Sentinel 2

Okay, we have a plot line: Our Mars colony is toast and the aliens who destroyed it are headed for the Home World. You are captain of a drop ship that has been armed with some advanced weaponry to fend off the enemy hoards. What's a drop ship? Apparently, a ship that has been dropped on a beach and probably without a parachute because it can't fly. At least, I haven't been able to get it to lift off and I'm a pretty damn good Captain. So, what we have here is a tower defense game: two groups of towers, each connected by a grounded iron gate, that I can fortify to contain the Alien Menace. I also have a budget to do this. Sentinel 2 is a little like managerial accounting.

So, let's play! The battleground consists of a wharf attached to a desert isle with a few palms here and there. A deeply-dug trench forms a path angling along the shore, leading to the first gate. The first wave of invaders seems to be a hoard of giant cockroaches that swarm along the pathway and storm the gate. No problem: the gate is charged and it dispatches them like a bug zapper. Then, a bunch of soldiers dressed in WWII GI fatigues tries our defenses and we find that the bug zapper works on humanoids just as well as it does on insects. More cockroaches; more soldiers. After the third or fourth wave of soldiers, the gate is beginning to show some damage. The aliens have wised up and stopped sending the roaches. The next wave of soldiers smashes their way through the first gate. They damage the second. Again with the roaches! We know how this is gonna turn out, right? Gate 50 Roaches 0. Finally, soldiers break through the second gate and the game ends. I was able to get some missiles fired by tapping a lot of icons, and sometimes the ship glows a littler brighter but it NEVER moves.

That was the “campaign” setting. There is also a mission: to fend off a powerful warrior using limited resources. The warrior approaches. This guy is worth the price of the game. He has long legs, a slow, cowpoke swagger and an elongated chitinous skull. If John Wayne mated with the Alien, the kid would look like this when it grew up. But that's not all: he is carrying a glowing green hammer and he farts lightning! Any objective analysis would predict the early demise of this lone cosmic thug, but there is something about that walk. Our worst fears are realized: He smashes through the first gate in short order, farts a few sparks to celebrate, then assaults the second one. Here, he takes several direct missile hits but they serve only to fuel his rage. The gate comes down and the Alien Duke walks on. GAME OVER.

The hard core gamers will have fun with this one. For me, the learning curve is way too steep. Great graphics and probably one of the coolest aliens in gamedom.

ScreenShots



App Store Description

Sentinel 2: Earth Defense - a premium Sci Fi strategy game.

It's war, and this time it's too close to home. The Martian mission may be over, but the aliens haven't finished playing space invaders yet.

Extraterrestrial eyes have turned to a new target: they want Earth, and you're the one that has to say 'no'!
Welcome to the future of Tower Defense.

Sentinel 2: Earth Defense expands upon the acclaimed gameplay of Sentinel: Mars Defense. The action takes place across varied, lushly rendered Earth environments, and the alien assault force has grown more vicious than ever. Luckily, human turret technology has also advanced, and the ship weapons system provides a spectacular new way to eradicate invaders!

NEW IN SENTINEL 2

- Unleash the Sentinel's incredible ship weapons system - if you've got the power to do so...
- Deploy mobile attack drones to harass the enemy and augment static defenses.
- Construct boosters to buff your offense, and upgrade to top-tier towers for devastating special moves!
- Pit yourself against previously unseen members of the star spawned horde.
- Mission mode provides quick tactical challenges. Beat a scenario to earn achievements!
- Full online high scores, achievements, friends and chat using OpenFeint
- Exclusive new music written by Specimen A
- OS3.0 iPod Music Player (OS3.0 or higher required)

CLASSIC SENTINEL FEATURES

- Specialised structures and units provide unique tactical gameplay.
- Use the landscape and destructible defenses to maximize the effectiveness of your weapons.
- Resource harvesting and interest system adds a new dimension of risk and reward.
- Assault mode provides hours of play; endurance mode is an endless challenge.
- Visually stunning environments, towers and enemies with fluid zooming and scrolling.

Dolphin Experience

Dolphin experience is a strange app. It’s not a bad app, it’s just that there’s not much to do. Basically Dolphin experience is like having a couple of pet dolphins. You feed them, play with them, interact with them, and that’s pretty much it. They never die or get sick, so there is no goal that you are trying to reach. There are a lot of pros to this app, but more cons. I’ll start with the cons.

First off, most apps like this are a lot more fun. The main problem with this app is that it’s too boring. The only things you can do are watch the dolphins, feed them, have them play with a ball, and jump through hoops. Trust me, it gets pretty boring after a while. Another big problem with the app is that there are no directions. You are left to figure out how to do everything by your self. All though there’s not that much to learn, it would still be helpful. For example, the app summary on the app store says that you can perform 18 different tricks with the dolphins, but I only see two tricks that you can do.

Overall, the app lacks involvement. There’s not much you can do but feed, play and interact with them. Now to the pros. One thing I immediately noticed about the app was the great graphics. The graphics are some of the best I’ve seen on the iPod touch. You can also choose from 3 environments to play with the dolphins. And at each environment you can choose from 4 different times of the day to play with them. So really you are getting 12 environments, because each environment is different, at different times of the day. The sounds are great to, mimicking real dolphin cries and water sounds.



The app also loads really fast, which is a surprise because the graphics are so good. Overall though, I think the cons outweigh the pros. There just isn’t a lot to do in this app. You watch them, feed them, and play with them in two different ways. Maybe if you really like dolphins you’ll like this app, but otherwise, I think you’re better off keeping your $1.99.