iPhone Reviews 2.0

I could not help but preview this title. I absolutely love the name of this game, but did not expect this to be a dual stick shooter, more like a very odd time management cooking game. Take a look at this title while we wait for it to launch in February 2010.

IUGO’s latest adventure on the iPhone, Daisy Mae’s Alien Buffet, offers over-the-top alien slaying. Check out the description, screens and video below:

Daisy Mae’s peaceful, simple life in her little desert trailer park will never be the same. A full scale alien attack on earth has begun and Daisy becomes the unlikely heroine outta nowhere. Take hold of the steering wheel and help Daisy Mae shoot and blast her way to victory in this fun and quirky dual stick shooter. Aliens: you have been served!

Features:

✓ More aliens than you can shake a stick at!

✓ The baddest selection of weapons known to folks ‘round these here parts

✓ Purty graphics and fancy sounds effects

✓ Sassy costumes to unlock for Daisy Mae’s alien hoedown

✓ Daisy Mae “taunt” moves to stun the aliens silly

✓ Control options to suit every varmint’s needs

✓ VIP points to be earned towards an additional costume

✓ Global leaderboards

✓ Auto save

Avatar is arguably the biggest movie of all time. If not it is certainly the most innovative ever with its revolutionary use of 3D, paving the way for the inevitable future of movies. Just like so many other big movies, Avatar has received its own tie-in game. Something we weren’t expecting though was that it would be brought onto the App Store, but Gameloft has cashed in on the success creating this spectacular game.

James Cameron’s Avatar follows a different storyline to the movie, instead taking us back in time 20 years or so to when the Avatar program was first started. You play as Ryan, the first ever Avatar to travel into Pandora and you must Hack n Slash your way until you meet the Na’vi and become a trusted member of their group. There is a base storyline in the game but mostly it’s about killing anything that gets in your way as you travel through Pandora.

Presentation

No expense was spared when Gameloft were to create Pandora for the iPhone and iPod Touch. They even worked with producers of Avatar the movie to create a world that represented the film and was to a standard that they were happy with. In return we have received a game that to the standard of something we would expect to find in a PSP title.

This game should have the nickname ‘Captain Detail’ as this is exactly what we get in Avatar. The game extends from the actual parts of the level that you can actually visit into creating a highly detailed scene around every corner. If this was just another shoot ‘em up platformer it would be incredibly easy just to have a blue sky and be done with it. In true Pandora style Gameloft has filled the sky with all the things that we get only in Avatar, such as huge floating mounds of land, waterfalls falling into thin air and just amazing landscapes.


There is a lot more around you as well, with 8 unique levels that provide a long enclosed path for you to follow full of luscious greenery and huge cliff faces, as well as lots of little creatures and colours. There is one open world level which features a huge grass clearing in a sort of valley. While this game just features the odd tree and huge cliff face, the main object in this level is the famous tree where the Na’vi live in the movie.

This game looks superb, easily one of the best looking games on the App Store. The only real competitors for a game of this size would be Gameloft’s other two titles NOVA and Modern Combat: Sandstorm. Once again this proves why Gameloft are and continue to be one of the best two developers, in my opinion, on the App Store.

Controls

The controls in Avatar are fairly standard for a Gameloft game, offering an array of on-screen buttons to perform every manoeuvre or skill needed to play this game. There is nothing overly special with the offering in Avatar and certainly isn’t up to the same amount of skills available in Assassin’s Creed Altair’s Chronicles. But then again a Na’vi doesn’t need half the skills an Assassin would use.


The game features a virtual joystick to control your Na’vi or whatever he may be riding at that current time. On the right side of the screen is a jump button, a button to repeatedly mash to attack with one of your weapons and a button that allows you to switch weapons. Fairly simple design, but when you have had it working for over a year and a half why mess with it?

Gameplay

As I said before the story in James Cameron’s Avatar is to follow the progress of Ryan, the first ever Avatar in existence as he discovers Pandora from the view of one of the local Na’vi. The game is a hack n slash/shoot em up platform game basically where you must run your way through levels defeating both nasty creatures in Pandora and humans from your own race who oppose you. The scene for the level is played in out via dialogue before each level (with voice acting from the main Na’vi in the film).


This game is what I would define as a 3rd Generation game because it is very similar to two other games by Gameloft. Previously we have had Hero of Sparta and Assassin’s Creed Altair’s Chronicles with the newest title always adding onto what we got in the previous title. This is the same for NOVA which is again a 3rd Generation title with Brothers in Arms and Modern Combat coming before it.

