car Stunts, Zen Bound 2, and a host of games from Pangea Software. Well it's time to add another to the list as Gameloft's Halo inspired first-person shooter N.O.V.A. has been given the Retina Display treatment as well, along with support for the iPhone 4's gyroscope.
N.O.V.A. wasn't a bad looking game to begin with, but with this latest update it's hard to believe that I ever thought so. Gone are the many jagged edges that are rife within the game, replaced with silky smooth graphical models that can only be possible with the four times as many pixels on the iPhone 4 display. The game literally pops of the screen now (although the voice acting remains comically terrible). I could go on about the enhanced visual clarity of N.O.V.A., but these comparison screens tell the story better than I ever could:
Perhaps an even more intriguing addition to N.O.V.A. is support for the iPhone 4's gyroscope. The gyroscope must be enabled when starting a new game or from the control options, and is actually a combination of screen swiping and movement. Swiping still moves your aim in an extreme manner, so you still pretty much move and turn the same throughout the game. But the gyroscope offers refined accuracy within your current view (unless you are moving your entire body around, in which case your entire view changes with you), and it works beautifully. It can be a little disorienting to get used to at first, but one you do you'll never want to play an FPS game any other way, and this is coming from someone that typically hates tilt-to-aim in FPS games. This slightly cheesy video demonstrates the new controls:
The touch and gyro combination just sings, and makes N.O.V.A. feel like a whole new experience. The new updated graphics are gorgeous, and still impress even for a seven month old game. And there's the always handy iOS4 fast app switching thrown in this update for good measure. Needless to say, if you're an iPhone 4 owner with a copy of N.O.V.A., don't hesitate to grab this latest update and play through one of the better iPhone FPS games all over again.
Ever since we spotted the online first-person shooter Archetypein limited release, we'd been dying to try the game out. At long last, Archetype was released to the global App Store this past week to much fanfare and a huge marketing campaign. After finally getting our hands on it and spending some quality time playing, we can safely say that Archetype is one impressive game, and developer Villain has, for the most part, followed through on their promises for the title. That's not to say there aren't a few issues with it, or a wish list of things we'd like to see added, but all said, Archetype delivers one of the most robust, beautiful, and most importantly fun FPS experiences that can be had on the iPhone.
For starters, if you have Apple's new iPhone 4 then you are treated to some unbelievably crisp graphics. The textures that make up the levels and player models aren't the most detailed -- which is fine, as this allows the game to run at an ultra-smooth clip -- but, on the retina display, it really approaches a high definition console game running on the small screen. For all other devices, including the first generation of iPhones and iPod touches, the game is still very graphically impressive and maintains a solid framerate. The five stages available in the game are also visually quite nice, and are all indoor arenas with a high tech industrial look similar to games like Eliminate or the Halo series. It's not a groundbreaking style, but it gets the job done while maintaining good performance across all devices.
Controls in Archetype are a familiar dual analog stick setup that works well, though doesn't leave many options for players that prefer different control schemes. The two sticks are visually situated in the usual spots in the lower corners, but can actually be activated by touching nearly anywhere on either half of the screen. This lends itself well to people who like the “touch anywhere” or “swipe the screen to aim” mechanics of similar touch screen FPS games. Your weapon can be very quickly changed by touching the upper right corner and grenades are thrown by touching the upper left corner. A melee attack is performed by touching the bottom of the screen anywhere in between the two analog sticks, which is also where the radar is displayed. Minor options to invert the aiming axis or adjust sensitivity are available, but the default control scheme described is basically all you get. This isn't really a bad thing though, as they do work very well and are semi-flexible, but surely won't suit every single gamer.
A couple weeks ago we first caught wind of Archetype, an online first person shooter by iPhone developer MunkyFun which is comprised of veterans of LucasArts and the creators of both Shift [99¢] and Ivory Tiles [99¢] for the iPhone. Much like ngmoco's Eliminate [Free], Archetype is said to work over WiFi, 3G, and also EDGE connections. Players will rank up as they play, earning experience and winning medals along the way.
The main differentiator between Archetype and other similar online shooters is that Archetype will be playable with up to ten players at once, in teams of five, with an assortment of six different weapons to choose from. We're anxious to see how the game works, and likely won't have to wait too long as per the Archetype web site the game is launching in "early July" for $2.99.
