News

Best iPhone Game Updates: ‘Mortal Kombat X’, ‘The Simpsons: Tapped Out’, ‘Gardenscapes’, ‘CSR Racing 2’, and More

TouchArcade Rating:

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. We saw some great 64-bit updates in the last week, including Hoplite, Rogue Ninja, and more. The content updates are mostly focused on Hallowe’en stuff, along with a grab-bag of goodies to celebrate Mortal Kombat‘s 25th anniversary. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself using AppShopper or by participating in the TouchArcade forums. This weekly summary is just here to fill you in on the things you might have missed. Let’s dig in!

Dashy Crashy, Free Easy left! Easy right! Very long easy left baby! Dashy Crashy continues its tribute to the arcade greats with the arrival of the Rally GT and the Rally Delta. Get behind the wheel of these odes to SEGA Rally Championship and try to clear 400 stages before Thursday to keep them forever. Can I just say that I love that four of the five weeks dedicated to these homages so far have involved SEGA games? It does this old SEGA fan’s heart good. Game Over Yeah!

Temple Run 2, Free We’re well into October now, so you should expect to see a fair number of Hallowe’en updates coming down the pike. Here is Temple Run 2 doing its usual thing, bringing back the Spooky Summit and the Ghostly Demon Monkey for another ghoulish event. You can unlock Hallowe’en-themed characters, hats, costumes, and more or just enjoy competing in some Hallowe’en-flavored Global Challenges. Look, I’m going to be real here for a minute. That freaking monkey that chases you is already pretty scary normally. Hallowe’en every day in this game.

Mortal Kombat, Free Hard to believe it, but Mortal Kombat is 25 years old now. I mean, I guess it makes sense. The 1990s were 20+ years ago, and when I think of the heyday of Mortal Kombat, it’s definitely 90s as all get-out. Anyway, the series is celebrating across a number of Warner’s apps, and the biggest celebration is obviously here. A new mode called Relic Hunt has been added where you battle through Shao Kahn’s temple to collect Spirit Fragments and unlock Konqueror Shao Kahn. Other new characters joining the fray include two flavors of Goro, Klassic and Tigrar Fury. Remember in the movie when Johnny Cage was mad about his sunglasses and punched Goro in the ding-dong? Ha, best video game movie ever! For happy memories, I suppose I’ll give this game the coveted UMMSotW award this time around.

CSR 2 - Realistic Drag Racing, Free And now for a game that respects the letter ‘C’. In the latest update to the gorgeous CSR Racing 2, you can win three new cars through the new Crew Championships. In Kyoto, you can win the Rocket Bunny Mazda RX-7. Head on over to St. Louis to get Tiffany, a twin-turbo C10 shop truck. Skip to England for your shot at an Aston Martin One-77 hypercar. There are also three new prestige cars, if you’ve got the dough: the BMW M4 GTS, the Rocket Bunny Nissan Silvia (S15), and the 2016 Audi R8 V10 plus Coupe. That’s a lot of cars, and I’m guess you’ll need deep pockets to get them all. Good luck!

Trials Frontier, Free BMW isn’t content just sticking to cars this week, however. In the latest update to Trials Frontier, you can join in on the BMW Rally Challenge. Race through four weekly legs of 10 tracks and you might have the chance to get well-acquainted with the new BMW F 800 GS. Collect blueprints for the new bike along with five new tracks by participating in the challenge. Honestly, I didn’t even know BMW made motorcycles. Shows what I know! Which is not much at all when we’re talking about motorbikes. Or BMW. Or this game in particular, I suppose. Look, they’re update summaries, there’s only so much I can do. Next!

AB Classic, Free Someone actually genuinely asked me the other day if Angry Birds was a big thing anymore, and instead of just answering that they obviously were, I decided to check the charts to see how they were doing. They’re not doing great! The movie and the merch seem to have done okay, but it feels like the games have finally passed out of their evergreen status after a half-decade or more. Rovio’s keeping at them, though. Witness this update, which brings 15 new levels to the Jurassic Pork episode in the very first mobile release of the series. That’s impressive longevity, but I wonder if it still makes money?

