While not game related, we thought it'd be good to let you know that Apple had released a security update for the iPhone that fixes a particularly serious security vulnerability.
All iPhone customers are recommended to update and this simply involves plugging your iPhone into iTunes and updating.
Xio Interactive's Mino [App Store] has all the gameplay of Tetris (and all the other associated clones) with one distinct advantage: Really cool real-time 5-player internet multiplayer.
At its core, Mino is the same line-clearing game you've been playing for years with two basic single-player game modes, standard and glacier. Standard mode offers a straightforward version of Tetris but with the addition of the "slow" button at the top of the screen. As you clear lines the bar on the right side of the play field slowly fills up which controls how long you can have the "slow" mode enabled. It's kind of a cheesy feature, but it has saved me from a few game overs in my time with the game.
Meanwhile, Glacier mode works has you dealing with near-constant intrusions of garbage rows of random blocks to clear at the bottom of the screen. There is also a "freeze" button that can be used to briefly stop these additional lines from spawning.
The bread and butter of Mino is in the multiplayer which can be played either over the cellular network or WiFi. Multiplayer pits you against up to four other people. As your opponents clear lines, garbage rows of random blocks are sent to your board (and vice versa). So your play directly affects other people's boards. While you can play with up to four other people, finding that many people online looking for games at once can be challenging. A newly release multi-player enabled Lite version, however, may improve that. When you do actually find a good game, it's just as fun as you would expect and the chat room you can brag in between games only adds to the enjoyment.
I could go on explaining this game, but I'd really recommend watching this demo video released by the developer which details every feature of Mino:
Obviously in a game like this, online community is everything. When I asked the developers if they felt gamers had anything to worry about with Mino being pulled from the App Store (and its community along with it) like most other games similar to EA's Tetris, this is what they had to say:
Xio Interactive is dedicated to protecting the online Mino community from any threats, legal or otherwise. We are prepared to use any and every resource at our disposal to ensure that Mino and Mino Lite remain on the app store, and that our game servers remain running at all times, including substantial monetary and personnel resources. Our customers can rest easy with the assurance that we are here to stay.
Either way, Xio Interactive also has a surprisingly full featured lite edition available. Mino Lite [App Store] has both the standard single player mode and you can play 30 matches of online play. So if you like these kinds of games, at least give Mino Lite a try.
App Store Link: Mino, $2.99 - Mino Lite, Free
Thanks to the encouragement of overly generous grandparents, I had a ridiculous model train set as a kid. Since then, I've always had a place in my heart for train games of all types. Promo Ideas' recently released Wild Wild Train [App Store] is an action-puzzle game that likely will have massive appeal for rails fans, but also is a good enough game to be worth looking in to even if you're not crazy about trains.
The goal of Wild Wild Train is to manage your trains and route them through the various switches on the tracks to pick up all kinds of different color-coded cargo which then needs to be delivered to the station with the corresponding color. Sounds simple enough, and the first few levels are pretty easy, but Wild Wild Train quickly adds multiple trains as well as bombs to be disarmed and damsels in distress to be saved by the special hero train. Run over the damsel in distress with any other train and it's game over, or, more appropriately in a game like this, it's CURTAINS for you!
Between each of the 24 levels the delightfully corny plot is unveiled through a mixture of HDR photography, 3D trains, and dioramas laid out like a comic book. These 24 levels take place through 11 maps, which gradually increase in complexity and the amount of trains you need to manage at once. At its peak, you'll be dealing with 3 trains, bombs and damsels popping up everywhere, and enough track switches on screen to make your head spin.
Wild Wild Trains has a look and feel that just perfectly fits the mood the game is aiming for. If you're in to fast paced puzzle games, like trains, or just so happen to have an extra dollar in your iTunes account, check out Wild Wild Train.
App Store Link: Wild Wild Train, 99¢
I’ve always had a fascination with the “escape the room” gaming genre because in many ways, it’s a metaphor for the many hurdles that we may face and our ability to break through them. The concept which involves a degree of logic and ingenuity has been around for more than two decades, and there are more variations than I can imagine. One that caught my attention is iEscaper! - Escape from the Ninja’s Lair [$2.99] which combines the intrigue of Japanese culture with the challenge of a solid escape room game.
