Search Results for: label/Action/index.html

FlyMe2TheMoon is a new action-adventure game with an anime theme developed and released by miHoYo Studio. In the game, you will guide your character, Kiana, with a “one button/slide to play” control scheme, through 60 different levels. There are 4 different styles, or modes, that each of the levels fall into; Adventure, Puzzle, Racing, and Survival. Each is as it sounds, in the Adventure levels, you’ll explore the levels looking for the 3 stars, and collecting all of the diamonds that you can before reaching the moon at the end of the level. Puzzle levels have different paths you’ll need to take to get through the levels, sometimes backtracking and going back through different paths in order to collect all of the 3 stars. Racing levels are set up so that you get more points the quicker you make it through the level, and Survival levels have quite a few hazards that you will need to out maneuver for a certain amount of time while waiting to move onto the next section in order to survive and make it to the end of the level.

To move Kiana through the levels, you’ll need to hold underneath her to start up her jetpack, and then keep your finger underneath her, and slide it to the right to move her left, and to the left to move her right. It might sound like it’s a weird control setup, but it’s not really, and feels very fluid and becomes comfortable fairly quickly. Throughout the game, you’ll come across lasers, spikes, wind tunnels, timed bricks that close behind you, as well as many more little obstacles and hazards that will effect how quickly, how carefully, and which paths you decide to take while going from level to level. At the beginning or end of some of the levels, you’ll get bits and pieces of Kiana’s story, learning why she’s in this place, and some background of her past. The story is well written, and does add quite a bit to the game, knowing why a character is stuck in a particular place always kind of makes these types of games feel more polished and thought out than others without any sort of story at all.

The graphics are done extremely well, and look beautiful on retina display. Each of the four different types of levels has a different environmental feel to it, and the music fits this beautiful graphical display to a t. The animations for all of the environmental hazards and obstacles are done extremely well, and give everything within the level a degree of personality. However, the animations for Kiana are kind of weird looking. Whenever she is moved left or right, or falling downward, she waves her arms around and has a facial expression that makes you think she is freaking out like a little school girl seeing a rat at her feet. It kind of takes away from the confidence that’s portrayed by Kiana throughout the story.

There are GameCenter leader boards for each of the 4 worlds, as well as a total score, and 17 achievements, all of which combined with the 3 stars you’ll have to collect, 180 in total, add quite a bit to the replay value. $0.99 is a great price for the amount of polish, content, and replay ability that’s all thrown into FlyMe2TheMoon, and if you’re a fan of anime themed games, $0.99 should be considered a great price. Aside from the character animations, I should also mention that FlyMe2TheMoon does not run on 2nd GEN devices or older at the moment, but the developers have said that they are working on a fix, so look for that in an update. But with 60 levels, all of which are very well thought out, with most of them taking more than one or two tries to collect the 3 stars within them, and how great the environments, hazards, and obstacles all look combined with how well they all interact with each other comes together to create an amazing action-adventure-puzzle gaming experience. MiHoYo has easily gotten on my list of developers to keep an eye on with this release, and I can not wait to see what they come up with next.

FlyMe2TheMoon gets a score of 9 out of 10.

Links;

Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flyme2themoon/id467894515?mt=8

Website – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flyme2themoon/id467894515?mt=8

Version Reviewed; V 1.0

Reviewed On; 4th Generation iPod Touch – iOS 4.3.3

Casual games with a story don’t really come around too often, and casual games with a long, deep, and well thought out story are pretty much non-existent. This is where Parogames Limited breaks the mold with their recently released title, Parodise. In this action/defense swiping game, you’ll learn about Parodise, your main character, Dumy-667, his supposed partner, Dumy-666, as well as his… boss, Yody, GOD, and Doomy.

