The evil Mr. Demon, for reasons unknown, has it out for the poor inhabitants of Ninjatown. He took to their homes in its critically successful DS release and looks to be at it again when creators Shawnimals team up with Venan (of Space Miner fame) to bring Ninjatown: Trees of Doom! [App Store].
Ninjatown: Trees of Doom for the iPhone is a wholly different affair to the strategic Nintendo DS combat game. It is a lighthearted, Doodle Jump-esque adventure, with enough twists to the gameplay to leave its own distinct flavor, even before the iconic, overly cute Ninjas of Ninjatown are factored in.
In Trees of Doom you take control of a solitary Wee Ninja, tasked by the Ol' Master Ninja to climb the Trees of Doom and take the fight to Mr. Demon minions. Of course, being of the Ninja persuasion, there's no way you'll be scampering up that tree on your shins -- instead you propel yourself upwards by jumping deftly between trees and using branches to fling you on high. It's all very Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Naturally, Mr. Demon objects to your shenanigans and sends a horde of demon-like (but still very cute) monsters to stop you in your tracks. If that still isn't enough, the aptly named Trees of Doom provide their own hazards in the form of evil ooze and slippery bark that's best avoided, lest your quest be met with a long drop and sudden end.
Your Ninja is controlled by tapping either sides of the screen (the two trunks). Simply tapping will cause your Ninja to make a small leap, while holding down your finger will cause him to push off into a higher leap. These both need to be mastered to make it to the top and avoid the many pitfalls along the way. Of course, there may be times when you need to move vertically up a trunk, which you can do by pressing the side of the screen your Ninja is presently on. Branches are another helpful tool, which can be directed to fling your Ninja by swiping down on the screen, an on-screen arrow allowing you to control where you end up.
As in Doodle Jump and similar games, there are a raft of power-ups to collect on the way, all aimed at helping you inch just that little bit further. Granted, I don't think any game has anything quite as bizzare as the Mucho-Mucho Moustachio though, a giant moustache that your Ninja clings to as it rockets him skyward. There are also the standard ninja-fare smoke bombs which allow your ninja to disappear and reappear further up the tree, and gum balloons that can be inflated to encompass you in a shield. All these items are needed to achieve the best score possible, which is recorded on the Plus+ leaderboards together with a large list of challenging achievements to attempt.
Trees of Doom's appeal comes largely thanks to its crisp, richly colored artwork. Sure, the gameplay itself is an interesting spin on the usual tilt or tap mechanic, requiring quite a bit of dexterity and skill to land precision jumps, but at the end of the day we know what these games are about. They're about high scores and quick games that keep you coming back for more. Trees of Doom definitely delivers on this, and looks great to boot. If you liked Doodle Jump and other see-how-high-you-can-go games, and you like Ninjas (who doesn't) then this is definitely a worthwhile pickup.
So what is Scoggins Erasers? According to the latest Telltale Games (Sam & Max) dev diary for the game that begs the question, it's a supplier of pencil erasers for the US' second-most prestigious place: the White House.
Of course the dev diary for the recently revealed iPhone puzzle game, Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent, dishes out some sweet, sweet additional details.
According to game designer Mark Darin, FBI Puzzle Investigation Division Agent Nelson Tethers is on a peculiar case. Scoggins Erasers has stopped sending erasers to the White House and are instead are puzzles. Tether, being the PID's only agent, must figure out these puzzles and apparently unravel the secret of Scoggins, Minnesota in process.
In the video Darin re-confirms what we knew about the game stemming from an event in San Francisco last week.
"We're combining what we do with adventure games, the exploration of scenes and interaction with other characters, with self-contained brain teaser puzzles inspired by games like Professor Layton," Darin says, adding later that the game draws additional inspiration from TV shows like the X-Files and Twin Peaks.
As reported earlier, Puzzle Agent hits all iDevices this June. And if you're interested, the foremost prestigious place in the US is that rest stop along US-41. You'll never smell the unique and colorful smells there anywhere else in the country. Period.
