Electronic Arts has been seeing several departures in the past few months, with developers from PopCap Interactive, Criterion and recently with Chillingo as well. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter recently spoke to VG247 about these departures, especially Chillingo since, “The Chillingo founders are really the glue that holds that organization together, so I think their departure is a big deal.

“I don’t know the Criterion guys well, but I would say that the departure of the two co-founders is less of a big deal, as they haven’t worked on any original IP since Black. They are really talented, but I think that the remaining crew is capable of backfilling.

“The Chillingo guys are a lot harder to replace than many of the others, since Chillingo is such a small team and had such a high success rate.

Pachter also gave his take on who would be next, naming EA Labels boss Frank Gibeau. “I don’t expect any high profile departures, other than Frank Gibeau. He was reassigned to a much less influential position and promptly sold all of his stock, so I think he is planning a move soon.”

On being asked whether COO Peter Moore would depart any time soon, Pachter said, “Peter is an old guy and has a lot of money, so he’s probably ready to stop working and start enjoying his life, but I would expect him to stick around a couple more years to help Andrew ease into the CEO role. They are close, and I think Peter has agreed to help mentor Andrew.”

It will certainly be interesting to see how EA proceeds in the coming months, especially since we’re only two months into the next console generation. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months.

Chillingo’s COO Ed Rumley feels that “complex” free to play games that offer a lot of content can be scary for several indie developers, since they find it intimidating that the devs are giving these huge games away for no price at all.

“There’s obviously a lot of games where you’re grinding away, or building up a city or whatever it is,” Rumley told VG247. “That’s a particular genre, and I think there’s a market for people who like those games, but there’s also a lot of people who still like pay-per-download games.

“From an indie developer’s perspective I think free-to-play games scares a lot of people because it’s a complex market, and I can imagine that developers put a lot of time and effort into their games, and that they’re very proud of their work, but it’s scary that they’re about to give this game away for free.”

He continued: “Then there’s our perspective which is, we’re very comfortable with the free market, and we now earn more from free games than paid, but paid is still an important market for us. The way we look at this – the bottom line – is that consumers are king, so for us the consumer comes first, and we will always try to make games with developers something that consumers are happy with.”

It does make sense that developers giving these huge games away for free would scare plenty of the indie devs, but it’s proved to be not much of an issue, since plenty of indie games have done well in the F2P market recently.

The game looks pretty cool though with fantastic graphics especially when you consider its 2D nature and not to mention, it looks quite polished too. I think your enemy will be the same guy from the cartoons. This game genuinely looks great as you can see in the trailer above.

Let us know what you think of the trailer in the comments section below.

Here are the game features for the same:

• He-Man characters and world that fans know and love remastered for the modern generation.
• 27 action-packed levels spread across 7 areas of Eternia.
• Fluid, intuitive controls for stunning swordplay.
• Huge boss fights with He-Man’s greatest foes.
• Universal; plays great on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
  

Picnic Wars is an interesting game for the iOS. The basic premise is a fight between fruits and vegetables, and the ultimate goal is to destroy the fortress with launchers that are available to you. There are five launchers in total, and also 32 levels to cause mayhem in. You may think those are a lot of levels, but each side gets 32 levels each, but they end pretty fast. As the name implies, the battle is set during a picnic, and you have to grow your own fruits and vegetables first before they can be used as projectiles.

You are given seeds to grow your units, but it isn’t enough. You have to find more by aiming your units at the enemy fortress, and finding more seeds in the process. It’s quite simple. Stronger units require more seeds and vice versa. Each units namely the common fruits and vegetables you know, have different abilities which can be used at an appropriate time. There is also a countdown on every level, which makes you think fast and execute quick moves. I really hate timer based gameplay, I really do.

To make it hard for you to destroy the fortress in each level, utensils will be thrown at your launchers and with enough damage they could be destroyed. There is a scoring system as well, and which game nowadays on iOS doesn’t feature one? You are rated based on how fast you complete the mission and the amount of destruction you do. It’s pretty straightforward.

Controls are a mixed bag, really. It’s mostly due to the unresponsive touch commands when you are in a hurry that causes all the annoyance. Other than that, it really shouldn’t be a hassle. It is preferable you start on a lower difficulty till you get the hang of the mechanics, otherwise it can lead to frustration mostly due to the controls. The game looks great, visually. There is a great art style here, which makes it pleasant to look it.

