The Brothers Marsh at NimbleBit (and honorary Marsh brother Tim, I suppose) just released the first content update to Nimble Quest [$0.99] which we first posted about a little over a week ago. There's a new hero to unlock in the game now, who goes by the name of "Bolas." He's available as the reward for clearing the "Dungeon 2" level. Alternatively, you could just flip out the two bucks for the IAP.
Bolas is a "elemental monk from the eastern planes." His attacks are a spinning disc with an area effect explosion attached to them. You know how hard Gizmo rocks? Imagine that, but magical. Here's a video of Bolas in action:
If you haven't tried NimbleQuest, now is a fantastic time to get on board. The game has basically become The Official Toilet Game of my household, which is basically on par with seeing that Nintendo Seal of Approval stamp on the box of NES games back in the day.
If you were around for the original Edge [$2.99] drama back in 2009, chances are you know the story of Tim Langdell all too well. If not, Wikipedia does a decent job of chronicling it, and the whole fiasco basically amounted to a guy thinking he owns nearly ever use of the word "Edge" you could imagine. The iOS platformer Edge seemed to get the brunt of this attack, and things got really crazy when Langdell decided to pick a fight with EA. With vastly more legal resources, I'm not sure it was much of a surprise to anyone that the "Edge" trademarks got nuked, but the courts had actually requested that the trademarks be nullified all the way back in October of 2010.
What took so long is anyone's guess, as according to PocketGamer the trademarks were only officially slain yesterday, but, whatever. Chalk this up to typical US government efficiency, I suppose. It's great to see this drama (finally) come to a close, and here's to the guys at both EA, Mobigame, and everyone else who fought the good fight in sticking up to one of the worst trademark trolls the video game industry had ever seen.
Gameloft just sent a raven our way with the new Iron Man 3 - The Official Game trailer attached, and so far, I'm really digging what they're showing. Gameloft might even be escaping the dreaded curse of the movie game by releasing a simple-ish game that just seems to fit with the IP instead of, well, Iron Man 2 [$6.99] which didn't really do much for me.
As you can see from the trailer, the approach they're taking with Iron Man 3 is more of an endless runner in the sky kind of thing. The marketing materials mention it being free to play, with suit upgrades and other things which I'm betting are all going to fit right in to that Temple Run-style power-up purchasing mechanic we're all ridiculously familiar with by now.
Iron Man 3 should be available with the onslaught of other games next Wednesday. If you want to be alerted when it hits, be sure to add the game to your watch list in the TouchArcade app [Free].
Sure, you might think you're a old school mobile phone gamer if you have fond memories of Nokia Snake, but the real cool kids were busy playing Space Impact [$0.99]. It was available on the Nokia 3310, the 5210, that weird sideways 5510, and a ton of those other bulletproof Nokia phones that seemed to have a battery that lasted for ages compared to modern smartphones. There's been a number of sequels and spinoffs over time, but Space Impact is the core game that every real Nokia gamer knew by heart.
Its available now, in all of its low-fi glory complete with ridiculously massive faux dot pitch for that old school feel:
Admittedly, what once was a pretty mind-blowing game to play on your phone a decade (or more) ago really doesn't stand up that well against the many other horizontal shooters available on the App Store... But, much like Snake 97, it is pretty cool spending a little time playing just for the sake of nostalgia. One weird thing about Space Impact is it isn't iPhone 5 widescreen compatible, but, really, of course it isn't, widescreen wasn't even a thing back in its day.
Mangomobile's free to play Kingturn RPG [Free] has been absolutely ripping up our forums since it was released last week, and per a quick note from the developers, while they're focusing on "smoothing out" Kingturn proper first, they have plans to bring both sequels, Kingturn RPG Plus and Kingturn Underworld to the App Store. Kingturn would be an easy game to skip looking at screenshots, as admittedly, the graphics do look a little basic- But in doing that you'd be missing out on some ridiculously deep strategy RPG action. How deep? Well, there's over 40 hours of gameplay spread across 67 battle scenarios, 700 items to loot, and 60 different skills distributed over 30 unique character classes. It even has that payment model that people are always asking for, in that you can snag the game for free, make sure you like it, then buy the rest via a single $4.99 unlock.
The two additional games in the series basically sound like Kingturn RPG but more. So, if you've somehow managed to burn through all the content already available, there's more coming soon. In the meantime, you can hang out in the upcoming thread, or add these two pseudo-sequels to your TouchArcade app [Free] watch list and we'll give you a heads up when they're available.