To get through each day in Parodise, you’ll need to defend yourself against Doomy, a Dumy who has changed due to an insane amount of bottled up negative emotions, who will constantly be throwing objects at you. To do this, you’ll need to swipe on either the left, right, or both sides of Dumy-667, slicing each of these objects in two with your swords, but waiting until they get as close to your body as you can. Each object you successfully slice will add to your Soul Absorber, which, when full, will let you perform a super slash move that slices all the objects on the screen. Each time you get hit, you’ll loose one of two flames burning on the Holy Fire Defense System. Loose both flames and get hit again, and you’ll have to replay the level, but if you loose a flame, then slice an object, adding to your Soul Absorber, it will re-light the flame. Starting to sound confusing? Just wait until you really get into the story. Along with the Story Mode, there’s also a DOJO Mode, Hardcore Mode, Master Mode, and Panties Mode, each of which is unlocked by completing certain objectives in the previous Mode, thought these can be pretty challenging, and time consuming to unlock, once you do, it adds endless replayabilty to the game.

The graphics in Parodise are done in a nice and polished cartoony theme, with pretty interesting environments. The animations for all of the objects are done very well, adding loads of personality to the game, and everything in it. The music and effects give the game that real casual type feeling, and placed on top of the action filled gameplay actually fits perfectly with the game. This casual game with a deep, humorous, and profound story.

GameCenter is supported, with 63 achievements, and 4 leader boards, one for each of the unlockable Modes. There’s not a whole lot of replay value in the Story Mode, but with 4 endless Modes, there’s plenty to replay. Parodise is $1.99, and Universal, and right now is on sale for $0.99. This has quickly become one of my personal favorite casual games, and is so easy to recommend to everyone, hardcore gamers to casual gamers, this game will satisfy you in ways you never thought a casual game could. It’s addictive, funny, serious, challenging, and after the first couple days and little bit of story, you’ll start feeling for Dumy-667, feeling bad for him, rooting for him, and wondering what the hell is going on, all at the same time. This is one game no one should miss out on. Parogames has shown us with their first iOS release, that they are in this for the long haul, and are willing to put more work into their game than almost every other casual game developer.

Parodise gets a score of 9 out of 10.

Also be sure to check out the Parogames Website for more information and background story on Parodise!

Version Reviewed; V 1.0

Reviewed On; 4th Generation iPod Touch – iOS 4.3.3

Line drawing and tower defense genres really seem to go together quite well from the couple of titles that merge these two genres I’ve been able to check out. Phoenix Defense Force, Boom Brigade, A.I.R. Defense, Into The Blue, and the ever popular Axe In Face come to mind, and now fans of the genre have another game to add to that short list of incredibly well done line drawing/TD games; Anthill: Tactical Trail Defense, by Image & Form International.

To start things off, the graphics and animations. I&F has done an amazing job creating some very vibrant and layered environments. You get an idea of this right when you get to the main menu. The very well done environments match the equally well done bug models and animations. It’s actually so well done that you might end up finding yourself just staring at the screen watching them move around. The bugs are also very colorful, matching the vibrancy of the environments perfectly. It’s easy to tell that a lot of time and effort went into making the movement, look, and flow of everything within the game just right. To top it off, the music is Disney-esque, and almost like something that would have fit very well within A Bug’s Life. It compliments the atmosphere and feeling of the game perfectly.

After each level, you’re given a star ranking based on how many points you’ve collected throughout the level. This is more important than usual because you can then use these stars to upgrade your ants. The speed of the collector ants, brutality of the attacker ants, and more. If you don’t want to battle it out to gain stars, you can purchase them through an IAP, 20 stars for $0.99, which can upgrade your ants quite a bit, but it’s not necessary, and the game isn’t pushed toward you buying the stars at all. The difficulty is set just right, and you can replay levels to earn stars that you didn’t earn the first time through. You can not, however, re-earn stars, so if you got all the stars available in a level, you can not replay it and earn those stars to use for upgrades again.

Anthill: TTD is GameCenter enabled, and has leader boards for all 21 of the levels that are spread across the 3 different environments. There’s also a leader board for your total score, which combines all of your best level scores. Having a board for each of the levels, as well as a star ranking that gives you stars for upgrades does add quite a bit of replay value to the game, especially if you’re a high-score chaser. With the game at $2.99, and on sale right now for $1.99, and being Universal, it’s a great buy for the amount of content and gameplay you’ll get. If you’re a fan of line drawing or tower-defense games, this is one that looks beautiful, and has an insane amount of strategic elements. The controls are nice and tight, and really, everything within the game is so professionally done that it’s hard to not call it one of the best, if not the best line drawing tower defense title available for the iOS.

