Those eagerly awaiting the 2D Mini Squadron shooter we profiled back in September will be pleased to find the game has arrived. The developer described his motivation was to bring a "high quality, frenetic shoot-em-up to the iPhone, taking inspiration from old-skool games".
Mini Squadron offers an arcade style 2D shooter with a progressively difficult 8 levels with multiple stages in each. There are 50 progressively unlockable aircraft with different stats, handling and weapons to use throughout the game. Other features from the developer include:
Over 50 planes to unlock and collect for your mini squadron.
8 Levels of intense combat each containing multiple levels of enemies to shoot down
7 different types of weapon to use including Homing Missile, Drop Bomb, Laser and BIG Laser!
Ducks, Seagulls, UFOs, Devil Planes, Propellor Planes, Squids – you can shoot all these things and more!
Simple yet fluid gameplay systems based on physics, you can stall if going too slow and also gain supersonic speed by diving fast towards the Earth for a competitve advantage.
More than 8 different pick-ups to boost your plane.
Local WiFi Multiplayer – challenge your friends to a one-on-one dogfight to the death!
Full review to come. First impressions are being reported in our forums.
One of Gameloft's latest games that came out just the other night tries to breathe life into a very popular genre in the App Store: Castle Defense. Not to be confused with Tower Defense, Castle Defense games involve defending your castle from an endless onslaught of enemies that can be flicked away with the swipe of a finger. In the past, the gameplay of these have been so monotonously repetitive, you have to ask yourself why are people playing these games.
While there been some notable versions including as Monster Kill and Knights Onrush that have added their own twists to the gameplay, Gameloft's latest take seems the most ambitious with the use of 3D graphics that adds a surprising amount to the game itself.
Set in a fantasy world, the game offers 10 different types of invaders and 18 strategic upgrades. Gameloft's video shows off the gameplay really well and is worth a watch:
Readers who have already grabbed the game seem to be enjoying it and New England Gamer details its distinguishing features well:
There are different ways to kill your enemies with the fire ball, the ice ball, the griffon (how they spell it) and feeding them to the hydra. In addition you can purchase tornados and lightning spells. You can upgrade to the boulder spell which makes a boulder to roll over enemies. There is also the all powerful ghost army. There are ten types of enemies that each need to be killed in a different manner. Upgrades are available at the end of each day in the campaign mode. Catch an energy ball from a warlock for example and divert it back to kill other enemies. Redirect the bomb from the Bomb Goblin to kill enemies.
But there is also the usual dropping, slamming and throwing into the wall way of killing (though that won't work with some enemies). Feeding them to the hydra gains you life points that are needed in addition to the gold you earn for upgrades.
So there are lots of additions to the flicking and there is some strategy involved with the enemies – especially when hoards approach! Ice, fire, griffon, flick, bomb, etc. Its pretty frenzied at some points.
Some in our forums are calling it the best Castle Defense game so far, and even with our brief time with the game, we'd have to agree. So, if you've enjoyed these types of games before, Castle Frenzy is worth serious consideration.
In late September, FDG Entertainment announced that they were bringing a new "time traveling" action RPG Across Age to the App Store. The game has drawn comparisons to Chrono Trigger and Zelda and is a co-production between FDG Entertainment and a Japanese studio called Exe-Create.
Across Age is said to have over 15 hours of gameplay and is set played through the eyes of two characters that you can control as a party or individually. Switching between the characters can be done at any time and required for some of the cooperative and time traveling puzzles found in the game.
At about 55 seconds into the video below, you can see one of the coop puzzles that requires one character to help another character onto a ledge, go around, and open a door. The video also shows the main town, basic combat and ultimately a boss fight.
FDG warns that the movement speed is set very fast in this production build, and the final speed of the game hasn't yet been determined but it will definitely not be "the slow-sort of game".
Across Age is still in beta testing and will be submitted this winter. The game will be sold at $9.99.
The developer of Fayju Ball has set the game for Free for a day. We looked at the game back in June and found it to be a standout game in the Labyrinth/Ball Roller genre.
Like many other games in the App Store, Fayju Ball has you tilting your phone to try to get the ball(s) into the proper spots. This game, however, stands out in its use of puzzle elements as well as the 3D physics involved. Some levels require you to flip your iPhone upside down to get the balls to "fall" towards the screen.
Check this video to see it in action, or better yet, just download it for free.
