With the recent release of Dodonpachi Resurrection [$8.99/Lite], developer Cave has set the gold standard for bullet hell shooters on iOS devices. One problem with that game, however, is that it just pushes too many pixels to be able to run well on older devices, leaving gamers with anything below a 3rd generation device out of the loop. For those people, developer Firi Games, who previously brought Flare Elite [99¢] to the App Store, have something in store for you. Their upcoming top-down shooter Phoenix features quite a bit of onscreen action of its own, and runs smoothly even on the original iPhone.
Phoenix looks to do a couple thinks differently than your typical shmup as well. Instead of progressing through a series of predesigned levels, the entire game is one randomly generated level that scales the difficulty based on how well you are doing in the game. Tijmen Roberti of Firi explains how the gameplay will work:
The game centers around a single, procedurally generated infinite challenge. The goal is to destroy as many enemies as possible, going as far as possible, in an attempt to achieve the highest score. There is no set difficulty, instead Phoenix uses an AI director that adapts the difficulty on demand, depending on the player performance. In this way, Phoenix generates an exciting challenge for players of all skills. The procedural content generator can create millions of enemy variations, and combined with the adaptive AI director, no single play through will be the same.
Firi has developed their own game engine called the Flare engine which allows Phoenix to run well on all devices despite the intense action onscreen. To prove this, they created a video of the game running on an original iPhone exclusively to show readers in the upcoming game thread in our forums:
Phoenix will feature regional and worldwide online leaderboards to compete for high scores. One point brought up in our forums is that the ship you use seems unusually large for a top-down shooter. Firi explains that while the ship model itself is big, the actual hitbox is just the blue circle of the cockpit, and that will be the only part of the ship where you will have to avoid getting hit. True that Firi doesn't quite have the pedigree of Cave when it comes to developing shooters, but Phoenix is looking pretty good based on the video and should offer another alternative for bullet hell gameplay. If you've been feeling left out of the bullet hell fun due to having an older device, you can look forward to blasting and dodging bullets when Phoenix hits the App Store sometime this month.
In the game “Black White West” you have to save three brave cowboys from angry Indians.
The rules of the game is simple: tapping the screen by finger to jump over cacti and survive in the saddle as long as possible. Head-on collision with cactus rides down one of the cowboys. At the same time it is possible to jump on top of cactuses, as the horse Bolivar is not afraid of wild prairie nature. Once all three cowboy fall out of the saddle – the game is over.
Game Features:
- Humorous atmosphere of wild west
- Unique black and white visual style
- Entirely hand drawn design and animation
- Intuitive interface
- Table of records to compete with your friends
- Unique Country soundtrack and funny in-game sounds from professional musician Eugene Viitman
“Black White West” – is the first project in a series of ”Black White” mini-games by Submarine and Unusual Things studios.
A real blast from the past, Rocket Raider brings the hugely popular ‘80s arcade game “Scramble” to the iPhone. The mission remains the same – stay alive as long as you can to find and destroy the enemy’s base, shooting and bombing everything in your path. Game play doesn’t get much simpler, or much more addictive, than this classic. There is also a “training” mode which allows you to practise any section for as many times as you like, which is a luxury you certainly wouldn’t have had on those old arcade machines…
Do you think you can walk and chew gum at the same time? Well this game is for you! Introducing Juggle Monsters, a simple concept taken to the next level. Tap on the falling balls and your purple friend, the Juggle Monster, will catch and juggle! But the fun doesn’t stop there…get good enough to toss your props at objects flying overhead. When you score a hit, you’ll get big points and unlock a variety of props! If you drop a ball, don’t despair, Juggle Monsters will cleverly introduce another prop for you. The idea behind Juggle Monsters is simple: stop being so serious! Take a break from your *serious* day and bring your mind elsewhere. The music is soothing, the artwork is wonderfully whimsical, and how much more humor could you have than juggling with a monster? And yes, Juggle Monsters will prove that you can chew and walk gum at the same time. So Enjoy…and if you like what you see, give us many stars and we’ll craft some more levels for your entertainment! *************************** ** About Blabbelon ** *************************** Visit Us Online www.Blabbelon.com Follow Us @ Twitter.com/Blabbelon Join Blabbelon LLC Fan Page @ Blabbelon-LLC/Facebook
Save Betsy is another version of the accelerometer-based jumping game that has become so popular for iPhone. It is akin to Doodle Jump, but unlike Doodle Jump, the leader of all such games where iTunes rankings are concerned, Save Betsy, has a seriously twisted vegan (or anti-vegan) theme, but don’t worry, no cows were harmed in the making.
