Flight Control for iPhone/iPod Touch Review

It’s not often that you see a very simple game, with a simple formula, that’s both engaging and addictive. That’s why I was happy to see Flight Control (by Firemint) for the iPhone/iPod Touch emerge from the handheld more than  a week ago. It was an instant hit in our office. Even our studio manager got in on the action. He even set the office high score of 261 (at the time of writing).

In Flight Control, you act as an air traffic controller and try to direct the multitude of aircraft flying around your screen, or air space, whatever you want to call it. Sounds complicated, but it’s really simple. All you need to do is touch an aircraft and drag a line towards its respective landing strip/platform and the aircraft will follow the flight path you have set. There are four types of aircraft in the game. The passenger jet (the most common), the biplane (the slowest airplane), the jumbo jet (the fastest, and most troublesome), and the helicopter (the slowest of the four). The biplane and the helicopter each has their own landing strip/pad, while the passenger jet and jumbo jet both land on the same strip. Remember that you have to set a flight path for each incoming aircraft to their own respective landing stips. It’s easier said than done specially when there’s a lot of air traffic in the vicinity. If your eyes and pointing finger aren’t fast enough, you’ll end up with an air disaster. Thankfully, there’s a beep sound effect everytime two or more aircraft are too close to each other, a red glow surrounds these aircraft to help you see them immediately. The single track music also helps you, in a way, to relax while you play the game.

Flight Control

The only thing lacking in the game is the absence of game modes. Still, with its simplicity and very addictive gameplay, and of course with the $0.99 price tag, I say go ahead and buy this game. It’s definitely one of those casual games that you’d play every once in a while, trying to beat your own high score.

Bioshock 2: Impressions

I am a huge fan of the first Bioshock game. To prove this point, I must have played the game at least four times over in the attempt to unlock all the achievements. (I missed just two… damn!) When news of the second installment in the series reached me, I was understandably giddy and excited.

Big Sister

From what I’ve gathered so far, the mechanics, graphics, sound and all-around technology surrounding the sequel is not all that different from the first game. In fact if somebody unfamiliar with the franchise were to look at screens from the first game and second game, side by side, I would expect that he’d think they were from the same game. That said, Bioshock really is not your typical FPS. If advancements in speeds, gameplay, graphics and such really made a game like Call of Duty 4 that much better than other previous CODs, it’s the story and atmosphere that really makes Bioshock a cut above the rest.

Gimme That!

Jordan Thomas, the Creative Director of Bioshock 2, described the game’s genre best – narrative FPS. I personally would never have expected a great narrative to be covered in the skin of an FPS. I’d expect this from RPGs or adventure games. But I guess that’s one of the things that really makes Bioshock such an evolution in gaming. Great atmosphere and gameplay combined with amazing game mechanics. Other games would have settled to do either one, but the developers at 2K really upped the ante and polished both aspects almost to perfection.

While 2K has gone on record and said that the gameplay will remain pretty much the same with some new additions here and there, what we know little about is the story of the game. All that’s been revealed is that Bioshock 2 takes place ten years after the events of the first game and that the player takes on the role of the very first Big Daddy. This new perspective that the player takes, in itself, gives the story of the game so many possibilities. From where I stand, the story of Bioshock 2, while still connected to the first game, will be refreshingly different from the first game’s. Enough of these episodic stories that leave you hanging after every episode. I applaud 2K for taking the game into a completely different direction, story wise. They could so easily continued the story of Jack from the first game, but thankfully they didn’t.

As a narrative FPS, the story of Bioshock 2 is really the meat of the game. I’m so glad we know next to nothing about it. That’ll make playing the game, when it comes out fall of this year, so much more satisfying.

Gaming Attitude Can (Sometimes) Equate to Leadership Potential, Work Ethics, and Personality

A colleague of mine (who happened to be a DoTA or Defense of the Anicents addict) once stated that people’s work ethics, leadership potential, and personality can be attributed to their DoTA playing styles. Of course, I didn’t agree outright until he gave me some examples of the theory put into work. He mentioned officemates and how they played, and how that relates to how they work. I figured what he said made sense, and I analyzed how it worked on my end as a gamer and as a game designer. Truth be told, I agree with my colleague’s accurate, albeit weird, theory.