Anthill: Tactical Trail Defense gets a perfect score of 10 out of 10.

Links;

Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/anthill-tactical-trail-defense/id414658364?mt=8

Website – http://anthillgame.com/

Version Reviewed; V 1.1

Reviewed On; 4th Generation iPod Touch – iOS 4.3.3

Endless Runners seem to be perfect for mobile gaming. They’re good for quick little spurts of playing, as well as long gaming sessions, and there’s an endless supply of them to top it off. Seems there’s a huge selection depending on what type of endless runner you’ve come to like, casual, hardcore, level based, hectic, relaxing, and within all of those styles, there’s always certain titles that stick out above all the others because of their controls, gameplay, and style. Super Bit Dash by FakePup seems to cover all of those preferences, as well as raising above the average title, and being a game that’s more addictive, more polished, and more entertaining than most.

In Super Bit Dash, you’ll guide your character through either a short 5 minute checkpoint based run with multiple lives, earned by collecting coins, with two difficulties, as well as an endless run with one life that also has two different difficulty settings. To control the character, you’ll need to collect coins which fill up a bar that gives you the ability to swipe on the screen, and dash up, down or forward, as well as being able to tap on the screen to do a regular jump, or swipe backwards to slow down, both of which do not require coins to do. The catch is that you’ll only be able to have 4 coins at a time in your dash gauge, meaning that if you pick a path that doesn’t have many coins, or none at all, you could get stuck without a dash when you really need one.

The graphics, and sounds all resemble old-school NES/SNES era games, while the animations for dashing and breaking through some walls are done in a more stylish way. There are various obstacles and hazards you’ll need to avoid, like spikes, lasers, green walls that you can dash to break through, and some spots where you will need to dash into coins in order to not fall to your death because there is no platform to walk on at the bottom of the screen. All of this is put together randomly, so you could run into any of these things right when you start out the game, or almost at the end of a long run, you’ll just never know. Once you get to know some of the more popular rooms, you’ll be getting better at the game, and if you take on the endless mode, you’ll end up finally seeing rooms that you probably wouldn’t have while playing in the Classic Mode. This big mix of rooms adds quite a bit to the difficulty, as you never know what’s coming up next, or what hazards you’ll need to have enough coins in your dash gauge to be prepared for.

Super Bit Dash is supported by OpenFeint, with leader boards for each mode, as well as each difficulty setting in those two modes, and then leader boards for the best overall Classic and best overall Endless scores. There’s also 10 achievements, most of which should take even hardcore gamers a while to complete. Tough it would be nice to see GameCenter support in the future, as there are plenty of gamers that don’t use OpenFeint anymore. It would also be nice to see some power-ups in the future, like invincibility, or a speed up and slow down pick-ups, as well as a pick up that lets you have unlimited dashes for a short period of time would be a very welcome addition. But for an endless runner, it’s a great deal at $0.99, providing plenty of content, as well as endless replay ability, and even more on the way. Platformer and Endless Runner fans alike will both enjoy the gameplay that provides both casual and hardcore gamers plenty of challenge.

Super Bit Dash gets a score of 8 out of 10.

Links;

Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/super-bit-dash/id461843430?mt=8

Website – http://fakepup.com/

Version Reviewed; Version 1.0.0

Reviewed On; 4th Generation iPod Touch – iOS 4.3.3

RGB Defense is a new arcade game from Red Winter Software, it is also their first release in the AppStore. In the game, you’ll need to drag cannons around the bottom of the screen, matching their color with the color of the enemies coming down at you in waves from the top of the screen. It might sound simple, and in the beginning it is, but at level 5, you’re not just moving around red, green, and blue cannons, purple and yellow come into the mix, and you’ll be shuffling around 5 different colored cannons while a mass invasion of quick enemies comes barreling down at you. Needless to say, it can get pretty hectic, and drive you crazy.

