As much as we may not want to admit it, a game’s style goes a long way—especially in a market as crowded as the App Store. With so many games from so many developers, the right icon and the right visual presentation are often the be all and end all of standing out from the pack. And while those of us who love games know that graphics don’t make for a good game, it’s hard to ignore the allure of stylish games.
That’s why I jumped on Brandnew Boy [ $3.99 ], the latest action RPG from Oozoo. Sporting the Unreal Engine and a beautiful cel-shaded art style rich in color, the game is instantly stunning—especially in motion, where the smooth framerate and fast action prove to make an already-attractive game even more gorgeous. Much of the attention the game has received is because of its presentation.
Thankfully, unlike some pretty-yet-disappointing games out there, Brandnew Boy manages to delight in terms of gameplay, as well. It’s certainly not the best action RPG on the platform, but its unique combat controls and hearty adventure make it worth a spot on your home screen.
Like the bad boy that every girl finds impossible to resist, Frontier Developments' sequel to their platform-adventure LostWinds [ $3.99 ] from last year isn't always easy to control. Precision is not LostWinds2: Winter of the Melodias' [ $3.99 ] best feature. With the sheer amount of things that LostWinds2 can occasionally demand of its players, this would normally be almost unforgivable but much like the hypothetical rapscallion, LostWinds2 is just too charming to give up.
Set shortly after the events of the first game, LostWinds2 follows the continuing adventures of the chubby-cheeked Toku, a brave and impossibly adorable young boy, and his companion Enril The Wind Spirit. After a brief introductory sequence, one that features a number of piscine-looking critters, you find yourself in control of Toku. His mother Magdi has somehow gone absent and it is your duty to go look for her. This eventually segues into an exploration of some phenomenally gorgeous places, the acquaintanceship of some new friends and an encounter with old evils.
In mid-March, Ubisoft and RedLynx released MotoHeroz [Free / Free (HD)] an iOS port of the WiiWare side-scrolling platform racer that felt like a close cousin to the studio’s crazy popular Trials HD series. We enjoyed MotoHerozin our review despite its somewhat tough progression and overall high level of difficulty. Still, for fans of hardcore trial and error games that tasked you with perfection through repetition, MotoHeroz was money well spent.
Today, however, no money needs to be spent in order to enjoy the punishment that MotoHeroz offers. A brand new update has hit and to celebrate both the iPhone and iPad versions of the game are currently free. The update contains two new level packs each with their own new vehicles, as well as support for having 3 online friend leagues going on simultaneously.
If you haven’t checked out MotoHeroz yet, it’s definitely worth a look while free. The difficult nature might be a turnoff to some, but I personally found the challenge welcome and have enjoyed playing certain levels over and over again until you have that run that’s just right. Now with new content added, it looks like I’ll be getting sucked back into that cycle once again, which I’m definitely not complaining about.
After seeing Monster Shooter: The Lost Levels [ $0.99 ] for the first time, you might be wondering why another dual stick shooter is necessary on iOS, considering the hundreds of others already available. The answer isn’t always an easy one, but let’s just say that Monster Shooter shows why we shouldn’t just be writing off the genre altogether.
Monster Shooter tells the story of alien battles from one planet to another, all with the ultimate goal of saving a kitten with a runny nose. These naughty aliens want to wreak havoc and torture the poor kitty, and are even traveling anywhere in the galaxy as to not be captured.
As the kitty rescuer, you travel from planet to planet in a level-based format, and are shooting down enemies in a dual stick style shooter. The controls of a shooter are of the upmost importance, and they work well in this game especially with the multiple options available. If you’re finding the aiming to be a difficult affair, you can turn on the auto aim option and then you’ll only have to tap when you want to shoot, rather than where. Having the option of a fixed d-pad is also a nice touch, meaning you can play in whatever way suits your style best.
Simplistic controls are a staple in creating a competent iOS game these days, seeing as how Angry Birds [ $0.99 ] soared to heights never expected, in part due to its easy pick-up and play format that anyone can enjoy.
While This Could Hurt [ $0.99 ] capitalizes on this trend, it’s nearly to a fault to where the game is almost too much on autopilot, leaving you yearning for more control of your fate in the long run.
In This Could Hurt, your main goal is to get to the end of a winding path, avoiding any and all of the obstacles along the way. You’ll have to dodge spikes, fire holes, shooting darts and more. Your only control when it comes to not being hit by these obstacles is when your character stops, as he will continue on down the path automatically otherwise.
One glance at Jumping Knights [ $0.99 ] ought to pretty much explain the premise - it's Doodle Jump with a tokidoki-inspired art style. I was expecting to pick it up, go a few rounds, and be able to name it as a clone and get on with my day. Except hours went by, and I was still playing, and thinking with tinges of guilt about the To Do list that I was ignoring. A little more time spent, and I had forgotten completely what a To Do list even was. Responsibilities? Don't be silly, I just got sight of the princess, which means I'm getting closer. Who cares about grocery shopping?
