Mankind has waged wars against machines, and itself enough to destroy the Earth. 8000 people has moved into the Project Thor planet/defence system hiding inside an asteroid field. The goal of the game is to get mankind up to sustainable levels, and that has been calculated at 111 million people. As time ticks forward a counter in the top right shows the growth of mankind. It decreased every time an asteroid or enemy hit the planet. If it reaches zero the game is definitely over. There is a surprisingly large amount of story to Project Thor, and it gives the game a sense of urgency.

Controlling the defence system is done by using a dual layered circular controller in the lower right corner. The inner circle controls the Mjölnir that is quite agile. The outer circle controls the shield, and it is much slower. Once the station has been upgraded a fire button shows up in the lower left letting you fire using the Mjölnir. The controls work quite well, but at times I think that the controls for the Mjölnir movements is kind of slow and imprecise because of being quite small.

Upgrading the Project Thor is not intuitive at all. I don’t really get what the different parts actually do, and thankfully you can turn on auto-buy helping you fulfil mission objectives. The more stuff that you upgrade the more cluttered the screen becomes with uninformative graphical representations of the upgrades. The game felt crowded, and hard to see all the incoming asteroids before but when adding a forth of the screen with stuff it becomes hard on the eyes. There are also some strange menu choices that feel counterintuitive. Command and Control gives you upgrade menu and mission menu. Pause is found in the upper left corner, and it gets you back into the action. It feels really strange that you can browse around menus when mankind is in peril.

The graphics in Project Thor is quite good with some nifty explosions and nice space backgrounds. The menus are quite boring, the upgrade system is strange and the clutter of the interface hurts the game play. I found the girl giving you missions really strange. In the middle of an asteroid field with a mankind in pieces, and she has got flowers in her hair. Strange, and somewhat disturbing. Should I really help mankind? Perhaps the gene pool has become too shallow.

The music is ambient space techno that suits the game quite well. The sound effects are underwhelming. When I blast an asteroid as large as a planet I want a big boom, and not just a small thud. Weapon sounds are also weak, and could use some extra power.

Project Thor progresses quite slowly, and the progression feels quite strange as you can go in and out of menus without actually having cleared the area. Furthermore it takes quite a lot of time to afford the upgrades. The gameplay is quite frantic at times, but it also tends to become impossible. I can get rid of two large asteroids at the same time, but three is hard. The first two I can use the Mjölnir for one and the shield for the second. The third crashed into the planet instead.  At times this annoys me quite a lot.

Project Thor takes quite a lot of time to conquer, and the question is whether it is fun enough to spend that amount of time with. I feel a bit apprehensive about it as the interface annoys me. If you get into it Openfeint integration gives you achievements and online scoring. To me the gameplay got old too quickly, and my patience waned as my people slowly multiplied. With some changes to the pacing, and making upgrading Project Thor interesting the game might become something worth investing more time in.

Final Rating

Project Thor $0.99
Version: 1.1
Seller: Iouri Korotkikh

Sorry, Glu!

How to Train Your Dragon is a Glyderesque movie tie-in to the upcoming movie from Pixar with the same name. The story starts with the main character shooting down an illusive dragon during a nightly attack on his village. Rather than killing the beast, Hiccup takes care of it, and they form a secret friendship. The game won’t follow the exact story of the movie, but rather will fill in some gaps, and create a side story of it’s own.

The gameplay is very similar to the Glyder series, in that you use the accelerometer on the iPhone to fly around, collecting items (bugs, in this case) and completing challenges. A nice plus to being on a dragon is the lack of needing to constantly search for updrafts to glide on. Obviously, the dragon has wings, so you can fly around at will without worrying about losing air and plummeting into the ground.

Also different from Glyder, HtTYD will feature a storyline, which makes it less casual. How to tame your dragon features 3 islands, with 11 missions, 8 challenges, and 200 collectible bugs. There is also a slew of achievements to attain in-game, and you can get upgrades for your dragon.

How to Train Your Dragon will be available in a couple days, on March 11th.

Matt and I didn’t only get free food and a good time from the fine folks at Glu, we also got to play their awesome new game, “Escape From Nom.” And let me tell you, Noms are kind of freaky, but this game is far from scary.

Because it is not going to be released in the App Store until some time in May, we only played a version that is still in development (which was still great). This game is a physics based puzzle game, much like Enigmo, that requires the player to get their character (a “blob” named Alan) to his home in the lagoon. Also, Alan changes colors depending on what he comes in contact with. However, the player can only beat the level if Alan is the same color as the lagoon.

Using multiple drag-and-drop tools, I successfully escorted Alan to his home in a mere 15 tries! Mind you it was a harder level. There are bumpers, launchers, ramps, and other types of equipment that help you complete each level. Because the game is not finished yet, Glu will most likely add or remove things to improve the game based on what they feel is best. Apart from just getting to the lagoon, there are little flowers you can collect to give yourself a better score for each level. Depending on your score, you get a bronze, silver, or gold medal: or in my case, a wooden spoon.

