As promised, we're back with a review of Ace Combat Xi Skies of Incursion [App Store], the latest in Namco's Ace Combat flight action game series that has seen numerous sequels that take place all over the Ace Combat timeline in various aerial theaters of war since the original was first released in 1995 for the Sony PlayStation. Featuring all the same high flying action as previous Ace Combat games, Skies of Incursion brings the fight to the iPhone, although with disappointingly little content and a whole heap of included and planned downloadable content in the future.

There are a lot of things I like about this game. The plane models themselves are great, and the ground is covered with real satellite imagery which greatly adds to the realistic look of the game compared to many other titles that just use plain green and brown textures that vaguely resemble grass and dirt. I've found the tilt controls to work very well, and the various on-screen buttons that make up your weaponry and throttle controls to be easy to use.

Everything about the flight system itself in the game is phenomenal, and you can tell that they've drawn from the years of experience in making the Ace Combat games. There are two views, a first person cockpit view and a third person chase camera. I've found myself preferring the cockpit view, only because the additional interface elements look really cool– Although it does seem much easier to get disoriented. There is a shell here for a really great game, but it quickly goes pear shaped as soon as the "wow" factor of the game wears off about half way through the first level.

The missions in the game involve listening to radio chatter for enemy jets to be called out, orienting your jet towards them, hitting the throttle, and taking them down either with your machine gun or missiles. There isn't anything really wrong with this, because flying around in the game is a lot of fun, the problem is the only difficulty in the game comes from each level's timer.

I often found myself playing the game, and having a great time flying around shooting down the other planes only to abruptly have my play session end by hitting the time limit– Even though it felt like I was doing well, and engaging in some pretty impressive dogfighting maneuvers. Shooting down all of the enemy jets within the time limit can be frustratingly difficult, and require multiple attempts on each level, especially if you end up getting disoriented and wasting too much time getting your jet pointing in the right direction to take out the next squadron of fighters.

On top of this, there are only five levels included in the game. I don't think it's very likely you can breeze through the game in one-shot without needing to redo any levels, but if you can it will only take around a half hour to complete. More realistically, you can expect 1-2 hours of gameplay depending on your skill. There aren't any special missions or boss fights, and very little changes throughout the entire game. 10 jets are available, 3 from the start, 2 to unlock, and 5 via a 99¢ microtransaction for each plane.

(Gameplay video from Tokyo Game Show preview.)

Ace Combat Xi reminds me a lot of Command & Conquer Red Alert in that there is a framework for an absolutely amazing game here, but instead it is being used as a vessel for DLC sales. If you're in love with the Ace Combat series and don't mind a rather short campaign, then you may enjoy having a copy of the game with you at all times on your phone. If you don't have any particular ties to Ace Combat games, you're probably better off exploring the few other aerial combat games or waiting to see how Gameloft's HAWX turns out.

App Store Link: Ace Combat Xi Skies of Incursion, $4.99

TouchArcade Rating:

Namco's highly anticipated jet fighter game Ace Combat Xi Skies of Incursion [App Store] was released this evening, the most recent in a very long line of Ace Combat games that spans nearly all home and portable consoles.

The game itself doesn't have much of a tutorial, but the controls and gameplay are exactly what you would expect out of a game like this, and anyone who has played an Ace Combat game (or similar jet fighter game like F.A.S.T.) will feel right at home without instruction.

We will have a full review posted soon, but having only played the first few missions so far I'm happy with the game in it's exactly what I expected out of an Ace Combat game for the iPhone. The story seems decent, the gameplay is fast paced, and the graphics are phenomenal. I imagine for a lot of fans of the series, that's all you will need to hear before purchasing, otherwise check back tomorrow for an in-depth look at the game.

First impressions are being collected in our forums with some detailed notes from jmax99.

App Store Link: Ace Combat Xi, $4.99

Data East's Cobra Command [App Store] was originally released in arcades all the way back in 1984. At the time, its laserdisc-based graphics were nothing short of revolutionary and similar to games like Dragon's Lair, made other games in the arcade look primitive in comparison.

In the game, you play as a pilot in the world's most advanced helicopter, the LX-3 Super Cobra. Your enemies consist of an elite terrorist group, who also fly around in helicopters (although presumably nowhere near as advanced as yours). Gameplay involves an interactive movie playing behind a cockpit overlay with on-screen controls to move a crosshair around the screen to fire at enemies. There are also points in the game where you will need to follow the audio prompts of your commander and steer your helicopter, this is accomplished by tilting, or using the virtual joystick depending on what method you select in the game's options.

