Exient is a software development company that’s been around since the time of the gameboy.  Although they publish iPhone games under the pseudonym X2 Games [iTunes Link].   The questions are being answered by Charles Chapman and David Hawkins.

iPhone App Reviewer: Given the success of the App Store it’s quite obvious why you’d get into iPhone development, but how easy was it to get started?

X2 Games: Getting going with our first project was pretty easy – we’re professional game developers and have spent the last decade getting to grips with the demands of handhelds across just about every portable format that exists, so we’re used to working with new hardware and adapting our workflow to it. The only difference with iPhone was that we were working with Macs a lot more!

iPhone App Reviewer: We all want to know, how much profit can you actually make out of app development?

X2 Games: How long actually is a piece of string? I’d say that entirely depends on your approach. There’s one angle, where you fire small, cheap games onto the store and hope one sticks or virally becomes a friend-shared phenomenon, delivering a good return in the process. This is pretty close to the current browser-based Flash gaming model and as a result, you’ll see one successful game design iterated into almost infinite variations. This isn’t the market we’re in – we see the iPhone as a platform worthy of investment on the same level as traditional gaming platforms. We aim for console-level production values and approach the iPhone platform as a console developer first and foremost. This means costs are higher for us, but they’re not as high compared to home consoles and we believe that if the quality is there, we’ll get the sales and the returns to make it worthwhile. We’re in this for the long-term, and will be developing our IPs to be definite brands for the platform – brands that we believe customers will trust and keep returning to. In that sense, we’re looking to create a sustainable flow from iPhone, rather than rapidly firing out hit and miss titles.

iPhone App Reviewer: How many work hours are involved in creating a successful app?

X2 Games: A lot, if you want to do it properly! X2 Football had several thousand hours from various people across the team, but then we set out to make the definitive football game on the platform. Realising a goal like that demands considerable skill and resources across the board – coding, in-game assets, animation, game design, music and sound and so on. It also depends on what you class as ‘successful’ – I’m sure someone could develop a simple, but incredibly addictive, low-asset title in quite a short time, but then any truly ‘good’ game needs considerable playtesting to be worth its salt, which will again bump up the hours involved. Either way, you need to put in the time!

iPhone App Reviewer: Is the App Store approval process really as painful as a lot of people make it seem?

X2 Games: We had no problems whatsoever, though we’re well used to tough approval processes with console platform holders. This meant we put a lot of effort into making sure our submission candidate was up to standard as a matter of course.

iPhone App Reviewer: How detailed and highly rendered graphics can the iPhone handle? A lot of people complain about lack of graphics capabilties in apps but who’s fault is it really? The iPhone’s or the developers?

X2 Games: Like all platforms, there are good and bad ways to do things on the iPhone. It can take time to work out the best way to get the most from the hardware, but once you do, it’s a pretty good piece of kit. Sure, the iPhone could be better but that’s true of any hardware – it’s down to the developers to find out how to make their ideas work, really. A good workman never blames his tools…

iPhone App Reviewer: Are you using the 3.0 development SDK?

X2 Games: Yes, we’ve started using 3.0.

iPhone App Reviewer: What do you like in the new SDK? Is the transition simple?

X2 Games: True local multiplayer is probably the most exciting feature for us and we plan to implement it in an update for X2 Football 2009. There are other features in 3.0 that are really interesting, so we’ll be looking into best uses for them in our future projects.

iPhone App Reviewer: What goes into making a truly successful and creative application?

X2 Games: The iPhone’s game library is pretty broad now, so unless you can nail an original concept and deliver it, we think you need to be producing games that are markedly better than what’s already available – and offer a really good reason for people to buy into your version. In our case, we felt that football games could be improved across the board – animation, AI and most importantly, control method. These were our main goals when we started the X2 Football project and our various chart positions suggest that we’re definitely on the right path!

iPhone App Reviewer: Do developers pay much attention to using the application with the iPod Touch or is it primarily iPhone focused?

X2 Games: We want to address the widest audience we can, so we needed to make sure the app worked across the range. With this in mind, we develop using the whole range of iPhones and iPods. Quality Assurance is no different – we test rigorously on every variant the game’s compatible with.

iPhone App Reviewer: How much resources are available to developers? Is Apple’s documentation sufficient?

