Flight Control HD is an amazing example of what a game developer can do when they think outside the box and design a game that feels natural on the iPad.

In Flight Control HD your goal is to traffic as many planes/helicopters to the correct landing strips/pads as possible. To guide planes to landing strips players simply tap on the plane and drag to the landing strip. The game ends once two aircraft collide.

The cool thing about Flight Control HD is that it’s really easy to get into, no tutorial is really necessary, players just jump in and the fun begins. At first the game may seem too easy, but just keep playing, the game will gradually introduce more and more planes for you to traffic. Eventually you’ll be overwhelmed by the sheer number of planes that require your attention and the inevitable crash will occur.

As you become more adept at Flight Control HD you’ll want to take advantage of the fast forward feature, the button is located in the lower left of the screen. It’s really handy, especially at the beginning of the game when there are very few planes to traffic.

I don’t normally like games where you focus on beating your previous score, but for some reason I really enjoyed that aspect of Flight Control HD, it felt so satisfying to beat my previous record for planes landed.

I watched my friend play Flight Control HD. It was hilarious watching him go from a relaxed state to panic. At first he told me that Flight Control HD is so boring, then after he landed around 40 planes his tone completely changed. From that point on all I heard was a series of gasp with a few OMG’s mixed in for good measure.

There are a total of 9 levels to play through. The first three levels are designed specifically for the iPad as denoted by the HD label. The fourth level is essentially the first level but with 3D effects, you’ll need 3D glasses to take advantage of this.

There is also a multiplayer option in Flight Control HD, playable from a single iPad or two via WiFi. You can challenge your friend to see who can land the most planes before crashing. Being a very competitive person by nature, I really liked this feature, it added a lot more replay value to Flight Control HD.

But if you’re more of the type that likes to team up with friends, there’s also a multiplayer option for that, so you and your friend can work together to land as many planes as possible.

I’ve had a blast with Flight Control HD, if you own an iPad you should definitely grab a copy of this game.

Flight Control HD is a post from: OS X Reality

Mirror’s Edge takes place in an utopian city, where crime is almost nonexistent, but these lower crime rates came at a great cost. The government tracks all forms of communication within the city, allowing them to stamp out any potential threats to their power.

At least this was the case until a network of runners was formed. These specialized runners have the ability to travel across the city overcoming numerous obstacles to deliver their message.

I was slightly disappointed when I received news that Mirror’s Edge on the iPad would be a side-scroller as opposed to first-person as seen on the Xbox 360. But after playing Mirror’s Edge for a few minutes most of my worries vanished.

Even though the game is a side-scroller the graphics are all 3D, and very well done. But more importantly than graphics was the fluid motion of gameplay. You get a real sense of speed as you travel through each level.

The first level is essentially a tutorial to help players learn the controls. Nearly all the controls are touchscreen based. To run left or right swipe left or right anywhere on the screen, to jump swipe upward and so on. The touchscreen controls were easy to use, I didn’t have any real issues with them.

The tilt controls on the other hand put my nerd arms to the test. There’s areas in each level where you’ll need to tilt your iPad to help your character Faith keep her balance or streamline her body to travel faster down a zipline.

I wasn’t all too fond of this feature, I mean it’s nice on the iPhone, but the iPad well, it’s a bit large I wouldn’t want to hold it up for too long. Luckily there wasn’t many parts in the game that required you to tilt your iPad to progress through the stage, so I was able to play most of the game with my iPad comfortably positioned on my lap.

Normally music in games are very much like elevator music, it’s there but no one cares. I really enjoyed the music in Mirror’s Edge, but of course that’s just my taste in music, it may not strike a cord with everyone. I especially liked the intro song of Mirror’s Edge, “Still Alive” by Swedish singer Lisa Miskovsky.

As far as content goes, Mirror’s Edge packs 14 levels and two multiplayer game modes.  I loved everything about Mirror’s Edge up until the game ended abruptly. After the 14th stage I was a little shocked, I kept thinking to myself, it can’t be over already!

I was having such a great time with Mirror’s Edge, shame it had to end so quickly. I was able to complete the game in roughly 2-hours.

But on the bright side, the two multiplayer modes do add to the game’s replay value. Multiplayer mode is played from a single iPad in the portrait orientation. You can either race your friend through levels or compete with each other to collect the most secret packages.

Overall I was very happy with the way Mirror’s Edge played on the iPad, very entertaining game. Mirror’s Edge has high production value written all over it. I highly recommend this game to people looking for an action packed side-scroller.

