After three weeks of waiting, finally Assassin’s Creed II Discovery is back for all to enjoy. Some gamers may have noticed the initial price of Assassin’s Creed II Discovery was $11.99, but not to worry, the price has been reduced to $9.99.

In Assassin’s Creed II Discovery you’ll play through an untold chapter of the Assassin’s Creed II storyline. The action takes place in Spain, where you’ll play as the assassin Ezio. Your fellow assassins have been captured and it’s up to you to rescue them. So the storyline isn’t all that original, but at least your fellow assassins will be more thankful than Princess was when Mario saved her.

The gameplay is very different from the first Assassin’s Creed released on the iPhone. The standard D-pad located at the lower left of the screen has been replaced with a slider. Now it may seem kind of odd to use a slider instead of a D-pad for an action game like this, but it actually works very well.

Assassin’s Creed II Discovery is essentially a side-scroller, which explains the slider. For vertical movement players utilize the jump button located at the lower right of the screen. Next to the jump button we have the attack and stealth buttons.

Players can perform attack combos by pressing the attack button three times in succession. Some enemies have the ability to block your attacks and in some cases you’ll be locked into a “weapon clash” where you’ll need to rapidly tap the attack button to overcome your enemy.

The stealth button can be toggled on/off, when on your character will move slower, reducing the chance of being detected by enemies. When stealth mode is on, you also gain the advantage of greater foresight, spotting enemies from a distance before they come within range.

My initial impressions of Assassin’s Creed II Discovery have been all positive. I feel a great sense of speed when moving through the game that I never felt with the first Assassin’s Creed for iPhone. Combat has been greatly improved as well, with nice close up shots and crisp sound effects, which make those stealth kills all the more satisfying.

App Store Link: Assassin’s Creed II Discovery ($9.99)

Screenshots

Assassin’s Creed II Discovery Returns to the App Store is a post from: OS X Reality

In the Skeleton event your character slides down a frozen track laying face down on a small sled. You steer your character using tilt controls to shift left or right.

The Curling event is similar to bowling, you slide a puck down a lane, mid way through swipe left or right to help guide the puck towards the center of the target.

Figure Skating is all about following patterns, the better you follow the pattern the better your character figure skates. Circles appear on the screen that you’ll need to tap with good timing. There will also be different shapes that you’ll need to trace quickly as well as accurately.

The last event, Snowboard Cross, is the most challenging of the four events. Like the Skeleton event you’ll steer your character using tilt controls to move left or right. On top of that you’ll also need to pay attention to forward (duck) and back (jump) tilting, this is especially important for a smooth landings. If your iPhone is tilted too far ahead or back then your character will have a rough landing.

Sonic fans will be glad to know SEGA has included a wide range of characters to choose from — Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Eggman, Vector, Blaze, Metal Sonic and Silver.

You can also play with a buddy over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, or if your friend doesn’t have his/her own iPhone you could always go with good old Pass & Play.

SEGA also mentioned unlockable content in the game description, not sure if they were referring to achievement type goodies like trophies or if they meant additional events to play, hopefully it’s both.

App Store Link: Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games ($4.99)

SEGA Releases Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is a post from: OS X Reality

The sequel plays much like the original using tilt  based controls for movement. Players steer their creature towards other smaller creatures to consume them. Once enough creatures have been consumed your creature will evolve gaining new abilities such as shells, wings and mouths.

Sadly you can’t customize your creature in great detail, such as adding bumps on your creature’s lower lip, I really wanted my creature to sport some nice cold sores too. Hopefully EA adds this feature in the next update *crosses fingers*.

Although you can do some large scale customizations on your creature like changing the body shape and size using pinch gestures or even alter the color and pattern of their skin. You can also use pictures from your iPhone photo app for skin patterns. Check out the example of custom skin textures in the screenshot gallery above. I used my Apple wallpaper as the texture for my creature.

What? Did you just call me an Apple fanboy? I’ll have you know it’s perfectly normal to wrap creatures in beautiful Apple wallpaper. *Rubs iPhone touchscreen in a perfectly normal and not sexual way, rubbing the touchscreen in slow motion doesn’t make it sexual either by the way, maybe creepy but definitely not sexual.*

Alright back to Spore Creatures, there’s a total of 45 unique body parts to choose from when customizing your creature.

As for content, there’s a total of 20 levels spread across four zone types — Sandy Shores, Barren Desert, Dark Forest and Icy Mountains. I didn’t get too far into the game but supposedly there are puzzles to solve. What kind of puzzles they’re talking about, your guess is as good as mine.

There was one interesting tidbit that I got from the release description.

“Socialize or attack unique creature herds. The choice is yours.”

I do recall in the desktop version creatures could socialize by dancing, I’m guessing the mobile version will follow suit and offer some way for our creatures to shake their rumps in the name of friendship.

