One More Tap

UPDATE: Moments after we published the review, SGN’s update for FAST went online in the iTunes Store, adding Bluetooth support. Also the game is now available at a reduced price of only $5.99 $4.99. Early adopters who paid the premium price of $9.99 will get a special treat soon. Now there’s no more excuse not to start an online war! Check out our review and then go grab the game!

We previously covered this game when it was announced in TechCrunch. I managed to secure a copy for my iPod touch, and after spending about a week plus with the game, I am impressed.

Originally slated to be a free game, with premium In-App purchases later, SGN’s F.A.S.T – Fleet Air Superiority Training! (subsequently referred to as FAST) turned out to be a premium-priced title, selling for $9.99 $5.99 $4.99 a copy in the iTunes Store. For a ticket that steep, it turned out to be a very entertaining and exciting game. In fact, this could be one of the best full 3D, complete-controlled dogfighting game available to date for the iPhone platform.

FAST exceeds what recently released titles like Freeverse’s Top Gun has to offer. This is not a rail-shooter game, where your flight path is dictated by the game. You get your own free jet to fly in, in any way that pleases you. However, do note that there’s a ceiling limit of about 5000 metres, after which the AI will kick in and redirect your craft to go below that threshold.

Gameplay is divided between exercise missions and online multiplayer competitions. Missing from the game are storyline missions, which would definitely add depth to an already great game. Exercise missions pit you against 30 missions of increasing difficulty, from Novice to Insane. When the game said Insane, they really meant it. I have so far managed to secure missions 1 until 25 – getting killed over and over again in mission 26 is not very funny. It is recommended that you spend a lot of time in exercise missions to get yourself familiar with the game. Aside to unlocking new crafts as you win missions, the exercises are good for testing your skills before you move on to the competition levels, where real-world players can’t wait to shoot your plane down.

Online multiplayer options include wi-fi against other players from the internet, or private rooms against your friends. Gameplay is smooth, with no lagging whatsoever. I have only experienced a dropped connection once, which I blame on my ISP instead of the game. You can only select fighter planes that you have unlocked, so, it is advisable that you spend more time in the exercise missions, as mentioned earlier. Performance in online multiplayer missions gets recorded in the top pilots list. Look out for XCool, currently in position number 57 as of this writing.

Most of the multiplayer missions that I flew in are one-on-one, but there are also two-on-two missions whcih is harder to get logged in. I could be playing when the rest of the world is sleeping, so no complaints here. Aside to that, you could also create private rooms where you can invite up to four players to play against – this is a mode that I didn’t managed to try out.

FAST makes full use of both the multi-touch touchscreen as well as the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer for controls. You might occassionally find the touchscreen controls to be too tiny, which I did sometimes, especially when I was about to fire a missile or two. Controls are placed exactly where they should be, so no complaints in that department. As for the accelerometer controls, you can customize the sensitivity. Similar to Top Gun, the game registers the orientation prior to mission start, so hold your device just like how you would want to hold it when playing prior to mission start. Unlike Top Gun however, the game has no calibration screen during missions. If you happen to find your craft yawing towards one side, you’ll need to quit the mission and restart. That’s a sad point which I hope the developers will fix in a coming update.

Now, no fighter jet plane game is complete without knowing what planes you get to fly. Surprisingly enough, the game contains models from the world’s famous fighter jets, but they are all renamed – probably to avoid copyright or licensing issues. For example, the F-15 Eagle is renamed as FA-150 and the Eurofighter 2000 being named EF-2. There’s a total of ten different advanced aircraft, including stealth-featured fighters for you to fly in – one of which is a mysteriously classified craft which gets unlocked upon completion of the insane level exercise missions.

One thing standard across all planes – your arsenal of weapons. Each fighter jet comes equipped with the standard 20mm Vulcan cannon, radar guided and heat seeking missiles. Aside to that, your craft also gets its standard flare package, which can be released by shaking the device whenever you have a missile coming towards your six.

Radar guided missiles are equipped by default and require that you continue to keep the target within the viewing zone (marked by the blue dotted lines) until it hits – failure to do so usually results in losing tone and lock. Heat seeking missiles are basically infrared guided, you will need to be nearer to your target in order to register a lock – however, it’s fire and forget so you don’t have to keep the target in view. Vulcan cannons are work a little like the radar guided missiles, you’ll need to steer your aircraft’s nose towards the target before letting fly. There is some auto-aiming assistance here, so if you could score a kill with the vulcan cannons, do boast about it.

Speaking about boasting, the app comes complete with Facebook Connect integration built in, allowing gamers to post mission winnings directly into their Facebook profile. Standard features include notifying your friends about the game.

FAST is one of the best fighter jet simulations I’ve seen so far, capable of even exceeding those offered by consoles like the PSP. Multiplayer adds a lot of value to the game. If the originally announced In-App purchasing comes to life, the game would definitely go further. I’d love to see mission packs.

If you are a flight sim junkie, this game, although not a realistic flight simulator would definitely fit the bill. Action game fans would also love the game for its fast paced action, especially multiplayer. For a $9.99 $5.99 $4.99 game, the appeal factor would be quite low – I’d suggest that SGN lower the price so that more players could gain entry. (Which they did just moments after our review went live!)

Check out the game from the iTunes Store, available now for only $9.99 $5.99 $4.99 each. Also be sure to check out each screenshot below, some from official material, some which I took myself during gameplay. Enjoy!

Rating: 4.5/5.0 Taps

App Data
App Name: F.A.S.T. – Fleet Air Superiority Training! v1.5 | Developer: SGN | Purchase via: iTunes App Store @ $4.99 | Released: Jun 07, 2009 | Reviewed on: iPod touch v3.0

written by xcool \\ tags: F.A.S.T., Games, iPhone, iPod touch, Review