Mirror’s Edge is a post from: OS X Reality

Bingo, Words With Friends HD! But before I actually purchased the game I hesitated. I wasn’t too happy with the idea of buying essentially the same game again. But I figured the experience of playing on a larger screen could make the purchase worth while.

For those unfamiliar with Words With Friends, it’s essentially Scrabble with convenient online play. Normally if you wanted to play the board game Scrabble with your friends you’d need to find the right time when everyone is free, set aside a few hours to play and of course do a little driving.

But with Words With Friends all those complications go out the window. You don’t have to play each game from start to finish in one sitting. Instead you can submit moves whenever you have a spare moment in your day. The game will notify you automatically when it’s your turn to play again. Keep in mind the game can only notify you if you have Internet access.

Now some people may find this way of playing painfully slow, games can take days or even weeks to finish. Luckily we can play multiple games at once, so each time you enter the app there’s a good chance you’ll have a few turns to play.

Playing Words With Friends on the iPad has been a really great experience. Double tapping to zoom into the board is no longer necessary, the board and tiles are very easy to read thanks to the larger display.

The navigation and controls are similar to the iPhone version. The tiles and options are located at the bottom of the screen. The game list and chat now appear as pop up windows.

Finding opponents to play is pretty easy in Words With Friends. You can search for random opponents, add friends through your contact list or by simply searching for their user name. Oh and let’s not forget the good old fashion pass and play option.

I was a bit worried that Words With Friends on the iPad wouldn’t have much to offer. In a lot of ways it seemed like the iPhone version flat out beats the iPad, mainly due to its portability. But with the larger display the gameplay experience was dramatically improved from the iPhone version. It’s so much more comfortable playing on the iPad over extended periods of time and much easier on the eyes as well.

I’m glad I gave Words With Friends HD for the iPad a chance, after playing with the game for the last few days I have no regrets about my purchase. I’ve tried other word games in the App Store but none have matched the ease of use and well thought out user interface of Words With Friends HD, those two aspects alone make this game a real winner.

Words With Friends HD is a post from: OS X Reality

The graphics were better than I expected. Each character looked like who they were supposed to look like, but slightly warped in a way I’m not sure was intended. Hunting the targets at night was adequately spooky, and having normal Dexter do normal Dexter things at his brightly lit and colorful workplace was a pleasant contrast.

Why yes, yes he is.

The background music was quite fitting and reminiscent of the show. Background ambiance helped to set the scene, and the voices of the characters surprised me by their quality. Dexter sounded like himself, and yes, this also surprised me. Dexter’s mention of his “Dark Passenger” was a nice touch the first couple of times I heard it. After the umpteenth time, not so much.

Mostly, I enjoyed the sound of the bonesaw and the screaming of Dexter’s victims as he chopped them up, but that might just be me.

The controls for moving around are relatively easy to use, if you’re familiar with the iPhone. If you aren’t, it’ll take some practice getting used to, but that’s what the first mission is for. There are two D-pads located in either lower corner, the left for movement and the right for camera angles. When Dexter can interact with a nearby object, the object flashes white and a small button appears at the right side of the screen, just above the D-pad. Simple.

Good morning, sunshine. Did you sleep well?

However, when it comes time to sneak up on a criminal for Dexter to capture and then kill, the controls can get a little aggravating. Moving at such a slow speed can seem almost frustrating the first time around, especially if you’re trying to sneak up behind a target and can’t get to a safe location to hide before the screen flashes red. Luckily, the only penalty is having to start the attempt over.

If you’re a fan of puzzles, then rejoice for this app has a good amount of them. Dexter offers different tasks to complete in lieu of problem solving, and a journal that keeps track of the more important quest lines. There are mini-games available at Dexter’s workplace and on missions to hunt down his next unsuspecting criminal.

Even despite being twice the height of the trash can, somehow Dexter manages to remain unseen.

Oh, and you get a choice of one killing tool out of three, and perform the killing actions by tracing the pattern on the screen. Extra points if you slice them up in a timely manner.

There’s a dialogue system in the game, but it’s not all too clear when anything but light-sided or neutral answers are necessary, except when maybe trying to needle a confession out of the naked criminal on the table. Tying in almost directly to that are what’s referred to as the Mask, and the Dark Passenger, as shown by the black and white bar at the top of the screen. The more dark the bar is, the more grumpy are Dexter’s responses to people. I didn’t find the system all that useful or engaging, but it was a nice concept, I suppose.