Dicework Games, creators of the steampunk puzzler Diceworks [99¢] in collaboration with Crescent Moon Games, the developers behind both Ravensword: The Fallen King [$4.99 / Free] and the upcoming Ultra Kid: Mystery of the Mutants are nearing the finish line in releasing the first of what sounds like a series of turn-based roleplaying games for the iPhone.
Rimelands: Hammer of Thor is going to come loaded with multiple classes to play as, each customizable with talents. The game world consists of both pre-made and randomly generated levels in a game world that is said to be light-hearted and adventurous while still supporting more epic and serious undertones.
The Rimelands web site is absolutely loaded with information about the game, including lore to set the scene of the Rimelands game world. So far everything we've seen from this new partnership between Diceworks and Crescent Moon has been extremely impressive. The art looks great, the Rimelands universe sounds cool, and the brief gameplay shown in the above trailer has really piqued my interest.
Needless to say, we're going to be following Rimelands: Hammer of Thor very closely.
Just like Freeverse's recently released Warpgate [$4.99 / $6.99 (HD)], Flick Baseball [$2.99] has had a development cycle that borders on legendary for an iPhone game. We first heard of the game in a guest article by Freeverse developer Mark Andersson, and didn't actually see it in motion until a few months later when we played a very basic (and different looking) build of the game at WWDC. Later, we posted a preview trailer that had such an impact on Baseball fans around here that it seemed to slightly overshadow the release of Gameloft's Derek Jeter Real Baseball that popped up on the App Store in the following weeks.
After our preview from last week, I've spent a considerable amount of time with the game. Essentially, if you're looking for an in-depth 3D baseball simulation game, you're going to need to keep waiting-- But if you're like me and prefer sports games that have an arcade feel to them, then you'll enjoy Flick Baseball.
Each of the different actions that make up the baseball game has a mini-game feel to it. Batting works just like Com2Us's Homerun Battle 3D [$4.99 / Free / $4.99 (HD)] where you tilt your device to move around a transparent crosshair of sorts to line up your bat. Tapping the screen swings, and you can advance bases by tapping on them in the corner of the screen.
Pitching is a guessing game of sorts that you play with the AI controlled batter. You select a pitch, then tilt the device to aim where you're going to throw and tap the screen to let it fly. If you choose the same pitch as the AI batter, they get a power bonus if they hit the ball. When your pitching luck runs out and the batter lands a hit, Flick Baseball automatically has your team field the ball. While most fielding is automatic, for fly balls, you contribute by playing a timing-based mini-game where four baseball gloves come flying out of each corner of the screen. In this instance, catching the ball requires you to tap the gloves as they intersect.
Once one of your fielders have the ball, using the same interface as running bases you can tap to throw the ball. While none of these areas of the game feel particularly technical, they are still fun. Also, if you don't like batting (or fielding), you can skip entire innings to only play the portions of the game you enjoy.
Skipped innings are calculated based on the statistics of your players, which serves as a fairly in-depth subsystem that controls the entire game. As you go through a game your pitcher's stamina decreases and it becomes harder to aim your pitches. Each batter's accuracy controls the size of their tilt-controlled hit zone. Many other player stats run the rest of the game.
If you're serious enough about baseball to want to play through entire seasons, you can do that as well, and skip as many games as you'd like just like skipping innings. And if you really get in to the game, you can build entire customized teams where you can tweak, modify, and fiddle around with nearly everything imaginable to create your own team filled with players that have silly names and ugly uniforms.
As I mentioned before, if you're the kind of person who wants a highly detailed in-depth baseball game, Flick Baseball isn't the game for you. Everything in Flick Baseball seems to be optimized for quick pick up and play sessions that focuses more on being fun than overly technical or difficult.
Eventually, Flick Baseball will be available in two flavors: The "Pro" version that is available today, and a free version sponsored by Chevy that is being put together by Small Planet which is still waiting to be approved by Apple. It will retain all the core gameplay elements, but you'll be missing out on things like season mode and team customization.
This short video uploaded to youtube shows off the ability to run an emulator on the iPad to play SNES games, while using the Wii Remote to control the character. The game being played is Super Mario World on snes4iphone [$5.99 from Cydia].