Gardenscapes, Free He may not be all that well-known around these parts, but Austin the Butler is quickly becoming a household name among the greater mobile gaming audience. This series is a cute mix of matching puzzle game and a very basic sim, and it’s a combination that is playing well with fans of King’s stuff that might be looking for a change after a billion levels or so. This latest update brings Hallowe’en to the game in the form of a special event where you can get limited holiday-themed decorations. If you can collect them all, you’ll get a special bonus. Of course, the update also brings some new wrinkles to the puzzle gameplay. Honey is a tough obstacle, but it’s even trickier now that it comes with a sugar crust you have to break. Good luck with that, Austin.

The Simpsonsâ„¢: Tapped Out, Free Another game that never, ever misses a holiday beat is The Simpsons: Tapped Out. The Hallowe’en Treehouse of Horror event has kicked off, asking you to band together with the residents of Springfield to expel an evil sorcerer and his nefarious beasts. You’ll have to build up a Magic Academy and teach everyone defense against the dark arts. Angelica Button, Wiggops, and other magic-related characters await you in this unusual trip to the wizarding world of Bart Simpson and company.

WWE Immortals, Free There are a few big things going on in this update to WWE Immortals. First up, celebrating the 25th anniversary of Mortal Kombat, Xavier Woods dons a Raiden costume and does his best impression of the Thunder God. Well, he’s probably better than that guy from Mortal Kombat Annihilation. You can earn him in a special challenge. But it’s also October, and that means some other spooky characters are making the scene. Zombie versions of Stone Cold, Seth Rollins, Brock Lesnar, and AJ Styles are up for grabs if you can collect enough Gravestone Letters. Finally, a new Platinum character has arrived in the form of Viper Dojo Randy Orton. He’s only available through the Platinum Packs, so keep on earning those Platinum Bars by doing Ladder Matches.

Injustice: Gods Among Us, Free Believe it or not, this one is still going. While Injustice 2 sees Raiden and Sub-Zero added to the roster, the original Injustice is also getting a piece of the Mortal Kombat anniversary action. Complete the special challenge to unlock Klassic Scorpion for your team. If you’d rather stick to the capes, the challenge mode will also net you New 52 Superman, Earth 2 Flash, and Earth 2 Hawkgirl. The multiplayer season rewards have been refreshed, with an Arkham Origins Deadshot waiting for those who can climb to the top of the rankings.

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!

  • AB Classic

    The survival of the Angry Birds is at stake. Dish out revenge on the greedy pigs who stole their eggs. Use the unique po…
    TA Rating:
    Free
    Buy Now
  • The Simpsonsâ„¢: Tapped Out

    THIS GAME IS LIFE-RUININGLY FUN! From the writers of The Simpsons, comes the city building game that lets you create you…
    TA Rating:
    Free
    Buy Now
  • Dashy Crashy

    Join 7 MILLION players in a game of dangerous driving, luck & reflexes. Let's DASHY CRASHY! [HOW TO PLAY] • SWIPE to…
    TA Rating:
    Free
    Buy Now
  • Temple Run 2

    The sequel to the smash hit phenomenon that took the world by storm! Temple Run redefined mobile gaming. Now get more o…
    Free
    Buy Now
  • Injustice: Gods Among Us

    Build an epic roster of DC super heroes and villains and get ready for battle! INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US is a free-to-pla…
    Free
    Buy Now
  • Trials Frontier

    Play the mobile version of the best-selling and critically-acclaimed Trials series, by the award-winning developer RedLy…
    Free
    Buy Now
  • CSR 2 - Realistic Drag Racing

    CSR Racing 2 – This driving simulator game redefines what you thought possible on your mobile device! Setting a new s…
    Free
    Buy Now
  • WWE Immortals

    Take your favorite WWE Superstars out of the ring and into the supernatural world of WWE IMMORTALS. Wield DEVASTATING PO…
    TA Rating:
    Free
    Buy Now
  • Mortal Kombat

    MORTAL KOMBAT MOBILE brings its trademark Fatalities to mobile, with stunning graphics, and over the top moves! Assemble…
    TA Rating:
    Free
    Buy Now
  • Age of Rivals

    Deep civilization-building strategy in a fast-paced card game! There are many paths to victory in this competitive stra…
    $3.99
    Buy Now
  • Gardenscapes

    Welcome to Gardenscapes—the first hit from Playrix's Scapesâ„¢ series! Solve match-3 puzzles to restore a wonderful ga…
    Free
    Buy Now