Hey everybody, it's Wednesday again, and per page #489 of the App Store rulebook tonight we're in store for a whole heap of new games. Like previous weeks, all of these games should be available at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially way earlier if you're not in the ol' US of A.
Badland, $3.99 - Forum Thread - Billed as an "atmospheric action adventure platformed," I'm not sure what other word I'd pack in that description aside from "really awesome." Wait, that's two words.
Colosseum Defense, Free - Forum Thread - A free to play castle defense and battle game? I think? It's hard to tell with how Gamevil does their screenshots what's going on.
Dragon Blast!, Free - Forum Thread - It's been a while since I've been able to say, "It's sort of like Angry Birdsbut…" in one of these posts! Dragon Blast seems to be sort of like Angry Birds but with a giant dragon.
Dream Chaser, 99¢ - Forum Thread - This slick looking runner is giving me some serious flashbacks to continually failing to pick up chaos emeralds in those Sonic bonus stages. Featuring both an endless and story mode, Dream Chaser seems to have a lot to offer.
Eyes - The Horror Game, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A creepy exploration game, with lots of flashlight action. The description mentions being similar to those Slender games, so if you like those this might be worth a look.
The Other Brothers, 99¢ - Forum Thread - This game is finally here. I feel like we've been following its development for years now. The Other Brothers is the first game I'm downloading tonight.
Run Sheldon!, Free - Forum Thread - A super-colorful runner where you play as Sheldon, the tortoise from the Tortoise and the Hare.
Slayin, 99¢ - Forum Thread - Sidescrollin' endless RPG with pixel graphics and a chip tunes soundtrack by Matt Creamer? Take my money. Just TAKE IT.
Tekken Card Tournament, Free - Forum Thread - While I won't deny the combination of Tekken and a… well, card game seems really weird, so does the idea of combining Metal Gear with a card game- But, that made for the only PSP game I actually will still go back and play.
It's Monday, we're all back in our respective homes, and have just posted the remainder of the GDC straggler stories. PAX East and GDC were both insanely busy this year, so much so that we found ourselves wondering if we were actually posting too much event coverage. Regardless, good times were had by all, and like every year, it was awesome to see both familiar faces as well as meeting all sorts of new people at GDC. I've said before, and I'll say it again, if you're involved in game development in any way, GDC is an event you need to get to. GDC 2014 will take place from Monday, March 17 to Friday, March 21, 2014... So plan accordingly!
PAX East kicked off with a bang as Blizzard announced Hearthstone, a cross platform collectable card game. I got to spend a little time with it, and while I can't really speak to the depth and strategy involved without getting deeper into the game, the production values seemed out of this world.
I got a quick look at Magic 2014 at the Wizards of the Coast booth, although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least vaguely disappointed with how close to 2013 it is. New cards, sure, but as a long-time Magic player I wish there was more refinements to some minor things that'd vastly improve gameplay for familiar players. Following that, I stumbled across the developers of Organ Trail [$2.99] who were excited to show off a teaser for their upcoming Wizards & Warp Drives, a D&D-style shooter-ish spin on FTL.
We recorded our podcast with me chiming in from Boston, then I quickly hopped on a plane for San Francisco where GDC started. This year we experimented with 100% video coverage, and I think it went really well. The first game we saw was Snow Siege by Milkbag Games which was a crazy mash-up of tower defense, card collecting, and Tetris. From there, Kepa came by to show us Wayward, the entirely randomized roguelike spiritual successor to Mage Gauntlet [$2.99]. I'm particularly excited for this game.
We spent some time with Cubemen 2, and if you liked the original Cubemen [$0.99 (HD)] you're going to be in for a treat as the theme of the sequel definitely seems to be "even more and even better." If you're into ragdoll punishment, the next Stair Dismount is totally going to be your thing. I mean, punishing your dude in Stair Dismount [Free] was great, so it'd stand to reason that doing anything to that formula is going to be even more fun.
Fans of Knights of Pen & Paper [$2.99] were in for a treat with this GDC as a new update was revealed with all sorts of cool new features. Also, while iMech Online has been in development for ages, it definitely looks like it's getting way closer to release with our hands-on where the developers seem confident that we'll see the game in the wild next month. Oh, and while Magic 2014 and Hearthstone might've been overshadowing PAX East, the talk of the collectable card town at GDC definitely was GRL Games'Rocket Patrol. Oh, and while we don't typically cover kid-centric stuff, Hakitzu is definitely worth a look as it's a puzzle game that actually teaches you how to code.
