View From Heaven: iPhone

Showing posts with label iPhone. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Ashley Wood and Newtoy bring World War Robot to iPhone and iPod touch

As you all probably know already, I'm a huge fan of Ashley Wood. What you may also know is that I'm the owner of an iPod touch and I'm painfully awaiting a game that not only has good gameplay, but a sense of style as well ... hopefully my wait will be over soon.

Ashley Wood has announced from his blog that his series, World War Robot, which currently only exists in a series of art books and figures, is currently in development as what seems to be a real-time strategy title for the iPhone and iPod touch (judging by the staff's previous work).

The studio bringing this game to life is Newtoy, a studio which was founded in 2008 by Paul and David Bettner, creators of the Age of Empires series and Halo Wars, with the intention of developing exclusively for iPhone and iPod touch.

While the game is only starting developement right now, I'm sure we can hear more about it soon. Until then be sure to check these links out:

Ashley Wood's blog
World War Robot's Official Game Website
and Newtoy's Official Website

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Silent Hill: The Escape Review

Silent Hill: The Escape for the iPhone and iPod Touch is the second Konami game for the device I’ve played, and this one is even worse. Like their other effort, this title is simple, boring, repetitive, and short.

The game’s narrative and story-telling are very bland, giving you a sentence or two of inner-monologue after each stage, like, “Where am I?” or “How do I get out of here?” Very telling of what’s actually going on with the “story”, and almost moved me to tears with all that emotion. The same can be said with the graphics, as all the stages feature plain, dark areas, and the only differences between them all are the textures, which doesn’t change the fact that you are walking through a maze. The gameplay isn’t much better.

Each of the 10 stages is a small maze, filled with a bunch of corridors, where you have to find both a key and the exit. The exit is marked on your map, so you know the general direction to go, and the key is someplace else. That’s pretty much it. The first few stages are fairly straight forward, while the later ones get a slightly higher number of corridors to walk through, and add in some fences to block your path. There are also a handful of deadly enemies in the game, like frogs and wheelchairs, plus those hottie nurses. They just walk up to you, and if they touch you, you die and start that stage over. You do have a gun at your disposal to dispatch these menacing figures. The gun’s reticule is stuck in the center of the screen, so to aim, you have to tilt your device to alter the camera, and then tap the reticule to fire off a round. When you do reach the end of a stage, you are rated on accuracy, time, steps taken, and enemies killed. That’s pretty much it.

Once you do beat the game, either in about an hour or never as you’ll be bored after the 2nd stage, but you’ll probably still have hope that something more will come, you learn that the whole “plot” has been set up by some aliens…or something. Anyways, after this, you can replay the game now as an alien, with a special laser gun, but the stages are still the same so there is no real incentive here.

If you haven’t gotten the point by now, then let me just sum it all up: don’t waste your money on this game. It’s short, not scary, stupid, boring, bland, easy, and has almost nothing to do with Silent Hill. You walk through a maze, find a key that isn’t randomly placed, so it’s in the same spot every time, and get to the exit. The enemies are easily killed, except for one which must be maneuvered around in the last couple stages. I’ll at least give them that they added a few more difficult enemies in the last half of the game, with the flying guy who moves all over the place, but easily killed with some practice. The levels are all really the same, and the game is too simple. Move, shoot, move some more. There is no incentive to play.

Overall Score: 4.7/10

Posted in cooperation with GamersPlatform

Monday, March 30, 2009

Metal Gear Solid Touch Review

Metal Gear Solid Touch has hit the iPhone and iPod touch, but does it deliver a true MGS experience or is it a quick attempt to get some money off the success of the device? Read on to find out.

Going into the game, you have to know that it is a simple shooter, where you don’t have control of character movement, but simply the ability to shoot. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and the controls work fairly well. You cannot simply tap and shoot where you tap, but instead, have to move a cursor around the screen, which has its ups and downs, but overall works competently. The cursor will stay wherever you leave it, so you can always see it and always know where you are aiming. Once you have it where you want it, you simply tap to shoot. This is a bit of an issue when you need to move around the cursor speedily to hit a moving target, and it is a bit awkward how you can’t hold down your finger to use an “automatic” weapon, so you only have single-shot. If a target is too far away, you will have to pull out your sniper rifle, which is easily done in the same was you zoom in on a web page or picture on the device; by pinching, which will switch back and forth between your sniper and assault rifles. Also of importance is the fact that while you are shooting or have your finger on the screen, you are vulnerable to attack, but once you let go, you get behind cover and very slowly replenish your health.