Avatar has 10 missions in total, with 8 being pre-set levels and 2 being free roam levels where you must complete around 5 or so tasks to finish the level. The other missions are all about advancing through the level by killing everything in sight, climbing cliff faces, jumping on moving platforms etc. The 8 levels will take you about 15-20 minutes to complete and the free roam levels take between 30-60 minutes depending on how many times you fail some of the tasks as it’s tricky to stay alive on harder difficulties.


A majority of the levels are using just your Avatar to run and jump around. The free roam levels allow you to use one of the horse creatures if you wish to so you can get around the map faster and one level let’s you fly on your own bird creature (I’m bad with the terminology). It’s nice to have this little big of variation in the game, making for a very enjoyable experience playing the game. Along with the option to use an array of weapons and upgrade your stats when collecting items this makes for a great time. Also having lots of checkpoints throughout levels lets you play for 5 minutes or an hour and you can regularly progress, something majorly lacking in Modern Combat: Sandstorm.

Conclusion

Avatar is an outstanding game on so many levels, with such exquisite detail and an amazing gaming experience. This game is deserving of all praise it receives and is really pushing the limits on what we can come to expect from both platform games and Gameloft as a company.

$6.99 is an excellent price for this game and a great companion to play before and after you watch Avatar for the 33rd time at the cinemas. Unlike so many movie and naming tie-ins this is something both James Cameron and 20th Century Fox can be proud to have their name against.

Trenches was a game that was released over around the Christmas/New Year slowdown on the App Store, which was perfect timing for this game. With no AAA releases coming during this time Indy developers could really prevail like the early days. If Trenches was contending with EA and Gameloft then this would still be in the Top 100, but I doubt it would reach the Top 5 like it has.

Just like Flight Control, other games similar have been released and in particular 2012 Zombies and Aliens. This game has its pros and cons compared to Trenches, but where this game definitely wins out are the amount of levels compared to Trenches small campaign mode. If there is one area where Trenches let me down it is in the main campaign mode.

Presentation

This is a great looking game that has some great looking characters in the game. Trenches is set in the times when having big, proud mustaches were all the fashion. The troops all look spectacular and to me vaguely look like something that could appear in a violent Paper Mario game. The battle fields look nice and have some detail put in them such as the cracks in the ground and the different backgrounds for different locations. The game looks great and runs smoothly, but where I felt let down especially compared to ZvA was the fighting animation.


In Zombies vs Aliens you have bodies flying everywhere, body parts being lost and heaps of blood and gore all over the place just as a battle should be. In Trenches you have everyone firing shots at each other until they die, which is just the body falling over and fading. I found blood when killing the Zombie Horde but not against the troops and bodies do go flying but only when bombed. Sure the amount of gore wouldn't be the same as what Zombies or Aliens could deliver, but just the little things like blood splatter would make this more realistic.. in a way.

Controls

I really like the controls in Trenches. At first I thought it was unnecessary and pointless having these controls but after playing ZvA I realized that they engage you heaps more in the actual game. Trenches is very similar to Flight Control in that you must drag you finger from one of your troop to a location and they will follow your exact path. While it isn't a precise method like avoiding planes in the sky, where you place your troops can determine how you go in battle as a formation can help you in harder battles.


You troops will auto-advance until they reach their first battle, which is when they will stop. They won't move again until you command them to do so. Unlike in ZvA your troops can retreat if needed and you can stop them on open ground, where as ZvA troops would only stop in trenches. Now that I have played this a bit I love the line drawing method and can really see the advantages of using this process. While it makes the game more complicated, it adds another dimension to the game that similar games don't have.

Gameplay

The length of the actual game is what I felt kept this game from being super good. There are two game modes, Campaign mode and Skirmish. Even though I would have originally guessed that Campaign mode would be the main one, you are forced to spend most of your playing time in Skirmish. This isn't because you need to do this mode to unlock stuff in the game, but mainly because of how short the Campaign mode is.


The Campaign takes you on a trip through the main battles from World War I. Sadly though it seems there were only 6 big battles so we only get six levels in Campaign mode. The levels were quite fun while they lasted, with the aim to get your troops to the end of the battlefield to claim victory. This is done by slowly but surely killing enemies and advancing your troops into Trenches, where you get the upper hand in an equal battle. Once the coast is clear you can move forward and hopefully reach another trench.

