Simple Gamer

Forever Drive for iOS Opinions

I recently saw a game called Forever Drive for download on the App Store for free, and last I checked it was still free. It’s an absolutely gorgeous little racing game.

I wasn’t expecting much since there are plenty of games available on iOS that aren’t too great. However, the screenshots for this game really got me interested. It had a feel of Rez for PlayStation 2, or Beat Hazard for PC.

As you drive through different tracks, the colours change. It has a very neon-esque look and feel, and is very simple to play. You can turn left and right using buttons on each respective side of the screen. There’s also a brake pedal beneath each of those buttons, so you can choose which to use to brake. Accelerating is done automatically.

I believe there are in-app purchases, however I’ve been more than happy to just play through the normal mode and enjoy each track. You collect stars, overtake vehicles and drive in special highlighted lanes for points.

Crashing into the side wall or another vehicle breaks your combo of points and slows down your vehicle. Since you must make checkpoints before a time limit, it’s common sense to avoid them, otherwise you won’t progress far.

Forever Drive is a lovely little game. I’m not sure it’ll remain a free app for long, so it’s well worth giving it a download soon. There’s even a mode for building your own tracks, and you unlock all sorts of items for them along the way, however I haven’t dived into that just yet. I’m having too much fun racing as it is!

Hard Reset Demo Opinions

Finally got around to play Flying Wild Hog’s game called Hard Reset, which has been in development for quite a while. It’s essentially an old school FPS game based in a cyberpunk world. I have to say, it’s been a while since I’ve played a game which is literally just a shooter. There aren’t many puzzles, and when there are, it’s very much like the old Quake style puzzles of finding some button to open up the path, i.e. not very challenging.

Graphically this game is gorgeous. It ran like a charm on my Alienware M11x with no slowdowns at all even when there was a lot of action going on. It has a unique feel to it, and creates a good atmospheric feel with the dim lighting, tall futuristic buildings and rather props placed around each area you pass through. For good measure, there are plenty of things for you to shoot that will blow up, which definitely spice things up in battle.

The enemies are basically machines killing humans, so it’s your job to put a stop to them. There isn’t much point in taking an interest in the story, since it’s all about the shooting here, hence old school FPS. You learn early on that the best way, and usually most exciting, is to shoot things in the environment that will blow up or electrocute enemies nearby. It gives an extremely rewarding feeling, especially when you see a whole group of them running your way and then blow up!

I only played the demo but I’m very tempted to buy the full game, only after I’ve got my worth in Deus Ex: Human Revolution though! If you’re looking for a very fun old school type FPS game, then look no further. It’s stunning graphically and I love to cyberpunk look and feel. If only it was an RPG in that world!

Broken Sword: Director’s Cut for iPhone Opinion

An app is available from Apple called 12 Days of Christmas, where you get some sort of free content every day for 12 days. A couple of days ago, they gave away Broken Sword: Director’s Cut for free and I was lucky enough to get in there in time to download it. I’ve played the classic Broken Sword games more than once and really enjoy them – I still have the original games at home and wouldn’t mind playing them again if I had the time. Therefore, it was a no-brainer for me to download this.

I haven’t played it extensively as of yet, just fairly early into the game after playing it here and there since I downloaded it. It’s a pretty large download, and for good reason. It has a ton of voice acting, which is awesome since that was one of the key highlights from the original. It had a massive variety of voice acting for almost all it’s characters, no matter how small. It certainly brings the game to life, which would be a bit dull, and it’s good to see that it’s present here too.

The first thing I did notice about the game was that it’s nothing like Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars. I thought it would be a direct remake with control tweaks and maybe a few additional puzzles, but this seems to start off completely differently to the original game and make good use of the iPhone’s touch controls. At first, it took a little getting used to, but once I figured out how they actually worked, it’s pretty easy to control. The game also has built-in hints, so if you ever get stuck at any point in the game, you can press the question mark in the top right-hand corner for some helpful hints, usually in stages progressing from “not so obvious” to “obvious”.

So far, it seems like a great game for the iPhone, and very easy to play on the go. I was worried about loading, however there is pretty much no loading here at all on my iPhone 3GS. I’m not sure how well it will run on older iPhone models however. For those who missed out, it’s still worth the purchase since it’s just such a great game with a solid story and enjoyable gameplay.

Army of Two: The 40th Day PSP Demo

I’ve been using my PSP a fair amount these days, since it’s been great for picking up and playing in short bursts. I have Vice City Stories to play as well as Little Big Planet, but I thought I’ll give the demo of the new Army of Two a try.

It doesn’t try to be a straight up third person shooter like it’s siblings on the PS3 and 360. Instead, it’s a top down shooter. The controls are very straight forward, you simply use the face buttons to shoot in that corresponding direction. Therefore, it really is a very dumbed down version of the big console iterations.

Despite that, it still is an enjoyable game. It plays fairly well, although there are a few glitchy moments. You have to rely on auto-aiming a lot so your character shoots at the enemies who will not be in only the four directions that you aim in. This doesn’t always work and can often leave you frustrated as they seem to have no trouble shooting at your with exact precision.

It’s certainly worth a download (the demo that is), however I’m not sure if it’s worth a full purchase, unless it is on a big sale!