Aera Delivers One of Our Most Exciting iPhone Game Reviews

We love bringing you the most comprehensive iPhone game reviews, especially for games that you must not overlook. Finally arriving in the App Store is Aera, the side-scrolling flight simulator. An enjoyable experience is delivered by the beautiful graphics and awesome controls – no matter if you’re enjoying the scenery or battling other aircraft.

You’ll be presented with four planes and three locations to explore in Aera. Choose from a number of different missions like Aerobatic/Solo, Dog Fight, Race, and Free Flight. Can you grab all the defined floating objects before running out of time in Aerobatic/Solo mode? It’s not so easy, as you need to dodge mines and hit hovering rings in your attempt. If you feel extra competitive, try a quick dog fight. Last plane flying wins. Give your huge supply of ammunition and rockets a workout. When you defeat the enemy, bonuses will be awarded you. These come in the form of points, rockets, etc. Race mode tests your speed to finish a course while avoiding mines along the way. Free Flight mode allows you to enjoy the controls and style of Aera in a relaxing atmosphere. Choose from Easy, Medium, or Hard difficulty levels in Campaign mode or Quick Play.

Even though the screen you’re playing on is 2D, a polished 3D feel is well delivered. Listen to the propeller and explosion sounds as these are nicely accurate sounding. Since Aera is more of a simulator than an arcade-style game, no background music is provided. One of our favorite features is the control mechanism. The majority are handled by the iPhone’s accelerometer, just tilt it to change the altitude. Shake it quickly to cause a 180 degree flip. Use any of the on-screen buttons to fire, speed up or slow down, boost, or change viewing cameras. All options are appropriately arranged in an uncluttered manner. An in-game walk-through and tutorial are offered to bring you a little experience before venturing out on your own.

Tons of cool features are packed into Aera. If you hit an object, the “TimeBack” adjustment will reverse time for you. This is a nice opportunity to retry that same part of the course. No need to start back at the beginning of the level as this just sets you back a few seconds. This feature proved to be a god-send. Want to see how you did on a completed mission? Just watch the video replay that becomes available at that time. If you’re looking for online multiplayer, this comes in the form of local wi-fi only. Now you can play Dual or Capture the Flag against a friend. A Configuration menu grants the ability to change your craft sensitivity and toggle the Prediction line on or off. This virtual path shows where you’re headed at the current altitude and speed.

Aera perfectly marries a flight simulator, side scroller, and arcade flier like no other app in the App Store. We had great fun in especially with Dog Fight mode. If you’re goal oriented, you might just like Solo mode the best. in fact, excellent game presentation exists in any mode. Our team can remember too many iPhone game reviews that brought us as much fun. Its obvious that the Aera developers at iChromo spent a lot of time in the details. We will be playing this gem for a long time due to the smooth and entertaining gameplay. Plus, doing so will earn several Achievements such as the aforementioned unlockable aircraft and locations. With a price of $0.99, picking up Aera is a no-brainer for any iPhone game fan.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 4:57 pm and is filed under iPhones. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.