Chatan, Japan – Fans of classic games take to the skies with the spiritual renewal of one of the earliest combat flight titles: Sopwith. The aptly named reboot, Sopwith Barons, stays true to its roots: Use your Bi-plane to destroy all of the enemy targets while avoiding enemy aircraft trying to shoot you down. This time, both sides have more tools and tactics at their disposal!
David L. Clark of BMB Compuscience pioneered the side-scrolling combat flight shoot ’em up with Sopwith in 1984. The addicting features of dogfighting and destructible environments led to widespread distribution and rapid follow-up with Sopwith 2 and another variant, The Red Baron. More advanced flight simulators eclipsed the franchise by the 1990s and the series lie dormant with the source code eventually released. Enter Uchinasoft this month with new twists on this old classic.
Sopwith Barons takes the challenge a step further with game-play statistics, achievements, medals, feats, and dynamic enemy AI to stop the player’s flight to victory. That path to victory will be a tricky one. Every challenger will face-off with the Red Baron but keep an eye out for the Blue, Green, and Brown Barons. Every enemy ace employs different tactics and weapon combinations to reduce the player’s score. While every battle can be won, the final scores depend entirely on how well the player manages the enemies, their allies, and their aircraft. Survivors of the battle should be sure to check their standings on Game Center. Scores are tracked on the Leaderboard and 24 achievements will keep challengers busy for hours. Diligent players may discover the hidden “retro mode”, where the new features of Sopwith Barons can be enjoyed in a faithful reproduction of the original classic.
When asked “Why Sopwith?”, the lead developer at Uchinasoft reflected on many lost hours reaching highest possible score back when Sopwith was the only title in town. “A nostalgic playback last month led me to the app store to search a modern replacement, only to come up empty-handed. I dropped everything to push this out the door if only so I could play it for myself!”. Depending on the interest, Uchinasoft has fleshed out plans for new scenarios, more airplanes, expanded challenges, multiple leaderboards, and even multiplayer.
Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
* Requires iOS 3.0 or later
* 14.7 MB
Pricing and Availability:
Sopwith Barons 1.0.2 is available Free to play worldwide through the App Store in the Games category. It is also available on Google Play. Visit the website for the latest news about Sopwith Barons.
Sopwith Barons 1.0.2
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Located in Chatan, Japan, Uchinasoft is a small development studio led by John Sheaffer, a business consultant, software developer, and long-time resident of Japan. Uchinasoft development is driven by the needs of private clients which infrequently lead to public releases of applications with commercial appeal. Copyright (C) 2012 Uchinasoft. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.
