Ace Omicron by ProRattaFactor has officially blasted its way into the App Store for just $1.99,  as a top-down asteroid shooter, that is more or less a modern day re-imagining of the classic Asteroids gameplay.

Noteworthy Features:

• Universal App
• 3 different modes of play
• Can be played in both landscape or portrait

Major Complaints:

• Poorly designed controls
• Gameplay is dull and repetitive
• Generic and bland presentation

Feel like blasting asteroids? How about blasting asteroids while collecting power-ups and then blasting away at some more asteroids, dealing with occasional baddies in the process? Needless to say, if you’re in an asteroid/baddie blasting mood, Ace Omicron has got you covered, with three different modes of play that’s sure to keep anyone busy blasting away at countless asteroids and baddies. That is, if you can excuse the questionable controls and don’t mind playing a game that feels somewhat sub-par, especially when compared against other top-down asteroid shooters on the market.

In Ace Omicron there is three modes of play. The first is a more modern approach to the old-school arcade experience labeled ’Hyper’. The second is a frenzied survival mode labeled ‘Twilight’. The third and last mode is labeled ‘Classic’ which is a half baked nod to classic character development elements, popularized by RPG games.

Hyper

In this mode you start out with a base level ship and must collect power-ups (health and gems) that burst out after blasting open an asteroid. As you collect power-ups, your ship will automatically start to gain more blasters, begin to move faster, and develop longer lasting shields.

Twilight

This mode is all about survival. In that it drops you in the game with a maxed out ship yet it’s also extremely more difficult then the other two modes (right off the bat). As in the asteroid spawn rate is dialed up to be more like an asteroid storm, then casual passing of lonely asteroids.

Classic

Classic mode is nearly identical to Hyper mode. The only difference being is that you have to collect gems and use them to purchase upgrades manually, at the end of each round before the next one begins.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Ace Omicron is more or less the same as Asteroids. It’s a classic top-down asteroid shooter with a few modern tweaks sprinkled on top. It’s a fresh take on the classic arcade experience for sure, but its done in a way that doesn’t really add much depth to the underlining gameplay.

Just like in Asteroids, you take control of a ship permanently stuck in a small sector of space, doomed to endlessly loop. Meaning anytime you attempt to leave the sector and fly off on one side of the screen, you will suddenly appear flying in from the opposite side of the screen. In this small sector of looped space you will have to deal with wave after wave of asteroids, and even occasional baddies that float in from many different directions. It’s up to you to blast all the asteroids and baddies away effectively and in a timely manner, in order to avoid collisions. I mean you wouldn’t want to scratch up that shiny new paint job you just got on your mini-intergalactic cruiser, right?

One of the ways that Ace Omicron tries to distinguish itself apart from Asteroids, is through the application of shields/health. In that collisions (depending on the size of the asteroid) don’t necessarily mean immediate death as it would in Asteroids. In fact if you stop firing your blasters at any time, the ship’s limited shields will engage then immediately start fading away of course, but completely ready to absorb the imaginary impact of oncoming asteroids. Which is to say that the asteroids don’t actually bounce off your ship if there is a supposed collision when you have shields engaged, its more like they float harmlessly under the ship draining precious energy in the process. In the event that your shields do run out prematurely, if you have a full bar of health you can still take a few seconds of small asteroid drainage before exploding, but just don’t expect to take the full force of a large asteroid with no shields.

Ace Omicron also tries to break away from the mold, by throwing in some power-ups/upgrades. This was refreshing at first, but ultimately didn’t add much depth to the gameplay. There are no standard power-ups like bombs, invulnerability, or the like, it’s just energy refills and attribute boosts. Not to mention that the ship’s upgrades are similarly unimaginative, and you can only have one or the other, either power-ups or upgrades… not both.

Presentation

Ace Omicron’s presentation really comes across as substandard, especially when compared to other top down shooters on the platform. Nonetheless, The graphics are rendered in 3D, there’s smooth animations ,decent particle effects, and detailed textures, but the overall art style and presentation of the game is somewhat generic and bland.

There’s not a lot of content to brag about here, either. While there is three unique modes with countless rounds and many hours of gameplay, it’s all basically regurgitating the same content. As in there is only one style of asteroid to blast, only one kind of ship to control, only one background across all of the rounds, and the same baddies re-used over and over again.

Also, the menus and overall UI is somewhat lacking in the eye-candy department. Its all technically sound and mostly intuitive, but is devoid of any compelling artistic flare to be considered polished.

In terms of sound, the game for the most part sounds great. The in-game music is very fitting and sets up a perfect atmosphere and tone for the gameplay. However some of the sound effects – while being a fitting sound and a quality sample – seem to be at odds with each other. Some are almost too loud, while others almost too quiet.

Controls

Ace Omicron‘s controls are indeed dead simple and very intuitive, but that comes with a huge sacrifice in precision. This is where the game truly stumbles, as the controls are questionable at best.

The controls work by tapping and holding somewhere on the touch screen, to indicate where you want the ship to fire and move too all in one interaction. There’s also a “parking break” that can be initiated by tapping on the ship, thus preventing the ship from moving, so you can focus entirely on just shooting.

First off, it’s an incredibly difficult task just to control the movement of the ship with any kind of precision. Not to mention lacking the ability to fire in an opposite direction from which your moving was somewhat disappointing, and to be honest I found the “parking break” feature to be too much of a hassle to use regularly.

I mean this is a top down shooter, A game that could easily leverage a dual stick shooter set up, or better yet a multitouch set-up (the same interactions as dual stick shooters just without the sticks). Either way would be much more preferred then the current set up in version 1.1. As is right now it’s not just about getting over a learning curve, it’s a matter of dealing with the poorly designed controls the best you can.