The six levels in Campaign mode are fairly similar, except that as you go to harder locations there are more or less trenches and barb wire to slow you in your tracks. The campaign mode can be played in either Easy, Medium or Hard difficulty, with a strategy or game plan needed if you are going to survive the night in Hard mode.


Skirmish mode is really a customizable Campaign, where you get to choose all the features and set up a game for yourself. You can change the battle location, length of the field, difficulty level and once completing Campaign mode what game mode. The game modes are either the normal shoot-out or Zombie Horder which is unlocked after completing the campaign. The aim of this is to set up a stronghold and defend for as long as possible as the rapidly advancing and multiplying Zombies approach you. The don't fire at you but kill with deadly speed if they manage to reach your troops, calling game over within a minute or so.


Take this review lightly, as I could only comment on what I played. The developers are intent on continually updating the game to make this a pleasurable experience for all users. I have received word that a longer and more complete campaign mode will be available in a free update within the week, so this would obviously alter my thoughts on this game.

Conclusion

Just like Pocket God started out, this seems to be a great preview of the game that will continue to grow over many months. As long as the developers keep to their word and continue to improve this game I can see it being just as big as Flight Control or Harbor Master. The game mechanics itself are a spectacular concept and the new style of fighting is a perfect game for the iDevice.

If I had to suggest either this or 2012 ZvsA I would find it hard to pick in their current states, but ZvsA would just edge it out. The amount of levels and upgradeable units probably win out against the more innovative and involving, yet short game. I suggest that you wait until the new update of Trenches is out and make your mind up yourself whether the new Campaign is of a sufficient length.

I would recommend this game if you enjoyed- 2012 Zombies vs Aliens

I had never previously picked up Glyder mainly due to the fact that I didn't think it would appeal to me. At the time I had various flying games and didn't think another item collecting game would be fun for me. Lately though I had been considering whether to get Glyder but when I saw Glyder 2 came out I decided to get that first. From there I fell in love with this game and ended up buying the original Glyder after completing the sequel. I then found the original to be an absolute gem but was kicking myself that I didn't play it before Glyder 2, as it was hard to appreciate how good it was when Glyder 2 is so so much better.

Presentation

The main selling point from my view is the excellent graphics. If this game was in another 2D block world then this game would have never taken off in the beginning. Glu Mobile are known for making some great 3D games, Wacky Worlds Mini Golf and Cops n Robbers comes to mind, and the detail in this game is superb.

There are 6 huge environments and 1 smaller environment that all look superb. Each one has a different theme so they all are unique. Half the fun of reaching each new island is the ability to fly around and just look at every corner of these fantasy lands.

One thing that Glu has done well is give a good sense of speed. When you are gliding slowly you can’t really tell that you are even moving, but as you build up speed the air surrounding Eryn gets blurry just like the racing games. This is a great effect and just adds that little bit extra to the game.

Glyder 2 runs well on all devices, even though the ride is just that little bit smoother on the 3rd Gen devices. None of the graphics are spared in the lesser devices, but the ride can sometimes be slightly jerky. All in all the game looks good and feels good.

Controls
When I started this game I expected to have to use a various amount of different on screen buttons to maybe shoot at things or pick up items like the crystals. Somehow the game has managed to stay as simple as possible with the only thing to do is just tilt your iDevice.

For starters this is not a violent game, with no bad guys or obstacles to get in your way. However if you aren’t careful tilting the wrong way or not as all may make you crash into a part of an island, restarting back at the home disc of that island. To pick up crystals you just need to fly towards them and they will get sucked into you by gravity if you get close enough. This also works for boosts and treasure chests.

I love how Glu has kept this game so simple, making it easy enough for a pro to zoom around all the tight corners of the various islands but a beginner can pick this up and still do well. This is really a game for everyone.

Gameplay

The aim of Glyder is to collect all the crystals that are located on the six islands and return Eryn to the portal to get back home. For those who want more there are heaps of challenges and time trials that you can try to defeat, many will be done while completing the game but a few will require you to go out of your way to finish.

You start your journey on Arctasia, a barren Iceland where you must find your way around to find all the crystals located on the island. In the entire game you must find 125 of the Blue, Pink and Gold crystals and finding all of one colour unlocks something. To do this you will have to work your way around all the islands including the desert Oasis, the underground Sporelle and the space wonderland Acension.

The game is physics based as Eryn will lose speed if you try to go up in the air but will gain it when flying downwards. There are boosts around each island that can help you speed up and thermals are your best bet at climbing high into the sky. Especially when you are trying to find Ascension which is located in space!

