Reiner Knizia’s Robot Master, a highly addictive, number-based puzzler from Conlan Rios, was recently featured in the What’s Hot section of the app store.
Robot Master presents the player with a 5 x 5 grid upon which colorful, numbered cards must be placed. The value of the cards will be totaled in both rows and columns, and the lowest row or column total becomes your final score. This really forces the player to build values evenly, as balance is the key to racking up a high score. There are 36 possible cards, 6 each from numbers 0 through 5. Of these, you will be dealt 24 cards, with the center square already containing a card from the outset. The placement of the cards is limited to any square adjacent to a square with a card already in it. Strategic planning is of the utmost importance.
Understanding the scoring method will help you to achieve high scores. Each card counts at face value unless there are doubles or triples in any row/column. If doubles are present, the value of the doubled card is multiplied by 10. For triples, the tripled cards count as 100 points regardless of the card’s value. Often times, you will find yourself with 6 or 7 rows/columns above the 100 mark, though your other rows/columns will be valued in the teens. Be sure to build evenly!
There are 2 game modes for you to play: Solo and Versus. Solo contains both Easy and Tournament variations. In Easy mode, you are allowed to skip cards if you choose. It is sort of a practice mode. Tournament mode offers no skips but allows you to submit your high scores to the global leaderboard, provided they are good enough to make it. Currently, you’ll need to score in the 70’s to even have a chance. Versus mode allows you to play against your iDevice or against another player in a pass-and-play game. One player plays the rows, while the other plays the columns. The player who ends up with the lowest scoring line loses the match. You can play either 5 or 12 card modes. In 5 card mode, each player starts with 5 cards and picks a new card after each turn. In 12 card mode, all 12 cards are dealt to each player upfront. This has proven to be a very exciting challenge.
The game graphics have a funky vibe and the soundtrack is pretty upbeat and catchy. If you don’t care for the music, you can play songs from your own collection. Controls are strictly touch-based, as you tap the card to select (in versus mode) and tap the desired square to place the card. As the cards to be played are randomly chosen from a larger pool, the game is never quite the same twice, which increases its replayability beyond its mere addictiveness. Robot Master has quickly become one of our top go-to games, and at $0.99, you can’t afford not to own this 5-Dimple standout.
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Roughly two weeks ago, J-Squared Software manipulated Lunar Module 3D to gently land at the app store. You are responsible for navigating a module to various landing sites across the surface of the moon; avoiding refueling sites is encouraged. Basically, think of yourself as Neil Armstrong’s chauffeur who is being rewarded with a medal (yes, literally a medal) for saving Uncle Sam some very expensive jet fuel (or whatever lunar modules run on).
A very nice touch by J-Squared Software is that the environments are generated from actual footage of the moon’s surface, and the sound sequence at the beginning of every mission is also an original recording. The menu is nice and simple – only three ways to go there and we will explore each in a minute. As you launch the game you are immersed into outer space tranquility, and if patience is not your virtue you will come to appreciate the meditative melody when you learn that if you wanted a fast-paced game you just wasted your money.
The slow pace is actually a refreshing experience from the usual hustle-and-bustle, which plagues 95% of the games on my device. In the options menu you can either reset your saved game or calibrate the controls. The calibration process is one of the best mplementations I have seen (maybe it’s me or my luck, but calibration is rarely a smooth sailing). The flight plan at the main menu will tell you pretty much everything you need to know. You have unlimited time to land at all the red platforms; avoiding refueling at the blue ones will win better medals. You lose by crashing or running out of fuel (which leads to crashing). Your speed gauges will turn green when you are approaching in acceptable speed; after several crashes at “green” speeds, I learned that old-school piloting skills still trump technology.
The third offering of the main menu is “missions,” surprisingly, that’s where the missions are. J-Squared Software starts you off with four unlocked levels, leaving you an additional five missions to unlock yourself. When you start the game make sure to play around with the camera, it’s really fun. You have absolute control of the view as you can drag the camera 360-degrees around the module, and pinch in/out to zoom. The learning curve of the game is well within the standard deviation – not simple by any means, but not frustrating either. You simply thrust slightly and tilt your phone in the desired direction; you get the hang of it after a crash or twelve. The other gameplay button centers your camera onto the closest landing site; this comes in quite handy especially if you’re lost or messed with the camera too much.
