Hands-on with Gameloft's Winter Line-up

Mobile giant Gameloft is preparing for another winter assault this year, branching out to new genres as well as adding sequels to some of its biggest franchises. As ever, the firm is keen to support the latest iOS hardware, with iPhone 4 Retina Display support across the board and iPad versions out sometime next year. DS went hands-on with five games of its biggest releases due out in the next few weeks.

N.O.V.A. 2

This follow up to last year's slickly produced space-marine shooter ups the weapon and body count as all good sequels should. Enemies are a lot more versatile and mobile this time round, making good use of jet-packs to spring up to higher platforms, and have a knack of turning invisible or throwing boulders at you. As a result shooting involves more verticality than the usual circle-strafing of its predecessor, something which carries over to the opening mission's big set-piece as a towering two-legged mech smashes its way through a wall.

One of the new weapons, a rocket launcher, is handily lying around, which dispatches the mech with relative ease. Grenade launchers, sticky mines and more alien firearms can be used, as well as a new slowdown mechanic that joins the pre-existing freezing ability. While the levels themselves are painted with the same sickly rainforest greens and gloomy purples as you revisit alien structures, one mission opener has the player fall down a shaft and avoiding pylons as they whiz towards the screen, while another has you control a motorbike, racing past turrets and ramps through dusty, orange canyons.

Multiplayer will also return, allowing up to ten players to duke it out with all-new objective-based modes, and adds unique unlockables for those who played the original. N.O.V.A impressed us when it dropped on iOS devices last year, and the sequel is likely to do the same.

Shadow Guardian

We all enjoy a characteristic, cheeky lead to front our games, but it appears that Shadow Guardian's Jason Cole won't fit the bill thanks to some rather stuffy voice acting. But aside from that, this looks to be an interesting take on Uncharted, Tomb Raider and everything in-between as Cole explores tombs, jungles and war-torn streets in the name of archaeology. The climbing mechanic is assisted, performed by nudging the on-screen analog stick up slabs of rock and pipes, seeing Cole enthusiastically make his way to safety, while a large action button allows him to leap chasms and duck into cover.

Combat is also similar to Uncharted but comes across as a little unstuck at times, with free-aim controls often a little difficult to position on enemy targets. Thankfully, there's a lock-on button that snaps to the nearest foe, as well a straightforward melee attack for toe-to-toe encounters. It is, however, mostly about the adventuring, with hidden treasures to find, puzzles to solve, and huge environments to explore in what Gameloft says is its most ambitious game to date.

Asphalt 6: Adrenaline

Out of all the games on show, this appears to be the one banking most heavily on visual and engine upgrades to sell it. And to be fair it's pretty lush, throwing you masses of scenery as you tilt the device through heavy traffic and past the competition. The gameplay is similar as previous instalments, offering modes such as standard competition, Burnout style takedowns in Beat 'Em All and Elimination, although the boost mechanic has been given an overhaul with Adrenaline, coating the screen in neon blue with a full meter, allowing you to smash enemies out of action with a single touch.

The 42 licensed cars are joined by four electric motors and four bikes (that we unfortunately didn't take a look at), which can all be explored in the tilt-controlled first-person garage mode. Multiplayer continues to support five players over WiFi and online, and comes with an experience and ranking system to keep you hooked. It's more of the same, then, but one that'll attract those looking for something shiny to show off on the iPhone 4.

Dungeon Hunter II

Similar to Asphalt 6, this sequel focuses on piling on the features over delivering new experiences, but they're all things worthy of your attention. The headliner is the ability to play cooperatively with three like-minded dungeon crawlers online, allowing you to tackle tougher enemies and more challenging quests. As well as using Gameloft Live, it's one of the few titles in the line-up to offer Game Centre support at launch, providing a greater reach of users as well as achievements and leaderboards.

Elsewhere, character customisation allows you to specialise in another class once you hit level 12, paving the way for more skills. The UI has been given an overhaul and there's a better save system in place, plus the world of Gothicus has become prettier and five times bigger than last time. Although playing in co-op allowed us to steamroll through the game's early dungeons, it was certainly the most fun way to play, proving that the online advancements will definitely be worthwhile.

StarFront: Collision

Hardcore real-time strategy might not be best suited for mobile devices, but StarFront Collision looks to make a good stab at it. The screen interface is cleanly laid out and easy to use, with a mini-map that offers the ability to jump anywhere on the map, and groups managed through tabs on the left side of the screen. It's not a shallow take on the genre either, with 30 building types, 20 units and three races to master over the course of the campaign, but thankfully there's a lengthy introduction to breaks players in.

More of the more surprising features in this mobile RTS is Action TV, allowing you to view replays of your previous matches and analyse your performance and that of the enemies for future reference. Although limited in features at launch, Gameloft plans to pile on more settings down the line, and run online contests whereby players record their replays as entries. It was also added that balance fixes through title updates are planned to keep exploits to a minimum.

N.O.V.A. 2, Shadow Guardian, Dungeon Hunter II and Asphalt 6: Adrenaline will be available by the end of the year. StarFront: Collision is scheduled for January 2011.