Look up. Are pigs flying? Ok, just checking, because in case you hadn't heard True Axis' Space Tripper [$3.99] is now available in the App Store. If you've heard the tale of Space Tripper's perilous development cycle that spanned more than three years, then you might be apt to think that pigs flying would be about as plausible as the game being released. However, after a late push from the developers these past couple of months, they have finally released Space Tripper out into the wild.
As a quick recap, Space Tripper started as a Mac and PC game created by PomPom Games back in 2001. In 2006, it was rereleased on the PlayStation Network as an enhanced version by the name of Astro Tripper. True Axis began working on an iOS port of the game back in mid-2008, but were riddled with setbacks that pushed the release back many times.
It features 14 different levels across 4 worlds in Campaign, Time Attack, and Challenge modes. There is OpenFeint and Game Center integration for leaderboards and achievements, and there's even a built-in cheat menu if you're finding the game a bit too difficult (though this will disable leaderboard and achievement tracking), just like the old days!
Now I don't think anybody would argue that Space Tripper doesn't look quite gorgeous, with vibrant colors, interesting enemies littering the screen, and huge boss fights. But, I'm betting at least a few of you are feeling hesitant about the game's tilt-only control scheme. Heck, I'm not typically a fan of tilt controls either, unless they're done extremely well. After playing with Space Tripper for just a short while, I can see that the tilt controls are indeed rock solid. However, as good as the tilt controls are, if enough people request it True Axis will look into a touch control option. They've tried it already and weren't happy with the results, hence why they aren't included already.
At any rate, Space Tripper seems to be good arcade shooter action already. We'll be taking a closer look at the game in the coming days, and you can check out early impressions of Space Tripper from gamers in our forums.
The goal of Rocket Riot [99¢] from Chillingo and CodeGlue is to fly around an arena on a jetpack destroying enemies with your bazooka. And you can also destroy ...well, pretty much everything. You see, the entire level is destructible, so even the walls can be blown apart. Everything can be shot to pieces. But once you've blast a little short-cut through a wall, the level is not permanently destroyed, because it slowly regenerates.
Rocket Riot was released in 2009 for Xbox and featured multiplayer modes, but the iOS release focuses solely on a single player campaign. That's a shame because an arena shooter like this is ideally suited for multiplayer mode, but the developers have no current plans to implement that - unless the Rocket Riot becomes super popular. Fortunately, the single-player campaign mode is an entertaining arena shooter fill of rockets, destruction and heaps of cool power-ups.
Needing no introduction, Asteroids is one of those classic arcade games that everyone has played in some form or fashion. Atari looks to capitalize on that namesake with Asteroids GUNNER [Free], a modern upgrade to the Asteroids series which converts the game to a dual stick shooter complete with upgrades, unlockables, and IAP. While Asteroids GUNNER offers an adequate gameplay experience, the significant IAP barriers raises some questions as to whether the game is worth a significant play through.
Gameplay-wise, Asteroids GUNNER plays similarly to Space Miner with dual-stick controls instead of thrust-based movement. Interestingly enough, Space Miner plays closer to classic Asteroids than Asteroids Gunner does. Everything from the controls to the plethora of asteroids to even the ability to customize your ships should feel familiar to any veterans of this genre. In fact, Asteroids’ main problem is that it all seems a bit too familiar – the game does very little to differentiate itself from the pack in any aspects. However, as far as the basic gameplay goes, Asteroids GUNNER does hit all the notes, and doesn’t do anything to detract from the generic dual stick shooter experience.
It's easy to see why cover is so widely used in every modern game with a gun in it, but it doesn't excuse how boring the systems usually are. Epoch [$5.99] stands out because its cover mechanics are actually fun to play with. They smartly combine agility and athleticism to the standard pounding and popping, while also offering an alien uptempo pacing, courtesy of Uppercut Games's exploitative enemies. The cover system is strong enough, actually, to carry the game to completion, which is an important note to make since, aside from the story hooks, the game doesn't have a lot more to offer outside of a standard weapons / items upgrade model.