Price

The price for Ace Omicron is (as of right now) $1.99, which is partly due from an up-sell of the product by launching it as a universal application, as it was very much $0.99 cents before.

Score: I give it a 2/5

Indeed, Ace Omicron does well to offer up a classic Asteroids experience that tries to be fresh, but doesn’t quite pull it off in a way that adds substantial depth to the underlining Asteroids gameplay. The game also stumbles with questionable controls and a general lack of content. Yes, it’s a universal application and yes it has OpenFeint integration both are thoughtful gestures, but as far as the I’m concerned the overall package here doesn’t stack up well against other top down shooters on the platform.

Ace Omicron on the App Store.

Touch Attack! Games by ProRattaFactor has popped up in the App Store for just $0.99 cents as a 3-pack of whack-a-mole, Simon, and a match game (that is unlocked), with a charming art-style and personality. Feel like bellying up $0.99 cents for a virtual whack-a-mole game? How about a virtual whack-a-mole, a virtual Simon game, and an unlockable match game? Still not sure? Then read my full review after the jump.

Noteworthy Features:

• 3 simple & fun games in one app
• OpenFeint Integration
• Tons of unlockables

This isn’t the most innovative or imaginative game available on the App Store, nor will it win any awards for its graphics, but then again that’s not really the point here. It’s all about simple gameplay that anyone can pick-up and enjoy for an affordable -one could say impulse-buy friendly – price of $0.99 cents. If you’re still indecisive, grab the lite version and give it a go, it’s absolutely free.

Gameplay 9/10

The gameplay really revoles around tapping the screen, across three different modes of play. There’s a “whack-a-mole” mode dubbed ‘Touch Attack’, a Simon inspired mode dubbed ‘Memory Attack, and finally once unlocked, there is a match-two mode dubbed ‘Match Attack’.

Touch Attack — whack-a-mole style

It’s the game’s core mode and is basically a virtual whack-a-mole game. In that critters (moles) will pop up out of holes and must be “whacked” by tapping on them. Of course if that was all there is to the gameplay then it wouldn’t be very compelling, so the developer decided to add a couple of tweaks to make the game feel more arcade-ish.

One of the tweaks is the application of reticules (targets) that will appear on the critters that must be whacked, while other critters who pop up without reticules should not be harmed and left alone at all cost. Whacking one of the un-targeted critters will cause you to lose one of three hearts, and once you lose a heart there is no way to gain it back. Losing all three hearts means game over.

The second tweak is a miss counter. If you tap on the screen but completely miss the targeted critter that you were aiming for, that will be counted as a miss. Accumulate to many misses in a round and its game over for you. Luckily, the miss counter is reset each round.

Memory Attack — Simon inspired

For those of you who have fond memories playing Simon, you will no doubt, be glad to hear that this game comes packed with a faithful virtual recreation of the classic Simon game. Its more of a secondary mode, but fun nonetheless.

Similar to Simon, the game plays out a sequence of patterns that light up and make a tone. These patterns become longer and more complex as you progress through each round. It’s up to you the player to memorize them and then tap them out accurately. If you fail to complete the pattern correctly, you will lose a heart. Lose all three hearts and its game over for you.

Match Attack — match two madness

The Match Attack mode is really a supplementary mode. In order to play this mode you must first unlock it by collecting 5,000 tickets. This may seem like a lot of tickets at first, but once you get the hang of each of the two primary modes (Touch Attack & Memory Attack) it will not be uncommon to earn up to 2,000 tickets each session, before it’s game over.

In Match Attack, you will have a brief moment to memorize different variations of two matching critters before they disappear back into their holes. Its up to you to tap on the holes to make the moles pop up in matching pairs of two. If you tap on a hole that doesn’t match to the critter you previously tapped out, you will lose a heart. Lose all three hearts and it’s game over for you.

Presentation 10/10

The presentation of Touch Attack! Games is charming. It’s not going to win any awards of course, but the embedded humor and cartoon-ish art-style is refreshing and works great for a simple 3-pack game like this, especially at the 99 cent price point.

The music and sound effects are very well thought out and add much needed personality to the game. It even has its own soundtrack too. The only complaint I can muster (take this with a grain of salt as it’s more of a feature request) is that it would be nice if the critters would make a few silly grunts and comments here and there when they pop up. Other then that there really isn’t much if anything at all to complain about.

Re-playability 9/10

This is a game that tries really hard to provide added replay value and truly lays it on thick. From flawless integration of OpenFeint and all the features (achievements & leader-boards, ect) that come with it, to the implementation of the concept of tickets. Which means as you play the game you earn tickets in addition to overall score/points. These tickets are used to unlock everything from new game levels, to new music, even unlock a whole game mode as well. Make no mistake about it the replay value is put front and center here and I’m sure many gamers will really appreciate the honest effort, while others may feel a bit overwhelmed.

Final Score 3.5/5

Touch Attack! Games is a simple, yet fun, and a somewhat addictive game for the iPhone and iPod Touch (no iPad specific version just yet). It is what it is, a 3-pack of virtual whack-a-mole, virtual Simon, and a match-two game for $0.99 cents, with tacked on replay value and flawless OpenFeint integration.

It’s not going to win any awards for being the most creative or imaginative game on the platform, but if you’re looking for a simple game to pass the time, then this game is for you as it’s about as simple as it comes. I would have like to seen some more innovative use of multi-touch gestures and/or unique interactions that only multi-touch screens are capable of, or at the very least a way to re-gain hearts or accumulate additional hearts when you’re on a mole-whacking roll, but as is – on its own accord – the gameplay is solid, simple and fun. However when compared to other games (at the same price point) on the platform it will come off as a bit lackluster.

Touch Attack! Games on the App Store.