Action flight simulator Jane’s Advanced Strike Fighters is now available across the UK for the Xbox 360, Windows PC, and PlayStation 3. In its exciting campaign mode, Jane’s Advanced Strike Fighters offers 16 missions and a territory of 65,000 square kilometers with mountains, deserts, and urban landscapes.
Besides the single-player campaign, Jane’s Advanced Strike Fighters features various multiplayer modes. Up to 16 players can take part in free-for-all battles in the dogfight mode, destroy the enemies team headquarter in the base assault mode or fight in teams against rival players in the team dogfight mode. Players can set battle conditions such as the number of rounds and available aircrafts themselves to keep the multiplayer experience captivating for a long time. Up to four players can cooperate to tackle the campaign missions together.
While playing Jane’s Advanced Strike Fighters, gamers can take a seat in the cockpit of 30 different types of fighter jets from the USA, Russia, Europe and China. The game contains aircrafts from the last 30 years and considers the technical specifics of each warplane as well as the different roles that indicate its use, such as fighter jets, ground attack airplanes and multirole warplanes.
Earlier today during the PlayStation Vita Game Heaven event it was revealed that Japan would be seeing the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection released on the PlayStation Vita on June 28th. A few hours later, the Western divisions of Konami have revealed that the game will be, as expected, making it to North America and Europe. For those who don’t know Metal Gear Solid HD Collection on the PlayStation Vita will include Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
At the moment the release date for these two areas sit vaguely as a Summer release, however it is likely that they too will share the June 28th release of Japan. While Konami wasn’t able to give us a more concrete release date, they did release a number of screenshots that show off how the game will look on the Vita. Check them out below.
Here we are again, MasterAbbott is back for this week’s iOS Game Suggestions. If you missed out on last week’s suggestions, click on the links below and check what cool games you should be picking up for your iOS along with the introduction and disclaimer on how my suggestions work, as I’m not going through the same old intro every week. (suggestions 1 has the disclaimer)
What I’ve also introduced is video game play footage (if it’s possible) on some of the iOS games I’ve suggested, you can check this out at the bottom of the article. Currently video game play footage for this week’s suggestions are not available, check back in a few days there will be some more added. For now, if you jump into previous suggestions there are a few videos to check out.
Once again it’s been a great week on iTunes, so many amazing games were released, this week I’ve suggested well over my normal amount with a total of 20 great quality titles. As always for this week’s suggestions are all new titles that you should also take a look at to spend your hard earned iTunes cash / time on. This week I’ve focused an both the $0.99 over 99c titles there were some awesome and unique games released. These titles are all well worth taking a look at. Now lets get down to business shall we.
For The Cheapskates – FREE GAMES
Gazzel Quest – The Five Magic Stones – Price : FREE – Publisher – Nerlaska Studio. (Gazzel is the bravest warrior of the armies of Pharaoh. So tired of war, he decides to finish a life full of struggle and death. But Pharaoh, furious with the decision of leaving by his best warrior, kidnaps his beloved Salama and orders to be imprisoned behind the Asorom door. Asorom’s door is sealed with the five sacred locks. To open it, Gazzel must gather the five magical jewels. Once all the jewels were placed in the five locks, the door will open and Samala will be free. Every stone is kept by an underworld demon. ) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Jumping On Cloud – Price : FREE – Publisher – Cloud Soft. (Greedy Rando fell into the dangerous ice cave when stealing troll’s treasure. But you have the power of ice, which can be used to create a shorttime ice layer for jumping. Can you help Rando get out of the ice cave and collect all the gold coins he lost? iPhone Version is coming soon next week! Features: New way of control and new experience! Various trolls and monsters.18 chanllenging levels and much more to come!Game with NO IAP!!! !) runs on iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Warheads Medieval Tales – Price : FREE – Publisher – Glu Distribution. (Take charge of Sir Hugo and his band of unlikely heroes as they battle the dreaded forces of the evil Sir Gui. Level up your party and take to the battlefield in Warheads: Medieval Tales, the