The same can’t quite be said for the mini-games which, while clever and interesting, can be infuriating at the precision needed to complete certain tasks. On the one hand, I’ve gained some respect for the talented people who specialize in blood splatter. On the other hand, I very nearly wanted to smash something out of pure frustration during the first few times I attempted the blood analysis mini-games. At some point, I had exact matches on the screen, only to receive NO MATCHES in big red letters. Eventually I had to set down the iPhone and walk away for a while. But then I came and resolved not to do every single sample available, if only to save my sanity.

Blood splatter takes more precision than my clumsy fingers can handle.

You can breeze through the game relatively quickly in a single playthrough, but you’ll miss quite a few… clues. A second playthrough likely won’t find you every single piece of evidence available, but that’s okay, because you don’t need them. Sure, it’s rewarding, but at some point you simply stop receiving mask points, so it’s mostly a moot objective.

Overall, if you’re not a fan of Dexter or haven’t yet seen all of season one, I would not recommend getting Dexter the Game. For someone who’s unfamiliar with the show, the end will feel like a glorified advertising stunt, because the main issue isn’t actually resolved whatsoever. But aside from that, the game offers some replayability, reasonable play time and challenge, and a relatively amusing experience as far as puzzle games with little plot go. You know, after being reminded of the Dark Passenger a thousand times and failing at the blood splatter analysis. But if anything, Dexter the Game feels like Dexter the show, so that’s a plus in the end.

Dexter the Game is a post from: OS X Reality

The Prince unwilling to accept her death, began experimenting with necromancy in hopes of bringing her back to life, eventually he succeeds. As she awoke from her eternal sleep, she grabbed a dagger and plunged it deep into the Prince.

Shortly after his death, his beloved took over the Kingdom of Gothicus. Two years after his death faeries bring the Prince back to life, giving him a chance to right all the wrongs. And thus your journey as the Prince begins as you try to undo all the damage the evil Queen has caused.

Dungeon Hunter is a hack and slash RPG, reminiscent of Diablo, played from an isometric viewpoint. There are town areas where you can buy/sell items from merchants and take on quest given by locals. Not all quest progress the storyline, side quest are still useful for gathering additional loot as well as experience to further develop your character.

The quest don’t vary much, most are straight forward kill these guys or bring back this item. Regardless of the quest, you can be sure there will always be lots of killing involved. What is that Father Dominic? You want me to deliver some goods to the church across town and kill everyone along my path, sounds like my kind of quest!

The enemies in Dungeon Hunter were a bit repetitive, I didn’t find any enemies that really stood out in the way they fought. In most cases I’d just walk up to the mobs of enemies gave them a few hacks and be on my way. What made the game fun for me was not the enemies, but finding interesting ways of disposing of them using a variety of skill combos.

As you progress through the game you’ll gain access to a variety of faeries, each faery has the ability to cast an elemental area of effect spell. Some enemies are resistant to certain elemental spells, so it’s best to test out different faeries at the start of each stage to see which one does the most damage.

Dungeon Hunter’s controls are quite flexible, you can choose from two main control schemes virtual stick and touch. Virtual stick is your standard D-Pad located at the bottom left corner with attack and spell buttons located at the bottom right. In the touch control scheme the D-Pad is removed, the character follows your screen taps.

I personally prefer the virtual stick control scheme, my fingers didn’t obscure my view and I didn’t need to repeatedly tap to keep moving across the screen.

Spells located in the lower right can be scrolled through, or you could have the icons at fixed locations. I found it better to use fixed locations, it was easier to access the spells when I needed it, with the scroll setup I’d have to scroll once or twice before getting to the skill I wanted.

One of the downsides of RPG is the constant back and forth between quest and towns. You know the drill, you go questing your character maxes out on loot so you have to go back to town to sell your loot to the merchant to make room for additional loot. That whole process gets old pretty quick, luckily Gameloft has included a transmute feature in Dungeon Hunter to remedy this very problem.

In the menu options you can actually choose what grade of items you wish to transmute on pickup, meaning the item will be traded in for gold. Now there is one slight downside to this, you won’t get as much money from the trade in as you would with the merchant, a small price to pay for convenience if you ask me.

The graphics for Dungeon Hunter are relatively good, in comparison to other hack and slash RPGs currently available in the App Store. Although I was a bit disappointed by the lack of graphics for head gear. All the other gear will change the character’s appearance, but the character’s head remains unchanged regardless of what head gear he sports.

The musical score of Dungeon Hunter was ambient for the most part, at times it did pick up in tempo on a few stages. One of the coolest features of Dungeon Hunter is getting access to your musical library. Ok so it’s not the first time an iPhone game has done this, but the way Dungeon Hunter implemented this feature made it so easy to access your musical library. You could choose from your playlist, skip to the next or previous song, all without ever leaving the gameplay screen.

