Our team is tirelessly delivering iPhone game reviews and we have one that you can’t afford to miss. If you like flight simulators, iChromo’s Aera will thrill you (in the App Store now). The game sports neat and refined graphics, smooth animation, and responsive controls that come in handy while casual flying or while you duke it out with another aircraft.
Aera contains four planes (three unlockable) with which to traverse the skies over three locations (two unlockable). You can fly your plane in any of several missions: Aerobatic/Solo, Dog Fight, Race, or Free Flight. Aerobatic/Solo tasks you to fly the plane while collecting a specified number of floating objects within a pre-determined amount of time. You’ll need to be quick and accurate as you fly through rings and avoid hovering mines as you follow the path of balls to success. Dog Fight pits you against another plane. Shoot him down before he shoots you down. To help you accomplish this, you have guns with unlimited ammunition, as well as a limited stock of rockets. A destroyed enemy will rain bonus boxes upon the land. Snag these boxes to pick up points, rockets, and the like. Race, as you might have guessed, is a timed flight mission where you’ll need to avoid the mines if you want to survive. If you prefer to just enjoy the controls or check out the scenery, you can also choose Free Flight to get your fix. You can either play in Campaign mode or Quick Play, choosing from Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty levels.
The 3D game graphics are very polished and help give depth to the 2D gameplay. Sounds are appropriate, with realistic propeller effects and accurate-sounding crashes/explosions. There is no background music, but the game doesn’t feel as though it’s lacking, given its goal of pseudo-simulation rather than full-on arcade. The controls are outstanding. Most of the plane controls are handled through the accelerometer, tilting the device to change the plane’s attitude. A sharp shake of the device will cause a 180-degree flip. On-screen buttons control throttle, boost (necessary when making steep ascents), firing guns/rockets, and changing camera angles. The placement of the buttons leaves the interface feeling uncluttered, though all possible needs are at your quick disposal. Aera includes detailed tutorial explanations, as well as a walkthrough requiring you to complete certain tasks in order to move on.
Tons of cool features are packed into Aera. If you hit an object, the “TimeBack” adjustment will reverse time for you. This is a nice opportunity to retry that same part of the course. No need to start back at the beginning of the level as this just sets you back a few seconds. This feature proved to be a god-send. Want to see how you did on a completed mission? Just watch the video replay that becomes available at that time. If you’re looking for online multiplayer, this comes in the form of local wi-fi only. Now you can play Dual or Capture the Flag against a friend. A Configuration menu grants the ability to change your craft sensitivity and toggle the Prediction line on or off. This virtual path shows where you’re headed at the current altitude and speed.
There may be other flight simulators, side scrollers, and arcade fliers available in the app store, but none that so nicely marries the three. Dog fighting is especially fun and the controls feel very intuitive. Solo can be a fun way to show off your skills while giving you a goal to achieve. It’s just a nice presentation all around. In fact, we can’t remember too many iPhone game reviews that we had so much fun writing. You can tell that a lot of work was put into making this game special. Replay value is high, as the fun, smooth gameplay alone will keep me coming back for more. There are also several Achievements to be earned during the course of gameplay. Unlocking crafts/locations and replaying previously unlocked areas will also increase the replay value. iChromo sends Aera flying into the app store with an attractive $0.99 price tag, a bargain for this terrific 4-star stunner.
Tags: entertainment, flight simulators, flying games, game reviews, games, iPhone, iPhone applications, iPhone Games, iphone video games, ipod, ipod games, reviews, video game reviews, video games
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