EA Mobile has just released the first trailer for “Need For Speed Most Wanted” for iPhone and iPad. The game is a continuation of EA’s popular Need for Speed racing franchise. With Need for Speed Most Wanted EA aims to revive the ageing racing game.
Need For Speed Most Wanted features stunning dynamic physics-based collisions, exciting cop takedowns, and realistic visual damage. Be the most wanted in incredible real-world cars like the Dodge Challenger SRT8 392, the Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale, the Porsche 911 Carrera S, and many more!
The latest iteration has been developed by Firemonkeys, the same people who were behind Real Racing, Real Racing 2 and the upcoming Real Racing 3. With NFS Most Wanted you will experience an action packed arcade-style racing game. The game will be made available for iPhone and iPad later this month.
NFS Most Wanted will add new features like “over-the-top collision mechanics” which will result in detailed view of damages that can be caused by smashing into opponents car, walls or even cops.
… players can now accrue more detailed damage to their cars than ever before: every smash into walls, competitor cars, or pursuant cops creates an adrenaline-pumping frenzy of shattered windows, cracked headlights and flying parts.
The game will also bring real-time reflections that give a view of the game world, this feature was first showcased at Apple’s event when Real Racing 3 was previewed. The game is also expected to pack social and online features.
We are expecting more details and screenshots to be made available soon. Even though details are scarce the features planned for this release could certainly bring some freshness to the arcade-style racing genre.
It’s that time of year again when EA Sports come out with their annual upgrade to their FIFA franchise and this year is no difference as they release FIFA 13, their 13th iteration of the world wide soccer game. (Yes I’m calling it soccer, the whole world plays the game now and it’s just easier this way).
While previous versions of the FIFA franchise on iOS have sometimes seen minimal improvements outside of improved graphics and/or new features FIFA 13 has brought something to their iOS offering that people have been asking for for a long time and that’s the ability to play against other players over the Internet and not just those based locally.
While the old rivalries will continue to rage between the FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer fans, you generally either love or hate one or the other, the competition is clearly good for the players of each as they continue to push and innovate the graphics, gameplay and features and this continues to be the case.
Graphics ones again receive a boost that defies the size of the devices that you can play these games on. Player likenesses improve as FIFA continues to enjoy fully licensed players, teams and leagues from all around the world and the smoothness of the gameplay remains unaffected especially on the iPhone 5 that this was reviewed on and which is fully supported in full screen mode.
Controls have been tweaked in this release quite significantly however the new features don’t affect the core controls and instead the add and enhance what is an already well established control system.
A virtual d-pad on the left of the screen continues to provide directional control of your players while action buttons on the right side of the screen control the specific action that your chosen player will attempt, (I say attempt as based on your your skill and timing they don’t always come off), to complete.
It’s these action buttons that now include new features, firstly the ‘skill move’ button has been improved to provide more skill moves using a nine point grid around the button. Tapping the skill button and then making gestures up, down, left, right and around the skill move button will produce a variety of skill moves. And based on how you make the gesture will control whether you complete the skill to the left or two the right of the oncoming player.
While most players will be happy just to jump in a test the controls for themselves I would highly recommend reviewing the inbuilt help videos that will show you what all the gestures are and how they are activated to make the full benefit of them.
You can also control you whole teams gameplay via in game gestures too, want to make your team play more defensively? Then swipe two fingers towards the end you are defending. Want to play a more attacking style? Then swipe two fingers toward the goal you are attacking. The ability to do this without having to stop the game and make the selections in the options menu makes for a much more fluid gaming experience.
Another new feature is the ability to call in a 2nd defender when we feel that you need it. While holding down the tackle button will automatically make your selected player attempted to tackle the opposing player pressing the ‘call 2nd defender’ button will automatically bring over additional help should you find yourself trying to defend Messi, Ronaldo or any other tricky player.
These additional features add confirm able depth to the playing options for players to take advantage of while still ensuring that the game is easy to pickup and play for the newcomer to the franchise. And it needs to be said again that there are two many of these options to list here and you should view the in game help to learn them all.
The four game modes are still present, you can jump into a quick match, complete a league or cup from around the world in tournament mode, test your hand at club management in manager mode or play online.
Tournament mode continues to provide great value with even lower leagues from around the world being available, so if you want to play as lowly Southend United in the nPower League 2 in England you can. In total there are 67 trophies to be won in tournament mode and so to get a full trophy cabinet you’re going to have to play a lot of games.
Manager Mode adds additional depth to the game as you now have the ability to not only control the players but manager the whole club. From players contracts and club finances to keeping the board and supporters happy you are going to be juggling a lot of balls.
While this level of depth isn’t for everyone it does work well and provides a valid alternative to the management style games of Football Manager while providing the ability it take control of matters on the pitch too.
It also has to be said that EA have provided the ability to sync both Manager and Tournament modes using iCloud. This means that if you have this universal app running on multiple devices you can pick up on one device where you left off on another, that’s awesome.
We then come to the newly added online mode which has the potential of providing endless hours of game-play if done right. There are two ways to play online, 1 is in a quick match against a random opponent, the other is in a friendly against one of your friends.
Game-play is the same for both but if you play against a friend you win, draw, loss stats will be recorded against them so that you can prove who has the bragging rights.
I’ve played numerous times online and for the most part it’s been a great experience. I’ve never failed to be matched up with an opponent which suggests that there are a lot of people playing the game and while there have been a couple of disconnected games there is no way of telling whether that’s due to my opponent, network issues or a problem with the game itself.
The graphics appear a little toned down when playing online but it’s not something you notice in the thick of the action and games can be decided based on both players agreeing on the outcome. For example, it the game ends in a tie then you get to choose between ending the game in tie, extra-time or going straight to penalties.
Many hours could be lost in this mode especially if you have lots of friends who play the game too. It would be nice to have online leagues or tournaments to compete in but at this point that’s not available.
Both on and offline games provide a whole plethora of achievements, 79 to be exact, and they range from receiving no bookings during a match and scoring from long range to scoring a goal with your goal keeper and having a player score both an own goal and a goal in the correct goal!
While it’s great to have this number of achievements in the game it’s disappointing that EA continue not to link to Apples Game Centre achievements, continuing it use their own Origin network instead. Other games offer the option to link to both their own social gaming network as well as Game Centre and it would be nice to see EA do the same.
The daily challenges are a nice addition though were you get the opportunity to relive real matches, earn XP points to climb the social leader-boards.
FIFA 13 also enables you to share your greatest moments of skill and goals with the world via in-game integration with YouTube. Anytime you view a replay you will also get the opportunity to upload it to YouTube and given that the video is limited to just 9 seconds once you’ve authenticated your account once the sharing happens really quickly.
While some people may balk at the $6.99/4.99 price, this monster franchise continues to set the standard that other titles must aspire too and it’s worth every penny.
[rating: 4.5/5]
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One of the most eagerly anticipated games has finally made its way to the iPhone and iPad. But while the wait is finally over it may not be what some players of the massively successful franchise want.