The jailbreak for the iPad has not even been out a week yet, and you can clearly see the great possibilities that can come out of this device. As the jailbreak community continues to release new iPad specific applications, that Apple does not allow in their own AppStore, expect to see some really creative ideas unfold.
If your not too sure what jailbreaking your iDevice means, Gizmodo has posted a great overview on what jailbreaking is, how easy it is, and some other common FAQ's regarding jailbreaking. But as always, like the Gizmodo article clearly points out:
And remember, be careful! Jailbreaking is unsupported and something that's very new to the iPad. If in doubt about a particular Cydia app, err on the side of caution. You're better safe than sorry, really.
Just don't expect the update to hit in the immediate.
According to developer Martin Pittenauer, The Coding Monkeys haven't started work on the larger version of the game. Instead, they've focused their efforts on the iPhone and iPod Touch versions slated for release in May.
"The iPhone version will be released this month and we plan to start work on the iPad after that," developer Martin Pittenauer told us via e-mail.
"We poured a lot of love into the game already and feel the iPad version deserves the same level of attention, so it's hard to make promises for a release date right now. But we plan to have the game universal later this summer."
Universal updates allow handheld Apps to run natively on the iPad, which avoids creators from having to juggle two similar Apps on the Store at the same time.
The Carcassonne update will be free for purchasers of the App, but the price of the whole package will be raised from its initial $4.99 price point once the update goes live on iTunes.
"Once the app is universal we will end introductory pricing and sell the game for $9.99," Pittenauer told us in a later e-mail. "So, if you buy early, you essentially get a discount on the version that runs on iPhone, iPod, and iPad."
In just a few days Fabulapps plans on releasing its first game called CrossRoads in to the wild. CrossRoads is yet another line drawing time management game, but it sets its self apart by adding a few extra gameplay features all wrapped in a slick art style.
Similar to existing games on the App Store like Car Mania [99¢], you guide cars to their destinations by drawing lines on a map. Fabulapps takes this concept a little farther by adding unique events that occur on each map. For example there is a map were you have to crush zombies in your path as you route cars around. On others, you will need to pop balloons, shake clouds off the screen, and break ice when your screen freezes over.
The feature that most piqued my interest is the multiplayer mode, which allows you to play against another player with the game via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Similar to the multiplayer found in Flight Control [99¢] and Harbor Master [$1.99 / Free], you will be able to route cars off your screen and on to your opponents to add even more vehicles for them to manage.
CrossRoads will launch with 4 included maps (one as a free download) and 3 additional maps available as in-app purchases. Each add-on map includes new music, special effects, and new vehicles. The game should be out sometime this week for $1.99.
For more details on the game as it nears release, take a look at the thread on our forums.
At first glance you might dismiss Domino's Adventure [App Store] as being just another generic Rolando knock-off, and that's understandable as they do share similarities in look and gameplay. But beneath the surface lies a brilliantly designed platform experience that admittedly draws influence from many different areas, but melds them together in a way that's uniquely its own. A fun physics system, simple controls and a demanding test of your dexterity combine to make Domino's Adventure a pleasure to play. It's a pretty short ride, but at only 99¢ it's one worth taking.
The protagonist, Domino, is a circular alien that has crash landed on Earth and must traverse 20 increasingly difficult levels to get back to his lost spaceship. Left and right arrows in the lower corner of the screen roll the character in either direction, while simple jump and spike buttons sit in the opposite corner. Which corners these controls are located in can be configured in the options. There's tilt controls available if you choose, but I far preferred the virtual touch controls. Domino jumps higher the longer you press down, and the spike button gives him a pointy circumference for clinging to walls and ceilings.
It's certainly taking a page out of Rolando's book, especially in regards to the Royal Spikey Commando character, but never comes across as a malicious rip-off. If anything, it's merely because these particular gameplay mechanics are so solid and entertaining. Any feelings of déjà vu are quickly forgotten anyway once you start making your way through some of the interesting level designs.
The physics in the game have a floaty and fun feel, and make for some pretty crazy experiences. For example, you may encounter a series of planks standing on end, set up like dominoes. You'll need to jump into them, knocking them down onto each other creating a bridge for you to cross. Even better are the many instances that have you knocking one of those planks over onto a line of rotating gears which propel the plank forward while you ride it like a surfboard, reminiscent of something from a Super Mario Bros. game. Each level is progressively more difficult and cleverly designed, and I found myself being surprised with each new one.