There are different types of enemies, some that stay in one lane, and only need one hit to be taken out, others that change which lane their in pretty quickly, and others that require multiple hits, and change color after being hit. This mix up of enemies adds quite a bit of extra challenge to the already pretty challenging game. Though with the amount of enemies, how quickly they come at you, how long it takes for a cannon to fire once you get it where you want it, and the cannons sometimes getting stuck in the right corner because of un-responsive controls, it feels like getting past level/wave 7 and anything afterwards is pretty much only accomplished with luck instead of skill.

The graphics, animations, and sound is all nicely done, making it a good looking arcade shooter game. But the sometimes unresponsive controls, seemingly laggy cannon fire, and the very quick jump in difficulty throughout the game make it pretty frustrating. Also, if you do manage to get the controls and timing down, there is no online support, so your scores will end up stuck on your device, for your eyes only. Though with the game only being $0.99, I don’t really consider it a waste of money. It does have quite a bit of potential. Once the control issues are fixed, GameCenter or OpenFeint is added, and the amount of time it takes for a cannon to shoot once you get it into place is sped up a bit, the difficulty level might not need to be changed. Also, if more than one mode is added in the future, this could turn into a very well rounded game.

However, we really won’t know until the game is worked on a bit more, and with the release your game and disappear if it doesn’t sell well dealings of the AppStore, we might never know. Hopefully Red Winter Software won’t give up or get discouraged, because this could turn into an awesome hectic arcade game. We will definitely be keeping our eyes on this one with the hopes that Red Winter Software is in it for the long haul.

You can check out the game on the developers website in the Unity Player, but keep in mind that it responsiveness of controlling with your mouse does not transfer over to the touch screen just yet.

RGB Defense gets a score of 2 out of 5. But we will keep you updated if the game is updated, and could possibly end up re-scoring this one.

Links –

Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rgb-defense/id465513928?mt=8

Lite Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rgb-defense-lite/id467474638?mt=8

Website – http://rgbdefense.com/

Ever since Angry Birds became one of the most popular casual arcade/puzzle games in the AppStore, many, many companies have been trying to duplicate that type of all ages, accessible to everyone while still being challenging type of gameplay. Big Blue Bubble, however, has pretty much got it down to a science. With their previous releases of Burn The Rope, BTR; World, and Paper Munchers, they have definitely figured out exactly what it takes to make an addictive casual arcade game with just enough puzzle elements to keep it challenging and fun for 5 minute gamer as well as the more serious gamer. Their latest release, Fling A Thing, is yet another display of those finely tuned gameplay mechanics that keep gamers of all sorts coming back for more.

You’ll be able to control one of 5 different “Things”, 4 of which need to be unlocked, by pulling back and flinging them upwards, collecting as many bubbles as you can. There are also 3 different environments for you to play in, and 2 of these need to be unlocked. So you’ll start out the game with 1 thing and 1 environment to play in. However, the unlockable characters do not have any special abilities, the different environments only really change the look of the game. As you play, you’ll earn stars which you can use to unlock the characters and levels, as well as upgrade some items in the shop.

Fling A Thing is a game that can be played quickly, snagging bubbles quickly, while using a couple flings for a couple bubbles, or you can wait, and be patient, as usually, the bubbles will eventually line up, making them easy to grab with one fling of your character. This is where the puzzle elements come in, because even though the game can be played by a pre-schooler, it can also become pretty difficult to get as high as you can even for the well rounded gamer. Moving up the GameCenter or OpenFeint leader boards will require lots of patience, and well timed flings. Also, the higher you make it in the game, the more often stars will appear on the screen, meaning you’ll be able to unlock everything in the game sooner. There is also a little mini-game where you can feed your Thing, but it only gets you 3 stars at a time, so there’s not really a lot of incentive to play it. If you don’t want to wait to unlock items, you can purchase more stars via IAP.

Some players have complained about the lack of directional flinging aloud when you end up landing in a corner. However, you can bounce yourself off of the sides of the screen, so if you treat the levels like a pool table, you’ll be able to bounce your character off of the walls, collecting more bubbles with a nicely positioned and timed fling. The graphics, animations, sounds, controls, gameplay, Big Blue Bubble has done an amazing job creating a game that’s accessible, fun, and as challenging as you want to make it, for every type of gamer. It would be nice to see more game modes added, or different abilities given to the different characters, but the price being only $0.99, it’s a great buy, especially considering how much content there is, as well as the endless replayabilty and online support. If you’re looking for a game that you can play in a little 5 minute session, or come back to and be rewarded for taking your time, Fling A Thing is highly recommended.

