Army of Darkness Defense – For fans of this cult classic B-movie starring Bruce Campbell, you may remember the epic battle where main character Ash and company must fend off legions of undead enemies from penetrating their castle fortress. If you’re familiar with this scene, it’s basically the perfect setting for a castle defense style game, and that’s exactly what Backflip Studios is creating.
The video game version of Army of Darkness doesn’t stray too far from your typical castle defense experience, but what really sets it apart from similar games is the excellent use of the Army of Darkness license. Ash quips dozens of his famous one-liners as you’re fighting, and the weaponry includes the boomstick (aka shotgun) and his attachable chainsaw hand. The art style is great, and the developers working on the game are all huge fans of the movie ensuring that it will have an authentic feel.
Army of Darkness Defense is currently slated for an April release, and we’ll have more from the game in the coming weeks.
Boss Battles – The appropriately named Boss Battles is an interesting take on the vertical scrolling shooter where the focus is on battling a series of bosses. You’ll blast through a short sequence of cannon fodder, asteroids in the level I was shown, collecting gems before reaching the boss encounter. The final game will have roughly 8 very distinct kinds of bosses, but each one will come with alternate versions which become harder as you keep playing and can be replayed multiple times.
The ship itself in Boss Battles also comes equipped with an interesting set of offensive weaponry. There are 4 base weapons like missiles and lasers, each of which can be upgraded independently using collected gems. Then there are 4 different kinds of secondary weapon choices, like a spread shot or homing abilities. The game controls really well and the action is frantic as you dodge a mess of bullets and asteroids before taking on each boss.
Paper Toss World Tour HD Free – One of the most popular games in the entire App Store has been Paper Toss, and Backflip has released a free ad-supported version of their internationally flavored iPad version of this game called Paper Toss World Tour HD Free [Free]. You’ll now be able to toss crumpled paper balls into wastebaskets at exotic locations around the world for free with the option of disabling ads via in-app purchase.
One very interesting idea Backflip has for their Paper Toss franchise which should be coming this Summer is incorporating a more social aspect into the gameplay. They are working on players being able to have their own customized environments, each with their own sets of challenges that the player decides. So for example, I may create a room where the basket is really far away, and add a brutal amount of wind to deal with. My friends can then take a crack at my environment and shoot for a high score, which I can then try to top on my own. It’s a clever idea that has a lot of potential, and Backflip has a ton of ideas to make this mode both social and fun.
Finally, there was a very brief mention that Backflip is currently working on Ragdoll Blaster 3. There wasn’t a playable demo or even any art assets for this currently, but they have told me a bit about the direction they want to take it. There will be different types of characters which will have various effects on the gameplay, like a flaming character which will be able to burn items in a level in order for you to complete it first. Also, there won’t be as much of a steampunk-inspired style this time, and they’re looking to broaden the overall look of the game as well as the scope of the levels. As a big fan of the Ragdoll Blaster series, I’m definitely looking forward to more information on this as well as the rest of Backflip’s lineup for this year.
