Crash Landing

Michael (Admin) | Aug 19, 2008 Games

User rating: (5 votes, average: 3.60 out of 5)
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Note: After writing this review, Jeremy Curcio very kindly pointed out that Crash Landing was made by Apple, not by MarketWall.com (see his comment below). Dammit, this is what I get for not reading the app description.

In the App Store, MarketWall says in the THIRD paragraph that “this application was provided as sample code for iPhone developers… I take absolutely no credit for it… I just think it’s cool enough that it should be distributed for free.”  That’s nice, but it’s still deceiving for MarketWall to put their name on the app. And on top of that I look dumber than usual! Screw you MarketWall. Jeremy, thanks for the heads up. Good luck with your Art of Light contest.

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The first thing I can say about Crash Landing is that it’s way better than Apache Lander!

Crash Landing is difficult without being so difficult you want to reach out and punch someone. Just like Apache, you control your vessel by tilting left, tilting right, and tilting towards you to hit the gas. The only visible difference in controls is that with this game you need to hold your iPhone pretty flat… holding it vertically will cause your lander to burn fuel nonstop. When you do need to propel yourself away from the alien surface, though, the tilt response is sensitive enough to know when you’re overdoing it and when you’re not.

The first time I played Crash Landing I didn’t quite get that the thing at the bottom of the screen is supposed to be a landing pad. To me it just looks like a skateboard with way too many wheels. And something I still don’t get is how the game determines your score… I’ve had some pretty quick landings that didn’t get me nearly as many points as other landings that took longer.

My best guess is that the Crash Landing score is calculated based on amount of fuel used, time required to land, and the softness of the landing. Or maybe it’s way simpler than that? Hopefully the folks at MarketWall.com Apple are reading this and can fill us in on the big secret!

If you’re having trouble landing, try keeping an eye on the green/red dot indicators at the top of the game. It’s hard to watch them and your lander at the same time, but they might give you some guidance on what you’re doing right or wrong. Green dot means you’re good in that particular category, such as speed, and red dot means you need to make an adjustment or die.

If you like landing things on your iPhone, Crash Landing is a good game (especially if Apache Lander pisses you off). It would still be nice to see more than one level of difficulty and maybe a landing pad that moves, but overall the graphics are pretty good, the sound effects are minimal enough that they’re not annoying, and it’s actually possible to land if you’re very, very careful.

If MarketWall wasn't trying to pull a fast one, they would have put the disclaimer at the BEGINNING of the description
If MarketWall wasn't trying to pull a fast one, they would have put the disclaimer at the BEGINNING of the description
Pretend your significant other is inside the lander for more (or less?) motivation to succeed
Pretend your significant other is inside the lander for more (or less?) motivation to succeed
Tap anywhere on the screen to crash, I mean try, again
Tap anywhere on the screen to crash, I mean try, again

Awww hell yeah
Awww hell yeah
Can't seem to crack the 9000 point mark
Can't seem to crack the 9000 point mark
iphone_crashlanding_price



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  • http://www.1026development.com Jeremy Curcio

    This is exact source code provided by Apple! This is not an individuals work, but rather Apple’s work.

  • admin

    HA HA HA and HA! So now we know why it’s a good game – because it was made by people who know what they’re doing. It’s both surprising and not surprising that Apple approved it.

  • pressmeister

    managed to get 9052 but no idea how, it was a quick one but then i did an almost identical landing and only got 6000ish… very odd.

    i think it just uses a random number generator!

  • yeahyeah

    yeah, has to be a RNG. i just got 9700 on a random landing. i can run the thing out of gas on purpose and get numbers that fluctuate by the thousands.

  • Jacob gac

    I got 10k

  • R.S.K.

    I have got about 4 scores in the high 9000′s but can’t figure out the scoring technique.

    I think it is random as well.

    9761 is my highest.

  • Roy

    What is the world high score? My Highest is 10399. Ill post a picture. if i can.

  • Giang

    In my high score. the highest is 10652? follow with the lowest in my table is 9733 Pst.

  • Roy

    Damn I wonder how the points system works. Because when I got my high score, it was one of the worst landings I’ve ever seem.

  • FTT

    I just got 10577 and i am a bad mofo!

  • Daniel

    For those still interested, I’ve just reviewed Apple’s sample code and determined that there are four factors used to determine your score:

    1. The slower you’re moving when you land, the higher your score.
    2. The more fuel you have left when you land, the higher your score.
    3. The less your ship has turned when you land, the higher your score.
    4. The closer you are to the center of the landing platform, the higher your score.

    Each of these factors has an associated multiplicand, by which each factor above is multiplied. They are added together to calculate your final score. The multiplicand for the first factor is larger than the second, which is larger than the third, which is larger than the fourth, so this means that the above factors are listed in order of decreasing importance to your final score.

    I hope this leads to more 10,000′s! Even with this information, I havent broken 9100…