Want an iPhone game to get excited about?
Astro Ranch may well be it. It's being developed by UK firm TAG Games, and is due out early next year.
The company is pitching it as
Animal Crossing meets
Harvest Moon, except set in a 1950s sci-fi universe, with touch and motion controls, and connectivity to boot.
You play Sindy Starlight, an intrepid space explorer who crash lands on an alien planet, and has to start her own ranch, while exploring the planet and making nice with its inhabitants.
It'll be part strategy game, with you building up your ranch, and part action title, with sections where you pan for gold by shaking the iPhone, and also build fences and lasso runaway animals by tapping the screen.
Astro Ranch will feature a user-controlled camera, and an original music score. But here's another exciting element: connected features will let you trade items, and send presents and messages to friends who're also playing the game.
Oh, and compete in "galactic vegetable and livestock competitions" too.
The game will come out for iPhone first, with TAG working towards a March 2009 release date. However, it'll then head to N-Gage and Nintendo DS too, with the connected elements hopefully working cross-platform.
We think
Astro Ranch could be a biggie, so will be tracking its progress in the months leading up to its release. Check out the first screenshots above though.
Meanwhile, TAG Games is also working on an iPhone version of its existing
Rock'n'Roll mobile game, which will be out before
Astro Ranch – likely in the next couple of months.
Remember, you can keep up-to-date with the latest iPhone news and reviews in our dedicated iPhone section.
Shane | 20 August 2009
Wow, it's no harvest moon from the sounds of it, A HYBRID!
Harvest moon+Animal Crossing+Time Travel+IPhone=
...This.
I am a fan of harvest moon and animal crossing, I don't have the phone just yet, about 1 more week of waiting- I was going throught apps, This is the first I will download!
Note: Our credit card has a point system- the phone its-self is free!
Jane | 26 November 2009
This sounds really good, I have been a big fan of Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon so I cant wait till this gets out.
As far as I have heard it is coming out in the end of December, so this might be a good christmas present to give someone on their iPhone :P
Mom, hope you are reading this, lol
Paul@Tag | 26 November 2009
Hi Folks, I just wanted to update everyone on Astro Ranch. We've been working away on the game and are in the final straight. A January release date is in our sights but will miss December. As you are tucking into your Turkey we'll be adding the final finishing touches.
There's been some big changes from the screens above. The art style is now much brighter and more colourful and the camera is much closer to the action. In addition to growing crops and raising strange alien livestock you'll have some other stuff to do such as fishing, panning for gold, picking fruit and completing tasks for the other inhabitants of your crater! We also have some nice social features such as gifting items, messaging, comparing stats and entering competitions!
More news soon!
