The Week That Was: 20/02/10 – 26/02/10

Posted on February 28th, 2010. Written by Damon.

Proudly sponsored by Chillingo Ltd

Guerrilla Bob is out now on the App Store – $2.99

Hit the jump for more!

Intro

We have a brand new sponsor, Chillingo! Look out for this segment to be continued for months to come. Thanks guys!

Complain no more folks! The reason for the extremely slow last week has been uncovered and that is that absolutely everything we could dream of has been released this week. From the long awaited ports by Square Enix of Final Fantasy I & II to the sequel of Brothers in Arms or a bit of Transformers action from Glu mobile. There is something for everything this week, but don’t expect to get it lightly. Just buying our two Final Fantasy titles will set you back a cool $18, but you do get what you pay for with these titles.

Final Fantasy I & II – $8.99 each

The Final Fantasy series is one of the longest running and most successful gaming series of all time. It’s announcement on a release on the App Store was met with lots of excitement and joy. Finally after a quite short wait we have been granted with ports of the games that started it all, Final Fantasy I & Final Fantasy II. Released as their own respective titles, it will cost you $17.98 to own both titles. I have never played these earlier titles in the FF range, but I found myself thoroughly enjoying them. FFI reminds me of Vay while FFII is a bit more advanced obviously.

Each game features around 10 hours of gameplay in some brilliant graphics. They both use the classic RPG style of story and general play, but the fights for those youngins unfamiliar with the series are more like those in Pokemon I suppose. Fans of the titles and the good old days will absolutely love the games to bits, but 20 years later and Final Fantasy can still interested teenagers around the world. For those unsure which to get, either get both or FFII as it is more advanced and has more features that aren’t in FFI. Now go find yourself a Chocobo!

Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front – $7.99

Brother’s in Arms 2: Global Front is the long awaited sequel to Gameloft’s first FPS Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes. Going from Gameloft’s 1st to 5th FPS you can tell how much they have improved in just over a year. This game features some spectacular graphics to rival MC: Sandstorm and NOVA as well as a very long campaign mode, something that I found lacking in the original title. Something I found in this game that I didn’t expect was actually a storyline to go with the game as you follow the path of a soldier who is trying to find out what happened to his brother while serving.

BIA 2 is incredibly smooth on all devices and nothing has been spared in the graphics department. With huge battles over 5 locations and 13 locations ranging from 15-20 minutes each, there is easily 4-5 hours of shooting, driving and blowing up your hundreds of enemies. Throw in the online mode that worked so well for Modern Combat: Sandstorm and NOVA and you pretty much have a complete game. Despite the somewhat annoying shoot and aim controls I would go to say that this is their best FPS yet, even better than the highly favoured NOVA. Don’t miss out on the war.

Mike V: Do or Die – Skateboarding – $4.99

Mike V, for those outside the skating world this name will probably hold no significance. For me being a surfer, I only know the name Mike Vallely from his skating series Drive. What got me interested in this game are a few things, it has a pro skater as a brand name so it must be pretty good and it was developed by skaters for skaters. Generally when someone with a deep passion for the sport develops the game they get it right, just see the various surfing games I have featured in past segments. Has this game been made spot on? I believe it has for true skaters but casual players may not think so.

Mike V features many huge areas to skate in, a career and free play mode as well as the option to drive to your locations. Skating is done by flicking your finger down the screen and tricks by using the board on the right side of the screen. For those who like doing unrealistic tricks like in a Tony Hawk game or Skater Nation you may find this hard, especially with the revolutionary controls. Those purists of skating will fall in love with this game as it delivers a true skating experience that I believe can only be topped if Tony Hawk makes his presence felt. Not being a skater myself I will let you make the decision on this game yourself.

Transformers G1: Awakening – $4.99

Ah, Transformers. I can say that I only jumped on the bandwagon after falling in love with the two great action movies recently made (Megan Fox anyone?). When I saw this game was being released I wasn’t too sure whether I would like it or not, but I decided to get it to try after seeing it was developed by the very trustworthy Glu Mobile. The bulk of this game plays out like Rogue Planet where you take turns moving the Autobots around a field to capture energon and defeat the Decepticons. The other half is watching the Transformers fight in a brilliant 3D cutscene of battle.

The game features 17 levels which follow the original storyline of Transformers, something which should be familiar to those who follow the series closer than I do. There are 23 different Transformers available and you can play as either races in the Cybertron Arena. Screenshots don’t give this game justice to how good the battle animations look as they are pretty cool. $4.99 is a pretty hefty price for this game. Those who love Transformers or turn based games will absolutely crave this game, those casual gamers might want to wait for a price drop.

Other Notable Releases this week Include:

Hottie Hookups by BigStack Studios

Dizzypad by Nimblebit

Guardian Knight by Lineholic

Alice in Wonderland by Disney

Stinger Table Hockey by Stinger Games

Stay tuned next week for the twenty-first installment of ‘The Week That Was’. If you have any suggestions to improve the segment please either email me at damon@razorianfly.com or submit a comment below. Thanks!