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You won't want to walk away from Any Landing
The saying goes: "Any landing you walk away from is a good one," and that mindset is the backbone of Any Landing, a new action game from Strange Flavour. Your only goals are to get as far as possible without crashing your plane, and when you do eventually fall out of the sky, to crash as gently as possible. You are given only a button for throttle, a button for the brake and a prayer. Any Landing starts you out with a simple aircraft and gives you a brief tutorial on the game's tilt-based controls and item gathering. From there, you're on your own, and the first few solo flights are definitely going to be shorter than you would expect. In my own experience, the first endeavor came to a close with a poorly timed dive to gain some speed, at which point my plane stalled and burst into flames. This is not unusual in Any Landing. You see, the planes in Any Landing aren't exactly built with care -- or at least it would seem that way, given their tendency to belch fire. Using the engine button to boost your speed damages the engine, and once your engine is completely ruined, you have no way of preventing an eventual crash unless you pick up some in-air repair items. Of course, not everything you find in your path is there to benefit you; there are flocks of birds and other obstacles, as well as bombs and planes from the nefarious "Evil Air" corporation. And whether it's on the first or last of the game's 32 levels, you're going to eventually succumb to the damage the world inflicts and have to hit the dirt. Crashing in Any Landing is an art of its own, and there are many ways to approach it. Slamming into the ground at a steep angle will typically end in a Game Over, but if you can manage to slow your aircraft and slide into the terrain in a less-destructive manner, your crew and passengers will walk away unscathed. It's also worth mentioning Any Landing's in-app purchase system, which I detailed in a separate article. The game allows you to purchase in-app currency called "Wings," which can be used to purchase upgrades and repairs. The twist is that each purchase you make pushes you closer to the US$9.99 "All You Can Eat" tier where you are given unlimited Wings permanently. It's a fantastic compromise for gamers who normally shy away from "pay to win" games, and I'm really hoping other developers adopt similar models. Any Landing is free to play, and it's both a refreshing alternative to the "runner" genre and an example of a fantastic microtransaction model. Give it a shot.
Strange Flavour previews new iOS games
Strange Flavour is an iOS app developer (founded back in 2000) with a long history behind it. Coder Aaron Fothergill used to program games for Mac and consoles, until he switched over to iOS, and made apps for the old dev/publisher Freeverse. Freeverse was later bought by Ngmoco, and now Fothergill is on his own, getting a few games together under the banner of Strange Flavour (the "u" needs to be there: he's English). In this video from WWDC over at iMore, Fothergill talks about a few of the games the company is working on. There's a new version of Slotz Racer, which will send the game over to your Apple TV via AirPlay. The company is also getting into publishing, and Fothergill seems excited to work with other developers. There's a game called Apple Bash coming soon that's sort of a Donkey Kong-style platforming challenge with a cool parallax background trick, and another game called Any Landing, which lets you crash airplanes. Fothergill seems excited about his work lately, and he's certainly got the developer creds to make some great games. We'll look forward to seeing what Strange Flavour puts out in the future.
Slotz Racer now in the App Store
Freeverse Games has released their latest iPhone title, Slotz Racer, and it looks like a good one (I've been having a good time lately with their bowling game as well). Despite the name, it's not another tilt-to-turn racer -- this one has you playing slot cars instead of real cars, those little cars and tracks that you got for a birthday once when you were a kid but have never actually had the patience to set up since. The game features a "unique" control system that even allows up to four people to play on one iPhone at a time, and the big draw here is a track editor -- for a 99 cent introductory price (headed up to $2.99 in 72 hours, we're told), you can assemble as many tracks as you like, and you don't even have to buy any those gigantic boxes from KB Toys.Looks like fun. Freeverse is only publishing here -- the game is developed by a company named Strange Flavour and they've put a nice manual together, along with plenty of tips and tricks to try out. The game is available in the App Store right now for 99 cents, but as we said, the price is heading up to $3 soon (which is still cheap, really, but if you're interested in the game, you might as well save two bucks now). Maybe this is your big chance to finally live your old slot car racing dreams out virtually on your iPhone or iPod touch.
Freeverse reveals Airburst screens
The folks at Freeverse, developers behind the XBLA port of Marathon 2: Durandal, shot over two screens of their upcoming revamp of the classic title Airburst.Announced as an XBLA exclusive in October, Freeverse hopes to bring back the excitement of the 2001 Mac OS release. Developed by partner studio, Strange Flavour (who created the original), gamers can expect HD inverted pong-action, injected with insane color.%Gallery-18204%
Freeverse bringing Airburst to XBLA
Freeverse, the company that brought Spyglass Board Games and Marathon: Durandal to Xbox Live Arcade (on the same day!), has announced a new title for the service called Airburst. The game is being developed by Freeverse's UK counterpart Strange Flavour and emphasizes the pick-up-and-play philosophy of XBLA and "promises to be one of the best party games on the platform." The game features characters riding platforms made of balloons, doing their keep the "chainsaw-bladed burster ball" from destroying their platform while simultaneously bouncing the ball back towards the opponent's platform. It sounds a bit like Pong, only the object is to not let the ball hit your paddle. Airburst promises multiple gametypes, character-specific abilities, and the requisite "crazy power-ups," so it looks like everything is covered. Well, almost everything: no release date has been announced.
