iPhone review: iBomber

Price: free (on 1.2.2010), lite version available
Publisher: Cobra Mobile
Release date: 18.7.2009

iBomber is a top-down bombing game where you never actually see your own plane, but rather view the action from the bombing scopes.

The era is WW2 and you're bombing Japanese targets in 14 missions that range from target bombing to escorting a fleet of ships through an archipelago.

Along with your basic, unlimited bombs, you can collect limited power-ups that include "triple bombs" called Blockbusters, black bombs that are more powerful that basic ones and the Grand Slam, or "The Nuke" as I like to call it; a single powerful, but slow moving bomb.

The other power-up is the health booster that will heal you for a small amount (pictured left).

You collect the power-ups by touching them on the screen (luckily you don't have to hit them with bombs, as they stay on the screen only for a short while).

Controls are fairly easy; you turn and control your speed by tilting the device and hit the only button available to drop your bombs (creatively labeled "BOMBS AWAY"). The forward / backward tilt is calibrated in the menu, so you can play at an angle that feels natural to you.

Speed of course affects how far your bombs will land from the initial dropping location, but unlike real bombers, yours will nearly turn "on a dime". All it's really missing is reverse.

Different enemies of course take different amounts of bombs to destroy, from the small mg-placements that only take one bomb to the battleships and carriers that take several (or a well placed "nuke", which is the slowest moving bomb in the game, and which "duds" if you hit the water with it).

You can also hit airplanes with your bombs, of which there are several kinds; small escorts that circle around islands or carriers, bigger bomber types and some US fighters.

Everything on the map is of course committed to killing you (with the exception of command huts, fuel depos, etc stationary targets), so those health power-ups not only come in handy; they are mandatory to your survival.

Your health is shown on the left, right next to your radar that will show enemies as red blimps, allies as green and mission targets as yellow triangles. The radar acts like the real counterpart, only showing the location and heading of the targets for a time after a radar sweep.

Gameplay is mostly fun, and why not; dropping bombs and seeing things explode is a great way to pass the time. Some missions feel a bit long though, and especially the escorting missions tend to take some of the fun away while you're juggling between the protection detail and gathering health-ups to keep yourself alive. In the latter missions, the flaming death spin that drops you from the skies becomes a somewhat a familiar sight.

Graphics are good - you have little trouble distinguishing what is what, and even in this small scale you can tell a destroyer from a battleship, etc.

Sound is mostly nothing to write home about. Its your standard fare of explosions, splashes and flak.

It's free (in early February, at least), so you can't really complain.

Score: 8/10

First Impressions: Mass Effect 2

While not the prettiest game on the block, and not without hassles (invisible, invulnerable enemies that force you to reload, anyone?), it still feels like a genuine "Mass Effect" experience.

I could nitpick all day, but in the end it's still going to the top of my list of games I'll have to finish "now!". ;)

Qnd Review: Race Pro (Xbox 360)

Currently you can get Race Pro for 10.49 eur at Play.com.

Simbin; makers of such racing games as GT-R and GT Legends (not to be confused with the legendary GP Legends). So what does the Swedish developer's second-newest console racer (newest being Race On) taste like now that it's in the bargain bins?

Bland, I'm afraid.

I like the occasional arcade racer just fine; Forza 1 and 2 were very good, Gran Turismo series on the Playstation is amazing (since the first PSX installment - I think GT 2 is still my favourite). Even Grid on the consoles is nice (though nowhere near the Codemasters' masterpiece that Colin McRae 2 was in it's time).

But Race Pro? It cannot decide between "semi-serious" or "arcadey" racer and tries to walk the line between them, failing most of the time. The rate of failure changes from point to point, but the sum is around "pretty average".

Physics are really arcade, with grip being too unrealistic most of the time, and when you actually lose traction, it feels like you're playing the first TOCA game where the spins were "canned" - most of the time there's just no righting your car. Also, there's little warning when your rear end is starting to lose traction, and as said, when you do it's nearly always too late.

The AI's driving style ranges from "OK" to "horrible". They pay little heed to your position, sometimes plowing through you if you're returning to the track from a minor driving error, or paying you no heed at the corners.

As for the graphics and sound - the former are nothing to write home about. Not ugly by any means, but nothing your average racer didn't have a couple of years ago.

