Archive for the ‘tweak’ tag
Parrot AR.Drone Review – The Coolest RC Toy I’ve Played With
We've been excited for the Parrot AR.Drone since we first heard about it early this year. After a few different hands-on opportunities at various conventions, it was hard to not see the amazing potential the device had once you got it outside of the little 10 foot by 10 foot tent that was home to its demonstrations. After spending an entire week with the Parrot AR.Drone, it does have some down sides, but is still the coolest RC toy I've had a chance to play with.
The Parrot AR.Drone is a quadricopter that is piloted using an iPhone, iPod touch, or even an iPad. When the device is powered up, it starts broadcasting its own WiFi network. Using the companion Free Flight [Free] app, you connect to this wireless network and begin controlling the unit. The network it creates isn't encrypted at all, but the AR.Drone does bind itself to the first device that connects to it to prevent other people from hijacking your flight session. Unpairing your phone is as simple as pressing a small button on the underside of the device.
Once you're connected to the AR.Drone via the Free Flight app, you're immediately shown whatever the front facing camera sees. The top left button cycles through what is displayed on the screen between the front facing camera, the bottom facing camera, or a mixture of both. With both displayed you can continue pressing the button to swap whether the front facing or bottom facing camera is shown in the corner or filling the screen.

Just below the camera cycling button is a button that allows you to edit the settings of the device. From here you can tweak nearly everything such as how quickly it will climb, how much it will bank on turns, how sensitive the iPhone controls are, and even the SSID the AR.Drone broadcasts. Also in the settings is what kind of shell you're currently using and whether or not you're flying outdoors.
Included with the Parrot AR.Drone is the large indoor shell which protects the propellers from bumping in to things as you fly it around your house as well as the much sleeker outdoor shell. Swapping these is easy, they fit over the front facing camera and are secured on the back with a magnet. Outdoor hulls are available in three different colors for $20 each, and a replacement indoor hull will run you $30.
The first thing you notice with the AR.Drone when you pull it out of the box is just how incredibly light and fragile the whole unit feels. The two different hulls and the body of the unit itself are made of EPP, or Expanded Polypropylene, a material that is widely used in most RC aircraft. It's able to bounce back and retain its shape, but just like other RC aircraft, I don't see the AR.Drone being able to handle much abuse. Thankfully, Parrot has an with every part you'd need to completely rebuilt your AR.Drone if you had to.
Flying the device itself is very easy, although doing anything more than just basic maneuvers requires a bit of getting used to. In the Free Flight app, tapping the button at the bottom of the screen causes the AR.Drone to either take off or land. From there, holding your thumb on a button on the bottom left side of the screen allows you to move the unit forward, back, or side to side by tilting the device you're running Free Flight on. Turning side to side and adjusting your altitude is accomplished using a virtual joystick of sorts on the right. If you get in trouble, an emergency button on the top of the screen immediately kills power to the propellers.
It's amazing just how much the AR.Drone does for you. It comes packed with some fairly advanced circuitry that will do everything it can to keep the device level. If you ever lose your connection to the AR.Drone WiFi, it just stops itself then slowly lands. Using sensor data from the bottom of the device, it can keep itself hover in place, even outside in a light breeze. Aside from actually running into something, the AR.Drone is also very difficult to crash, even when you're intentionally trying to get it to lose control. If it senses that it's about to tilt too far to one direction or otherwise lose control, it will abruptly correct itself.
It's really cool to see all these systems working in tandem, and if you've ever fiddled with other RC helicopters before, how idiot proof the AR.Drone is in comparison will amaze you. Unfortunately, because flying the device is such a cool experience, the first thing you immediately come to grips with is just how short the battery life is. On a full charge, I was able to fly the unit outside for around a half hour (or less depending on wind conditions) and indoors I was able to juice an additional 15 minutes or so out of the battery for a total flight time of about 45 minutes. Charging the battery back up takes an hour and a half.
Another unfortunate drawback to the AR.Drone is just how mediocre the cameras on the device are. The forward facing camera sports a resolution of 640×480, and Parrot claims it delivers this video feed at 15 FPS, but in my testing the frame rate was rarely anywhere near that, or very constant for that matter. The bottom camera is a much lower 176×144, but can display 60 FPS according to Parrot. In my testing, video from the bottom camera is a lot smoother, but it is very difficult to fly the unit using only the bottom facing camera. Because of this, more often than not I just flew the AR.Drone like I would any other RC toy in that I just watched it in the air and used my iPhone as an incredibly elaborate controller.