So, the controls are fairly simple, and the rest of the game mechanics are also really straightforward. You don’t have to worry about ammo or reloading or moving about. Each level, or mission, tasks you with taking out a set number of enemies, who will appear from and back into cover and continue to come out until you’ve reached your goal. Every now and then, a yellow rubber duck or green frog will appear, which you can shoot for a power-up. The duck will recover some health, while the frog will give you stealth camo or a single-use rocket launcher, all of which are very useful. Another important mechanic to note is the enemies’ health meter. Not only does it show how much health an enemy has, but it also lets you know when they will attack you, so you can prepare yourself by going into cover when necessary.

The game, currently, is composed of 12 missions, each of which take place in a different location and follow the story of MGS4. Most of these missions simply have you shooting a certain number of regular enemies, while not shooting allies, however, two of the missions are boss battles. The first pits you against Laughing Octopus, trying to find her even though she has that stealth camo. The second boss battle features Raging Raven, who flies around the screen. Raging Raven is, I believe, the only level that features moving enemies, and so it’s a good challenge and a nice change of pace from rather static environments and characters.

All in all, the game is short. Once you beat all the missions, you unlock survival mode, which has you play straight through all of the levels. This took me 17 minutes and a handful of seconds. Needless to say, this is pretty short, however, Konami is planning to make more missions available in the future, which can be downloaded for free for those that already have the game. Until that time comes though, you can still replay these levels to earn some Drebin Points.

These points can be used in Drebin’s Shop to purchase backgrounds and MGS art. There are 15 of these images to get, which will require multiple playthroughs to get enough points, and you can supposedly use these for your device’s background image. I’ve tried to do this, to use the image, but I could not figure out how, but it’s supposedly possible.

Overall, Metal Gear Solid Touch had some potential, and still does as there is going to be free DLC, but right now, I can’t recommend it too highly. The game is very short and very simple. The graphics and presentation or rather good, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that the game is just too simple, with nothing really make it Metal Gear material. Hopefully the future levels will add a new dimension to the game, but you could probably hold off until then.

Overall Score: 6.5/10

Posted in cooperation with GamersPlatform

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Metal Gear Solid Touch trailer

No longer in the form of cryptic messages, Konami is finally releasing more about Metal Gear Solid Touch. The game, as we know now, is an on-rails shooter retelling the story of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Below is a trailer for the title, but be warned, it contains some spoilers of MGS4 (for those of you who haven't played yet).

Personally, I think it moves very stiffly, but I guess that's to be expected when it's essentially a lengthy port of a flash game.

For more see the MGS Touch Official Website

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Death Cab For Cutie, the App

Mark this one under new, but alternative band, Death Cab For Cutie now have their very own, official, iPhone/iPod touch application. I know movies, such as The Dark Knight, Watchmen, and Disney's BOLT, each have their own promotional apps, but this is the first time I've seen a band with their own.

What does the app give you? Well, according to the band's official MySpace blog:

"This application is free and features 10 full DCfC songs, the latest news, videos, tour dates and more. A few of the most unique features of this application are in the SHOWS section where the tour dates are sortable by distance from your current location and by date, there are driving directions from your current location to the concert as well as the latest concert details and ticket information."

Sounds pretty cool, and after downloading the app myself I can say it is quite neat. The ten songs are from various albums and EPs, offering a nice mix of the band's tracks; and even better, after you've selected the track you can listen to it while you browse the app's menus. One gripe however, is that unlike regular music on an iPod, once the screen goes to sleep, so does the music, but I guess that's what you have to deal with when it's free. Also on the app is a full discography, with lyrics and credits for every release by the band, helpful for those who don't want to carry the CD cases with an iPod. The only issue is that most of the other features in the app need WiFi (or a 3G signal), so without that, it doesn't have much use other than being a digital lyric book and song sampler.

Still, it's a neat idea that I'm sure other bands will employ in the future.