Burnouts first journey onto iOS is in the from of the mini game, Burnout Crash, that has already made it onto the PlayStation and XBox Arcade. So instead of a full-on 3D crash-fest of mangled metal, you have the pleasure of playing God, (or should that be the Devil), in a crashtastic onslaught of exploding cars, trucks and every other type of vehicle you can think of.
The 2D top-down view looks great, across a massive 18 different junctions the detail pops of the screen and the whole environment is interactive so not only can you destroy the vehicles but also blow up the surrounding buildings, parked cars and pretty much anything that burns.
Each of the 18 junctions have three different game modes so you’ll have plenty of opportunity to hone your skills and have plenty to keep coming back for as each of the have 5 stars to be collected based on high scores and other side-goals such as performing special moves or destroying certain items.
The 3 modes are Rush Hour, Pile Up and Road Block and while they all take place on the same junctions they require slightly different techniques to succeed. Rush Hour puts you up against the clock to destroy as much as you can while Pile Up tasks you to crash as many vehicles as possible and then keep them blazing. Road Block meanwhile is as simple as blocking any vehicles from driving off the screen, lose 5 and it’s game over.
All of the modes provide special vehicles too that offer a variety of challenges. Stop a Pizza delivery truck and you get to spin the lotto wheel a win a bonus item while stopping the bank truck will rain down bags of money on you.
Like all great games Burnout Crash is easy to learn but difficult to master. Controls aid this as all that’s required is a swipe to move your car or truck while a tap of your vehicle will cause it to explode once the burnout bar is maximized of course.
There are 7 cars and trucks to unlock and each one offer a slightly different balance of power and control, switching between these vehicles can offer different opportunities to grab all 5 stars on each level and you will often find yourself heading back to earlier levels with better cars to grab all the available stars.
While causing all of this mayhem you are blasted with a cacophony sound and a great set of songs from the 80’s. I certainly recommend playing this game with headphones in to get the best sound experience and so that you don’t annoy anyone sitting around you!
Unfortunately the multi-player option that they provide in the form of Autolog, is a little disappointing. It certainly works and you can send challenges to your friends but no ability to play against other players in real time is a real disappointment. And while GameCenter integration is included there are no leaderboards, just 20 achievements to be unlocked.
That being said, I do keep coming back to Burnout Crash to unlock more levels and to go back and gain more stars, it could just be so much better if the social aspects of the game worked better.
Burnout Crash is a universal game and is available in the App Store, despite its shortcomings it’s still a recommended purchase.
[rating: 4.5/5]What we like
What to know
It is all mainly tap and drag controls. Once you have purchased a building for example you tap to start constructing it. Then you wait until it completes or hurry it along if you can. All this is done by tapping the icons around or above it. When you first place a creature or building you can choose where it goes in your park. Then you wait for it to earn your coins. If you tap it, it will tell you how long it will be until the coins are ready for collection. All this is done in real time, so if it says you have eight minutes to go, you have that long to wait.
You then start building up your land by placing different attractions and creatures for people to visit. The more you build you earn coins and you can then use it to decorate your safari park with more and more magical things. You can also pet your animals to earn extra gifts and abilities and to do this you just do a small swipe of the screen over your creature. They even make noises to show you they are enjoying it!
You will have to place wardens in your park as they are there just to keep the safari park running smoothly. Just like how you would need them in a real park. There are more than 40 creatures to place so you can build a huge magical place. You can also go visiting your neighbours to see what their park looks like and get a few ideas.
The animals are bright and colourful and all giving a great magical feel to the game. It is certainly nothing different to the usual FarmVille style games but the beautiful scenary certainly make up for that. The game would definitely appeal to a younger player but there are enough things to do and play to be suitable for any age. The music is a little repetitive after a while but that can be turned off. The sound effects are magical and very suited to the game.
There are also in-app purchases should you wish to speed the game up instead of waiting for jewels and coins but it is possible to play without any of these. You will just have to wait it out and keep coming back into the game.
At the moment there is no Game Center integretion which is a shame as this is what most users seem to prefer now to manage their achievements and high scores. If you do want to share with neighbours, see what other games they are playing and find more games you can do a quick sign up to Crystal for all that information.
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What to know:
[rating: 4.5/5]
The Sims: Medieval Review: Back in the 80’s there was an ‘experience’ restaurant near where I lived that claimed to take you back in time to a simpler era where women were buxom and men were hearty, where you could eat food with your hands, enjoy the merriment of court jesters and listen to the dulcet tones of a lute player. It was quite expensive and a similar experience could have been had in your own back yard with enough ale to drink.
In this modern age however there is no need for such places as you can be transported to them instead via your computer or in this case your mobile device, in the form of The Sims: Medieval for the iPhone.
If you a fan of the Sims you’ll find a lot of what you are used to in this game and if your not it’s a great introduction to the genre as it’s a streamlined version of the PC and console iterations of the game.
You start by creating your sim, sex, clothes, style and back story are all selectable or if you prefer you can randomize your selection, choose a personality, name them, name their kingdom and off you go. If only it was that easy in real life!
After a short tutorial which takes you through the basics of movement, application interaction and the rewards of focus points, which enable you to access the quests that make up the game, you are launched into your first quest to track down a thief.
The controls have been implemented well for a touch device, they are accurate and moving your sim around is a simple task of touching the screen where you would like him or her to walk while touching people or objects allow you to interact with them.
The first quest will take you through the basics of the game, from interacting with other characters where you can chat and socialize, move to different areas of the ‘world’ without having to walk your Sim there and the art of combat.
Combat is a major part of the The Sims: Medieval and it’s fairly easy skill to learn, in fact it’s pretty difficult to lose a fight especially if you are well fed, rested and have other sims available to help you out as part of your guild.
Completing quests is the key to success here and in doing so you will earn simoles, rewards and unlock other occupations which will aide you later in the game, for example when you become a herbalist you can make you own stamina potion instead of having to buy it in the store.
While a lot of the basic tasks that you may be used to from other Sims games have been removed, such as going to the bathroom and showering, you still do need to make sure that rest, eat, play and socialize. This makes the game less Sim like but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for a hand held device.
Keeping your Sim entertained can be a much more hands on experience than in previous games, for example should you want to take your Sim fishing you will be the one throwing your device around as you attempt to bag a fish.
If you are coming to the iPhone version for the first time from the PC version don’t expect to be able to rebuild and redecorate your accommodation. Updates to your house are restricted to new furniture and it’s placement only.
The Sims: Medieval isn’t breaking new ground in what is already a hugely successful franchise but it is a great looking, thoroughly enjoyable experience which every Sims fan should enjoy. If only there was a version to take advantage of the iPad’s extra size and muscle, now that would be SIMply fantastic!
What we like
What to know
[rating: 4/5]
Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review: The iPhone game is everything you’d expect from a Transformers game. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Decepticons – they’re all there for you to relive the movie action.
As Optimus Prime, your job, of course, is to battle Decepticons. While the tutorial takes place on the moon, the game begins at the nuclear disaster site Chernobyl. An intelligence report suggests that there could be energon in the area. You need to get there and collect it before the Decepticons do. The old Soviet town presents lots of obstacles and places for enemies to hide.