It seems like as poker surges in popularity games that utilize familiar poker mechanics to do non-poker-y things have been popping up all over the place. My personal favorite(s) still are Sword & Poker [$2.99] (and its sequel/expansion Sword & Poker 2 [$3.99]) but the recently-released Alice of Hearts [Free] sure is a worthy contender in this weird genre, especially at the current asking price of free. Like other poker battlers (That's a genre, right?) gameplay revolves around using cards from your Scrabble-like rack of cards and placing them on a grid to form the best hands you can. It sounds simple, and to some extent it is, but there's a surprising amount of strategy that goes in to these games as your opponent can also use these cards after you place them. So, while you might think you're super clever playing a three of a kind, you need to consider that you could potentially be giving your opponent the opportunity to counter with a full house.
So, Alice of Hearts is a totally competent poker battle game, but it actually kicks things up a notch further via the "Ego" system which essentially gives you multiple characters with different bonuses to play as. Additionally, if you've found yourself annoyed by the AI of other similar games, Alice of Hearts also has online multiplayer. At first look, the IAP systems powering the game seem fairly optional, allowing you to buy coins and various "premium" upgrades such as allowing you to have a wider stable of "Egos" to choose from with additional slots to store them in.
If you haven't yet tried a game with this sort of card battle mechanic yet, give this one a shot. These always seem to work really well on iOS devices.
If you stuck a thermometer in the proverbial mouth of our forums, you'd find them totally afflicted to Kemco fever. Symphony of the Origin [$10.99] was just released a couple weeks ago, followed by another rapid fire release of Silver Nornir [$8.99] today. Both games are the kind of things we joke about on the podcast in that they're basically "Fantasy Game: Fantasy of The Fantasy" but if you're the kind of dude who shoots for the whole tens of hours of gameplay, massive character progression, and just generally saving the world from the ultimate evil over the simpler pick up and play offerings of the App Store, Kemco games are for you.
In this particular game, the world has actually been destroyed by evil twice already, so, third time's the charm, I suppose? Regardless, Silver Nornir seems to be a game of huge battles, an even huge-er game world, and almost Chrono Trigger-sounding combo moves with other characters in battle. Like other Kemco games, there's a small amount of IAP, but they're typically balanced in a way that makes them feel more like optional cheats than required purchases.
Just under a year ago we got our first whiff of Game Stew's Tower of Fortune [$0.99]. It's a super-retro lightweight RPG which revolves around a slot machine mechanic, which we get deep into in our review. We actually even liked the game enough that we included it in our 2012 best games round ups. Today's release of Gargoyle Ruins [$1.99] walks down a similar retro path, this time leaning heavily on what I'd describe as a slightly updated Game & Watch game.
Gameplay basically amounts to avoiding gargoyles, saving princess, collecting gold, then buying various items with that gold. All the gameplay and animations are super jagged, just like a Game & Watch game, and doing well basically involves mastery of the timing of crossing the bridge and back to get the princess.
My gut is telling me I'm preferring Tower of Fortune more than Gargoyle Ruins at first blush, but they're really different games so it's sort of an apples to oranges comparison. There's a discussion brewing in our forums for the game, but as it was just released there isn't really a vibe either way regarding whether or not people are diggin' the game. Regardless, if you liked Tower of Fortune, and have any fond memories of those ancient handheld LCD games, Gargoyle Ruins should be on your radar.
Straight from tonight's "So, this exists" department is Gutpela's SideWalker - Late to Work [Free] a game that cleverly combines two things that are very hot right now on the App Store: Any behind the back Temple Run style game, and anything that has even vaguely Minecraft-y graphics. SideWalker combines these two fads into one incredibly absurd concept of a game where all you're doing is walking to work. Of course you need to avoid other pedestrians on the sidewalk and other obstacles, but you can basically take your time controlling your speed by swiping up or down on the screen between a slow saunter and a power-walk. But, yeah, the goal is to just get to work.
I'm not entirely sure if it's possible to get to work, as the game is over when you (somewhat inevitably) collide into obstacles three times. Oh, better yet, your health isn't represented in any kind of traditional measure. Instead, you just lose your clothes. The first time you hit something you quite literally lose your pants, and things escalate from there.
Of course, like any good Temple Run-like there's a bunch of power-ups you can dump the plentiful amounts of in-game currency you'll be picking up while walking to work. You can also buy SideWalker money in different denominations, but much like most of these free to play behind the back games, there's not much reason to.