There are a few things I’d like to get off my chest. As I’m typing this review, I had to start the game about fifty times because apparently the game quits when the screen shuts off. While I am a strong believer that graphics are the least important thing in a game, I do feel that the module, the fire of the exhaust, and the landing platforms need to look better and more polished. Even though the lack of gravity feels fine as it stands (especially when you get the hang of it), I would suggest that the developer looks at Retro: Cave Flyer for some pointers. Finally, a bit more depth would not hurt; if not in gameplay then at least some features. For example, a “distance from target” gauge which will help learning to plan your fuel usage instead of just eyeballing it.
Don’t get me wrong, this game fully deserves 4 dimples, simply because it can easily fill the shoes. It does need some work, but with the foundation in place and good will on part of the developer, the expectations are more than reasonable. I have played nothing but LM 3D for about 3 days now and it looks like it’s moving onto my “frequent player” page. Good replay value is often hard to come by, so that alone is well worth your money.
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If internet surfing is a part of your every day hobbies, undoubtedly you have seen a lot of free offers here and there and maybe should have asked yourself if they are real or just something for fun and joy. Good news is that they are sometimes worth your time if you know when and where looking for them. I tell you according to my own experience about the “free stuff world secrets”.
The first rule is that valuable freebie products such as “laptops” or “Plasma TVs” are usually have some strings attached. You may required to send quite many referrals to become eligible to get such free stuff. But you can find nice and popular electronics such as iPods, iPhones, Xboxes, Playsatations and Nintendoes 100% free. However, if you have some time and can refer all flock of your friends to a laptop company why you should not get a brand-new $750 value Sony or Mac notebook?
For very expensive products for example car, house or other similar offers you must be very lucky. They are not really free but you still have a chance to win such big fishes in free contests and sweepstakes. The same is true for large sum of free cash.
The best time for watching online free stuff places to grab the most from them is some special seasons, aniversaries and events. For example, nearly all companies and online shops have bargain or free offers before Christmas. They have made their profits during the year and want to get rid of their out-dated stuff and in the same time to start a new line of advertising for their new products just at the beginning of the year. This time is the best for freebies seekers.
Some online free offers such as ringtones and music, free screensavers, wallpapers, software, jewelry, cosmetics and gift cards are timeless because these offers are a part of permanent marketing plan of their companies. These offers may be gotten totally free without any hassle.
The last tip here about getting free stuff from internet relates to some fantastic free offers which are announced occasionally buy some giant companies specially the new established ones. These offers are very valuable and usually are completely free of charge. For example one year free cell phone call or cable TV service by a new telecommunication company or one year free shopping from a new online shop. In spite that these offers are exceptional but if you are interested in, you can find them. Some websites are dedicated to announce these offers. Also, these giant corporates always inform the world sending millions of online or cell phone messages at the beginning of their work.
By getting various free stuff and offers helping Our century phenomenon, “The Internet”, we can have fun and save a lot of money at the same time.
Written By Joe Sanders, Online Marketer.
For new information about latest free offers visit my website here: Top Free Offers.
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And more things like free iPod Nano, free iPod Classic, free Xbox 360, free MacBook Air, free iMac,
Nintendo DSi, Nintendo wii consoles, Sat Nav, LCD TV, free cash, money…Before you get lost, its easy to get your free gift or cash…
STEP 1 : Go to free iphone 3g http://www.freeipod4.me.uk or free ipods http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mikejoy
Simply click the gift you want or click Sign up and enter your details. You will be able to change the item you want once you log in your account.
STEP 2 :
Complete one of the free offers, I would recommend the Lovefilm Free Dvd Trial. The HSBC and American Express offers card are also great as they are credited quickly.
STEP 3 :
Get referrals – now this can be easier than you think! The amount of referrals required will depend on the free gift you want. (ie: you only need 2 referrals for an iPod Shuffle) The easiest and quickest way to obtaining your referrals is to get all your friends/family involved! Once those 3 steps are completed – sit and wait and get your gift FREE through the post !
I am a private individual just like you. Getting free gifts online started as a hobby but it soon became obvious that I could provide my family with expensive electrical goods such as a free PS3 and other fantastic gifts that we would not otherwise be able to afford.
That is even more important right now, with the credit crunch upon us.
I am currently working towards another free PS3 but there are so many other free gifts to choose from, such as the just released, must have gadget, the free DSi from Nintendo!
This site contains all the information that you need to get free stuff online for yourself. Give it a go, don’t miss out!
Get Started Right Now!
Simply click on any of the images that you see here and you will be taken to the appropriate free gift network as my personal referral.
Enter your e-mail address and create a password, then follow the user-friendly instructions to register your details.