Save Betsy stars Betsy the cow, who is trying to avoid the grills and meat grinders that will turn her into steak. As you lead her higher and higher, you can use her special ability to rid her path of meat-making obstacles, hide her in the haystacks, and try to jump her over the moon for higher and higher scores.(…) Read the rest of Save Betsy is Like Doodle Jump on the Farm
The 1986 arcade classic OutRun, with its easy to pick up gameplay and simplistic mechanics, seems like it would be a perfect fit for the iPhone. It's strange then, given the wealth of racing games on the App Store, that no one has taken a serious stab at an OutRun-inspired game yet. Now, developer Oyatsukai.com has risen to this challenge with their first iPhone game Final Freeway, and delivered in fairly impressive fashion. Final Freeway does an excellent job at capturing the feel of the original OutRun, while offering tight controls with multiple configurations and a terrific sense of speed that runs well even on older devices.
Just as in OutRun, Final Freeway is a point-to-point racing game, where instead of trying to beat other cars to the finish you're trying to reach each checkpoint in the given amount of time until finally reaching the end. In total there are six different sections to race through, each with their own unique scenery, but unfortunately there aren't the branching paths at the end of each section as in OutRun. The racing is simple and arcadey, with the focus being to race each leg of the track as fast as possible while avoiding traffic and staying on the track. You don't crash in the game, but will slow down a lot if you hit another car or go off track. If time runs out before you reach the end of the track segment, it's game over.
In another nod to OutRun, you can choose one of three different tunes to listen to while you're racing in Final Freeway. Also, your ride looks suspiciously like a Ferrari, which is the staple car in the OutRun series. The graphics in Final Freeway are very nice, with added support for the higher resolution iPhone 4 and iPad displays. The framerate is ultra smooth, even on my iPod touch 2G, and makes for a blazingly fast sense of speed. There are touch and tilt control options, with various other configurations of onscreen button placement. Either control option works well, but I found myself preferring the touch controls. There isn't the option for auto-accelerate, only separate gas and brake buttons, but this actually benefits the game as it can pay to merely let off the gas when approaching turns rather than slamming on the brakes.
Really, the only fault of Final Freeway is that there just isn't that much of it. The six track locations are decent, and can be played on a normal or expert setting, but I would love to see more. It sounds like that just might happen too, as the developer is active in our forums and has hinted that more levels are on their way, as well as taking note of other suggestions from our forum members for future updates. With a few updates, Final Freeway could evolve into something truly special, although what is here already is quite competent for the price. The bottom line is that Final Freeway is fun, plays extremely well, looks great, and will scratch that OutRun itch whenever you need it to.
My favorite game that I played at the Glu iPhone Games event was Gun Bros. Gun Bros. is a top-down dual-stick shooter with a completely over the top style in just about every way. You play as one of two brothers, Percy or Frances Gun, as you destroy wave after wave of increasingly difficult enemies. The game is set on a series of planets in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi world, and each planet has 10 levels (called revolutions) with 50 waves of enemies per revolution. You'll earn XP with every enemy that you kill, which goes towards leveling up your character. You will also earn something called Xplodium, which is an unstable ore that can be refined after each level and sold for gold to buy new weapons, armor, and equipment.
