Well this looks familiar.

Have you ever played Bust-A-Move? If your answer was anything but a resounding “Yes!” then shame on you. Bust-A-Move is one of my favourite “shoot-a-bubble-to-pop-other-bubbles” games from back in the day – so much so that I even created the genre of “shoot-a-bubble-to-pop-other-bubbles” in order to describe it.

Well, for the sake of posterity, I will explain it for those who do not know: in Bust-A-Move (or Puzzle Bobble as it is known in North America), you are in control of Bub, a strange lizard creature who shows a strange affection toward brightly-coloured orbs that he then slings upward towards other orbs that are just as brightly-coloured. Bub’s one real objective? Eliminate those orbs that he is so fond of by making sure that orbs of the same colour are touching in groups of three or more.

I'm here to save... that?

Now that is out of the way, we can discuss Bust-A-Move for the iPhone. What’s different from regular Bust-A-Move? Well, let’s start with the controls. You have two options for firing your lovable orbs: drag and shoot, or point and shoot. Drag and shoot has you tapping and holding the firing machine, moving your finger away from said machine while simultaneously aiming, and letting it fly. Point and shoot is even more self-explanatory: tap where you want the orb to go and press the shiny red button to fire it off. Pretty easy, and caters to different styles of play.

The actual objective of the game is that some of your friends are stuck in various worlds for some odd reason, and you have to go through each world and clear out all of the stages contained within – each stage having three rounds that you must clear. Really straight-forward and simple story. Of course, if you’re playing Bust-A-Move for its story, you might want to consider putting your iPhone down and taking a nice long walk.

You also have three game modes: Story mode (as described above), Challenge mode, and VS. mode.

The graphics of Bust-A-Move are very faithful to the original while keeping the quality high enough to be enjoyable for the iPhone. They are very plain and simple with very well drawn and animated sprites and environments. No real complaints on my end – I can’t even make a joke about it!

Like the rest of the game, the sounds are simple and very fitting for Bust-A-Move, the sounds that the original had – bubbles firing off, orbs hitting each other, orbs bouncing off sides – are all the same or touched up for better quality. There is also a nice and subtle soundtrack that is very nice and cheery and fits the environments presented in the game.

Clear!

Overall, Bust-A-Move is a great throwback to the original – the graphics, sound, and gameplay are all very familiar while doing enough to ensure that they all stay crisp and fresh. I’ve sunk a good amount of hours (and so have my friends!) playing Bust-A-Move and we’ve had a blast.

In addition, Taito recently released a great update that adds a store where you can purchase two new game modes: Puzzle mode and Co-op mode. I haven’t really had a chance to try either of them out, but if they are anything like what we currently have in the original game, I’m sure they are amazing.

The Game

Return to Facepalm Island

You wake up face down on the beach, sand in your nostrils and the taste of sea water in your mouth. Wait a minute, this isn’t Gilligan’s Island. Of course not, you’re smack dab in the middle of Jules Verne’s Return to Mystery Island for the iPhone/iPod Touch, and you are taking control of Mina, a sailor who finds herself stranded on an island somewhere, and she is hungry. Really. You start the game off by scrounging up materials you find on the beach so you can regain the strength to move some logs that are blocking your path into another area. To do so, you have to gather up the materials to make a fire, some food, and a strong stomach because all you can really find are some assorted seafood and a dead porcupine.

I know, I’ve made the game sound utterly thrilling, but there is a certain level of depth evident in Return to Mystery Island. You will find so many items that it just becomes an encumbrance to be holding them all, but many of them do combine with one another or interact with the environment in some way. For example, in the beginning of the game, you find a metal plaque. Must have been some useless award that was given out, because clearly you don’t care what it was used for, as you combine it with a rock and sharpen it into a knife. You can then take this knife and cut down a vine near the logs blocking your path for some thin rope, or on the grass to get some wheat grain, or on those monkeys throwing rocks at you for a free meal. Okay, I was just joking on the last one, please don’t send PETA after me.

Oh great, I’ve got crabs.

One of my real gripes about Return to Mystery Island is the inventory. Sure, you have multiple pages of inventory space available to you, but if you need to combine items on separate pages together, you’re going to have to place it into your hand slot, scroll over to the desired page, and drop it onto the item. Fortunately, they have a combo bar above the items themselves, making it so you only have to fumble with the pages once!

Graphics

Return to Mystery Island has wonderful graphics that are beautifully rendered on the iPhone. On my iPhone 3GS, looking around in this wonderful scenery was smooth as butter and I could not complain. The environments are very lush, colourful, and the animations are all very smooth. The graphics are the strongest aspect of Return to Mystery Island and they definitely do not disappoint. There are also some drawn portions of the game, such as story cut-scenes or when you combine two items successfully, which are great additions.

Sound

Sideshow Bob would be proud.

