Paradox Interactive is a name that’s well known to many PC gamers. A developer best known for their fiercely challenging but always interesting strategy games, they’re a true success story for the Swedish game industry. Why am I explaining all this? Because Paradox Interactive is bringing this level of class and expertise to the iPad with Defenders of Ardania coming this December 6.

Previously assumed to be a PC exclusive, Defenders of Ardania will bring an exciting mix of the tower defense and light RTS genres. Players will be challenged to not only defend their own territory but to also deploy waves of enemies against their opponents. Fortunately numerous deadly spells help along the way.

It’ll be possible to choose from three different races across three different worlds, each unique in their own different ways. The campaign mode looks set to be pretty extensive plus there will be online multiplayer functionality, too.

All those features will be bundled together with a pretty attractive appearance that looks fairly PC like.

Check out the gameplay trailer below. We’ll be sure to keep up to date with all the latest developments over the next few weeks.

Gameloft has finally released a gameplay trailer for their highly anticipated real time strategy title, Starfront: Collision. They also announced that the title will be available for purchase via the App Store on February 10th. This is great news because Gameloft has been pretty hush-hush with the title since its initial announcement. I was beginning to worry that we might not see the title for months. Thankfully that isn’t the case, and all of the die hard strategy fans can now sleep better at night knowing this title will soon be theirs to command.

Welcome to planet Sinistral, where rare Xenodium crystals are coveted by a human mining conglomerate called the Consortium. However, they are not the only ones after the rare mineral. The Myriad, an indigenous race of aliens, is addicted to Xenodium and will do everything they can to prevent the Consortium from plundering their resources. To add to the chaos, a sentient robot race called the Wardens is trying to turn the war in their favor. Whose side will you choose?

This Starcraft “inspired” app features three factions struggling to obtain a rare resource on the planet Sinistral. The Consortium (aka humans) are mining Sinistral for precious Xenodium crystals, but the native Myriads (aka aliens) aren’t keen on giving them up. To add to the chaos there is another race known as the Wardens (aka psychotic robots) who are bent on destroying everyone. The game will have multiplayer in the form of “massive” 4-player local and online battles. The trailer shows off some very nice graphics, and the framerate seems smooth even during intense action scenes. The trailer also showcases a short segment of actual hands-on gameplay, and from what I can tell, the interface looks fairly intuitive. Hopefully, Gameloft has nailed the interface because a lot of fans have been waiting for a definitive iOS real time strategy game.

It is sad that the game only supports 3rd and 4th generation devices, but I’m sure it was hard enough for the development team to squeeze out an acceptable level of performance during heavy combat on current devices. With only three more days until the official release, we won’t have to wait long to find out if Starfront: Collision lives up to all the hype.

We got word from Galcon developer Phil Hassey that he had decided, nearly last minute, to port over his new PC/Mac Galcon Fusion to the iPad. Galcon was one of the first really great games on the iPhone and Galcon Fusion is just a lot more of the same great things.

One of the really cool features of Galcon has been it’s multiplayer features that allow you to play over the Internet with anyone else that has the game. Galcon Fusion takes that a step further and allows you to play against not only other iPad users, but also other Mac, PC, and Linux users of the game!

Galcon Fusion will be available when the iPad App Store opens up on April 3rd! Hit the jump for more great screen shots and details about Galcon Fusion.

Continue reading iPad Game Preview: Galcon Fusion »

I often wonder about iPhone gaming in its infancy. I get the feeling that developers are creating games in a bunch of different genres, feeling out which genres work, and which don’t. It’s obvious to me that platformers work fine, along with tower defense, turn based strategy, and the occasional casual game… while 3D shooters struggle due to their lack of proper controls. RTS’s are on the fence in my opinion. Part of me wants to say that they can’t be done correctly due to the small screen size, but another part of me thinks that the touch screen options are too much to pass up. I’ve seen games like Warzone Inc. implement the RTS genre on the iPhone quite nicely, but I’m still waiting for that killer app.

Ready to take on this hurdle is Vogster entertainment with their game, Robocalypse. Robocalypse is an RTS in the Warcraft 2 mold, with a good balance between lighthearted graphics and action. Written by Micah Wright and Jay Lender (an ex-writer for Spongebob), Robocalypse offers a full, 17 mission single player campaign on top of 18 multiplayer maps that can be played with 2-4 players. From what we saw of the game, it looks like an extremely funny, well executed RTS… possibly capable of outshining Command and Conquer when it arrives in the app store.

Vogster is expecting Robocalypse to launch Q3 2009.