It's very casual-friendly, with unlimited lives and checkpoints spread throughout the game. At the end of each level it tells you how many lives you used, the time it took to beat, and how many of the 5 gold stars you collected. Sadly, it doesn't do anything with these stats, and the game is just begging for some sort of online leaderboard or achievement implementation. There is incentive to collect the stars as you can unlock three more skins for Domino at set star intervals, but unfortunately nothing extra happens when you collect all 100. I'd really like to see something special if you can beat every level with just one life, which would be quite a task for anyone to complete.
You can expect to get a few hours or so of playtime completing all the levels and collecting every star, which isn't bad but leaves you wanting more. There's just something enjoyable about playing that I'm really hoping for some more levels sometime in the future.
Every now and then a game is released that completely transcends the genre it's made for, elevating its possibilities to all new heights. It doesn't happen often, but when it does it results in something genuinely spectacular. And that is precisely the case with Dinofarm Games and Fusion Reactions's lovingly created 100 Rogues [App Store].
100 Rogues is an arcade-style dungeon crawler/rogue-like loosely based on classics such as our highly rated Sword of Fargoal. We say loosely based, because while it features the typical dungeon crawler elements of near-certain death, randomly generated maps and loot and a foray into the depths of an enemy-riddled pit, 100 Rogues delivers it in a way that makes you feel you are playing something else entirely.
Obviously, at first glance, this can be credited to its utterly gorgeous presentation and visuals. Typical dungeon-crawlers are recognisable by their dogmatic approach to gameplay over graphics, many of which are still ASCII-driven. That is definitely not the case here. To begin, 100 Rogues introduces its heroes -- the Crusader and the Fairy Wizard-- through two different, tongue-in-cheek cutscenes that reveal a surprising amount of context for each character and a dubious quest to eradicate Satan himself. It sets the mood for a game riddled with comical self-awareness.
This certainly plays second-fiddle though to some of the most incredibly animated 2D caricatures we have seen-- period. Both the Crusader and the Fairy Wizard are brought to life by Dinofarm Games and Fusion Reactions, each with their own distinct personality and style. The Crusader is an armor-clad, righteous bastion of good who cuts a swathe through enemy hordes with his cape flicking behind him; standing in stark contrast to the Fairy Wizard, a withdrawn, misunderstood creature of magic that prefers to attack with guile and deception from afar.
It's not all eye-candy though, as 100 Rogues brings to the table 8 unique skills for each character. The Crusader for instance, can call on divine powers, knocking back enemies with his Whack of Glory, or Healing himself if things get rough. Also, in what is quite possibly the coolest and most hilarious ability that I have ever seen, he can call on God Himself, who appears in the form of a giant finger that descends upon the battlefield to smite a foe or heal our Hero in times of need. The Fairy Wizard on the other hand, is far more fragile, but is able to teleport to elude enemies and cast crystal attacks from afar. The Fairy Wizard is also capable of confusing enemies or calling on a giant crystal ball familiar to attack nearby enemies.
Though the skills themselves look great and varied, it is their thoughtful implementation that really makes combat in 100 Rogues something special. This is because many of the skills have a strategic use that once discovered, can really excel your combat ability. For instance, the Fairy Wizard can combine a dagger attack with Teleport (aptly named Telestab), popping up behind an enemy to deliver a lethal backstab, only to teleport away again. The Crusader on the other hand can Overheal, giving himself bonus life above and beyond his normal hit points. And though his Whack of Glory knocks back enemies, if they are against an obstacle already, it delivers a devastating critical attack instead.
These secondary functions are critical to advancing through the gruelling 10 dungeon levels included at release. But they aren't made obvious from playing the standard game, so to lend a hand the developers have included a Challenge Mode to highlight to players some of their uses. There are 10 challenges available at release which have you killing a number of enemies or escaping the level within a set number of moves, usually giving you only few hit points and one crucial ability to complete your task. They're a great way for players to familiarise themselves with the advanced strategies, though we're positive there are more to be found through experimentation.