Without a shell on, the AR.Drone can lift very light loads, allowing for things like high definition helmet cams to be strapped to it for some better video. For instance, I found this video on YouTube of an AR.Drone with a onboard:
Once you spend more time with the AR.Drone, other limitations begin to become increasingly noticeable. For instance, with the height limiter enabled in the options, the AR.Drone will only climb to around 20 feet off the ground which is as far as the sensors under the craft can detect. With the height limiter disabled, you can climb much higher, but flying the unit becomes incredibly difficult as it's no longer capable of hovering in place once you exceed the capabilities of its bottom-fancing sensors.
Testing the vertical capabilities of the device was the only time I had to use the emergency button. Once you take away the AR.Drone's ability to figure out where it is in relation to the ground, it loses its ability to correct its location. Flying the device on what I'd call a fairly calm day resulted in it almost being blown into some trees when a small breeze picked up. In comparison, in similar conditions closer to the ground the AR.Drone barely moved at all.
Also, since the whole device operates on WiFi, you're constrained by the range limitations of both the AR.Drone and the iPhone. Parrot is claiming you can operate the device from 150 feet away, which seemed a little optimistic in my testing. Thankfully, all the cool auto-pilolting stuff I mentioned earlier comes in to play when you lose your connection to the AR.Drone and it just flies in place waiting for you to get back in range and resume flight.
Overall the Parrot AR.Drone seems like a very 1.0 device with loads of potential both in future hardware revisions and in future development with the AR.Drone API. Improved battery technology, higher resolution cameras, and more powerful sensors to allow for higher flights are all things I would love to see in future models. Currently the only companion app available for the AR.Drone is the Free Flight app, but Parrot has promised other apps such as augmented reality games where two players with their own AR.Drones can have virtual dog fights, and other similar things. None of these were available at the time of this review, but I definitely can see the amazing potential for future software development.
Parrot is boasting a for developers to program their own apps to interface with the AR.Drone. While I'd love to think that there are going to be all kinds of different third party apps for the device, I really can't imagine many developers devoting resources to projects that not only require you to own an iPhone or iPod touch, but also a Parrot AR.Drone– Especially considering the mediocre uptake that iPad-only games have seen, and the iPad's market is likely exponentially larger than that of the Parrot AR.Drone.
However, if you're interested in RC aircraft and have dabbled in iPhone development, I really can't think of a much better toy to own than the AR.Drone. Throughout all my testing, I kept thinking "The AR.Drone would be cool if it did _______." If you're capable of utilizing the API to build an app that fills in the blank for whatever awesome functionality you come up with, $300 for the AR.Drone seems like a worthy investment for hobbyists.
While the Parrot AR.Drone is the coolest RC Toy I've ever played with, it's hard to give it a strong general recommendation given the current lack of software. It also would have been nice to see Parrot bundle a second battery in with the unit since additional batteries are pretty much required if you're serious about flying the device. If you're OK with waiting to see what additional apps get released, and you're patient enough to deal with 90 minute recharge cycles, flying the AR.Drone will likely be one of the most awesome things you'll ever do with your iPhone.
The Parrot AR.Drone is for $299.99. They offer a number of accessories with it, including extra batteries for $29.95 and both two- and three-year service plans– although it's not entirely clear if crashing the device in to a tree constitutes as "normal wear and tear" in the eyes of Brookstone's warranty department.
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‘Helsing’s Fire’ and ‘Monster Dash’ – Two Great Games Get Two Great Updates
It's hard for us to say enough good things about Monster Dash [99¢] and Helsing's Fire [99¢]. One game takes the running right forever gameplay formula that's become so popular, spices it up, and adds weaponry. The other is an incredibly unique puzzle game which is unlike anything we've played on the iPhone, a claim that's almost impossible to make with puzzle games. Both games have received recent updates, so be sure to download them if you haven't already.

Monster Dash now comes packed with an additional power-up for Barry to pick up, a motorcycle that makes you temporary invincible while riding it. Along with the motorcycle comes new motorcycle-related stat tracking and achievements as well. Halfbrick also made some fixes and other tweaks to the game such as fixing heart placement so they're a little easier to pick up. Best of all, this update just shows that they're committed to supporting the game much like Fruit Ninja [99¢ / HD] which has also been host to several great updates.