Jumping Knights might share a lot of format similarities with Doodle Jump, but one can't help feel it's embroidered on the concept. In fact, Jumping Knights is actually one of those genre hybrids that I always tend to be so crazy about, a la Puzzle Quest. It takes a cute, cartoonlike world and puts you in the role of a determined little knight, jumping from platform to platform with a trusty sword in hand. Just like Doodle Jump, control is managed by simply tilting the phone left and right.
There's an overabundance of cute things on the App Store, as anyone who takes time to prowl it knows. Whether or not something will be equally as fun as it is cute is always a mystery, but in this case, Pinch Peeps [ $0.99 ] has managed to pull off that oh-so-desirable perfect balance between sickeningly adorable and fun to play.
The retro gamer in me loves when games are pared down to the absolute basics, and that is the case with Pinch Peeps. There is one gameplay mechanic, which you'll simply repeat for the whole of the game: pinching your fingers together. In each of the two modes (Timed and Endless), you'll be faced with the challenge of matching pairs of cutely-shaped blobs with eyes (called "peeps") to rack up points.
It seems my favorite board games are about the end of the world. We've talked about my love of Elder Sign [$3.99 / $6.99 (HD)], the game about stopping (or failing to stop) the rise of the ancient ones. And now I have a new sweetheart: Yggdrasil [ $5.99 (HD)], a game about stopping the forces of evil from destroying the world tree and changing the fate of Ragnarok. While it has a decidedly more Norse spirit than its eldritch cousin, Yggdrasil is more familiar than it first looks.
That first look might be a killer, though. Like so many board games before it, Yggdrasil makes the mistake of data dumping all over the player on the first glance, which left me completely confused about what lightning strikes had to do with anything, how elves were even involved, and why on earth I'd want to take anything from the World of the Dead. But it's not nearly as confusing as it seems. One game's worth of flailing around Yggdrasil was more than enough for me to learn how to play—from there on out, it was all about learning how to win.
Late last week The New York Times published an op-ed debate titled, “Hip, or About to Break a Hip,” a discussion about whether 45 year-old skaters are “embarrassing and risky or inspiring and life-affirming?” Opinions ranged from “inspiring and life-affirming,” to “... do something productive: become an ultimate fighter, get your G.E.D., date an 18-year old.” Um, wow, guys.
Appropriate then is the release of Brisbane-based IV Motion’sPenny Time [$0.99 / Free ], which flies in the face of that rather unnecessary conversation. Shorn of the skating genre’s mechanical trappings, the game is allowed to focus on the sport’s anarchistic roots. Its reply, “Who gives a #$%*?”
Penny Time announces its care-free absurdity with a series of vignettes that see the player character using a Penny skateboard, crashed like a meteorite from the heavens, to freeze time and subsequently summon some spirit animals in the form of a pig, dodo and porpoise. Right. So, the player is off on his or her quest to skate through a series of time-frozen environments with the aid of the aforementioned Ghost Dodo.
In January of last year, Liv Games’ debut title Legendary Wars [$0.99 / $1.99 (HD)] really redefined the side-scrolling castle defense genre. It had a huge cast of interesting heroes and enemies, a fantastic art style, tons of humorous dialogue, and a huge single-player campaign to play through. But what really made it stand out was how it used so many different iterations of the strategy defense formula, making it feel like many different games in one and a fresh experience throughout.
Exactly a year to the day after the release of Legendary Wars, Liv Games put out its pseudo-sequel Monster Wars [ $0.99 ], which we really liked in our review. It took basically everything from the first game but re-imagined it from the bad guys’ perspective, letting you play with the monsters as the protagonists. Also, it dumped heaps of new content, improved visuals, and lots of new odds and ends that made it an even better overall experience.
Today, you can grab Monster Wars for free for a limited time. In addition, Liv Games has sent over some details of what to expect of the next new 1.2 update which will be hitting soon, along with a teaser image of some of the new tier 4 armor:
-11 New AWESOME Tier 4 Monster Armors! Each with a more powerful special designed to destroy heroes!
-Monster Arena! 12 New Challenges and 2 new bosses!
-NEW LEVEL featuring the Unisis boss (Pegasus Unicorn)
-New Sky Angel boss in 6-2 and Arena.
-New 'Hero" Difficulty designed for Tier 4 Monsters.
-New Fear status that causes heroes to get scared, miss and run away!
-11 New Tier 4 Achievements and 1 new Leaderboard.
Definitely don’t miss the chance to grab Monster Wars while free, and if you like the game and find yourself curious about what it’s like for the heroes in the game, then definitely check out Legendary Wars at some point too.
Like most 2D platformer stars, Mr. Pop of Frenzy Pop [$0.99 / $0.99 (HD)] enjoys long walks on the beach, scouring levels for hidden items, and running and jumping through a series of trap-infested environments. Fortunately, the orange soda bottle's bag of tricks distinguishes itself by extending quite a bit deeper than just running and jumping.