The game doesn’t have a lot of technical issues on the iPad, and looks great. It’s only the controls that I have an issue with, but on the iPhone, it is pretty much perfect. There’s not a lot of things in this game, other than the fact that its cheap for the iPhone and costs $1.99 for the iPad. I would recommend this game if you’re buying it for the iPhone, and for the iPad, basically due to the controls and the slightly jacked up price, it’s not much of a value.

This game was reviewed on the iPad 2.

The game will be released on March 22nd for iOS and Android, and you can play it on your shiny new iPad or Galaxy Note.

It’s a sequel to the first game and features a lot of neat effects like gravitational fields and weightlessness. So check it out and tell us what you think in the comments section below.

You know you want the game. Everyone does. EVERYONE.

I think…

Thanks, Kotaku.

Sticky Sheep is a game about Baxter the sheepdog, whose job is to guide sheep using his head. He also has a cool helmet which assists him a lot for this job. You can slingshot him to hit the sheep and guide them to a specific location to complete the level.

The game has a lot in common with other Chillingo games out there, and if you play a lot of their games, you pretty much know what to expect here. There is a three star scoring system and the emphasis on physics based guidance is quite high. Sometimes I feel the entire game is based on luck and less on skill.

The main objective is to guide the sheep to a specific circular point so that you can pass the level. Depending on how accurate you are, gets you points accordingly. There are a lot of levels here, sometimes they are complicated or very easy to pass. As you keep playing, there will be a lot of obstacles for you to overcome like pinball style ramps or blocks.

Just like Angry Birds, you have a limited amount of turns to accomplish your goal, or you can just try again. I found this game to be somewhat engaging, and as you keep playing and unlocking tougher missions, it will actually get challenging. As I mentioned earlier, it’s mostly based on luck and less on skill, so it gets a little frustrating later on.

There is also an arcade mode here, where you can just play for scores. The more sheep you knock into a target, more time you get on the clock. Visually the game is decent with varied colours and the design is quite palatable as well. I love physics based games like these, and Sticky Sheep managed to keep me occupied for a while.

If you want a good physics based game, with a decent amount of content, then I can easily recommend this game. Sticky Sheep has issues, but seeing Baxter the Sheepdog knocking sheep around will never get old.

This game was reviewed on the iPad 2.

Mafia Rush is a free game for the iOS, and is pretty bad. The main reason is obviously the controls. It’s a dual-stick shooter, and you know how much accurate they are. There are four main gameplay modes here – robbing a place and bringing back the cash to your car, bomb an armoured car with C4, defend your car which contains the cash, and basically a survival mode.

All of them aren’t fun at all, but I sort of liked robbing missions. It isn’t that complicated at all, but when you try to bring back the cash to your car, and you will obviously have to fight a bunch of bad guys. Getting hit by a bullet means, the character you are “controlling” will drop the bag down. And before you clumsily try to go back, thanks to the controls – you will be gunned down. These moments are infuriating, and I don’t have to mention again how much I hate these dual-stick shooters. Especially the badly implemented ones like these.

Of course, this is just subjective. People who are adept at using these sort of controls will find less problems, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a major pain, and unresponsive. Once you complete a level, you earn money. You can buy a lot of things to supplement you in the game – like turrets and stuff. The visuals are okay for an iOS game, it could have been worse. Of course, considering it’s free like some other games out there, you have the option of purchasing things in-game.

I’ve been way too negative here, but that’s mainly because the controls are so damn frustrating, and it’s a real pain to aim at people. There’s not much content here, or any sort of story to keep you busy, although, they should have done that. My main problem here was fighting a bunch of enemies, and why that was a problem because I was struggling with the controls. The game is way too short, and it just didn’t engage me like some of the other dual-stick games out there on the platform.

You are free to try out the game though, it’s free! (d’uh). But I can’t really see this game helping people pass their time as they wait for a train, or a bus, or something. The shoddy controls kills the entire experience, at least for me.

This game was reviewed on the iPad 2.

Chillingo have announced the release of Spice Invaders and 1001 Ultimate Mahjong on the App Store for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

Spice Invaders is a redefining tower defense experience with jaw-dropping visuals, a hilarious storyline and online co-op and competitive play. 1001 Ultimate Mahjong puts the classic game of Mahjong Solitaire in the palm of your hand – it’s challenging, addictive, and packed with content.

