Hello everyone, and welcome to the week! It’s time once again for our look back at the noteworthy updates of the last seven days. At long last, we’ve got a relatively healthy-sized Update Mondays again. I’m all finished moving, the updates are flowing, and all seems to be well for our little corner of the TouchArcadiverse. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself using AppShopper Social (Free), the watchlist in the TouchArcade App (Free), or by participating in the TouchArcade forums, but this weekly summary is here to fill in the things you might have missed. Let’s dig in!
Pokémon GO, Free The Pokemon giveth, the Pokemon taketh away. So, good news, everyone! Niantic has addressed issues with the game’s tracking and the battery saver mode. They addressed them by removing both features. Got any other complaints? Because there’s a whole lot more they could strip out, if you catch what we’re saying here. Oh, but at least you can change your avatar’s appearance whenever you want now. That’s a fair trade.
Phoenix 2, Free The long-awaited Phoenix 2 is out and while certain points of the game are getting a mixed reaction, the fundamentals are as good as ever. This quick update appears to mainly address some balance issues with certain weapons and ships. Well hey, that works for me. I’d personally like to see an extra mode that isn’t tied to daily challenges, though.
Minecraft, $6.99 Well, I guess we’ll be seeing more updates like this now that the big targets have been taken care of. By that, I mean updates that just have some new cosmetic items to buy. This one is a pack of villain skins, so you can embrace your inner bad guy. It’s $1.99 and it gets you 17 different skins, which isn’t a bad deal for this kind of thing.
Miitomo, Free Ha ha, remember Miitomo? Ah, that was a fun week or two. I guess it’s still available or something, because here’s an update. There’s a new mini-game that lets you finally put that candy to some use, effectively letting you exchange it for game tickets. In turn, the old use for candy, hearing your friends’ answers, is now free. Speaking of, you can finally choose which friends you’ll hear answers from and which ones will stay forever quiet, in the awkward zone between “I don’t want to offend you by unfriending you" and “I don’t really want to hear what you have to say". Nintendo! It’s a cereal!
Dungeons of Chaos REVAMPED ED., $5.99 I’m including this here not so much because it’s a spectacular update on its own. I mean, it’s cool. It adds an auto-fight action to help you manage your rogues and fixes a number of issues. But I’m including this more because ever since this version of the game hit, the developer has been working seemingly tirelessly on updating it based on player feedback. That shows excellent dedication, certainly enough to earn the coveted Update Mondays Most Spider-Mans of the Week award.
Thumb Drift - Furious Racing, Free The extremely fun Thumb Drift has a new update with two new cars to take for a ride. The Street FX WTF-96 and the OzzyMan Drifts join the line-up, giving you some new wheels to wear out on the road. I’m avoiding making a lot of puns here, so I hope you all appreciate my restraint.
Shooty Skies, Free I have no idea what Cute Cuddle Chaos is supposed to be, but whatever it is, Shooty Skies now has 10 new pilots, a new boss and some new enemies, a brand-new weapon, and a whole mess of fixes and performance improvements. You’ll have to do some searching to unlock it all, so get on it. And see if you can find out what Cute Cuddle Chaos is. I have a feeling, or perhaps more accurately an ever-present sense of dread, that Hanson will one day reform. This could be it.
Shadow Fight 2, Free Not much to talk about here, but fans of the enjoyable Shadow Fight 2 should be happy to see a new boss to square off against. Plus, there’s now a sixth dan rank to achieve. This update also adds in some new, more difficult daily quests. So keep on boxing those shadows, friends. Something good will come of it all, I’m sure.
Pinball Arcade Plus, $0.99 This month’s new Pinball Arcade table is Frank Thomas’ Big Hurt, a baseball-themed board from 1995, originally manufactured by Gottlieb. Designed by Bill Parker and Jon Norris, it’s not the most exciting of machines around, but if you like baseball or are just on the look-out for a new pinball table to play, you’ll probably get your $4.99 worth out of this. The prime gimmick on this table is the moving catcher’s mitt that sits at the back of the play area, but otherwise, it’s fairly typical of Gottlieb tables of this era.
True Skate, $1.99 This new version of the game adds an IAP to buy the classic Love Park, a once-beloved destination for skaters that has, I’ve heard, fallen off in recent years. Well, you can enjoy it in its prime in True Skate. This update also includes some new grab moves, among a few other things. It’s weird how much is packed into this game now. Add a few models and button controls and this could have easily sold for full price on consoles back in the day.