It's an indication of the breadth of features to cover here that we're only now arriving at how well 100 Rogues handles. Foregoing any on-screen controls, your characters are navigated by tapping in any four directions around them. Similarly, enemies are targeted by simply tapping on them (if a range attack) or running into them by the aforementioned mechanism. Skills are activated by tapping on your character, which in turn reveals a skill palette from which your skill is chosen, and then a suitable target selected. There are two on-screen buttons on the lower left and right of the screen to open your inventory or issue a wait command respectively, and a 4-slot quick-bar for immediate access of items. It's worth noting that the game can only be played in Portrait mode, too.
Items and equipment play a big part in dungeon crawlers, and that's no different here. Players can equip a large assortment of weapons, from swords and axes to wands and bows (to name a few), together with a range of armor types and accessories. 100 Rogues runs the full gamut of item effects and stat bonus' too. What's more, some enemies can only be effective by certain item types-- something that will have to be learned quickly by players in order to proceed through the depths. As well as weapons and armor, there are also spell scrolls and buff scrolls that enhance either your health, magic or strength, or can raise the item level of equipment. 100 Rogues also has a countdown of sorts in the form of hunger, forcing you to keep your belly full lest your hunger cause you to waste away-- placing a significance on searching for safe meals to consume on your quest.
If hunger doesn't get you, enemies surely will however, as 100 Rogues is true to its origins in that it is challenging and unforgiving, with a vast array of enemies that all require a different approach to defeat. If you make one wrong move, you are dead. If you are unlucky, you are dead. If you don't manage to find food, you are dead. And if none of these kill you, then maybe the large-scale boss encounters found every 5 levels will. These are all grim realities of the dungeon crawler. Fortunately, by way of its versatile skill system and arcade-paced strategic action, 100 Rogues is still a highly accessible adventure. And in case you forget, the game regularly lets you know that death is a certainty, and that fun is to be had in achieving that high score and glorifying your name in the online leaderboards forever.
100 Rogues is as much about exploration as it is about move-by-move action and employing a careful strategy. Game sessions are generally short, but 100 Rogues still saves your game by the move, meaning interruptions are a thing of the past and lengthy game sessions are easily broken down into short bursts. Finally, 100 Rogues is rounded out by a catchy, retro-style, synthesised soundtrack that is of the same calibre as the rest of the game.
100 Rogues is an evident labor of love for the developers, who already have a long list of planned features including at least two additional classes (the Dinoman Bruiser and the Skellyman Scoundrel), 10 brand new levels, an item shop, many more monsters and items, in-dungeon NPCs and an Endless game mode. All considered, 100 Rogues is an effortless recommendation to anyone remotely interested in the genre, being one of the most captivating, refined and rewarding games on the App Store. Heck, we're not even sure we'll ever find Satan's lair, but it certainly won't be for want of trying as 100 Rogues is simply brilliant.
UPDATE 1: A number of forum members in the 100 Rogues thread are experiencing random crashes. We haven't had issues in our play throughs of the game, but the developers are looking in to the cause currently. It may be worth waiting to see what they find out before picking this up if you're concerned.
UPDATE 2: Developer Wes Paugh posted in the comments that the crashes are related to equipping some shields. An update is being submitted immediately to address stability issues.
Back in February we reported the formation of mobile studio AppStar Games by legendary game designers David Crane and Garry Kitchen. The founders' mission in creating the studio is to focus on "small footprint" games for various connected devices, the iPhone among them.
“Garry and I have worked together on a number of successful ventures over the years, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for investors and stakeholders. We’re very excited about the dramatic shift that is occurring in the game industry with the advent of direct-to- consumer distribution of our titles. AppStar Games is committed to taking a leadership role in that transition by delivering the highest quality product in the marketplace”, said Crane, CTO of AppStar.
The studio has just released their first iPhone game, Iron Horse [App Store], which is a reaction / timing game that challenges you to couple stationary rail cars to a passing train by tapping on the connection point at exactly the right moment. At first, while the train pushes along at a leisurely pace, it's a snap. But, once things get a little more full-tilt, you'll find that you need to "lead" your taps, to account for the sluggishness of your own reflexes. There are straight rounds where a set number of cars must be attached to a given locomotive as well as bonus rounds where it's proceed as long as you want -- but miss a car and it's no bonus for you. The game features OpenFeint integration for achievements and score tracking.
