Prey Invasion. Currently my Favorite iPhone Game.

Matt Petch — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:06:07 +0000

Im always on the look out for a good 3D adventure for my iPod Touch. I will be the first to admit that i’m not a very serious game player so this review is for us non pro’s. I love the idea of computer games, but rarely find one that holds my interest for any length of time. Prey Invasion is an exception to this and is currently my favorite game.

After crashing your pickup down a ravine you awake to find Earth is under attack from ferocious aliens. as you progress through the game you soon enter a strange temple and then venture further into an alien facility. It’s apparent these nasty beings are up no good and what’s more have your girlfriend.

Prey Invasion is a First person shooter with the pace of an action-adventure game. By this I mean; you have time to explore. Ive never been keen on games that require you to furiously pound the fire button until you die ten seconds later. On the subject of death; its something that doesn’t really happen in Prey Invasion. If you take too much damage you simply enter a spirit world where you can rejuvenate your strength by shooting a few ghost like creatures. You also have the option to cross over to the spirit world by choice; spirit walking allows you to briefly leave your physical body. This is useful, as there are certain things in the game that your physical body just cant do.

Controls for this type of game have always been a problem on the iPhone. The analogue D-pad thumb controls that are so common on this type of game don’t work in my opinion. Without having tactile feedback its difficult to know where you’re putting your thumb. Luckily Prey Invasion has very customisable controls including the option to select individual directional buttons, which I much prefer. Firing your gun simply requires tapping the screen and you can choose to use a cross hair target or simply tap the area of the screen you wish to target.

The graphics are rich and interesting. There are no real rendered reflections or shadows but the high quality of the texture maps makes up for this. I think it is unrealistic to expect an iPhone game of this type to compare to similar console versions but the makers have clearly tried to get as close as they currently can.

All up I think this is a great game and in my opinion there is little to compare with it at the moment in the app store. I would like the sound to be a little better and perhaps a little more variation to the environments and puzzles, but on the whole I think its good. The graphics are good, it’s nicely designed, the controls are ok and the general game play is a good one.

The iPhone, The Future and Star Trek.

Matt Petch — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:28:44 +0000

I’m not a trekkie by any stretch of the imagination, in fact i’m barely interested in the various modern interpretations of Star Trek. But sadly I am rather fond the 1960’s TV series.

There are a number of Rumors going around the internet stating that a modified version of the iPhone will be used as the communicator in the new Star Trek film. Great!..oh actually, not so great.

Almost 20 years ago, I was at Art College spending half of my time having fun and the other half working hard for a degree in three dimensional product design. Towards the end of the course we were given a year to write our thesis. I needed a year and a day… Anyway I wrote about the relationship between product development in the real world and in science fiction and to what degree they effect each other. The conclusion I came to was that science fiction is the place where we first get to put our dreams into practice. It’s where we do what can’t yet be done. It is obvious then that these pursuits eventually filter through into reality. The trick though, must be to think laterally when it comes to designing your future technology so as not to be restricted by what exists now.

When you consider that the original TV series was set in the 23rd century, the iPhone or the iPod touch seem to have out run the dream in quite a dramatic way. The original series of the 1960’s sported the famous communicators. These could of course be seen as a forerunner for the mobile phone. The iPhone however is a communicator, but also takes all those other portable trekkie devices and technologies and puts them into a slim, highly versatile do everything machine. Ok, well it can’t detect life signs or give you a full medical diagnosis. Thinking about it, it can’t even cut and paste (at the time of writing), but you know what I mean. It can provide its user with a wealth of information, pinpoint your location, provide you with detailed star maps, work out mathematical problems and so on. Our ideas of the future seem to be getting closer and closer to the present. The iPhone feels like a futuristic device, but of course its not.

I really love the iPod touch and iPhone, and I would get a little flicker of joy to see it being used in the new Star Trek film. However I would hope that for the sake of the film and our future creative and technical goals, the creators of today’s science fiction could be a bit more creative than to use a device that exists in the present.

Perhaps it is just a rumor.

If you really want to downgrade your iTouch or phone to the 60’s vision of the future you could try some of these apps..

Kirk’s Communicator – iMake Apps (iTunes link)

Turn your iPhone into captain Kirk’s communicator.

TR-580 Mark III Star Trek Tricorder – Matthias Schorer

Scan the environment of the strange planet you have just beamed down to.

Star Trek Phaser – Paramount Digital Entertainment (iTunes link)

Set your iphone to stun or kill mode and fire away.

AppleTap » Science Fiction

Prey Invasion. Currently my Favorite iPhone Game.

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