While it doesn’t fall into the same genre as a Myst-type game, iEscaper! exudes that same feel with top-notch visuals which I think is quite a feat in itself. Typical escape room titles tend to be 2D and in some cases, can be rather bland. iEscaper!, on the other hand, fall on the other end of that scale with beautifully rendered 3D environments accompanied by soothing sounds.
The storyline is very reminiscent of Japanese folklore and history as you’ve entered an enemy ninja’s lair to steal secret scrolls and become ensnared in a trap preventing you from leaving. The objective is to escape and find your way through the three rooms where failure will result in your life.
At the heart of iEscaper! is a hidden item game, but that is only half the battle. Once you’ve located items, deciphering messages typically found on scrolls and tablets are essential if you’re to unlock the secrets of acquired items. The fun and challenge comes from the assorted puzzle games that will test both sides of your brain in logic and imagination. In one room, it may be combining several items in order to unlock yet another puzzle, while others require activities be done in a specific sequence and include character and numerical sequences.
The touch controls are more than adequate with arrows appearing when certain movement is available, and you can easily navigate a room. As with hidden item games, tapping on certain objects will create a reaction such as opening a drawer or picking up an item. In many cases, you may even try random tapping in a vain attempt to locate items, and while that may help initially, the challenge will come from finding meaning in all of it. On occasion, dialogue boxes will appear to provide additional clues when tapping certain items or in most cases to reaffirm what you already know which usually isn’t much. One nice touch in iEscaper! is the use of scrolls and tablets. Often these items provide a wealth of information succinctly conveyed in simple drawings. However, they may illustrate how to reach a specific goal, but they won’t tell you what is needed to do so.
The game has an intuitive inventory system where collected items can be stored, combined or used. In fact, I could think of other games that could use a streamlined inventory system such as the one found in iEscaper!.
I mentioned that there are three rooms in iEscaper!, and while this doesn’t sound like many, I can honestly say that those three rooms will keep you occupied for quite a while. They are challenging to say the least with each room becoming progressively more difficult and dangerous. Without giving away too much, the first room is child’s play when compared to the second room and if you fail at solving the puzzles, well, it’s sayonara. The third room is even more difficult because the risks increase significantly, and the conclusion is incentive enough to finish.
Personally, I would’ve have liked more sound effects or even more of a continuous zen-like soundtrack. For a game where failure can have repercussions, the tone is strangely very relaxing, almost stress free...a good thing. The Japanese theme is one you don’t find often in escape room titles on the iPhone/iPod Touch platform. While three rooms is more than enough for an initial release, the dev has mentioned adding rooms in future updates, which should build out the game even further. A hint option may help with managing the difficulty level as well. What may be an interesting experiment is to add a different storyline either within iEscaper! or as a separate title to add some variety since I can envision this becoming a series.
iEscaper! is a beautiful game, and you will easily find the visuals on par with Myst, albeit on a smaller scale. While the escape room concept is the foundation for iEscaper!, it really extends beyond that by creating what I think is a unique soothing yet ominous feel. I can’t say that about too many other games in the space, and that speaks volumes for iEscaper!.
App Store Link: iEscaper!, $2.99
A ball-rolling game we previously covered has just gone on sale for only $0.99.
HydroTilt XL offers familiar tilt controls to control a bead of water on suspended platforms. The goal of each level is to find the a cold cube (which turns your drop of water into a ball of ice) and roll it to the goal. The game adds a number of additional obstacles, ramps and challenges to make the game far more interesting than your typical tilt-balance game.
Since we first looked at it, the game has received 30 extra levels as well as a built-in level editor with the ability to share and download these custom levels.
App Store Link: HydroTilt XL, $0.99, HydroTilt Lite, Free
Long time adventure fans will be thrilled to hear that Revolution Software has informed us that they are forming a mobile game division called Revolution Pocket, and the first title to be released through the new division is an iPhone port of the cult-classic adventure Beneath a Steel Sky.