X2 Games: Apple’s support documentation is great. We’ve had no significant problems with Apple’s level of support.

iPhone App Reviewer: How heavy is the competition in the app store? Do you have lots of marketing to do in order to compete?

X2 Games: Marketing always helps but ultimately, the quality of the app is the most important thing if you really want to compete. With the App Store’s reviews and ratings system, products generally get the reviews they deserve, so if your app is good, it’ll always review well and get positive attention as a result. There’s only so much that marketing can do with a bad product on the App Store, as faults will always come out in the wash.

iPhone App Reviewer: To wrap up, how do you like being an iPhone app developer?

X2 Games: It’s a great platform to be working with and developing games for it is fun – partly because of the fresh challenge of developing on iPhone and being able to implement new ideas. There’s also the aspect of directly addressing a really sizeable audience.

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Our Rating: 7.9/10 – Thumbs Up [Screenshots]

Version Reviewed:  1.12
Developer: Donut Games
Price as of Review: $0.99
Current iTunes Rating: N/A
Size: 2.4MB
Lite Version: [iTunes Link]

Monkey Flight is the simplest of pick up and play games available for the iPhone. Monkey Flight is a simple game where the controller has to launch a monkey into flight with a palm tree in order to collect an array of fruits and coconuts to gain points. The game can be played in 3 modes; Arcade, Challenges and Lite Play. The latter of which is the version available for free download to try out the game.

Now lets talk about the ‘Challenges’ mode in Monkey Flight. There’s 20 levels available for play (as of right now, keep your fingers crossed for more!). Each level has 3 goals to reach, though you only have to reach the lowest of the three to move onto the next. Now though there are some amusing levels that are going to keep you locked in for hours and hours playing, there’s the less amusing beat it in 2 seconds levels that make you wonder why your still playing.

Arcade mode on Monkey Flight offers you another amusing way of play; who can beat the top score? You’re given three monkey’s to send into flight down one of the longest maps in the game. I found this mode of Monkey Flight to be less amusing than the challenges but at the same time the challenges offer something different. The simplicity of the control system and game play make this game one of the best games I’ve played to date.

Final Ratings:

Gameplay: 8/10 – Amusing and time consuming, always gets your attention

Enjoyment: 7/10 – Hard to lose interest, until you beat all the levels…

Graphics: 8/10 – Small, but very distinguished

Sound: 9/10 – Fits the game perfectly

Technology: 6/10 – only uses touch controls, but uses them to the max, no need for more

Replay Value: 7/10 – lower rating ONLY because after the 20 levels are done (can be accomplished within 2 – 3 hours total play) you don’t really have anything to come back to.

Overall Rating: 7.9/10

Monkey Flight is a great game and a great way to kill some time when your bored, but it needs to be beefed up a bit (though the step up from the lite version is significant) before I think it’s capable of a 10/10.

-thetraynor

The Ugly Truth, what needs to change:

• Theres only 20 levels, I beat them all in 1 day
• The banana boost came to me by surprise (after you launch your monkey, tap the screen up to 2 times per monkey for a boost)
• There’s two many easy levels spread throughout the hard ones, they need to progress better

Follow me on twitter @thetraynor

More screenshots here.

Other Reviews on Monkey Flight for iPhone and iPod Touch:

• Review on iGadgetJunkie
• Review on AppBite

Why does iPhone App Reviewer link to other reviewing sites?  Because if you’re not 100% satisfied with the quality of our review, then we encourage you to go elsewhere.  The point of iPhone App Reviewer is to give you an honest, open opinion of the application.

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Our Rating: 8.2/10 Thumbs Up! [Screenshots]

Version Reviewed: 1.5.2
Developer: Readdle
Price as of Review: $4.99
Current iTunes Rating: 3.5/5
Size: 2.9MB

If you want to take your files to go with you on the iPhone, Readdledocs pretty much eliminates all other competition.  With a large assorted variety of ways to sync files Readdledocs can manipulate and organize files on any platform, and anywhere.  You’ll need an Internet connection to sync and even download files, but after that, your files will be on your iPhone’s harddrive wherever.  Need to back them up?  You can copy them to your computer just like you would with a normal folder (using the iPhone’s wi-fi disk feature) and even sync them to the 512MB storage space Readdle provides for free.