Fling A Thing gets a score of 9 out of 10.

Links;

Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fling-a-thing/id453089936?mt=8

Website – http://www.bigbluebubble.com/

Version Reviewed; V1.0

Reviewed Using; 4th GEN iPod Touch, iOS 4.3.3

I’ve said many times that Metroidvania is my favorite genre of video games, that includes off-shots, like plat formers that have a lot of exploration involved, or plat formers that require you to collect certain items, and then go back and replay levels, being able to reach different sections of those levels because of your new items. In my mind, they all fall into the same category, Metroidvania. Now, there’s only a handful or two of these types of games made for the iOS, but luckily, we can now add one more to that very short list. The Adventures Of Timmy: Run Kitty Run, by CB Labs.

This happens to be CB Labs first iOS release, but for fans of the genre, this doesn’t really scare us off. In fact, probably half of the Metroidvania titles for iOS right now are first games by indie developers. But if you are a little hesitant, don’t worry, there’s no need to be. The Adventures Of Timmy is a very polished, professional, awesome game with great level design, tons to explore, plenty of enemies, and nice controls, which consist of a moving joystick that auto-centers whenever you place your finger down, and a jump button that responds to how long you press your finger down on it. It might sound a little funky, but it works extremely well.

Within each level, there are coins and enemies scattered throughout, as well as one picture that you’ll need to hunt down in order to find. Sometimes you might just happen to come across it while looking for the exit, and other times, it will take multiple plays of a level, seeing if what’s down a hole is another platform, or a quick death. This would give the game a trial and error sort of feeling, which could upset some people, but thankfully, the developers have made it so that Timmy can hold on to, slide down, and jump off of walls. So, you want to see if there’s anything down a hole? Run off of the side of the platform, and fall back into the wall, slowly sliding down. Nothing there? Wall jump back up to the top of the platform. Very nicely done.

Along with a picture to collect in each of the 36 levels, there’s also 3 stars to try and snag. To get these, you will need to usually collect all the coins and kill all the enemies in a level. There are no time limits, so you can feel free to thoroughly explore every little nook and cranny in every level. This does help add to the replay value, as getting all of the stars will take quite a few attempts. There’s also GameCenter leader boards for your High-Score, which is a total of your best score in every level of the game, as well as a Total-Score, which combines all your scores, including every score for one level you might end up playing 4 or 5 times. Combined with 30 achievements, there’s quite a lot of content to explore, and tons to try and achieve, along with plenty of challenge.

The game is $0.99 right now, but that is the launch price, and should go up to $1.99 very soon. Even at the full price, The Adventures Of Timmy is a game that all plat former fans should check out, especially fans of exploratory plat formers. The graphics, animations, controls, sounds, level design, and gameplay is all extremely professional and very polished. Right now, it’s easily one of my favorites of the genre on the iOS.

The Adventures Of Timmy: Run Kitty Run gets a score of 9 out of 10.

Links;

Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-adventures-timmy-run-kitty/id463104059?mt=8

Website – http://theadventuresoftimmy.com/

Version Reviewed; V1.0.3

Reviewed On; 4th GEN iPod Touch, iOS 4.3.3

I’ve said before that the platformer genre is one of my very top favorites, so when I heard of Black Hive Media’s Arcade Jumper, and saw a couple beta version screen shots, I was instantly intrigued. A “retro-inspired, endless, randomized side-scroller”? If done right, this could be one crazy great game. Considering the dev team is a husband and wife duo with a combined 10 years of experience, and numerous iOS releases under their belt, it was hard not to get excited. So after about 4 months of waiting for the game, it was finally released on September 26th.