Originally released for the Amiga and DOS in 1994, Beneath a Steel Sky is a sprawling graphical adventure set in Australia in a dystopian future. The story goes like this: the protagonist, Robert, crashed in the Outback as a child and was raised by a group of natives. After growing into an adult, storm-troopers sent from Union City by its all-powerful computer, LINC, kidnap Robert and kill his tribe. After entering the city dome, the helicopter transporting him crashes and he escapes into the city with his robot companion, Joey. Robert's mission is to find out why he was wanted and what to do next.
The game received very high praise at the time of its release and is widely considered to be one of the best adventure games ever created. PC Gamer gave it 91% and called it "a must-buy for all serious adventure fans." CU Amiga gave it 95%, calling it "one of the greatest adventures ever," while Simon Byron of The One gave it a 93%, saying, "I could sum this game in one word: Superb."
Revolution indicates that the game builds on the original, featuring new animated movies from comic artist Dave Gibbons who did the artwork for the original game as well as its introductory comic book. This remastered iPhone release will feature a new context-sensitive help system and even higher quality audio than the original.
“The adventure genre is undergoing a renaissance, and we’re thrilled to be bringing a revamped and remastered version of this classic adventure to a whole new audience,” says Charles Cecil, founder of Revolution Software. Digital distribution has changed the game for developers, and it’s great to be able to communicate directly with our audience. Revolution has a sizeable, passionate fan base which we value enormously. By tackling development and publishing duties ourselves, we can strengthen our relationship with them and retain complete commercial and creative freedom – not just in terms of content, but in terms of distribution and, crucially, pricing. The model allows us to ensure that our games offer incredible value for money. We’re bringing high-quality, intelligent, narrative-based gaming to a whole new platform – some owners of which will have enjoyed the games before, and others who will be experiencing our titles for the very first time – and that’s something I find tremendously exciting.
While I've not personally played the game to completion, I've spent notable time with it -- and in recent years -- on my Amiga 1200. Beneath a Steel Sky was an amazing adventure experience 15 years ago, and holds up quite well today. Whether or not you've played the original, if you're an adventure gaming fan keep a close eye on this one. It should truly be a rare App Store gem when it makes its debut.
We'll take a closer look when the game goes live but, in the mean time, have a look at the 2003 shareware release (which was ported to the ScummVM engine), playable on most major platforms.
See the original game's five-minute intro video here. Photos in this article are from the Amiga / DOS versions of the game.
Some videos have been circulating around the Internet and our forums of Sugar Devil Studios' upcoming game, Wizard Warfare. Aside from some great concept art, some cool looking screenshots, and a few mysterious movies, their web site doesn't have much information on it either regarding the actual gameplay.
We got in touch with Niamh Kenny, one of the Wizard Warfare team members and got him to explain the game. Wizard Warfare is a turn-based artillery-style game similar to Worms [App Store] or Star Hogs [App Store] set in a fantasy environment with magic spells like "Flame of Desolation" and "Wanton Cruelty" instead of bazookas and missiles. Players will be able to play as one of six wizards and battle across five full 3D arenas using 33 different spells. Also included is a two player mode.
Kenny sent us this video of a single turn in Wizard Warfare:
Here is what is happening in this video:
At this point in the game, the player has chosen their character and used their gold to buy spells from the store. The more expensive the spell, the more powerful it is, and the more damage it will do on impact. Each of these spells has a color, and so the player also chooses a defense spell, trying to anticipate the color of the enemy's attack.
Using your finger, you can move the camera around to see the enemy Wizard's position, and then aim the spell towards them. Once an attack spell is launched, the opposing Wizard can activate their defense spell at any time (it's a rune with a sphere of energy that expands quickly from the Wizard.) If you can destroy the attacking spell at a maximum distance from your Wizard, you can avoid taking any damage, but the closer the explosion, the more pain that's suffered. Also, if you successfully match the color of the attack spell, your defense is more than twice as effective.
When a Wizard's health reaches zero, they explode in a ball of flame and the winning player receives bonus gold and advances to the next level.
