Gameloft’s latest first-person shooter title, Modern Combat 3, kicks off this week’s big game night, but it’s not alone on our Fresh iPhone Apps list. Along for the ride is Dawn of Magic, a classic role-playing game with turn-based graphics and a very Japanese anime aesthetic; Riptide GP, a gorgeous 3-D racing game that puts you on a jet ski and watery tracks; and Shantae: Risky’s Revenge, an iOS port of a side-scrolling platformer that first graced the Nintendo DS.
Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation (iPhone, iPad) $6.99
Just in time for the release of the next Call of Duty: Modern Warfare title on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 comes Modern Combat 3, Gameloft’s first-person shooter franchise that closely parallels its console counterpart. If there’s one thing Gameloft does well, it’s mobile FPS games, and Modern Combat 3 doesn’t disappoint. It includes a 13-mission campaign mode with some pretty stellar graphics: this is a big-budget App Store title, to be sure.
In addition to Modern Combat 3’s story mode, the game also includes an online multiplayer mode in which as many as 12 players can compete. It has six maps to play on and seven different game modes to keep you interested, plus customizable weapons and leaderboards so you can track just how good you really are.
Dawn of Magic (iPhone, iPad) Free
A role-playing game in the brand of the old school like the Final Fantasy series, story is paramount in Dawn of Magic. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t monsters to beat down and magic spells to cast by the truckload, either. The game includes a top-down world, a 16-bit aesthetic akin to the kinds of games we used to see in the 1990s, and turn-based battles that fans of older games may very well relish.
As you progress through Dawn of Magic’s story, you’ll gather companions to make up a team of three fighters you can take into battle, and you’ll be able to switch between them to make use of their different strengths. Dawn of Magic is a pretty big, involved game, and it includes multiple endings, which will give you an incentive to play it through more than once and make different choices.
Riptide GP (iPhone, iPad) $4.99
Great graphics and realistic water effects mark Riptide GP, a racing game in which you take to oceanic courses while riding a jet ski. Riptide uses tilt controls to control your racer, but managing a jet ski isn’t the same as a car or a motorcycle, so you’ll have to contend with water and learn some new skills in order to pick up the best times in all 12 of the game’s races.
Riptide packs three game modes: Race, Hot Lap (a time-trial mode) and Championship, a series of higher-level races in which you have to qualify in order to advance to the championship races. It also includes Game Center and OpenFeint support for leaderboards and achievements, and you can use OpenFeint to compete against your friends by trying to beat their times.
Shantae: Risky’s Revenge (iPhone, iPad) Free (with in-app purchase of $2.99)
Part role-playing game, part side-scrolling platformer, Shantae is a port from the Nintendo DS that puts you in the roll of a half-genie fighting against another, eviler genie. You’ll explore towns and speak with the townsfolk in order to solve puzzles and complete quests, while searching for objects and power-ups that allow you to reach new areas. Along the way, you’ll battle enemies using Shantaeh’s hair as a weapon.
Shantae includes a fairly big and involved quest, a classic 16-bit graphical style and multiple save slots, so more than one person can enjoy the game on the same device. It also includes Game Center support to provide you with achievements to earn along the way.