Like other laserdisc games (Notably Space Ace [$4.99 / Free] and Banjo The Woodpile Cat [$1.99] on the App Store.) actually getting through Cobra Command requires fast reflexes, a good deal of memorization, and lots of trial and error. These games were designed as arcade machines with one goal: sucking up as many quarters from your pocket as possible. Even on easy, Cobra Command can be irritatingly challenging, but that's all part of the charm of these retro games.

Cobra Command is completely remastered from the 1984 version, with fully restored video, a new cockpit and sound effects, as well as unlockables. There's even an online leaderboard and hardly any noticeable delay between the different animated clips that make up the game. Of the laserdisc games available on the iPhone, Cobra Command is by far the most impressive largely because of how much care Revolutionary Concepts not only put in to bringing the game to the platform, but also bringing the game up to today's standard instead of just doing a straight port of the original.

If you were around when laserdiscs games were the pinnacle of gaming technology and remember the people waiting in line to play Cobra Command and Dragon's Lair, it's going to be hard to resist this remastered version of the original arcade game. But if, however, these games are before your time, it's hard to say how much you will enjoy Cobra Command, especially with how much video games as a whole have moved away from the "one small mistake and you're dead" gameplay model in recent years.

Reactions in the thread on our forums have been positive so far, aside from issues with the tilt controls. This is easily remedied by just switching control of the helicopter to the virtual joystick instead of tilting. I've been having a great time with the game myself, but I've entirely lost count of how many times I've crashed my helicopter– An occurrence that seems remarkably common when I play.

App Store Link: Cobra Command, $4.99

TouchArcade Rating:

From the very beginnings of games on the iPhone, back even before the App Store even existed, it has seemed like labyrinth games were a natural fit for the tilt controls of the device. There are too many games to list that share the core gameplay element of rolling a ball around a maze, and before playing Labyrinth 2 [App Store] I thought there was little room to innovate on such a crowded genre with seemingly endless variations on the same basic game. Illusion Labs has proven me wrong, as Labyrinth 2 is absolutely fantastic

From our detailed preview of the game:

Like the original game, the goal of Labyrinth 2 is to get the silver ball from the starting point to the goal while navigating walls and avoiding the holes. In the first version, that was pretty much all there was to it. Labyrinth 2, however, adds a number of new elements that graduate the game from simple wooden toy simulator to arcade game.

These elements include cannons, bumpers, doors/switches, magnets, fans, resizers, merry-go-round, duplicators, lasers and more. Navigating the levels still require careful tilt control to avoid falling to your death, but are also more puzzle/goal driven as you must also figure out how to make it to the exit. Levels are timed as before so beating your individual high scores remains the motivator to play a level again. This time, however, they've added a ghost ball representation of your best time for you to directly compete against.

My favorite part of Labyrinth 2 is the online level editor, available at levelpack.com where players can create their own levels which are then downloaded in game. The few included levels themselves are good, but pale in comparison to what the community has already created. In my time with the game I've really enjoyed myself going online each day and downloading the new level packs that other players have created. (Forum member MidianGTX has even started a thread for discussing level creation on our forum, as well as creating the Touch Arcade level seen above.)

The creativity so far has been astounding, and now that the game is out in the wild I can't wait to see what the player base comes up with. If you've enjoyed labyrinth games in the past, Labyrinth 2 is a must-own. If you want to sample some of the great things in Labyrinth 2, as we posted previously, you can play 5 levels from the sequel in the recently updated original Labyrinth [$2.99] and Labyrinth Lite [Free].

App Store Link: Labyrinth 2, $4.99

Update: App is back.

TouchArcade Rating:

Turn-based strategy games have popped up here and there in the App Store, but none have really gained the traction that games like Advance Wars or Final Fantasy Tactics have on other consoles. With the exception of a small but devoted UniWar following, the iPhone has yet to see a breakthrough success in the world of turn-based battalions. Rogue Planet is looking to change all that.