The day is finally upon us– Ravensword: The Fallen King [App Store] is here. To say this collaboration between Russ Menapace of Human Powered Games and Josh Presseisen of Crescent Moon Games has been highly anticipated among our community would be a bit of an understatement. The thread in our upcoming games forum collected thousands of posts, we had the eccentric developers on our podcast and nearly 100 comments from upset fans when Ravensword and many other Unity-powered games were rejected last week.
Ravensword is an open-world roleplaying game that begins with a mysterious cut scene that mentions strange creatures wandering the countryside at night, villagers gone missing, and a king who hasn't been seen in years. Your character was found at the edge of the forest, and was brought to the nearby town of Aven where a friendly woman named Beatrice attempts to answer some of your amnesia-induced questions.
She mentions a nearby castle filled with evil, but obviously recommends you you stay away, and instead head down to the nearby Rat Donald's stand to take your first quest: Collecting five rats for the "dinner rush". He arms you with a club and then sends you off to the nearby forest to bash the surprising amount of giant sized rats. The rest of the game continues as you hop from quest to quest, leveling up, collecting items, and discovering more about your mysterious identity.
Ravensword has both third person and first person views, and the game's controls work a lot like the many first person shooters on the platform. A virtual joystick on the left side of the screen controls your movement, and swiping anywhere on screen with your right thumb allows you to look around. Swiping with two fingers changes your view much faster, and is useful for when things sneak up on you from behind.
Combat uses a lock-on system where you can tap an enemy, then start swinging by hitting the attack button in the bottom right corner of the screen. Double tapping an enemy brings up their statistics, and to see your own stats along with viewing the map, changing settings, or looking up your quest log is just a matter of tapping the backpack icon in the top right.
The graphics and music in Ravensword combine very well to create a whimsical fantasy atmosphere that permeates the whole game. Forum members have also reported that Ravensword even performs well on the first generation iPod Touch, but you can squeeze even more performance out of the game by toggling off shadows and foliage in the game's settings if you prefer a higher frame rate to visual effects. Ravensword runs like a dream on the iPhone 3GS and 3rd generation iPod Touch, a surprising feat given the level of detail in game and the fact that they're using Unity and not some highly optimized custom game engine.
The developers haven't been modest in their comparisons between Ravensword and other games, and have mentioned long-standing series like Elder Scrolls and Zelda as inspiration behind the game. While the game does have its limitations, it's an amazingly impressive effort for a two man development team.
Some of its shortcomings are things like lack of any real character customization, when you level up your attributes are assigned automatically and there aren't any skill trees to speak of– two features that have become somewhat expected in most modern RPG's. There's also no secondary skills or traditional magic you can cast, so in its current form you will be limited to swinging your melee weapon and (when you get it) shooting your bow.
Later in the game, things do start to feel a bit limited, but more because of the lacking diversity in weapons and armor than the inability to customize your character's skills. In games like Dungeon Hunter or Underworlds, different loot flows like water, and it seems like you're constantly upgrading gear– something I feel like I'm missing from Ravensword. Despite that, the game world itself and the plot line of the main quest kept me sucked in throughout and the impressive 3D engine gives the game an open-world feeling otherwise unmatched on the iPhone.
Overall, Ravensword is a great addition to the somewhat scarce landscape of RPG's on the iPhone. It has some flaws, but it's a lot of fun and at the end of the day that's really all that matters. With an estimated 6-8 hours of gameplay, and side quests to keep you busy long after that, I can't help but recommend Ravensword.
Apple must have expedited the reapproval of Crescent Moon Games' Ravensword as it appeared in the App Store early this morning for $6.99.
Similar to recent Elder Scrolls games like Morrowind or Oblivion, Ravensword is an open world roleplaying game with both a main quest line to follow and a considerable amount of side-quests. The developers have quoted anywhere between 6-8 hours of gameplay to complete the initial quest without taking side-quests into account.
The Ravensword game world is surprisingly detailed for an iPhone game, and performs remarkably well. Along the way you will equip your character with all kinds of different magical items and slay hordes of enemies as the main quest line slowly reveals your character's mysterious identity.
Konami is having a massive sale discounting every single one of their games to $0.99. No matter what your take on the games, there's definitely deals to be had here.
There's no indication how long the sales will last, but it's safe to say that despite any shortcomings every game listed above is worth at least $0.99.