Let me get this out of the way first. Order Up!! To Go  is available for free. It’s always tough to review the free games, because I feel like it is sort of pointless scoring them, because they’re well, free. Order Up is a cooking simulator released for the iOS by Supervillian Studios and is, dare I say, quite good as well.

Ever wanted to work at Mc Donalds to make some part time cash? Or ever wanted to see how it is like working for it? Well, this game comes close, and is quite addictive as well. It features voice acting and a great plethora of sound effects that really immerses you in this game.

For a free game I am surprised at how much depth it has. There is a lot of content here, and sometimes it can really suck you in and keep engaged in the various activities that is available for you to keep the restaurant business up and running.

When you start the game, you are given a tutorial on how to cook fast food efficiently. It involves a lot of on-screen touch commands, which is quite responsive and easy to execute. You will fry a lot of things here, but you have to make sure it’s well cooked and not burnt, as the customer will not appreciate the latter. There are so many mechanics at play here – which includes, preparing proper food, delivering in time, buying items using the money you earn and managing day-to-day business.

You can unlock different restaurants once you finish the current objectives satisfactorily or earn enough money. Or you can just use real-world money to buy them, but I wouldn’t recommend that. The recipes available to you are simple in the begining but they get varied and interesting later, which also makes the game a lot of fun to play. Cutting vegetables or filling up a glass with drink can be fun as well, who would have thought?

The controls are really good and sometimes you have to multitask and cook plenty of different things together. You can cycle between them by swiping horizontally, and sometimes it can get confusing resulting in something getting burnt up. Once you get the hang of how to cook different food, you become more efficient at it and can whip up a meal a lot quicker than before. There is something really addictive about this game. Frying a bunch of French Fries really makes me hungry to the point of buying it. I guess it has to do with the good sound effects. The “crispy sound” of something getting fried is amazing.

There are also different things like keeping your restaurant clean or you may face adverse side effects. Sometimes a health inspector will visit, so you have to please him. As I mentioned before the depth of this game is simply phenomenal.

I cannot really criticise this game much, as it succeeds in what it wants to accomplish. The game is available for free, so that’s a huge positive considering the game is filled with content and is quite fun to play. Order Up can provide you with hours of entertainment if you want learn what it takes to be an accomplish cook, especially where time and quality is crucial.

This game was reviewed on the iPad 2.

Just when you thought Chillingo must have run out of ideas for their amazing puzzle games, we have a new one at our disposal. This game involves feeding specific fishes to the Penguins! This is another puzzle based platformer, which has good controls, as you usually have come to expect from most of these games.

It has the same template as most of their games, but it’s clear that a lot of effort has been put into this game. It’s not that easier to guide the birds to the Penguins as you usually encounter plenty of obstacles, which makes you think a bit.

As soon as you managed to sent a specific coloured bird to the appropriate Penguin, it will swallow it and burp out an ice cream. Yes, you heard that right! Ice cream. You have to tap on the ice cream to send it to the creature which loves it, and this is the hidden collectible in this game.

The concept is pretty simple, mostly. The levels get challenging as you keep clearing them, and there are plenty of worlds at your disposal here. 1 world contains 12 levels and you can either pay to unlock the rest or keep clearing with some good ratings to unlock them. I have no idea why anyone would pay for it unless they’re too lazy to clear each level.

Distinguishing between colours is a main gameplay factor in the game, and when it comes to animations the game is no slouch either. When you tap on each Penguin, it does a freaky animation that is quite hilarious when you think about it. It sort of adds to the immersion and brings some life into the otherwise dull puzzle game.

While the game is well made, there is hardly any innovation here that deserves a lot of praise. It’s just another game that is methodically created in a factory or so to speak. If you enjoy games like these, and plenty of people do, then spending a little for this puzzle game is recommended. There is a little challenging levels, and a bunch of braindead ones.

You can clear most levels really fast as it really doesn’t require a lot of effort once you get the hang of it. If you are craving for a good puzzle game on your iOS device, then do give this one a chance, as it is quite cheap for what it offers. Sure, there is nothing exemplary here, but there is enough challenging content here to keep you busy for a while.

This game was reviewed on the iPad 2.