The musical sound track of Return to Mystery Island is wonderful – a subtly oriental feeling about it that fits the environment perfectly. If I were to complain about anything at all, it is that it loops quite a bit, and after a long session of trying to wrack your brain on what to do next, it can get annoying. The sound effects are great, delivering a very crisp and distinct sound.

Conclusion

Jules Verne’s Return to Mystery Island is a wonderful point-and-click adventure game that has wonderful graphics, great sound, and deep and challenging gameplay that will keep you playing for hours. Fans of the genre and fans of Jules Verne novels should definitely check it out.

The Game

I’m sure that if you’re reading this review you know the story already, but just for the sake of formality, let’s first go over what we’re talking about. Mega Man 2 puts the player in the robotic legs of a futuristic hero as he battles countless enemies and eight vicious bosses in his quest to stop the evil Dr. Wily from controlling the world. The game utilizes simple run, jump, and shoot mechanics in a sidescrolling world, but also sets itself apart by awarding you with different gun variations each time you defeat a boss. It’s unique in that you can have just as much fun trying to figure out which scenarios are best for each gun as you can just trying to make it through levels using only the default buster shot. Mega Man 2 truly is brilliant in it’s design, but it’s also famous for it’s difficulty. Like most iterations of the Mega Man series, players will find themselves having a heck of a time getting through the pixel-perfect platforming, numerous bottomless pits, overwhelming enemy spawns, and (mostly) insane boss fights. Unlike most games that withhold this sort of difficulty, Mega Man 2 has always managed to give the player a fun experience, and as such, it is regarded by all critics as a gem that should be treasured forever.

You’re now hearing the Mega Man 2 title theme.

If you’re a Mega Man fan, or fans of video games in general, you’re undoubtedly aware of the hugely popular Mega Man 2 game which debuted on the original Nintendo Entertainment System roughly 20 years ago. Most gamers will say that it is their most memorable Mega Man exerience, and rightly so. Mega Man 2 is packed with intense action, incredible platforming, a glorious soundtrack, varied stage themes, and an overall nostalgic experience which has justified countless ports and inclusions in anniversary packs – not to mention helping to spawn a franchise that would remain to this day with an insane amount of sequels and spin-offs.

When I first saw Mega Man 2 appear on the iPhone app store, my eyes lit up like a little boy in a video game store. The idea of hopping into a stage on the go, hearing the music, enjoying a romp through the pits and enemies, using my buster-shot… it seemed too good to be true; unfortunately, almost immediately after I made my five dollar purchase, I realized I was right. Mega Man 2 on the iPhone is a prospect that is simply impossible to execute properly, and this release proves it.

To understand why the idea of a good iPhone version of Mega Man 2 is impossible requires just one play of this game. It boils down to two big reasons: First, as previously mentioned, Mega Man 2 is a difficult game. Even if the port was perfect, the precision controls required for the platforming and shooting cannot be emulated on the iPhone’s touch screen. What we get with the controls of the iPhone version is the typical “fake” joystick and buttons on the bottom of the screen controlled by touch. These controls work, but aren’t reliable enough to allow for a successful and frustration-free experience. Second, to help alleviate the difficulty and lack of accurate controls, changes would need to be made to the game. The developers realized this, but failed to see that the changes that were made completely change the game experience altogether.

Changes to the gameplay are horrendous. While some changes were accidental, such as enemy spawn rates, other changes give the impression that the developers were trying to baby you through the game because they were aware of the fact that the game is unplayable. Health drops are never a worry, extra lives drop at least three times per level, the B button has automatic turbo functionality, Mega can take more damage and dishes out more damage, knockback when taking a hit is reduced, longer invulnerability time, the list goes on and on. These changes completely break the game, and I found myself able to literally rush through entire stages without worrying about health or firing a single shot. The worst change of all, though, is that Mega Man now jumps higher and falls slower than a feather, allowing him to float freely across almost the entire screen. To compensate for this travesty, Mega Man’s surroundings move slower than molasses. At first you might think the game’s framerate is lagging, which would be inexcusable, but instead, the game is meant to be played at a constant FPS of negative thirty. That may not make sense, but neither does this port.

Graphics

Did I mention all of the bugs?

On the upside, the aesthetics of the game remain intact, and in screenshot form, this is the exact same Mega Man 2 as the original. The pixelated side-scroller has a moniker that has become very famous, and I don’t doubt that some of you out there have a t-shirt with this 8-bit boy’s face on it (I see you smirking.) The game can be played in both portrait and landscape mode, and the emulated arcade board has a background taken straight from the game’s original box art. This nod of fan-service brought a smile to my face and almost made me forget that I wasn’t playing the same game that I remember.

Sound

Mega Man 2’s soundtrack is amazingly well done, and extremely nostalgic for long time gamers. The nerd inside me even compels me to divulge that I have a few ringtones on my phone taken straight from the game. It’s almost become a sign of nerd status to be able to recognize each boss theme, and the amount of remixes, dedications on YouTube, and officially licensed discs is enough to tell you that this is a game whose music will continue to be remembered throughout the ages. It pleases me to tell you that every bloop, bleep, jingle, and song makes it’s triumphant return on the iPhone. It displeases me, however, to tell you that the game’s slow performance and chugging nature occasionally cuts out sound effects or pieces of the song during action.