So you’ve found out how it works in terms of the business model being run by the sites, but it’s time to be pursuaded by companies that you will have heard of. First though, why not hear it from some real people like yourself. The #1 Freebie Community Exceem Forums. Exceem is a UK based community with over 6,000 members. So far they have received together over £130,000 worth of free iPods, free Macbooks, free ps3s, free xbox 360s ! Here you can enter competitions and cooperate with other members to make getting your freebie even easier than it already is! This means that you can sign up to be someone elses referral and they’ll repay you by being yours.
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A popular question on the internet is:
“I’ve been using MP3 players and I’ve never ever used an iPod because I’ve been better off with my 2 GB MP3 player, and 4 GB Walkman phone…but I just bought a 30 iPod video and i have no clue how to transfer all the music that’s in my iTunes Library into my iPod.”
To answer that question, below are the steps necessary in order to do that.
1. Launch iTunes, if you don’t have it installed, you will have to download it and install in onto your Mac Pro
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
Once you’ve downloaded and installed that, open it up.
Now, you have two options as to how you’re going to “sync” your iPod. (“Sync” means synchronization – loading the music onto your iPod). There are two ways, automatically and manually.
Automatically is where you have your music library on your computer. When you plug in your iPod, the computer checks the music library on your iPod and does what it has to do to make the iPod’s music library identical to the one on the computer, whether this means deleting things off the iPod or copying music over. This is great if you just want to manage one set of music. You just manage it on your computer, then when you plug your iPod in you don’t have to worry about it – the computer just does it. This is the simpler option.
However, this means you need to keep a copy of all your music on your computer – and you can’t plug your iPod into any other computer.
Manually is when you manually manage your iPod you drag and drop the music you want on to it – the computer DOESN’T do it automatically. This is good if you don’t have much room on your computer, so you can’t keep a copy of the music – or if you want to get music off more than one computer.
f you decide to manually manage your iPod, then there’s a tick box towards the bottom of the screen with “Manually Manage my Music”. Obviously, tick that if you want to do so.
If you choose to manually manage your music, then you’ll need to drag music from wherever (My Computer or from your iTunes library) onto the icon for your iPod. However, if you choose to automatically manage your iPod then sort out your music libray and add the music you want. Then, go to the “File” menu and hit “Sync iPod”. The computer also does this automatically whenever you plug the iPod in.
2. Connect your iPod with the cable into your computer (The cable attaches to you MP3 player on the bottom and the other end goes into a USB port on your computer ) Follow any prompts that come up you should be presented with a screen under “Devices > Your iPod” (on the left hand side of the screen) that shows your iPod and some information about it (software version, how much space you’ve used, etc.)
3. Once connected, your MP3 player should be recognized and should start syncing automatically.
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Gamevil’s long-awaited and much anticipated Zenonia has arrived in the app store. Deemed by many to be the best RPG available for the iDevice, Zenonia creates an experience with greater depth than most mobile games could begin to dream of. The Zelda comparisons are obvious and deserved: this is the closest thing to Link that you will find in an Apple product. Whether you ultimately enjoy Zenonia or not depends on the type of gamer you are: casual gamers will wave it off while serious gamers will be frothing at the mouth for this console-quality game-on-the-go.
The first decision in the game is the age old question: good or evil? Depending on your decision, the path that you follow within the game will be very different. Your character, Regret, can play as a Paladin, a Warrior, or an Assassin. Each has unique traits that will benefit you in one way or another as you complete quests and sub-quests to gain experience and increase your skills, both active (attack-based) and passive (character-based). There are tons of items to find and collect along the way to assist you in your quests and encounters with enemies. Combining items makes them even more powerful and allows your creative side to take over.
0014Gamevil has even gone so far as to account for day/night cycles, hunger, weight, and wear & tear of your equipment. Certain quests must be completed at specific times of the day. You must eat from time to time and your weight, including the number of items you carry in your knapsack, can slow down Regret’s speed. You must even repair your gear on occasion to keep it effective during battle. It’s very easy to get immersed in this world.
0103Graphically, Zenonia has that great 16-bit look and feel, the type that wowed us in the ‘80’s and continues to fill a warm place in our hearts. However, the on-screen menus are lousy and do not respond well to touch. The soundtrack is cheesy, but appropriate for the game style. The greatest failure of the game is the controls. The virtual d-pad is not as responsive as it should be and we find ourselves double-dashing when we least expect it. There is a single button that controls attacks and interactions with people. There are slots along the bottom of the screen that can be filled with items and skills for quick access and use in battle. A map icon helps orient you to your surroundings; a tap brings up a more detailed look. A knapsack icon allows you to access a plethora of information, including your collections of items/potions, skills, etc.
