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Cosmic Crown [$1.99] is just an undeniably cool game. It's a roguelike, particularly in the vein of Hoplite [$1.99] where there are occasional upgrades after levels to improve oneself with. But the uncommon twist about the game is that it's entirely one-dimensional, literally. The only movement is forward and backward, with traps, enemies, and slowly-opening doors serving as the things standing between the green protagonist and those sweet cosmic crowns...
Auto-running solves a lot of problems for mobile games where virtual d-pads are suboptimal. While generally this is used for endless runners, platformers that use auto-running are an interesting breed to me. Meet 1-Bit Hero [$0.99 / Free]. It's an auto-running platformer that's just a nice little game. It's challenging, but has levels that are short enough that they don't get too frustrating, which strikes a fantastic balance. And it uses auto-running in a good way, that makes it worth playing...
Ah, the spin-off. A truly noble creature, brought into creation typically by a secondary character becoming so popular that it's believed by the powers that be that they can anchor a story of their own. Sometimes, it works out well, as in Frasier, The Jeffersons, and Wario Land. But for each success, there are a handful of failures like Joey, The Ropers, and Shadow The Hedgehog. Deep Silver's attempt to spin out a character iOS gamers have yet to meet leans more towards the latter group than the former, but point and click adventure fans are still likely to find some merit in the whole exercise. Secret Files: Sam Peters [$2.99] is a much shorter, simpler game than Secret Files: Tunguska [$4.99], and its protagonist is considerably more abrasive than that game's duo. That said, there are a couple of good puzzles and, along with occasionally clever bits of dialogue, it just barely manages keep its head above water...
I feel like the last few games I've reviewed have skirted the line between being a game in the functional definition and being just an interactive experience. Cosmic DJ [$1.99] by GL33k and Devolver Digital is perhaps is more accurately described as a gamified music synthesizer than an actual game per se, it passes the sniff test just enough that it's worth talking about here. Actual musicians might find the basicness of composition rather lacking, and people who enjoy playing games to completion might find the lack of resistance toward achieving their goals dissatisfying. But non-musicians who want a clever way to compose music with only minimal musical knowledge, or want to enjoy the goofy-yet-earnest story here, will want to check this out...
Halfbrick's not letting anything die off, it seems. Between an overhaul for Fruit Ninja [$0.99 / Free] and numerous Age of Zombies [$0.99] upgrades, now Monster Dash [Free] is getting a fresh coat of paint for 2014. As pointed out by friend of the site and mega-cool-guy, Mike Schramm, a big update has gone live this morning. Australian studio Six Foot Kid (who made Band Stars [Free]) has taken charge on development of the game. Along with it is a new trailer for the game:..
The advent of touch technology has created a vast number of innovations that weren't really evident upon release. While many are quick to damn virtual controllers and the like, one of my favorite things about mobile platforms is the sheer lack of physical controls. For certain games that need precision it can be a pain, but for titles that are custom-created for touch controls it's a dream to just pick up and play something. One avenue that I don't think gets enough love is the multiplayer on one device market. There are a decent amount of board games and asynchronous titles out there that support multiple people, but Micro Battles [Free] does a decent job of adding some arcade action into the mix...
As I mentioned back when I reviewed Monument Valley [$3.99], it was bound to be a love it or hate it affair, and I was actually pleasantly surprised to see that most people felt as strongly about the experience as I did. It's a beautiful thing to play with, an artfully-constructed world that you can manipulate and bend around in ways that only a few other games have allowed. It was a gorgeous, pure experience, free of the flashing lights and urging pace that seems to be the general speed of things in this wonderful hobby of ours. It was also very short, with a mere ten levels to its tale, about a third of which were basically tutorial stages. By the time it turned up the gas even a little bit, it was soon finished. As an experience, it's hard to argue with it. As a mechanical game, it was a whole lot of potential with a somewhat wanting level of realizing it. Generally, it was very well-received, with most people left crying for more. So developer Ustwo got working on some more, and after several months of development, they've released an expansion for Monument Valley called Forgotten Shores...
It's a huge Wednesday night full of new iOS games which have just gone live in the US App Store. The biggest release of the week is definitely XCOM: Enemy Within, which is a very welcome addition to iOS as the original was nearly flawless on mobile. There's also quite a few things which I've been anticipating for a long time now, like Framed, Crystal Siege, Random Heroes 3 and Space Age. There's also several games designed specifically to work with Chromecast, which is pretty interesting. Anyway, now you know what I'm psyched for, what will you guys and gals be picking up?..
Straight out of the "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" department is some amazingly depressing news from the dudes at ustwo following the release of the Monument Valley [$3.99] expansion, Forgotten Shores. Backing things up a bit, Monument Valley is an incredible game. We effortlessly gave it five stars in our review, and it's included in any list of games I tell people to check out when constantly asked "What games should I get?" Its expansion launched this morning, essentially doubling the amount of content in the game for $1.99...
There's been a lot of super popular free to play games on the App Store, but the original Candy Crush Saga [Free] completely redefined the meaning of App Store success. The game was huge on Facebook, and the leap to mobile sent the popularity of Candy Crush to a level I'm not even sure the wildest dreams of anyone at King could have imagined. It's become part of pop culture to the point that the game is even referenced in unrelated TV commercials now, and it's almost rare to be out in public and not see someone playing the game...