For more information on the game, including a few hands-on impressions from a few people who managed to snag the game early, check out the thread in our forums. I'm not entirely sure how MunkyFun is going to be able to provide a solid 5v5 first person shooter experience that will even play well over EDGE, but needless to say we're going to be keeping a very close eye on this game to give it a try once its released.
SGN'sExo-Planet made its first appearance on the App Store in early April as Exo-Planet Elite for the iPad [$6.99], a few weeks ago Exo-Planet Elite [$4.99] was released for the iPhone, and it wasn't until a few days ago that the DLC-powered free to download Exo-Planet [Free] joined the ranks. Exo-Planet is an online shooter, somewhat similar to ngmoco's Eliminate [Free], but with a third person perspective, multiple game modes, and an always-equipped grappling hook.
The game is controlled similar to most shooters, and a brief tutorial tells you practically everything you need to know about playing. Movement is controlled with the left side of the screen, and sliding your thumb around the right side of the screen allows you to look around. Virtual buttons are scattered about that do things like allow you to view the scoreboard, switch weapons, and fire. Every player is equipped with a grappling hook that can be shot at most surfaces, and grappling is as simple as tapping where you want to fire it and waiting for your character to reel themselves in.
Exo-Planet takes place in space, and hopping around and sticking to magnetic surfaces with your boots is highly reminiscent of the zero-gravity extravehicular activity portions of Dead Space. The third person view is actually really nice for all the maneuvering you'll be doing, as you can really get a great look at both your surroundings and the locations of your opponents with the pulled back over the shoulder viewpoint.
Exo-Planet includes three gameplay modes, two online and one offline. Online modes include capture the flag and deathmatch, and both are 2v2 team based battles. The offline gauntlet mode is substantially less exciting, with players competing in timed sessions shooting a series of moving targets. I suppose this answers the common complaint of most online-only games in giving iPod touch users something to do when they're not near WiFi, but gauntlet mode doesn't provide much challenge and really only seems useful for grinding scrip, learning the controls, and killing time.
What's this "scrip" stuff? Well, like similar games, Exo-Planet uses an in-game currency system to purchase various upgrades for your character. Everything from tricking out your weapons to increasing your run speed or even making your grappling hook reel in quicker can be purchased with scrip. This seems to be the major division between the free and paid versions of Exo-Planet.
If you shell out some cash for Exo-Planet either for the iPhone or iPad, you get something called "scrip boost" which increases the amount of scrip you earn by playing matches and fighting in gauntlet mode. In the free version, you have the ability to buy scrip in increments ranging from 99¢ all the way up to $19.99.
Playing online is a lot of fun, although in my testing the quality of the games I get matched up with varies wildly. Some are fast paced 2v2 matches with little or no lag filled with players who know what they're doing (capture the flag is particularly fun in these situations) and others are 1v2 lag fests that either end with the timer running out while you return the flag over and over or kill inactive players, or just simply lagging out. There isn't any Eliminate-like energy system, so you don't really lose anything but the time it took to load in to the game when you get a bad match... Which oddly enough has made me much more willing to put up with intermittent connection and lag issues.
Few games match the experience Exo-Planet provides when you find yourself in a game with 4 solid players with good connections. Playing with skilled players amounts to constantly grappling while firing, grappling again to avoid incoming fire, and either trying to stay alive or capturing as many flags as possible which can be a lot of fun. Connection issues are a problem, and it remains to be seen how much post-launch support SGN is going to give Exo-Planet, as you can really only play the same maps and use the same weapons so many times before getting bored. People on our forums are really digging the game, and I really recommend at least giving the free version a spin if nothing else-- Especially if you've found yourself even slightly enjoying games like Eliminate in the past.
Activision recently released a pseudo-sequel to the surprisingly popular Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies [$9.99], a first person zombie defense shooter made famous by its online four player coop multiplayer modes that we were very impressed by in our review. Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies II [$9.99], aside from having a title that's an even bigger mouthful than the first, comes loaded with the new Shi No Numa map. Shi No Numa is a very large swamp filled with buildings, new weapons, monsters, and zombie traps that fans of the original game will no doubt quickly fall in love with.
What's odd about this "sequel" is that the only thing different it has over the first, which is little more than the new map and everything in it, is available via a DLC purchase in the original. Also, Zombies II has Verruckt and Nacht Der Untoten (the two old maps from Zombies) available as optional DLC. Basically, it doesn't matter which game you have, as each one has the content of the other available in DLC packs.
