Sad Cat Software released Project Phoenix into the App Store tonight. Project Phoenix is a very nice twin stick tank shooter with large levels and frantic gameplay. Oh, and it's FREE for a limited time.
After successfully defending a key research facility from invading aliens in "Team Alpha" you have been promoted, and are now in charge of the army's most advanced tank prototype. Your mission? Free the Earth of the evil invaders, which are going to throw their best military technology at you. Can you do it and save the planet?
The developer's gameplay video shows the action which can get intense with tons of enemies on screen:
The game is well controlled using left and right dual thumb sticks. The current version of the game spans 7 different missions/levels each with a specific goal. Kills award cash which can be used to upgrade your vehicle's armor, weaponry and more. Health and power-ups are also strewn across the levels giving items such as helper vehicles or air strikes. The game has a great classic arcade feel to it and you really should download while you can.
Project Phoenix is free for a "very, very" limited time. The developer plans on added more levels and features to the game over time.
Jeff McCord's iPhone remake of the 1980s classic Sword of Fargoal has arrived in the App Store. We were excited to preview the iPhone remake of this dungeon crawler back in November.
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 also randomly generated.
The iPhone version 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, the developer 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 we 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.
Early impressions from our readers are also quite positive, including great first impressions from the Rogue Touch developer as well as from at least one skeptic. The game is on sale 40% off during its first week.
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
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].
NaturalMotion's Backbreaker Football [App Store] is part physics engine tech demo and part arcade sports game combined together to create a tilt-controlled pick up and play experience that is extremely enjoyable despite being so simple.
The gameplay of Backbreaker is structured in to a series of challenges where you run down a football field juking, spinning, and sprinting past defenders attempting to tackle you. You run by tilting your device forward, and the direction you run is controlled by tilting left or right similar to how you would control a racing game.
The different levels start simple, initially only asking you to evade a few defenders on a wide open field. Backbreaker quickly adds a twist with the inclusion of red lines on the field that you must run between without getting tackled. Step across one of these lines and you have to start the whole level over.
In our review we even drew comparisons to the legendary and beloved Doodle Jump. Some of the complaints lodged against the original on our forums regarded the difficulty level and the amount of challenges in the game. NaturalMotion responded by releasing the 1.1 update which features a new challenge mode with 10 additional waves of defenders as well as both pro and hardcore difficulty modes. (And even an unlockable Backbreaker helmet.)
I had a great time with the original, and the update only serves to improve the game even more. Unlocking the higher difficulty levels involves playing through the normal difficulty, so if you have deleted the game from your phone since its release you will need to make your way past the standard set of challenges again to ramp up the difficulty.
It seems the legal battle for Mobigame remains ongoing. Their popular EDGE game was once again pulled from the App Store last week after another complaint filed by Tim Langdell.
David Papazian of Mobigame told us that the release of EDGY was an effort to keep the game on sale in the U.S. and U.K. Papazian writes, "To release the game on the U.S and U.K Store we had no other choice than changing the name. But we did not recognize any right to Tim Langdell on the trademark EDGE and we will continue to fight for the right to use this name. The game is still named EDGE in all other countries."
He also notes that if you already own EDGE there is no need to download EDGY except to support the company. The one difference is that EDGY does contain a "turbo" mode (where the cube runs 10x faster) if you beat the 46 levels. Papazian concludes, "We hope that the fans of EDGE will understand".
From now until Christmas Eve, Blacksmith Games' Appvent Calendar will be revealing a new game that can be downloaded for free each day. Modeled after holiday advent calendars, each of these games will only be free the day they're revealed, so be sure to check back often.
The first freebie is Craneballs Studios' 33rd Division [App Store], a line drawing stealth strategy game set during World War II.
The goal is to guide soldiers, medics and sergeants entering the battlefield to each of their designated destinations without being seen (shot and killed). This is done by drawing a course across the battlefield (Flight Control style) in and among obstacles and roving patrols.
You can read more about 33rd Divisionin our review, but since these daily free games are a limited offer I'd suggest downloading the game as soon as possible if you're at all interested in it.
The last of the Gameloft previews from their Paris press event is the highly anticipated NOVA, a first person shooter which seems to combine quite a few gameplay elements of both the Halo and Metroid Prime game series. NOVA is set in the future, when the Earth has run out of resources and human civilization exists on what amounts to interstellar resource farms which are guarded by the Near Orbital Vanguard Alliance (or NOVA).
In the single player campaign, you play as an ex-marine named Karl Wardin living on a space colony far from Earth. You're called back in to service to report on some strange occurrences with a nearby lost ship. Needless to say, this isn't a routine reconnaissance mission and before long you will be blasting your way through a legion of angry aliens in your path throughout several different environments ranging from space ships, to underground, and even a lush jungle as seen in the hands-on video below.
The game consists of 10 levels across 5 unique environments, and along the way you will utilize an arsenal of 6 different weapons which cover all the first person shooter standards from the basic hand gun to sniper rifles, plasma guns, rocket launchers, and even grenades you can toss. There are two major boss fights in the single player campaign, one which is still a surprise and another that will pit you against a gigantic spider with secret weak spots that players must identify and shoot. The bosses are said to be absolutely massive, and a highlight of the game.