You can get the Death Cab For Cutie app for free from iTunes

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Have we played MGS Touch before?

It just may be so, soon after reviewing the two released screenshots of Metal Gear Solid Touch, I noticed something. The gameplay looks shockingly familiar to an unlockable Flash game (Special Mission: 02) at the Metal Gear Solid 4 website.

Top: The Flash game; Bottom: MGS Touch

The Flash game is a point and click shooter; which would make plenty of sense for a touch screen transfer, I just hope it's not the same game because that would be a really cheep move by both Konami and Kojima for having viral marketing for a game we've already played. Sure, the interface graphics are a little different, but it's still far too similar. Hopefully, some answers will come soon.

i + ! = Metal Gear Solid Touch

A Next Metal Gear Is ... an iPhone game. I mean, I can't say I saw this coming, but it certainly makes sense; the teaser page's URL had "MGST" in it, now standing for Metal Gear Solid Touch. And the little equation makes some sense too; "i" as in iPhone, "!" is very much an MGS associated symbol, but the power symbol and green font is still a mystery to me. Anyways, here are the first two screenshots:

The game, which is set for Spring 2009 according to the press release, will take place in what seems to be during Metal Gear Solid 4:

"Metal Gear Solid Touch focuses on action elements of Hideo Kojima’s classic stealth series, and will see series veteran Solid Snake embark on an all-new mission. Using locations and characters introduced in Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Metal Gear Solid Touch initially offers eight action-packed stages, with more to be added at a later date. The new title gives the player control via the Apple systems’ touch panel, and also allows users to pan in and out of the action. Replay value is also enhanced via bonuses such as wallpapers and images that are attained by completing key elements within the game."

From the screens alone I will say the game seems to boast some graphical prowess, but I'd have to see it in motion first. But, being an open MGS fanboy, chances are I'm buying this regardless... I'm just more or less curious as to exactly how canon this title will be, and how open it will be to those that haven't played through MGS4.

Also announced along side MGST are Silent Hill: The Escape, and Frogger; but those titles didn't have cryptic teaser sites now did they?

P.S. That "A next Meat Gear is ..." teaser page now reads "METAL GEAR SOLID TOUCH" in the window header. Just in case you wanted another confirmation.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

iPhone Series: Antimatter review

Antimatter is another game for the iPhone from Pangea Software, that is a simple pick up and play game that you can have fun with for a minute or two here and there when you have some time to kill.

There are two stages in the game, and they include the main game and the bonus round. The main game has you controlling an orb of energy on the screen by moving your finger, and your goal is to turn all of the blue Cosmic Strings to red. You change the color of the strings by running into them with your orb, so you simply need to bump into all of these strings, but if you hit them twice, they will go back to blue, and so forth. Once you have them all red, you move on to the next level, where there are more and more cosmic strings.

To make things harder, you have an energy meter that is constantly ticking down, and if it gets depleted, you lose. To add energy to the meter, simply hit a cosmic string, however, the more you hit the same string, the less energy you will get from it, so be sure to make your finger strokes thoughtfully and turn all of the strings red.

If you clear the levels faster, you get bonus points, and power ups can either help or hurt you in accomplishing this. Power ups are these colored orbs that float around the screen, and some are beneficial, while others are detrimental, so you have to be careful of which ones you get. Most manipulate the cosmic strings, such as splitting them up, or making them larger or smaller, while others give you more bonus time or manipulate your energy levels, while the eliminator destroys cosmic strings. So, these can be very helpful, or very deadly, so you have to know which do what and how to benefit from them.

After you’ve played a few levels, you will be thrown into a bonus round, which is a very simply round in which a stream of particles falls from the top of the screen and you need to direct it into a particle collector, which is a small gate on the perimeter of the screen. The gate will disappear and reappear all over the perimeter, so you have to stay on your toes and move around the particle stream if you want the most points.

This is all the game provides, so it is limited and very simple, but at only .99 cents, it may be worth it to check out. You can also pause and save your progress if you make it to a high level, and your high scores are saved, but overall, it is a very simple game.

