Sentinel:
If you are a fan of tower defense games, here is one to add to your collection. Sentinel, by Origin8 Technology, takes the genre to another world – literally.

In the year 2029, humans have begun to colonize Mars and establish mining operations. Soon alien forces begin to attack and you’re beckoned to help. You play as the commander of the Sentinel, a dropship sent to Mars. Organize and build your defense quickly to ward off waves of oncoming enemy troops. At your disposal are weapons in the following categories: Lasers, Bombs, Beam, and Sniper. Weapons have varying degrees of influence but all can be upgraded, granted you have the cash. That’s right; all weapons require funding to purchase. Acquire funds for every alien troop defeated. Cash can also purchase repair drones – a must have once you begin to retain damage.

Origin8 has supplied a sufficient amount of alien types. Arachnids are insect-like troops that move fast but are pretty weak. Mutants are more durable robotic soldiers that move at mediocre speed. In the same speed and strength class are Winged Parasites. These can only be defeated with surface-to-air weaponry. Another enemy is only defined as Slow Walkers. These huge beings move at a snail’s pace but require tons of force to bring them down. If enemies succeed in defeating your structures, they will reach your base and then its game over for you. On the upside, you have up to 120 waves to overcome them.

The team at Origin8 continues to wow AppSmile by their inclusion of online options. Recently they updated Sentinel to include a friend challenge that lets you email a buddy from your Contacts and taunt them to beat your score. Scores can also be submitted to an online community.

It’s obvious to the AppSmile Team that the guys at Origin8 have it goin’ on. They have delivered an exciting tower defense game in all respects. Hats off to Sentinel.

Here’s our AppSmile List of Favorite Features:

* A fantastic user interface presenting well designed, high quality menus and instructions
* Increasing difficulty levels throughout each board
* No two game play periods are alike
* Proper use of the iPhone’s touch screen; drag and drop weapons, pinch to zoom, slide to scroll
* Pause and Fast Forward buttons
* Superb graphics including aliens and environment
* Each enemy soldier displays its individual health level

AppSmile Team’s Wish List:

* Once weapons are in place we would love to be able to switch to a 3D viewing angle
* Additional levels with more enemy types

Pharos IV: Assault:
The developers at Plasq recently released a new space battle game into the App Store under the title Pharos IV: Assault.

Pharos has given its players the elite responsibility of protecting humanity against danger from attacking alien foes.

Fortunately, you’re equipped with an array of high tech devices aboard your fighter ship. Weapons range from Dual Photon Torpedoes and Missiles to an Electromagnetic Pulse. A Scanner is available that assists in navigation and enemy location. All steering controls are handled via the accelerometer while speed reacts to a throttle control on the left of the screen.

Pharos IV challenges with three types of enemy fighters, each with different strengths: Raiders, Intruders, and Marauders. Once level 4 is reached, Pharos IV introduces Destroyers into the mix. These monsters can only be destroyed by missiles fired into the main beam generator.

As players progress through the successive levels, their aim and maneuvering should improve. This will allow them to take out enemies faster while sustaining less damage to their star craft. Upon depletion of energy resources, the game ends returning the player to level 1. Thankfully, energy can be recharged by collecting resources throughout travels. Find them using the Scanner and collect using the Tractor Beam.

So, what did the AppSmile team think of Pharos IV? Let’s just say we’re looking forward to updates. While the space craft are well designed and accurately three dimensional, other graphic elements seemed sub-par. Players are only offered a single view that presents a rather confusing flat instrument panel. Weapons and other controls are oddly arranged and not all are labeled. We found ourselves returning to the Help Menu to identify which button represented what. Even worse, the only way we found to bring up the Help Menu was to exit and reload the game. Yikes!

On the up side, Pharos IV gives players a beautiful image of the environment they explore. Yet, here again, a positive aspect quickly fades. The environment image is just that – one large picture that adjusts in two dimensions only.

As far as audio goes, the best decision Plasq made is allowing iTunes to play in the background. This will override the game’s one-song soundtrack. Sound effects can be adjusted in either mode.

After spending some time with the game, we found Pharos IV: Assault to be a shallow attempt at space adventure.

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