Think of Epoch as a bizarre "what if" scenario come true. It's sci-fi Infinity Blade with guns, and it's pretty thorough with its adaption of that game's upgrade model and on-rails structure. The key departure is within Epoch's action model -- instead of hacking and slashing, you'll be whipping, sliding, jumping around, ducking or crashing your robot into pieces of cover as enemies sling bullets and lasers at you. If you're moving tactically, enemies will lose their bead on your metallic frame, and you will then be subsequently free to target them and fire without worry. (more...)
Luke Schneider's awesome take on Space Invaders, Super Crossfire [$.99 / UHD], is now bigger than ever thanks to an early November update. Version 1.1 specifically adds a new "dark mode" that includes 150 harder waves complete with new backgrounds and a "new perspective" on the game's story. Super Crossfire is also now more stable than ever; Schneider went back and dropped in some performance improvements for older generation phones, nipped a nasty save bug, and addressed several minor problems.
The most exciting addition for us is the one that couldn't be noted officially: Super Crossfire HD now supports the iCade. Just switch to "ARCADE" in the configuration and you're good to go. It's nice to see some new iCade games out there, eh?
Oh! And if you're particularly interested in the HD version -- and you should be since we're huge fans of it and are never wrong about these things -- know that its price has been reduced. For a spell, the game is being offered at $.99 instead of its usual $2.99. Neat!
Hey, guys, Atari is resurrecting Asteroids and making it a free-to-play game -- no, really. The other afternoon, Atari sent us its first word on Asteroids: Gunner, a re-imagined take on the classic arcade space rock-obliterator that combines new dual-stick controls, fancy 3D visuals, wave-based play, power-ups, ship upgrades and the usual free-to-play trimmings including IAP ad removal and IAP unlocks.
Obviously, this isn't the Asteroids we grew up with, but this is definitely the kind of game that's doing particularly well now and the kind of game that fits Atari's new metric-driven direction. If you're especially interested in diving into Gunner, but want to get your expectations in line beforehand, go give the Slide2Play preview for it a read. Spoiler: Gunner sounds like a well-rounded and easy to pick-up-and-play action game built for all audiences.
Here's some screens:
Gunner is set to hit this coming November 10 at $0, so the wait isn't much longer. Oh! And for this generious price, you'll get the first 50 levels.
It was easy to overlook the issues in the original Zombieville USA. When it hit, the App Store was as foreign and exciting as our new iPhones. Plus, there was no real measuring stick; we just knew it was a fun and cutesy side-scrolling shooter starring the world's favorite bullet-sponges, the undead. Zombieville USA 2 [$.99], on the other hand, has released in a period where we have expectations. Awesomely, Mika Mobile knocks them out of the park by both refining and creating within the confines of the original game.
Tightly-constructed, well-executed, charming, different and entertaining are all words I feel like I can freely use when describing Zombieville 2. For the most part, it's a near perfect iterative entry to the franchise. It artfully hones in on and turns up the volume on the two best parts of the original: the shooting and upgrade models. (more...)
Long time readers of TouchArcade might remember the announcement of an iOS port of Space Tripper, a horizontal shoot 'em up from PomPom Games released for PC and Mac way back in 2001 and rereleased in HD as Astro Tripper in 2009. The port was to be handled by True Axis, the Australian developer of Jet Car Stunts [$1.99/Lite], and the project officially began in June of 2008, before the official iOS App Store had even launched. We first caught wind of Space Tripper coming to iOS in December of that year, with a planned release of "early 2009." Boy, how plans can change.
True Axis was comprised of just two members, and as development on Jet Car Stunts hit its stride during 2009, it didn't leave a ton of time to work on Space Tripper, and progress on the title lagged. After Jet Car Stunts' release in November of 2009, the hope was that Space Tripper would be finished up shortly thereafter, and that following December is when True Axis officially debuted the game in our forums, still optimistic that it was coming soon.