I've been really stoked for any news on the release of the upcoming Leisure Suit Larry remake, and we got an extensive hands-on at GDC. CEO and Larry enthusiast Paul Trowe walked us through the game, which admittedly might be a little less than work safe in our video. (And as an aside, if Larry is up your alley, take a look at the just-released iOS port of Fester Mudd: Curse of the Gold.)
I was impressed with the demo we saw of Third Eye Crime, as the Spymouse [Free] style gameplay melded incredible well with a noir-theme. Speaking of games with cool atmosphere, Tengami knocked it out of the park with a puzzle adventure game that's actually set in a pop up book. It's really clever how all the interactions both look and feel. Additionally, while the dual stick shooter aisle of the App Store has been a little defunct as of late, we were happy to see some new contenders such as Annihilate which definitely gave us some Geometry Wars vibes.
Las Vegas will be joining the ranks of other iOS board games, which is an always welcome sight with how well they work on touch platforms. From there in our rapid-fire meeting schedule we hopped about as far as you can get from board games to the platformer genre with the sequel to Trace [Free], aptly named Trace 2. Switching gears with something that feels a bit more natural on the touch screen we spent loads of time with Halfbrick's upcoming Fish Out of Water, which puts you in charge of flinging fish for a set of picky judges ready to rate you on your performance. I spent the whole week insisting the game needs more sparkles.
I'm really stoked for the above Breach & Clear, which Call of Duty's Robert Bowling gave us a full walkthrough of. I think this game will be a hit, although it remains to be seen just how well (or poorly) the free to play implementation will be. A similar hardcore-ish title that we saw next was Dead Squared which is a clever combination of roguelikes and first person shooters. ...And again, the variety we see at GDC is crazy as just after getting involved in a rogue-like, Brad from Be-Rad Entertainment was standing there waiting to show us AnonA, a game built at a NASA game jam with a gameplay mechanic that hinges on 3D printing.
Oh, and if you, like me, have been wondering what in the world happened to Drifter after they got all that money on Kickstarter... Well, the game has come out of hiding. It looks awesome, and I totally can't wait to play it. We got a fairly extensive walkthrough, take a look:
Be sure to take a look at the video for DeckWar. It's a pretty crazy game that I guess you'd describe as a CCG, but the way to cards link to the gameplay seems really unique. On the subject of unique games, there was also Vitamin Z, which is a fixed position shooter... Except you're shooting fruits and vegetables. From there we hopped over to Stellar Wars, which takes Liv Games' saga of sidescrolling battlers to space. Legendary Wars [$1.99] was great, and if you watch the video, all the improvements will be immediately clear.
Golf Star by Com2uS seemed really cool, as it's your typical golf game wrapped in this whole almost-MMO wrapper filled with items and avatars to unlock. It's all multiplayer-enabled too, so hopefully a community picks up after it launches. Following Golf Star we saw two other super casual titles from Trigger Happy, Feed Frankie and $1 Popcorn, each using swipe controls in slightly different ways.
I'm not traditionally that into sports games, but the above Football Heroes has me super excited. I don't watch football, like, ever, but if you make it arcade-y enough, I'm all over it. I'm also all over Gamevil's upcoming Diablo-like Dark Avenger. It looks awesome, and coupled with a super high frame rate I'm hoping it'll be as fun as it seems.
Drastically shifting genres again our next meeting was with Pixowl Games who showed us a substantial update for The Sandbox [Free]. Definitely give that a look if you're into that game. Island Escape seems interesting as well, they take super fast-paced mini-games with an over-arching story. I'm anxious to spend more time with it to see how it all pans out. Oh, and there's even something for Fred fans in the works with Skiing Fred which will join Falling Fred [Free] and others on the App Store soon.
Hopping genres as far as you can go once again, the next game on the lineup was Zombie Faceball which combines zombies and baseball. Hey, it could happen? Crystal Siege was the first traditional tower defense game we saw, and its video is totally worth a look as they're doing some neat things.
It was at this point that things were getting pretty late in the day on Friday, so we quickly recorded our podcast which features Halfbrick's Phil Larsen as well as our own Arn, Nissa, and Marianne. We recorded it live, so the quality is a little different, but it's still a good listen.
