I like that the iPhone and the App Store have helped forge new flavors of apps and games. Back in the geeky days of early mobile games, there would not have been much room for a title like Phoenix Spirit from Spearhead games. A game about healing the forest. Phoenix Spirit has a few control challenges (but you could say that for many iPhone games), but the dark forest scenes, music and quirky overall theme work for me. I especially recommend this for kids into mystical stuff (i.e. Harry Potter), and want to stay away from the blood and guts of the more violent games in the App store.
I downloaded Phoenix Spirit via the App Store app. It’s not too hefty at 22M for an OTA (over-the-air) install to your device, if you have a fast connection. I would guess that the size is largely due to the extensive pixel graphics the game uses. I ran it on my 2nd Gen iPod touch (OS 3.1.3), and it did exit to a black screen once during game play, inexplicably requiring me to use home/sleep buttons to restore my screen. Not sure why that occurred... I did reset my unit after installing it?? It is currently rated at 3 stars in iTunes. The game starts to the above loading screen, and has a very good startup tutorial..
The backstory for Phoenix Spirit is that the forest has an infective virus of some type. Certain plants and floating baddies that inhabit the dark jungle-like corridor are testament to this fact. Your hero is the Phoenix Spirit, and you must navigate the arboreal maze, avoiding and destroying the infection and progressing to new levels. You will be rewarded in certain sections with power ups to help in the fight against the baddies.
There aren't many other options or social aspects to this game (on-line score posting, leagues, or tourneys). The game promo on iTunes bills this title as something akin to Castlevania ("...Castlevania, Aquaria should feel right at home"). Having played a lot of Castlevania, I don't really see a parallel with Spirit, other than they are both 2-D platform games. The settings of the forest mazes are appealing, and I do feel that Spirit creates a unique ambiance in this regard. As cartoonish as Castelvania was, it had a certain flare (graphically and musically) for making you feel like you were running/jumping through levels deep in the bowels of some nasty old castle. Spirit similarly has it's own unique vibe, but running, and jumping is certainly not part of the element.
The graphics themselves are actually pretty good in Spirit, but the darkness of the game levels make it difficult sometimes to tell what is going on. I would like to see some more detailed animations that indicate something is happening when fighting an enemy. Maybe add some simple enhancements like showing the enemy temporarily incapacitated (change the enemy graphic or color). Spirit makes a noise when in trouble, but other than that, you don't always know anything is wrong until you are suddenly dead. A life meter is indicated in the upper-left, but who pays attention to those? I would have Spirit flash red maybe when he is nearly out of life. Maybe brighten up the backgrounds just a hair.
The propulsion mechanism is my least favorite thing about the game. You have to press the dive button constantly to keep Spirit moving forward, and then steer by tilting at the same time. It is difficult to master (actually I never did completely master it). I would lose the “diving” propulsion aspect of the game if I were the developer, and let the spirit just jet off in a continually straight direction (or maybe add a soft d-pad). Maybe that's a coming power-up I haven't discovered, but it is a frustrating aspect especially when fighting in close quarters. A control-scheme options menu could help greatly in this regard.
Overall, I really like the experience of this game. I recommend it for kids of all ages, in fact, but I also recommend tweaking a few items mentioned above. Maybe there were options to change the control scheme and I just didn't find them (you can calibrate the tilt). Spirit is $1.99, but I think that might be reduced a little considering it's only a version 1.0.2, and it has the feel of an early version. You can find out more about it here, or grab it at the iTunes link below.
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