Warpgate HD is a nifty space game for iPad. It was the first game I bought when I got the iPad and it has been lots of fun. The game is filled with exploration of many star systems and wars between six factions that control various regions. By the end, you will work for and betray each faction at least once. You start off with a small ship with minimal weapons, shields, and cargo space, then you fight and trade your way to a big, studly battleship with powerful weapons and shields and enough cargo space. You can also set up mines on various asteroids.
Navigating around the attractive 2D but drawn in 3D space is normally done in a zoomed out view, as shown below. Tapping sets your destination, and zooming and rotating are very intuitive with multitouch controls. The warpgate shown in the image is the travel mechanism between systems.
You can also zoom in and see details of your ship and others. Some pirates are visible in this view. The green arrow lines show the path to your destination.
In battle mode, fighting pirates here, you can use your weapons by tapping on them. Here I have 10 weapons (which is a lot). You can also recharge your shields and select targets by tapping.
There are lots of systems and many missions. You collect cargo from destroyed enemies and can trade among planets and space stations. There are many grammatical and spelling errors throughout the game, which is disappointing, but does not detract from game play too much. Overall, a fun game for any iPad owners that like space games.