Even the easiest levels throw a good challenge. There are several controls to master. And of course you’ll need to determine when it’s best to transform between robot and vehicle modes. Enemies come at you fast and furious and offer up several forms of resistance, from hand-to-hand fighting to bombs.
Your fighting will involve mastering the use of several buttons, including change weapon, change form, roll maneuver, and special attack. Mastering those buttons and the strategies they control takes a bit of practice. So does the movement when in vehicle mode, which I found to be touchy at times.
The game is visually appealing for a nuclear disaster area. The colors and contrast make it easy to tell things apart. The music is expectedly epic and techno/mechanical. It all comes together to make the game seem bigger than the small screen.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a fun way to keep the action going when the movie ends. It’s a good action-based game that plays into the familiar story line well. There is also an iPad version available for $4.99, which may aid some of the difficulties playing on an iPhone-sized screen. But there’s enough game here to justify the price if you enjoy the Transformer universe.
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[rating: 5/5]
SPY Mouse Review: A Pac-Man style game for iPhone that is nothing but squeaky fun.
The object of the game is cheese. Well, having your mouse get the cheese out of the cat-infested houses along the path. Each house has it’s own maze-type layout that makes for interesting challenges to be worked through. Multiple cats, sleeping cats, cats in the middle of the room, cats near the door, etc. all require different spy strategies to successfully maneuver around.
The game controls are easy to master. Put your finger on the mouse and draw a line where you want it to go. The mouse follows that path, but only goes at certain speeds, so you’re not just dragging the mouse along. There’s a bit of timing in drawing the lines as well, to avoid the patrolling cats. In some homes, there are mouse holes that allow you to pop from room to room. It can be great fun to duck into a mouse hole and watch the cat slam into the wall right behind you.
You can actually befriend a cat too, through an in-app purchase, to help you fight fire with fire. But managing on your own is also an option. As the game goes along, the challenge increases with additional cats to avoid and more difficult paths that must be navigated. And watch out for the mousetraps!
The cute graphics, animations, and comedic spy-show music put you in a happy mood just opening up the app. The simple look and interface trick you into thinking the game is also simple, until you get nabbed a few times.
There are some games I play because I have to. Then there are some games I play because I want to. SPY Mouse {$.99} is definitely one of the latter. This one’s going on my short list.
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[rating: 4/5]
Ghost Harvest (Free, App Store) is a whimsical farming-type game where your job is to manage a cemetery to save souls and protect it from ghost hunters and other invaders.
This game follows in the footsteps of other farming games such as Farmville and We Rule. It is a casual game that you won’t spend hours of intense concentration on, but it does require commitment, as you must be timely to reap your rewards. It can be linked to your Facebook account to earn additional gifts and has it’s own page to follow there.
Like many apps, Ghost Harvest is free to download, but spending money to acquire additional candy for use in the game can speed up your advancement and has its advantages. This in-app purchase strategy is becoming a common way for game developers to earn money for their efforts.
The premise is that you are the caretaker of a cemetery. “Your mission is to help the recently deceased get to a better afterlife!” You earn coins for each soul delivered to the pearly gates. Your goal is to grow your cemetery to be the biggest and most beautiful. However, the bigger you get, the more attention you draw, which interferes with your mission.
Ghosts come in two types: souls – which earn the coins – and defenders – which don’t immediately transport to the afterlife, but stick around to help defend the cemetery. Defenders have three abilities – scariness, speed, and un-health – each of which serves a purpose for specific situations. Balancing the three abilities is part of the challenge of the game.
Like a typical farming game, you “plant” a grave and time must elapse before you “harvest” a soul. You can use various landscaping items to decorate your plot, which gets bigger as the game goes along. Some of the décor also have features that you can interact with, such as piñatas in trees, which can earn you coins.
You are given missions to complete that help you build your cemetery and help build your skills both for earning coins and for defense. They may be as simple as planting a tree or more involved with harvesting souls or defending from detractors. The missions keep the game moving forward and introduce you to new skills and strategies as you move through the levels.
This game has delicate, detailed graphics and music that isn’t spooky. It has a light-hearted feel that is reinforced by quirks such as the ghosts appreciating candy.
I found the game a bit confusing to start. It didn’t seem intuitive as to how to place graves and what would happen once you did. But after harvesting a soul or two, it became a familiar genre.
As with all farming-type games, it takes time to move through the levels. Different ghosts take different lengths of time until they’re ready and sometimes moving through the levels seemed a bit slow. But there are shortcuts, mostly involving candy, to make things go faster.
Overall, it’s a familiar genre with a fun theme that makes for enjoyable play.
Pros
Cons
[rating: 3/5]
Dragon’s Lair 2: Time Warp by Electronic Arts is the sequel to Dragon’s Lair. Just like the arcade classic, Dirk the Daring is on a mission to save Princess Daphne from the evil hands of Wizard Mordroc. Help Dirk race through the the different worlds in his old time machine to rescue her before she is lost in the time warp and made to marry Mordroc!
There are eight fantasy worlds for Dirk the Daring to explore. Each one bringing different characters and great animation. You may even recognise some of the places you visit and the people there; Sleeping Beauty and Alice In Wonderland to name a few. Each world is full of colourful characters and great animation all that will keep you entertained.
Controlling Dirk is easy, well actually you don’t really control him at all. There is no direct control over Dirk you can’t move him to where ever you want, just where the game chooses. On your screen there is a sword button and a directional pad showing arrow buttons in the four directions. To make Dirk move on screen to where he needs to go, you have to wait for the correct button to light up and then tap it. Miss the lit button and Dirk dies an early death. It is really a reflex game, you wait for the button, tap it and then wait for the next. You have to hit them very fast because if you don’t the light goes out and you miss it. Look away for a second and you will probably lose your life.
You can choose how many lives Dirk has 3, 5 or infinite depending how hard you want to make the game for yourself. I ended up using infinite as Dirk seems to die far too easily!
In the options section there is a choice to change the button size from small up to large. I used the medium ones to start with but found if the buttons are small all you seem to be doing is watching them and you miss all the on screen action later. You really can’t see what is going on. Where as if you have the large buttons they spread them out across the outside of the screen and in the middle you can still see what is going on in the animation. You can also turn the beep sounds of the buttons off but again if you do, it makes for a very hard game play.
‘Dragon’s Lair 2: Time Warp‘ features some great animation. If you have played the classic game before then this version is sure to be a hit with you. If you haven’t then you may just be a little disappointed. It seems a shame that you can’t actually control Dirk yourself and put him where ever you like. The game is more just a reflex game and all about tapping the lit buttons. After a while it did become a little tedious because that was all you was doing. Don’t get me wrong, the on screen animation and actions were really good but it would just have been nice to be a bit more involved in the game.
The cute animations make it seem like it would be suitable for any age but to be honest it is quite hard at times and I can easily see a young child struggle with it right from the start.
If you have still not tried Dragons Lair 2 it is on sale at the moment for Fathers Day so grab it while you can.
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Cons
[rating: 4.5/5]
The annual rendition of Tiger Woods PGA Tour is back and it rocks! For those that don’t know, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 is the most realistic golf game for your iPhone and iPad. See how you stack up against pros on real golf courses. The game sports several different game types that keep you coming back for more.