0123It is surprising how little Zenonia utilizes touch controls. We spent some time poking at the knapsack screen before realizing that the d-pad and action button are used to navigate the menus. Yuck! We also would have preferred swipe control options for Regret’s movements, which would have been a more natural way to navigate this complex world and would have led to less thumb cramping. Perhaps a future update will rectify this.
Zenonia will certainly offer hours upon hours of terrific gameplay. Replayability is high, as you can follow the evil path if you had initially chosen good, or vice versa. Replaying as a paladin, warrior, or assassin (whichever wasn’t played the first time) will certainly create a different gaming experience the second and third time around. At $5.99, Zenonia is appropriately priced, given its depth and detail. While far from perfect, Zenonia still creates a unique and well-implemented experience for the iDevice and performs at a solid 4-Dimple level.
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Cobra Mobile hits the bulls-eye with its release of iBomber, formerly known as BombsAway, into the App Store. As a WWII bomber, you are tasked with completing several objectives over the course of 12 different Pacific Ocean-based missions, including blowing up ships, blowing up fuel tanks, blowing up buildings, blowing up….. are you sensing a pattern here? Oh, yeah, this game is all about blowing stuff up and it rocks!
You spend the course of each mission staring down through the bomb bay doors of your aircraft, seeking targets to fulfill your objectives. The first few missions are unlocked at the start of the game. As you complete these missions, the other “classified” missions become unlocked. iBomber can be played in either Normal or Elite difficulty mode. Medals are earned for destroying land-based targets, destroying maritime targets, accurately bombing your targets, and meeting all objectives. Mission length seems adequate, and objectives are often lofty, but attainable. Some of the tasks include finding hidden objects to bomb, which can, of course, significantly delay the completion of the mission.
025Don’t think you’re gonna drop a couple bombs and be done with it. Bombing must be precise, as bombs are affected by momentum and other factors of physics. Hitting a ship is extremely difficult. If you’re off by even the slimmest margin, the bomb splashes harmlessly into the ocean. Often, you’ll find yourself circling a specific target several times before you hit it just right.
There are 3 special bomb types available: the Rocket Bomb, the Blockbuster, and the Grand Slam. Each has its own attributes that can either help or hinder the mission. The availability of each type depends on which icons appear on screen. Touch the icon when it appears to switch bomb type. Use the special bombs wisely and sparingly, as quantities don’t last long. Health icons are also available to repair your aircraft from all of the tracer and flak gun fire it takes during the mission. Keep an eye on your health meter, as you may need to quickly leave an area to avoid going down in flames.
023Your instrument panel includes a health meter, speed indicator, radar for locating enemies, your current bomb type, a menu flip switch to check on the status of your objectives, and, of course, the ol’ Bombs Away button that makes all of this fun possible.
Cobra Mobile has done a terrific job with the graphics, as the game looks very polished and not too arcade-y. Sound is great, with cool militaristic music playing while the bombs drop (sans awesome whistling sound…. FAIL!). iBomber makes use of the accelerometer for speed and direction, while icon pick up and bombing utilizes touch. Buttons don’t seem as responsive as we’d hoped, and the Bombs Away button could be bigger. We often found ourselves getting so into the game that we were missing the button completely. Otherwise, the game runs very smooth (no lag whatsoever) and is a blast (yes, pun was intended…. Sorry).
0124The only other complaint we had was the size of the text on the objective lists. It is very tiny despite there being a lot of extra black space around the outside of the text box. If Cobra Mobile would bump up text size, increase the size of the Bombs Away button, make touch a little more responsive, and add that classic bomb whistle, this game would be UNBELIEVABLE! As it stands, it is still OUTSTANDING! Replayability is high, as the medal system gives you a reason to keep playing, even after completing a mission. Oh, yeah, and you’ll also keep playing it over and over again because explosions are AWESOME! iBomber feels well-priced at $2.99 and could probably command even more. Despite its minor flaws, this game is as awe-inspiring as a 5-Megaton…er, Dimple explosion!
Bonus: Cobra Mobile promises new missions and features in future updates. Can’t wait to see what they are!
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Roundthird is prepping their first entry into the App Store and they’ve given AppSmile a preliminary copy of it.