With more gold, more advanced spells open up, and the player can roll out the heavy artillery.
As each level progresses, the enemy AI gets more accurate with its shots, more effective with its blocking spells, is positioned more strategically, and has access to more powerful spells.
To win the entire game, you must defeat all 5 of the Wizards on each of the 3 levels of difficulty.
Wizard Warfare is still in development, so keep an eye on Touch Arcade for more videos and information on the game as it surfaces.
Gameloft's Oregon Trail [App Store] which features all of the dysentery of the original with updated graphics, new mini-games, and even in-game missions is now available in a lite edition. Oregon Trail Free [App Store] now lets gamers briefly try their luck on the trail, and is definitely worth downloading if you've been holding off on grabbing Oregon Trail for whatever reason.
Sure, the full game is a little easy, but what other game is there on the iPhone where you can have your children stolen by bald eagles? For more information, check out our original post on the game.
Another great game that also now has a lite version is Blimp - The Flying Adventure [App Store]. Affectionately called "that blimp game" by forum members, Blimp - The Flying Adventures Lite has the same great art style, 3D sound, and fantastic gameplay.
This video put out by the developers shows the game and its controls in greater detail:
[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]
App Store Links:
Bovine Dragon Software recently announced that they had finally submitted Gomi for release. Gomi is a game we first covered back in January and comes from the same developer as Trace [App Store], a very popular free iPhone game.
The developer has released this video which shows this strange game in action:
Most striking is the amount of content that appears to be in the game with over 12 hours of gameplay and 140 stages. Full list of features include:
The game will debut at a $1.99 price and should be coming soon. More information can be found in the discussion thread.
A few interesting news items today:
Plans may change, but our current aim is to develop this as a technical and visual upgrade to the current game with no changes in the amount of levels (don't think of this as an expansion or a sequel, it's not). It will only run on a 3GS.
It is still going to be some time off before release.
The game uses high dynamic range, deferred rendering with unlimited number of dynamic lights, and per pixel lighting using normal maps. These are effects normally only found in console and PC games.... but IT'S RUNNING ON YOUR PHONE at over 30 fps!
A video shows the new changes:
[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]
Both the 3GS version of Zen Bound and Dark Raider will be completely separate purchases from the current versions of the game.
The anticipation thread for Chillingo's Minigore [App Store] started all the way back on May 15th. 3,546 posts later, Minigore is finally here!
Minigore is a dual-stick survival shooter similar to iDracula [App Store]. Two on-screen joysticks control the game, the right controls where you shoot and the left handles your movement. You only get one life and can get hit twice before you die. The game also comes with two levels of difficulty. Your arsenal to dispatch the swarms of furries consists of your standard machine gun, a shotgun that you can pick up from a crate, and an exploding crate to inflict area effect damage.
There are four types of enemies in game, three different sizes of furries and a flaming furry that runs a little faster. The standard furries come in three sizes. When you shoot a large furry it will split in to smaller furries, and once you play for a while you find yourself swarmed with baddies to shoot.
Collecting three four-leaf clovers transforms you into a rampaging flaming bull, and similar to eating a power pellet in Pac Man, you can just run over all the furries on screen to instantly kill them. Randomly throughout the game, your character will belt out various vocal quips, and the soundtrack has an epic feel to it that significantly boosts the atmosphere of the game.
As obvious from screenshots, Minigore has a cute cartoony art style to it, and the game really does look pretty cool in motion. With that said, the gameplay is kind of plain right now. With only the standard machine gun and shotgun, one level, and the limited enemy types, there isn't much variation in the gameplay. The developers have ambitious plans for episodic content updates similar to Pocket God [App Store] (including Enviro-Bear themed coop multiplayer), but for right now it's basically a stripped down version of iDracula with colorful art and good music.
The developer video shows the action:
Online scoring via OpenFeint give Minigore a decent amount of replay value if you're into high-scoring games, and the game does have a lot of character to it. Minigore falls short in the depth department, but can be a good time if you didn't work up sky-high expectations getting wrapped up in the pre-launch hype.