Returning from a 35 year mission in space, the Nimeh is loaded with crew longing to see home. But when they return to earth they discover a horrible situation – the machines have taken over! Yes, that’s right – Rogue Planet is Macross Saga meets Terminator. As any science fiction fanboy will attest, the combination of these two scratches a certain nerd itch that we didn’t even know we had and we’re all the better for it.

Despite drawing from some obvious inspiration, the story in Rogue Planet ends up feeling wholly original and fairly well told. Each mission is a part of the larger story, unfolding as the Nimeh travels in search of any human survivors. Decent writing and a compelling plot keep things moving along nicely throughout. But what is a compelling story without some equally compelling gameplay?

Thankfully Rogue Planet delivers where it counts. Basic mechanics feel like a stripped down version of what Advance Wars offers. You’ll move, attack, and produce units. In terms of actual gameplay, that’s the bulk of what you’ll need to know. The touch screen interface feels like a perfect fit for the genre. You just tap a unit, tap where you want to go, and confirm your intentions. Depending on your situation you’ll attack, rest, heal, bomb, or commit suicide. It’s important that you know what you want to do, because unlike many of its competitors Rogue Planet doesn’t offer an undo button. The game is fairly unforgiving in this way, forcing you to think your strategies through before jumping into action.

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TouchArcade Rating:

In the turn-based strategy world, few games are as vast as Battle for Wesnoth [App Store]. Originally released as an open source project in 2003, Wesnoth has collected a massive following of fans that contribute to the code base, create new art and sound assets, and/or write the campaigns themselves.

The computer game is a free download, and will run on Windows, OSX, Linux, and several other more obscure operating systems like the AmigaOS4 and OpenSolaris. Its system requirements are modest enough that the game will run on nearly any computer made in the last five years, and because of this Wesnoth seems to be a favorite among netbook gamers.

Kyle Poole, along with the support of countless fans, decided to take on the massive task of bringing Wesnoth to the iPhone. After months and months of work, Battle for Wesnoth is finally available for turn based strategy fanatics on the App Store. If you look at the game strictly with regard to its faithfulness as a port, it's absolutely phenomenal.

Nearly everything from the original has been preserved on the iPhone, and instead of just simply one or even two campaigns like most similar games, Wesnoth's initial release comes with 14. These 14 campaigns consist of nearly 200 individual scenarios which will provide hundreds of hours of playtime as you wage war in the mystical land of Wesnoth with multiple different battle locales, races, factions, and classes.

Like most turn based strategy games, utilizing your units intelligently along with taking advantage of the benefits offered by different types of terrain is key in winning any battle. These terrain types work exactly as you would expect– For instance, units attacking from forests are harder to retaliate against than units standing on open ground. I could go on detailing the various parts of the game, but they've already done that and then some on the Battle for Wesnoth wiki which I really recommend checking out before either downloading the free computer game or the iPhone version.

Unfortunately, while the game is a fabulous port of the original, not many concessions were made in its first release to make it a good fit for the iPhone. Most of the UI elements seem to be taken straight out of the PC version, with buttons and widgets that are often far too small to comfortably or accurately hit. Also, the different campaign levels themselves can take upwards of 30 minutes and needing to take a single phone call means losing all your progress since the last time you manually saved your game.

Normally these kind of things would really make me think twice before getting involved in an iPhone game that seems to forget that many people will be playing it on their phone, as interruptions will likely be unavoidable. Not only that, but reports of game performance on previous-generation devices have ranged from decent to unplayable.

Wesnoth's saving grace that has me on the verge of disregarding many of its flaws is its amazing implementation of multiplayer. Not only can you play online, but you can also play against the desktop version of Wesnoth. iPhone games with online multiplayer are few and far between. But iPhone games that not only have online multiplayer but also complete cross-platform compatibility are a rare find indeed.

Developer Kyle Pool is actively participating in the Battle for Wesnoth thread and plans to release an update soon addressing most of the issues mentioned above along with other complaints of forum members. Largely because of the spotty performance on devices other than the 3rd generation iPod Touch and iPhone 3GS, it is probably a good idea to hold off on buying Battle for Wesnoth until these issues are ironed out and the update is released.

If you're willing to put up with these issues to play the game now, your perseverance should be rewarded with the most in-depth turn based strategy game available for the iPhone. If this is your genre, Battle for Wesnoth really is a game that you must experience, if not on your iPhone then on your computer.