Additional Comments

It’s not how you remember it.

As if it wasn’t bad enough, my experience with the game was also riddled with bugs. Standing in lava, and being unable to jump off of a cloud in Airman’s stage are some of the highlights. At the very least, these bugs should have been removed in later updates. Sure enough, later in the game’s life, a “Classic” mode was added to the game. I was hopeful, and while it did remove some minor bugs, it more importantly took out several of the forced changes that made the game more easy. By doing so, the inaccurate controls became even more prominent, and the game remains unplayable. While it’s nice to know that the developers saw it fit to try and fix some of the issues (Most of which they caused themselves,) it is all for naught. Mega Man 2 on the iPhone cannot be fixed.

Conclusion

As stated several paragraphs up, there are two main reasons why this game cannot be executed on the iPhone. In the default setting, you will fall victim to both, but even with the classic update, you’re still getting hit with the first reason: that the game cannot be controlled well enough to enjoy. If it’s not one reason, it’s going to be the other, and this dilemma seems somewhat impossible to avoid. In the end, Capcom is a business, and Mega Man 2 on the iPhone is obviously nothing more than easy money for them. It looks like Mega Man 2, and it sounds like Mega Man 2, but there are too many faults in it’s execution in gameplay to be Mega Man 2. As a gamer, it’s your job to recognize these faults and do your part to help the industry. In this case, your role is clear: don’t buy this game.

…Unless you want a really cool app icon on your home screen… or are looking for a “Mega Man 2 Soundtrack” app that has a very convoluted menu system… it is only five dollars… someone slap me.

The Game

Snipers get all the chicks.

Your go by the name of Sergeant BJ Blazkowicz (Stop laughing.), an American soldier fighting in World War 2, and you have just escaped from a Nazi prison by overpowering a guard, taking his pistol, and shooting your way out. You try to round up other Allied prisoners and go deeper and deeper into Castle Wolfenstein, discovering that the Axis have been up to no good: genetically engineering super soldiers, creating an undead army, and building creatures so foul that the mere sight of them causes a chill to run down your spine. Alright, it wasn’t their sight that did that, it was the fact that they just blew their ice breath at you and froze you dead in your tracks.

Of course, as a sergeant in the Allied armies, none of this even makes you flinch. You bravely go where no man, woman, or very courageous dogs even think about going. You walk around shooting Nazi soldiers, blowing up walls, destroying tables and chairs, eating chicken, looting shelves, and mixing concoctions into syringes that give you extraordinary abilities. You’re going to need every single one of those extraordinary abilities (Alright, maybe you’ll only really need a handful of types of syringes.) because the enemies go from weak, little sissy soldiers to big, hulking, rocket-slinging beasts. To ensure that you do survive the much tougher enemies, you do get more and more powerful weapons like the machine gun and rocket launcher.

Fists of fury make everyone talk.

At your disposal are three types of weapons: Melee, Ranged, and Explosive. Melee is great for knocking the heads off of skeletons, beating up lesser minions, throwing toilets and sinks, and smashing those pesky tables and chairs. Ranged weapons let you bust a cap into bums all around you, going from pistols to assault rifles to sniper rifles, this will be your bread and butter for most of the game. Explosive weapons include sticks of dynamite, which you can use to blow up enemies, set traps, or open up cracked walls for secrets, and a rocket launcher which blows up whatever stands in its path. You control everything at your disposal using an on-screen d-pad and heads up display, simple enough controls especially for someone as awesome as you. There are also several medals you can attain from every level from achievements such as reading every book, destroying every object, or killing every single one of your enemies, and more!

Cool guys don’t look at explosions.

Graphics

Wolfenstein RPG comes with graphics that stay true to the original, using flat textures that are drawn according to the perspective of the player. Nothing special, but the retro feeling is well encapsulated and it runs ever so smooth.

Sound

The soundtrack for Wolfenstein RPG is only existent in the main menus, but it has a subtle army-march feeling to it that fits the game quite appropriately. Otherwise, the sound effects in the game are superb – from the cracks of bones, to the sounds of fists pounding faces, all the way to the sounds of rockets exploding in the distance.

Conclusion

Wolfenstein RPG is a fantastic adaptation of the original version – the turn-based aspect of the game allows both casual and more hardcore gamers to enjoy the game without relying on insane twitch-reflex abilities. In addition, the RPG elements of the game add a greater level of depth that make Wolfenstein RPG one of those titles that you definitely must have on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

The Game

DUDE! That mushroom just talked to me man!