The sound is mostly passable, but at times it gets on your nerves - especially the revving sounds. One moment you might have a glorious roar and the next second you're hearing something awfully average (or even bad) - with little or no transition between the samples. It sounds like the game just cuts from "engine sample A at high revs" to "engine sample B at low revs" without any transition (if they're the same samples, there's even less reason not to transition more smoothly from high to low revs).

All in all, Race Pro is very average. Bringing nothing but a dumbed down racer to the consoles. At less than 11 euros it's not that bad - but honestly, I'd rather play Grid (more on that later, perhaps) or Ferrari Challenge if I'm looking for a cheap racer.


Score 6.5/10

QnD Review: The Saboteur (Xbox 360)

You know, I'm tired of everyone saying this is "Pandmic's Swan Song". It might very well be true, but I'd rather remember the bunch from a couple of nice games like the Mercenaries 2 and The Saboteur.

Both are sandbox games that offer you great freedom - the other taking place in a tropical South American island and the latter, in WW2 era Paris (and environs).

While not a masterpiece, or even a contender for the game of the year, The Saboteur is a very nice game in itself.

Like I said, the game gives you great freedom; Paris is at your fingertips, you can roam around, do side quests, climb tall buildings (the Eiffel tower, anyone?), visit raunchy stripclubs, etc.

The areas of Paris that are still nazi-occupied (ie. the ones you haven't had chance to blow up yet) are artistically colored gray. When you free an area, the color comes back in. While a great idea, most people probably prefer the nice black and white artistic style with dabs of color like red blood, a blue necklace, etc.

Movement and fighting controls are a bit restless, but the vehicle controls are even more so. Most cars handle like they had too little weight, especially if you try the handbrake, and none of the vehicles handle like period cars.

While lacking character advancement, you do get "perks" you unlock by doing specific things like beating five nazis, blowing X number of things up, etc. Perks are essentially new attacks, bonuses to things like shooting, bomb setting timers, etc. All handy stuff that'll make you so much more effective at liberating Paris.

The story is nothing to write home about; there's the main villain, revenge, the nice girl and the naughty one, etc.

What sets The Saboteur apart a little, is the use of very adult themes throughout the game. You have topless dancers, lots of blood and violence, drinking, bar fights, etc. In short; good fun all around. ;)


So should you get The Saboteur? Yeah, I think so. Especially if you're a friend of open world sandbox games like GTA, Mercenaries 2 or Saint's Row. The WW2 might be a genre that has been game-developed to death, but as you can see from the list I just mentioned - no great WW2 era "GTA" games are around. It's a different experience from modern cars, planes and helicopters or heat seeking missiles and "ho-beating, drug trafficing".


Score 8/10


You can get Xbox 360 version of The Saboteur from Play-Asia for $49,90.

Also, the PS3 and PC versions are available.

On the Cheap: Risen (Xbox 360)

Play-Asia has Risen, the latest RPG from the developers of the Gothic series, on sale for $19,90.

Version is the region free NTSC-J.

Happy new year! (Oh, and a quick game snippet: AC2...)

We're starting to be done with all the crap that comes after moving; painting, putting stuff in their places, buying new (expensive!) household appliances, etc and I finally had time to do some gaming (the Xbox 360 was of course the first living room item I put in place after the TV, amp and speakers :D - even though I had the PS3 and OpFlash 2 to keep me company while we were living at our temporary housing before the move).

I took Assassin's Creed II for a little spin; All I can say is "wow". Just what I wanted. It's basically the first game with improvements all around. The awesome climbing / parkour is still there, so are the stealthy elements.

The fighting is much improved; the wrist blade is actually usable in combat (and quite effective), there's an inventory system (other than "you have X knives"), etc. Although, at points, it feels like the combat might be a tad too easy; you have little problem taking on half a dozen guards, something that you'd be running from, screaming like a little girl, in such early parts of the original game.

Maybe I'll just write that down as Ezio being a bigger badass than Altair... ;)

All in all, it seems like a very nice game. Though if you felt the first one was too repetititititive, this might not change your mind - even though there are improvements in that category.

Mini-review: Wolfenstein RPG (iPhone)

The Black Friday sales got me; I bought the Wolfenstein RPG for 1.59€.