In terms of replay value, Dungeon Hunter has a lot to offer. With three character classes to choose from you can be sure each play through will be a unique experience. And thanks to the deep talent trees, you’ll have plenty of room to experiment with different class builds. For example, on my first play through I created a defensive warrior, I maxed out his protective passive skills to boost his shield block percentage. Then on my next warrior build I went all out offensive, focusing on boosting damage with 2-handed weapons. You could go on and on with varied builds for each class.

Gameloft did a great job with Dungeon Hunter, it’s currently the best hack and slash RPG currently available in the App Store. The game offers players three unique classes to play, and each class is highly customizable. You could play through the game with the same class and still get a different experience by choosing different talents. I enjoyed obtaining gear for my character, not only for stat boost, but also to see my character go from rags to shining armor, that’s always fun.

Dungeon Hunter is a post from: OS X Reality

Flying along the side of a subway train you’ll navigate your craft passed various graffiti obstacles and shoot down any moving graffiti art. Underground includes 60 different enemies, ranging from jumping demonic bunnies to floating monkey heads.

Your ship can be destroyed by crashing into graffiti obstacles or enemies. Each enemy has their own predictable flight path, making them relatively easy to dodge. Enemies can also fire upon your ship. The spray pattern for shots can vary from spirals to a circular explosion of pellets. None of the enemies alone pose much of a threat, but if you fail to keep their numbers low you could find yourself cornered.

Enemies can come at you from any angle so it’s best to position your ship near the center of the screen to give you adequate time to react to incoming enemies.

There are two control options, tilt and touch. In tilt mode, the accelerometer is used to maneuver your ship and touchscreen can be used to shoot at different directions. In touch mode, the ship will move relative to your touchscreen swipes. Placing a second finger on the touchscreen will control where your shots go.

I personally preferred the default control scheme, tilt mode. In this mode I only needed to use one finger on the touchscreen in rare chases when I’d need to fire shots at odd angles, but in touchscreen mode, it was difficult to use one finger to navigate the ship and the other to aim my shots, my fingers would cover up lots of the action on the screen.

Underground is a post from: OS X Reality

Duke Nukem 3D uses the same control scheme as the recently released iPhone FPS Prey Invasion, a pair of virtual D-pads located in the lower corners of the screen. I figured Duke Nukem 3D couldn’t be worse than MachineWorks first iPhone FPS release, Prey Invasion, but I was dead wrong.

The movement in Prey Invasion was much slower so the mediocre controls were easier to manage. In contrast Duke Nukem 3D’s movement is much faster, so forget about making any small adjustments to line up a shot. There are some control options available to the player, but nothing to really remedy the clumsy controls.

As many of you already know Duke Nukem 3D is full of enemies that fly or lay in prone position, so adjusting your aim vertically is a must to beat the game. This is where another big issue comes into play, you can adjust your aim vertically, but once you start moving your crosshair will re-center itself. In other words, you won’t be able to dodge while shooting at vertical targets, you’re essentially a sitting duck.

Duke Nukem 3D has nostalgia written all over it. I wanted to enjoy this classic shooter on my iPhone as much as any gamer, but due to the poor controls I wouldn’t recommend this game to anyone.

[YouTube Video]

Duke Nukem 3D is a post from: OS X Reality

Chess is a complex game that requires a lot of thought for each move and considering the busy world we live in, it can be challenging to set aside enough time to play one Chess game from start to finish.

Chess With Friends solved all these problems, by allowing players to play correspondence style Chess. This form of Chess is played over a span of hours, days or even weeks. Once a player submits a move, he waits for his opponent to enter the app to make their move, and so on.

Now this may sound like an excruciatingly slow way to play Chess, but you always have the option of starting multiple Chess matches to keep yourself busy. And due to the always online nature of the iPhone you can make a move anytime you have a spare moment in your day.

Now take all those great features from Chess With Friends and apply it to a word game like Scrabble, then you get Newtoy’s latest release Words With Friends. I’ve been playing Words With Friends for the past week or so, and it works just as advertised, easy to use and fun to play.

Just like Scrabble, your goal is to outscore your opponent by using as many letters as possible to spell words, using rare letters and placing letters on top of premium squares to multiply your points. So there shouldn’t be any real surprises for fans of Scrabble, you’ll get the classic gameplay you’ve always enjoyed but now with added convenience of portable online play.

You’ll have the option of playing pass-n-play mode, online with a friend in your contact list or a random opponent.