Meet Radial 50, a 50-level modern twist on the familiar “breakout” concept. If you have ever fiddled with brick buster style games (who hasn’t), you’ll quickly recognize the inspiration behind Radial 50.
The goal is to break through multitier bricks, called “targets”, and reach a diamond at the center. In a gesture of utter rebelliousness, Roundthird throws the classic up-down format out the window. In contrast, they’ve designed an engaging 360 layout that taunts you to spin your heart out for as long as you can hold on.
Don’t worry, the paddle, ball, and bricks are all still there. But in Radial 50 the paddle revolves around the circular board. That means if your ball travels into the ring on one side, it can exit out the other – so you have to get the paddle over there quickly.
Roundthird has also included “particles” – these are small star shaped items that can be collected for bonuses. Particles, Powerups and Powerdowns are released when targets are eliminated. Time bonuses are also granted based on how quickly the center diamond is reached. Bonus values are realized when your score is tallied at the end of each board.
Like a lot of recent releases we’ve been seeing, Radial 50 transforms into a community challenge via the Location Based Leaderboards. Each time a user submits his or her score, other users in the area or worldwide can aim to take them down. We’ve love this idea, but haven’t been able to test it out fully due to the fact that no one has their hands on the game…yet.
Another, noteworthy characteristic that Radial50 introduces is “Achievements.” These are goals that players can aspire to reach. Achievements do not add to a user’s score but instead present opportunities to better the player’s skill set.
Our team has been courting Radial 50 all day and has fallen in love with the soundtrack. Actually, we don’t remember hearing the same song twice in one sitting. We did experience a small learning curve when getting accustomed to the game. Sliding your thumb up and down on the right side of the screen controls the paddle. We naturally wanted to spin our thumbs around the center point instead. This caused many lost games. But, once we got used to the control scheme we didn’t have any more problems with it. Another difficulty was the size of the ball. When we had particles flying around the screen along with the ball we couldn’t easily distinguish one from the other. This element though, is what makes Radial 50 quite challenging. We quickly grew to love it – and made it our personal mission not to lose the ball!
Hold on tight, because when Radial 50 hits the App Store we foresee quite a following. We’d love to see what Roundthird has in store for this game and others in the near future. Keep watching the App Store because this is one you won’t want to miss.
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Downhill Bowling, from GameResort LLC, offers a different spin on the bowling genre, successfully marrying marble rolling, racing, and bowling into a 3-bean salad of feverish action and rabid fun. Ok, maybe that’s a little much, but this is one heck of an enjoyable game.
Downhill Bowling is exactly what it says it is: you send your bowling ball racing down a mountain slope in an attempt to successfully knock over 10 sets of bowling pins on a single roll. Along the way, you can collect coins, power-ups, and hopefully plenty of strikes (no spares, as you only get one pass at each set of pins) as you attempt to gain points and propel yourself up the global leaderboard. There is also a Timed mode in which you race down the hill for the fastest time. Of course, you must knock down at least one pin in each set for your time to count. Collected coins and knocked-down pins in this mode offer time bonuses rather than points.
016The power-ups really enhance the gameplay. All power-ups last a very short time and include: BOMB for ensuring those pins all go down, GROW or SHRINK to temporarily make your ball bigger or smaller, and SPEED, JUMP, or HOVER to add those functionalities, as well. You will also encounter some fixed items that will affect gameplay. Occasionally, you will find an arrow in your path that adds a burst of speed to your ball, often to launch you over a dip or ravine. Hit these just right or you’ll go hurtling by the next set of pins. Cannons appear from time to time. Roll into one, aim for the next set of pins, and fire. Never saw that on those Saturday morning bowling programs, did you? You should also be careful not to roll over any mushrooms, as they make your ball do some pretty weird things, including slow down and wobble.
0251Downhill Bowling has 9 unlocked levels and a 10th level that will unlock after you’ve played each of the previous levels. GameResort has even added 2 bonus levels in a recent update, bringing the total to twelve. There are few options available to affect gameplay, though calibration control is available from the in-game menu while navigating a course (can’t set it ahead of time). The accelerometer controls the path of your ball and touch control only aids to select your current available power-up, which appears as an icon in the upper-left corner of the screen. You many only carry one of these at a time. The ball’s speed is constant and is unaffected by the user.