If you've enjoyed Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies, be sure to check out the in-game store to give this new map a try. So far, the thread on our forums is filled with people who are having a great time with it, so if you have yet to pick up the game it might not be a bad idea to dive directly in to the sequel to have the newest map which most people will likely be playing. You can always pick the others up later.
Double experience point weekends are commonplace these days, as big traditional developers like Infinity Ward, Epic Games or Treyarch award their hopelessly addicted, and often most demanding, players with free points. But even the mobile folk are getting into the game. Take, for example, ngmoco.
Starting this afternoon, the developer is awarding "double credit compensation" in its free-to-play competitive shooter (with a newly added cooperative mode), Eliminate [Free].
Until Monday at 12 PM PST, players eager for progression will earn double the points in deathmatch. The official Eliminate blog notes that the double credits don't extend to cooperative play. The blog also threw down this dandy quotable immediately following the note: "A stronger employee is a better employee, two stronger employees working together are an insurance liability."
Users on the Touch Arcade forums still seem to be digging this game quite a bit, and now seems like the best of times to jump in.
Two free, lite versions of paid iPhone games recently appeared in the App Store and we wanted to make sure that readers who may not have tried these titles had them on their radar.
Back in February we took a look at Gameloft's Brothers in Arms 2 [link], a follow-up to the late-2008 release Brothers in Arms Hour of Heroes [link] which was one of the most impressive games in the App Store at the time of its release. We found much to like about the sequel.
Brothers in Arms 2 was designed as an iPhone game from the ground up. Weighing in at over three times the filesize of its predecessor, it brings to the iPhone a much larger game experience. This time around it's a first person affair, as opposed to the third-person, over-the-shoulder experience that is the first title. Actually, when in duck-and-cover mode, BIA2 does jump out to third person — and that's something you'll see often, as using crates, walls, and tanks for cover is pretty much par for the course in this title. That is, when you're not sprinting across the battlefield, manning the turret in a jeep or tank, or piloting a "glider" through heavy flack. Yea, it's a pretty intense affair.
Gameloft's recently posted Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front FREE [App Store] is a scaled down version that offers a taste of the full release through a battle mission set in the Pacific.
Late last year everybody's favorite cartoon family came to the iPhone in the form of The Simpsons Arcade [App Store], a touch-controlled beat-'em-up of a different sort. In the game you play as Homer, who is on a quest to chase down a mysterious doughnut which also happens to be host to a USB flash drive that holds some kind of secret information that nearly the entire population of Springfield seems to be in on. Using an on-screen joystick and two buttons Homer can perform a variety of simple moves and combos on the seemingly never-ending supply of henchmen that are dead-set on keeping you away from the doughnut in question.
While it's certainly not the most ambitious fighter we've ever seen, well -- hey -- who doesn't want to fight as Homer?
EA's The Simpson Arcade FREE [App Store] delivers the first level of the paid release to get gamers hungry for more Springfield smackdown.
We were extremely hopeful that Giant Moto would scratch our iPhone Excitebike itch, and since giving it a spin, it's hard to say how good of a job it does. Right now, the game seems to have tons of potential, but isn't quite as amazing as I was hoping. Giant Moto really nails the look and feel of a 3D Excitebike-like game, but ultimately falters in several areas. The controls are a little awkward, with a combination of on-screen buttons and tilting to make your way through the included courses. Also, only six tracks are included which really leaves you wanting more.
With more tracks, a track builder, or even randomized tracks coupled with some control refinements and I could see Giant Moto becoming really appealing through updates.
Yes, there are a ton of zombie games on the App Store, but N.Y.Zombies manages to do a decent job of differentiating itself with the rest of the pack. Controls are simple and work well, you slide your finger around the screen to change your view and tap to shoot zombies. A set of buttons on the bottom of the screen allow you to switch between the over 20 included upgradeable weapons, and there are also over 20 different locations to slay zombies in ranging from corn fields to subway cars.
If you still have it in you to kill zombies, definitely give the lite version of N.Y.Zombies a try.
Early this morning Vimov provided us a sneak peek at their iPhone port of Hexen II. It's a work in progress, as currently there's no music yet, the menu system hasn't been implemented, the controls are basic and nowhere near final, and they've got a bunch of performance tweaks to implement to make it run across the whole iPhone and iPod touch device family. But other than that, it's all there.