Words With Friends also allows players to chat with one another, which is always a cool feature to have in any multiplayer game.

One of the reasons I love to play word games like Words With Friends is for the educational value. It’s really nice to have a good time and also learn a thing or two while I play. Which brings me to my last point, it would be great if Newtoy could add an in-game feature to show definitions of words placed on the board.

Now I do realize this feature could potentially ruin Words With Friends if implemented incorrectly. Instead of giving players full access to the dictionary, they would double tap any word already submitted to the board to reveal their definition.

Normally I feel a bit reserved in saying something is the best, but in this case I have no doubts, Words With Friends is the best word game in the App Store today. If you’re a fan of Scrabble don’t miss out on this excellent App Store release.

Update: I’ve posted a Beginner’s Guide to Words With Friends, the guide includes complete Word List and Letter Distribution.

Words With Friends is a post from: OS X Reality

In Peggle your goal is to knock out all the orange pegs in each stage, you’ll only have 10 shots to do this, so success will depend largely on how well you can predict where your shot will go after its first bounce. The majority of the stage will consist of blue pegs, they don’t carry any special properties, depending on their position they can make a trivial shot become a complex one. In many cases you’ll need to bank off the wall or another peg to hit your intended target.

To add another layer of gameplay depth Peggle includes a ball catcher that moves back and forth at the bottom of each stage. So not only will you need to angle your shots well in order to hit as many pegs as possible, but you’ll also need good timing. If your ball falls into the ball catcher it counts as a free shot.

The purple pegs are point boosters, all the points earned after hitting the purple peg will be multiplied so it’s best to hit the purple pegs early on while the stage is still filled with pegs. The most important pegs of all are the green pegs, each stage contains two and once hit they activate a your character’s magic powers.

As you progress through the game you’ll unlock new characters such as Claude the lobster, when his magic power is activated a pair of lobster claws will appear at the lower corners of the screen, players will be able to use them as flippers like in pinball.

When most games begin to feel stale after a few stages, Peggle keeps things fresh by serving up well designed stages and gradually adding new characters with unique magic powers. Just when you think you’ve got the hang of Peggle you get a new character with strange powers that forces you to change up your strategy.

Peggle is a post from: OS X Reality

With the release of Minigore for the iPhone Mountain Sheep has turned the gaming world upside down by creating a whole new game genre, Furry Survival Shooter, FSS for short. In Minigore your objective is simple, shoot anything that has fur and don’t get eaten by the furries.

Minigore uses dual directional pads for movement and shooting. I’m not exactly the biggest fan of D-pads for iPhone games, but Minigore is an exception. Believe it or not the controls actually work very well. I had no trouble controlling our in-game hero John Gore.

There is only one stage in Minigore, but don’t worry you’ll get plenty of challenging gameplay out of that one stage. The stage continuously increases in difficulty as time passes, so eventually everyone dies, so your goal is to reach the highest score possible, and dominate the leader boards.

Minigore includes three weapons to fend off those nasty little critters machine gun, double-barreled shotgun and exploding booby trap. The last weapon is actually more of a power up, they appear randomly on the map and you have to shoot them to set off the explosion. Speaking of power-ups, if you pick up 3 four-leaf clovers for a limited time you turn into a furry yourself. When you are in furry mode you can’t be killed, so make Pac-Man proud and eat all the other furries around you.

You’ll encounter four types of furries; the small Minifurry, the Furry, the Lamentable Giant Furry and the Firefurry. The Minifurry is the bread and butter of the furry army, you’ll see tons of these guys, as long as you have decent aim they should pose little threat. The Furry and Lamentable Giant Furry are a lot like Russian nested dolls, they all contain smaller furries inside them. So if you kill a Lamentable Giant Furry, then Furries pop out, if you kill the Furry, then Minifurries pop out.

The most devious of the furries is the Firefurry, they move  fast and are hard to spot since they are the same size as a Minifurry. I’m not even kidding with you guys, those Firefurries will pop out of the bushes when you least expect them. All my deaths in Minigore have been at the hands of Firefurries, you’ve been warned!

So what makes Minigore so compelling? That’s definitely a good question, one that I struggled with myself. It’s the package as a whole, everything is well executed, the art style, music, voice acting, gameplay, etc. The game was really easy to get into, and as I mentioned before I wasn’t even planning to play this game for more than five minutes, but I ended up playing for nearly one hour. If you own an iPhone or iPod touch, for one day give up your candy bar, soda, bubble gum, or whatever else you would normally spend a dollar on and buy Minigore instead, you’ll love it.

Minigore is a post from: OS X Reality