The greatest thing about Gun Bros. is the huge arsenal of crazy weaponry. Sure, we've all played games with a shotgun or a spread gun, but what about a triple barrel shotgun or a gun that spreads in seven directions? If you fancy gatling guns, why not up the ante and add three together for a triple gatling gun. Don't even get me started on the Shuricannon (cannon that shoots shurikens) or the Machete Mayhem (a dual pistol that shoots – you guessed it – machetes). These are all realities in Gun Bros., and it makes mowing down enemies a ton of fun. In all, there will be 30 different weapons across 6 different weapon classes, and your character can carry two weapons at a time and switch freely between them.
Besides the regular weapons in Gun Bros., there's also a number of special items and tons of different armors. The special items can be pulled up in a small window during play and give you benefits like health refills, increased damage for a short time, or powerful full screen attacks. The armor in the game is almost as cool as the amazing weapons, and give you many options for enhancing your attributes and customizing the look your character. There will be over 40 different pieces of armor, each capable of upgrading your character in areas like defense, strength, and speed. With the right combination of armor pieces you can choose which areas you are most effective in, and look bad ass while doing so.
Another key element to Gun Bros. is the social aspect of the game. Since you are a pair of brothers, there is always an AI controlled partner blasting away at baddies with you while you play. You'll have the ability to add friends in the game, and then import their specific character to play as your AI companion in your own game. If your friend happens to have some seriously upgraded gear compared to yours, you'll get the benefit of his extra firepower on your computer controlled character. You will also both keep all the XP you earn, which will transfer back to your friend's game when you're done playing. There is extra incentive to play with your friends as you can earn daily bonus items by doing so. Perusing the in-game friend list allows you to check out what bonus items are available for each friend, as well as how their various characters are equipped.
Much like Glu's other game Magic Life, Gun Bros. will launch fully featured for free, but of course there is a way to spend money on the game if you wish. You can purchase additional types of chambers for refining your Xplodium at the end of levels, thus earning more cash per unit and getting to buy weapons and armor much more quickly. This isn't necessary, however, and those who don't want to pay and have patience can still see everything the game has to offer. Gun Bros. was the game I played the most at Glu, thoroughly enjoying every minute of it, and I'll be impatiently waiting for its late October release.
We've been following Dodonpachi Resurrection [$4.99] for a while now, from its first announcement, to the first gameplay trailer, and even the pricing and release date. And after all this anticipation, developer Cave's follow up release to the excellent Espgaluda II [$8.99/Lite] actually lives up to the hype. In fact, I like it even more than Espgaluda II, though I'm not necessarily saying one is better than the other. They're very different beasts, and really it's worth owning both if you like top-down shooters. But Dodonpachi Resurrection feels like a more well rounded experience, and caters really well to both casual shooter fans and the most hardcore of them all. There's near endless replayability due to an ingenious scoring system, and Dodonpachi Resurrection deserves a spot on every shmup fan's home screen.
Visually, Dodonpachi is a very striking game. There is no fancy Retina Display support, as this is originally an arcade game running at an entirely different resolution, and it would be unrealistic for Cave to redraw all of the artwork to suit the iPhone 4. That said, the game still looks damn good. There are three different screen sizes to choose in the options. Small has a huge border area but makes the graphics look the sharpest. Large fills the iPhone screen with the game and a small border on the bottom, but the sprites and text look slightly blurry. Medium is the default and it's in-between the other two settings. I fancy the large setting, as I don't really like borders in my games and the blurriness honestly isn't that bad. The game is filled with tons of huge explosions, humongous transforming bosses, and dozens of enemies and bullets onscreen at any given time. No matter what screen size you play with, it all ends up looking really impressive.
There are two game modes in Dodonpachi, the original arcade mode and a new iPhone mode. Arcade has you choose from three different ships and three offensive styles. These styles can give you unlimited bomb use, a more powerful alternate cannon to switch to, or a combination of the two. They all can help you in different ways, and as such each ship and style combination has its own leaderboard in OpenFeint. The arcade mode is a lot of fun to be sure, but the iPhone mode with its unique scoring system and brand new Hyper Cannon weapon are what really stand out in the game.