Helsing's Fire 1.2 adds an entirely new campaign to play through, a new character, a new enemy, additional puzzle mechanics, and even a cool online system where you can solve puzzles for bounties to compete against other players online. The new campaign also comes with an additional survival arena, and you can now replay, save, and share puzzles you've played in the past.

If you still don't own these games, we have overwhelmingly positive reviews for both Monster Dash and Helsing's Fire that you should check out. The two games combined would probably be the best $1.98 you'll spend today, but if you already own them, be sure to mash your update button in iTunes as soon as possible.
Monster Dash, $0.99
Helsing’s Fire, $0.99
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A ‘Max Adventure’ Update, Level Building Video
Back in June at Apple's WWDC 2010 in San Francisco, we had a chance to sit down with Natalia Luckyanova of , the folks who most recently brought us Harbor Master HD [free], to take a look at their upcoming dual-stick shooter Max Adventure, which we first previewed earlier in the year.
Max Adventure paints a friendly end-of-the-world scenario where all the adults have been abducted by aliens. That leaves you, young Max, as the only one who can save the other children and the world, in general.




We recently checked in with developer Keith Shepherd to find out how the game is coming along. As it turns out, a lot of progress has been made on the title since we saw it back in June. The game engine is now basically complete and the focus is currently on levels and content. Imangi is shooting for around 20 levels in Story Mode, with a handful of Survival maps available at launch. According to Keith, they're halfway there, with a mix of mission types currently in place:
- Rescue missions, where you go around saving kids trapped in the neighborhoods
- Escort missions, where you have a lead a particularly scared friend to safety while battling off enemies
- Area clearing missions, where you have to get rid of all the enemies in the area
- Bonus levels, where you get to run around and collect as much treasure as you can in a limited time
- Survival missions, where you have to fend off waves of enemies
- Boss battles
To give gamers an idea of what goes into putting a Max Adventure level together, Imangi recently released a time-lapse video that condenses four hours of level building footage into just three minutes. The video shows progress from a blank slate to a rough, playable draft, all within their own, custom-built, Mac OS X-based level editor. The accompanying score is taken from original, in-game music that Natalia is presently working on.
[ See our WWDC Max Adventure interview / hands-on footage. ]
Keith stresses that four hours to build a level may seem short, but it doesn't factor in the work put into the art assets by designer Kiril Tchangov, programming time, and play testing and tweaking time, which can take up to days for a single level.
And the latest addition to the game? Keith tells us that, recently added, is Max's ability to take over the flying pods of groups of aliens that attack on the wing, giving him the ability to take advantage of a pod's powerful weapons and to fly over low obstacles.
We'll post a close look at Max Adventure when it goes live in the App Store. Stay tuned.
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‘Phantasy Star II’ Review – More of This Please, Sega
Back when Sega was releasing games like Sonic the Hedgehog [$5.99], Sonic the Hedgehog 2 [$5.99], and Streets of Rage [$2.99] wrapped in their Genesis emulator we were increasingly critical of the poor performance and mediocre controls. These types of games were built to be played at a high frame rate, with gameplay that basically requires the precision found in the original physical Genesis controller and just flat out didn't work that well on the iPhone. With every one of these games that Sega released, people posted in comments and on our forums asking where in the world Sega's massive back catalog of RPG's and other games that would work phenomenally within the constraints of the emulator.
Sega finally responded by releasing Shining Force [$2.99], an effort that was hard to say enough good things about in our review. Tonight they've released Phantasy Star II [$2.99], and much like Shining Force, the slow pace of the game completely negates any performance issues of control inaccuracies and instead just provides an awesome classic RPG in your pocket.

Phantasy Star II is the sequel to Phantasy Star, a Sega Master System game which didn't see another release in North America until it appeared on the Gameboy Advance and then the Wii Virtual Console. Playing the first is by no means required to enjoy the second, as the plot of Phantasy Star II follow the now entirely cliche story of ridding the world of ultimate evil while the backgrounds of the various characters that make up your party develop. Phantasy Star II has made it on to several greatest games of all time list, and it really should be played by any fan of turn based RPG's.
Really the only thing I could ask of this port is some further refinement to the emulator. Phantasy Star II badly needs a way to speed the game up as your movement is more than a little slow by today's standards, a "problem" other PC emulators have solved by allowing you to crank the speed of the game up. I somehow doubt Sega would ever implement these kind of tweaks, but enough complaining did get them to release two fantastic RPG's so far, so who knows.
