By now we’ve seen quite a few games that rely on accelerometer for user controls. However, we haven’t seen a single title that takes advantage of the built-in compass. Until now…
The game is called Space Impact: Meteor Shield and it’s available for the Nokia N97 and N97 mini owners. It sees you protecting the good ol’ Earth from (guess) meteors and alien hordes. The nemesis is attacking and it’s your job (duty) to use your gun turret and save us all.
To do that you’ll need to hold your device upright, with the screen parallel to the ground. The turret is then controlled by rotating the phone on its vertical axis, as if you were sat in the hot seat spinning on the spot.
I’m not sure I like using compass more than accelerometer but it’s a neat idea to take advantage of the built-in hardware for some other purposes other than augmented reality. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t have anything against AR apps — quite the contrary — but I did wonder whether some company will be able to use compass for some other application. It’s good to see someone was thinking the same.
Space Impact: Meteor Shield (FREE) [Ovi Store]