Once we all got home, we only had a few cleanup stories to post of games we saw really late in the week. The first of which was Bean Dreams, which is the sequel to Bean's Quest [$0.99], a title which is always on any short list of best platformers of mine. We got a look at The Other Brothers which is coming soon, and saved the best for last with five minutes of Oceanhorn. Be sure to watch this:
And last, but certainly not least, if you're interested in the developer side of things be sure to check out the live episode of Walled Garden Weekly. I'm on it, and we're talking about the various aspects of freemium. Alternatively, you could just subscribe in iTunes.
Alright, with this out of the way, now I can finally exhale. GDC and PAX East were awesome. I can't wait for them to roll around next year. Thanks for everyone we met with, my staff who busted their butts on all this coverage, and all of our readers who enjoyed our videos. This has been the craziest ten days in a really long time.
It's Wednesday, which means that despite being knee-deep in upcoming game coverage at GDC, there are plenty of games coming out right now that are worth getting excited about. By "right now," of course, I mean about 11pm EST in the Americas and potentially much earlier elsewhere.
Dungeon Hearts, $2.99 - Forum Thread - An iPad Puzzle/RPG hybrid that looks to mix classic JRPG combat stylings with match-3 mechanics in battles with big scary monsters. Very cool.
Final Fantasy V - $16.99 - Forum Thread - Another Final Fantasy title hits the app store. This time around, it comes with improvements from the 2006 GBA release and new character art by the original artist, Kazuko Shibuya.
Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet - $1.99 - Forum Thread - Magicka's been rocking co-op RPG chaos on desktop since 2011. Wizards of the Square Tablet has been designed fresh for iPad, but promises a similarly ludicrous list of spell combos and team-kills.
Nimble Quest - Free - Forum Thread - Imagine this: Snake, RPG mechanics and NimbleBit's pixel art and friendly take on free-to-play. Seems like an easy call.
Tiny Troopers 2: Special Ops - $0.99 - Forum Thread - The sequel to the popular top-down shooter about mini military dudes. This one should be out at midnight tonight.
It's Wednesday night again, and aside from going insane planning for both PAX East this weekend and GDC next week, we've got a whole heap of new games to fiddle with. Just like every other week in recent memory, all of these games should be available at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially way earlier if you live in some other non-American region!
Abalone, $2.99 - Forum Thread - A super classic board game I feel woefully ignorant about. Regardless, people on our forums are really excited for a proper port of this and I can't wait to see what Abalone is all about.
Chopper Mike, $1.99 - Forum Thread - A slick-looking helicopter piloting game featuring a dude named Mike. Check out the trailer.
Dream Tim, $1.99 - Forum Thread - An endless runner that seems to have an awful lot of swiping judging by the trailer.
Fetch, $4.99 - Forum Thread - An intriguing iPad adventure game that's actually on exhibit at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle? That's pretty cool.
Kingpin Lanes, $1.99 - Forum Thread - Remember when the very mention of the Unreal Engine got people excited? Well, here's a bowling game utilizing it. Are you excited?
Snoopy Coaster, 99¢ - Forum Thread - Wild about the various sidescrollin' roller coaster games on the App Store and love Snoopy? We've got a love connection here, in that case.
The Wizard of Oz Game, Free - Forum Thread - If you haven't yet gotten your fill on these kinds of free to play builder games, here's one based around The Wizard of Oz.
It certainly isn't the first time someone has snuck on to the App Store, and I can almost promise it won't be the last, but if you're big into grabbing things you "shouldn't" have (per Apple's approval process) then Awesome Baby Names [$1.99] is something you need to snag immediately. What initially appears to be a very simple and silly baby naming app is actually a fairly full-featured Gameboy Advance emulator.
Accessing it is simple, load up the app, tap the top left corner three times, the middle button once, then immediately above that once. Presto, you're thrown into a ROM listing for a Gameboy Advance emulator. You'll need to use iExplorer or something similar to load a Gameboy Advance bios as well as the actual ROMs into the app, but once you do that, it's (reasonably) smooth sailing.
For help with getting this all running, definitely check out the thread in our forums. Admittedly, getting this all working is a little trickier than playing your typical iOS game so if fiddling with your phone's file system via iExplorer sounds over your head, this might not be for you.
Update: Aaaaaaaand just like that, Awesome Baby Names joins the many other similar trojan horse apps that have been released. Apple seems to have just pulled it from the App Store. If you were able to grab it, store that .IPA somewhere safe. I recommend snagging a free Dropbox account and just using it to permanently store apps like this so you'll always have a copy in the cloud if you ever need it again.