So how does this theory work exactly? Well, consider myself as an example. When playing a game of DoTA, I usually stick to the characters I already know and rarely venture beyond my tried and tested builds. My character prefences are spammers, long range, and I have tanks as my least favorite types. I seldom select new characters but occassionally try new ones that feature skills that are already familiar. And when I do try new and unfamiliar characters, reults usually aren’t that favorable. Comparing this to how I work is simple. I am, for all intents and purposes, a pure game designer. I tried being a producer once, and that didn’t work very well (for me, for the project, and for the people I work with), it was my first time anyway. Learning is a process. You try, you fail, you learn (at least what not to do in the future). My experience as a producer was a learning process. I tried, I failed, and I learned not to be a producer in the future (hahaha), of course you can’t be good in everything you want to do. But as a game designer, I can pretty much do well each and every time I try to secrete creative juices out of my brain (when I really try ^_^). I thrive living in the world of imagination ruled by logic and dipped in hot fudge sundae.

In equating this theory with my friends and colleagues, it’s pretty much on the spot. I do have some examples I can give you. Some are a bit shameful and revealing. I just hope the people involved don’t read this. ^_^

I have a friend who’s good in what he does but lacks awareness and predicting potential problems with his work. When he plays DoTA, the same can be said. He’s relatively good in the character he’s using, but usually fails to realize that his character’s already being pummeled to death by a nearby tower. He also sometimes fails to see a red dot on the minimap that he just came across. Oh well.

The friend who proposed this theory also benefits from it. In-game, he emits a command aura that makes his teammates glow. He issues commands, sets plays and combos, analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing team, and leads the team to victory (most of the time). The only downside to his playstyle is his survivalistic tendency to leave teammates behind when his “death” counts hang in the balance. His common excuse in these kinds of scenarios is that “I couldn’t have done anything to save you anyway, so I won’t bother.” In real life, all of these gaming attitudes can be applied. He stepped up to be the lead of his department, he’s technically knowledgeable and steadfast in his craft. The last part of his gaming attitude that equates to real life, is his reluctance to spend any money either for his own or others’ well being. Typical (^_^).

You guys can add your own stories that equate to this theory, or you can add your own theories. Hehehe…

Thief 4 Rumored

There are rumors of a new Thief game in the works in Eidos Montreal, and this is very exciting news. I am a fan, a big fan of the Thief franchise. I loved playing through the dark streets of a medieval town or creeping inside a castle unseen in the shadows and unheard while walking through carpeted areas… ahhh yeah, reminiscing the days I locked myself inside my room, trying to perfect the no kills and loot all mission requirements. Yes, those were the days.

FFXIII Demo Out Now

Today, the world ( Japan specifically ) will officially see the first playable demo of one of the most anticipated title in this gen’s console. But someone generously video taped an early leaked copy of the game. It’s still actually in debug mode (as windows menu sometimes pops out of the screen) so I assume that this is still a beta build and not something that should be compared to the final build. 

First Impression. Contrary to everyone’s expectation, I really love how they went back to the roots and incorporated the world to battle transition. I just hope they do the same to the world map because IMO that’s a quarter of the fun in an RPG. Art wise, I’m disappointed with the environment. Textures are not that clean and there is no normal map even when it’s so near the camera already. Contrary to my first statement, the character art were impressive. The previous trailer’s in game shots were nowhere near as impressive as the demo’s. New shaders were incorporated to the demo. Battle system is very old school. Menu based battle similar to Grandia but instead of just one action, they incorporated a Xenogears/Xenosaga battle system. I’m definitely buying this game.

Crysis Wars Limited Free Multiplayer Experience

About late last week, Crytek announced that they would be offering another chance for everybody to download and experience the full version of the multiplayer shooter Crysis Wars online for a week. As of this moment, their  MyCrysis web site has already revealed details on the said trial period. It will begin on Thursday, April 9 and end on Friday, April 17.

Crysis Wars

For some of you who have already downloaded the full game and have kept you CD Keys from the previous free trials will prompt you for your keys reactivated for the new event. To those newcomers, you can receive a CD Key by becoming a member of MyCrysis.net.. The day the free trial starts, MyCrysis.net members should be able to get their CD Key to play the game online.

You can go ahead and download the full game and the most recent 1.4 patch to play the shooter in LAN mode for free.

Register on MyCrysis by clicking here.
Download the game by clicking here. It’s a hefty 2 Gig in file size.