Hexen II is, obviously, the sequel to Hexen (which was the sequel to Heretic) and was developed by Raven Software and published by Id for the PC in 1997. This first person shooter utilizes a modified version of the Quake engine to add a roleplaying element to the game where players could choose from multiple classes, and increase statistics by earning experience throughout the adventure.
Like the other games in the series, Raven eventually released the source code for Hexen II, which is what is powering the following gameplay video:
The sticky situation that the developers of this Hexen II port face is that, while the actual game source itself has been made open source, the data files that make Hexen II more than just a modded Quake engine are not open source. The preview version we were given is utilizing assets from the free Hexen II demo, but the game itself can't hit the App Store until the developers work our some kind of licensing agreement with Activision.
We're still working on the finishing touches of out Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front [App Store] review, but the game was just released on the App Store a few moments ago. This sequel of Brothers in Arms Hour of Heroes [$4.99 / Free] comes with an even larger single player campaign, six player online multiplayer with multiple game modes, and tons of other goodies.
We posted an extensive preview article earlier, and Gameloft recently released the following gameplay trailer:
Our review will be up soon, and in the meantime, there's a very active thread on our forums with forum members discussing the game.
Last week we noted that an iPhone port of the PC classic Rise of the Triad, which we first caught wind of back back in July, had been made official and would soon be hitting the App Store. We're happy to report that the game has gone live [App Store] and those wanting to take on maniac cult leader El Oscuro and his minions on the iPhone are in luck.
Apogee / Mobila Interactive's iPhone port of ROTT brings all there is to like about 1994 PC original to our favorite mobile platform. The game features 32 levels, a choice of five characters to play (each with unique attributes), five different, customizable controls schemes, and the original game's full soundtrack. A notable feature of the original at the time, the player can look both up and down -- up to 45 degrees in either direction -- to better take in the surroundings. And the original's horde of minions, comprised of ten digitized enemies (Apogee employees at the time), is fully represented.
I've spent some time with the game and can say that, while the standard formula of mouse + keyboard is definitely the ideal control method for an FPS such as this, the variety of control options offered in the iPhone port of the game, which utilize combinations of both touch and accelerometer controls, should make it easy for most players to find a system that they are comfortable with. It's not perfect -- I'd like to see a sensitivity setting for the left / right swipe view controls, for instance -- but it works well enough. And it's great fun to get back to this title I enjoyed so many years ago.
Back in 1994, ROTT was a nice alternative to DOOM. And, just as there's certainly a place for DOOM on the iPhone today, so is there a place for Rise of the Triad. For fans of the original, this is an automatic buy, and for anyone else who still enjoys an occasional round of DOOM on the go, Rise of the Triad is a nice alternative that may well be worth a look.
Few games have generated the amount of hype that Gameloft's N.O.V.A. - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance [App Store] has, and even fewer have managed to live up to that same hype. NOVA is one of those rare instances where a upcoming game is everything we wanted and more. It's not perfect, but there aren't many games to even compare it to on the platform. NOVA feels like a complete video game experience, something which is quite rare indeed on the landscape of bite sized games that make up the App Store.
In Nova you play as Karl Wardin, an ex-space marine who has been reactivated to investigate some strange alien activity in a futuristic setting where the Earth has depleted its resources and no longer can sustain life, forcing humanity to live on nearby orbiting colonies. Admittedly, the plot isn't anything to write home about and the voice acting ranges from passable to downright cringe-worthy at times-- Especially whenever Karl himself speaks. Thankfully, the gameplay itself more than makes up for these shortfalls.
The first series of levels will leave you wandering around on a space ship while you're guided by various characters communicating over the radio. An arrow guides you from objective to objective, and gameplay amounts to simply following this arrow, killing anything that moves, and flipping switches to activate or unlock different objects and areas. Deadspace fans will feel right at home when the game asks you to traverse the hull of the space ship, even going as far as to mention enabling your magnetic boots. What do you do while you're outside the ship? Run from pressurized area to pressurized area while avoiding incoming asteroids of course. (If you haven't played Deadspace, you do exactly this several times throughout the game-- The hull is even laid out similarly.)
Eventually after fixing a few different parts of the ship and killing oodles of aliens, you will make your way to the bridge to initiate the self destruct sequence and escape back to your ship. You then fly down to a planet with beautifully rendered lush forests which also happens to be infested by these same (although slightly different colored) aliens. The rest of the game continues in a similar fashion, with different characters telling you where to go and what to do across 13 different levels that take place in five distinctly different environments.
