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. An odd assortment on offer today, friends. That’s just how it goes sometimes. We’ve got a bit of everything going on today, and I hope you enjoy reading as you have your morning/afternoon/evening coffee. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself 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 go for it!
Cut the Rope Remastered, Om Nom is escaping to the one place that hasn’t been corrupted by candy thieves – SPACE. There’s a new space board game with some fresh levels to play and prizes to earn, and a space postcard with some more new levels to enjoy. And that’s really about the size of it, but what more would you want from an update for this game than a bunch of new levels? Free money every time you tap a button? Well, that’s not going to happen, bud.
Asphalt 8: Airborne+, Speaking of updates that include things you’d want to see in an update, the latest version of the Apple Arcade Asphalt 8 brings the heat with a bunch of new cars. The Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4, DMC DeLorean Neon Edition, and Bugatti La Voiture Noire lead the pack, giving you plenty of new rides to collect and upgrade. There are also some new decals, plus a free Morgan Aero GT for all players to celebrate the update. Nice.
Zookeeper World, Keeping the zoo, that’s what we do. And we do that by matching similar animals on various boards. This is how we do the work. In this update, you’ve got twelve new puzzle stages to play. They introduce a new gameplay element, hedges, and they’re not going to make your life any easier. There’s also some new rules for the Multi Puzzle Event, where you battle other players to get points and ultimately earn some rewards. Seems fine, if not terribly exciting.
My Little Pony: Mane Merge, In my opinion, one of the best uses of Apple Arcade is for parents to give their kids a wide range of games to choose from that won’t apply the usual shakedown or gambling tricks. So while I don’t play My Little Pony Mane Merge myself, I’m glad it’s around. This update includes a new book to play through, some new minigames, a handful of new features, a new weekly challenge, and a bunch of new stickers and achievements to collect. Wow, friendship really is ma… oh, that’s the other one. Um. This… this update really lets you… make your mark?
Gardenscapes, Free Time for the obligatory free-to-play matching puzzle game update for this week. It’s time to peek in on the Austinverse yet again, and apparently it’s all about skydiving of all things. Man, Austin is pretty epic. There’s also something here about an expedition to the Klondike, a story about saving a home from a sleazy businessman named Larry, and a new area with a new character named Balthazar. What secrets do they hold, and why is this game suddenly talking about ancient Egyptian princesses? Only one way to find out, I guess.
#DRIVE, Free Sure a lot of driving and racing games this week. HashtagDRIVE has a new season called Rust & Roar, and it has some new cars to collect and use. The Roamer, Old Moustache, The Billy, Das Satanwagen, The Borowick, Le Escargot, The Phantom, and Das Sprintwagen are the names, and I’ll let you handle the fun job of figuring out what they’re all references to. Heck, sometimes I think that’s more enjoyable than playing the game, and that’s not meant as a knock on the game.
Disney Magic Kingdoms, Free This is the way. The way to the Magic Kingdoms update, that is! Ha ha, I’m so devilish. Anyway, we’ve got a Star Wars tie-in this time, with characters from The Mandalorian and the broader Star Wars world sliding in. Emperor Palpatine is here, along with the memorable Moff Gideon and the Mandalorian leader Bo-Katan Kryze. You also get a new attraction in the form of Gideon’s Light Cruiser. Well, that all sounds fun. Let’s give this the coveted UMMSotW award for the week, just to get it done.
Magic: The Gathering Arena, Free A new mini set? Yes, that’s a nice update. It’s called The Aftermath, and it appropriately covers the aftermath of the dreadful stand against Elesh Norn. The battle was hard fought and victory came for the heroes of the Multiverse, albeit at a heavy cost. What will the survivors do as they pick up the pieces? You’ll have to play the game to find out, I think. Or wait until someone summarizes it. Either-or. The game is quite fun, though.
CSR 2 - Realistic Drag Racing, Free You know, I never even noticed that Zynga bought this game. I guess that’s why it has a Purple Monkey Dishwasher name now? Well, whoever owns it, CSR Racing 2 just keeps on moving forward. It does so this time with several new events and a wide assortment of new cars, including the Ford Mustang GT, the McLaren Solus GT, the Volkswagen Electric R, the Ferrari 812 Competizione, and many more. If you want to see what else is there, you’ll have to hop into the game and see for yourself
MARVEL Strike Force: Squad RPG, Free It’s time for another update to Marvel Strike Force, and as usual it more or less just seeds the various events that will be rolling out over the next little while. New characters include Nova, Cosmo, Gwenpool, Thor (Infinity War), Korg, and Star-Lord (Annihilation). There is a new Skrull costume for Nick Fury, and a Ravager costume for Thor (Infinity War). As you would expect, there is also a bunch of new content in the form of raids, challenges, campaign challenges, and more. Throw in some UI adjustments, performance improvements, and bug fixes, and that will button things up nicely.
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!