Overall Score - 6.5/10

You can purchase Antimatter on iTunes

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

iPhone Series: Soul Trapper: Episode 1

Soul Trapper is a very unique game for the iPhone and iPod Touch that is like nothing that is currently on the market. While this is most definitely a game, the gameplay takes a back seat to the story telling, which is very good, although a bit out there. So sit back, find a comfortable seat, and get ready for a ride to hell and back.

Soul Trapper starts out by introducing you to the main character, Kane Pryce, who is in possession of a very special device, the Soul Trap, which allows him to capture and then talk to and transport ghosts. The story starts with you at a barn, with a ghost attacking and starting a fire, so you have to have your wits with you if you hope to find a means to put out the fire or capture the ghost.

The game plays like a text adventure, except without the text. Kane will either be narrating or talking to another character and he’ll let you know what kinds of things are in the vicinity and where you can travel. Also, you can look at a map of your options to see where you can go. When you are allowed to walk around, you will be directed with up to four arrows, which you can choose from. For some reason though, they decided not to put little notes underneath the arrows, so you’ll have to switch back and forth from map to arrows to make sure you know where you’re going, but this only takes a few taps of the screen so it isn’t a big deal, but just something to note.

Those green buttons are the directions you can take to travel. You can hit the menu button to adjust the volume or go back to the title screen, or the map button to view the level's map and rooms/areas. And that background is static for the entire chapter.
Unlike a text adventure though, you don’t have any items at your disposal. There are some points where you can find items, but they are very particular items that can only be used automatically once in a specific location, so there is no real thought put in. This seems to be a general trend throughout the game; that you don’t have to really think to achieve anything.

You can only travel to different rooms in a certain location, so you don’t have to worry about traveling from place to place and finding the right place to go, and like I just mentioned, you don’t have to worry about finding items or where or how to use them. Also, while there are some parts where you get to choose what to ask characters, you have to ask all of the questions before you can continue with the game. So, you don’t have a choose or different routes on how you can advance the plot or choose what to say, because no matter which question in what order you may choose, you still have to pick them all.

Aside from simply listening to the dialogue and deciding which direction to take, there are a variety of mini-games to play through, however, all are done simply by pressing a button or two on the touch screen. Most of these mini-games are timed based, but all have to do with the audio and intent listening. For instance, when you use your soul trap, you must keep the rhythm with your breathing and heartbeats. In later mini-games, you have to listen very closely to succeed, and in most, you have to be wearing headphones. There will be 3 buttons on-screen; forward, and left and right, and you must be able to differentiate where the sound is coming from and then click the corresponding button/direction. These are pretty cool mini-games, and very clever, however, they can be very frustrating. For starters, I tried doing these without the headphones, and it’s impossible, as you can’t tell where the sounds are coming from. Also, if you’re like me, you’ll still find it very, very difficult to differentiate which ear the noise is coming from, which makes these games near impossible and very frustrating. On the current mini-game I’m on, you have to get at least 7 taps correctly in a row, and if you miss one, you have to start all over, and I’ve been stuck on it for quite some time…If I can distinguish which side it’s coming from, the button doesn’t work, and it’s all very frustrating. However, if you can discriminate between the 3 different noise variations, then you’ll be fine and have fun with these little games, which make up the bulk of the actual gameplay to enjoy.

One of the cool mini-games in which you must listen to the bell tower in the background and repeat the jingle. Oops. I kinda just ruined it.
Soul Trapper is split up into 23 continuous chapters, each of which takes from 5-15 minutes to complete, making for a total experience of around 3 hours. The game autosaves at the start of each chapter, and you can choose to either resume your game if you leave, or start from any chapter you’ve previously completed from the chapter select menu. The first 9 chapters aren’t very connected, but after that, it all comes together for the major arc of the story, which has Kane meeting a ghost boy named Oliver, who has quite the story surrounding his death and family, which will lead to your death…and perhaps resurrection?

Overall though, the story is pretty decent, and the voice acting is fantastic, with many unique characters, each with their own personalities and emotions and everything in this area is very good. The voice acting is top notch and the main reason why this game is enjoyable. The story progresses nicely, and you’ll be eager to get to the next chapter to see what happens. The dialogue has an overall dramatic theme, but it is mixed in with lots of sarcastic and humorous comments to keep you engaged and entertained.