In the game, you’ll start off playing as Eddy, and be able to unlock 3 additional characters with tickets that you’ll earn in-game. Now, the game is randomized, but only to an extent. You’ll go through Zones made up on 3 levels, and each Zone has it’s own theme. Zone 1 is Noob Hill Zone, and is a nice introduction. There are no real hazards here, a couple moving platforms, it’s really an intro zone. Zone 2 is called The Tilts, and here all of the platforms move like seesaws, either automatically, or with your character’s weight, and the rest of the game follows this type of set-up. But within each of the Zones, you never know what type of level you’ll encounter, though there are 3 general types, a Space Invaders theme, a Mario mixed with Sonic type theme, and a City-scape, kind of like Double Dragon type theme. It is also only endless in the sense that you can never replay the same game twice, but there are only 10 zones.

I did run across some bugs and weird issues while I was playing, for instance, if you’re running, and run against a platform that came down to squish you, while you are waiting for it to rise up again, the screen will keep going right, like your character was still in the middle of the screen, leaving you all the way on the left side of the screen, and then disappearing, until the game over screen pops up. Also, when a platform is seesawing, the coins, tokens, fruits and enemies that are on that platform are not stationary, and are left to fall off of these moving platforms. There were some instances where I would shoot at an enemy, and my shot would go right through it, or I would accidentally run into an enemy, and he would crawl up and around my character without harming him. Lastly, there are some weird collision detection issues with the platforms, enemies, and especially the boxes you’ll need to head-butt. The boxes do not let you jump through them while you’re right under them, but if you go at them from an angle, you will be able to jump right through them. These issues, all but the collision detection and objects on seesawing platforms, are rare, and I only encountered once or twice. But they are still present, though nothing that can’t be fixed with a quick update, and I’m not even sure the free moving objects on seesaws is an issue, might just be something I consider a little weird.

Still, Arcade Jumper is a nice randomized plat former that does present quite the challenge, and does have decent controls, physics, graphics, and gameplay. For $1.99, and the game being Universal and supported by iCade, if you’re a plat former fan, as well as an old-school arcade buff, you should enjoy what Black Hive Media has produced here. There’s also GameCenter leader boards for highest score, furthest zone reached, and all of the mini-games. There are also 20 achievements, but an update is needed in order for them to work, right now none of them are unlocking. If you are bugged by issues, and are looking for a highly polished and top notch platformer, you might want to wait and come back to Arcade Jumper after it’s had an update or two.

Arcade Jumper gets a score of 6 out of 10.

Links;

Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/arcade-jumper/id439726516?mt=8

Website – http://www.blackhivemedia.com/arcadejumper.html

Version Reviewed; V1.0

Reviewed on; 4th GEN iPod Touch – iOS 4.3.3

Tweet


I’ve said many times before that Metroidvania games are my favorite types of games, but right under it is, of course, platformers. Before playing Super Meat Boy for the first time last year, I hadn’t come across any speed run platform game, and since, only a couple made for the iOS; League Of Evil and Mos Speedrun being the first two, and then the recent release of Stardash added to that little list of mine. Now I have yet another speed run plat former to drive me crazy and go nutzo over.

Commander Pixman is this new addition, developed by One Minute Games, and is their 2nd release in the AppStore (preceded by Quad Pong). First off, I should say that if you’re expecting another LoE, Mos, or Stardash type game, you will probably be disappointed once you start up Commander Pixman. The physics take a little getting use to, as do the controls, and the main character has a gun. However, once you get use to the controls, thinking of the jump button as more of a jetpack thruster button, the controls and physics come together nicely. If you completely avoid using the gun, you’ll make it harder on yourself to get through the levels, but you’ll be able to get through them quicker once you figure out the right path, which will take you numerous re-tries, which is to be expected in the genre. Though taking your time, and using your gun to destroy all the enemies in a level will earn you a badge for that level.

To unlock each of the 15 bonus levels, you’ll need to complete different objectives. To unlock the first bonus level, you’ll need to get reach level 20, and to unlock the second bonus level you need to kill all enemies in level 22 in less than 13 seconds.

