Mr.Farmville

Path drawing games have been a popular genre for both the iPhone and iPad in the past with games like Flight Control HD. However, Invictus is adds a flair of its own to the genre with its new, similarly-titled iPad app, Fly Control HD. Having reached  #15 in Apple’s top free charts when we discovered it, the game has turned out to be quite popular.

Wrought with a quirky, cartoonish style and a whimsical theme (you quite literally control a fly), Fly Control HD is easily enjoyable, and adapts well for the iPad from its older iPhone counterpart. That said, the gameplay finds itself stunted dramatically by an overuse of the game’s virtual currency gating, giving the player very little to get them hooked in the first place.

Similar in respect to Flight Control, Fly Control has players preventing inevitable mid-air collision by drawing paths for the various insects to follow. Of course, since these are pests and not planes, players are to guide them to sources of food rather than runways or helipads. Nevertheless, a midair collision will still send them into a tizzy, and end the level.

Each bug will stay at a food source for a short period of time (about five seconds) before leaving. This adds an extra level of management, as bugs do not fly off the screen until after they have fed. Obviously, as the game progresses, this becomes an exponentially growing challenge, as players wait for food sources to open up.

In the first level available, there are only two types of food — a rotting pumpkin and a trash can. Periodically, players will also see another random insect (e.g. a roach) crawl onto screen that can be squished with a tap and used as a one-time use food source. Furthermore, the game also helps the player out by granting them rechargeable power-ups called “Blessings.”

These boosts are chosen before the start of a game and consist of things like bug spray, ghost mode, fly swatters, and so on, which slow bugs down, prevent collisions, or destroy some of the pests on screen. However, all of these must recharge over a period of time, and only one can be used in a game at a time until more slots are purchased. Furthermore, these noted examples must all be bought with the virtual currency “Gems.”

Upon starting the game, the player only has three, free, abilities (Slow Motion, Kamikaze, and Pest Repellent). They are decent, but in order to formulate any type of strategy, more than these will need to be purchased. Unfortunately, extra abilities all cost around 19 Gems and players only earns (maybe) one per play through, if they’re lucky. They’ll also earn coins that can be traded in for gems, but the “exchange rate” is extraordinarily high.

Of course, 45 gems can be purchased for $0.99 and 255 for $3.99, but that isn’t so much the problem. The big complaint is that players also only get one level and one type of bug (flies). All variety in the game, save for some different fly flight speeds, is thrown out the window until new bugs and levels are purchased.

With Flight Control, there were color coded aircraft, and that is present here in that there are also wasps and butterflies that can be taken to sweet puddles and flowers respectively. While purchasing them all is still technically cheaper than the $5 Flight Control, the simplistic nature of the single level and bug is not enough to really hook the player into wanting to purchase anything.

The only element that immediately seems worth purchasing things for is the multiplayer. Synchronous on a single iPad, players can split the screen and compete to see who lasts the longest. What makes this interesting though is that another power-up, called “Curses” (such as a swarm of extra pests) is available here, which can be activated in an attempt to sabotage the opponent. Additionally, Fly Control is integrated with OpenFeint, which means it also has access to sharable achievements and online leaderboards.

All in all, Fly Control HD is a nice game with a nice sense of style that makes the app most entertaining. That said, it asks users to buy too many aspects of the game without really giving them enough to make it feel interesting, nor giving them enough of a means to earn virtual currency in-game (despite all of its advertisements). There just isn’t enough to available to make the player want to buy anything new, and while power-ups greatly enhance the multiplayer, that just isn’t anywhere near enough.

Source: Inside Social Games