We've already posted a TA Plays on NimbleBit's upcoming snake-like NimbleQuest, and could totally write up an extensive preview article detailing even more about the game for its upcoming release. But, really, what's more fun? Reading what we think about an upcoming game, or just playing it yourself? We're thinking the latter, so we're trying something new here. NimbleQuest is made in Unity, and among the other magical properties of the engine is the ability to build the game into a format that's playable in your browser.
All you need is to do to play it is download a tiny browser plugin and mash the image below to load the game up and give it a spin:
This online preview is only going to be active through Monday night, so if you want to check out NimbleQuest before it launches on the App Store, be sure to do it before then. As far as when it's going to launch, NimbleBit isn't ready to get official on the release date, but their fingers are crossed that we'll see NimbleQuest before the end of the month. Enjoy the game, and feel free to post any tips or strategies you come across for maximizing your score in the comments.
Also, let us know what you think of this style of game preview, as we'll try to do more of them in the future if people enjoy it. It obviously wouldn't work for every game, but NimbleQuest is a perfect example of a title that plays just as good in your browser window with arrow keys as it will on your iOS device with swipe gestures.
This week's releases got a little less exciting with the announcement that Magicka will be hitting on the 28th instead of tonight, but, we've still got Ridiculous Fishing and a bunch of other awesome games in this haul. As usual, everything should be available at 11:00 PM Eastern, or way earlier if you're in a different region.
Danger Boat, Free - Forum Thread - From the makers of Disc Drivin' comes a game I'm totally going to download just because Disc Drivin' is/was so awesome.
Le Vamp, $1.99 - Forum Thread - A runner that centralizes around playing as a vampire with gameplay gimmicks that revolve around vampire tropes. It sounds pretty neat.
NightSky, 99¢ - Forum Thread - Often imitated but never duplicated, finally this cool physics puzzler is on iOS.
Ridiculous Fishing, $2.99 - Forum Thread - I was lucky enough to score an early copy of this game and I've been having a blast with it. I highly recommend picking this up.
Heads up pen and paper role-playing enthusiasts or just anyone looking for a quirky new adventure: you're going to want to check out Knights of Pen & Paper [$2.99] which is currently free for the first time ever. Originally releasing this past October, Knights of Pen & Paper is more about the theme of classic pen and paper role-playing games rather than trying to be a digital recreation of it. It's literally a game about people playing a game, and it's full of self-referential humor and references to the world of video games that will bring many a smile to your face.
Knights of Pen & Paper doesn't ever take itself too seriously, and has an abundance of personality and charm throughout, which are big reasons why we enjoyed it so much in our review. There's also a challenging battle system and more quests than you can shake a stick at, all jammed into a tight little package that feels very well-suited to the mobile gaming platform. It can be a tad grindy at times and the quests aren't always the most creative, but these are minor shortcomings compared to all the things that Knights of Pen & Paper does really well.
You don't have to be a diehard role-player – in analog or digital form – to get a ton of enjoyment out of Knights of Pen & Paper, and for free it's definitely in no-brainer territory. Grab it and check it out, and don't be surprised if its charms win you over. Also be sure to hit up our forums to talk strategies and hear new information straight from the developers.
We're fairly eagle-eyed when it comes to spotting the good games that grace the App Store's shelves, but inevitably with such an expansive offering of games there's bound to be those that fly under our radar. One of those games was Help Volty [$1.99 (HD)], an atmospheric and clever puzzle game for the iPad.
Help Volty actually released back in October of last year, a lifetime ago in the mobile space it feels, but Brad happened across it last month in his never ending plight to discover cool games, and found it enjoyable and worth talking about. Him and Eli took it for a spin in a TA Plays video, and a couple of days later offered out a full review for Help Volty, awarding it a solid 4 stars.
I'm bringing all this up because right now, to celebrate the integration of Game Center leaderboards and achievements late last month, Help Volty's creators have decided to make the game free until March 10th.
If you're an iPad owner looking for a new puzzle game to work through, and this one originally slipped by your watchful eye just like it did ours, then you should be all over this free promotion. Check it out with the link below, and also be sure to stop by the thread in our forums for some discussion and strategies for Help Volty.
