In this compact edition of the TouchDown I talk review standards, get hands-on with the latest futuristic racer, do a spot of perfectly innocent pill munching and pick out some highlights from the weeks news…
Get some moral fibre in your gaming diet with O.A.T.S
As some of you may or may not know, TouchGen is a founding member of the Organisation for App Testing Standards, or O.A.T.S for short, along with Slide To Play, 148 Apps and The Appera.
So what is it and why should we care?
Well, with the fast growth of the iPhone, iPod Touch and the AppStore, a huge array of websites popped up giving readers, such as yourselves, a place to get previews and reviews of upcoming Apps and Games for your device. While I’m sure the majority of these sites are straight up and honest with the information they pass on to you, some go about it by mixing business with their editorial content. An example of this would be: Developer A offers gaming site B $500 to write a positive review of their game.
The members of O.A.T.S feel that this is not in your best interest. How can you as a reader trust anything you read on a site that is conducting business this way. For that very reason we created the O.A.T.S oath (which you can read here), this ensures that any members and future members of O.A.T.S conform to these standards, and that we can be trusted in delivering honest and impartial editorial content.
Some sites have decided not to join our cause, and this doesn’t mean they are not to be trusted. If you are concerned that a site you visit is up to no good, you can usually get more information from the site itself in it’s review policy, here they may state that to get a review you must pay for it, if this is the case then it’s quite possible that the content on this site is biased. If you cannot find any information then we will happily check out the site for you. Just ask.
Now, onto the games:
Speed Forge Extreme
Last time on the TouchDown I showed a video of a new Wipeout style racer on the iPhone scene. Well today, I’ve had some play time with the game, which I must say is without doubt the best looking futuristic racer on the iPhone. I haven’t tested it on a regular iPhone 3G or earlier, but on the 3GS it runs as smooth as butter off a hot knife. It features some great motion blur effects, and is the closest thing thus far that comes anywhere near Wipeout on the PSP. Unfortunately it doesn’t feature any multiplayer (not yet), but the single player is a solid experience offering not only straight up racing, but also a mario kart style battle mode, requiring you to take out a set number of opponents before continuing your race career. It’s a refreshing addition to the formula.
We’ll have a review up nearer release. In the meantime, check out new gameplay footage below:
The name’s Bob… Guerrilla Bob!
I’m in love with the look of this frantic dual stick shooter…. it has a quality Xbox Live arcade (or PSN) look about it. Look for the game to hit your local AppStore early next year.
Doing the Lamneth walk!
Nacho’s much loved Ravensword is getting an update soon. Vertsion 1.1 will feature two new areas for you to explore… the Forest and Dungeons of Lamneth. Here you will meet the tough Uber Ogre, where only hardened vets of Ravensword need apply. The update should hit our tiny screens very soon. If you haven’t picked up the game yet you can read Nacho’s review here, to find out if it’s up your street.
Inotia 2 released
Com2Us have finally released the follow up to ‘Chronicles of Inotia’ with ‘A Wanderer of Luone’ (or Inotia 2)
Packed with over 200 single player quests and five unique classes to choose from. Players are given an option to play as one of the following classes: Knight, Magician, Priest, Thief, and Templar which offers a different experience for each player. Completing the main story line provides an average play time of 48 hours but with extra side quests and dungeons, play time can reach well over 100 hours in single player mode.
A new party system allows you to add up to 2 mercenaries to your party. Each party member can be controlled by you at any time, or left to be controlled by the AI.
Com2uS has also added two different types of controls. Touch Screen controls works the same way as the original game, where you can touch on the screen to attack monsters, pick up items, and talk to NPCs. Or a virtual pad offers a more familiar approach with a directional pad and action buttons.
Nacho’s been playing it for the last few weeks and will have a review up soon.
Auto crisis
Swedish game developer Baraboom have sent us details for their upcoming racing game Auto Crisis.
Presented in a top down 3D view you control your car with a single finger as you work your way through opponents or compete against ghost cars recorded by other players over the world.
In Challenge Mode, you compete against a number of AI-cars. There are three different cars available in the game; a compact car, a pickup truck and a sports car. As you beat cars you unlock them for your own use. Weapons pick ups include a minigun, homing missiles and a nuke.
In Time Attack Mode, you compete against other players around the world. Their best results are seen as ghost cars. Your finish time is displayed in a world result graph and uploaded as a new ghost car.
Check out the trailer below, which shows off some great lighting effects and simple controls:
Super Monkey Sale
If you haven’t picked up Super Monkey Ball 2 yet, it’s 50% off this weekend… If you are undecided you can read our review here
Dinosaur Hunter teaser
Fancy a little T-rex steak, or a pair Veloceraptor boots? Tatem games have sent us a link to their upcoming Dino Hunting game ‘Carnivores:L Dinosaur Hunter’. Despite some low texture art, the animation looks pretty good… and any hunter fans out there must be sick of shooter dear, right?
New Plushed trailer
It seems ages ago we first mentioned this unique looking platformer. It’s still not out yet, but developers Blacksmith have released a new trailer for Plushed:
and finally…
PacMan gets his groove on
After a lackluster release with PacMan remix, Namco have released the critically acclaimed PacMan Championship Edition. Orginally on Xbox Live Arcade, this game goes all Space INvaders Infinity Gene on our pill popping hero and dresses his up in a pretty Neon glow. Seriously though this game is awesome, not only does it look fantastic with Pac lighting up the play area around him, but it sounds great too, with some seriously bangin’ tuneage! Graphics and sound can only do so much though, so you’ll be happy to know that the gameplay is equally special. It takes the standard gameplay and adds a fresh spin to proceedings. Offering you challenges that see you pill crunching like never before, and with some great touch screen control options that, for once, actually work well. I’ll have a review up soon but in the meantime check out gameplay video below:
PacMan championship edition is out now for $2.99
oh and look… a new trailer for Avatar:
