A good gimmick makes the gamers’ life enjoyable. Nuke them all? Take each one of them down with a single mighty laser shot? Or rather hunt them down in a suicidal yet glorious manner without armour and standard weapons? A premium iPhone game like Galaxy on Fire 2 gets a lot of kicks out of the possibilities and variations offered through varying weapons and item combinations. Even more so the Valkyrie add-on. Our dev team had a good time thinking up new items and weapons bringing a new edge to sci-fi iPhone gaming. The imminent update for Galaxy on Fire 2 will sport some amazing new features and new ships free of charge, while offering the Valkyrie DLC with a wider array of new features as an in-app purchase. In this chapter I proudly present to you my personal favourite features for the iPhone version of Galaxy on Fire 2 update and its add-on Valkyrie. [full]

A screenshot showing the Kaamo Club, the first station that can be privately owned in Fishlabs' award-winning iPhone Game Galaxy on Fire 2.

Let’s start with the coolest new feature. Own your own station. That’s right. No more bribes for corrupt security officers, no more selling your old ship when buying a new one and no more storage capacity limited to the cargo hold of your ship. Well, all of these aren’t completely obsolete, of course. But owning your very own station in the new system Shima is surely changing the game for good. And it is included in the free update. You can either buy it as an in-app purchase or satisfy the demands of the notorious Mkkt Bkkt who is offering his station Kaamo Club to you for sale should you choose to unlock it. Since he used it primarily as a party outpost attracting shady visitors it looks more like a space pub than your regular station. A more aggressive change of the galactic scenery is the introduction of turrets on Terran battle ships. Should you find yourself at odds with the Terran faction you better think twice about getting near those. Then again, you might love the challenge of taking all of them down.

The terran battle cruisers will not be the same after you updated. Turrets will make life a tough one for any enemy of the faction. The turrets will be introduced in the free update, which also contains the add-on Valkyrie as an in-app purchase.

He has been called for loudly in our forums - the Phantom Fighter. Also included in the free update along with two other retro-ships from the first Galaxy of Fire title.

Alongside graphical improvements and the above mentioned features the imminent update will include three new old ships. The retro line makes not only the phantom fighter available, but also two more ships from the first Galaxy on Fire title. You need the update and decide to make the in-app purchase of Valkyrie for new weapon systems, new ships, new systems and items with a completely new functionality. Curious? Alright, imagine you are on your favourite trade route selling implants. Your diplomatic status is enemy of the Terrans. There are tons of enemies, your Ketar Repair Bot 2 can hardly keep up and the newly introduced turrets of the battleships don’t make survival any easier. You shoot down one Terran ship, and another one. But what is this? The ship dropped something after exploding, but this doesn’t look like loot? Baffled you zoom past the object, yet your new Octopus tractor beam collects it even from behind you. You found a signature! You kick in the new and much stronger boost flying to the next station and equip your ship with it. The Terran signature will make every scanner believe you are a Terran flying a Terran ship. What was a nightmare trade route crowded with enemies before now becomes a relaxed merchant’s walk in the park. But keep a low profile. If you attract too much attention by shooting a Terran your signature is useless. And you can’t buy them. You can sell them, though, in the black-market system Loma.

That's what a signature item looks like. Of course, there are signatures for the other factions, as well. They give those with a rogue status more flexibility and are doing honours to the reputation system of a premium iPhone game.

The great company Rhoda who brought us the ultimate shrinker, the Rhoda Blackhole, yet again shows its outstanding ability to capitalize on the anomalies in the laws of nature. And make great products employing hardly known phenomena. Being a marketing guy I’m sure that the aptly named Rhoda Vortex will be the latest craze in iPhone gaming. Curious? Alright, imagine you are flying along with a powerful sniper laser. You need that one shot. You need to aim that one shot perfectly. But more and more enemies start to show up. Shots from the left, from behind. Dodging maneuver, and another one, shots from the right, dodging, you fire bombs but there’s too many of them! What were you thinking equipping that sniping laser? Damn it! You need more time! Do you? Alright, employ the Rhoda Vortex and disrupt the galactic time spiral and time will slow down around you. In a convenient and focused fashion you can aim one shot after another while your enemies will hardly notice what hit them. What is slow motion to you is supernatural high speed to them. Good one, Rhoda! You capitalize on the phenomena of a disrupted vortex, apply it to the fabric of time and work it into a machine everyone can use by pushing a button. Fascinating.

The Rhoda Vortex, a simple item with a stunning effect. Sci-Fi iPhone gaming won't be the same now it is on the galactic market.

The weapons fanatics might appreciate the Rhoda Vortex the most when firing the new guns in Valkyrie. There is the much called for auto-firing turret, there are scatter guns, mines and a guided missile with more impact than the AMR Extinctor. Most notable to me, however, are not the new weapon types but the fire rate modifiers. Berger competitor Nirai proves to have both a heart and an ear for their customers by releasing the novelty models Nirai Overcharge and Nirai Overdrive. These allow the gunning pilot to modify his fire rate according to his needs or preferences. While the Overcharge will increase the damage inflicted and decrease the rate of fire per second, the Override will make your weapon outgun itself at firing – at the cost of lower damage per second. Nirai thus takes weapon customization to a whole new level and almost casually introduces a new product category Berger has not even anticipated. Now the galactic weapons market is definitely on fire, too. But with all the increasing fire power, weapon types, weapon combinations and modifications – doesn’t it seem prudent to think about defences, as well? An emergency system kicking in when only one more hit would kill you. You are then protected from all harm for the next ten seconds, which makes it a splendid choice of equipment in the fierce days of Valkyrie, the extensive add-on to our award-winning iPhone game Galaxy on Fire 2. 

This is the emergency system as seen on a picture taken using Fishlabs' exclusive Action Freeze screenshot tool for the trading shooter iPhone epic Galaxy on Fire 2.