Glu told us that they estimate having 5 worlds, each with 10 levels, for a total of 50 levels. Of course, this could be open to downloadable content as well as a possible level editor with server access. The price and official release date are TBD but it looks like a great game. The cute animations and game play gives Escape From Nom a fun feel while still retaining the awesome physics style of game play.

SNS is a game completely built on user-created content from the ground up. It is, at heart, a top-down space shooting game. You control your ship, which fires at oncoming baddies while dodging objects. There are, of course, power ups, large bosses, and the like. What makes this game ground breaking is the fact that everything, and I mean everything in the game can be manipulated by the user - literally, to the point of making it a completely different game.

How does it work? It starts with a simple sketch or drawing on a piece of white paper. You take a picture using the iPhone camera, the game processes the images, and presto! You now have your ship/enemy/boss/background/etc etc. So literally, if you can draw it, even a half-assed piece of crap like Dave would use, you can use it in the game. Obviously, the first thing that comes to my mind is an epic of “Dave verses the monster cocks” or something like that. Fortunately for everyone else, this probably wouldn’t be accepted in the games slick online game repository.

You can link up with friends from Facebook, download their games, or see how they’re doing on your levels. With online support, and an extremely robust level/campaign/object creation system, Sketch Nation Shooter has literally endless replayablilty.We saw a side-scrolling underwater game, a dodge-the-cars driving game, and of course, plenty of space shooting game action. The sound track features some great music from what I heard, which is just an added bonus.

Check out the video below for an example of how easy it is to create a quick level using your own drawings in less than two minutes. Keep in mind, there are literally thousands of deviations of these options when you use an advanced customization.

I can’t wait to get my hands on this game.

We’ve had a play and are pretty disappointed that Konami hasn’t taken the Elebits brand as they did on the Wii, and created something deeper on the iPhone. Instead we are given a simple and short, tap-to-zap shooter, over one level, that just doesn’t cut it these days… we expected more from Konami.

If you are a huge Elebits fan, and you just can’t resist them, then you can pick it up now for $0.99

Alley Gator is a simple concept that has received a nice dose of typical Glu polish and style. The object of the game is to reach the end of each sewer pipe (level) while increasing speed and dodging crazy hurtles in the way. You tilt the iPhone to rotate around the pipe to accomplish this. You will dodge other pipes, spider webs, octopi, and other random items. There are 3 hot peppers to collect in each level, and a power up that lets you smash through anything in your path.

The game looks and plays very well, with excellent visuals. There are only twenty-something levels, and not much reason to play it more than once. By far the best part of Alley Gator is it’s sound effects editor. That’s right, you can record and add your own sound effects to the game. The words at the beginning of this review are just a few that I recorded myself, and the results are HILARIOUS. You can specify which sound goes with which action, and all of them have that “crappy video game sound” feeling, because the iPhone mic is pretty bad at recording. It’s awesome.

This is a good little quick-play title that will be good for a laugh when you record your own sounds, or have a friend record them for you. Although there aren’t a ton of levels, or reasons to come back for more after, there’s a nice variety to the style and objects in a level.

Alley Gator - $1.99

If the movie Tron and the app Cube Runner met in a romantic setting and had a kid, its name would be Gate Runner…and that’s a good thing.

A very stylistic gate-clearing game that offers excellent visuals and sounds, including a custom soundtrack that is good enough to keep you playing just to hear the next song. Gate Runner boasts a very clean 3D environment to go with its artistic renditions of outer space. The goal of the game is to navigate your way through multiple gates in order to complete the level and move to the next. Using speed boosts, directional thrusts, and speed reduction, the player puts their skills to the test to weave their way through every gate on the level, which in turn gets them to the next level.

My only problem with this game is that it does not have a save feature, meaning, after you get through like 150 gates, and accidentally miss one because it is too far to reach, you have to start the entire game over from level 1. No I am not bitter.  Also there is no way to skip to a further level.  Overall, the visuals and sounds alone make Gate Runner a great buy for only $.99, as long as you don’t mind starting over from zero every time you lose. Here’s to hoping for a save feature in the future!

Gate Runner $.99

“GameSpy Technology has made it easier than ever for developers of any size to add online features to their iPhone games,” said Todd Northcutt, Vice President, GameSpy Technology. “Unlike competitors in the space, GameSpy is not attempting to create another proprietary platform but act instead as a service provider in order to empower developers. Thanks to GameSpy’s iPhone
services, the power to control online destiny is now in the hands of people making the games.”

