iPhone App Reviews

F.A.S.T. – Fleet Air Superiority Training

Chris J. | Jun 19, 2009 Games

User rating: (4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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If the creators of the Ace Combat series had made an app for iPhone, I imagine it would look and play a lot like this one (minus the poetry-laden cut-scenes of course). Forget such real-world issues such as taking off, landing or even limited ammunition, F.A.S.T. is the flight combat game boiled down to its most basic element: dogfighting. F.A.S.T. doesn’t bother with little things like storyline, when the gameplay is this awesome who needs it?

In case you didn’t catch that the first time, yes, the gameplay is awesome. F.A.S.T. is one of the rare games for the iPhone that will have you gritting your teeth and sitting on the edge of your seat as you wave your iPhone in the air like a raving lunatic. Why you ask? When you’re chasing down a missile-lock while you and your foe fly circles around each other, or frantically trying to dodge a missile from the same, the action is pretty intense. And that’s just on a tiny iPhone screen.

Flight controls are both simple and awesome. Having reviewed and tried out a lot of apps, I can say that there are very few out there that make use of the accelerometer as well as this.  Turning has to be done by the pitch-and-roll method, rather than the simplified (and in my opinion infuriating) controls you see in some of the other games. You have two types of missiles at your command, as well as a minigun for when you want to get up close and personal. I won’t go through the whole list of controls since it is actually quite extensive and is thoroughly explained in the app.

There are thirty action-packed missions to attempt (I’m currently at Mission 12). Each mission pits you against multiple enemies of progressively more difficult skill levels, starting at Novice and ending at Insane. As you progress through missions you will unlock up to 10 planes to fly.

Feel the adrenaline as you try for the lock-on while desperately trying to dodge missiles from opponents. The computer controlled opponents would be awesome enough, but you can also take on opponents via the internet from all over the world. Opponents are matched with you based on similar ratings, so the more you win, the tougher the opponents that you are matched with will become.

I played several one-on-one dogfights and besides the fact that I was victorious every time, everything worked perfectly. My first attempt with a two-on-two failed to get a response from the server, presumably because there weren’t enough players at the time. My second attempt died mid-dogfight as the connection was lost (I’m not sure who’s connection it was). Out of a total of six attempts I have yet to see a successful two-on-two. Yet the success of the one-on-one dogfight is enough for me to overlook this as a more minor issue.

Tags: $9.99, Chris J.