It's hard to say which cliche best applies to Dark Dot. Good things come in small packages? Don't look a gift horse in the mouth? That's the beauty of cliches -- they're all so universal. The beauty of Dark Dot [Free], on the other hand, is that while tiny, it's well crafted, fun and totally free. If you have an iPad, you should be downloading it right now.
But perhaps you want to know a little more about the game. If so, then think of Dark Dot as the result of a clandestine meeting between vertical shooters and line drawing games. You control an army of darklets led by the Darkest of Terrors, affectionately known as 'Dot.' You can corral your darklets into formation by drawing shapes around them. They spread out or squish in to fill the shapes you draw, and fire from their new positions. All the while, they march over a constantly scrolling background as their elemental enemies fly by.
By now, pretty much everybody is aware of the utter glut of dual-stick shooters that have arrived in the App Store over the past several years. I’m not saying that it’s necessarily a bad thing, as the formula does lend itself quite well to the touch screen environment. But like any genre, excessive releases can diminish the enthusiasm towards new titles. There are some truly excellent dual-stick shooters out there, and some truly awful ones, and a whole bunch of forgettable titles that fall in-between.
One of the truly excellent ones, and one that has lived a long and happy life on my iPhone since its release, is Aftermath [$1.99] from developer TwoHeads Games. This game has always seemed to kind of fly under the radar, though we did review it when it came out, but it definitely deserves some special recognition for doing several unique things that set it apart from the masses of other dual-stick shooters out there.
Late in 2010, Semi Secret released SteamBirds [$1.99 / HD], a turn-based aerial dog-fighting game based on the Flash game of the same name, which we thought was "tons of fun". Apparently other people liked it too, as it's reportedly been played by 12 million people worldwide (including the online Flash version). Well, the original makers of the game, SpryFox, teamed up with HalfBrick to release a sequel – Steambirds: Survival [Free/HD]. And it's definitely worth checking out (again!)
It's a top-down dog-fighting game where you play a pilot with the Allies, fighting against the Axis powers, to protect the United Kingdom. But the cool twist is that it's also turn-based. Your aircraft has an arrow in front of it, which represents the distance and direction it will travel in the next turn. You can bend the line to control your plane's flight-path.
Kyotokei: Polarity shooter [$1.99] is a bullet-hell horizontal shoot'em-up which appears to be quite heavily inspired by Ikaruga, which hit the arcades in 2001 and was deployed on the Xbox 360 in 2008. Kyotokei was released on the Wii earlier this year, with two player co-op mode, but this iOS version delivers just the single player mode.
This side-scrolling game has five levels to beat, with three difficulty levels (Easy, Normal or Hard). You're given the traditional three lives to play with, but also receive two credits to avoid the "game-over" message and continue your game a little longer.
The arcade shoot'em-up Crossfire was released for Xbox in July 2010, followed by Crossfire 2 a few months later. Now Radian Games and their publisher, Chillingo, have released Super Crossfire [99¢ / HD] for our iOS devices. This game plays like a colorful version of the classic 1978 game Space Invaders, with one key difference: When a wall of bullets and lazers rains down on you, leaving you boxed in the corner and about to be destroyed ...your spaceship can flee to safety by warping between the top and bottom of the screen.
But warping to the top of the screen doesn't necessarily ensure your safety, as the aliens can shoot upwards too. Some enemies have shields and can only be hit from one side, which necessitates warping up and down to get a clear shot. By collecting the gems dropped by destroyed aliens, you can charge up segments of your super-fire meter, then briefly shoot anything, even if it's shielded.
Yesterday at EA's Naughty or Nice event in New York, I sat down with Levi Buchanan of Chillingo to have a look at a few of the titles the studio has in the pipeline for iOS. One of the titles in question places iOS gamers in the role of a hero that is in no way wanting in the blue and red spandex department. Yes readers, the Man of Steel will soon be training his heat vision upon the App Store.