If you happen to be among the last people on the planet who still don't have Angry Birds [$0.99 / $2.99 (HD)], guess what? It's free, so you've got absolutely no excuse anymore. Angry Birds has turned into a classic of sorts on the App Store, and has been ported to basically ever platform under the sun, including, hopefully, your refrigerator at some point in the not too distant terrifying future.
In weirder Angry Birds news, Angry Birds Space [$0.99 / $2.99 (HD)] has been updated with an all-new version of the theme song by Slash. Yes, as in Guns 'n' Roses Slash. It's pretty wicked, I guess, but I'm still stuck on the fact that an 80's rock god is playing the Angry Birds theme.
First off, apologies for this post being a little later than usual. Weather in the Chicago area here has been insane the last couple days. Anyway, on the glorious world of the Internet where I don't need to deal with two foot deep snow drifts there's a whole load of awesome games coming. Like every week before this one, all of these games should be available at 11:00 PM eastern.
Astro Shark HD, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A physics-y space game where you play as an interstellar shark trying to save the Russian space dog Laika.
Block Fortress, $1.99 - Forum Thread - The oddly compelling combination of Mincraft, tower defense, and first person shooters. It sounds insane, and I can't wait to play it.
Fury of the Gods, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A god-themed tower defense game that looks pretty wicked in screenshots but only makes me want a proper iOS port of Black and White that much more. Who is with me on that?!
Hungry Gows, Free - Forum Thread - If you have room in your heart for one more physics puzzler, this one seems pretty cute and also happens to be free.
Journey to Hell, $3.99 - Forum Thread - Our forum members are incredibly excited for this shooter, and for good reason, it looks awesome. If you've found yourself mad about free to play games, here's a premium shooter for you.
Knitted Deer, 99¢ - Forum Thread - It's hard to say if there's more to this game than the gimmick of its art style, but I've got to say, that's one heck of a gimmick.
Liberation Maiden, $4.99 - Forum Thread - I'm really, really excited for this game. The screenshots look great, the production value seems out of this world, I just hope it's fun to play.
Melodive, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A musical "remained flight simulator"? If you're into the weird offerings of the App Store, this is right up your alley.
Metal Slug X, $3.99 - Forum Thread - I imagine this is much like the other iOS Metal Slug ports in that if you can hang with the virtual controls it's going to be a ton of fun.
Outland Games, 99¢ - Forum Thread - If you're a fan of Monday Night Combat, you need this game as it takes place in the same universe. If you've never heard of Monday Night Combat, well, here's a neat runner.
Sonic Dash, $1.99 - Forum Thread - While I'm not blown away to have another Temple Run-derivative on the App Store, it's just nice to see an iOS Sonic game that has Sonic doing something that makes sense. RUNNING! Wow!
Last week we got our first big taste of Super Stickman Golf 2 with a new trailer showcasing the various new features of the upcoming sequel to Noodlecake Game's physics golfing extravaganza. The release of Super Stickman Golf 2 is fast approaching too, and to celebrate this the original Super Stickman Golf [$2.99] has gone free.
We've previously talked about how much fun the online multiplayer is in Super Stickman Golf when it first arrived via an update to the game almost two years ago, but the single-player portion is not to be dismissed either, and provides a fantastic challenge and loads of content that will keep you busy for hours on end.
Super Stickman Golf has been free before, and ridden the rollercoaster of price drops that most games endure in the course of its more than two year lifespan. However, if you somehow have managed not to pick it up yet, I just can't recommend it enough and it should be a great introduction as to what to expect in Super Stickman Golf 2. We'll have more on the sequel as it nears release, but definitely don't slip on picking up the original for free while you can.
If you don't know Whitaker Trebella by name, you'd probably know him by his work. Aside from designing Polymer [$2.99] he's also composed themes for fantastic games like Tilt to Live [$2.99 / Free / Free (HD)], Super Stickman Golf [$2.99] and more. We haven't done a Free Play for a while, and a super clever puzzle game seemed to be the perfect fit following our previous offerings in both the action and RPG space.
We explained how Polymer works in our preview, which also provides the origin story for the game if you're curious about that:
A polymer, in the parlance of the game, is a complete shape, one with no unfinished edges. You achieve this by sliding rows and columns back and forth to move pieces into place. A skilled player might be able to use every piece on the board, but each piece you move takes six or nine others with it. Larger creations become exponentially more difficult to make without disruption, but they're oh so satisfying to reach for. It's almost a shame to destroy them, but that's where the points come in.
