Ninja Throw [$0.99 / HD], the latest casual game from Chillingo's Clickgamer brand, is a physics-based puzzler with a decent implementation of some interesting ideas for the puzzle genre. Unfortunately, like so many puzzle titles before it, Ninja Throw fails to strike that balance between difficulty and longevity, leading to a game that is simply too easy and too short. However, despite these concerns, Ninja Throw is still worth a play through for gamers that aren’t too caught up on challenges.
Taking control of a ninja that encounters way too many obstructions, your goal is to toss shurikens and hit the gong on the other side of the level. Various barriers, such as poles and boxes of TNT impede your shuriken’s path. Thankfully, there’s a variety of environmental aids to help you get past those barriers and hit that gong. Premise wise, Ninja Throw really doesn’t offer anything new to the genre, as fans of similar physics-based puzzlers are going to be familiar with the general gameplay. However, some of its environmental supports bring a twist to the gameplay.
Whoa, it's Wednesday again. Unfortunately, Brad is still lost to the world of Skyrim, I'm standing on top of a mountain of bodies in MW3, and Jared is, I don't know, watching a Giants game or something. Regardless, we're pulling it all together for this week's pile of game releases. There's some great games out this week too, including a few highly anticipated titles as well as a few surprises… And even some highly anticipated titles we were surprised to see released so soon.
Like all weeks, all of these games will be available in the USA at 11:00 PM Eastern, but if you're east of us, chances are they're already released.
If you've ever found yourself wondering what would happen if you somehow took nearly every aspect of 80's nostalgia and compressed it into a single RPG, it seems we're about to find out. The guys from Mighty Rabbit Studios just released a brand new teaser trailer for their upcoming game, Saturday Morning RPG, and it looks awesome. Aside from 80's references, their blog even explains the various (non-80's) games they've drawn inspiration from, citing Final Fantasy X, Pokemon, Paper Mario, and even Costume Quest. These influences are fairly clear in the trailer:
The developers have posted some information on our forums and mention that Saturday Morning RPG will be episodic in nature, and they're shooting for each episode being around an hour long. The first one is scheduled to hit early next year, with subsequent episodes following. Don't let the hour playtime figure shy you away either, as they're planning on packing each episode with replay value, through a "'New Game Plus' mode unlike any other."
We'll be keeping a close eye on this game. How could we not? It features a stampede of Fruit Stripe Gum zebras.
Kairosoft, the masters of all things simulation, have unleashed another game onto the Android Marketplace. For quite some time now the company has had a fairly predictable release cycle of things appearing on Android, then slowly making their way to the App Store. We saw it happen with Grand Prix Story [99¢], and many of their other games. World Cruise Story seems to be on deck for an iOS release, and as the title hints, puts you in charge of managing a cruise ship.
Players will be able to customize the actual ships themselves, with new amenities for your guests including rooms to stay in, restaurants, to eat at, and all the other things you'd expect on a typical ship. The size of your ship can be upgraded as well, and unlocking new destinations to sail to involves courting royalty.
It sounds like a crazy cross between Mega Mall Story [$1.99] and Hot Springs Story$4.99] with a nautical twist thrown in. As far as when the game will hit, that's anyone's guess. I've got my bets on sometime early next month.
We've still got our massive weekly traditional "coming tonight" post in the works, but the fanfare surrounding Mojang's official (and universal) Minecraft Pocket Edition [$7.99] building on our forums is too great to ignore. Initial impressions seem positive, although some have noted disappointment with how limited the game feels compared to the "full" version. There's no online play, for instance, only local WiFi, and your portable Minecraft worlds are devoid of both animals and creepers.
Like all of these mid-week release games, Minecraft Pocket Edition should be available for download at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially much earlier if you live east of North America. We'll get a review up as soon as we can, but in the meantime, swing by our forums.
Once upon a time, there was a little game called Slice It! [$0.99]. It was a charming puzzle game published by Com2Us and it did quite well on the App Store, both critically and financially. Now the team behind Slice It! has moved on, creating their own little studio at Orca Inc. I'm just glad they're still making games somewhere; if Little Lambs [$0.99], the studio's first independent release, is any indication, they haven't lost their touch.
The first thing you'll notice about Little Lambs is that it's utterly adorable. I'm exhausted by barnyard titles, another poultry protagonist and I might just croak. But the storybook style of Little Lambs slipped right past my defenses. It's pastoral, not porcine. But looks aren't everything -- and thankfully, Little Lambs has brains, too.
As a huge Jurassic Park fan, I only need to hear about three notes of the theme song before I instinctively get… Well, probably more excited than a nearly-30-year-old should get over dinosaurs. We've heard more than a few rumblings of Telltale's plans to release the Jurassic Park-themed adventure game on the App Store, and it's finally here along with a brand new trailer that goes over all of its iPad 2 exclusiveness.
Jurassic Park: The Game 1 HD [$6.99] (say that three times fast) is the first installment in the series, and takes place during the events of the second half of the first Jurassic Park movie. I've always thought the Jurassic Park universe was fantastic, and am beyond stoked that I'll be able to delve into a new adventure on my iPad 2. It's unfortunate that Telltale has dropped iPad support, but if you've played any of their recent games on the device it'll be more than clear why they did it.