With Readdledoc’s abundance of settings, it’s sure to get the job done right.  The files can be stored with a complete file hierarchy and any format can be saved (though not every format can be read).  It can be used as a PDF reader and then email them to co-workers and friends.  Readdledocs uses the standard way to read things, panning and pinching to scroll around the file.   Unlike most apps, even when viewing a large file Readdledocs does not slow down, and even if it does crash, it’s saved for later!

Unfortunately this isn’t an all-in-one office app; it lacks the ability to edit and write to files.  Basically the concept of Readdledocs is to retrieve files from anywhere, anyway, and to read them wherever.  The execution of the concept was simply brilliant, the programmers over at Readdle are doing a fantastic job, really showing off the iPhone’s capabilities as a replacement to your Palm Handheld or Crackberry.  The user interface is smooth and stable.  Now we just have to wait for an update and hopefully they’ll add some new features – perhaps something with the 3.0 features?  Only time will tell.

Final Ratings:

Usefulness: 8/10 – Until the concept is expanded to a complete documents app, it’s only good for reading files.  Readdle will definitely do a great job on anything they expand the app to.

User Interface: 9/10  – I come across the odd glitch but the user interface is nearly as good as BeejiveIM

Price: 6/10 – Office apps are usually expensive, this one doesn’t break that paradigm, but it could…

Technology: 8.2/10  – Great so far but I can think of more features

Execution of Concept: 9.6/10 – Readdle’s developers are some of the best I’ve seen.  Bravo.

Overall Rating: 8.2/10

Further Improvements: (Note to the developer!)

• Background Running – How about an alert popup when a new file is ready to sync?
• File editing!!
• Basic image editing.
• Fix some glitches – mainly performance with network drives.
• Display settings for those reading an eBook or long documents.
• Monospaced formatting for shared code.

More screenshots here!

Other reviews on Readdledocs for the iPhone and iPod Touch:

• Readdledocs review on iPhone World
• Readdledocs review on The iPhone Blog
• Readdledocs review on Mac Life
• Readdledocs review on The iPhone App Blog

Why does iPhone App Reviewer link to other reviewing sites?  Because if you’re not 100% satisfied with the quality of our review, then we encourage you to go elsewhere.  The point of iPhone App Reviewer is to give you an honest, open opinion of the application.

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Meanwhile, iPhone App Reviewer is going to be organizing another promo code giveaway like the one we did a while back here.  Prize alerts and news updates are to come, stay tuned!

You can also find screenshots of iSoccer Backstreets here on our Flickr Page!

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Our Rating: 9.1/10 [Screenshots]

Version Reviewed: 1.2
Developer: Electronic Arts
Price as of Review: $6.99
Current iTunes Rating: 4.5/5

Need for Speed Undercover is a racing game concocted by one of video gaming legend’s, Electronic Arts.  Although this is probably one of fifty racing games on the iPhone, iPhone App Reviewer could not resist reviewing it.  It’s outstanding graphics and gameplay make it shatter the competition.  With multiple gameplay modes and enough storyline and challenges to let you play for days, Need for Speed Underground is an addicting pleasure.  Not only are the graphics outstanding, but there’s tons of cars and maps to choose from, and all cars have a certain level of customization.

Although I could stop the review right here, there’s more to go.  The graphics are entirely 3D, even the menu has a 3D model car (your current tricked out ride) in the background.  Unfortunately the graphics and high detail considerably affect stability, specifically on loading the game.  Before version 1.2, you’d generally have to try quite a few times just to get the app started (even after fresh restart).

Once you get playing it shouldn’t be a problem, except for the unfortunate parts where you’re facing off against multiple cars at very high speeds.  Even with the customizable cars, the game lacks settings, I’ve yet to see a racing game with customizable environment settings such as friction, drift ease, wind resistance and so on.  Not to mention that there’s only a few basic car customizations.  After that, just appearance.

If you’re looking for a single player racing game that will last for hours on end, look absolutely no further.  Unfortunately, iPhone App Reviewer has found a few down falls to an otherwise perfect racing game, just scraping it away from that perfect 10 rating.  Maybe later they’ll add more maps and multiplayer modes…perhaps… (EA has a history for not updating their games features much).

Final Ratings:

Gameplay: 9.2/10  – Everyone loves a good racing game, Need for Speed Underground has multiple gameplay modes and an awesome amount of maps.