premier fast-paced roleplaying game. Easy to control: Simple swipe commands to move you Heroes or attack the enemy. Play the way you want: Create your own unique party of Heroes and deploy them onto the battlefield to match your play style) runs on both iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Wizard’s Choice – Price : FREE – Publisher –Hosted Games. (Fortune and glory or death? Stay alive, cast spells, and smite evil. Dungeons & Dragons-style text adventure! Stay alive, manage your spell power, find treasure, and smite evil. Wizard’s Choice is a series of RPG text-based adventures that will engross you in a storyline while allowing you to make the decisions that will determine your fate.) runs on both iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
TN Tiger – Price : FREE – Publisher – Tech Nutrition. (Are you able to help Tommy the Tiger get back his girlfriend from the evil hippo and elephant who kidnapped her? Have a blast running, jumping, flying and rampaging across 21 levels in this brand new beautiful and highly addictive game of physics and awesomeness. Please note that if you do download this game addictiveness is guaranteed – you have been warned! ) runs on both iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
For The Bargain Hunters – 99c Games
Munch Time – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Gamistry. (SWING AND GO
Meet Munch, a chameleon and his quest for lunch that the player must guide him through. Swing around using your super strong tongue to reach the most difficult places! Latch onto different flowers for different acrobatic effects! CHANGE COLOR
Flowers have various colors and Munch will need to change color according to the flower he wants to latch onto. But there’s a problem: Munch can’t change color on his own and requires the help of special color flies that are flying around. ) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOWCHECK OUT OUR REVIEW FOR MUNCH TIME HERE
TwinGo! – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Chillingo Ltd. (The two Weather Twins, Fuyu and Natsu have lost the stars, now it’s up to you to help get them back. These twins couldn’t be any different though, one is a glowing ball of flame and the other is made of ice! You’re going to have to get them to work together in this unique, innovative puzzle game that will surprise you right to the end. TwinGo! is highly addictive, innovative, and challenging. Each of the 90 levels, spread over 3 unique worlds, has been designed to offer the perfect amount of challenge. Will you be able to collect all the stars and find your way to the finish? ) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Barbarian – The Ultimate Warrior – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Elite Systems Ltd. (THE ORIGINAL CLASSIC IS HERE! Barbarian is one of THE defining games of the 1980s. The Barbarian HD app will be offered as an in-app purchase from within the Elite Collection HD app. (The in-app will be priced at £1.49/€1.59/US$1.99 and it may include one or more other 8-bit games).The Barbarian HD app is also available in this stand-alone form. It does not include any other 8-bit games but it does include an infinite lives version.The Barabarian HD app is the near-100% original 8-bit game, as written Steve Brown and published by Palace Software in 1987 and is brought to you – as an officially licenced product – utilizing our Elite Collection technology..) runs on iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
Final Freeway R2 – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – NEWTYPE K.K. (Have you always wanted OUTRUN on your iOS device? Well Introducing the much awaited sequel to our hit game “Final Freeway”. Ladies and gentlemen, put down your emulators and start your iPhones! Old-school arcade racing through 14 stages, Real-time road splits (choose as you go) Fast, fast driving action! Awesome pixel art, for a perfect retro feeling. 3 fantastic pop-rock tunes (80s are here to stay!) 3 selectable characters, with different skills!) runs on both iPhone & iPad. BUY NOWCHECK OUT OUR REVIEW FOR FINAL FREEWAY R2 HERE
Kinito Ninja – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Yubi Games. (KINITO Ninja is a white knuckle side scrolling action adventure. The player’s goal is simple: run head long past obstacles, slash past enemies with your Katana, and get as much treasure as quickly as you can through sixty unique levels! As addicting as it is engaging, KINITO Ninja also boasts beautifully stylized professionally rendered cartoon graphics, smooth gameplay, and seamless in-game animation!) 3 selectable characters, with different skills!) runs on both iPhone & iPad. BUY NOWCHECK OUT OUR REVIEW FOR KINITO NINJA HERE
Coco Loco – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Chillingo. (It’s time for the Cocoa Bean Guardians to ‘Mallow’ out.