Here's a hands on video of the gameplay:
The damage system in NOVA works exactly like Halo, with an energy shield that absorbs damage then recharges over time. Metroid elements are tossed in with the addition of the special abilities you pick up along the way such as the ability to perform a melee strike, freeze enemies, or even get a brief burst of speed. Using these abilities drains your shield's power, so each of them must be used intelligently and in moderation to overcome obstacles and win battles.
NOVA was produced by the same people behind Gameloft's other recent first person shooter, Modern Combat: Sandstorm [$4.99 / Free] and while the touch controls were similar, NOVA is much more action oriented with emphasis on charging through the game and taking out enemies over finding cover and picking off bad guys from a distance. The pacing of the game is much faster, and much more intense with some monsters that will charge you and utilize special abilities such as grabbing and immobilizing you.
Like all Gameloft games, there is a great deal of effort put in to accessibility. The game not only will run across the entire iPhone and iPod touch product family, NOVA also comes with both an aim assist system and an arrow to guide you to your next objective. Both of these helper systems can be disabled if you want a more challenging gameplay experience.
NOVA isn't all about action though, there are also mini-games scattered throughout the game where you will need to solve puzzles to do things like hack computers or open hidden ammo crates. These puzzles involve moving around different mirrors and other reflectors on a grid to redirect a laser beam to hit one or more targets. This mini-game is also shown in the hands-on video.
Three difficulty modes are included, ranging from easy to difficult with the difficult mode locked by default. The single player campaign is said to be around the same length as Sandstorm, which took me 3-4 hours to complete. If you're looking for something to do following the completion of the single player mode, NOVA also will have four player online and local multiplayer over WiFi, or two player local multiplayer over bluetooth.
Multiplayer is deathmatch style, and is said to be both fast and intense with three included multiplayer arenas. Details are vague currently on how the online play is going to work, but presumably with how much emphasis Gameloft has put on Gameloft Live recently, that likely has something to do with how the online multiplayer system will work when finding and creating games.
That's all we know right now, as soon as we get more details on the game we will post more. As it stands, NOVA is due out before the holiday season, so we shouldn't have to wait too much longer to have the game in our hands.
SEGA was one of the original developers recruited by Apple to provide a demo of what kind of apps might be possible on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Super Monkey Ball seemed like a natural fit to the platform with its tilt controls and became a massive success when it launched with the App Store. SEGA is finally returning to those roots and has just released a sequel to the game with Super Monkey Ball 2. We previewedSuper Monkey Ball 2 just a couple of weeks ago.
Super Monkey Ball 2 takes the original and offers new levels, local Wi-Fi multiplayer, improved 3D graphics and, notably, improved controls. One of the common complaints about the original version was the sensitivity of the original controls. When played side-by-side, Super Monkey Ball 2 is notably easier to maneuver and turn. That's not to say you'll be breezing through the courses immediately. It still take practice to properly play the game and I find with all ball-rolling games it's easy to get a little frustrated.
Check out our gameplay video with the improved controls and new levels:
One thing you can't fault SEGA for is the amount of content provided in the game. Like the original, there are a ton of levels (115) included with the game. Also included this time around will be mini games that have been so popular on the console versions. The first mini game that has been included is Monkey Bowling, with Monkey Golf and Monkey Target to be released in a later free update.
If you're a fan of the original title, you'll certainly want to pick up this new and improved sequel. Early impressions are also being collected in our forums.
With simple roots as a mere prototype produced at the overnight 360iDev Game Jam, Imangi Studios' latest game Hippo High Dive [App Store] was released this evening. While the core gameplay concept has remained the same, nearly everything else has been significantly spruced up, improved, or otherwise tweaked.
As the title of the game may imply, you play as a hippo, and you jump off a high dive-- hopefully landing in a small pool of water below. Of course it's not that easy, between you and the pool are a series of flaming hoops that you need to navigate your plump posterior through on the way down by tilting your iPhone. Miss a ring and you lose a life, also if you hit the edge of a flaming ring (and get burnt) twice you will lose a life. Thanks to the surprisingly resilient skin of your average hippopotamus, you have three lives to reach the bottom.
With every high dive you successfully complete, the diving board moves higher and you fall faster. The levels themselves are randomly generated and have no height limit, although the online leaderboards are currently topping out at 1150m for first place. Other statistics tracked globally include the highest perfect dive, the number of total dives, how many hoops have been extinguished, along with how many times players have been singed by the hoops.
The addition of Imangi's detailed online stat and score tracking enhances the game and if you're in to competitive leaderboards, Hippo High Dive is ready for some sky high scores to knock the beta testers off the top positions on the charts. While Hippo High Dive may lack the depth of Imangi's other titles, sometimes the simplest games are the ones that get the most play time on my phone.
From now until Christmas Eve, Blacksmith Games' 