If you like the silly side of the App Store, give SideWalker a try. There's something incredibly endearing about it, especially as most of these games have such grand premises like escaping evil monkeys in Temple Run [Free], surviving some weird nuclear apocalypse in TheEndApp [Free], and others. In this, all you're trying to do is walk to work. Hell, you could get super meta and play SideWalker while you are walking to work. That might be life changing.
I am the developer of Sidewalker. This game was accidentally release today by the app store, however the official release date is not till May 2. It is being removed from the store right now. If you did manage to download it please enjoy the pre-release demo. Sorry for the mix up.
PopCap's Bookworm Heroes [Free] finally saw its international launch tonight after what's seriously been months of the game being soft launched in Canada. No joke, the thread for its Canadian release on our forums was actually originally posted on December 4th, 2012. I spent some time with last year's release of the game, and it really doesn't seem like there's a whole lot different from the actual proper international version aside from potentially minor balance changes or other things that are hard to notice.
The basic gist of the game is you either challenge your Facebook friends or random opponents to turn-based word battles. It's a lot like Writer Rumble in that your Scrabble-like individual word score gets converted into attack damage and the game is over once someone has reduced their opponents hit points to zero. You take turns until this happens, with various power-up style letter blocks potentially appearing that allow you to do way more damage.
As mentioned, my initial impressions of this version of the game mirror those of a few months ago in that I really don't like it when games lock me in to using Facebook for matchmaking. Personally, my Facebook is a safe place with only friends and family, not random weirdos I play video games with. Sure, I could have a second account, but that really seems less than ideal when services like Game Center exist. Additionally, the turn-based "combat" just feels really slow when you're used to the pace of what you'd typically think a Bookworm game to feel like- Particularly as you're left with nothing to do while you wait for all your opponents to make their move(s).
On top of that, it's also really free to play, with way too many UI elements dedicated to largely displaying just how many bonus coins (the in-game currency) you can get by connecting your Facebook and doing other social-spammy things. I suppose it's worth checking out just to see the dark path the creators of Bookworm [$1.99], Peggle [$0.99] and Plants vs. Zombies [$0.99] seem to be on with all this free to play junk, but I can't imagine Bookworm Heroes living a very long life on my device.
We've had a crazy day of getting deep into all of the latest iOS releases as they hit the US store, and as of this posting they should be available everywhere worldwide.
You may have noticed we changed up our format today. Instead of posting a single roundup story, we've gone more in depth with the various Thursday releases to give some first impressions of these new games before they hit worldwide. This gives you a better feel for the quality of the games that are coming out.
Also, don't miss out on other new releases that had already come out, but that we were also impressed with today: Vendetta Online, They Need to be Fed 2, and forum-favorite Fangz.
New Releases
Here's our final summary roundup which includes all the games from today.
Ark of Sinners Advance
Set in the Anima: Beyond Fantasy universe, the meat of the game seems to be action-oriented platforming, rampaging from area to area brawling with gated fights where you cannot progress past a certain area until you've killed all the dudes on screen.
A solid follow-up to the original Cut the Rope and Cut the Rope Experiments that offers more of the same rope-cutting, monster-feeding shenanigans that managed to strike a chord with folks.
We've extensively covered the game in the past, but here's the gist (again)- Imagine skipping stones in a constantly changing ocean that's directly linked to the weather in game, only instead of stones you've got a variety of fish that each have slightly different abilities such as being able to fly extra far or being able to skip across the surface like mad.
To my knowledge there aren't any other games that let you play as a giant ninja fist with legs who must use their fist-shaped body to fight off various brightly colored enemy ninjas who are all hellbent on breaking your heart.
Robots have decided to fight back against sleep by the only way that makes sense: attacking the sheep that we count when we need to catch our 40 winks.
I think the easiest way to describe R.I.P. Ralley is to take the vibe of those arena levels in Twisted Metal, throw in a dash of Smash TV, replace all enemies with zombies, then apply a heavy glaze of free to play on top.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rooftop Run is one of tonight's bigger ticket releases because of the branding, but it's also one heck of a runner that nimbly mixes combat with scaling and jumping, as well impressive QTEs.
Back at GDC, we got all up in GRL Games' latest card game, Rocket Patrol. It's coming out this evening, and as we described it before, the game is a turn-based strategy game that's just dripping with retro sci-fi charm. Like most card games, it's easier to just get an idea of what to do by watching someone else play it:
Of course GRL Games has also uploaded their own trailer, if you're interested in a little more "official" tease of the game. Definitely check this one out when it comes out tonight, it's even free which just serves to sweeten the deal even further- Especially when it's from a developer who has put out such great titles in the past.