App Store Link: Battle for Wesnoth, $4.99

A week back, we posted an exclusive preview of the upcoming iPhone remake of Jeff McCord's classic '80s dungeon-crawler, Sword of Fargoal. This weekend I had the opportunity to interview Jeff along with his partners in crime on this project, Paul Pridham (who brought us Saucelifter) and Elias Pschernig, about their imminent release. (An edit of the IRC-based interview with the three can be seen after the jump.)

Along with the interview, Jeff has posted the first in a series of in-depth gameplay videos that should give gamers a very good sense of what the game is all about.

In a nutshell, the Sword of Fargoal places the player within the top level of a deep series of dungeons with the quest of seeking out the legendary "Sword of Fargoal" and escaping with it from the depths of said dungeons. Complicating matters is the fact that the layout of each dungeon level is randomly generated when the player enters it, and that the dungeons are all initially bathed in darkness, revealing themselves only as the player explores. Those lucky enough to locate the sword have only 2,000 seconds to find their way out of the dungeons which, even on the way up, are randomly generated…. Not a proposition for the meek.

I've spent some real time with pre-release builds of Sword of Fargoal of late and have really been enjoying the game so far.  As I mentioned in our preview story, the iPhone adaptation of this classic is rich on gameplay but a bit more casual in some respects than the typical roguelike, making it nicely approachable to those who have  found other games of the sort a bit too "hardcore."

If you've ever wanted to make a treacherous journey deep into the heart of a dungeon full of all manner of ghastly creatures, now's your chance — or soon, anyway. Sword of Fargoal has just been submitted to the App Store and should be available by mid-December at an introductory price of $2.99 (regular $4.99).

Read on for the interview with Jeff, Paul, and Elias.

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Commanders, get ready for battle! Gameloft has just released the much-anticipated turn-based military sim Rogue Planet to the AppStore, and from what we’ve played so far we can tell you it’s everything we’ve been hoping for.

Fans of turn-based war games like Advance Wars and Military Madness will feel right at home here. Unlike previous iPhone attempts at tackling the genre, Rogue Planet felt like a natural fit from the first moment we fired it up. The space opera story about a ship returning to earth only to find it in the hands of a hostile force is exactly the kind of sci-fi popcornia that hooks a player on more than just gameplay.

Just like our initial impressions of the story, the touch screen mechanics feel as tight as you might want them to. Things move at a quick pace and everything is streamlined down to the basics. Move units, attack units. Lather, rinse, repeat. After playing the first few levels, we’re happy to say that they offered up great map layouts that never feel like you’re walking endlessly, marching and marching just looking for battles. Hardly a turn goes by without some form of combat occurring.

The other thing that both surprised and delighted us was the length of each battle. Developers try to tailor their efforts to what they believe is a "typical" iPhone experience, meaning quick bursts of gameplay without a great deal of depth or strategy. The catch, though, is that depending on the type of game you’re making you might be sacrificing everything that would have made your game great in the first place. In this regard, Rogue Planet unapologetically sticks to its roots and strays away from the bite-sized gaming experience that many iPhone gamers have come to expect. By the time we’d reached the third mission we found ourselves spending 30 minutes or more reach our objectives. It’s the same tried and true deep experience that has made games like Advance Wars such a success on other platforms.

The 2D art in the battle scenes and dialogue sections pops just as much as you’d expect from the trailer. There’s a very heavy anime influence to the art style. For some reason the whole experience reminds me of Macross. Maybe it’s the ship returning from space. Maybe it’s the choice in vehicles. Whatever it is, it works.

In addition to the single player campaign with 19 missions, Rogue Planet also offer local multiplayer over Bluetooth and Wi-fi. The absence of internet play stings a little, but Gameloft assures us it’s being worked on for the next update. In the meantime, those without iPhone pals hanging around their living room can still experience the feel of multiplayer in a single player setting thanks to the Quick Game mode. Quick Game let’s you fire up a multi-style battle against AI bots and here there are 3 levels of difficulty across 34 maps (19 from story and 15 new ones) playable with 2 different armies.

So far we’ve only had a chance to experience the single player campaign, and from what we’ve seen of the first few missions, it looks as though we might finally have a solid iPhone contender for the hearts of Nectaris lovers everywhere. We'll take a more in depth look after we've had some time with the game.