Superman, developed by Tiger Games, is an iPhone only game that puts you in the red boots of the son of Jor-El. It's a stand alone action adventure, not tied to any particular film outing, old or new. The story goes like this. Lex Luthor has taken it upon himself to launch a series of satellites to "help" with the whole climate change problem. Superman is understandably concerned by the bald villain's true motives. (Spoiler: they're bad.)
The game throws you right into the City of Metropolis, represented in side-scrolling 2D, with a good sampling of your superpowers available for use. The goal is to make it through 18 levels, defeating baddies by any of a number of different means, putting out fires with your freeze-breath, and working your way to defeating the evil Luthor and his orbiting offensive.
The game is designed to be played in mobile-friendly 3-4 minute sessions, each of which call upon most of Superman's superpowers to get the jobs done. As Superman flies about Metropolis, arrows surrounding his powerful self point directly to situations that need attention, color coded for urgency. The backstory is told via comic book-style panels, appropriately, and the whole thing is a touch-controlled race against the clock.
As long as your iPhone case isn't crafted from Kryptonite, you should have no problems taking a stab at the role of Kal-El in Superman later this year.
So far, the top note on my "Things I Didn’t Expect To Hear This Morning List" is this: Grand Theft Auto 3 is coming to a smattering of high-end tablets and handsets later this fall. No, really -- I have a list and, yeah, Rockstar Games announced plans to port its once-technical marvel to touch devices at some point in 2011 in celebration of its 10th birthday.
We don’t know anything about Grand Theft Auto 3 for mobile, including what it’ll look like or what price it’ll launch at. The blog post announcing this ‘big deal’ bit of news is strangely focusing more on a new and limited run of $150 12-inch Claude toys with “30 points of articulation” instead of the game. But, hey, pre-orders for the toy are open now!
I’ve got a fantastic and equally unfulfilling love and hate relationship with GTA3, just as I do with every other GTA title. I love the bluster, the scale, and a good deal of the content, but the controls and general technical wonkiness of Rockstar’s open worlds drag everything down. It’ll be interesting to see if this tenth anniversary edition on handhelds will debut with an improvement or two. I guess we’ll see.
Oh! And here’s the devices you’ll have to have in order to play it:
Apple iOS Devices: iPad 2, iPhone 4S Android Phones: Droid X2, HTC Evo 2, LG Optimus 2X, Motorola Atrix, Samsung Galaxy S2 Android Tablets: Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
Look up. Are pigs flying? Ok, just checking, because in case you hadn't heard True Axis' Space Tripper [$3.99] is now available in the App Store. If you've heard the tale of Space Tripper's perilous development cycle that spanned more than three years, then you might be apt to think that pigs flying would be about as plausible as the game being released. However, after a late push from the developers these past couple of months, they have finally released Space Tripper out into the wild.
It's easy to see why cover is so widely used in every modern game with a gun in it, but it doesn't excuse how boring the systems usually are. Epoch [
Luke Schneider
Hey, guys, Atari is resurrecting Asteroids and making it a free-to-play game -- no, really. The other afternoon, Atari sent us its first word on Asteroids: Gunner, a re-imagined take on the classic arcade space rock-obliterator that combines new dual-stick controls, fancy 3D visuals, wave-based play, power-ups, ship upgrades and the usual free-to-play trimmings including IAP ad removal and IAP unlocks.
It was easy to overlook the issues in the original 
Yesterday at EA's Naughty or Nice event in New York, I sat down with Levi Buchanan of Chillingo to have a look at a few of the titles the studio has in the pipeline for iOS. One of the titles in question places iOS gamers in the role of a hero that is in no way wanting in the blue and red spandex department. Yes readers, the Man of Steel will soon be training his heat vision upon the App Store.
