Hands-On Preview With Chillingo: Super Crossfire, Little Lost Chick And Hank Hazard

Recently at the Eurogamer Expo in London, I had the opportunity to check out some upcoming titles from the casual gaming maestros at Chillingo.

First up was Super Crossfire, originally an Xbox Live Indie and PC game that's now making its way to the iPhone and iPad. It's a space shooter with a very retro style appearance and one very neat trick up its sleeve. The player can warp their ship from one side of the screen to the other, effectively flicking the action upside down and round again.

Having played it, it adds a great tactical element to things as besides just shooting at everything that moves, it's important to remember to flip round to avoid being shot at. It's clearly going to take a bit of practice to master but I think arcade shooter fans are going to lap this up as it offers a great, unique element to the genre. Hopefully other players will find themselves not quite as shockingly bad at it as I was!

Developers Radian Games state that there'll be over 150 different enemy waves across five different chapters with a plentiful supply of upgrades to keep things interesting. In the final build, there'll be three different control methods with virtual buttons, slide and tilt based controls to hopefully keep every gamer happy.

Super Crossfire is set for release this coming Thursday, October 13th and will be priced at $0.99 for the iPhone version and $2.99 for the HD iPad edition.

Following a more familiar line of gaming for Chillingo is Little Lost Chick. It's an amalgamation of a number of different types of casual games. There's Cut the Rope style elements with the need to cut rope that keeps the chick from his goal. It's not just cutting and swinging though with bounce pads and blocks also helping along the way and adding an ever enjoyable original touch to the action.

I only played a few levels of Little Lost Chick but what I saw was enjoyable. While players can choose to just get to the end of the level, there's also the prospect of collecting up three eggs scattered around each level and adding some longevity to the game. Each brief stage was consistently interesting, throwing different obstacles at poor Bruce the chick. It made for a puzzle adventure type experience than just the usual physics puzzle challenge. The full version promises 100 levels in all which should ensure an enjoyable time for puzzle fans.

Little Lost Chick is set to launch this month for all iOS devices.

Last but most definitely not least was Hank Hazard, my personal favorite of the three. Hank Hazard is the name of an adorable stunt hamster. Players must guide Hank around numerous levels whilst collecting stars and secret coins. Gameplay is a little similar to Little Lost Chick but considerable charm oozes from the title. Again, there are 100 levels on offer, each combining a mixture of physics based puzzling, fast reactions and a hint of racing.

As the screenshots below show, Hank is a daring hamster, not just falling through each stage but by flying across the air thanks to boxing gloves and bouncey pads. As a stunt hamster, fire and other obstacles like bombs must be avoided. It's a simple concept but one that I think will be quite a hit if the preview I had is anything to go by.

Hank Hazard will be released for all iOS devices in November.

We'll be sure to keep track of each game's development.