App Store Link: Rogue Planet, $4.99

Those of you who were turned off by the Here and Now Edition of Monopoly that had been in the App Store will be pleased to find out that EA has finally released the Classic version.

Monopoly brings the classic Monopoly board game to the App Store. The game offers a somewhat gratuitously 3D view of the game and even offers internationally localized versions of the board. The game seems to pull your iPhone's region settings (see here) to present the proper board. The game comes with 3 levels of difficulty against AI opponents and also offers local Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (2 players), and Pass & Play for your friends.

There also appear to be plenty of rule customizations to give you the game you're used to (Auction option also available, but cut off on screenshot):

The game is embellished with 3D graphics and animations of your pieces moving from one place to another, and the game also allows you pick one of several 3D rooms in which to play the game.

App Store Link: Monopoly, $4.99

Dungeon crawler fans that like to equip an iPhone or iPod touch when it comes time to hew a row of ogre necks are in for a real treat in a coming iPhone remake of a true classic of the genre. Jeff McCord at age 17 originally wrote Sword of Fargoal for the Commodore PET — in BASIC — in 1980. Two years later he teamed up with Epyx and released the game commercially for the VIC 20 (still in BASIC). The following year, Jeff and friends brought the game to the newly-released Commodore 64, and the rest is history.

Sword of Fargoal is one of the best loved roguelike games ever to light up a CRT. In its 1996 anniversary issue, Computer Gaming World listed the game as #147 in the "Top 150 Best Video Games of All Time." It has been inspiration for many dungeon crawlers created since, and has itself been remade for various platforms.

In a nutshell, the game places the player within the top level of a deep series of dungeons with the quest of seeking out the legendary "Sword of Fargoal" and escaping with it from the depths of said dungeons. Complicating matters is the fact that the layout of each dungeon level is randomly generated when the player enters it, and that the dungeons are all initially bathed in darkness, revealing themselves only as the player explores. Those lucky enough to locate the sword have only 2,000 seconds to find their way out of the dungeons which, even on the way up, are randomly generated…. Not a proposition for the meek.

Along the way, the player encounters a vast array of enemies, both human and not-so-human. Battling these enemies, the player builds experience points which allow the character to level, increasing his fighting abilities and hit points. As well, various spells can be found throughout the dungeons that aid the player in completing his quest: Invisibility, Drift, Light, Regeneration, Teleport, and Shield.

Now, the astute reader might be asking themselves just how well a game written almost 30 years ago in BASIC for a 1MHz, 50 lb computer suits the iPhone. The answer is, in fact: quite well. As the game moved from PET to VIC 20 to C64 to PC it has certainly evolved graphically, but never moreso than in its latest jump to the iPhone. Jeff and his partner in this effort Paul Pridham (who brought us Saucelifter) have done an excellent job with this remake.

The iPhone version, with which I've spent notable time this weekend, features completely redone graphics utilizing OpenGL ES to add depth to the stony visuals. It allows for pinch-and-spread zoom control to focus on the action at hand and features an optional on-screen mini map to aid in negotiating the twists and turns of each dungeon level. What's more, Paul has implemented a full, real-time music synthesizer system for the game which delivers sound that, while ringing of retro, surpasses the quality of the C64's SID-based score.

But, really, what makes the game so well suited for the iPhone is its casual nature as compared to the typical roguelike. And that's not to say the game is shallow or light on dungeon crawling action, but rather I feel it's simply a bit more accessible to the typical gamer than, say, Nethack, Moria, or Rogue thanks to an economy of controls, spells, and the like. Those who've never played a dungeon crawler before might just find themselves drawn in to Sword of Fargoal.

Have a look at the developers' trailer video for a glimpse of the action.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

Sword of Fargoal will be submitted to the App Store sometime next week and should go live in early to mid December at a one-week introductory price of $2.99 (regular $4.99). After the game goes live, the developers plan to release a series of free, episodic updates that will introduce new game elements, level types, and the like. Additionally, new graphical tile sets will eventually be made available as in-app purchases for those wanting to apply a whole new look to the game.

I've enjoyed recent dialog with both Jeff and Paul as they've introduced me to their upcoming iPhone title and we plan to post an in-depth interview with the developers in the next week that takes a closer look at the game's history, the iPhone remake, and iPhone development in general. Accompanying the interview will be a detailed gameplay video that should give prospective buyers a solid look at Sword of Fargoal for the iPhone.