Chronicles of Inotia: Legend of Feanor is an action RPG that feels like a throwback to the classic ones on the SNES. The game is very simple. You get a quest, with little knowledge of where to go, you finish said quest and then you get a new one. The part that will turn most people off of Inotia is how it gives you little or no direction of where to go. It isn’t that bad, but do not expect the game to hold your hand and take you from place to place. Even though Inotia is an RPG, it does not have much of a plot. For some people, a good plot will help keep them going, even if the gameplay is not that great, but do not expect anything from this game. A brief glimpse you do see into the plot is the video that plays at the beginning of the game. On the other side, Inotia has a good skill system where you can allocate points you gain by leveling up to make them better. It is not too deep, but it adds a very nice touch to make it feel more RPG-ish.

The combat and controls in Inotia is fairly decent. You run around by tapping on where you want to go. You also engage in combat by tapping on what you want to fight. Once you start fighting something, your character starts to auto-attack his foe. The only input the player has are using special skills, using potions, or running away. Inotia is a semi-forgiving game, but the combat isn’t. If you are fighting something that gives you a small challenge, and another monster starts to attack you, you are probably going to die if you do not run. The difficulty of the monsters can ramp up quickly, so moving on to another location can be a pain if you are not prepared for it. This all being said, a fair amount of grinding is necessary in Inotia if you want to be successful. It is not so bad, but with the ever increasing difficulty per area, just going through it is never enough. Unfortunately, if you are not a fan of grinding levels, you will probably hate Inotia after just a short time with it.

Graphics

Inotia’s graphics seem like they were pull straight from the SNES days. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but most people prefer good graphics these days. The sprites all do look good and have a certain uniqueness and charm about them, and the environments never felt repetitive or anything of that sort. The graphics are not bad, but some more work could have been put into making the game look better overall.

Sound

The audio department of Inotia is one of its major weak points. The music is just a loop, which makes itself very obvious by pausing when it finishes a loop and is about to start over. The sound effects are not great either: they are simple and generic for everything that you do. The only positive thing about the sound is that it is there.

If the mushrooms and blobs don’t get ya’, them fairies and dingos will.

Additional Comments

Chronicles of Inotia: Legend of Feanor is a good game, despite this review, but the main point is that some people will love a game like this and play it for a long time, but others will be turned off after the first few minutes. This may sound like most games, but those who enjoy the game will be outnumbered by those who do not. Test the waters with the Lite version and see if this game is for you.

Conclusion

As I mentioned, some will like Chronicles of Inotia, others will not. The game is not revolutionary or anything of the sort, but will be enjoyed those who like action RPGs that require grinding and training to get further in the game. The game is currently on sale for $0.99, and there is a lite version, so give it a shot.

The Game

This menu is a stain on the fabric of human achievement.

Golden Axe is an early side-scrolling hack and slash set in a medieval fantasy world. It’s so early, in fact, that I was barely even born when it was released on its original arcade platform, the System 16-B and if you can remember that platform, you are probably getting a bit old to be playing games now, but bare with me. The game was later released for the Mega Drive/Genesis which I believe it is better known for. If you have played this game you’re in for a nostalgia trip. It’s basically a direct port of the original, with a horrible out of place menu added to it. If you haven’t played Golden Axe, read on, I’ll try and explain the basic premise, followed by how it translates onto the iPhone.

When you start the game you are presented with a choice of characters, each slightly different in attributes… By which I mean they either have more powerful magic, or a longer range melee attack. Each character has a name, but I have no idea what they are, and its fairly irrelevant anyway, so they will be referred to as follows. Blue Thong-Clad Male is basically a well balanced character, with a good mix of magic, and melee range. The second choice is Red Bikini Steroid Lady who has much more powerful magic, but lacks in range. The third choice is the Body Conscious Green Dwarf, who- as you guessed- has the longest range melee, with the weakest magic. Now it all sounds like a great balance, but seeing as you can only recharge your magic by kicking imps in the shin and stealing it- and they only come around occasionally during a level, and once in between levels- it means that using magic is often unreliable. I would recommend using the Body Conscious Green Dwarf, as it makes kicking imps in the shin easier anyway.

Oh, ok.

Once you have chosen a character you are greeted with a monologue explaining that Death Adder has captured the King and Princess and is keeping them inside their castle. Also the characters mutual friend Alex was killed in the battle… I don’t know if i haven’t got far enough into the game to understand the relevance of that statement or if it is to be taken at face value. You soon meet your first foes, a man with a mace and a man with a handful of blueberries. This is usually the point where I accidentally press the ‘A’ button and set off my magic lighting, killing them and wasting the attack…

Unleash the METAL!