The controls make the game challenging but are very easy to pick up. I am an avid Tiger Woods PGA Tour player on the XBOX 360 and this game for your iPhone has all the controls of the console version. You have a power meter that you use your finger to swipe down and back up to hit the ball. Your ability to go straight back and straight forward controls the line that the ball takes. Power is dictated by how far back on the power meter you go before you swipe forward. You have the ability to line up shot with an intuitive interface that tells you the percentage you will need to hit the ball to that location. The controls have stayed pretty much the same as previous versions of this game so you are able to pick it up and play it right away.
This game does a great job of having real pros and real course. Some of the players that you have to opportunity to go up against are: Tiger Woods, Anthony Kim, Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, Paul Casey, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson, and Camilo Villegas. You even have the option to create your own male or female golfer and customize him/her. The courses are amazing. They look like the real courses and this is something that EA has gotten right for quite some time. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 sports 8 astonishing courses: Pebble Beach, St. Andrews, TPC Sawgrass, Hazeltine, Doral, Greenbrier, TPC Boston, and the ALL-NEW PREDATOR – a true fantasy course come to life! I won’t ruin the new course for you but it is pretty awesome! The real life golfers and the stunning real life courses this game does a great job of taking a game and making it seem more realistic.
The vast number of game modes may be one of the best feature of this game aside from its stellar game play and presentation. The first game mode I tried out was the solo round that gave me a good feel of how my custom golfer would stack up. Trust me it takes a little time to enhance your player so be patient at first, your custom golfer doesn’t start out with Tiger Woods’ ability but he is still formidable. There is also a head-to-head mode that you can play via WiFi or Bluetooth. As always there is the popular Tour Mode which is my favorite. It allows you lace up your spikes and compete with some of the best golfers on the PGA tour. It is what you might call the Story Mode for a sports game and EA does a great with this. I highly recommend you giving it a try. There is also the Tiger Challenge where you can “casually hone your skills with over 20 mini-games and unlock special prizes! Then, shoot it out with Facebook friends in the innovative “Closest to the Pin” challenges featured on selected holes throughout the game.” These different game modes make Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 a very diverse game that has a ton of replay value.
The presentation of this game is stunning. The graphics are great, all the way from the courses to the details of the golfers. The sounds are as realistic as they usually are and the music isn’t too shabby either. Perhaps one of the best features that flies under the radar in this game is the ability to play to the music that you have on your phone. I have a ton of music on my phone and the fact that I can grab my phone and listen to my tunes while I go shoot 18 holes at Pebble Beach from my office chair during a break is awesome. I really enjoyed this games crisp gameplay that never lagged and went off without a hitch. The presentation of this game was amazing and what I have come to expect from EA. They set the standard for sports games.
Pros
Cons
$6.99
Category: Games
Released: Mar 29, 2011
Version: 1.0.0
1.0.0
Size: 250 MB
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish
Seller: Electronic Arts Inc.
© 2011 Electronic Arts Inc. All Rights Reserved
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
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In Liqua Pop for iPhone, Toadie the frog needs help clearing his way to the top of the leaf and you are just the person to help. In this match-3 puzzler, you are tasked with popping matching color droplets by dragging them together and not allowing them to overflow the screen. You will find boosts to help you along your way as the increasing speed of the droplets attempt to overwhelm you. This puzzle game certainly incites a fast style of game play.
Liqua Pop is an innovative match 3 puzzle game that is both visually impressive and addictive. The game has a liquid based theme and interface that flows extremely well and carries on with the theme of the game. The key to this game is combining all the droplets you can to gain more points. After you combine 3 or more, a timer will start and the bubble will burst. The goal is get rid of all of the droplets while trying to get as big a bubble as possible to get a higher score. This sounds fairly easy but as you go the droplets come faster and faster and while trying to combine droplets for a bigger score can get pretty hectic.
Along the journey you encounter 7 bugs that aid in your quest. The bugs are stuck in random bubbles and when the bubbles burst the bugs are released and they aid by giving you a boost. These boosts consist of bugs that change surrounding bubbles colors or even burst the other bubbles surrounding it. If you aren’t careful the bugs can leave behind obstacles so, as always keep a keen eye in this game.
The main action you will find yourself doing in this game is sliding your finger from droplet to droplet to combine them until the timer runs out and they burst. A very helpful feature is that when bubbles are big enough to start counting down you can shake your iPhone and they will burst immediately. This is extremely important when your screen begins to fill up and you have few other choices. The color scheme of the bubbles also changes from time to time to create just a little more havoc. Sometimes you will have large amounts of two colors that threaten to expand so much that they end your game by filling the screen and other times there are so many colors that it is hard to combine them fast enough. All of the different changes in game play make this game diverse and extremely different each time you play.
This game is stunning visually and the ambient sounds do a great job in tying in to the theme of the game. A real game changer for me was the ability to play music on your iPhone in the app while you are playing. This gives you not only the awesome sounds of the game but your favorite tunes to play to. The changing environment that is built on a liquid theme is staggering. It is very impressive how the entire interface ties into the theme and renames so crisp and clean. I never saw a dip in the game play and everything remained fluid and smooth throughout my entire experience. This is impressive considering everything in this game is continually moving and seemingly changing colors, it’s borderline psychedelic.
Liqua Pop for iPhone is a combination of addictive gameplay, stunning visual scheme and awesome features like picking your own music that kept me coming back to this game. The fact that you can log in to Facebook and share your high scores with friends as well as see a world scoreboard is pretty awesome as well. At $1.99 this game is a bargain for those who are looking for a highly addictive game that has great visuals and great features.
Pros
Cons
$1.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Mar 10, 2011
Version: 1.0.9
1.0.9
Size: 12.0 MB
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Seller: Electronic Arts Inc.
© Original idea by Kirill Bulatsev. Developed by iChromo
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
Fight Night Champion [rating: 5/5]
I finally played my iPhone battery dead and that is one of the only reasons I am putting down my phone to write the review for Fight Night Champion. Fight Night Champion for iPhone is a new offering by EA Sports that is mobile version of the widely popular console game. I have always loved this boxing simulator on console but was unsure on how smooth it would be on my phone, well it’s great! Fight Night Champion continues in the footsteps of its predecessors as being a top boxing game.
Fight Night is a very popular series on the consoles and that is where I had my most experience with the game coming in to this review. I was afraid it would seem like a port when I played it on the iPhone but this game feels like it was designed for the device.
You have the choice of 3 different game modes that provide a wide diversity of game play. Fight Now, Legend Mode and Multiplayer are the 3 game types you have to choose from and each one seems better than the next. Fight now lets you jump right in the action if you should find yourself just wanting to get a quick game in. It allows you to play with fighters like Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and many others. I was very impressed with the list of fighters in this game and this is what I feel makes the Fight Now mode exciting. You aren’t necessarily playing towards a long term goal or against a friend but it’s pretty sweet to play as Muhammad Ali against Mike Tyson.
The next mode is Legacy Mode. This allows you to create a fighter and build him up or to take a former great and rebuild them. The game plays just as the console game but has its own feel and always seems like it was made for the iPhone. From customizing your fighter to selecting a training regiment, you are in control of your career and quest for greatness.