We'll have a review for the game as soon as we can sit down and spend some time with it, but in the meantime, if you don't feel like waiting feel free to mash the download link below.
It's no secret we love the various gamebooks available on the App Store, and as veterans of classic choose your own adventure books, it's hard to put them down. Anyway, Tin Man Games, the guys who are responsible for the Gamebook Adventures series on the App Store, just dropped us a note mentioning they've secured a deal with the folks from 2000 AD to produce a Judge Dredd-centric interactive gamebook. It's set to be released in Q2 next year for the price of $4.99.
Now, I know what you're probably thinking, "Oh wow, Judge Dredd, I hope I can contain my excitement!" But, consider this: This is a great first step to get bigger gamebooks on the App Store, packed with recognizable characters and other popular IP. Not to say that Tin Man Games' existing series of gamebook adventures aren't good (because they are), but it seems like integrating at least a semi-popular character into things on the App Store can be a great way to get a much wider audience interested in something. More people interested in gamebooks means a larger customer base, which only means more gamebooks.
And I, for one, am always excited at the prospect of more gamebooks.
People around here have been playing the original Homerun Battle 3D [$4.99 / Free / HD] since it was Baseball Slugger all the way back in 2009. We reviewed the game then and even though there's been all kinds of changes (some crazy, some not so much) the core gameplay is still the same.
It revolves around being nearly instantly matched up with people all over the world to compete in homerun derbies. You aim your bat by tilting, then tap to swing, hopefully resulting in a higher score than your opponent. Unfortunately, the addition of an in-app purchase system skewed the power curve like nobody's business, and before long you needed to either spend a shocking amount of money or grind for eternity to remain competitive.
The sequel is launching with all sorts of new customization, including female batters. There's six different game modes, and even multiple stadiums. Everything we've heard so far about the game is pointing to it being a great sequel to the original, but I've got my fingers, toes, shoelaces, and everything else that can be crossed crossed in hopes that the in-app purchase system doesn't have such a drastic effect on this entry in the series. Or, if nothing else, that there's at least a lobby you can play in that doesn't allow anything but the starting equipment… As the pre-IAP Baseball Slugger is responsible for some of my fondest memories in early iOS gaming.
If all goes as planned, Homerun Battle 2 should be available in the US App Store tomorrow night at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially much earlier if you're lucky enough to live on the same island as Peter Jackson.
This past weekend, Elite Systems released their third round of 8-bit games brought to iOS through their Elite Collection of 8-bit computer games effort. The three games in question are stand-alone titles and each comes in both an iPhone and iPad "HD" version.
Denaris
One of the better scrolling shooters to appear on the C64 was Denaris [iPhone, (iPad coming)] by Manfred Trenz. Published by Rainbow Arts in 1989, Denaris was a re-release of the previous year's R-Type-alike shooter, Katakis.
Denaris pits you and your craft against a slew of evil robot enemies that arose from a typical Skynet-type scenario. (Silly humans.) Like R-Type, Denaris features multiple side-scrolling levels, plenty of asteroids to dodge, power-ups, and end-bosses.
The Denaris releases are available in both English versions and "DE" German language versions. A video of Katakis (the same game) playing on a PC under VICE emulation can be seen here.
Paradroid
The star of these releases is certainly Andrew Braybrook's Paradroid [iPhone, iPad] one of the most well loved games ever released for the Commodore 64. Originally published in 1985, Paradroid puts you aboard a large space vessel, in control of the "Influence Device," a special droid that must roam the many rooms and decks of said craft and destroy every other droid on the ship. All of the droids on board, including your own, have a certain power level indicated by an integer -- the higher the number, the more powerful the droid.
Each deck of the ship features a variety of rooms, doors, elevators, and computer terminals that can provide useful information about the ship. You can destroy enemy droids by shooting or ramming into them, though droids much more powerful than your own present a rather significant challenge. It is possible to take over another droid (even a more powerful one) by way of a timed mini-game, featuring logic gates and circuit diagrams, that challenges you to out-wire the enemy droid.
Paradroid is a highly unique game that has something of an eerie feel, for lack of a better word, and significant replay value.
It's the little things that matter. You know what I'm talking about, right? It's not the bacon that he brings home, it's the breakfast he wakes you up with. It's not the fact that Ravenmark: Scourge of Estellion [$2.99] is probably going to be one of the definitive names in turn-based strategy for the iOS, it's the way the commanders bellow at their troops to merit their wings.
Food metaphors aside, there's a lot to like about Witching Hour's debut title. If you're anything like me and have spent some amount of time bemoaning the paper-thin worlds that populate the App Store, Ravenmark: Scourge of Estellion is going to make your heart beat faster. The setting is exhaustive. Every character has a detailed biography, every unit type a set of statistics and a matching description. There are social hierarchies, self-serving matriarchs and imperial ranks. There is history. There is substance.