Not disappointed, not one bit, though. Game is very tongue-in-cheeck with it's chicken kicking minigame, poking fun at ol' Adolf, etc.

You'll get to shoot "axis" soldiers, female spies, different colored zombies (you think red is bad, try a *golden* zombie, LOL!), skeleton in fire or not, etc.

For weapons you have fists/brass knuckles, akimbo pistols, Thompson machine gun, sniper rifle, dynamite, and so forth.

For health and other boosts, you can mix and use syringes that range from heal over time and max health boosts to 25-100% damage boosts.

All in all, a fun game. And very, *very* easy to pickup and play because of the turn based gameplay and easy controls. To move you have a virtual D-pad, and to interact with or to shoot, you just tap on the screen. Menu offers you the map / save / inventory options and clicking on the weapon, health, etc icons brings up a shortcut to inventory or the weapon choice list.

Graphics are full 3D landscape, mixed with 2D sprites. Sprites could have more animation cells, but they do the job. The enviroment seamlessly scrolls when you move or a cut-scene cuts in.

I heartily recommend this one, especially at the reduced price.


Score 9/10

Review: Modern Warfare 2

This is a mixed bag: it's a PC game that is made with the console version's limitations in view.

There are no dedicated servers for multiplayer, the gameplay has been dumbed down somewhat.

But still - the game runs smoothly on even older hardware (no FPS complains with a AMD X2 4500+ and GeForce 8800GTS, only *heavy* smoke causes FPS to drop). It's easy to play and the combat has a realistic "WTF!? Duck! Shoot! Did I just kill someone" -feeling to it at best. It gives you the feeling of being a bona-fide US soldier in a warzone.

Even voice acting is top notch, with easily recognizable big-screen stars like Keith David (The Thing and the Riddick movies) and Bill Murray, among others, doing a great job...


Missions have an urgent feel - it feels like you're *there* and fighting for your *life*. Bullets whizz past, and through walls, satisfyingly. Enemies fall down, sometimes only wounded and shooting back at you after the initial shock. If I had to find a pet-peeve, I'd probably say that riot shields are too powerful (nothing short of a grenade can't affect then, unless you can flank the guy holding it - which can be a pain in the ass in tight corridors). Oh, and grenades are a little too whimpy (except flash-bangs, which work wonderfully).

Graphics range from top notch (90% of the time) to "so-so" (10% of the time), with night vision and lighting being very good, but infra scopes on some rifles being a little... well, "icky". ;)

Cheesy, but still epic, movie score accompanies everything and you truly feel like you're playing a movie, instead of a game.

Heck, even the ending is like it's ripped off straight from a Bruckenheimer movie.

I'll leave the multiplayer to younger people - I got my ticket's worth with the, admittedly short-ish, single player campaign and the special ops missions.

More like this, please.

Score 9/10

Dragon Age: Origins First Impressions

After I've played through two origins (city elf mage and dwarf noble warrior to level 8) on the PC and Xbox 360 I can say:

• The PC version looks and plays a lot better - there is just no replacement for free camera, mouse controls and action bar with 10+ buttons.
• The game starts off slowly, so slow that you actually think it's pretty crappy. Persevere! ;)
• Combat is hard - random encounters will wipe your party out for no apparent reason. Save and save OFTEN!
• Console versions don't have party damage on at the normal level of difficulty, this leads to lack of positional combat. But then again, it makes the game playable on the consoles. The interface is "nit-picky" enough without friendly fire.

All in all, after a couple of nights' play, I'd have to say it's an OK game. Not an Oblivion killer, and definitely not anything as good as Bioware's older classics like Baldur's Gate 2 or KOTOR.

8 /10...

Dragon Age: Origins

Checklist:

• Played through the Journeys -flash game - CHECK (just once, mind you)
• Made a character with the Character Creator - CHECK
• Preordered the game for the 5.11. euro release - CHECK
• Madly waiting the game / took time off to play it - UNCHECKED

Ok, it's coming. It's on pre-order. But I can't get exited yet (and it's not even because of the crappy IGN review of 8.4 - it's not the score, the review itself made little sense in it's nit-picking...).

Bah.

Maybe I'll get more exited when it's spinning in my Xbox 360's drive... ;)