What kept Glyder 1 a bit dry is the lack or other activities to do and complete in the game. All they had were landing platforms where you had to fly from A to B as fast a possible. In Glyder 2 these have been refined and are required in some situations to complete the game. In most platforms you must fly around the island through checkpoints, often to hard to find places where heaps of crystals are located.

On four islands however there are special platforms that require you to move snowballs or a cog or other items from one place to another to complete a task or save a village. These always give you a reward which inevitably helps you continue on with the game. In the latest update each island has been given another new platform which is a fun minigame where a cannon fires some sort of object into the sky and you have a time limit to collect as much as possible.

The other cool new feature in Glyder 2 is the ability to customize Eryn with different outfits and wings. These are found all over the world in Treasure Chests or Packages. The outfits available do nothing but change what Eryn looks like, but the wings have stats and different wings will suit different situations. For example the Electric wings have a larger area of gravity so it’s easier to pick up crystals and the Osiris wings let you fly upwards without losing speed.

Comparison

Glyder and Glyder 2 have the same basic gameplay. Each is about finding all the crystals in the game to unlock a portal so Eryn can finally get home. Both games have spectacular graphics and huge worlds to explore, but it are the number of additional options in Glyder 2 that make it the better game. Glyder has the starting blocks for the time trials in Glyder 2, as well as the many challenges to unlock. Glyder 2 just has more to in the game, with more crystals, special challenges and the customization of Eryn.

Both are fun games and if you like the key crystal collecting element of the game you will enjoy both games. Just be aware that if you play Glyder 2 before the original Glyder that you may find the game lacking if you were hoping for all the extra features that make Glyder 2 an excellent sequel.

Conclusion
Glyder 2 is an absolutely fantastic game that I couldn’t put down until I had completely finished this game. Having played both this and the original there is no comparison to Glyder 2 (obviously) but if you are planning on getting both then finish Glyder first.

This has officially become one of my favourite games on the App Store. This is an easy to play game that gave me over 5 hours of entertaining fun. It was good to kick back and play such a peaceful game such as Glyder 2. Even though the sale has ended this game is worth $2.99 and you won’t regret purchasing even if you weren’t all that impressed with the original.

I would recommend this game if you enjoyed- Glyder

After the huge success that The Sims 3 had on the App Store it was inevitable that we would be receiving add-on packs. What I didn't expect though were whole new apps that featured another full Sims experience. Check out what EA have in store for us with The Sims 3 World Adventures!


AN ALL-NEW SIMS EXPERIENCE – FROM THE #1 BEST-SELLING GAME OF THE YEAR ON THE APP STORE. Take your Sims on thrilling adventures to world famous destinations.


EXPLORE 3 EXOTIC DESTINATIONS
…“Al Simhara,” Egypt… “Champs Les Sims,” France… “Shang SimLa,” China. Each exciting location is loaded with a world of possibilities for danger, adventure, and romance for your Sim.

MEET GLOBAL CHALLENGES
Enjoy an international twist on the Sims-style gameplay you know and love with 52 new goals, 4 new mini-games -- plus personas, careers, and quests.

ENJOY MORE CUSTOM CONTENT
Let your Sim sport the local looks of the culture and acquire worldly tastes. There are lots of new clothing styles, furniture selections, and even new face types to choose from.

IMPORT/EXPORT BETWEEN THE SIMS GAMES FOR iPHONE & iPOD TOUCH
Yes! You can transfer your Sim back and forth between the iPhone® & iPod touch® versios of The Sims World Adventures and The Sims 3. So bring your favorite Sim on your adventure.

INCLUDES SIMS-STYLE MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT FROM WELL-KNOWN ARTISTS
Travel to the tunes of artists like LeAnn Rimes – singing in Simlish, of course!

First of all I hope all of you have a safe and happy Christmas period and a great New Year!

I will be away between the 26th December and approximately the 5th of January so no reviews or anything will be done in this time.

I thank you all very much for continually visiting our site and helping us run for almost a year now!

Next year is going to be a big one with the sites 1 year Anniversary in early January and a new look and feel for you all. I'm going to strive to make the reviews in particular easier and better for you to read. Thank you all for your suggestions to improve the site, they have been greatly appreciated and you will see some in place starting next year.

Farewell for now but see you all ready to start gaming again in 2010!