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‘Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor’ Gets Some Retina Display Love
Spider is a game that we really just can't say enough good things about. The iPhone game, Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor [$2.99] was our game of the year in 2009, and Spider HD [$4.99] is great on the iPad. There's also the pseudo-lite version of the game, Spider: Hornet Smash [Free] which is totally worth checking out if you've yet to try Spider just to see how the mechanics of being a spider in the game work. We loved Spider in our review, and the development of the game itself is also fairly interesting which was covered in both an interview and a talk at GDC Austin.
An update just hit the App Store for Spider that among other tweaks finally adds Retina Display support which has made the game look even more amazing. One of my favorite things about Spider always has been the great hand drawn art style that encompasses the whole game, and the high pixel density of the Retina Display now makes Spider even more visually impressive.

Spider has been out for just over a year now, so if you've had it chilling in your iTunes library instead of synced to your device, now is an excellent time to do so if you own an iPhone 4. Otherwise, if you're looking for another game to show off just how great things can look on the Retina Display, Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor is a worthy pick.
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Update to ‘C64 for iPhone’ Now Available in App Store
Earlier this month, we detailed an update for the Commodore 64 iPhone app that developer had been busy working on for the past several months. This update would bring some much needed control optimizations both to the overall functionality of games and added flexibility for specific titles that would need more than a standard control stick and button setup. And of course, a nice selection of new downloadable titles would be included in this update as well.
As of earlier today, the update has gone live in the App Store. Here is the list of features from the App Store description:
- NEW – Lots of new games, including Last Ninja series, International Karate, Armalyte and Druid
- IMPROVED – Upgraded to OpenFeint 2.5
- IMPROVED – Reimplementation of control layout system, to support the complex controls scenarios for games like The Last Ninja
- IMPROVED – Display OF notifications at top rather than bottom
- IMPROVED – Removed bottom bar in full-screen landscape to prevent obscuring screen in games like Wizball
- NEW – Fixed-mode joystick in landscape mode, automatically selected for specific games
- NEW – Option to force fixed-mode joystick in landscape mode for all games
- FIX – Borders correctly drawn in landscape (Wizball)
- FIX – Corrected dead zone area at side of screen in landscape, rendering controls unresponsive
- NEW – Added grouping to In App Store to separate downloaded / purchases
- IMPROVED – Hi-res icons added for retina and iPad displays
- NEW – Option to adjust dead zone / sensitivity of joystick
- IMPROVED – Shop now separates downloaded games
I've given the update a spin and can really tell the improvement in controls across all of the games that I tried. I'm especially fond of being able to adjust the dead zone of the control stick, as that has been a point of frustration for me when playing certain games before. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, not every new game is available in the in-game store. Apparently the problem lies on Apple's end at the moment, and developer Stuart Carnie has that he contacted Apple to correct the situation, and is hoping to have the games become available in the next few days.
Until then, definitely make sure to update your C64 for iPhone app to take advantage of the revamped controls, as well as the other tweaks and optimizations contained within.
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LaserDisc Game ‘Road Blaster’ Screenshots Released
Originally released in 1985 by the now defunct , Road Blaster is a LaserDisc game in the style of Cobra Command [99¢]. Road Blaster was one of the last LaserDisc games ever released, and is set in a Mad Max-like post apocalyptic world where you play as a vigilante on the road hunting down a biker gang in attempt to bring them to justice for the death of your wife. Along the way you will need to do all kinds of tricky driving maneuvers before finally facing off with the gang's leader.

The only time this game has been seen outside of Japan is in the Sega CD port which not only suffered from the same horrid video compression of all Sega CD games, but also got renamed to Road Avenger. have completely remastered the game, and when it is finally released, it will play at 60FPS at full iPhone 4 or iPad resolutions. They've also completely redesigned the dashboard of the car, added in tilt controls, and made a whole list of other tweaks.
Check out this comparison between the original arcade and iPad versions of the game:

Road Blaster is currently in the final stages of development, and is expected to be released on the App Store sometime next month.
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‘Madden NFL 11′ Review – GameFlow, Where Have You Been All My Life?
The Madden series hardly needs an introduction, as football player turned coach turned commentator John Madden has had his name on football games for the better part of 20 years now. On home consoles, it has become tradition for EA to release a new Madden game each year with updated rosters, a few new features, and other various tweaks. As of tonight, the second yearly installment of the Madden series has arrived for the iPhone.