Take control of a troop of fearless marshmallow heroes as you set out to rescue your friends from the candy clutches of the nasty chocolate guardians. Traverse across strange wildernesses using each Marshies’ special skill and show those chocolate chumps that you’re not as soft as you look!) runs on both iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Egg Punch – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Pixel Juice. (Ack! Your feathers have been stolen by rascally rabbits! Put on your trusty old egg shell and roll out in pursuit of your feathers! Roll your way through a lush, wonderfully crafted 3D world of wacky gizmos, mazes and puzzles to reclaim your feather suit! Rack up big scores! Collect feathers, take shortcuts and bounce of rabbits with as few shots as possible to make the perfect play-through. Earn coins and unlock more levels and neat items to help you out or to dress you up! ) runs on both iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
For The Millionaires – All games over $0.99
MASTERABBOTT’S Over 99c PICK OF THE WEEK
Mass Effect Infiltrator – Price : $6.99 (Publisher – EA Mobile (THE FATE OF THE GALAXY LIES IN THE BALANCE! From the makers of the critically acclaimed Dead Space on iOS comes an all-new, original Mass Effect storyline – made exclusively for mobile! YOU’RE A CERBERUS AGENT – GONE ROGUE! As Commander Shepard battles Reapers across the galaxy, veteran Cerberus agent Randall Ezno procures aliens for illicit experiments at a secret facility. But when the Director of the facility goes too far – Randall fights back and vows to bring Cerberus down! Can you fight your way off the hostile Cerberus base and deliver their secret research to the Alliance?) – runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
AstroPlasm – Price : $4.99 (Publisher – Subspark Entertainment (Immediately blast away from reality, step inside an alternate dimension and meet your match in a fierce round of Airpuck in this outrageous and hilariously addictive sports arcade. Welcome to AstroPlasm! – Game is similar to the old classic Shuffle board Cafe.) – runs on iPad. BUY NOW
Doomsday III: Base Ganymede – Price : $1.99 – Publisher – Gennadiy Potapov. ( General Arcade proudly presents new old school shooter for Doom fans: Doomsday III: Base Ganymede. Doomsday III based on community project Freedoom and source code of Doom Classic. Freedoom resources is adapted to iPhone and iPod Touches, you will have more weapons, items and power-ups. All our work will be contributed back to the community. ) runs on iPad. BUY NOW
Lume – Price : $1.99 – Publisher – State Of Play Games. ( Small and perfectly formed, introducing you to the perplexing world of Lume. The hit Indie game Lume is now available for iPhone in glorious remastered with higher detail for iPhone 4 and above, more sounds and an improved interface for touch devices. With a set built entirely out of paper and cardboard, and sumptuously filmed, Lume is a game with a style unlike any other. Power to your grandad’s house has failed. What’s more, he’s nowhere to be seen. Immerse yourself in Lume’s photoreal world, solve perplexing paper puzzles to help restore the power, and uncover a deeper mystery behind the blackout.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Ahrbol: City – Price : $2.99 – Publisher – Lagali Asia Ltd. (Welcome to Ahrbol! Ahrbol is a tiny planet that is filled to the notch with objects for you to find using both your eyes and ears. Try to get to the next level by achieving all kinds of missions and unlock the extra features, get your top score published in the game centre. Ahrbol comes in 6 different worlds. This is the second one and it is called “City”. In the months to come the other 4 worlds will also become available.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Lightopus – Price : $2.99 – Publisher – Bulkypix. ( Go, Lightopus ! You are the last of our kind. Go into the Abyss, save the bulbies and bring back the Light! All the lightopuses in the Abyss were killed and their remaining young captured by the monsters of the Abyss. You are the only lightopus alive, a species on the brink of extinction. Your mission is to rescue the young lightopus and free them from the Abyss monsters’ sealzones. But beware! You will face various monster bosses with special powers in each zone and finding your way out will not be easy.!) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Mysteryville 2 HD – Price : $4.99 – Publisher – Nevosoft. ( Brave and talented journalist Laura Winner returns to the small town that everyone remembers from the award winning game Mysteryville. And once again she finds herself at the epicenter of a scandal. She plans to take a vacation and relax with her friend Bill Witowsky and ruined when she arrives to find that Bill is missing. She starts her own investigation and also discovers that the town’s new priest is about to organize an art and jewelery auction, something rather unusual for this small rural local. Could Bill’s disappearance be somehow linked to the auction? It’s up to Laura to find out. ) runs on iPad. BUY NOW
Cavorite 2 – Price : $1.99 – Publisher – Cascadia Games. ( Dr. Cavor is back! Lacking sufficient fuel to launch his space vessel home, Dr. Cavor musters the courage to once again descend into the vast subsurface lunar labyrinth! There he must gather powerful moon gems, which harbor enough energy to propel him home. Once more armed with only his anti-gravity spray gun, Dr. Cavor puts his genius to its greatest test yet.) runs on iPad. BUY NOWCHECK OUT OUR REVIEW FOR CAVORITE 2 HERE
There you have it folks, these games should keep you busy for quite some time. I’ll be back next week for another dose of iOS goodness, in the meantime if anyone would also like to suggest their own suggestions, please feel free to share them in the comments section below, or join the discussion in the forums.
Zagg’s Sport Leather series are genuine leather skins for your smart devices with sports inspired textures. Zagg has now teamed up with the NBA to add a special flair to their basketball themed skins. You can now order these skins with your favourite NBA team logo emblazoned on the bottom of the skin.
You can pick any of the 30 NBA teams for your skin to show your undying team spirit. iPhone 4 and 4s skins are $24.99USD and iPad 2 and the new iPad skins can be purchased for $49.99 USD. Unfortunately fans of baseball, American football, and soccer (or football to the rest of the world) are left out for now.