Unfortunately though, the acting and story telling is the best part of the game, and if you get Soul Trapper expecting an actual game, you will be disappointed. The interactive events in the game are generally very simple and only require a few taps on the touch screen, although they are kind of cool with respect to the noises and listening, but most of them are all the same. The other interactive portions of the game just require you to decide a direction to travel and then select some text to ask another character. So, if you want a decent story and something to listen to, then you might want Soul Trapper, as it contains a good story, but if you’re in it just for the gaming aspect, you’ll want to pass. This is only Episode 1, so it could be a very interesting series to see where it heads in future episodes, and if the interactive bits improve, then it will definitely be a must have.

Overall Score: 7/10

You can buy Soul Trapper on iTunes.

Posted in collaboration with GamersPlatform.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

iPhone Series: ZEN Pinball: Inferno

ZEN Studios and Publisher X have released the next in their pinball series, with ZEN Pinball: Inferno.

This iPhone game features the same gameplay you are used to with the previous ZEN pinball game, but it features a new board, which is themed on a concert. The board is amped up a bit with some spinning searchlights and a video billboard that shows some people singing and playing to make the environment more dynamic and interesting than the previous board.

To go along with this theme, the board also features a cool rock song to keep you entertained while you play, although if you choose, you can turn off the music and/or sound effects.

Like the previous game, the sound effects are spot on and very realistic, as are the ball physics and bumper thumps. Overall though, it seems that the game is a bit smoother than the Roller Coaster board.

The board itself features some more pinball-familiar lights, which are very vibrant, mainly because the board is darker. Also, the board is much less cluttered than in the roller coaster board, which is nice. There are still lots of little mechanisms you can trip and modes you can get into to, but it seems cleaner.

What Inferno does add, is a multiplayer mode, which the roller coaster board lacked. This multiplayer mode allows for 2-4 players to take turns playing, which is a nice addition, but isn’t anything special. Another change worth mentioning is that on the roller coaster board, you had 5 balls, but in Inferno, you only have 3, which is a bit interesting and can lead to shorter plays and smaller high scores, but I’m sure you can handle it.

For another great pinball board, head on over to iTunes and dish out $4.99. If you liked the first one, you'll enjoy this one as well.

Overall Score - 7.5/10

You can buy ZEN Pinball: Inferno on iTunes.

Posted in collaboration with GamersPlatform.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

iPhone Series: Enigmo

Enigmo is a physics-based puzzle game that centers on the seemingly simple goal of getting drops of water from one pot to another, although accomplishing that goal can be quite the task.

You have 8 different items at your disposal, although each level only lets you use a certain number of those items, so you have to use them in a certain way. There are bumpers, slides, accelerators, sponges, and a few more pieces you can use. There is an inventory area on the left side of the screen and you simply tap on one to grab it and then slide it where you want to move it. You can then rotate and place it however you like.

There are multiple obstacles in your way as well. Sometimes, it is simply that the vase you need to get the water in is in an odd location, behind some walls, but other times, there are gates and buttons that you need to press. In many levels, there are multiple colored pots, so you have to get the standard blue in the blue pot, red in the red, and/or green in the green, however, only the blue water drips to start with. In order to get the others to turn on, you must ricochet the blue droplets onto the red or green button. This is the same process as unlocking gates; you must get some droplets through a hoop to make the gate vanish, but you can’t simply move the water away once you get a few through the hoop. In order to keep the water dropping or keep the gate down, you have to have the water bouncing on the button or through the hoop, respectively. Also, if you don’t complete the puzzle quickly, the water collected in the vase will start to evaporate; you need 40 droplets total.

I’m not sure exactly how points are earned, but I know you get a bonus for not using all of the parts, as well as there being a bonus timer, which continually runs down until you complete the puzzle. However, the bonus timer can completely run down and you can continue your attempt, you just won’t get any extra points. Unfortunately though, which I don’t like, the bonus timer starts right when you are introduced to the level, so you don’t have any time to think if you want the most points. I think they should have given you some time to at least look at the level first and think for a second before the bonus timer started. I think the timer should start when you pick up your first item.

The game itself comes with 50 levels, but you can also download level packs from other users for free, which is an awesome feature. Currently, there are a lot of user submitted packs available for download and most of them have around 50 levels in them, so the game can last infinitely.