Thanks, iR

iTunes Link

Need for Speed Shift is a racing game by Electronic Arts. $9.99

Originally Need for Speed Shift was not announced to be coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch in 2009, or even at all. The huge success of Need for Speed Undercover when it was released must have made EA realize it was worth them bringing out this title. Luckily for us they did and we can once again experience the Need for Speed, in a different way to Undercover.

Need for Speed Undercover is the uncontested arcade racing king while Real Racing holds onto the simulation racing spot. Need for Speed Shift was meant to be a simulation racer but instead the iPhone version is dead smack in the middle of the two genres. The racing style in NFS Shift is designed to be more of a simulation experience, with no incoming cars or being able to make other cars to flying. The racing modes and track designs just give this an arcade feel and the mix of the two makes for a deadly combination.

To be honest as first I thought the graphics were a bit of a let down when compared to NFS Undercover. In Undercover it was released before the 3GS so they had to unload all they had onto the current devices to make it look good. In Shift the small things that will cause the older devices to lag up have been saved for the 3rd Gen devices.

The reason for this is that while the cars look the same it is the amount of stuff in the background that would really tear the older devices to shreds. The city landscapes have a heap of buildings which are 3D, increasing the stress on smaller devices. Without the gleam and small effects I am surprised that this runs as well as it does on smaller devices with only minimal lag. On 3rd Gen devices you get all the small things that have are added to give it a slightly more polished feel.

Don't be put off by that if you own an older device, it still looks superb on our devices. You may not think it looks as good as Undercover to begin with mainly because it has a totally different style to it. It is in the middle of the day and all the tracks are nice and bright, unlike the dusk setting in Undercover. Everything right down to the cars look different and for me it took a bit of time adjusting to this new look. I absolutely love this game now after a few hours playing and believe it easily looks better than Undercover.

There are different racing views all look spectacular and really give you a great view of the track. However you drive this game looks superb and you will sometimes find yourself off the track because you were gawking at the scenery and how beautiful it looks. If you don't want this game because you like racing games it is definitely one to get and show off to all your friends who think their PSP games look good.

Electronic Arts have also included some sweet licensed tunes for us to listen to. The songs play throughout the entire game but sound the best while surfing the menu's. The beats of the songs make me feel like I am watching the Fast & Furious movies. During the race the songs are blocked out basically by the sound of your incredibly loud car engine. The sounds are pretty basic but work well for this racing game, especially with little things like changing the sound when the gears change.

The controls in Shift and Undercover are fairly similar but there are a few obvious differences between the two. The things that have stayed the same are that you have to tilt the device to steer your car, touch the screen to brake and that this is an auto-accelerate game. The reason for the auto acceleration I believe is to reduce the number of buttons on the screen, getting in the way of the sweet graphics. I am sure those who wanted Auto-accelerate wouldn't mind a button though if the mode was optional.

The Nitro is still in this game but instead of flicking up with the screen there is a tiny button on the right hand side. It is pretty small and even though it may not let you see as much the button should be bigger than it is. It is here to make way for the automatic and manual transmission options. When in manual you can change gears by flicking your finger up or down on the screen, having a bit of simulation racing in this game. The slow-down of time option has also been taken out, mainly due to the fact that normal car races don't have that option in their cars.

The controls work well, apart from the Nitro button for now. They have implemented the touch controls to successfully let you do more than just touch on screen buttons. If the Nitro button wasn't so small and sticky then these would basically be perfect controls for a game that uses auto acceleration.

The racing modes in Shift are definitely have more of an arcade feel to them. In the game you can on tracks which take you through 18 unique street tracks using 7 game modes. Instead of in a simulation racer where you may find just a circuit race there are many more game modes to keep you interested.

These modes are:

• Circuit- Complete a certain number of laps of the track and try and come in 1st position

• Elimination- Race 2 or 3 laps of the track and avoid being the last to finish every lap as they get eliminated until one remains

• Sprint- Try to finish in 1st place after racing from Point A to Point B

• Driver Duel- Take on an opponent 1 on 1 and try to get 5 seconds ahead to win

• Drift- Go around the track at your own pace drifting and trying to get a certain number of drift points

• Timetrial- You have 3 laps to try and beat the winning time to get the gold medal

• Exhibition- Race 1 on 1 against an opponent in a totally identical car

There are four locations in the game Chicago, London, Tokyo and the World Tour. Each of these has 7 events, one from each of the different game modes. The best thing about this game is that if you suck at one particular mode you can still get through the game because it is based on the number of stars you collect, not positions.