App Store Link: Spore Creatures ($6.99)

Spore Creatures Released for iPhone: Herpes Evolves a Pair of Legs is a post from: OS X Reality

One Man Left Studios was kind enough to send us a preview copy of their upcoming arcade shooter Tilt to Live for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Tilt to Live is played strictly using the accelerometer, tilting the iPhone to control the ship’s movement. Enemies constantly spawn at random locations on the map, if one makes contact with your ship it’s game over. Your ship isn’t equipped with any guns of its own, instead you’ll pickup weapons spread across the map.

At first the game seems a bit slow, but the pace picks up very quickly. As time progresses more and more enemies will appear at a faster rate, eventually overwhelming you. While good ship maneuvering is still important, how you use the weapons is the key to survival. Effective use of weapons will keep the enemies numbers down giving you more room to breath.

Tilt to Live is expected to be released 1st Quarter of 2010.

Tilt to Live Preview Video is a post from: OS X Reality

One of my favorite board games from back in the day, and when I say back in the day, I really mean I’m getting old, inching ever closer to death’s final embrace, so I’m going to stop saying that because it’s really depressing. Anyhow Electronic Arts released BATTLESHIP for the iPhone and iPod touch.

BATTLESHIP is essentially a guessing game, so if you beat me, it’s luck, but if I win it’s skill (that’s right Andrew I’m talking to you, bring it). So here’s how it works. Both players take turns picking spots on the board to fire shots, hoping to land a direct hit on the opponent’s ship. Once a player has lost all their ships the game is over and they have to sign a bunch of peace treaties basically stating they’ll never fight you again and so on (I kid, I kid).

There are three game modes available in BATTLESHIP — Classic, Salvo and Super Weapons. In Classic mode players get one shot per turn, but in Salvo mode the more ships you have still afloat the more shots you get per turn, making it very difficult for a player that has fallen behind in ship count to make a comeback. If you’re a fan of Disney movies and love watching all those stories about the underdog making a comeback, don’t play Salvo mode, I warned you, there will be no comebacks, only tears.

And last but not least Kim Jong-il’s favorite game mode, Super Weapons. In this mode you get to pick three super weapons to take with you into battle. There are 13 super weapons to choose from, giving you plenty of options to augment your offensive or defensive capabilities. Air strikes for example can attack three squares in a row, or if you were looking for more protection you could equip your ships with force-field technology to deflect the first hit on each ship. Starting out you’ll only have access to four super weapons, to unlock more you’ll need to get a few wins under your built to level up.

For added replay value, BATTLESHIP also includes multiplayer over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or pass-and-play. Although the multiplayer options currently available are already quite good, I think EA could do even better. BATTLESHIP could be the next Words With Friends or Chess With Friends, since it’s turn based players could submit moves exit the app and return once the other player has made their move and so on. I’m already a huge fan of WWF and CWF, I love how convenient Newtoy has made online play, I just hope EA follows suit.

App Store Link: BATTLESHIP ($2.99)

Screenshots

Boom Boom Pow! You Sank My BATTLESHIP is a post from: OS X Reality

No prior knowledge of the show Dexter is needed to enjoy the game. Dexter the Game [$5.99 - iTunes link] will ease you into his dark world, through well crafted voiceovers you’ll learn what makes Dexter tick. I’ve only heard about the show, so I’ve never seen an episode yet, so for me it was all new.

From the first level you’ll learn Dexter isn’t your average serial killer, he kills only the guilty, he’s his own judge, jury and executioner. In your first mission you stalk a teacher/choir director, Mike Donovan. From your car you see him bury something, after he leaves the scene you go to take a closer look and discover he’s been murdering his choir boys. At that point you gather more evidence of his guilt enough to satisfy the Code of Harry. The next phase of the mission is capturing Mike Donovan and finally Dexter’s favorite part, the execution.

There are two D-pads located at the lower corners of the screen to control Dexter, the lower left for movement and lower right for camera view. Alternatively you could also swipe your finger across the screen to control camera view as well. By no means is Dexter the Game a fast paced action game, the pacing is more slow and methodical, you are doing an investigation after all.

Sprinkled through out the first mission are mini-games that gives Dexter the Game a more interactive feel. The process of digging up corpses involves rapidly tapping the lower corners of the touchscreen. Another example is during the execution of Mike Donovan, for each slice you have to successfully trace a pattern on the screen.

Dexter the Game Hands-on is a post from: OS X Reality

Wolfenstein RPG (iTunes Link) isn’t your typical shooter, instead of relying on your reaction time to overcome foes you’ll use more strategy. The game is turn based so you’ll have plenty of time to think over each move. At first Wolfenstein RPG did seem lacking in the tactical department, but after more play I began to see how important strategy is for this title.

When in combat it’s tempting to simply charge at your enemies and attack them head on, but since this is a turn based game, where each move or shot counts as turn, you’ll have to consider your actions more carefully.