0231Graphics are not complex or greatly detailed, but do offer enough texture to clearly define the gradient of the hills. The soundtrack is catchy, with a bit of a Primus feel to several of the songs. Downhill Bowling has great replay value, as a perfect run (all coins and all strikes) would be very difficult to achieve, and the global leaderboard allows you to fight other bowlers for top billing. At $2.99, we feel that there should be more levels to justify the price, but we’re still relatively satisfied that our money has been well spent. GameResort has impressed us with this offering, which scores a very solid 4-Dimple mark.
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Sentinel:
If you are a fan of tower defense games, here is one to add to your collection. Sentinel, by Origin8 Technology, takes the genre to another world – literally.
In the year 2029, humans have begun to colonize Mars and establish mining operations. Soon alien forces begin to attack and you’re beckoned to help. You play as the commander of the Sentinel, a dropship sent to Mars. Organize and build your defense quickly to ward off waves of oncoming enemy troops. At your disposal are weapons in the following categories: Lasers, Bombs, Beam, and Sniper. Weapons have varying degrees of influence but all can be upgraded, granted you have the cash. That’s right; all weapons require funding to purchase. Acquire funds for every alien troop defeated. Cash can also purchase repair drones – a must have once you begin to retain damage.
Origin8 has supplied a sufficient amount of alien types. Arachnids are insect-like troops that move fast but are pretty weak. Mutants are more durable robotic soldiers that move at mediocre speed. In the same speed and strength class are Winged Parasites. These can only be defeated with surface-to-air weaponry. Another enemy is only defined as Slow Walkers. These huge beings move at a snail’s pace but require tons of force to bring them down. If enemies succeed in defeating your structures, they will reach your base and then its game over for you. On the upside, you have up to 120 waves to overcome them.
The team at Origin8 continues to wow AppSmile by their inclusion of online options. Recently they updated Sentinel to include a friend challenge that lets you email a buddy from your Contacts and taunt them to beat your score. Scores can also be submitted to an online community.
It’s obvious to the AppSmile Team that the guys at Origin8 have it goin’ on. They have delivered an exciting tower defense game in all respects. Hats off to Sentinel.
Here’s our AppSmile List of Favorite Features:
* A fantastic user interface presenting well designed, high quality menus and instructions
* Increasing difficulty levels throughout each board
* No two game play periods are alike
* Proper use of the iPhone’s touch screen; drag and drop weapons, pinch to zoom, slide to scroll
* Pause and Fast Forward buttons
* Superb graphics including aliens and environment
* Each enemy soldier displays its individual health level
AppSmile Team’s Wish List:
* Once weapons are in place we would love to be able to switch to a 3D viewing angle
* Additional levels with more enemy types
Pharos IV: Assault:
The developers at Plasq recently released a new space battle game into the App Store under the title Pharos IV: Assault.
Pharos has given its players the elite responsibility of protecting humanity against danger from attacking alien foes.
Fortunately, you’re equipped with an array of high tech devices aboard your fighter ship. Weapons range from Dual Photon Torpedoes and Missiles to an Electromagnetic Pulse. A Scanner is available that assists in navigation and enemy location. All steering controls are handled via the accelerometer while speed reacts to a throttle control on the left of the screen.
Pharos IV challenges with three types of enemy fighters, each with different strengths: Raiders, Intruders, and Marauders. Once level 4 is reached, Pharos IV introduces Destroyers into the mix. These monsters can only be destroyed by missiles fired into the main beam generator.
As players progress through the successive levels, their aim and maneuvering should improve. This will allow them to take out enemies faster while sustaining less damage to their star craft. Upon depletion of energy resources, the game ends returning the player to level 1. Thankfully, energy can be recharged by collecting resources throughout travels. Find them using the Scanner and collect using the Tractor Beam.
So, what did the AppSmile team think of Pharos IV? Let’s just say we’re looking forward to updates. While the space craft are well designed and accurately three dimensional, other graphic elements seemed sub-par. Players are only offered a single view that presents a rather confusing flat instrument panel. Weapons and other controls are oddly arranged and not all are labeled. We found ourselves returning to the Help Menu to identify which button represented what. Even worse, the only way we found to bring up the Help Menu was to exit and reload the game. Yikes!
On the up side, Pharos IV gives players a beautiful image of the environment they explore. Yet, here again, a positive aspect quickly fades. The environment image is just that – one large picture that adjusts in two dimensions only.
As far as audio goes, the best decision Plasq made is allowing iTunes to play in the background. This will override the game’s one-song soundtrack. Sound effects can be adjusted in either mode.
After spending some time with the game, we found Pharos IV: Assault to be a shallow attempt at space adventure.
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