Enjoyment: 9.8/10 – Without doubt it’s in the top 10 games on iPhone App Reviewer’s list.

Graphics: 9.5/10 – Just at the level where it won’t slow down the game entirely, perfectly detailed and high res.  Just anti alias a little more.

Sound: 8.5/10 – Love the sound track, unfortunately it can be a bit distracting and not of a majority of the users taste.

Technology: 8.5/10 – Just improve performance a tad, luckily the 1.2 update fixed several errors…keep it up Electronic Arts.

Replay Value: 9/10 – A huge storyline mode that as mentioned above, will leave lots to play.

Final Rating: 9.1/10

Further Improvements:

• Multiplayer Mode
• Environment Settings
• Performance Enhancement

More screenshots here.

Other Reviews on Need for Speed Undercover for iPhone and iPod Touch:

• Need for Speed Undercover Review on IGN
• Need for Speed Undercover Review on PocketGamer
• Need for Speed Undercover Review on VideoGamer
• Need for Speed Undercover Review on Slide To Play
• Need for Speed Undercover Review on AppVee

Why does iPhone App Reviewer link to other reviewing sites?  Because if you’re not 100% satisfied with the quality of our review, then we encourage you to go elsewhere.  The point of iPhone App Reviewer is to give you an honest, open opinion of the application.

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Our Rating: 7.2/10 [Screenshots]

Version Reviewed: 1.2
Developer: Tiger Shark Games
Price as of Review: $0.99
Current iTunes Rating: 3.5/5

Soldier Ants is a concept that’s been done numerous times on Internet flash games; the concept will live on throughout gaming forever, probably.  Soldier Ants is a 2D game where you face off against computer or human ant army opponents.  Armed with several cartoon ants and a large variety of weapons you’ll go around the poorly rendered maps battling it out.  Game modes are customizable allowing for probably about a week of gameplay before getting completely bored out of your mind.

The gameplay of Soldier Ants is what makes it outstanding as a game, and really, about the only thing that makes it worth buying.  With tons of weapons ranging from close range to long range and explosive to subtle there is fun to be around here.  Although the graphics aren’t much on the eyes, nothing beats torching your opponent to the ground with acid or a flamethrower.  Gameplay is on a turn by turn basis – [here is when I'd normally say "Soldier Ants has a just-one-more-turn addiction to it" but I'm afraid it doesn't make the cut].  Between the weapon drops and explosions the map will dynamically change, similar to the sort of deteriorating map effect found in iShoot [iTunes Link].

Although the gameplay sounds nice, it’s bogged down by poor graphics, horribly inaccurate controls, and a deplorable amount of stability.  One of your ants may be able to jetpack across the map but I’m afraid you won’t be able to.  If you’re a fan of 2D platform team vs. team style games, you should check out Soldier Ants at a relatively fair price of $0.99.  There’s a lite version available for free here [iTunes Link].  All in all, if you can get past the immense amount of severe annoyances, Soldier Ants does well for a quick pick up and play game.  Otherwise, stay away.

Final Ratings:

Gameplay: 8.7/10 – Lots to the gameplay, variety of weapons.

Enjoyment: 6.5/10 – Needs a lot of improvements before I can seriously enjoy this game.

Graphics: 6.5/10 – Very colourful but the graphics look like they were done very lazily and on a much lower resolution then the iPhone’s 320×480

Sound: 8/10 – Nothing to complain about here.

Technology: 6/10 – No use of the accelerometer, touch controls are hella buggy.

Replay Value: 7/10 – Because of the many gameplay modes and customization per game this can be fun to come back to, but not for very long.

Overall Rating: 7.2/10 -

Further Improvements: (Note to the developer)

• Fix unresponsive touch controls
• Fix misc. glitches
• Wi-fi multiplayer mode
• Bring graphics up to the capability of the iPhone
• What about some accelerometer madness?

More screenshots here.

Other Reviews on Soldier Ants for iPhone and iPod Touch:

• Soldier Ants Review by iPhoneApps-Review

Why does iPhone App Reviewer link to other reviewing sites?  Because if you’re not 100% satisfied with the quality of our review, then we encourage you to go elsewhere.  The point of iPhone App Reviewer is to give you an honest, open opinion of the application.

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