The game has a very in-depth career mode to show how good and sometimes bad you are. In almost all the race modes the races have different optional objectives that if you complete will let you earn a star. These are things like staying on the race line, lead for an entire lap and many more. These stars are used to unlock new tracks.

In each race you earn points by staying on the racing line, successfully driving a corner, drifting and much more. These are separated into two categories so you can tell what type of driver you are. All points go towards your driver level, which earns you more cars and money are you level up. There are 20 levels available in the game.

There are a bunch of trophies that you can try and earn. They have five levels to them and require you to do things like drift for so long in your career, perform x amount of overtakes or win x amount of events consecutively. These mean nothing but are a nice thing to try and achieve in your career. Another thing to watch is your win-loss record which again means nothing but is you are on 11-50 then you it tells you that practice may be handy.

In this game there are 20 licensed cars available for you to unlock and buy. These range from your BMW's to your Lamborghini's and Pagani's. The cars are ranked in tiers and certain cars can only go in certain events. This means that you are going to be regularly buying cars to not only stay with the competition but to re-play older tracks that you may need to re-do to earn some more stars. Some cars are unlocked by reaching a certain level and others are by completing certain events.

The game starts out very slow with no sense of speed what so ever as you own your first car. As I found though as you upgrade you car a bit or decide to buy a new car you quickly find that this game gives you some seriously quick cars and you better step up your act right away. While the first few races are off putting you will find this is one of the most thrilling racing games out there, especially when you unless the NOS.

All the cars are semi-customizable in both performance and visuals. You can give you car a new paint job from a base of set colours or add bodykits, new rims etc. You can also improve the performance of your car by upgrading it's acceleration, suspension, speed, tyres or add some nitro to your car. The prices rise as you get higher tiered cars so be prepared to spend the cash effectively.

The racing comes in 3 games modes Rookie, Amateur or Professional but you can customize it to suit yourself. This means choosing either Auto or Man transmission, steering assist, braking assist and whether you want the race line. The race line is a great addition to the game and is something I loved in the Forza Motorsport games. This lets you know the best line for the race and whether you are going too fast to make the corner. This is a nice addition that makes this feel like a simulation racer.

There are a few obvious signs that Electronic Arts tried to make this into more of a simulation racer. The first one is the fact that this game is more about choosing the right path on the race track instead of smashing and bashing your way around the track. Going off the track effects you but I feel like it is a bit too forgiving as you just bounce off the side of the track and slow down. I would have loved to have seen a bit more action, especially when going 200 Mph. The other dead giveaway is that unlike Asphalt, Undercover etc. you can not ram into another car and send it flying into the side of the wall. While you can earn a trophy for knock outs they are incredibly hard and you generally just run up the side of another car and make sparks.

There are four camera modes for you to play around with. The first is the cockpit mode just like in Real Racing. This looks cool and definitely makes it feel like a simulation racer. I enjoyed this mode the best because as you crash and get hit the windscreen slowly scratches before smashing. This mode isn't the best though, especially when trying to drift. There are two more modes that let you see just the bonnet of the car and then nothing but the race track. These look really cool but you wouldn't want to drive around in them. The final mode is the classic view behind the car, which let's you see everything that is going on and gives the full effect of the landscape. I will use this mode most for driving, especially in faster cars as you have more idea of where the corners are.

If that isn't enough there is also an option that let's you race your own friends via local multiplayer. This mode works quite well and it is really awesome how well it works. You may find a slight bit of lag but generally this is a heap of fun and very competitive.

It will take the average gamer around 4 hours to complete all the racing tracks and around 6 or 7 hours to unlock all the cars, get to Level 20 and earn all 150 stars. This game is absolutely amazing and the arcade feeling with the simulation racing style makes this into the best racing game on the App Store. Period. You would have to be insane not to get this game, especially at the Christmas sale price of $6.99.

Only Electronic Arts can deliver such a game that brings speed, excitement and an addictive game into a single game. Need for Speed is everything it's earlier version was and more. This is definitely one of the games of the year and I love it too bits as you can see with the size of this review. There is a slight bug some people are experiencing with a certain race in Tokyo crashing, but that is going to be fixed soon and then the game should be perfect. Just get this now, you shouldn't be disappointed. And Merry Christmas to everyone!