In iPhone mode, there is no need to pick styles, just which ship type you want to use. A divided gauge in the upper right of the screen is used for the SM scoring system. A circular area surrounds your ship, and narrowly avoiding these bullets but letting them pass through this area (known as “scraping”) fills the gauge towards the M side while also building up a multiplier in the upper left of the screen. You can continue to do this all the way until your multiplier hits x1000, if you wish. When the M side of the gauge is full, you can hit the Hyper button to start your ship firing wildly, and control the direction of fire by touching the ship and turning it. If you touch the ship and spin it in circles during this time, you build up your Hyper Cannon which unleashes an enormous beam of destruction that obliterates everything on the screen.
Killing enemies in rapid succession is what fills up the S side of the gauge, and once it's completely full you will gain whatever your multiplier is at for every enemy you destroy. Essentially, you use this SM gauge in a yin-yang like harmony of avoidance and utter destruction in order to achieve incredibly high scores. It's really brilliantly designed, and it may sound complicated on paper but it's pretty easy to grasp onto after playing for a bit. Admittedly, I'm not a hardcore bullet hell shooter guy. I love me some shmup action, but more the typical brand of them, and I've always been apprehensive of the bullet hell type because they just seemed so difficult. Not so with Dodonpachi, and I really understand now how different a bullet hell shooter is and the different type of gameplay it brings to shmups.
And this brings me to what I really appreciate about Dodonpachi Resurrection, you don't have to play it any particular way. Yes, you can endlessly scrape bullets and build huge multipliers, then strategically destroy many enemies in search of massive scores and coveted leaderboard spots. Or you can play it much like a normal shooter, using the bombs and special weapons to destroy the many enemies and bosses in spectacular fashion as you progress through the levels to the end. Heck, I beat the game twice before I even fully understood the scoring system, and had a total blast doing it. This is one of the first games of this kind where I've felt like any type of gamer can get a lot out of the experience.
There's a lot more to Dodonpachi too, like the absolute spot-on relative control system, the excellent brand new music for the iPhone mode, many OpenFeint achievements to unlock, multiple options and difficulty levels, hidden modes, and more. But the bottom line is that if you're a fan of shooters in any way, you'll want to pick up Dodonpachi Resurrection. There's not currently a lite of the game (there's one on the way), but the introductory price of $4.99 will be going for the next few days before jumping to the regular price of $8.99. Also worth noting is that you'll need a 3rd generation device or higher, or an iPad, to run the game due to the insane amount of sprites it pushes at any given time. A veritable love-fest is going on with players in our forums who are enjoying the game as much as I am, and as far as shooters go on the iPhone it doesn't get much better than Dodonpachi Resurrection.
Shortly after yesterday's announcement of Super Mega Worm we received word from PlayCreek, creators of Stoneloops! of Jurassica, that they were bringing the original worm destruction game to the App Store. Death Worm was created by JTR back in 2006 and is available for free as a 3.5MB Windows game. PlayCreek is promising to take the original concept to the next level, and even has plans to keep the game updated with new levels, enemies, game modes, and other features. Two examples they cite for future updates are a Death Worm soccer mini game and a Death Worm castle defense game mode. There's also an iPad version in the works.
It's more than a little odd that there are two games being announced in such short succession that are based on such similar concepts, but if you got a chance to play Stoneloops! of Jurassica before it was pulled from the App Store, it's hard to not get excited for PlayCreek's Death Worm. The additional game modes sound beyond ridiculous, and I'm really looking forward to giving both Death Worm and Super Mega Worm a try.
Just a couple of weeks ago we brought you the first screens and info from the upcoming sequel to early App Store classic Blue Defense! titled Blue Defense: Second Wave. Since then, we've been able to spend some time with a work-in-progress build of the game and check out how Second Wave plays compared to the original. So far, it's shaping up really nicely. It takes the core gameplay of the first game and adds some interesting new features and a lot more content, retaining the simplicity that made the original such a joy to play but adding just enough depth to offer a really different experience.