Combat equates to button mashing until your enemy is vanquished. Your enemies counter your attacks by charging at you or using jumping attacks, both of which are available to you albeit awkward to use. There are also ridable beasts in the game that you can hijack if you knock an enemy off. It almost seems pointless using these beasts though, as you can also be knocked off with great ease and the beasts will run away once it’s been ridden 4-5 times. Magic attacks attacks are a ‘Get out of jail free’ card.  Each character has a different attack, with the Blue Thong-Clad Male using earth spells, Red Bikini Steroid Lady using fire, and Body Conscious Green Dwarf using lightning. These magic attacks freeze gameplay and damage all enemies on screen. Unfortunately using a magic spell uses all of your potions up. Spells become more powerful with more potions and as stated earlier you get these potions by kicking imps and stealing them. This means there no way of spreading the attack out, which makes the female character (who can carry the most potions) almost useless.

How do you get your kicks?

There is a fair amount of different enemies, bosses and beasts to go up against, but after a few levels the enemies are just different in color, and slightly harder, rather than varied. Golden Axe gets quite stale after the first few levels, and with no real dynamics in combat its going to get repetitive. When you run out of health you lose a life, when you run out of lives, you have a choice of whether or not to continue. You can then continue with no penalty. This basically means you are going to be frustratingly mashing and grinding your way through the game. It’s not that there isn’t fun to be had, there are few more satisfying things than flaming an imp with a fire breathing velociraptor and collecting its potions, or throwing an enemy boss twice your height (or three times, depending on which character you choose) across a level.

Graphics

It would be unfair for me to slate this game on its graphics, even if they were unattractive. But lets face it, apart from the low resolution the graphics hold up well. I’ve always found that games made slightly before the transition from 2D to 3D hold up quite well versus early 3D games (See Diablo, Diablo II). The problem with the visuals comes into play when you take into account the menu. Now I wasn’t expecting anything terribly complex, but it just looks plain awful. It’s a strange orange color with no theme. It could only possibly look more out of place if it was made with images of rabbits holding  staplers. Hopefully this will be updated soon.

Sound

All the sounds are from the original game. They will definitely bring you back if you’ve played Golden Axe before, and it helps to seal the retro in. They only used around 3 different sound clips in Golden Axe, and just varied the speed to make them sound slightly different, for example the female scream is just the same as the males, but played quicker to change its pitch. It gives an insight to how developers dealt with their limitations 20 years ago. There is music throughout the game, and it will probably drive you to the point of insanity after a while, but you can listen to your own music if you like. I recommend a Hardcore-Norwegian-Techno-Death-Metal playlist.

Additional Comments

You have a choice of control methods in Golden Axe. You can use accelerometer based controls (but don’t… Really.) or an onscreen control pad. The buttons for the controls are laid out similar to a Mega Drive/Genesis controller, with the D-Pad on the left and buttons A, B and C on the right. The A, B and C buttons are unfortunately crushed into the corner due to the space limitations of the iPhone screen. This can often mean that your fingers take up a lot of screen space, so SEGA have given you the choice to play in full screen mode, or a windowed mode, which takes the buttons off of the playable screen.

Conclusion

Golden Axe is a nostalgia trip for anyone who played the original, and really shows how timeless a simple game can be. 20 years on, it does seem very tired and dated in terms of gameplay, but it’s a respectable game and a true arcade classic. Less than perfect controls and a gaudy menu shouldn’t detract an old fan, but if you were looking for a fresh new game for your iPhone, save your money- there’s plenty-more modern games out there.

The Game

Zenonia fuses SNES era Legend of Zelda with Diablo-esque RPG elements, creating a content-rich action RPG worthy of a 16-bit console release. The protagonist, Regret, can be one of three classes – Paladin, Assassin, or Warrior – and choose from talent trees with both active and passive skills. Each level up offers both stat and skill points for distribution. While the amount points to dole out might turn off the casual gamer, it only extends the content available to the action RPG fantatic.

You can port between towns.

An on-screen d-pad and action button control the bulk of the action, but two sets of smaller buttons act as quick slots for items and abilities. Arguably, the combat has depth; depending on your class, you have a handful of active skills at your disposal. As a Warrior, however, I found myself simply pressing the attack button ad infinitum. Even when special moves outclass your basic attack, the miniscule quickslot buttons require a level of finger precision not meant for active combat. If you can manage it, there’s a satisfying feeling from sending a monster reeling backwards with a critical strike, dashing forward, and unleashing a devastating special attack. The problem is, you never need to.

The game offers varying gameplay speeds, the lowest of which grants you a feeling of precise control. Unfortunately, the consequence of this is sacrificing your ability to speed through the often dull sections of grinding that Zenonia requires to keep up with the level of the story monsters. Even the directional pad lends itself to finger slip-ups; considering the hardware offers no tactile response, 360 degree movement would have been a blessing to Zenonia.

Gamevil clearly designed the game with traditional action RPGs in mind, which is both its greatest asset and liability. From the cliche story to the perfunctory dialogue, Zenonia leads the player into a shallow and unimmersive world. During story sequences, I found myself yerning for the awkward, single-button combat. Regret even occassionally pitifully shatters the fourth wall, as if begging for reprive from the drudgery of living inside a generic RPG world.

Usin’ dem active skills.