We liked it a lot in our review, and since then the game has been updated with universal support, iCloud syncing, multiplayer, and more- Turning a great game into an even better one. Whether you're a iOS puzzle veteran or don't play too many games like this, Polymer is worth a look.
We hope you enjoy taking Polymer for a spin during this TouchArcade Free Play promotion, and feel free to visit our forums to leave your thoughts or questions about the game and join in on the community discussion. We'll be on the lookout for more games to feature in the Free Play program, so keep your eyes glued to TouchArcade for all the best news, reviews and deals in the world of iOS gaming.
To read more about the TouchArcade Free Play program, check out our introductory post: Introducing TouchArcade Free Play - Get Amazing Games for Free where we lay out what it takes to be a Free Play game, and how often you should expect to see awesome freebies. To stay on top of future TouchArcade Free Play titles, bookmark http://toucharcade.com/freeplay and download the TouchArcade app [Free] to get push notifications of when they go live!
In the life of the App Store, the original 2009 release of Real Racing [$2.99 / $4.99 (HD)] was a massive turning point. As mentioned in our review, both the graphical quality and the "feel" of the game were unlike anything else available at the time. Almost a year and a half later when Real Racing 2 [$4.99 / $6.99 (HD)] hit, we questioned whether or not it was "the perfect iPhone game" in our review. Fast forward two more years and tonight Real Racing has officially turned into a trilogy with the release of Real Racing 3 [Free]. Everything in the game is better than its predecessors, except how much you'll need to fork out if you want to play it like you may have played previous installments in the series- Or essentially any racing game you've ever played before.
Real Racing 3 by far has the best "out of the box" experience of any iOS game I've played. After a totally free download which is going to suck up close to 2GB of free space on your device once it's installed you're thrown into what initially seems to be a typical pre-rendered intro cut scene of a Porsche zooming around a track- But then you quickly realize this isn't pre-rendered at all, this is running in real-time, on your phone. This first race serves as a brief tutorial of sorts on how the game works, and if you're online, you'll come to the second amazing realization that these other cars in the tutorial were actually driven by real people via Firemonkeys' new "Time Shifted Multiplayer" system. The whole thing is ridiculously impressive, particularly if you're used to the typical free to play offerings on the App Store which normally consist of basic arcade style games or endlessly reskinned cow clickers.
From there, you buy your first car (Per our tips post we recommend the Silvia!) and you're off to the races. I cannot stress enough just how great the graphics are in Real Racing 3. "Console quality" seems to be a buzzword often thrown around, but if there's any game that deserves that distinction it's this one. The game screams on the iPhone 5, with high resolution textures, amazing looking models, incredibly detailed car interiors, and mirrors that actually work. The sound design is great too, and with a good pair of headphones it's crazy just how immersive the game can feel- Even on the 4" screen of your phone.
Like previous Real Racing games, RR3 sports enough control configurations to satiate everyone regardless of how crazy you want the setup to be. There's options for tilt controls, on-screen controls, and every mixture of the two you can think of. There's also assistive systems for practically everything. If you're a super casual player that isn't very good at racing games, leave steering assist, brake assist, and traction control on and all you'll need to worry about is tilting your phone to drive around the track. If you're a experienced racer, you can take full control of everything (except shifting gears, oddly enough) and likely see way better results as you're not subjected to the overly-cautious automatic systems.
I've really been enjoying how the new Time Shifted Multiplayer works in Real Racing 3. Racing against ghosts has been around for what feels like forever, where you're playing against a car that you cannot interact with, recorded from a previous racing attempt. In this game, Firemonkeys have taken similar data and melded it with an AI racer. If you play into the social features and have friends who are also playing the game, you'll be actively racing against them, potentially hours after they completed the same race. The experience is particularly cool once you link up your Facebook account and randomly see friends on the track that you didn't even know had the game. What's even better is catching up to one of these friends, and actively being able to ram them out of the way to take first and beat their time.
After playing a few races, you'll quickly come to the harsh realization of just how much of a timer-based free to play game Real Racing is. You'll start the game out with a small initial load of premium currency, and periodically unlock smaller amounts in game, but Real Racing 3 is as much a waiting game as it is a racing game. You'll eventually find yourself waiting for the weirdest things stopping you from racing again, covering everything from installing performance upgrades to repairing your suspension. Of course you can skip all these time sinks by making it rain real-world dollars, making the actual price of Real Racing 3 anywhere between free to infinitely expensive depending on how often you open your proverbial wallet.
