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Best iOS Games Review Recap: ‘Gorogoa’, ‘Fez Pocket Edition’, ‘Life is Strange’, ‘Oddworld: New n Tasy’, ‘Ace Attorney Investigations’ and ‘Inside’

TouchArcade Rating:

The weeks leading up to the annual holiday iTunes Connect freeze are always pretty wild, but they’ve been snowballing over the years to being these unbelievable onslaughts of new high profile games being sprayed on to the App Store. We had all hands on deck this week to review as many of them as we could, and along with all the other news of the week it’s possible you might have missed some of ’em. Here’s a quick recap:

5 Stars:

Gorogoa, $4.99 - Review – With its sense of artistic cohesion and its inventiveness, Gorogoa impressed me as few other puzzle games have, and I can’t see any player who enjoys puzzle games even a bit not enjoying it. It might not be the longest game in App Store history, but it also doesn’t overstay its welcome, which can be an issue with story-heavy puzzle games. Gorogoa really is a gem of a game that belongs on most people’s devices and one that will cast its magic on you as soon as you start playing. …Read More

4.5 Stars:

FEZ Pocket Edition, $4.99 - Review – Fez is a very good game, and I love how the player never really faces any consequences for failure. It goes a long way in creating an experience that’s fun from beginning to end, instead of being loaded with frustration because you ran out of continues and missed a jump. The virtual controls are basically in line with most other games that have reasonably decent virtual button configurations, but the “real" way to play Fez is with an MFi controller.

Whether you pair a controller, or wrestle with virtual buttons, as long as you’re actually playing Fez, you’ll be in for a great time. …Read More

Life Is Strange, Free - Review – Since this is the first episode, Dontnod did a great job with making me hate the episodic format upon release. The first episode literally had me craving for more and the wait for episode 2 was unbearable. You won’t need to worry about that because Episodes 2 and 3 are available right now via in app purchase with the remaining episodes launching early next year. I hope the visual issues and some performance issues are ironed out because this could end up being the best way to experience Life is Strange. The lack of proper controller support is baffling because this exists on multiple consoles. Out of all the point and click adventure experiences available today, Life is Strange is my favourite by a long shot. I hope this does well for Square Enix so they can port Life is Strange: Before the Storm as well. …Read More

Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty, $4.99 - ReviewOddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty! is a faithful port of an excellent classic remake. If you game with an MFi controller, it’s a ridiculously easy title to recommend. In the absence of that option, you need only ask yourself how well you can cope with what is a relatively complex layout of virtual buttons. If nothing else, the controls are better here than they were in the other mobile Oddworld titles. If you were okay with those games, you’ll be more than fine here. If not, you may want to skip this one. But I really do suggest giving them a solid go. The game is fantastic, and if you have to spend a little time adjusting to the controls to experience it, you’ll still find the effort worth it in the end. …Read More

4 Stars:

Ace Attorney INVESTIGATIONS, $0.99 - ReviewAce Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth is a little different from the usual Ace Attorney game, but it carries a similar feel and quality that should please fans of the other games. The mobile version is sensibly improved from the original Nintendo DS release, as well. Adventure game fans would do well to give this game a look. As with other Ace Attorney games, it’s a bit of a long haul, with over 20 hours of play required to reach the ending, but you won’t notice the time passing by for a pretty good portion of that. …Read More

Playdead's INSIDE, Free - Review – I probably would’ve scored Inside quite a bit lower had the port not be so unbelievably well done. I started playing it on my iPad, and it occurred to me that I should check and see if it’s iPhone X optimized. I downloaded the game on my iPhone, and not only is it in full iPhone X widescreen, but it just automagically loaded my save game from my iPad on the first launch without me needing to do anything. This kind of cross-compataibility and iCloud syncing magic is the exact kind of future I want to be living in. Developers bringing their games to the App Store from other platforms should take a good long look at Inside.

If you enjoyed Limbo (or similar trial and error puzzle games), chances are you didn’t even need this review to smash the buy button- You’ll really dig Inside. However, if you’re like me and aren’t really into the obtuseness of it all, there’s a lot to like about it but I’m not sure I’d consider the game a must-have. …Read More

  • Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty

    TouchArcade 4.5 out of 5 stars "a ridiculously easy title to recommend" ** PLEASE NOTE: Requires 3.6GB free space to in…
    TA Rating:
    $4.99
    Buy Now
  • Pokémon GO

    NEW! Now you can battle other Pokémon GO trainers online! Try the GO Battle League today. Join Trainers across the glo…
    TA Rating:
    Free
    Buy Now
  • Life Is Strange

    ** Supported Devices: OS: Xcode 14.3 supported devices, iOS 12 or higher, All devices starting from iPhone X. ** Life…
    TA Rating:
    Free
    Buy Now
  • Playdead's INSIDE

    Discover Playdead's unique indie adventure game Inside, a dark, narrative-driven platformer combining intense action wit…
    TA Rating:
    Free
    Buy Now
  • FEZ Pocket Edition

    Gomez is a 2D creature living in a 2D world. Or is he? When the existence of a mysterious 3rd dimension is revealed to h…
    TA Rating:
    $4.99
    Buy Now
  • Ace Attorney INVESTIGATIONS

    An exciting new chapter in the Ace Attorney series! Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth takes the Ace Attorney…
    TA Rating:
    $0.99
    Buy Now
  • Gorogoa

    "An exquisite point-and-click game." - The Washington Post "...one of the most engaging puzzle games in recent memory."…
    TA Rating:
    $4.99
    Buy Now