Multiplayer was very intriguing because it allowed for me to take on my wife in a boxing game. It was awesome and she truly enjoyed beating up on me and of course the bragging rights after I let her win. These three very diverse game types give you many options and ways to play this game. The three types work together to give this game awesome replay value.
The controls are very straight forward and I like that because it allows you to use them to the fullest extent. They allow you do everything you do in the console game but make it so that it is not extremely complicated to do on your phone. I found it very easy to learn how to play defense and also to let the haymakers go. Touch gestures are most of the controls in this game except for the movement around the ring by your fighter and that is controlled by the accelerometer. I found these controls to be genius because they allow you to get into the game by moving your phone, and sometimes your entire body when you get into, and your thumbs to have complete control of your fighter. The control mechanism is crucial to a game like this and EA does a great job of giving you everything you need.
This game has a killer presentation and I was constantly wowed by the sights and sounds it displayed. From the different fighters to the different venues the game never got mundane or monotonous. The menus are sharp and to the point and make everything very simple to navigate. The fighting sounds and announcing are awesome and really go a long way in getting you into the action. I had my volume cranked and found myself getting totally immersed in the gameplay. EA’s quality, as usual, is great and they make this game a joy to pick up and play. Again, the visual and audio aspects of this game never make you think it’s a port and that is important for a game that is so wildly popular on consoles. This game has a presentation that is second to none.
Pros
Cons
$4.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Mar 01, 2011
Version: 1.01.21
1.01.21
Size: 385 MB
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Seller: Electronic Arts Inc.
© 2011 Electronic Arts Inc. EA, EA SPORTS and the EA SPORTS logo are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. All trademarks are the property of their respective owner.
Rated 12+ for the following:
Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes
Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
Many moons ago when I was playing on my PlayStation 1 I got hold of a game called Resident Evil, the original survival horror game of a series that would turn out to be one of the strongest franchises in gaming history. It was an eye-opening game that I could rarely play on my own due to the excellent edge of the seat, jump out of your pants moments of sheer terror that it instilled in me while playing.
Years later and times have changed, not so much time to spend on my PS3 anymore, instead much of my time is spent playing on my iPhone and up until this point I’ve not found a game that has generated that same sense of fear and trepidation that the original Resident Evil created. That is until now with the release of Dead Space (1.5), I say one point five as the story sits between the original Dead Space and the newly released Dead Space 2.
I’ve not played either of the Dead Space titles up to this point so I come to Dead Space on the iOS device without any baggage of what to expect.
The game starts with a great cinematic sequence that really sets the scene for what both the graphics and the story. The graphics are stunning, dark, moody and on a level that makes you stop and think whether you are playing on a mobile device or not!
The story is well told with well played audio that heaps more spoonfuls of tension on the already tense drama. You take the role of Vandal, a pseudonym for the mystery character you play, who’s an engineer on a space station. You solitary existence is only interrupted by the aliens or to more precise neromorphs, whose sole purpose it seems is to attack Vandal and make sure that your heart stay stuck in your throat.
While physically Vandal may be on his own the story, your missions are presented to you by various characters through your body suit and these missions come thick and fast. Obviously while you are completing these missions you will spend most of you time slaying the various aliens that jump out at you and the missions are more follow the instructions than puzzles.
The major problem with many similar attempts at these types of games is how to port the complex controls to the touch screen of the iOS device. This is not the case with Dead Space though and it’s control mechanism could become the standard for such games.
There are no virtual buttons in the game, instead the left side of the screen controls movement, walking, running and staffing left and right while the right hand side of the screen controls your look and aim. You are given the chance to work on these through the first few mission but before long they’ll feel as intuitive as any. The only down-side to the controls as that you can sometimes find your fingers are covering large parts of the screen.
The game gets EA’s premium pricing but $7 is a small price to pay for a game that will keep offering you more challenges even after you complete the game which took me a little over 5 hours in total game play. There are over 40 achievements to unlock and once you complete the game on Easy or Normal mode you can replay the game again on a Hard level that will really test your skills.
For the ultimate gaming experience you need to purchase Dead Space now, what are you waiting for, go and buy it now, no really, stop reading!
$6.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Jan 25, 2011
Version: 1.0.1
1.0.1
Size: 291 MB
Languages: English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Korean, Spanish
Seller: Electronic Arts Inc.
© 2011 Electronic Arts Inc.
Rated 12+ for the following:
Frequent/Intense Horror/Fear Themes
Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Frequent/Intense Profanity or Crude Humor
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
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Cause of Death for iPhone 4 is the second text based adventure game from EA Mobile in the same style as their previous text based adventure game Surviving High School.
When I say text based I don’t mean that there are no graphics, in fact the menu’s, multiple environments and characters are beautiful in their style and detail, but all of the story is told in the form of speech bubbles and all your actions are from a list of multiple choice options and while this may sound boring, and for some it will be, the storyline is an engaging and entertaining page turner.
You take the role of Detective Mal Fallon, a smooth, edge of the seat detective who is given a career lifeline in the form of hunting down the Maskmaker, a serial killer who makes masks of his victims before killing them. You are helped on your way by help from the FBI in the form of the glamorous Natasha Williams who has a good rapport with you.
The game starts though with the Maskmaker claiming his third victim and you take the victims role and it sets the scene well and immediately hooks you in to the storyline especially given that you have direct contact with the killer.
As you progress through the game decisions have to be made which affect the storyline and affect your detective points which is how the game is scored and determines whether or not you unlock the additional bonus scenes. Some of these decision can be made at your leisure, however some critical decisions have a countdown on them so you will need to think on your feet and think fast.
For a game that is text based the action comes thick and fast and the story keeps you engaged right until the end. Not that you will find out who the killer is at the end of episode 1, for that you will need to keep downloading the episodes and keep following the story.
If you keep up with each episode and download them each week as they become ‘Now Airing’ you won’t have to pay a penny for the episodes, if however you want to play the episode before the ‘official’ release or miss it while it’s ‘Now Airing’ each episode will cost you 99 cents. In other words, play an episode a week and get it for free!
I thoroughly enjoyed playing ‘Cause of Death’ and I’m already hooked and waiting for the next episode to be released. If the standard stays this high I can’t wait to engross myself in this great detective drama.
$0.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Dec 16, 2010
Version: 1.3.3
1.3.3
19.8 MB
Language: English
Seller: Electronic Arts
© 2010 Electronic Arts Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Rated 12+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes
Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes
Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References
Infrequent/Mild Realistic Violence
Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor
Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content or Nudity
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
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Back in the day when games were loaded via cassette tape and played with joystick instead of a controller there was a major battle taking place in the gaming world and that was between two rival fighting games. Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat fought a battle both on and off screen which is still going on today. The latest punch in the battle comes from the Mortal Kombat side with the release of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for iPhone.
Mortal Kombat is a 2D fighting game that focuses on special moves and combo’s that ultimately lead you hopefully performing a fatal ending move that Mortal Kombat has made it’s own. It’s classic stuff and for any fan of Mortal Kombat they are in for a treat.
