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| Tuesday, 23 June 2009 02:22 |
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148apps
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Developer: Team4000 Software LLC Price: $4.99 Version Reviewed: 1.0 Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars Game Controls Rating: 3 out of 5 stars Gameplay Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars User Interface Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 2.8 out of 5 stars Robofighters takes your classic one-on-one fighting game and, er, adds robots to the mix. Giant, humanoid, gun-toting robots, to be exact. Who doesn’t love a good mecha battle? Unfortunately, an inflexible control scheme and overall blandness make this a battle to skip. It’s still a promising title, but I’d wait for an update or three. When I first started the game, I immediately headed into the tutorial. It took me about two seconds to encounter my first major problem: the controls. Robofighters uses the accelerometer for moving around, and I was slouched in bed. Oops. RoboFighters doesn’t have any calibration options whatsoever, so I had to sit hunched over my iPod; it considers the “zero position” to be parallel to the floor. The lack of calibration is almost inexcusable at this stage of the game. Other than that, the controls work, for the most part. Sometimes it’s hard to hit a perfect standstill (again, calibration!) but moving is handled well as a whole; it’s as simple as tilt-to-move. As for firing, you have two weapons; one is on your left arm and one is on your right. Tapping either side of the screen fires that respective weapon. Aiming is done automatically, and sometimes it feels like the game is doing too much of the work. As an added caveat, you have an “energy bar” that is drained by movement; standing still allows it to refill. The graphics probably give this game a lot of selling potential, and to be fair, they’re pretty good. They’re not excellent , but they do give the game a unique look and suit the whole robo-theme with a clean, blocky graphical style. As for the sound effects, they’re average: nothing to gripe about, but not a draw, either. Unfortunately, things break down when it comes to the actual game. The meat of the game is supposed to be the robo-vs-robo arena matches (”Tournament” mode), which are won on a “best two out of three” basis. The opposing AI is reasonably intelligent, but there’s not much to do. Because of the energy bar limit, you can’t do much except ducking behind obstacles, shooting a few times, and then returning to cover. When you do get into close quarters, the mechas take out swords and begin bashing each other; unfortunately, this felt clumsy and tacked-on to me, and wasn’t nearly as dramatic as it could have been. What could have been a truly epic... |
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| Monday, 22 June 2009 19:04 |
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148apps
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Developer: Com2uS Corp. Price: $1.99 Version Reviewed: 1.0.1 Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars Game Controls Rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars Gameplay Rating: 4.35 out of 5 stars User Interface Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 3 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.84 out of 5 stars The big thing in gaming, on every platform, ever since Guitar Hero, has been rhythm games, so it’s no surprise that the App Store has enjoyed a bevy of these games as well. However, these limited and stale linear tapping games have not really showcased the unique capabilities of the iPhone. Instead, they have attempted to convert a style of game clearly made for a faux guitar and a console to the iPhone. Rather than follow the lead of games such as Tap Tap Revenge, Com2uS’s rhythm game World of Tunes embraces the possibilities of the iPhone and delivers a memorable game in the process. World of Tunes contains four game modes, two of which are unlocked at first: story mode and free play. Story mode is the bulk of the game, and playing through unlocks songs in free play. Upon starting story mode, you are greeted with a cartoony cut scene to explain the set up: a group of Tuneys, musical note creatures, were happily living in an idyllic music world when an evil monster and his three minions stole the holy treble clef, plunging the world of tunes into chaos. Now, by completing songs, you can help the Tuneys restore their world. Story mode also comes complete with four unique boss battles. In addition, each game mode contains easy, normal, and hard difficulties. The gameplay of World of Tunes is ultimately what makes it so unique. Tuneys (notes) jump from the bottom of the screen with the beat of the song to various places on the screen. Once they bounce, you’ll have to tap them quickly. Easy difficulty will show you where the Tuneys will bounce, but on the other two difficulties, you’ll have to closely follow the notes. World of Tunes also throws three special notes into the mix to make things more difficult. Some notes, before bouncing, will show a curved music line, and after touching the note, you’ll have to drag it along the line. This can get difficult, as you have to drag at the correct speed (the speed of the song) or you’ll lose the note. Large Tuneys, upon being tapped once, will decrease in size then bounce to a different place, and after you tap this Tuney, the same process will happen again for a total of three bounces. Bonus scratch notes will bounce in the middle of the screen, and you’ll have to drag your finger back and forth across the Tuney to inflate him and gain a large bonus. Competing in story mode unlocks the remaining two modes, DJ mode, a linear five ... |
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