This is a perfect game for the iPhone or iPod Touch, as levels are short, so you can pick up and play whenever you get a minute, or sit down and go though a bunch of levels at once. The levels are clever and will require some thought and experimenting, so they are fun and rewarding when you come up with the solution, and the controls are very simple. You can zoom in and out as you would any other application and move around objects with ease. The physics in the game are spot on and overall, this is just a great game.

Overall Score - 9/10

You can buy Enigmo on iTunes.

Posted in collaboration with GamersPlatform.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

iPhone Series: Billy Frontier

Billy Frontier is a western, alien shooter from Pangea Software that features a variety of modes and a high score board, and currently, is only going for $.99, so if you like to shoot stuff, you will want to jump on this right now.

The first thing you will want to do is go into the settings and turn off the offset reticule, at least, I did. To preface, this is a first-person shooter-type experience, and this feature shoots about a centimeter above where you click on-screen, which can be useful in theory so you don’t cover up the screen where you are shooting so you can see. However, in practice, this doesn’t work out too well as you are never sure exactly where you will be shooting, and this is important as you have limited ammo.

The game features 8 levels in total; 2 real levels, 2 stampedes, 2 duels, and 2 target practices; all of which come together to form the game, and once you complete all of the stages, you get a score which, if good enough, will go on the high-score board. And don’t worry about having to do all of these at once, because there is an easy to use save system, so if you only have a few minutes, you can do a duel or stampede and play the rest later. Now, let me explain each mode.

I’ll start with the target practice, which is a bit more interesting than a carnival-type game. Here, you are looking up at the sky and all kinds of items are thrown up at you in which you must shoot. These items range from coins and TNT boxes, to aliens and power-up items which can extend your play time. You continue playing this game until you either run out of time or ammunition. To make things more difficult, the camera also moves around, so you have to act fast and be accurate to get a high score.

Another type you can play is the duel, which is….interesting. There isn’t much action in this mode, nor is there a real urgency that you would think would come with an old-school, western duel. Instead, you are greeted with a cut-scene-like experience where you simply watch two guys prepare for the duel. During this time, you must successfully complete 16 patterns. These patterns consist of a sequence of up to eight symbols, although there are only two symbols to choose from; a triangle and a circle. So, this sequence appears on-screen and you merely press the triangle and circle buttons to the pattern that is displayed. You don’t have to memorize it or anything, but simply input what you see. If you mess up, a new pattern appears and you must do 16 of them before the video ends, or you will die. It is pretty simple and as long as you start right when the first pattern appears, you shouldn’t have much trouble being successful.

The stampede is a nice change of pace, as it has you running from a bunch of bulls. This mode has the player running towards the screen, so you can’t really see what is in front of you, but this is fine. You run automatically and move side-to-side via the accelerometers. During your run, a variety of obstacles will get in your way, so make sure to keep moving and be prepared to jump by tapping the screen. Aside from obstacles, there are also coins and chili peppers scattered about, with the peppers acting as speed boosts. You must simply reach the finish line in order to win, but if you get hit by the bulls, you lose, so be careful.

The last mode is where the meat of the game is, as I like to think of it, as it contains the shooting and enemies and all of that goodness, so allow me to talk about it in some depth.

To start, you have a six-shooter at your disposal, which really isn’t important aside from the ammo aspect, as reloading is instant. Your ammo is counted in "clips" or set of 6 bullets, and if you run out, you lose, so you must be careful, however, ammo is plentiful and you can horde around 20 clips at any time, but you must make an effort to get these clips from destroying barrels and boxes, which can be time consuming so I would have liked it much more if ammo wasn’t an issue.

The game isn’t exactly a first-person shooter though, but merely has that view. The game itself is on rails, and you automatically move from place to place. Once at an area, you must kill all enemies in that area before you can proceed. You can scroll and turn around on a horizontal axis, but that is all the movement you are allowed.