Element Case has released their latest addition to their Vapor Pro Case line. Purple has been an often requested colour option and Element Case finally delivers with an absolutely gorgeous shade of royal purple. Priced at $129.99 USD, the Vapor Pro case is a CNC machined aluminum with a high impact polymer RF bridge to prevent signal interference. The case has holes large enough to accommodate most third party power and headphone cables.
The Vapor Pro comes with an optional Ultrasuede back plate and works with the iPhone 4 and the 4s. You can also purchase the Transit Kit for $10 dollars (normally priced at $29) which includes a screen protector, a soft case, and a key chain wrench.
1000 Amps Developer: Brandon Brizzi (The Odd Man Out) Platforms: PC (reviewed)/Mac (requires flash) Release Date: February 22nd, 2012 Price: $4.99 (BUY NOW or PLAY THE DEMO)
Overview
1000 Amps is a great little puzzle platformer, with a unique art style and simple gameplay elements adding up to an experience like no other. Created by Brandon Brizzi (The Odd Man Out), this flash game is a great little puzzler good for whiling away the hours.
Gameplay
You are “Plug”, a little dude that can jump and move around the world. At first you cannot see anything but the bounds of the room you are in. But everything you touch lights up, revealing it’s true nature; a wall here, an Energy Node there. As you light up energy nodes, you can use their energy to jump higher.
Once you leave a room, however, you forget all about it, and have to start discovering it all over again when you go back to it. Discover all of the energy nodes in a room, though, and it will power itself, staying lit permanently, and emanating a pleasant tune.
As you explore deeper, you’ll discover new kinds of block; moving blocks that move when you touch them, ledge blocks that let you move into them, but blocks movement on one side (eg. jump onto a ledge, but land on it’s bottom side), sensor blocks that let you peek at the entire room, and conveyor blocks that, when you touch them, spawn conveyor belts across the room, pushing you this way and that.
Eventually, you’ll meet an entity that takes care of and maintains the power grid that makes up the world. There is some force attacking the system, dampening her powers. She needs your help to bring light to the world once more, and repair her damaged systems. To aid in your quest, she gives you the power of teleportation, allowing you to click on any empty space, blinking to hard-to-reach places, and draining the energy of the surrounding blocks. You’ll need to discover at least one Energy Node in a room to use this ability, however.
Once you’ve gained this power, you’ll start to notice “X” blocks; empty blocks which cannot be teleported into. Also, mysterious killer blocks which move of their own volition will appear in certain places, hunting down any lit Energy Blocks and draining them of their energy.
The world is vast, giving you harder and harder puzzles as you play. It’s quite amazing how many unique and challenging puzzles can be created using such a simple and small selection of pieces. For the more difficult rooms you just can’t get through, there are “Seeds” you can pick up along the way, and once you have 5, you may spend them to fully activate a room.
The to move and jump, you simply use the arrow or WASD keys. Enter pauses the game, where you can save or quit the game.
Audio & Visual
The art style might be likened with Limbo, with everything black and white. Amps focuses on the light side of this style, however, using bloom effects to accent the activated Energy Nodes, and lighting up blocks as you touch them to slowly reveal the world to the player.
There’s even a nice transition when you leave a room, reminiscent of flickering tube lights being turned on. The background also is filled with subtle animations, keeping the world alive and interesting when you take a moment to thin through a particularly challenging puzzle.
The sound design for the game features simple bleeps and bloops when you jump or bash your head against a block, and a little ditty that plays when you’re in a fully-lit room. And while they can grate on you after a little while, those snippets of music do add a certain atmosphere to the game.
Overall
1000 Amps is a solid little puzzler, though that’s pretty much as far as it goes. What it does, it does well, and any fan of the puzzle platforming genre will love grinding through these superbly constructed brain teasers. Some may get fed up of the simple graphics and lack of “proper” music… but this game isn’t really meant for them.
Razer have teamed up with Team Liquid, a group of pro-gamers in StarCraft II. They have teamed up with this clan to create the Team Liquid Goliathus mousepad, which is to offer a smoother padding for enhanced efficiency in the arena.
As someone who uses a Goliathus myself, I can attest to their proficiency as a mousepad. The mousepads also look to be able to be emblazoned with the colours and logos of other gaming teams, meaning that you could be playing with your favourite teams mousepad of choice today.