The classic button bashing controls are there, from the traditional red knobbed joystick in the left corner of the screen to the 5 or 6 button layout on the right the controls are surprisingly responsive and given time provide the perfect opportunity to unleash those deadly combo’s that MK is famous for. They are also fully customisable, however I recommend finding one and sticking with as remembering those combo’s are vital to succeeding in UMK 3.
If you can’t remember the basic combo’s you can review them via the ‘i’ button in the top left corner of the screen but like other version of Mortal Kombat you will need to work on the combo’s that launch the special moves.
There are four game modes in UMK3; Arcade, Local Multiplayer, Survival and Shao Karnage which all offer the same carnage in slightly different ways.
Arcade sets you an a winner takes all battle against the 13 fierce enemies that are as eager to rip your head off as you are to rip theirs. It’s certainly not for the feint hearted but the blood and gore certainly don’t have the same shocking impact that they did when this game was originally released on the old consoles. There are 4 difficulty levels which really crank the difficulty level up.
Survival mode challenges you battle through as many kombatants as you can with a single amount of energy while Shao Karnage challanges you to do as much damage against the ultimate Mortal Kombat killing machine as you can in 90 seconds.
For me though the fun really begins with the Local Multiplayer mode which allowed me to pit my skills not against the computer controlled enemies but against my friends and lash out some real frustrations on the iPhone’s screen. This really took me back to the good old days of playing MK when we would fight each other into the early hours. The special codes that enable special ‘features’ are also fun to use although it would be nice to be able to access them in single player mode too.
Nothing really has changed since those time, if you love Mortal Kombat than you will love this rendition of the game which you can carry around in your pocket, if you aren’t a fan of button bashing fighting games you should probably move along.
At $6.99 it’s going to leave a bit of a dent in your wallet compared to other titles in the App Store and so I’d only recommend this game if you are a fan of the genre and specifically this series.
$6.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Dec 16, 2010
Version: 1.0.4
1.0.4
171 MB
Languages: English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Korean, Spanish
Seller: Electronic Arts
© 2010 Electronic Arts Inc. All Rights Reserved. ULTIMATE MORTAL KOMBAT 3 is a trademark of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Rated 12+ for the following:
Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence
Frequent/Intense Horror/Fear Themes
Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
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We just reported that EA had published some screenshots of their upcoming rhythm based game called “Rock Band Reloaded” and now we are hearing that the game just went live a little while ago on the New Zealand App Store.
Rock Band Reloaded for iPhone and iPad will ship with 29 free songs which will include top music tracks like Kryptonite, Your Decision, So What’Cha Want, White Wedding, Hungry Like the Wolf, Peace Sells, In Bloom and many more. The most amazing feature however seems to be the all new voice recognition for some real vocal play. The voice recognition mode is in addition to guitar, bass, drums and tap vocals.
The game also features landscape view for more viewing area and you will be able to rock in 6 cities across 36 events in the revamped World Tour mode. We were almost certain that EA wouldn’t ignore Retina Display and the game certainly features HD graphics. The features list doesn’t mention anything about Game Center however, you would still be able to sync your Facebook account and also go multiplayer with local WiFi or bluetooth.
Check out the gameplay video after the break.
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CLUE is the US version of a game that most people in the UK associate with a board game called Cluedo. Cluedo was invented in the North of the UK in the late 1940s. Apparently since then things have moved on a pace, and now there is an all singing all dancing version of CLUE, made as a board game by Hasbro in the US, in which you get black light torches to read spy clues with, and super secret text messages during the game sent to you from Hasbro’s servers. Sounds like a lot of fun!
CLUE: Secrets & Spies – A Hidden Object Game from Electronic Arts, as far as I can tell is a game that cashes in on that franchise. What it offers up is a set of “hidden object” / “spot the difference” picture games, set against a backdrop of international espionage.
I am not a great fan of spot the difference games, but the idea of them on an iPad with some finger tip action seemed initially interesting.
Here is EA’s own blurb..
Find hidden objects in exciting cities around the world like Casablanca, Buenos Aires and Paris, and stop the evil forces of C.L.U.E. (Criminal League for Ultimate Espionage) from sowing destruction across the globe!
CLUE is certainly well presented, and the spy theme makes for a more interesting way to bundle up picture based puzzles. But even with the global map, and the fairly weak storyline tying the puzzles together it just felt to me like an elaborate menu system skinned in a spy theme.
The puzzles, spot the difference and find the hidden objects are well done, with nice little overlays when you spot things. Good use of the touch screen but the pressure of a time limit was about the only time I felt that I was actually trying to foil some evil master genius before a nuke attached to a puppy went off somewhere. And that was fun. But short-lived. And to be frank a lot of the fun I was having was in my own overactive imagination.
There is not much variety in the style of gameplay in CLUE, but there is plenty of variety in the puzzle locations, images and back stories. And you cover several parts of the globe, including Morocco, Russia, London, Cairo, Berlin and so on. All possible settings for James Bond movies, or cold war capers.
There are rewards to be had in the form of “essential spy gear”. I won’t spoil the surprise for you. And you can use a Clue Detector to help you out of sticky spots.
That is really about it. And both the idea of the board game from Hasbro, and EA’s own blurb on this iPad game get me more excited than the reality of CLUE on the iPad.
CLUE is well crafted overall though. And if you love picture puzzles that test your memory and observation skills then CLUE: Secrets & Spies may be for you.
Now where is my laser gun…
$4.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Nov 04, 2010
Version: 1.0.0
1.0.0
76.3 MB
Language: English
Seller: Electronic Arts
Game code © 2010 Electronic Arts Inc. CLUE © 2010 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.
Rated 4+
Requirements:Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later
We recently featured 5 of the best racing games for iPhone and talked about how Need for Speed Shift provides an unparalleled gaming experience in the racing genre on the App Store. On Tuesday EA Mobile released their latest game called Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and it is available for $4.99 (View in iTunes).
The game offers a lot of content with 24 career events, different environments and 20 stunning police cars. EA sent us a review copy of this game and after playing it for a while I can surely say that the realistic 3D graphics are very impressive and the developers have done a great job with the controls (more on that in the review).
If you enjoyed any game from the Need for Speed series for iPhone then this game is certainly worth checking out. Check back soon for a detailed review and let us know what you think in the comments section below.
London, UK., – October 28, 2010– Leading mobile game publisher Chillingo, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced that ZeptoLab’s chart-topping, addictive puzzler, ‘Cut the Rope’ has now sold more than two million copies worldwide on the Apple App Store in just three weeks since launch.
“Cut the Rope continues to break records with leading, international sales,” explains Chris Byatte, Co-General Manager of Chillingo. “Our new partnership with EA enables us to expand Om Nom’s prospects, visibility and reach to make more of an impact than ever before.”
“Chillingo has done a great job for us in publishing Cut the Rope on the Apple App Store,” said Efim Voinov, CTO of ZeptoLab, “Now with their acquisition by EA, we see more growth opportunities available for us in the future.”
Cut the Rope remains the fastest selling title on the App Store to date (by reaching the 1 million mark within 10 days of launch). The game features innovative, physics-oriented gameplay as players feed dangling candy to Om Nom, an adorable and ravenous, little green creature.