Now, even with it centering around collecting badges and getting the quickest time you can, there is no online leader board or achievement support, which does kind of take away from the drive of getting 3 stars in a level, or getting the best time you can, and collecting all the badges. Also, you can not run off of a platform that has a spike sticking off the 90 degree edge of it without dying. I don’t know why this bothers me so much, but it does. The left and right directional arrows are kind of too far apart as well. But aside from these things, Commander Pixman is a very competent speed run plat former, with controls that work very well once you get use to them, and great physics. There’s also portals with the nice physics attached to them, and that does add a ton to the gameplay. Right now it’s on sale for $0.99, but only for a limited time, after that it’ll be $1.99, and with all the content within the game, even without online support, is well worth the price. There’s also more content promised in future updates, so if you’re a plat former fan, speed run fan, or old-school game fan, Commander Pixman is definitely worth picking up.

Commander Pixman gets a score of 8 out of 10.

Links;

Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/commander-pixman/id458942103?mt=8

Website – http://www.one-minute-games.comoj.com/news/

Space Junk is a new retro styled shooter by Upside Down Games, a 2 man (Ned Langman, and Greg Michael) indie development studio based in the UK. Ned Langman worked on the 80’s Amiga game, Silkworm, as well as SWIV, and Super SWIV, as well as a favorite of mine, Forsaken for the N64, PSX, and PC, along with more games in between and after. Greg Michael worked on Double Dragon III for the Amiga and Atari in the late 80’s, as well as being the lead programmer for the PSX title, Alien Trilogy, and then also on the oh so memorable Forsaken on the PSX, and, also, many more games. Needless to say, these guys know exactly what they’re doing when it comes to making games.

In Space Junk, you’ll control a little space man through Asteroids type levels, using a joystick to rotate, a button to thrust, and a button to shoot, while clearing out all of the objects in each of the 25 levels. Each of the objects you destroy will break up into smaller objects, and each one of those will break into even smaller objects. After that, once destroyed, a tool will appear, and these are what you’ll need to collect in order to score big points.

The retro vector graphics work well here, and there are plenty of different objects that you will encounter while making your way through the levels. Satellites, moon cheese, dogs, asteroids, space ships, and other various objects and shapes will be the main objects in each level, destroying these while they are in their first appearance stages, gives you a multiplier that‘s connected to the amount of tools that you pickup. For instance, if you‘re thrown into a level with 15 objects, and you destroy 5 of them before they start disappearing, which happens faster if you don‘t thrust around the levels, the amount of tools that you pick up will be multiplied by 5 in the end of the level bonus. The scoring system can get a little confusing, but mainly, if you keep moving around, and destroy as much as you can as quick as you can, while collecting as many dropped tools as you can, your score will shoot up. You are also rewarded for being accurate, getting a bigger bonus score the more accurate you are. There are also UFOs thrown into the mix, and destroying these will release a power-up, which could be a shield, extra life, powered up weapon, or a magnet that collects all dropped tools in the level.

Every 4 levels, you’ll encounter a bonus or challenge stage, where you’ll need to destroy all toolboxes and pick up all the tools in a set amount of time, or avoid a bunch of asteroids for 30 seconds while only using your thruster. This does add a nice break into the frantic gameplay, and if you pull off each challenge or bonus perfectly, can add to your score quite a bit.

You are able to play in portrait or landscape mode, and there are no borders on any of the levels. If you fly to the right, you’ll end up running into objects that were on the left side of the screen, but you can keep flying right forever, and your character is always in the center of the screen. This can be a big help if used right, chasing after UFOs is a lot easier if you go away from them instead of follow them, you’ll run into them quicker, and the same with all the other objects that will be flying all around you.

There are no online leader boards in version 1.0, which is kind of upsetting, considering this is a game that revolves a lot around high-scores. But even without online support at the moment, and only one game mode, Space Junk really is a very nicely done old-style arcade shooter. If you grew up playing games in the 80’s and early 90’s, you’ll most likely really enjoy this one. It’s pretty much an expanded Asteroids, with great vector graphics, awesome music, a really nice scoring system, 3 different difficulties, and cool weapons and power-ups. Being $0.99, and Universal, with talk of iCade and GameCenter support coming in the near future, it’s well worth the price, and then some. The developers are also very responsive on the TA Forums, and their FaceBook page, so with the help of the gamers who are playing this one, I can see it turning into something really special over the next few updates.

Space Junk gets a score of 8 out of 10.

Links;

Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/space-junk/id463205784?mt=8

Website – http://www.upsidedowngames.co.uk