Aera - Game Review

iChromo has just released its side-scrolling flight simulator Aera with racing, dog fighting, aerobatics, and free flight. The game has a unique look and has been highly anticipated thanks to the company’s flashy trailer video.

Gameplay has been simplified by restricting the plane’s movement to the horizontal and vertical axes alone. There is no free flight through the attractive 3D world, just left-to-right and vertical motion. Immelmann turns, flipping the plane and doing a half loop, are used to change the horizontal direction of the plane.

Coming from more traditional flight simulators, I found the controls somewhat awkward. I kept wanting to tilt the iPhone towards me to climb and turn it to roll the plane, like on a standard joystick. In Aera, however, you turn the iPhone to climb and dive and flick it forward or backwards to roll your aircraft. Perhaps I’ll get used to it but after an hour it still didn’t feel natural. Neither does watching your plane from the side.

There is no doubt that the game’s graphics are quite polished and there is a range of different aircraft which can be unlocked by completing the campaign mode. Unfortunately, the gameplay appears a little thin. The campaign is relatively short but quick dog fights and multiplayer do help offset this.

I really want to like Aera and much of it is very slick. However, I do find the controls counterintuitive and would prefer to be “in the cockpit” and not outside.

Note that some of what is seen in the company’s video is taken from the “Kino” playback mode where you can review your flights and change perspective. You cannot do this during gameplay.

Update: In multi-player mode there is some lag and may be some bugs in where your plane is respawned. A number of times the aircraft is respawned too close to the ground, resulting in immediate crashes.

Summary: Needs more optimization and content to justify the medium price point on the app store. Otherwise wait for the inevitable sale.

Update: Of course Aera, like most other apps, has just dropped to 99 cents today (September 28, 2009). Despite the short content, Aera is definitely worth your dollar and is a good value at that price. I really wish I could learn to wait a week before buying new releases on the App Store…

Overall rating: 3.5 stars out of 5.

TiltShift Generator Sale

iPhoneography reviews Takayuki Fukatsu’s TiltShift Generator photography app. Currently on sale for 99 cents, I picked up this app last night. It works very well and has a clear, well-designed user interface.

Note that full resolution output will be added in version 1.02/1.03. Output is currently limited to 800 x 600 pixels.