Gameplay- 10/10
Graphics- 10/10
Controls- 9.5/10
Overall- 9.5/10

I would recommend this game if you enjoyed- Need for Speed Undercover

Tell me what you think about this review at Twitter- http://www.twitter.com/iPhone_Reviews next up is Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes - Encore

Thanks- iPhone_Reviews

iTunes Link

Hills and Rivers Remain is a real time strategy game by Square Enix. $6.99

Hills and Rivers Remain plays much like a game you have probably seen before. If any of you have played Castle Warriors or Galcon you would know how to play this sort of game. Now the question is asked, how can this game stand out from the pack and justify it's high price, especially when rival games are priced a lot lower.

There were a few things that I managed to pick out of this game that the other ones didn't seem to have. For one there is a stronger story to why you are fighting and why the battles are taking place. Square Enix like putting a strong storyline behind their games and they have managed to do so with Hills and Rivers Remain. The other thing that came out in this game is that they have used the size of the screen to advantage, making it quite easy to scan over the whole playing field. This gets very handy in later levels as if it was hard to see quickly and effectively who is being attacked, you would find yourself in a difficult situation.

My first impressions of this game is that it doesn't look very good. There were two reasons why I thought this. The first was because the mission one is set in a dirty brown location, not being the most beautiful place I have seen. The second is because the game starts fully zoomed out so you get a view of the entire playing field. There is a bit of detail lacking in this view but I found that this changed as soon as you zoomed in.

When zoomed in the whole game changes with lots of detailed scenery and the real effect of the game is brought out. There are a heap of nice textures and detail put into the scenery while the fight scenes look a lot better. Being zoomed in looks better but you can't keep it for too long as you have to multitask multiple areas of the map. It is a nice option to have though if you want to use it.

The game runs smoothly on all devices, with no lag or crashes what so ever while playing the game. Instead of having some 3D graphics like in Castle Warriors, Square Enix has given us decent graphics while they focus more on the gameplay itself.

Hills and Rivers Remain has been created so anybody should be able to pick this up and play straight away. All the controls are by using the touchscreen and touching your settlements. When you touch one of the settlements you have under your control you can choose how many soldiers you want to move and in what direction. Double tapping a settlement will make it your base so soldiers will be spawned at that location.

It is all very simple to do and anyone is able to do it. The controls have been kept very simple so that you can spend all your attention on the strategy of the game rather than mucking around with moving soldiers etc.

The aim of Hills and Rivers Remain is to eliminate all other enemies so you are the last one remaining on the board. This is done by moving soldiers to attack your opponents settlements. They then go into a fight and the biggest number of soldiers will win, either keeping the settlement or taking it over. This sounds pretty simple but if you focus on one area for too long your enemies can gather a big force somewhere else on the map and you could then be cornered.

There are a heap of levels which quickly get challenging for the casual gamer. Each level has some sort of story behind why the battle is taking place and all of them are loosely linked together. While it might not be much it gives the game a bit of meaning and reason why you are playing it.

There are two game modes, Story and Free play. Once you win a level in story mode it becomes unlocked in free play. Free play mode gives you some customization of the game so you can play the level as a different character for example. You can also choose where the players start out on the map and how many opponents there are. This is a nice mode to play around with but I believe a local multiplayer mode would have been better.

You can send soldiers out as much as you want given that you have some, but the game is based on Turns where you get more soldiers after each turn. This is more of a real time strategy game as the battle doesn't stop. When you send soldiers out they will pass opposing soldiers coming at you, so it is best to leave some soldiers at home to prevent an attack while you are away.

This is quite a fun game that requires a good strategy if you want to be successful at this game. Most users will find it challenging and quite a lot of fun as you repeatedly try to beat some levels. There are some slight impressions that this is like the Final Fantasy series, mostly what the soldiers look like.

Hills and Rivers Remain is a good title that will be loved by fans of Strategy games. The graphics and sound are great and go with the game style quite well. The only thing that may stop you buying this game is the price. At $6.99 it costs more than Castle Warriors and Galcon so people may prefer to buy them instead of forking out to get this.

There are a heap of levels which I believe must equal why there is such a high price. If you aren't sure whether this is the game for you I strongly suggest you check out the lite version beforehand. I'm not much of a strategy gamer but I enjoyed this title while I could still win.

Gameplay- 8/10
Graphics- 6.5/10
Controls- 8/10
Overall- 7.5/10

I would recommend this game if you enjoyed- Galcon

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iTunes Link

Ace Combat Xi Skies of Incursion is a flying game by Namco. $7.99

The popular series Ace Combat has finally soared onto the App Store for the first time blowing up anything that gets in it's way.

The first Ace Combat game was released in 1995 and the various versions have been put on different Playstation consoles, the Xbox 360, Game Boy and PSP. The franchise's next outing is the iPhone (not surprisingly), and boy does this game deliver!