So, this mode is relatively simple, with most enemies just standing around or hiding behind boxes, coming out at intervals to take a shot or two at you, but if you have enough ammo, you can simply destroy the cover they have and then easily take them out; they won’t seek other cover or anything. Some enemies may take a minute to spot though, as they remain hidden or are far in the distance or blend in with the environment so you may not notice them at first. You must watch your health too, because if you die, you have to start all over, naturally, but each of these two levels aren’t terribly long, taking you 10 minutes maximum to complete. Like ammo, health and other power-ups are contained inside boxes and barrels, so shoot at them a few times to break ‘em open and collect the goodies. At the end of each level, you have to face a boss, but seeing as how you can’t move, there isn’t a real strategy to beating either boss; just shoot it a bunch of times until its health meter is depleted.

Again, once you complete all of these levels, you get a final high score, mostly based on how many coins you collected throughout. Also important to note is that you can choose whichever stage you want to play at any given time, so if you are in the mood for target practice first, go for it, although you can only play each stage once, to make the high-score work, but if you only want to play the target practice for instance, you can merely exit your current game after playing the two stages and then you can play them again and again.

Overall, Billy Frontier is a decent game you can play to pass the time and features a variety of modes so you don’t get too bored with a single type. Each mode is very different from each other, which is good, although each has a flaw or two and you may not enjoy all of them that much so it’s a mixed bag. However, if you are at all intrigued by one of the modes, then you should pick it up now, because for a limited time the game has gone down from its original $3.99 to only $.99, so you really can’t lose.

Overall Score - 7/10

You can buy Billy Frontier on iTunes.

Posted in collaboration with GamersPlatform.

iPhone Series: Cro-Mag Rally

Cro-mag Rally is a racing game from Pangea Software, who has been bringing a lot of different games to the iPhone and iPod from a wide range of genres. How does this one compare to their others?

Like most of their games, the one thing they do get down really well is the controls. In Cro-Mag Rally, you steer via the accelerometers, and accelerate via an on-screen button, as opposed to automatically like in other racing games, so you have more control. You also have the ability to use weapons that you pick up, and these are used via another button which allows you to throw items either in front of behind you.

The other settings and options are fairly robust as well, with the ability to set the difficulty, from easy to hard, change the sensitivity of the turning, set the volume, and even change to first-person view if you like. The easy difficulty is far too easy, allowing you to be victorious no matter how bad you might be, and hard isn’t too much of a challenge either, but it may give you some problems.

As far as the actual game options go, you have 9 tracks to play on and 11 vehicles to choose from. You can also choose between either a male or female character. All the tracks are really detailed and focus on a specific time period and area, such as the Egyptian pyramids, Great Wall of China, and other time periods, such as Medieval and Vikings. The vehicles too are really unique from one another and have their own stats which very noticeably change the style in which you must play.

Unfortunately though, there are only two modes, Race and Gather, and neither are a Grand-Prix-type experience, so you can only play one level at a time. Race is your standard race, while Gather sets 8 arrow heads around each track which you must collect in order to win. Aside from that small detail though, they are exactly the same, pitting you against 3 other racers. To help you in your quest to victory, there are a ton of different weapons scattered about, which range from projectiles, to boosts, to oil slicks, and there are a ton of different projectiles at your disposal, although you won’t really need them in order to win.

Overall, the game is decent, with lots of unique tracks and vehicles to choose from, however, with a lack of difficulty and a tournament feature, there isn’t much to come back to, although it does work for playing a race here and there, which is what iPhone games should be about. It is also important to note that while the controls are pretty spot-on, you do tend to spin around quite easily, making it frustrating at times. The game only goes for $1.99 though, so it’s a steal in comparison to other, better racing games out there, like Crash Bandicoot, so if all you are after is a quick racing fix from time to time, then Cro-Mag Racing is your best bet.

Overall Score - 6.5/10

You can buy Cro-Mag Rally on iTunes.

Posted in collaboration with GamersPlatform.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

iPhone Series: Beer Bounce

Beer Bounce (Quarters) , from Publisher X, isn’t really what I would call a game. Instead, it’s more of a toy or something you might be able to have a little fun with or to distract you for a minute, but nothing that will hold your attention for too long or keep you coming back for more.