According to the developers, Iron Horse strives to capture the beauty of the American railroad -- and it does an admirable job. The parallax scrolling scenery is well drawn across the various provided settings and the game as a whole is well rendered. Several train designs are represented, including the General, the Zephyr, and the Chief.
Iron Horse actually made it's App Store debut on the iPad early last month as The Iron Horse [link], which features graphics appropriate for the device's larger screen. And, while the games are otherwise identical, the iPad provides a better play experience as there's more onscreen track, which results in extra time to calculate your link-up tap. It's a good bit of pick-up fun for either device size, though.
The Iron Horse Lite [App Store] for the iPad gives owners of Apple's latest iDevice the opportunity to try before they buy.
One board game that our readers have continually mentioned as a worthy candidate for the AppStore is the hit German tile-based game, Carcassonne. This is undoubtedly due to Sierra's well-received adaptation of the game for the XBOX Live and several indie spin-offs that we've already seen on the AppStore. In any case, we're pleased to announce that developers The Coding Monkeys together with Hans im Glück, one of the publishers of the original boardgame, have heard your cries, as Carcassonne is almost done and ready to hit the App Store sometime in May.
The Carcassonnewebsite provides a very brief description of the features included in the initial release. From what we can muster, Carcassonne will include all the tiles from the original board game tileset, with the expansion tilesets (of which there were several) coming later as In-App purchases. It also offers the full suite of multiplayer options, including pass-and-play, local (WiFi and Bluetooth) multiplayer and online multiplayer, which is terrific to see as this sort of title would be stunted without the ability to find willing opponents at any given time. Of course, there is also the option to play against the computer, with a range of AI difficulties available to test yourself against.
Screenshots of the game so far are promising, and the game really looks like it's getting a thick layer of polish. So far, the developers have announced an English and German translation for the iPhone/iPod devices only, but have promised that the app itself will be universal, incorporating iPad support at a later date. We're looking forward to getting a hands on preview with the game in the near future where we'll be able to provide further information before its release later this month at the introductory price of $4.99.
Last week we posted about Iron Man 2 [$6.99] suddenly appearing on several foreign App Store markets with no sign of it in the US App Store. With the release of the movie approaching, Iron Man 2 finally appeared for American iPhone owners to download.
We took a look at Iron Man 2 when it was first released in other countries, and were not that impressed:
Iron Man 2 seems to be just about everything you'd expect from a movie tie-in iPhone game made by Gameloft. The dialog isn't great, gameplay seems surprisingly linear, and while flying around as Iron Man is pretty cool, the whole thing just feels like your typical movie game.
Released over a month ago, Hit N'Run is an interesting tilt-based driving game interwoven with a color matching puzzle mechanic. The goal is to run into like colored cars while speeding through five lanes of traffic on a busy highway. Once you hit the correctly colored car, your car changes to the next color that must be hit. Successfully hitting the right cars in a row allows you to increase your speed, and hitting the wrong car or driving in the shoulder slows you down. Steering is controlled by tilt, and braking by touching the lower part of the screen. It's a unique concept with colorful 3D graphics that make for a pretty entertaining game.
One thing that turned off some players was the overly-sensitive controls, but a recently released update that adds a landscape mode actually does a lot to alleviate this. It's much easier to hold the device with two hands now, allowing for more precise tilting. One oddity is that the game only runs in landscape during actual play time, with the menus and scoreboards all still in portrait mode. It's a bit clunky, but doesn't interfere with your enjoyment too much. At the current price of 99¢ Hit N'Run is worth a look.
Stick Skater is a 2D reaction-based platforming game with a skateboarding theme. It's somewhat similar to Canabalt or Run!, although with 30 set levels as opposed to one randomly generated endless level.