App Store Link: Minigore, 99¢
Darkside Entertainment is really on to something here with their amazingly simple yet surprisingly fun game of marbles. Titled simply Play Marbles [App Store], the game offers a large amount of content, game modes and customization.
Play Marbles plays exactly like playing marbles as a kid. Three different variations of play are included, Ringer, Pound, and Moon. To shoot a marble, you just flick upwards on the screen after aiming using the two sides of the screen to control where you're aiming. The controls work well, and marbles can be played on any of the four environments included with six different sets of marbles. You can even customize your marbles with your own photos.
The developer released this great video showing the different game types, how the controls work, and a few of the different play environments:
You can Play Marbles against other people both via local WiFi and by passing your device, and there is even rumblings of different downloadable marble sets and arenas in the iTunes description. If you've never played the long-forgotten game of marbles, here is your chance to give it a try. If you played marbles as a kid on the playground pavement, you're in for a hefty helping of nostalgia.
App Store Link: Play Marbles, $1.99
Mobile studio Digital Chocolate has been a major player in the iPhone gaming scene and has claimed to be the #1 iPhone game studio based on downloads. There are definitely games we've liked coming from them such as 3D Brick Breaker Revolution. And most recently California Gold Rush [App Store] is getting rave reviews from forum members as well as forum reviewer Big Albie. However, the majority of their games seem to have a distinct mobile-phone feel to them that seem out of place on the iPhone.
Their most recent game Crazy Monkey Spin [$2.99 / Lite] is reminiscent of DK: King of Swing requiring a monkey from swing from post to post while collecting bananas and reaching the goal.
Crazy Monkey Spin seems to have a lot of content with 60+ levels, achievements and multiple play modes. The game is fun enough as you swipe your way from post to post collecting bananas, and using extra powerups and other level-based assistance (levels, air flow). Of course, the game did start life as a mobile phone game, and still feels like it. While it's what keeps us from getting long term enjoyment out of the game, I suspect the vast majority of the (non-TouchArcade reading) iPhone public probably don't care. However, when you compare it to an iPhone original title like Sway, the differences are apparent.
Of course, they are very different games, but Crazy Monkey Spin has one huge advantage over Sway... and that's accessibility. Casual gamers will be able to pick up Crazy Monkey Spin and probably enjoy it. Sway, however, has a pretty steep learning curve for its iPhone-specific multi-touch controls. And for that reason alone, I suspect the masses may even prefer a game like Crazy Monkey Spin in the long run. You can give it a try yourself for free.
But if you're looking to see how an iPhone-original title plays and willing to put a little time in, check out Sway [$4.99, Lite].
[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]
App Store Links: Crazy Monkey Spin ($2.99 / Lite), Sway ($4.99, Lite)
Ngmoco has dropped the price of its 3D tower defense game Star Defense [App Store] from the original price of $5.99 to $2.99. The game has also been updated a few times since its original release. The latest 1.3 update brings a number of new planets and features:
We quite enjoyed the fast pace of managing your towers on all sides of a 3D object, but the value of the 3D element had some mixed responses in our forums. We think it's a great value at $2.99, so if you were on the fence before, here's your chance.
App Store Link: Star Defense, $2.99
FDG's Parachute Panic [App Store] is a game with great hand drawn graphics, fun music, and very simple gameplay which seems to have the same charm as simple games like Doodle Jump [App Store].
The goal of the game is very basic, land little stick men jumping from planes on to the ships below. First impressions on this game can be deceptive as the simple gameplay quickly turns in to a hectic battle against helicopters, storm clouds, UFO's and moving boats.
Parachute Panic 1.2 is in the works which will spice things up a bit and breathe some new life in to this game. The first addition is a stork which flies by to award players an extra life, as well as new bonus objects to collect that will increase your score. Also included is a new online leaderboard and friends list system, a feature that is close to becoming standard for most iPhone games.
Parachute Panic has lived a long life on my iPhone, in our original review of the game we questioned the lasting appeal, but I still find myself going back to try to save some skydivers from helicopters every now and again.
App Store Link: Parachute Panic, 99¢
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