Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look, App Review
First Look: Get airborne with Aera for iPhone
Aera is a new flight game [iTunes store] from iChromo with beautifully rendered graphics and some challenging game-play. I wouldn't exactly call it a flight simulator, as your control of the aircraft is limited. You can't bank left or right, but you do control your up and down pitch. The game is priced at US$2.99 for the iPhone and iPod touch.Think of Aera as a 2D shooter with exceptionally good graphics and addictive missions that can draw you deeply into the game.
There are several different mission types. In some, you collect points by flying the plane into floating objects, and in others you need to avoid those floating objects. There are also missions where you have to do both, as well as dogfights and aerobatic flights.
Because the controls do not work in the way other flight games work, it's helpful to go through the quick in-game tutorial so you know how the game works. If you try to exit the tutorial and just start playing, you'll be brought back to the tutorial until you have finished it. It really is necessary, because you'll never be able to fly successfully without going through it.
The game also features multiplayer options for other owners of the sim who are on the same wireless network. Aera also features video replay, allowing you to watch yourself crash and burn.
Aera is not a game you will play twice and discard. It takes skill and some time to learn the fine points of how things work. I haven't seen more impressive 3D graphics in any other iPhone game; Aera is that good.
One feature I'd like to see added to Aera is more views of the plane, especially an in-cockpit view. Currently, you are always outside the plane, as if viewing from an aircraft behind and off to the side of your plane.
I had one crash (program, not airplane) where the game froze up and the sound continued to play even when I exited the sim. In order to get things back under control, I had to restart my iPhone. I only saw that bad behavior once; the rest of the time, through many runs, the game behaved well.
In summary, Aera is not really a flight sim, but the graphics and game-play are first rate. You can see a video of Aera in action here.
Visit the gallery below to view some actual screenshots of Aera in action.
Gallery: Aera flight game
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim Atkinson said 5:24PM on 9-22-2009
This really is a first rate gate, in a way that no other game I've played on an iPhone is. The graphics are great, the controls (once you've gone through the tutorial) are good & intuitive ('invert' controls if you're finding them hard), and, most of all, it's addictive!
For £1.79 (I'm in the UK) it's the best value game on the App Store - not that I've tried them all, I just know! Great fun, just need to get the Mrs to download a copy and we can go multiplayer ;-)
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oliver hart said 6:44PM on 9-22-2009
i disagree. doodlejump is still the best game in the app store. then comes madden x
cmsb55 said 10:01PM on 9-22-2009
@ Oliver Hart:
I haven't played Madden but Doodle Jump is my favorite game by far. For one dollar, it has to be one of the best deals in the app store.
Fred said 6:19PM on 9-22-2009
It looks great! Unfortunately (for them) I'll be waiting for a $.99 sale to get it like I do almost all my iPhone games. It's worth mentioning I think that the iPhone dev community really needs to stop doing this. I learned my lesson pretty early by getting burned on some of the $10 games that fell through the floor a little while after I bought them and now I never buy a new game that is priced above $.99. My wallet appreciates it, but I'm sure the devs don't.
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Jordan said 7:19PM on 9-22-2009
"Beautifully rendered graphics"
When will people realize the iphone/touch are not gaming devices. Their graphics look like crap when it comes to 3D
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Greg Perkins said 7:43PM on 9-22-2009
I tend to agree about the 3D, I've only seen racing games that come close to emulating their peers (NFSU, Real Racing) and top-down games where the illustration is full of detail or style. 3D on the iPhone does not impress, it's like a PS1.5.
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Zak said 9:13PM on 9-24-2009
Can we agree not to use the term "addictive" in reference to games anymore? Practically every single game in the app store refers to itself as "addictive."
It was a good expression the first time someone used it. Now it just means "something I play with more more than 2 minutes at a time."
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