Despite the cliches, Zenonia is incredibly fleshed out. Most gamers will feel a tinge of nostalgia as they guide Regret on his quest to find his father. Throughout the course of his quest, you’ll be faced with several choices that define you as good or evil. Your alignment changes the story path, but certain choices aren’t distinctly good or evil in the players eyes until after they’ve been selected. It offers literally hundreds of items with varying rarities, several story paths, and dozens of hours of gameplay.

Graphics

If Zenonia shines anywhere, it’s here. The vibrant and varied enviornments are crisp and clean on the iPhone. Visual effects from special attacks actually give you the feeling that you struck a monster ferociously. Even the monsters themselves are well designed. Gamevil delivered top-notch visuals while retaining the essence of 16-bit graphics.

Sound

The music is standard for the genre; I found myself listening to my own music while playing more often than not. The sound effects are clean and appropriate, somehow managing to not be obnoxious after the thousandth sword swing.

Conclusion

The ability to save anywhere is a nice touch. While the game certainly has its flaws, it stands out as the premier action RPG for the iPhone and will keep you busy for longer than you could ask for the price.

The Game

Ah… air raids.

Team 17’s Worms series has been around for nearly fifteen years, and it’s quirky, charming, endlessly replayable turn-based multiplayer gameplay has established a large following. This following, however, has been dwindling over the years with a lack of major releases and a foray into the 3D realm that didn’t go so well. Recent releases on XBLA, DS, and PSP have shown that Team 17 still knows how to treat their wiggly rascals, and an iPhone iteration was an absolute no-brainer for the portable market. As such, July 2009 saw the release of Worms for the iPhone, and with it came all of the cursing, drowning, and holy hand grenades that the series is famous for.

The game stays true to the form of classic Worms games. Teams of several worms are placed on a randomly generated map with themes ranging from lava pits to tropical islands. These teams take turns moving one worm at a time in order to destroy the opposing team using a wide variety of weapons and strategies. Weapons range from shotguns, dynamite, hadokens, missile launchers, air-raids, and terrain traversing equipment such as ropes, jetpacks, and teleporters. The selection of weapons is as large as the latest releases in the franchise, which was a nice surprise.

The arsenal of a worm.

Turns consist of three phases: position your worm, fire your weapon of choice, and retreat your worm, with each phase being timed. The primary weapons for use need to be aimed, and most weapons can be charged. The longer you charge a missile, the farther it will go, etc. When aiming and charging, wind also has to be taken into account, so something as simple as firing a single missile to a Worm on the cliff below you can prove to be quite difficult if you’re not good with angles. Think of it as playing a golf game, but instead of sinking a ball in a hole, you’re lining your shots to sink worms in the ocean, which, I might add, is incredibly satisfying.

The big question with the iPhone version of Worms, and any game for that matter, is how the controls work. This issue will present itself rather prominently when the realization hits that the controls really make the player feel like a worm themselves. Controls are slow and inaccurate, which is a real shame considering how precise attacks need to be to do well on the battlefield. Aiming reticules have to be dragged, but don’t move fast enough to accommodate for the ticking clocks that wind down for each turn. Camera movement is just as slow, and due to the size of the screen, lots of movement is requirement to get a good scope of what you’re doing. These two issues wouldn’t be a nuisance if the game simply froze the clock doing these processes, but unfortunately things aren’t that forgiving.

Worm movement is incredibly frustrating and unresponsive, as well. For example, in order to leap forward, a single tap on the worm is necessary. To do the high backflip, though, you must double-tap the worm. I often found myself leaping straight into a mine or plummeting to my doom due to the game not recognizing my double-taps. I don’t consider myself a Worms pro, but I know how to get the job done well enough, but doing so on the iPhone is a struggle that almost became too frustrating to bear.

This is not somewhere your worm wants to be.

Graphics

While seeing worms explode and drown on your iPhone screen is definitely exciting, the heavily pixelated worms, plain backgrounds, and constant attention to the view of the landscape make things hard on the eyes at times. Worms was never known for great visuals, as it doesn’t need them, but not even being able to stay on par with the DS iterations is inexcusable.

Sound

My personal favorite aspect of the series also managed to remain intact: the witty banter of the Worms. During warfare, Worms will make remarks, sass, yell with patriotic passion, and scream with more grief than a teenage girl in a horror movie. Not only that, but dozens of languages and accents can be chosen for your team (I’m quite partial to the Scottish setting). This dialogue is complimented by comical sound effects stemming from the large amounts of explosions, nudges, and drownings going on – all of which sound great. Music, however, is quite lacking, but the soft, albeit forgettable tunes don’t take away from the experience due to the fantastic sound effects and dialogue. It would’ve been nice to be able to decimate my enemies to my favorite song, though.

