An Accelerometer Trifecta From Pangea

Posted by: dgoldring on Nov 02 2008

A while back, I had the opportunity to review Astraware’s first title for the iPhone/iPod Touch, GTS World Racing.  At the time, I was extremely impressed by the use of the accelerometer, rather than the touch screen to control most of the action.  Really, anytime I can control the action without touching the screen, that is going to make me happy.  There is nothing worse than pulling your phone out of your pocket and finding a smudged and fingerprinted mess on the screen from that game you were playing last night.  So, I loved being able to play games that require only minimal use of the touch screen, if any at all.  Apparently, Pangea took note of this development as well.  They have now released three games: Cro-Mag Rally, Nanosaur 2, and Bugdom 2, which rely almost exclusively on the accelerometer rather than the touch screen to control the action (a fourth game, Billy Frontier, also uses this control scheme, but has been previously reviewed.)  The great thing here is that although the three games all share the same method of control, they are also vastly different games, which see you driving and racing, flying through a prehistoric jungle, and running through the garden.  Hit the jump for a closer look at all three games.

Controls: Since the link between these three games is the accelerometer controls, we’ll start there.  And this is really pretty cool.  Using the accelerometer rather than the touch screen draws you much more deeply into the game.  As you might expect, tilting the iPhone side to side will cause you to turn left and right.  Tilting it forward and backward changes slightly depending upon the game.  In Bugdom and Cro-Mag, it will cause you to move forward or backward.  In Nanosaur, however, it will also cause you to change altitude, flying higher or lower through the sky.

Although use of the touch screen is minimized by the accelerometer controls in these games, it is not completely eliminated.  You will still need to touch screen, for example, to fight, accelerate, pick up objects and various other commands.  One thing I did find was that aiming in all three games was very difficult.  You can only fire straight ahead, which means you have to position yourself so you are facing just right.  The accelerometer controls are just a little too imprecise for that kind of accuracy.  It would be nice if there were a separate mechanism allowing you to aim more precisely.

So, now that we know what we are talking about here, how did this all work out?   Well, I did find the accelerometer controls in all three games could be a bit touchy, meaning that a little motion went a long way.  To be honest, this took some time to get used to.  After quite a few attempts of flying into trees, driving off the side of the road, and running around in circles; I slowly got the hang of things.  Before long, I was gliding through the skies and running circles around the garden.  I will admit, however, that I never quite got the hang of driving in Cro-Mag, but I wouldn’t take that to mean anything.  I have a lot of problems with car racing games to begin with, so Cro-Mag was pretty much par for the course with me.

One other point on the controls is the neutral button.  This is an incredibly handy little button which appears on the screen in Nanosaur and Bugdom.  That’s it on the lower right hand corner of the screen.  Everyone holds their device a little differently.  The neutral button helps your iPhone learn how you hold it so it can measure the appropriate movement.  Push the button and you will stand still.  whatever position you are holding the iPhone, becomes the neutral position (standing still.)  And all of your movement will be measured from that position.  So, if you are having trouble controlling the action, don’t forget to use the neutral button to draw things back.  The other use for this button is to stand still and have a look around.  Especially in Bugdom, if you hold the neutral button and move your device, then rather than walking, you will turn around and have a look at your surroundings.

The Games: Now that I have completely turned you around with this upside down review, let’s take a look at the three games: Cro-Mag Rally, Nanosaur 2, and Bugdom 2.  If one thing is clear from these three games, it is that Pangea revels in the unconventional.  These three games take you on a journey through time and space.  They will find you representing a caveman racing wooden cars (Fred Flintstone style); a dinosaur thousands of years in the future (yes…the future); and a tiny bug racing through the yard.

We’ll start with Cro-Mag Rally.  There are a lot of racing games available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, including the previously mentioned GTS World Racing.  So, what sets this one apart?  Well, we can start with the fact that there are no race cars in the game.  Instead of the typical racers, you will race as cavemen in the cars you might expect cavemen to drive.  And as you would also expect, the cavemen cars bear the same carved from a tree look as the cars in the Flintstones.  Exactly what a caveman might drive or race.

You can race through 11 different locations using 9 different vehicles.  As you might expect in a racing game, each of the vehicles comes complete with a variety of different attributes.  This one accelerates faster, this one has a higher top speed, and that one over there has the best traction.  Which one will you choose?

The second game takes us in a completely different direction.  Literally!  Nanosaur II takes us straight up in the air, to a future in which dinosaurs have replaced man as the dominant species (the result of genetic manipulation.)  As you might expect, there were problems, and the Nanosaurs were dying.  As a result, a lone Nanosaur was sent back to prehistoric times to retrieve eggs which could be used as breeding stock.  Of course, the eggs were stolen and hidden on planets across the galaxy.  Only one was successfully hatched; a flying Pterodactyl-like Nanosaur, which flies through the skies.   That would be you.

Your mission is to use wormholes to travel to the different worlds, collecting the stolen eggs.  You’ll have plenty of weapons to help you on your quest.  And you will need them as you travel to increasingly hostile worlds to complete your mission.

The final game in our trilogy is Bugdom 2.  In this one, rather than taking you soaring across hostile and foreign terrains, you will find yourself shrunk down to a world which exists right under our feet…the front yard (and the backyard, doghouse…)  It seems that Bully Bee has stolen Skip Mcfly’s pack (come on, McFly…if you don’t get that reference, then do yourself a favor and check out a classic movie.)  Along your quest, you will encounter many of the yard’s creatures.  Some of them will help you, but watch out because not all are friendly.

Graphics: If there is one thing I have really noticed about the iphone is that the quality of the graphics it allows is simply amazing.  and these games really take full advantage of this.  Pangea was able to offer fantastic 3D graphics in ways that I could not have imagined on other platforms.  Games like this typically rely upon the graphics to draw you into the action, and these games were no different.  Yet, Pangea seems to have known exactly how far to take this, as the graphics never overpower the action.

Saving: If I was disappointed by anything I saw from Pangea, it was the saving mechanism.  Cro-Mag Rally does not have or need a saving mechanism, since each race exists independently.  But the other two follow a story and progression, as you would expect.  Both games allow you to save only at the end of a level.  And these levels can be pretty long.  One mistake, and all of your progress is lost.  While there are checkpoints, these checkpoints only apply while you are playing the same game.  if you die or need to turn off the game, then you are stuck returning to the beginning of the level.  Because the levels are so long, this can become extremely frustrating.  While I understand (sort of) the decision not to allow you to save at will, you should at least be able to save the game at each checkpoint instead of only at the end of a level.

The other problem I had with the save mechanism was that you save the game in the exact condition you had at the end of the level.  This means that if you were down to your last life when you completed the level, you will perpetually start the next level with only one life to give.  Most games which rely on this kind of finite number of lives setup, allow youto rebnew your lives at the expense of points each time the game ends.  Not so for these Pangea games.  It was unfortunate that the game would not reset your statistics so that you have the full number of lives when you reload the saved game.

Conclusion: I was really impressed by all three of these games.  Pangea has really shown considerable diversity here.  Although they all use the same basic control scheme, the three are vastly different games.  So, get ready to reach for new heights (Nanosaur), race around the world (Cro-Mag) or just stay right at home in the backyard (Bugdom)…all from the palm of your hand.

More Info:

• Cro-Mag Rally
• Nanosaur II
• Bugdom 2

Where to Buy: The iTunes App Store

Prices: $1.99 each

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