SkiesOfGlory
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TUAW's Daily App: Skies of Glory
I actually picked up Skies of Glory a while back, but it wasn't until I finally nabbed my iPhone 4 this weekend that I got to see it running in its full, well, glory. Skies of Glory is a World War II air combat simulator -- it walks a nice line between simulation and arcade, as you don't need to worry too much about controlling the plane (the iPhone's accelerometer is used to great effect), but you'll still need to keep your bearings to take out enemies. It's challenging, but spending the time to get your plane lined up is actually pretty rewarding, not to mention that it's awesome to see a fully implemented air combat sim on the iPhone. The game's model will probably rub some folks the wrong way, but there's actually plenty of content for free. The game itself is a free download, and includes a tutorial mission, a first combat mission, and a set of dogfights, along with the ability to play multiplayer over WiFi. After that (and it will take you a good evening to finish that content), you can buy extra planes and mission packs with in-app purchases, just a couple of bucks each. Or if you want to go a more traditional route, you can buy a Battle of Britain app for US $6.99, which has planes and mission packs already included. Either way, Skies of Glory is worth checking out. I wouldn't say it rivals flight sims on other platforms -- it doesn't have the graphical glitz of a game like HAWX on consoles, and it definitely doesn't match up to super professional flight sims on the PC. But on the iPhone, especially running at full speed on an iPhone 4, it's pretty impressive.
Android versus iPhone live multiplayer gaming made possible in SGN's Skies of Glory
Shocking as this might sound, there are no only a few games in which iPhone and Android users can go at each other in live multiplayer mode. Exploiting this vast void is Social Gaming Network, whose Skies of Glory aerial dogfighting title has been ported to Android (2.0 and above) while retaining the ability to communicate with iOS devices over WiFi, 3G or Bluetooth connections. Frankly, we can't think of a better game to get the cross-platform multiplayer movement going: fAndroids and iPhoneys gunning each other down while talking smack to themselves should prove therapeutic for both parties. On a more serious note, given the tireless growth that both platforms are showing, this kind of thing should hopefully tend toward being the rule rather than the exception. Update: Our readers have sagely reminded us that Raging Thunder 2 and Homerun Battle 3D have done the cross-platform dance already. The more the merrier, we say.