The basics of Second Wave remain the same. You'll fight off waves of enemies with a perpetually shooting cannon firing from the center of the planet which you're trying to protect. A population of about 7 billion people act as the life of your planet, with that number dwindling with every enemy that penetrates your defense. If the population hits zero, the planet is lost and it's game over.
One of the biggest changes this time around is the ability to fire multiple cannons at once. Touching the screen at any time brings up an aiming reticule and a new stream of fire, with multitouch support for adding up to five additional streams along with the first cannon. A quick double tap on the screen locks an aiming reticule in place at that point on the screen, which can be dragged around and set anywhere you want to direct more firepower. You can set up to ten of these locked streams in addition to the five you can add by touching. Coupled with the normal cannon, that's a whopping sixteen streams of fire at your disposal. These screens were taken from an iPhone 4 and showcase the Retina Display support in Second Wave (click to enlarge):
While this may seem like an unfair advantage, the game intelligently balances this out by making every stream share from the same pool of firepower. For example, one stream of fire will rapidly spray many bullets in one direction. Adding a stream cuts this in half, with less bullets firing more slowly out of each stream. This gets divided with each stream added, and by the time you get to the full sixteen, each stream is very slowly shooting just one bullet out at a time.
The ability to add streams adds a tremendous amount of strategy in how you choose to play the game. It's such a big help to be able to quickly direct additional fire towards incoming enemies from any direction, or lock a stream of fire towards a dense group of enemies. Besides the ability to add streams of fire, you also get a new weapon in the form of the planet cannon. Touching your planet and swiping in the direction you want to fire launches a humongous beam of destruction that's as wide as the planet itself. The planet cannon vaporizes anything in it's path, but comes with limited uses.
Here's a short video of the preview build (no sound in this build):
These additional offensive options take Second Wave to a new level, and I haven't even gone into the gauntlet mode yet. Gauntlet mode is essentially a campaign that has you defeating set levels with predetermined numbers of waves and various difficulties, but we'll leave some of this for when the game is released. The major stuff is done and it's just entering the polishing phases now, so it shouldn't be too much longer before we'll be taking a look at the final version of Blue Defense: Second Wave.
Earlier this month we brought you a preview of Dodonpachi Resurrection, the newest bullet hell shooter for the iPhone from developer Cave, who have previously brought Espgaluda II [$8.99/Lite] to the App Store. Dodonpachi Resurrection is a reimagined version of the arcade game Dodonpachi DaiFukkatsu, the fifth game in the Dodonpachi series. Resurrection will feature a mode faithful to the arcade game as well as an entire mode unique to the iPhone version. Due to all of the action that can take place onscreen at any given time, the game is restricted to owners of the iPhone 4, iPhone 3Gs, 32 and 64 gig 3rd gen iPod touches, and the iPad.
Cave has sent word via press release and their official Twitter that the release date for Dodonpachi Resurrection is August 26th and that it will be launching for a special introductory price of $4.99. This introductory price will last for the first four days after release and then rise to the regular price of $8.99. Additionally, a lite version will follow after the full game is released, although no date for the lite has been specified.
Here is another look at the latest trailer:
We're eager to get our hands on Dodonpachi Resurrection, as I'm sure many other players are as well. You can pass the time until then by joining the discussion thread in our forums where you can find additional screens of the game. We'll have more on Dodonpachi Resurrection when it goes live on the App Store this Thursday.
With the recent release of Dodonpachi Resurrection [$8.99/Lite], developer Cave has set the gold standard for bullet hell shooters on iOS devices. One problem with that game, however, is that it just pushes too many pixels to be able to run well on older devices, leaving gamers with anything below a 3rd generation device out of the loop. For those people, developer Firi Games, who previously brought Flare Elite [99¢] to the App Store, have something in store for you. Their upcoming top-down shooter Phoenix features quite a bit of onscreen action of its own, and runs smoothly even on the original iPhone.
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Save Betsy is another version of the accelerometer-based jumping game that has become so popular for iPhone. It is akin to 