This "game" is very simple, and plays like a game of quarters. First, you get to choose a coin from one of nine countries, which is pretty cool, but the game plays the same no matter which coin you choose. Then you get to test your um, skills. To play, simply press and hold your finger on the coin and move it up and down. Then, when you have it in the position you want it, let go and the coin will be sent towards the beer mug in the middle of the table. The only skill that comes from the game is knowing how high you need to position the coin, and perhaps when to let go. While being held, the coin oscillates back and forth, so letting go mid-rotation will make it hit off the table differently, possibly altering the bounce and path. Your goal of course is to get the coin into the mug. If you get it in, congrats, if not, too bad. Then you get to try again…and again….and again….until you don’t feel like playing anymore. The game does keep track of all your tries and how many times you sink the coin in the mug, so at least it has that.

Luckily, the game makes things harder the better you do, for every time you sink a shot, the camera becomes more and more shaky, as if you were getting drunk, so that’s a nice effect. Unfortunately, this is all the game has to offer. There is only one locale to play in and no other glasses to play with, which is very unfortunate. It would have been nice to see some variety in the containers, and see some shot and wine glasses, as opposed to just the beer mug, which would have gave the game a little more depth and challenge. However, the game mixes things up a bit by position you closer and further from the mug on different tries, so you can’t simply remember the exact spot on where to place the coin on the screen, but there are only a couple of locations, so it is still easy.

The sound effects are also very repetitive and annoying, so you may want to lower the volume if you must play this game for an extended period of time. The graphics though, are actually really nice, with a pre-rendered, realistic looking bar for the background. To make this game better, Publisher X should have implemented a two player mode, with better score keeping, as well as allowing for different glasses to change the pace up. Also, it might have been a good idea to give the controls more depth, as you simply have to hold the coin, then let go, as opposed to flicking or using some kind of power meter. At $1.99, it may be wise for you to save your money for some apps and games that are actually worth your time and money.

Overall Score - 3/10

You can purchase Beer Bounce (Quarters) on iTunes.

Posted in collaboration with GamersPlatform.

iPhone Series: ZEN Pinball: Rollercoaster

ZEN Pinball: Rollercoaster brings the joyous gameplay of pinball to the iPhone and iPod touch, but how truthful is this game to its quarter-eating brethren?

The game features standard gameplay, with the ability to use each flipper by simply clicking on the right or left side of the screen, and luckily, it is very responsive. The game also allows you to use the tilt functionality by shaking your device. The ball physics are also very good with the ball moving smoothly and realistically.

Unfortunately, the game only features one board to play on, however, that board is pretty crazy, with lots of stuff going on and little features and modes you can unlock. The ball is always streaming across the screen or hitting some bumper or going on some track, so it’s always doing something, keeping your eyes and fingers busy, although you will never lose the ball, which is good. Like all pinball games, you will want to play again and again, trying to amass the high score and attempting to get the multi-ball and other special modes.

The graphics are pretty decent, and do what they need to to make the pinball game realistic enough and really get you into the experience. There is also a neat LED banner-bar on the top of the screen, which displays your screen and any other graphics or messages, which makes it feel like real pinball table.

The sound effects are good and give good feedback to what is going on, but isn’t annoying, and the music goes well with the feel of the game. Fortunately, if you don’t like one or the other, you can choose to mute one or both. You can access this menu simply by tapping in the middle of the screen. From this menu, you can also choose to lock or unlock the camera. If locked, the camera will simply stay on top of the table. However, if unlocked, you can tilt your device to tilt your view of the table, and really see it in 3-D, which is neat, although there is really no use for this feature, and it can be disorienting or make it hard to keep your eye on the ball.

Overall, ZEN’s pinball game is really good and has a solid feel to it, however, with only one board to play on and at $4.99, it is a tad expensive. If you like pinball and don’t mind dropping $5, then this game is definitely for you, but if you are strapped for cash, you may want to hold off until another pinball game comes out that will offer more. ZEN has a great engine here, so hopefully they will be releasing some other pinball tables in the future to add to the experience.

Overall Score - 7/10

You can buy ZEN Pinball: Rollercoaster on iTunes.

Posted in collaboration with GamersPlatform.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Game Reviews

Game reviews are organized by company, and then console. They are listed alphabetically, unless part of a series. Company banners link to VFH Classic listings.

Our reviews are not multi-platform, for example the Rock Band review on Wii does not cover Xbox 360; each review is specifically written for that system.

To see how we score click here.

VFH Classic reviews marked with *
VFH Seal of Approval titles in bold