Additional Comments

While the core aspects of the franchise are intact, one major piece of the puzzle is mysteriously missing from the experience: multiplayer. Worms has always been popular because of it’s addicting online multiplayer. There’s still nothing quite like two to four teams of worms unleashing their weapons and keen strategies on one another to lead their team to victory. It’s obvious that the turn-based gameplay lends itself quite well to easily handled online battles – especially on portables, but Team 17 decided to release the iPhone game with only local multiplayer. Needless to say, passing the phone back and forth between players, and hovering around such a tiny screen to see what happens during a turn isn’t the way Worms multiplayer is supposed to be. This was a major downer for me, and will surely be the number one drawback for most Worms fans. If people can play Pictionary with real-time drawing displayed on the screen for over eight people, why can’t I battle worms online with others as well? One can only hope that a future update will yield this feature. As far as content goes, you’re only getting a bare-bones package here. Standard game types (with some customizable variables for competitive play), local multiplayer, and a short challenge mode are all you’ll be getting in the package.

Customizable teams let you show your individuality… to nobody.

Conclusion

Not much has changed for Worms over the years, but it continuously brings enjoyment and addictive gameplay with each new title. If you’re a die-hard fan, then the $4.99 price tag may be cheap enough to bring you Worms on your phone. That’s the way I felt when it was released, but the catastrophic controls and lack of online multiplayer will likely leave this game on the last page of my home screen for quite some time. It’s playable, but until Team 17 brings us a free online multiplayer update, or a game that doesn’t seem churned out in a month, I’ll stick to controlling my worms in other ways.

The Game

Classic Space Invaders becomes…

Space Invaders Infinity Gene is not your typical old school Space Invaders game. It looks like it during the first few moments, but as Charles Darwin would say, the game “evolves.” The game starts evolving into a scrolling shooter, like Raiden Fighters, after playing through a few levels. Evolution is how the game expands. Sometimes this gives the option to increase your lives, new ships with new weapons, or bonus levels, just to name a few of them. The levels each have a few evolution branches that require multiple playthroughs to unlock each of the evolutions. To do this, you need to fill up the Gene gauge by playing through the levels. It doesn’t take too long, so filling the gauge never really feels like a grind. All of the unlocks increase the lasting appeal of the game because most of them are actually worth unlocking.

The gameplay of Space Invaders Infinity Gene is exceptional. In order to move, you just drag your finger anywhere on the screen to navigate the ship. The ship will shoot automatically, so you don’t need to worry about that. I never felt like my finger or hand obstructed my view of the game, which is very important in this genre. There is quite a variety of weapons available to your arsenal; from the simple Rapid Shot, which is self explanatory, to Gravity, which absorbs enemy bullets. The types of weapons all have their own unique strengths and weaknesses against particular ships. Gravity may be good against small ships, but should you be fighting bosses, Lock-On is the way to go. Space Invaders Infinity Gene never got to the point of difficulty where I wanted to throw my iPhone against the ground; which other shoot’em up games often invoke. Since quitting out of rage is almost non-existent in Space Invaders Infinity Gene, the time you spend playing the game will be enjoyable. Fun fact, you can rotate the iPhone/iPod to play more like a horizontal shooter.

…Space Invaders Infinity Gene!

Graphics

Space Invaders Infinity Gene has great graphics in its own particular way due to it holding onto the retro feel from the original game. Most of the sprites in the game come from Space Invaders, but the newer sprites created for Infinity Gene remain true to the retro theme of Infinity Gene. The only color in the game comes from the backgrounds in the later levels and while there really isn’t a lack of diversity, despite it seeming that way.

Sound

Guess what? Space Invaders Infinity Gene has many sound effects similar to the ones found in the classic Space Invaders. The soundtrack is fantastic, and the other sounds work together perfectly. Much like the graphics, the sound will definitely be appreciated by some people more than others. There really isn’t much else to say other than it has that old school feel; just like everything else.

FIRE EVERYTHING!

Additional Comments

Space Invaders Infinity Gene is a great game that sucks you in. You can easily consume large amounts of time playing through the main game by itself, but prepare to lose more of your life in attempting to unlock all of the different evolutions. The tremendous amount of content gives this game a huge amount of replayability; those not obsessed with getting 100% completion will still be tempted to unlock all of the unlockables. There was so much with this game that I did not expect; Space Invaders Infinity Gene was such a fantastic experience.

Conclusion

Most people who do buy this version of Space Invaders will have a fantastic time from start to finish. For some, the $4.99 USD price point will be a turn-off, but I think that the price tag is perfect, maybe even too low. They could have easily charged a few more dollars, and it would still have been worth it. I highly recommend Space Invaders Infinity Gene to anyone who likes shoot’em up games, or just video games in general.

The Game

Sitting comfortably?

DOOM Resurrection takes place parallel to the events of DOOM 3, though the storyline is fairly uninformative in this respect. You play as ‘Marine’. The last surviving member of Bravo Team and that’s all you need to know… You’re a Marine and you’re good at killing stuff. You start the game on the UAC Research Facility on Mars City after an unknown invasion, and you quickly meet one of the only other surviving humans on the colony, an unnamed scientist who gives you a floating robot companion called Sam. Sam helps you communicate with this scientist as well as opening doors, retrieving data from terminals and generally being a floating robot.