Cut the Rope is available for $.99 (iPhone and iPod touch) and a $1.99 (iPad) from the App Store on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch or at http://itunes.appple.com/appstore
A Lite version of Cut the Rope will be available for free from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at http://itunes.appple.com/appstore
Get the latest news about Cut the Rope’s incredible new content by following http://www.twitter.com/chillingo; http://www.facebook.com/chillingo, http://www.youtube.com/chillingo
About Chillingo
Chillingo is a subsidiary of Electronic Arts and publishes innovative games and software for various platforms. Other hit iPhone, iPod touch and iPad titles include; Cut the Rope, Angry Birds, Helsing’s Fire, Predators, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Minigore, iDracula, and Modern Conflict. For more information about Chillingo please visit http://chillingo.com.
About Zeptolab
ZeptoLab is a small independent team of professionals dedicated to the science of fun.
We know what good games are made of, and we possess the required ingredients.
Our target platforms at the moment are iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA Mobile™, and POGO™,. In fiscal 2010, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.7 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million units. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.
EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile and POGO are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc
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My history of fighting games has been of the fantasy fighting type, from Tekken and Battle of Toshinden to Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. The fantasy aspect of these games allows fighters to defy the laws of gravity and perform acts unknown to man and these features always made these games much more enjoyable for me. I’ve tried Mike Tyson’s Punch Out and Frank Bruno’s Boxing but neither appealed.
Now though boxing has been replaced by Mixed Martial Arts as the top fighting genre and so perhaps now is the time that a fighting game based on reality can actually compete with the fantasy titles of the genre.
The main part of MMA by EA Sports is the career mode where you can build your fighter as you see fit, from name, looks and hair to tattoos and skin tone you can either build a fighter in your own image or how you would like your image to be!
While it’s fun to make you fighter look like you getting on and fighting is what we’re here for. There are three modes of game-play, Exhibition gives you instant gratification as you are thrown straight into a battle while, challenge mode, as the name suggests, sets you a specific challenge which you must complete to unlock the profile of one of the MMA’s real life fighters.
The main fun in the game however is the Career mode, here you get to test your fighter against the best real MMA fighters in the world. As well as designing the look of you fighter he will have a set of stats that you can build to strengthen your fighters abilities. Health, stamina, speed, striking, grappling, submission and take-downs can all be updated independently so you can focus on a specific attribute dependent on your fighting style.
Fighting style is important as when building your fighter you have to choose its style, choosing the appropriate style will give an additional boost to the relevant abilities. These abilities can be built upon by training your fighter in one of four training ‘mini games’. Any one of Spar, Speed Bag, Heavy Bag and Lift Weights can be played between fights and depending on your success can add up to five points to your abilities. The games use a combination of speed, timing and accuracy using the touch screen, gestures and the accelerometer to succeed and they all add a nice additional challenge to the game. It would be nice of these games if these could be played separately too as both practice and to track high scores.
One you’ve completed your initial training you can take on your first opponent. You start ranked at 10th and your aim is to reach number one and the only way to do this is to beat the nine fighters above you.
Initially despite the brief hand on tutorial I found that I was unable to defeat even the first fighter. However, as soon as I realized that you had to weaken your opponent before you could use any of your submission moves, I made much better progress.
All the controls are gesture based which have been expertly implemented. Previous fighting games I’ve played have all been based on a d-pad and a variety of action buttons, however these gesture based controls where swiping and tapping the screen in various combinations result a range of punches, grabs and throws works very intuitively.
As we have come to expect with most EA games these days the graphics are second to none. The fighters look just like their real life counterparts right down to their tattooed bodies and the rings look like you are standing in one waiting to get your head knocked off of your neck.
Commentary is provided in the game but like most games much of it gets repeated which can get a little annoying at times. Hearing the rousing tones of Jimmy Lennon Jnr introduces the fighters is always welcome though. The range of intro music for your fighter is good though, although having the ability to pick the intro from a song in your iPhone’s library would have been a nice touch.
Career Mode in MMA by EA Sports is a little short and once you’ve built your fighter up and have learnt the basics you can move through the game relatively quickly. However the addition of the Challenge mode does add extra value for money. It would have been great to see a multi-player option so that you could battle it out with your friends but that is not to be.
Overall MMA by EA Sports is a great addition to the iPhones arsenal of fighting games. It’s certainly converted this fighter to the bone breaking, stomach churning, bare knuckle rawness that is Mixed Martial Arts fighting.
MMA beats all fighting games, hands down!
Pos
Cons
$4.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released:Oct 20, 2010
Version:1.1.16
1.1.16
110 MB
Languages:English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish
Seller:Electronic Arts
© 2010 Electronic Arts Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Rated 12+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content or Nudity
Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence
Requirements:Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
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Ngmoco was recently acquired by Japanese gaming outfit DeNA for $400+ million and today EA annouced that they have acquired Chillingo Ltd., one of the premium independent games publisher. Chillingo has been making headlines for all the right reasons in the last few months. Their recent launches for iOS devices have been major hits on the App Store and they recently announced a strong line up of upcoming games.
Press Release:
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced it has acquired Chillingo Ltd., a leading independent games publisher. With the acquisition of Chillingo, EA Mobile™ has increased market leadership on the Apple® platform and strengthened its position as the world’s leading wireless entertainment publisher. The acquisition combines Chillingo’s expertise in cultivating the ideas of independent developers with EA’s global reach in mobile publishing. Chillingo is widely recognized for publishing highly original and successful games from the developer community. EA is committed to preserving Chillingo’s independence enabling them to manage and cultivate their great network of relationships to deliver the optimal gaming experience for consumers.
About Chillingo
Chillingo publishes innovative games and software for various platforms. Other hit iPhone®, iPod touch® and iPad™ titles include Cut the Rope, Angry Birds, Helsing’s Fire, Predators, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Minigore, iDracula, and Modern Conflict. For more information about Chillingo please visit chillingo.com.
About EA Mobile
EA Mobile™ is the leading wireless entertainment publisher with award-winning game franchises such as Tetris®, Bejeweled®, The Sims™, and Need For Speed™. The EA Mobile portfolio also includes casual games based on the company’s partnership with Hasbro, Inc. including MONOPOLY, YAHTZEE and SCRABBLE (in the U.S. and Canada) as well as sports blockbusters from the EA SPORTS™ brand, including Madden NFL Football, FIFA Soccer and NASCAR®. EA Mobile develops games for multiple mobile platforms including mobile phones, smartphones, the iPhone®, iPad™ and iPod® touch. For more information about EA Mobile, please visit www.eamobile.com.
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA Mobile™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2010, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.7 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million units. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.
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In case you missed it, last week EA Mobile released one of the most popular simulation games in the App Store called ‘The Sims 3 Ambitions’
The game offers a lot of new content and has already proved to be a huge hit by reaching the Top 25 paid category in less than a week.
The Sims 3 Ambitions for iPhone offers all new career mode, build mode and now your sims can also have babies!