THQ Wireless released Star Wars: Trench Run tonight which offers you a chance to relive the key scenes surrounding the destruction of the Death Star by the rebel forces in the original Star Wars the movie.
Your mission: Use the Force to overthrow the evil Galactic Empire as they attempt to destroy the small rebel base on the jungle moon of Yavin 4. As part of the Rebel Allianceʼs Red Squadron, you dogfight with TIE fighters above the Death Starʼs surface before heading into a trench where you are inundated by cannon fire. Dodge obstacles and stay out of Darth Vaderʼs sights as he tries to gun you down before you have the chance to fire your proton torpedoes into the thermal exhaust port the size of a womp rat. If successful, a direct hit will cause a chain reaction that destroys the Death Star, thus saving the Rebel base from impending doom.
For anyone who has seen the movie, the plot is laid out for you: combat some Tie fighters, navigate the trench while avoiding obstacles and taking out turrets, avoid Darth Vader's attack from behind and finally shoot your proton torpedoes into the exhaust port.
The only tie-in with the Force is the ability to slow-down time by pressing on the left side of the screen which slows the action down. Right side of the screen fires your lasers while a top left button alternates your cockpit or exterior view. The game comes with Mission and Arcade modes. Mission mode takes you through the above objectives in sequential order while Arcade focuses on two areas (Trench Run and Dogfighting) that you play over and over in increasingly difficult levels.
Overall, the game feels like a series of mediocre mini-games tied together by scenes from the original movie. While there are multiple difficulty levels, none of the individual gaming components were particularly compelling, so once we had made it through the campaign mode on easy (a 10-20 minute endeavor), we weren't sure what there was left to do. The endless arcade mode does offer some added distraction, but quickly grows old as you realize you are just playing those same levels at increasing difficulty.
In the end, it's not a game we see ourselves coming back to again, and given the number of other great games we've recently seen, we just can't recommend it.
This week we had John Kooistra on our podcast during which he revealed for the first time what he had been working on for the past 6-7 months.
Kooistra is the developer behind some of our early App Store favorites Blue Defense! and the follow-up title Blue Attack!. Both games were set in a new universe of Red and Blue forces who were set on destroying each other. Kooistra's latest project extends this universe and provides an actual back story (the "why") behind the aggression of the two forces in a real time strategy (RTS) game called Red Conquest.
Like most real time strategy games, your goal is to build up your army and coordinate your units to maximize enemy damage while minimizing your own. Kooistra explains that due to the space setting, unit micromanagement is very important as there are no physical obstacles for your enemies aside from your own units. In order to adequately defend your position, you will need to make a blockage with your own frontline battle units. As ships are destroyed, they explode into chunks that can be collected by your harvesters, so you'll want to bring one of those along with your attack squadrons. Multitouch is also said to play a big role in managing your units via a "squad multimove" screen where you can move as many units as you have fingers.
In [some of the screenshots], you can see little circles attached to squads by lines, those are multimove handles. Basically, on this screen, you can move individual units with as many fingers as you're comfortable with. I like to use both thumbs, myself, and you get pretty good control over a fair number of units this way. It's very good for micromanagement.
Meanwhile this screenshot gives you a tactical map when you zoom out with squads represented by icons.
We haven't been able to spend any time with the game itself which is hoped to be submitted in the next few weeks, but Kooistra supplied us with these early screenshots which share the familiar art style of his earlier games.
The game will be delivered in a series of episodes. The first episode will be delivered later this year, with 3 further episodes to be slowly added as free updates over time. Kooistra is offering more details and answering questions in our Red Conquest forum thread.
Apple has started recruiting (via AppleInsider) a game developer with 3-4 years of game development experience and has shipped at least one AAA title. They specify the candidate needs to be a "passionate gamer" and will be working on "interactive multimedia experiences" on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Of course, we take "interactive multimedia experiences" to mean games. So, why is Apple hiring an in-house game developer? While Apple did release their own Texas Hold'em game on day 1 of the App Store, they seem to have been happy to let 3rd party developers take the lead since.
Apple does seem to be taking games more seriously, and has even recently hired Graeme Devine a prominent game developer who had major roles in Doom 3 and Halo Wars. The iPod Touch's success has been tied directly to Apple's push of it as a gaming device. The success has attracted a number of developers and has even convinced id Software to wind down their traditional BREW/JAVA mobile games to focus their entire mobile efforts only on the iPhone/iPod Touch.