GameSpy’s new customizable UI for iPhone will come as a huge benefit to independent developers who are looking to add robust online features that can span multiple games without having to invest additional time and money. Developers can either implement the UI as is, change the appearance to match their game/brand or use the provided APIs to include GameSpy’s services into their existing game UI. Providing this standardized UI for its services for the first time will ensure more consistent, higher quality of online services, while making it that much easier for developers to implement into their games.

The GameSpy API is common across all gaming platforms, making GameSpy the only online service provider powering games on the iPhone and all other connected gaming platforms. GameSpy’s iPhone services are already in use in titles like Warner Bros Interactive’s Guinness Book of World Records and Rockstar Games’ Beaterator. Moving online features to and from the iPhone is easy with GameSpy’s iPhone technology.

“This aligns perfectly with GameSpy Technology’s strategy of supporting all gaming platforms with a truly open approach,” said Northcutt. “By offering multiple options for integration and turning over control of the branding and customer relationship to developers, GameSpy continues to play the role of true service provider. In keeping with its newly announced GameSpy Open initiative, we have enabled in-app purchases to facilitate development of new business models, especially for games and IP moving over from other platforms.”

GameSpy offers iPhone developers all the benefits of a platform (such as a standardized user experience and ease of integration) with the additional upside of being able to own the relationship with their customer and control the presentation of their branding and UI. The entire suite of iPhone tools encompasses a large number of services, including connectivity to existing game identities and social networking sites, leader boards, user statistics, player buddy lists both from Facebook and from other GameSpy-powered games and important usage metrics. GameSpy also provides a number of high value services like push notifications (with the first million messages delivered to users free of charge) and in-app purchases.

The Sena Sarach Flip is a leather case where you insert the iPhone from the top. The Flip flap wraps extends from the top back, and keeps the iPhone in place when not in use by flapping over the front. A moderately strong magnet fixes the front flap to the bottom by two smaller magnets on each side of the home button. The flap shuts with a satisfying thud. I have yet to have any problems with the use of magnets next to my iPhone. Sena has sold loads of their different magnet flipper cases, and so far they haven’t had a reason to change that design.

When the iPhone is inserted in the Sarach Flip I still have access to all ports, and functions of the iPhone. The headphone jack is open at all times, and actually that part of the iPhone is naked even when the flap is closed. This limits the protection of the case a tad as the top left is completely unprotected, and the top right only has limited cover. The silent button can be operated even when the flip flaps over it. Volume controls and ringer switch are also available as the case is closed. Once open every function is available.

The Sarach Flip does a great job of not interfering with the screen, home button or speakers. I guess I loose about 1 mm at the top of the screen due to tight leather across it. With time the leather will probably stretch to properly fit the top of the screen as well. Other than that I have found no problems using the iPhone for general use or gaming. The only annoyance with gaming is the flap. You can twist is backwards but I don’t want to crease the leather. It takes hand adjustments to play some of the games in landscape mode. For games with a combination of touch and tilt controls such as GT Racing I tend to take the iPhone out of the case.

The quality of Sena products is among the best you can find, and if you are in the market for a leather case they have a lot to choose from. A thing that some cases have that the Sarach Flip lacks is a belt clip. To me that is not a issue as I enjoy how slim the Sarach Flip is, and the fact that it lies flat on a table instead of swivelling on a belt clip. The Sarach Flip is one of the few leather cases with screen protection that doesn’t have any snap buttons. The use of magnets instead is really neat from that perspective as well.
The Sarach Flip is at the echelon of leather cases, and you can choose among five different colour schemes. The one I have tried out is brown with cream bindings. It looks marvellous with the white iPhone 3GS, but I think a black iPhone 3GS would look better in a black/grey Sarach.

There is a credit card slot on the inside of the flap, but it is too tight to be of any use. I have tested it out a couple of times, and even with only one credit card I had to use my teeth to get it out. The Sarach Flip can definitely not replace your wallet. A note or business card is all that you can fit into the slot.

The Sarach Flip case is not built purposely for impact protection, but it still covers the iPhone quite well. The screen is well protected by the thick flap, and if you want even more protection you can insert a credit card that you don’t need access to into the credit card slot.

Summary

Pros
Sleek classy looks.
Premium quality leather with a luxurious feel.
Durable design built to last.
Full phone functionality when flap is open, full iPod functionality when closed.
The magnet solution for the flap is excellent.
Scratch protection for all but the top left corner of the phone.

Cons
Not dockable to all docks.
The flap can be in the way when playing games.
Not a solution if you are looking for impact protection.
The credit card slot is not practical.
An optional belt clip or hip holster would be appreciated.

The Sena Sarach Flip is the sleekest leather case I have ever used. It is well designed, and the execution is spot on. I can fully recommend the Sarach Flip to anyone looking to add extra flair to his or her iPhone. In the case of Sarach Flip money asked correspond well to the quality given. If you dislike flaps there is also a Sarach Leatherskin where the flap has been removed.

Final Rating

Sena Sarach Flip 3G/3GS at Sena Cases $69.95