The up side, if there is one, is that these timers can be somewhat mitigated by playing intelligently and may not be an issue for you at all depending on how you play iOS games. Racing conservatively and actively trying to avoid wear and tear on your car can allow you to squeeze out a few more races before you need to repair, but you could also make the argument that what's fun about these sorts of games is aggressively taking corners, slamming into cars, and barely squeezing out a first place finish. You can't do that in Real Racing 3 unless you want to wait, potentially a very long time.
Personally, I'm so inundated by other things to play that the way I've been enjoying Real Racing 3 is by playing as much as I can, eventually hitting the wall with timers, and then just waiting for the game to send me a push alert telling me my car is repaired and ready to go. Then, when I have time I'll do a few more races before repeating the cycle again. I'm totally OK with this because these short bursts are typically how I play games on my phone. However, if you're the kind of person who wants to download a game like this and blow through it in one massive marathon play session, Real Racing 3 is very much not the game for you.
On the subject of push alerts, in its current iteration having them enabled has some serious drawbacks if you're annoyed by alerts. I'm of the camp of people who like their phone to buzz and beep as little as possible. I'll almost always say no to the popup asking if an app can send you push alerts, and will instantly delete anything that sends me alerts without asking, but I like Real Racing 3 enough that I want to be notified when I can play it again. Unfortunately, by allowing alerts, you're also inviting an endless stream of beeps and vibrates, particularly if you've got lots of friends playing the game. Real Racing 3 will send you an alert whenever someone beats your time in a race.
If you're an active player with friends who are also fairly active, you're in for alert spam like you've never experienced before. This wouldn't be so bad if these alerts actually did something. As it is, when you get an alert that a friend beat your time, you slide it, and the game just loads. It's not like you can swipe the alert to get thrown directly back into that same race to compete against them. The implementation seems really sloppy, and I wish there was a way I could turn this alert spam off while keeping the whole "Hey your car is ready to race again!" alert on.
Firemonkeys have shown that they can tweak these sorts of things on the fly. Since its release in New Zealand two weeks ago, the amount of time players have needed to wait for various things in game have varied wildly, and the solution to my push alert problem is just a checkbox away. It will be interesting to see how these aspects of the game evolve over time, especially considering in its current iteration the way timers work don't make a whole lot of sense. For instance, you can almost mitigate them entirely (or at least get to a point where you can play the game for way longer before stopping) by purchasing multiple cars. Real Racing 3 is actually at its worst for gameplay-stopping timers for new users, as once you hit the point where your car has to be repaired there is absolutely nothing for you to do other than wait or pay. Making new players hit this wall seems very counter-productive when it comes to user retention.
Real Racing 3 is a weird game to review. On one hand, it's free, and is the absolute best looking game available on the App Store right now. You need to experience the sights and sounds of the game as it is downright jaw-dropping to see what Firemonkeys has accomplished on a technical level. On the other, it feels incredibly strange to take a genre that's typically very hardcore and wrapping it in free to play trimmings with hard timer-based stopping points. The juxtaposition between awesome adrenalin-fueled racing and the "Sorry bro, insert coin or come back later" is very, very odd.
If you're a free to play gamer used to the often basic games that litter the Top Free chart on the App Store, Real Racing 3 is going to knock your socks off. Our verdict is to definitely give the game a try, and if you feel the timers are too oppressive, the alerts are too annoying, or it just doesn't otherwise jive with your play style, either download one of the other Real Racing games or check out other great racers on the App Store like Gameloft's Asphalt 7: Heat [$0.99] or EA's Need For Speed: Most Wanted [$6.99] and race the night away.
NOTE: We're not sure what (if any) difference there is between the two Real Racing 3 entries on the App Store. If one link doesn't work in your region, try the other one.
It's another Wednesday and that means it's another batch of weekly new releases for your iOS devices. As usual, these new games are already available in New Zealand and other international markets to the East, and will drop in the US store tonight at 11pm EST. Likely the most notable release of the week will be Real Racing 3 as it moves out of soft beta and into the worldwide market on iOS and Android simultaneously, but there are a lot of interesting types of games coming out this week so don't get lost focusing on just that. It finally feels like this year is picking up some nice steam with the recent new releases.
1001 Attempts, 99¢ - [Forum Thread] - A very retro-inspired arcade game where the object is to properly bounce between the top and bottom of the screen while collecting gems and avoiding many crazy hazards.