Tonight, Sony Japan released nine videos, which turned out to be the Playstation Vita Game Heaven broadcast. So, it was not in the style of Nintendo Direct, but it still involved game announcements from Japanese developers. In this article, which goes hand in hand with this article, are all of the nine videos that were part of Game Heaven. Let’s have a look at each of them:
This is truly a racing fans dream, as Codemasters have launched the gameplay video for Dirt 3 The Complete Edition, a compendium box set to Dirt 3, which I reviewed and believe to be the best racing game of last year by a country mile. Included in the Complete Edition is $35 worth over extra DLC, available come March 15th for both Australian and New Zealand revheads and comes with a very respectable $49.95 price tag to boot. The new trailer highlights much of the new content including Mini Cooper Rallies across Monte Carlo and multi car rallycross racing through the tight streets of Tokyo.
Dirt 3 was an awesome driving experience whose success lay somewhat with the sheer variation in tracks and environments on offer to experience. The additional content that has been added includes 2 new track packs plus 5 car packs featuring a variety of different vehicles to add to your garage. The new tracks include 8 new tsgaes across Monte Carlo through the Snowy mountains as well as 4 new routes set across 2 new Shibuya tracks. The new car packs include the Power and Glory pack and the Mud and Guts pack including the BMW M3 and Citroen C4 Rallycross amongst many others. The other car packs include the Ford Escort MK II in both its standard and upgraded form and the Mini Cooper S Gymkhana.
Dirt 3 Complete Edition will be available for PS3 and XBox 360 platforms
Rayman Origins Developer: Ubisoft Publisher: Ubisoft Platform: Playstation Vita Also Available On: PS3, Xbox 360, PC, 3DS Release Date: 22/02/2012 Price: $35.40 (Available Here)
Overview
Rayman Origins sees the return to Rayman’s 2D platforming roots in style. It was first released for the consoles back in November 2011 with further releases on the Nintendo 3DS and PC in the near future. Now Rayman makes the jump to the portable scene with a release on the launch day of the Playstation Vita. The jump to the portable scene is a highly successful one. The game retains the thrilling platforming gameplay, the quirky and unique visuals, but the co-op component fails to make the leap. Despite the lack of multiplayer, Rayman Origins is an excellent addition to the Playstation Vita library.
Story
The Glade of Dreams is the scene of a terrible event. While relaxing in the Snoring Tree, an old female zombie, disturbed by the snoring of Rayman, Globox and the Teensies, decides to unleash an army of dark creatures and the head of her husband. These dark creatures decide to imprison all of the Electoons throughout the Glade of Dreams, as well as imprisoning the Nymphs. Considering this is his last straw, Rayman and co. decide to rescue the Electoons and the Nymphs so that peace is restored and he can go back to the land of slumber.
This is a game where the story is not that important, but also requires some sort of story to establish motivation for the characters to spring into action. One can not simply go and tame creatures without establishing why they are dark creatures in the first place. Don’t expect any character development or any complexity within the story, but then again, if you are playing for a story, you have chosen the wrong game.
Gameplay
If you have played the console version of Rayman Origins, then don’t expect any difference in terms of gameplay. You have the choice of four characters: Rayman, Globox or one of two Teensies, small beings proficient in the use of magic. Players will need to free the Electoons after their imprisonment by a dark force. In order to progress through the levels, players will have to break a cage full of Electoons at the end of the level. However, each level will include another two cages of Electoons for the player to free. In addition to the Electoons, players also collect Lums, which are the coins of the game. Lum Kings double the value of the Lums for a short time, while Skull Coins add 25 Lums, if you find them. They awake with a red colour, dancing and having a good time. Collect enough Lums and the player will earn more Electoons at the end of the level.
There are over five worlds in the Glade of Dreams Rayman and co. need to explore in order to reach the being responsible for the dark creatures. They usually consist of four to five levels, with an additional level for a chance to grab a ruby tooth. After collecting enough Electoons, the nymph responsible for the well being of the area will open up the path to a new area. Before it is truly open, the player must hop on board a giant mosquito and fly across the skies to reach the new area. These flying sections do include bosses but they can be easy if you figure out their attack pattern.
The player will notice, after they start up the game, that the characters lack a few abilities. These abilities are unlocked after freeing a Nymph during the first level of each world. The abilities include attacking, gliding, shrinking in order to fit into smaller gaps, diving to explore the deep oceans and running up walls. Each ability is useful and adds another level of gameplay when you track back to get those Trophies and 100% completion rate. The touch screen makes a small cameo. You can touch any Lum or heart (which acts as a shield to damage) that is floating in a bubble, usually found after shuffling through some flora or jumping on a platform. Enemies will also turn into bubbles, allowing you to pop them with the touch of your finger. You can also pinch in and out to inspect the beautiful visuals. Just check for enemies.