A common mistake I made early on was to line up shots by moving B.J. in front of enemies, which only resulted in the enemy getting a free shot on me. If a doorway is near by it’s best to let enemies pile up at the door rather than wasting turns trying to position yourself in front of them, let them come to you.

Early on it may not seem like such a big deal, but conserving your ammo will be vital in the later stages. So whenever possible instead of using your gun to fire at enemies, punch them instead.

I haven’t played too far into Wolfenstein RPG, but from what I’ve seen so far, I’m digging it.

Wolfenstein RPG Hands-on Video is a post from: OS X Reality

Turn-based strategy game, Civilization Revolution (iTunes Link), was recently released on the iPhone. I won’t pretend to be some expert on the Civ series, I’m far from it. My perspective on Civilization Revolution will be of a new comer. After fiddling with different menus in the game, I couldn’t help but notice how complex this game is for mobile standards. I really enjoyed the flexibility in gameplay, instead of always crushing enemies to win every game, you could achieve victory by other means such as diplomacy.

It took me about three hours to complete my first game, I was a little surprised by how long it took to finish a single game. I talked to my co-worker, which happened to be a big Civ fan, he laughed at my three hour game remark and told me the original Civilization would take 10 hours or more to finish. Maybe three hour games aren’t so bad after all.

In Civilization Revolution there’s lots to do. I spent most of my time exploring the surrounding terrain. I encountered lots of barbarian villages, these conflicts helped my warriors gain experience. Every three levels or so I was able to choose a new skill for my warriors, abilities such as march to help them travel further.

Besides exploring the surrounding terrain, you’ll also manage your city’s growth. I opted to focus on researching new technologies. The technologies you research will unlock more advanced technologies down the line, but be sure to look at the tech tree before deciding on what to research or you could end up with some advanced tech options that will be of little use in acheiving your goals.

I also found that I could increase my production by sending out settlers to build new cities where there is lots of natural resources, such as fish or live stock. Each city is different when it comes to what they excel at. So be sure to tap on each city focus type to find the one that gives you the biggest returns.

I haven’t explored much of the sea, it’s still a mystery to me for the most part, but I’ll definitely be playing more Civilization Revolution in the coming days before I post a full review.

Civilization Revolution Hands-on Video is a post from: OS X Reality

Chillingo was kind enough to send us a copy of their upcoming paper shooter, Inkvaders. The game was submitted to Apple for review last Saturday, so it could be just a matter of days before the game appears in the App Store.

My initial impression of Inkvaders has been quite positive, the starter tutorial made it easy to dive into the game. Boot camp gives you a quick run through of all the controls, power ups, weapon upgrades and so on.

The graphics of Inkvaders is a treat to see, it’s like you’re watching paper come to life. The screenshots don’t really do the game much justice, you have to see it in motion to get the full effect. In the hands-on video the game may look extremely easy, but take my word for it, Inkvaders picks up in difficulty fast. Be sure to keep an eye out for this soon to be released iPhone shooter.

Inkvaders Preview is a post from: OS X Reality

Only two days have passed since we first received word that Worms for the iPhone had been submitted to the App Store for review. The relatively short approval time was a pleasant surprise. So here we are, Worms ($4.99) has finally come to the iPhone.

I’ve had no previous experience with any games from the Worms series, so I didn’t really know what to expect. All I knew was the game is a turn based artillery game of some sort. To be honest, I wasn’t all that excited about the release of Worms for the iPhone; I just didn’t understand all the hype. But after playing the game for the first time, I have to hand it to Team 17 – the game is quite addictive.

Of course no matter how awesome Worms is gameplay wise, it means little if you’re locked in a constant struggle with the controls. Turns out the iPhone’s large touchscreen makes playing Worms on the go a very enjoyable experience.

So how do the controls work exactly? Well I’m glad you asked, because I was completely dumbfounded too when I first tried playing. For starters, Worms doesn’t use tilt controls – everything is touchscreen based. The shoot button is located at the lower right corner and lower left corner for the weapon stash where you’ll gain access to 26 weapons. Like many other iPhone games, you’ll be able to zoom by using pinch gestures and pan with two finger swipes.

To adjust your aim, tap on your crosshair and then slide your finger in the direction you wish to shoot. Aiming can be a little tricky at first since each weapon works differently. Some weapons will fire with one tap, while others need to be charged before releasing the fire button. I learned this the hard way after my own grenade fell at my feet. Yea…

As for movement, just tap and hold on the left or right edge of the screen and your worm will inch his way towards your finger. Worms can also jump forward or backward, if you tap directly on your worm once he’ll jump forward, tap twice to do a back flip.

As mentioned in a previous post, Worms only includes pass-and-play multiplayer at the moment. Support for multiplayer over Internet and Bluetooth will eventually be added to the game through future updates. I know, I know, I’m just as bummed as you guys are about it. Hopefully it doesn’t take Team 17 too long to implement those features, because we all know multiplayer is the secret sauce of Worms.

Worms for iPhone: First Hands-on Impressions is a post from: OS X Reality