AVP: Evolution, $4.99 - [Forum Thread] - With all the recent Aliens drama going on in the console world, I'm hoping that this mobile 3rd-person brawler in the Aliens vs Predator series can come through. Being from the same people who made Guerilla Bob [$0.99 / $2.99 (HD)] and the previous Predators [$0.99] game, I think we're in good hands though.
Cognition: Episode 1, $3.99 / Lite - [Forum Thread] - A point-and-click adventure game where you can play as an FBI agent with the ability to look into the past, and you use that in order to find clues and solve the mysteries of the story. Sounds cool.
Crazy Bill, Free [Forum Thread] - A wacky sounding action game where you need to climb from floor to floor in a zombie hotel wreaking havoc on a host of zombie versions of many famous people (any likenesses are purely coincidental, I'm sure). Also, apparently donuts give you special powers in the game, which is something I can get behind.
Gravity Duck, 99¢ - [Forum Thread] - Another pixely platformer from the folks over at Ravenous Games, with the hook in this particular one being that you can control gravity in order to walk on walls and ceilings and traverse the various levels. Also you play as a duck.
iStriker 2: Air Assault, 99¢ / Lite - [Forum Thread] - I usually don't get super excited for new scrolling shooters, but seeing as this is from the guys behind Hotfield [$0.99 / Free] and the excellent first iStriker [$2.99], I have a good feeling. Also I cheated and played the lite version that's been out for a few weeks, and can tell the full version will be a winner.
King Cashing 2, $2.99 - [Forum Thread] - If you found yourself wondering which game I was most excited about tonight, spoiler alert: it's this one. I've been playing an early copy and if you liked the first game in any way or are even remotely intrigued with a slot-machine mechanic being worked into an RPG-style adventure, then King Cashing 2 will knock your socks off.
Penumbear, $1.99 - [Forum Thread] - A really neat looking puzzle platformer where the main mechanic involves being able to turn various kinds of lights, with certain platforms and items only being available either in certain types of lighting. Sounds very intriguing and pretty meaty too with 100 included levels.
PokerTower, 99¢ - [Forum Thread] - While matching games have been done to the point of nausea already, I'm always really surprised when developers can think of a way to make the mechanics feel fresh. Here it's all about making your matches based on poker hands, with a lot of modes and some light RPG elements peppered in. I'm on board.
Real Racing 3, Free - [Forum Thread] - This likely doesn't need any introduction, but the long-awaited and controversial third entry to the Real Racing franchise is set to hit the US later tonight. One good thing about it being a freemium release: you can check it out for yourself without dropping a dime (if you can spare the 2 gigs of space, that is). I'd suggest doing so just to use as a showpiece for what our mobile devices can do, regardless of your feelings towards the pay model.
Star Hound, 99¢ - [Forum Thread] - This seems like a big departure from the normally puzzle-centric Kieffer Bros. but that actually makes me even more curious to check it out. It's a mixture of endless running, endless flying, and hook-swinging mechanics. Also you're a dog. It's actually out already so I'll definitely be checking it out.
Towelfight 2: The Monacle of Destiny, 99¢ - [Forum Thread] - Ok I'm fudging a little since this actually came out earlier this week, but it's too awesome of a dual-stick shooter not to include here. Don't be alarmed by a bug that locks the game in portrait mode (it supports both orientations) on the iPhone 5, a fix is already in expedited submission with Apple. Seriously, just watch the trailer and you'll know immediately whether or not you need this game.
Toy Story: Smash It!, 99¢ - [Forum Thread] - As was astutely pointed out by our forum goers, this appears to be a mashup of Boom Blox and Toy Story. So, you'll play as the various Toy Story characers as you huck objects towards Toy Story-themed structures in a sort of behind-the-back, 3D Angry Birds. That actually sounds really cool.
Trenches II, Free - [Forum Thread] - No big surprises here, this is the same Trenches II that came out over a year ago, but after the EA publishing deal ended, Thunder Game Works has put it out on their own. It'll be free for the first week so people who purchased the EA version can grab this new version without an additional purchase. Spread the word!
Up In Flames, 99¢ - [Forum Thread] - The requisite weekly Chillingo physics puzzler, which is giving off an extremely strong Angry Birds-y vibe. The differentiator appears to be the ability to lob fireballs in order to start fires and burn down the structures that make up the levels. Sounds interesting.