The aviation genre on the App Store is probably one of the strongest out there. With some insanely good titles like F.A.S.T, Top Gun, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X and the upcoming Skies of Glory you must be brave to even attempt a game. When we heard of Ace Combat coming to the iPhone many people got excited that this game was being brought to the iPhone. But how does it size up to the other big games on the App Store?

I couldn't help but judge this game to the others in this genre. Even though it was released in June I still see F.A.S.T. as the best looking air combat game on the App Store. Ace Combat didn't do a bad job but there were just parts of the game which I found to be better in other games. All the games I have found to have good looking aircraft (Even if the screenshots don't prove that) which are all very detailed. The one area where Ace Combat lacked however was the scenery.

The scenery and other objects aren't all that bad but just lacked a bit of detail. I also found the ground to be a bit blurry and undefined in most places. When doing a comparison I just found that the other games had put more detail into their surroundings. While they aren't the best of the best I still liked the look and feel of this game as it was still very enjoyable to play.

This game is generally pretty smooth and I didn't find it to lag at all. The framerate is pretty consistent and runs at a decent rate. The game did crash on me once but I didn't find any problems when the device had been given a hard reset.

The controls in Ace Combat are fairly common among all the flying games. To steer your aircraft you have to tilt your device to make it turn left, right, up, down or somewhere in between. I found that particularly at the start of a campaign mission that the game was a bit slow to your tilting, but managed to regain itself once the game had fully loaded I suppose.

The rest of the controls are as on screen buttons. These are easy to use once you know what they mean. Most are fairly easy for a first time gamer to use but some of the buttons, such as one called TGT, will require some reading to find out it's purpose. I didn't find any problems with the controls and ended up being able to fly my plane with a fair amount of precision.

Ace Combat Xi lets you follow the story of the Falco Squadron as you save the world one mission at a time. When you get an airplane game you expect to be doing one thing, shooting down other enemy planes. In Ace Combat though you very quickly change your approach as incoming tanks, war ships and more have to be annihilated to save any array of locations.

The game is split into two game modes, Free play and Campaign. Campaign is where you will spend your whole time playing. The campaign mode is split into 5 missions which have nothing to do with one another. You will get some dialogue before you start your mission trying to give us a bit of a storyline, before showing the mission requirements. A majority of the missions I found to be about stopping tanks, planes, ships or a variety of the 3 from attacking or getting past a certain place.

Each mission is being ranked on your time to complete it, damage to places you are saving etc. They start out quite easy with most things except the planes just being sitting ducks. As the game progresses it gets harder and more challenging to complete the mission, especially with a time limit for some levels I found.

There were a few things that I didn't like about this game. The main one which really bugged me was what happened when you got too low to the ground to shoot at ground units. I would receive a message that says to pull up because you are getting low to the ground, but when I nose dived to the ground I would just bounce off and straighten up. This is annoying because it doesn't make dangerous enough.

I found that being attacked by the enemy did basically nothing to you and especially when you can fly as low as you want there isn't enough consequences for your actions. If you exploded and lost the mission then it would make this game more realistic and challenging, because at the moment all ships and ground units are easily destroyed.

The other thing that really bugged me was the number of aircraft available to fly. There are about 5 or 6 that you can use for free and there are another 4 that are available via DLC. All the free planes have really average stats while the DLC ones are all really good, so if you want to be good at this game you need to buy a DLC plane or try and unlock the last free plane. I would be fine if there were heaps of free planes and some with good stats, but at the moment this is just a money grabbing strategy by Namco.

Ace Combat Xi Skies of Incursion is a pretty good addition to the Ace Combat series. There is an average amount of content in the game but a gamestyle that the average gamer should enjoy. Compared to other games in this genre it fairs pretty well and should be considered if you like this genre.

What is a throw off for most people however is the price at $7.99. With F.A.S.T at $0.99 and the upcoming Skies of Glory being free it is going to be hard to win more than just Ace Combat fans to buy this. If you only want one airplane game and aren't fussed which one I suggest leaving this alone at the current price. If this dropped to $4.99 or less or got more missions then it would be a good purchase.

Gameplay- 7/10
Graphics- 8.5/10
Controls- 8/10
Overall- 7.5/10

I would recommend this game if you enjoyed- Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X

Tell me what you think about this review at Twitter- http://www.twitter.com/iPhone_Reviews next up is Hills and Rivers Remain

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