Dungeon Link: Adventure RPG, Free Dungeon Link, he come to dungeon town, come to save, the dungeon princess Ze- oh, it’s not that Link? Well, excuse me. This update includes two new areas, a new story hero who is an Ancient Dragon, a new sub-story to play through, and some new guild emblems. Naturally, there are also bug fixes and performance improvements, so you might want to break out the expensive plates for this special occasion.
Disney Crossy Road, Free It looks like Disney has spent all of their lame live action movies for the next month or so. That means this Disney Crossy Road update is free to add in a classic world and some characters to go with it. Pirates of the Caribbean is somehow still kicking as a movie series, and this new version lets you travel through a new world based on it. There are 14 new figures in the prize machine, and they include pretty much all of the major characters from the films. On top of that, there are six secret characters to sniff out. You’d best start believing in Update Mondays, Disney Crossy Road. You’re in one!"
Hungry Shark World, Free Uh, okay, so that whale from Free Willy, who I guess is named Willy, has escaped from a theme park and is now on a bloody rampaging, destroying and devouring all that stands in his path. Since nobody knows what happened to Jason James Richter, there is no apparent means of quelling his rage. Well, I mean, they don’t say that it’s THE Willy, but come on. You put a killer whale in your game and say he escaped from an aquatic park, we can put two and two together. And that’s the update!
Temple Run 2, Free Cleopatra is one of the most famous queens in history, if not the most famous. All of her efforts and hard work are finally paying off, however, as she is now a guest character in Temple Run. Oh, and King Imhotep, too, but who cares about that guy? Elizabeth Taylor never played him in a movie. I think. I guess there are some special limited time artifacts to collect, too. If you get enough of them, you’ll earn the Championship Wreath. Hey, any reason to take a run.
Asphalt 8: Airborne, Free You know, I’m surprised we aren’t getting buried in Olympics updates yet. Asphalt is the first big one I’ve seen so far, and it’s tangential at best. Basically, Rio is a new location in the game, so you can take in all the sights without worrying about the debilitating mosquito viruses, nasty water, and crumbling infrastructure. Yes, just you, a digital car, and the cleaned-up sights. Some new events and cars are coming, too. The Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe, the Cadillac ATS-V Coupe, the Fenyr Supersport, and the Donkervoort D8 GTO. Today, I learned there is a car company named Donkervoort, and friends, I think I’m in love.
World of Tanks Blitz - Mobile, Free It’s not every day that World of Tanks Blitz gets a new game mode. This update brings the Supremacy mode to the game, where you have to earn 1,000 victory points before the other team does. How does one earn such points? Eh, the usual tank ways. Blowing up enemy tanks, taking flags, that kind of thing. You do not earn victory points for: shooting your own teammates, getting in the way of everyone else, or driving around in circles randomly shooting at rocks. Trust me on this one. For good measure, the developers also updated the Falls Creek map and adjusted the profitability of a number of vehicles.
Land Sliders, Free Universally agreed upon by the TouchArcade staffers to be the greatest piece of entertainment in this era, Land Sliders nevertheless maintains its humble demeanor, updating with cool stuff on a semi-regular basis. This one adds 11 new characters to the game, including a sheriff, a showgirl, and tumbleweed. Yes, it’s an Old West theme, and that’s rare enough to get my attention at least for a few minutes. And hey, there’s even some Old West levels to go with those new characters.
Rodeo Stampede: Sky Zoo Safari, Free Riding on the backs of weird animals is a pretty fun and noble pursuit. You can do it safely in this game, and now the selection is broader than ever. This new version puts 42 new animals in the game, most of which are connected with mountains. That has potential, friends. There’s a new mountain environment to go with that, and the Sky Zoo has been expanded to accommodate all the new animals. As a side thing, the jungle area now has new music.
SimCity BuildIt, Free Let’s finish things off with a look at the new update for SimCity BuildIt. It’s a summer-themed update, with each week bringing new sports venues to add to your bustling metropolis. Get all of them, and your virtual city will probably be quite fit to host the Olympics, which is more than we can say for… oh wait, I think I already did that joke this week. Well, whatever. The developer has also increased the area you can build in by 10% and added the ability to store specialized buildings, which should make things more manageable for those who were pushing up against boundaries in more ways than one.
That about wraps it up for last week’s significant updates. I’m sure I’ve missed some, though, so please feel free to comment below and let everyone know if you think something should be mentioned. As usual, major updates will likely get their own news stories throughout this week, and I’ll be back next Monday to summarize and fill in the blanks. Have a great week!