Last year we took a close look at Madden NFL 10 and thought it was a really great football game for the iPhone. Madden '10 came loaded with all the licensed players, stadiums, logos, and everything else you'd expect of a Madden game along with game modes ranging from single exhibition games to full seasons. The two hip new features of Madden NFL 10 for the iPhone were hot routes allowing players to draw on the screen to control players, and "action control time" which switched the game to slow motion mode allowing for precise maneuvers with the virtual controls.

There wasn't much to complain about with last year's Madden, which really left me wondering what EA was going to include in this year's release to up the ante. The preview we got revealed substantial graphical upgrades including Retina Display support, but it wasn't until I got to spend more time with the game today that I realized just how much more fun the other new features made playing Madden NFL 11.
In the interest of full disclosure, I'm not a sports person by any means. I don't remember the last time I watched anything more than the Super Bowl on TV, and the only sporting events I've attended have been the result of friends with extra tickets. I play sports games, but generally gravitate towards arcade style sports games like Homerun Battle 3D [$4.99 / Free], or sports games that have RPG elements such as Baseball Superstars 2010 [$4.99 / Free].
I mention this because I generally never really got into a Madden game, or really any full football game. The weak link for me always came in choosing from an endless array of both offensive and defensive plays, with each yearly iteration of football game boasting even more plays to choose from. I don't know enough about the strategy of football plays to have ever felt like I was making a wise decision, and when it got down to it, play selection just always seemed like a needless interruption every few seconds while playing the game.
GameFlow changes all of this, and I really can't overstate how awesome a feature it actually is. Using some new AI algorithm likely designed by a team of people who know way more about football than I ever care to, Madden 11's GameFlow will intelligently chooses plays for you. It is absolutely insane how much this changes both the feel and the pace of the game. Using GameFlow, endless submenus of plays are a thing of the past. Instead, you just play football. The plays it selects work fairly well too, or at least, much better than my typical choice of plays which usually alternate between the hail mary and the fake field goal kick– both favorites of mine.
What's also shocking is how much this actually speeds up playing the game. You can tap the screen to skip through the extra animations, victory dances, and other junk and play through a whole football game in what barely seems like any time at all. Of course, if you are the kind of person who knows exactly what every play does, all you have to do is flip GameFlow to off and you have complete control of each and every play.
The hot routes functionality from last year has been expanded, and at any point during the game you can pause the action and draw paths for your players. If you're playing offense and do this, you can save those routes as an audible, or if you're playing defense you can just send your players wherever you want. The whole system works very well, and by drawing lines you can send dispatch players to man to man duty, follow the ball, or really anything else. This really makes defense a lot more fun because you can now actually sensibly direct your team around instead of just tabbing in between players and chasing after whoever has the ball. Check out my top secret LOL offense:

As mentioned already, the graphics of Madden NFL 11 look fantastic. The stadium crowd has actual depth now, and they even wave around signs for the home team. The included weather effects look good, and overall it seems like all the player models and animations are more detailed. Every texture in game also seems to have been substantially improved, making going back and forth between 10 and 11 seem fairly drastic.
Madden 11 also is host to some other noticeable tweaks over last year's as well such as controls that feel a little better and a spruced up interface. There's an in-game store which currently is home to a free roster update, but seems like it might be used for future DLC . Finally, Madden NFL 11 behaves beautifully as an iPhone game, gracefully saving your game and resuming quickly when you load it again.
Like last year, the inevitable comparison between Gameloft's NFL 11 [$6.99] and Madden NFL 11 will likely take place in our forums for months to come, but in my opinion, Madden wins by a landslide. Gameloft's offering seems to run at a higher frame rate, but Madden looks better overall– rspecially when it comes to how the crowd and stadiums are rendered. Madden NFL 11 has local bluetooth multiplayer while NFL 11 is single player only, and the commentary in Madden seems less repetitive than Gameloft's. Where Madden really wins though is in the extra features. With how much I've fallen in love with GameFlow I can hardly bring myself to deal with NFL 11's play selection, and Madden's total defensive control makes playing defense in NFL 11 flat out boring in comparison.
At the end of the day, people who like Madden games likely don't need this review, or anything more than the iTunes link to download the game for that matter. Who I really expect to sway into checking out Madden NFL 11 are the casual sports fans, or people like me, who are vaguely interested in sports games but found the various technicalities of football games to generally be annoying. GameFlow fixes all this, and I can hardly believe that I spent the majority of my day today playing Madden 11 on my iPhone– not because I was trying to power through it to write a review, but because I was actually really enjoying a football game for the first time since on the Sega Genesis.