Rocket Patrol should be available on the US App Store at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially much earlier if you're in a region east of the USA. To be alerted when the game is available, open this story in the TouchArcade App [Free] and add it to your watch list. A little after 11:00 PM tonight you'll get a push alert with the download link.
We spent a whole bunch of time with Leviathan: Warships back at the Paradox Conference in Iceland earlier this year, but what once was a nebulous "Yeah well I guess this is coming to the iPad too at some point in the future" has firmed up quicker than instant Jello pudding with the just-announced release date of April 30th. The game is going to have a simultaneous release too, across Mac, PC, and tablets.
There's even a new trailer:
Our preview is really exhaustive, so if the trailer looks cool to you be sure to check that out as it's hard to pull one specific thing to quote as there's just so much to this game. If you're a strategy buff, keep an eye out for Leviathan: Warships, regardless of what platform you end up playing it on.
I feel like I've said it a million times by now, and probably most recently (and most publicly) discussed the idea in a recent episode of the TouchArcade show where we got on the subject of how your iPad is basically as powerful (if not more so) than the PC's we played "classic" MMO's on a decade ago. So, where the heck are the shared experience MMO clients that let me take my game with me regardless of where I am or what client I'm connected with?! Sure, there's a couple of them (Spacetime Studios is particularly killing it.) but nowhere near as many as you'd think there'd be. The just-released Vendetta Online [$0.99 (HD)] seems like it's just what the doctor ordered.
It's a huge-scale space MMO that's giving me some serious Freelancer vibes, which is definitely a good thing. The payment model is cool too, as your initial 99¢ download gets your access to the game for a month, then after that it's just another dollar a month if you want to keep playing. That seems super-low risk, and really agreeable if you want to keep playing.
Oh, and there's even a "Player Contribution Corps," per the iTunes description, where you can directly contribute to content that gets added to the game if you become a hardcore member of the community. Getting started on a new MMO is intimidating, that's for sure, but this one is tickling all the right places for me and I'm stoked to spend some time with it. For more info on the game, check out the official web site which has downloads links for the Mac, Windows, and Linux clients as well as the thread on our forums.
Of course it wouldn't be a Wednesday without a Chillingo game, and tonight's title seems to be R.I.P. Rally, a rare free to play game in Chillingo's typically fairly "premium" lineup. I dig the premise of the game, which is laid out in an entirely text-less comic book page showing your car (with a giant gun mounted on top) being heli-dropped into a massive arena of zombies. I think the easiest way to describe R.I.P. Ralley is to take the vibe of those arena levels in Twisted Metal, throw in a dash of Smash TV, replace all enemies with zombies, then apply a heavy glaze of free to play on top.
The gameplay loop seems to revolve around fighting wave after wave of zombies, earning coins, upgrading your car, getting slightly stronger, fighting slightly stronger enemies, and repeating this process. The vehicular-based combat is actually quite a bit of fun, as just being able to run over massive groups of zombies always feels satisfying. One thing that immediately jumps out at you is how (comparatively) poorly the zombies themselves are animated, and I'm wondering whether or not that was a conscious decision to simplify the zombies to allow way more of them to be on screen without any kind of performance drop or not- As even on my iPad mini, the game runs great with loads of undead lumbering around.
I liked the game a lot until I started delving in to the upgrade system, at which point the freemium elements begin to rear their ugly heads in a big way. R.I.P. Rally features the whole kit and kaboodle of free to play trimmings between ads (which you can disable for 99¢) and two different currencies (one you can buy). There's even super-gross Burstly referral deals where you can do things like sign up for a Discover card or complete a survey to qualify for a free glucose meter from Alliance Healthcare Services for a small stipend of in-game coins. Being pushed into trading a Blockbuster membership for a bumper upgrade really makes me sigh and say, "I wish I could've just paid $2.99 for this game."
R.I.P. Rally should be available on the US App Store at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially much earlier if you're in a region east of the USA. To be alerted when the game is available, open this story in the TouchArcade App [Free] and add it to your watch list. A little after 11:00 PM tonight you'll get a push alert with the download link.
The Brothers Marsh at NimbleBit (and honorary Marsh brother Tim, I suppose) just released the first content update to Nimble Quest [$0.99] which we first posted about a little over a week ago. There's a new hero to unlock in the game now, who goes by the name of "Bolas." He's available as the reward for clearing the "Dungeon 2" level. Alternatively, you could just flip out the two bucks for the IAP.