What really shines about Stick Skater are the simple and intuitive controls. A button in the lower left causes your skater to push for more speed, and a button in the lower right makes him ollie. Swiping the ollie button in one of 8 different directions causes the skater to perform a flip trick or grind. You make your way through the levels avoiding obstacles, tricking over stairs and gaps, and grinding ledges and rails. It works well, and gives you that good feeling when you pull off a series of cool moves that you would get from a more complex skateboarding game.
Although the skater is just a stick figure, he's animated really fluidly and actually has quite a bit of personality. The tricks look really great in motion. The different locations in the game all have subtle details that are faithful to their real world skate spots, which is a cool touch. Additional levels were just added in the last update with more to come, and developer Traction Games is even hinting at a level creator in the game's forum thread. What's already a fun game and a bargain at just 99¢ only stands to get better, and there's a lot to be excited about for Stick Skater's future.
Although it has a slightly misleading title, RPG Snake delivers a solid take on the overdone “snake game” genre, and actually manages to stand out from the pack.
The RPG in the name represents the characters and simple storyline that accompany the familiar gameplay. There are no stats or leveling of any kind, but the style and music of the game is just charming enough to be compelling. You avoid hazards in the terrain while running into enemies to defeat them, with each defeated creature growing your “snake” of knights one person longer. Some of the enemies move around the game board making them that much trickier to defeat. It's a fairly short game, but it's entertaining and the last few levels give you a pretty nice challenge. OpenFeint leaderboards and achievements round out the 99¢ package.
If it's been a while since you've indulged in one of the snake games, RPG Snake should have enough personality to hold your interest.
The first screenshot shows the dark-haired Prince in action, dropping down on a duo of foes with curved sword brandished and seemingly ready to cut. The second image is far more interesting: in it the Prince is riding a fantasy beast.
Of course we haven't seen the game in action yet, but these images do give us an indication of what to expect in terms of action. An on-screen digital stick sits in the bottom left-hand corner, while simple action command buttons -- stab, defend, and possibly jump -- dot the right-hand side.
In an official tweet, the studio admitted what we're thinking: this game looks awful "beautiful" for an iPhone / iPod Touch title.
Now seems like as good a time as ever to wipe those rotted plants and put your dimwitted builders back to work. The folks behind ngmoco's We Rule have updated the title with several new crops and buildings -- and even more is on the way.
In a recent post on the ngmoco official blog, studio CEO Neil Young outlined the new content that came in an update last week: The Barn & Ox pairing and a range of fresh crops.
The Barn is a simple red building that comes with one four-legged bovine that grazes among the builders. The crops are different breeds of beasts than the casual addition of a building. The magic Asparagus, Eggplant, Artichoke, Pineapples, and similarly titled Cauliflower are high yield, high-cost crops designed for what Young calls "power users."
"We're going to be rolling out new content on a fairly regular cadence over the course of the game's life and we have enhancements lined up for many, many months to come," Young wrote.
"We'll be introducing new businesses, buildings, harvestable decorations and upgrades for your kingdom as well as new features. We're committed to keeping your experience fresh and are excited to share our upcoming content with you."
Some of that content is for the over level 25 crowd who have, more than likely, built everything that can be built in the game. In the "coming weeks," Young promised that a push update would dish out more decorations and buildings in addition to a much-needed land space upgrade.
Of course the manic servers have burned many users in the last few weeks. Young sympathized with the lost crops and troubles people have been experiencing as a result of the servers -- a problem Young attributed to the game being overloaded with people.
"I want to assure you that we want you to be able to play the game whenever and wherever you want without interruption, without loss of connection and without concern that your crops or jobs may spoil because there are more people trying to connect than the infrastructure can handle."
"To address these issues we're working around the clock to scale our physical infrastructure and we're also in the process of finishing a new round of changes to both the We Rule and Plus+ servers, as well as an update to the We Rule App to help address any continuing connection issues."
The evil Mr. Demon, for reasons unknown, has it out for the poor inhabitants of Ninjatown. He took to their homes in its critically successful DS release and looks to be at it again when creators Shawnimals team up with Venan (of Space Miner fame) to bring Ninjatown: Trees of Doom! [App Store].
Just like Freeverse's recently released Warpgate [
At first glance you might dismiss Domino's Adventure [
Last week 