The run and gun action is broken up by mini games, a level where you man the turrent on a warthog-like truck from Halo, and even a couple boss fights. Scattered throughout the levels are locked crates which must be opened by playing a brief mini game where you move different objects around on a grid to solve a puzzle where you're directing a laser beam from its source to the target. None of these are particularly difficult, and depending on how you feel about mini games you will either find these to be enjoyable distractions or just too annoying to bother with. Thankfully, it seems like there is enough ammo dropped by enemies and laying on the ground that the crates are optional but you will be forced to solve a few of these puzzles throughout the game as you "hack" things to progress.
Similar to Halo, your life is measured by a shield meter at the top of the screen which depletes when you take damage and recharges slowly afterwards. Your shield gauge also serves as your oxygen supply when you're in space, and your super abilities also take off a chunk of your shield's power. Super abilities? Oh yes, straight out of Metroid Prime you will slowly gain new abilities such as the ability to freeze enemies, shoot a charged up energy beam, and even run faster with speed boots.
If you've played Modern Combat: Sandstorm [$4.99 / Free], the controls in NOVA will be instantly familiar to you. If not, the game uses a virtual joystick on the left side of the screen for movement, and moving your thumb around the right side of the screen changes your view around. Different buttons frame the screen that do things like fire your weapon, toss a grenade, change weapons, reload, etc. There are two other included control schemes, one where the screen is split in half and moving your left thumb anywhere controls your movement while your right controls your view (essentially just removing the virtual joystick) and another with two virtual joysticks where you tap the screen to fire. I've found the default controls to be fine, although I did spend some time fiddling with the sensitivity.
Another nice feature is the ability to move all of the elements of the game's UI around. I've moved the reload button closer to the fire button because I'm a compulsive reloader in first person shooters, but you can customize it however you want. (Although currently this option only seems available by adjusting your controls mid-game, and not from the main menu.) Strangely enough, even though it seems that Gameloft has put a great deal of thought in to different control options and customizations, the ability to invert the Y-axis of the camera control is notably absent. What will leave you scratching your head even more regarding the lack of invert look is that Modern Combat: Sandstorm, a game which shares a similar engine to NOVA includes Y-axis inversion. You can however flip the screen orientation, something that should make iPod touch users happy.
The performance of the game is phenomenal on the iPhone 3GS with fast load times, high frame rates, and everything else you could ask for in a first person shooter. Meanwhile, reader reports all the way down to the slowest device in the iPod family have been said to be smooth. Even while playing online in NOVA's four player deathmatch mode, which surprisingly enough seems to be working just fine for everyone, a nice change of pace from Gameloft's recently released Modern Combat: Sandstorm multiplayer update.
Playing online requires both WiFi and a Gameloft Live account. Registering for Gameloft Live is easy, and once you're online you will have the option to play deathmatch or look at the worldwide leaderboards of players with the most points and kills. When creating a deathmatch game, available options include choosing one of the five maps, as well as enabling or disabling weapon stay and aim assist. Games can be set with a time limit or a frag limit, and both can be set to none to play for as long as you'd like.
When joining a game, you're thrown in to a lobby which lists available games that have open slots for you to join. Those of you waiting for an Eliminate "killer" will be disappointed to discover that currently there doesn't seem to be any random matchmaking, or the ability to have friends-only private matches. All you can do is create a game and hope that three of your friends join it before other people do.
Despite its limitations, online multiplayer (as well as local bluetooth/WiFi multiplayer) is a lot of fun and performs surprisingly well. I haven't come across any lag or connection issues, and so far it just works-- Although the true test of NOVA multiplayer will be how well it holds up once players start getting good at the game and scrutinizing the weapon balance. It's too early to say how large the online community will get and what kind of staying power NOVA's online presence will have, but it seems quite enjoyable right now.
If you're a fan of first person shooters, or any of the previously mentioned console classics that NOVA is obviously inspired by, then you too will also likely really enjoy NOVA. It's one of the most ambitious iPhone games I've played so far, and despite the questionable originality of the game I've really got to hand it to Gameloft for creating such an amazing iPhone experience.
Currently, id is completely focused on Rage, and John isn't sure when they will get back to the classic games "even though it makes a lot of sense." He also explained that while both Doom II RPG [$3.99] and Wolfenstein RPG [$1.99] have done well on mobile phones, their performance on the App Store has been less than ideal, leading to the decision to not bring the Orcs & Elves games over to iOS.