The iPad and iPhone versions are essentially the same aside from the price difference and UI tweaks to make the controls more comfortable for playing on the iPad. The iPhone version is workable with pixel doubling, and the only thing you're really going to be missing out on is the upcoming "Vintage Voltage Football" mode which is basically just Super Shock Football [$1.99 / Free] with Madden graphics.
International App Store Link: Madden NFL 11
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Two New Updates and Price Drops – ‘Frogatto’ and ‘The Hero’
Frogatto is an open source platforming game that was released to the App Store last month. We took a close look at the game when it came out, and though our impressions were mostly positive a couple of issues stuck out in an otherwise excellent retro-styled platformer, most notably the somewhat finicky controls and a lack of a save state when exiting the game. Both of these issues have been resolved in a new update, and Frogatto now features much tighter controls (especially when navigating underwater portions) and the game saves right where you left off when interrupted. In addition, other tweaks and optimizations have been included, as detailed in the update notes:
- Significantly improved controls, both functionally and graphically.
- Fixed auto-saving on iOS4 where multitasking is supported.
- Fixed bug where a dialog could repeat forever.
- Fixed crash in world map when you hold down while entering it.
- Added music and sound volume controls to pause screen.
- Added half-hearts.
- Minor level changes.
- Updated music.
If any of these issues have held you back in purchasing Frogatto before, now is the time to grab the game as not only have these problems been addressed in this update but the game is also on sale for 99¢ for a limited time (down from $4.99). I've played through this updated version and can confirm that it's quite a big improvement from the initial release, and Frogatto stands as one of the better platform games available for the iPhone.
The Hero places you in the role of a superhero tasked with preventing crime and catastrophic events from befalling various cities in the world, all while maintaining a positive public image and keeping collateral damage to a minimum. You control your hero with a virtual stick that allows you to fly in any direction through the air, with a button for speeding your flight as you rush to save citizens from the many hazards in each city. These can be robbers in the street, bombs or fires in the buildings, rescuing falling babies, and of course defeating zombies. When not saving the citizens, you're dishing out high fives to them as you fly by, which increases your various special move gauges and promotes fame and good will.
A new update to The Hero adds 3 mini-games to the 15 level campaign and 4 level survival mode, as well as minor artwork/storyline tweaks and a revamped scoring system:
- A Fully revised gameplay and scoring model
- 3 Brand New minigames: Asteroids, Bomb Run, High-Fiver
- Levels are now packed with even more action
- New super bonus from high five streaks
The Hero was released back in March, and we really liked it in our full review, but for some reason it has flown under the radar since then and we haven't heard much of it in the past few months. Hopefully this new update will rekindle interest in this underrated title, and to help with that The Hero is also on sale for a limited time for 99¢ (down from $1.99). If you missed it the first time around, it's definitely worth checking out with the addition of more content and this temporary price drop.
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‘Helsing’s Fire’ Updated – Increased Difficulty, Various Tweaks, and Best of All: New Victory Animation
Last month we took a look at Helsing's Fire [99¢], an absolutely fantastic puzzle game by and published by . We thought the game was great in our review as it sports a unique gameplay mechanic we had yet to see on the iPhone. Players position a torch in the game world, and from there are able to attack the baddies that are within line of sight using a variety of multi-colored tonics. Things eventually get complicated as new monsters are introduced with both behave differently and require different combinations of tonics and torch positioning to vanquish.
Since our review, one of the main criticisms I've seen of the game is how slowly the difficulty ramps up since most of the earlier levels required very little thought at all. Ratloop addressed this concern by both making the game harder faster and adding the "absurd" difficulty level, even warning players in the iTunes description that this new difficulty level is "way too hard." There are now multiple player profiles for those who share their device with other people, and they even added a new colorblind mode for those who had issue with the red, green, and blue palette of the enemies.
Performance has been tweaked for higher frame rates, and you can now listen to your own music while playing. Best of all, there's an entirely new victory animation– The Tomahawk. Overall, 1.1 is a fantastic update to an already great game. If you already own Helsing's Fire, make sure you grab 1.1, and if you need more convincing to download the game, take a look at <a href="our review or read the overwhelmingly positive responses in .
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