Ivanovich Games, who have previously brought the Operation Wolf-inspired gallery shooter Operation Wow [Free/HD] to the App Store, are at it once again with their homage to the classic arcade-style platforming game Bomb Jack, called Katana Jack. Just the news of a new Bomb Jack style game coming to the App Store is reason enough to get excited, but even more interesting to me is how Katana Jack has been developed. All of the artwork in the game was created using the excellent Brushes [$4.99/HD] app on an iPad, and the music was also composed on an iPad using GarageBand [$4.99].
Now, I absolutely love the Brushes app, but I've never personally been able to create anything with it that didn't look like I drew it by haphazardly dragging my nose around the screen. I have a ton of respect some of the amazing art people are able to make using the app, and as demonstrated in the following video Katana Jack's visuals are just that much more impressive considering how they were created.
Katana Jack is set to launch on November 17th as a Universal app for just 99¢. It will feature 90 levels across 15 hand-painted environments, and will include two game modes, Game Center, iCade support, and iCloud integration. There will also be 28(!) included videos showing the behind-the-scenes creation of the game on the iPad, which is a pretty neat inclusion. I'll be anxious to see just how the game was made, as well as how good of a Bomb Jack clone the actual game is, when Katana Jack launches later this week. Be sure to stop by the thread in our forums for early discussion of the game.
I think one of the reasons people are drawn to certain formulas in gaming is because they flick some silent switch within them, and from then on, it's forever in the on position. Clearly birds and physics are one of those irresistible combos, and for me, there's something about zombies and anything that should not be a zombie that is like a drug I must get my hands on. In this case, it's zombies and the elderly, apparently. Which is why I had to find out what was going on behind the clever and attractive look of a game with a name like Corpse Granny [$.99/HD].
I mentioned earlier that Corpse Granny was a nice looking title, and I feel like I have to repeat myself on that because this is an unusually good looking game. Like, if it was a girl and it walked past you at a party, you'd turn around to look again. But could you catch up with said girl and have a worthwhile conversation? Well, yes, you could, but how long the conversation would remain interesting for, I can't say. Or let's throw that metaphor out the window and say that we've seen some of this ground before.
Look up. Are pigs flying? Ok, just checking, because in case you hadn't heard True Axis' Space Tripper [$3.99] is now available in the App Store. If you've heard the tale of Space Tripper's perilous development cycle that spanned more than three years, then you might be apt to think that pigs flying would be about as plausible as the game being released. However, after a late push from the developers these past couple of months, they have finally released Space Tripper out into the wild.
As a quick recap, Space Tripper started as a Mac and PC game created by PomPom Games back in 2001. In 2006, it was rereleased on the PlayStation Network as an enhanced version by the name of Astro Tripper. True Axis began working on an iOS port of the game back in mid-2008, but were riddled with setbacks that pushed the release back many times.
It features 14 different levels across 4 worlds in Campaign, Time Attack, and Challenge modes. There is OpenFeint and Game Center integration for leaderboards and achievements, and there's even a built-in cheat menu if you're finding the game a bit too difficult (though this will disable leaderboard and achievement tracking), just like the old days!
Now I don't think anybody would argue that Space Tripper doesn't look quite gorgeous, with vibrant colors, interesting enemies littering the screen, and huge boss fights. But, I'm betting at least a few of you are feeling hesitant about the game's tilt-only control scheme. Heck, I'm not typically a fan of tilt controls either, unless they're done extremely well. After playing with Space Tripper for just a short while, I can see that the tilt controls are indeed rock solid. However, as good as the tilt controls are, if enough people request it True Axis will look into a touch control option. They've tried it already and weren't happy with the results, hence why they aren't included already.
At any rate, Space Tripper seems to be good arcade shooter action already. We'll be taking a closer look at the game in the coming days, and you can check out early impressions of Space Tripper from gamers in our forums.
The goal of Rocket Riot [99¢] from Chillingo and CodeGlue is to fly around an arena on a jetpack destroying enemies with your bazooka. And you can also destroy ...well, pretty much everything. You see, the entire level is destructible, so even the walls can be blown apart. Everything can be shot to pieces. But once you've blast a little short-cut through a wall, the level is not permanently destroyed, because it slowly regenerates.
Rocket Riot was released in 2009 for Xbox and featured multiplayer modes, but the iOS release focuses solely on a single player campaign. That's a shame because an arena shooter like this is ideally suited for multiplayer mode, but the developers have no current plans to implement that - unless the Rocket Riot becomes super popular. Fortunately, the single-player campaign mode is an entertaining arena shooter fill of rockets, destruction and heaps of cool power-ups.
Ninja Throw [$0.99 / HD], the latest casual game from Chillingo's Clickgamer brand, is a physics-based puzzler with a decent implementation of some interesting ideas for the puzzle genre. Unfortunately, like so many puzzle titles before it, Ninja Throw fails to strike that balance between difficulty and longevity, leading to a game that is simply too easy and too short. However, despite these concerns, Ninja Throw is still worth a play through for gamers that aren’t too caught up on challenges.
This past weekend, 