For the first time ever on iPhone & iPod touch, turn your Sims’ hobbies into fulfilling jobs. Will your Sim become a Firefighter? Rock Star? Artist? Teacher? Chef? Sports Star? Get down to business with new career-oriented goals, mini-games, outfits, and locations. Follow your Sims to work and see them get happier as they make their dreams come true.
Think big with the improved and expanded Build Mode feature. Resize, add, or delete rooms, floors, walls, doors, and windows as you make a new home for your success-driven Sim. Buy and sell furniture and objects. And now you can also build workplaces like a Bistro, a Preschool, or a Night Club for your musical Sim to rock.
Your most requested feature is here! For the first time on iPhone & iPod touch, your Sims can have babies! Feed them, play with them, and put them to bed! Watch Sims babies become Sims toddlers. Take them to the park, play hide-and-seek, or give them a little cuddle. Having Sims children changes everything!
If you enjoyed The Sims 3, The Sims 3 World Adventures then you will certainly want to try out The Sims 3 Ambitions. If you have already bought the game let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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We played a lot of board games in my family from Scrabble and Monopoly to Trivial Pursuit and Game of Life and it was a tradition to get a new family board game from Father Christmas each year which we would play on Christmas Day afternoon. However, this tradition never extended to one of the most renowned board games in the world, namely Risk.
When asked to review EA Mobile’s version of Risk on the iPhone my only expectations where of those I’d heard about the game rather than experienced directly. Subsequently I think I come to the game with a relatively unique perspective on the game.
The game starts with a suitably military feel about it, from the squaddies running into battle, tanks and military music the scene is set and you are left under no illusion that you are going to getting involved in a mighty battle.
For those expecting to get into some 1st or 3rd person perspective shoot outs will be in for a surprise as Risk is a strategy game where your ultimate goal is to rule the world. You can start the game with the computer setting your starting territories and troop placement or you can set them manually. As a beginner to the world or Risk I opted for the random placement.
Talking of being a beginner the game includes a decent tutorial that covers the basics of game play and takes you through the 3 steps that make up each turn. First you need to draft your troops and the number of troops you’ll have to deploy will be based on the number of territories and continents you have under you control.
Next up is the attack phase where you can march into neighboring territories. It’s not quite as easy at it seems though as you have to choose whether the attack will be a skirmish, total war or a retreat. The success or failure of each attack is controlled by the roll of the dice and as such nothing is guaranteed. A skirmish will give you more control over your attack while as the name suggest ‘All Out War’ is a do or die maneuver.
Your final step is the fortify step where you get to move your troops between your own territories and then it’s the next players turn, be that a computer controlled player, or a real person via either Pass N’ Play on a single device or using multiple devices on a local wireless network. One trick that has been missed here is the inclusion of a online multi-player option either in real-time or even via a play by mail type option. As a game that concerns global domination being able to play the game globally would have been a great addition.
The game play process is repeated until your domination is complete, or in my case my surrender was complete! It took me 4 games until I finally got the hang of how to make successful inroads into my opponents lands but the hard work paid off with a feeling of achievement especially when I won my first game.
There are limited extras to the game as I have seen in similar titles and as this is based on a board game it suggests that it is a simple port of the game and this could be limiting to gamers expecting extra features and options. The game does include it’s own version of achievements though and claiming all 12 of them would be an achievement in itself.
At $1.99 some players may be a little disappointed by the lack of options but the game does play well and it’s actually made me want to go out and get the board game version of Risk to play too!
Reviewed on an iPhone 4
Price: $1.99 (App Store)
Category: Games
Released:Jul 22, 2010
Reviewed Version:1.4.88
Size: 8.3 MB
Languages:English, French, German, Spanish
Seller:Electronic Arts
© 2010 Electronic Arts Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Requirements:Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.
When EA launches a new game users usually have very high expectations. iPhone, iPod touch and now iPad have proved to be the best portable gaming devices with touch controls and if you browse the top paid category you’ll notice that EA has been successful in dominating the simulation genre even on the mobile gaming platform.
SimCity Deluxe for iPhone aims to offer new features and a refined gameplay when compared with the original SimCity which has disappeared from the App Store. If you’re reading this review it is safe to assume that you probably know what is the objective of this game but for those who are new I’ll give an overview.
In SimCity your objective is to build a city and manage it. You start with a plain terrain or a starter city which can be modified and then as a Mayor of the city you control almost every aspect about it. The game gives you full control over city planning, health & education, transportation, environment, utilities, public safety and finances. To help you run the city you will also have access to 7 advisors who will guide you to take the right decisions. SimCity is best suited for people who enjoy management and strategy based games.
Now, back to the review. One of the first things you’ll notice about SimCity Deluxe, are fast loading times and a very smooth gameplay experience. When you switch from one game screen to the other you won’t have to wait for long loading screens which enables you to concentrate and return to the main gameplay area quickly and it also feels more ‘connected’. The controls are placed perfectly allowing you to access any tool or option with ease and do not in any way obstruct the gameplay. Another major improvement you’ll notice is that when you pinch to zoom the game elements are not lost and only the animation is paused making it appear as static image which is a great move when compared to the poor implementation in the previous version.
The graphics have been certainly improved and offer extra detail. When you zoom right upto the last level the artwork still looks good. The game has wide range of residential, commercial and industrial buildings which keeps the game fresh.
Sound effects are simple and effective. When you build a power plant or construct roads you’ll hear the construction or industrial sound effects however, after that when you zoom to view a particular zone again you will not hear it again. It would have been nice if the developers would have integrated the sound effects in a better way which would have added more depth to the overall game experience.
SimCity Deluxe for iPhone brings back the disasters so when you feel a little bored and want to be a wicked Mayor you can call Aliens to destroy the city or shatter everything with an earthquake or even strike the sims with lightning. The game also features four seasons to add an element of reality.
You can either start building your city from a scratch controlling every aspect or start with any of the starter cities to help you get started. Every city can be played in either easy, medium or hard levels. In the ‘scenario’ mode you are given the control of a city where you have to achieve the given goal. I played the ‘Fiery Rain (hard)’ scenario in which a Meteor Shower has struck the city and you need to minimize the damages and survive through a certain number of years. The new scenario mode adds an interesting twist to the game and proves to be a great test for all those who feel that they are the most competent Mayor.
SimCity Deluxe for iPhone is a must have for anyone who enjoys the simulation genre. The game has a very good replay value and if you’re new to SimCity then you won’t have any trouble learning the game as it features a very detailed help section too.
Price: $6.99 (App Store)
Category: Games
Released:Jul 29, 2010
Reviewed Version:1.0.0
1.0.0 (iOS 4.0 Tested)
Size: 70.6 MB
Language:English
Seller:Electronic Arts
© 2010 Electronic Arts Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Requirements:Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.
EA Mobile today announced the availability of it’s much awaited simulation title for the iPhone and iPod touch called “SimCity Deluxe” .
We had published the first screenshots of the game when it was announced in early May. SimCity Deluxe is now available in the App Store for $6.99 [iTunes Store]
Sim City is one of the all time great casual games, and SimCity Deluxe for iPhone is the latest title from this storied franchise.
Build and manage your dream city with a newly updated SimCity experience for iPhone & iPod touch. Designed for dedicated and casual fans, let your inner urban planner run wild.