Your best friend… The gun.

You aim your gun by tilting your device. Your character moves automatically through a preset path, but it seems as if Escalation Studios missed an opportunity to allow some user input on which path to take. The only other controls you have are shoot, which is done by tapping the bottom right corner, manual reload which is in the top right, switch weapon in the top left and occasionally dodging and covering, but I’ll get into that in a moment. The tilt controls generally work very well and give you more of a sense of challenge than any other control method I can think of, though it can frustratingly get stuck or move erratically on a rare occasion, and although re-calibrating is as easy as going into the pause menu and tapping a button it can be quite awkward if you change position while playing the game.

You can carry up to three weapons. Your Assault Rifle is your best friend, it has infinite ammo and a good rate of fire. Not the most powerful, but its reliable. The second weapon slot is filled with a combat shotgun, it has 8 rounds and limited ammo, which you find by shooting boxes open. It is powerful at close range but has a slow rate of fire, so is often used in a panic when a monster is slashing your stomach open. The last slot is a special weapon slot. This can be filled with anything from a Chainsaw to a Minigun.

Probably do as it says…

The cover/dodge system is quite stale, it is a similar system to the old Time Crisis games. If an enemy throws a fire ball at you, you press the dodge key to get out of harms way at the opportune moment. When enemies shoot at you, a hexagonal yellow reticle appears from the end of their weapon. This hexagon gets smaller until finally going red for around half a second. This means that the enemies fire is focused on you and you will take damage if you aren’t in cover. This system can be challenging at best, especially when the game starts throwing 2 or more different types of enemy at you. But on the most part it gets frustrating in the later areas of the game where you almost have no choice but to jump out and take damage.

Your objectives are unimportant as the format of the game doesn’t change much, you walk through a few corridors until you find a locked door or data terminal or some other inconspicuous object to which Sam, your floating robot companion comes into play. Sam will either unlock the door, download the data or do some other inconspicuous action while you defend her against a slew of enemies. This also seems like a bit of a missed opportunity for some fun mini-games to break up the monotonous gameplay, but alas, another thing left to be desired for.

Into the fiery sphincter of hell.

The scenery and gameplay do eventually change when you are thrown into a portal to hell by a large enemy after a relatively disappointing boss battle. You lose all your weapons on the way there (oh yes! They pull that one on you!) though there is quite a few of your dead comrades littered around to replenish your arsenal. The gameplay changes slightly, as instead of fighting enemies while defending Sam, you have to fight enemies while destroying teleports. If you don’t destroy the teleport, more enemies will come. There is also a new enemy to fight. Flaming Stalin Heads. These will let out a terrifying scream and and fly around you until finally coming at you to take a bite. This can be quite a challenge when you have to fight more than one flaming evil dictator at the same time as dodging fireballs and destroying teleports.

There is basically no ending to the game. A huge anticlimax with no special boss to fight, and some very odd emotional dialogue choices regarding your robot friend. The last few stages are extremely monotonous and repetitive to boot, so it’s quite the downer when you think that all this has been building up to a large fight against a towering beast, only to find a series of enemies you have been fighting since the beginning.

Graphics

This is where the game really sets itself apart from the rest. The graphics are quite simply awesome, and although the scenery can get repetitive, the graphics are by far the nicest I’ve seen on the iPhone so far. There is the occasional slowdown but it generally doesn’t affect gameplay. Enemies are well rendered and easily recognizable if you are familiar with the DOOM series. Sceneries are well detailed and intricate and the effects are brilliant.

Sound

Another stellar aspect of the game. Whether its the sound of your footsteps through the hallways, a fire ball sizzling past your ear, or the terrifying sounds of trapped souls in hell, you will want to play this game with the lights on. The sound quality through the inbuilt speaker on an iPhone doesn’t do it justice. Stick some good quality earphones on and savour the sounds of hell. There is unfortunately no in-game sound track but you can listen to your own music if you please.

Additional Comments

At the end of each level you are graded in a House of the Dead style rundown. This gives you information such as Accuracy, Head Shot %, Time, Secret Items, etc. Although this is standard, it would be missed if it wasn’t there and does allow for some replayablilty. You are also treated to a stage selection style “Free Play” mode. This is good if you think you could run through a stage better or missed out a secret item, but it also overwrites your campaign save… Which is a bummer.

Conclusion

Though DOOM Resurrection is a shallow rail shooter without a hell of a lot of originality, it’s still enjoyable to play and by far one of the best games in terms of aesthetics. It may miss out on some great opportunities to come into its own, but when you consider it is a game made for a cell phone, its practically mind blowing. If you are into shooters its a game worth trying out, and although the price point isn’t exactly alluring, you should be able to respect its value.