Throwing in elements from other popular platformers like League of Evil along with a fizzy maneuver all his own, Mr. Pop can wall-jump his way to greater heights, grind down walls to safety, and roll under spinning buzz saws and other hazards. The shades-wearing orange soda bottle also comes equipped with Pop Power. By holding the PP button in the lower right corner of the screen, Mr. Pop flips his top and fires fizzy bubbles, rocketing upward at super speed.
Way back in November of 2010, Playcreek released Death Worm [$0.99 / Free ], an official enhanced remake of the popular Flash game of the same name. By that point, we had already been enjoying a retro-inspired version of the "giant killer worm" formula for a few months with the excellent Super Mega Worm [$0.99 / Free ], but in our review for Death Worm we noted that both games offered decidedly different experiences and could happily coexist together.
Other people seemed to like Death Worm too, as this week Playcreek is celebrating hitting the 5 million download mark by releasing a big content update. The first new item on tap is a new ice-themed stage for the campaign, and more than 20 new enemies have been added to the game including a Mega Boss battle. A new trailer showcases the different features found in the latest Death Worm update.
The other big addition in this update is a brand new mini-game called Countdown. It tasks you with collecting lizards underground within a certain time limit and while avoiding hazards, with each lizard collected resetting the clock to allow you to keep going. Finally, there are a set of new achievements and some new in-game music to rock out to.
Death Worm is a game I thoroughly enjoyed when it came out in 2010, and the new update has reignited my interest once again. Definitely check it out if you’re into playing as a giant killer worm and enjoy challenging arcade games.
Late last month Everplay and FruitFireForge released Spellsword [ $0.99 ], a game we really enjoyed in our review. It took the arena-style action platforming of Super Crate Box [ $1.99 ] and added a ton of variety in the form of RPG-like upgradeable items and abilities. Even though the two titles shared a core idea, Spellsword really stood on its own as a different experience.
However, one of the main problems we had with the game had to do with the controls. They worked well on the smaller screen of the iPhone and iPod touch, but failed to scale very well to the iPad’s big screen. Today’s update addresses this very problem by allowing you to move the virtual buttons to wherever you feel is most comfortable. Also, an new option for “Pro Swipe Controls” has been added that makes the movement controls center on wherever you place down your thumb.
Speaking of options, there’s an actual Options screen you can access from the main menu. It’s here you can configure the controls and also some basic stuff like volume sliders, an option for disabling hints, and a new option to reset your current character if you want to start over.
In addition to all the new options, Everplay has also sent over a teaser for a new upcoming level which you can see above. This new stage will contain new enemies as well as new items for your character to unlock. No word on just when this new level will hit, but it shouldn’t be too far off. In the meantime enjoy the latest update which tightened up an already great overall package in Spellsword.
Big Pixel Studio’s Off the Leash [ Free ] hit earlier this year, and basically did for tilt-based avoidance games what Jetpack Joyride [ Free ] did for the cave flyer. By that I mean it took a tried-and-true gameplay mechanic and fleshed it out to the max by dropping it into a game with attractive visuals, a mission-based progression, and tons of unlockable items and upgrades.
Yesterday a big update hit for Off the Leash that added some welcome new content to the game. The big ticket items are a brand new track and field themed location to perform your evasive dog actions in, and a new character named Charlie the Man Dog. Yep, Man Dog. He’s a man dressed up in a dog suit in case you didn’t gather that from his name, and he cracks me up to no end. He's also the fastest out of all the characters in the game.
The more minor additions in this update include a new baseball cap and an awesome Land-a Panda [$0.99 / $1.99 (HD) / Free (HD)] hat to buy in the store, a set of new missions bringing the total up to 99, and a couple of wallpapers to trick out your device. Off the Leash was loads of fun before, but new goodies are always a welcome addition. If you haven’t checked it out yet you can grab it for free in the App Store, and be sure to check out our original review.
On the iOS platform, nobody has done as much for the 2D scrolling arcade shooter genre than Japanese developer Cave. For the past 2 years, they have consistently delivered high quality ports of their stellar back catalog of games to the App Store. They have yet to really have a misstep either, providing you have an especially unquenchable thirst for bullet hell-style shooters.
Cave’s iOS games come with several hallmarks, like touch controls that are arguably even better than physical controls, plenty of variety in scoring techniques, and a staggering amount of screen-filling explosions and interesting enemies and bosses. Their latest release Bug Princess 2 [$6.99 / Free ], which hit early last month, is no exception. It’s the sequel to last December’s Bug Princess [$4.99 / Free ] and you might also know it by its original name Mushihimesama Futari. It is widely considered by fans to be the best and most challenging entry in the Mushihimesama series.
As much as we may not want to admit it, a game’s style goes a long way—especially in a market as crowded as the App Store. With so many games from so many developers, the right icon and the right visual presentation are often the be all and end all of standing out from the pack. And while those of us who love games know that graphics don’t make for a good game, it’s hard to ignore the allure of stylish games.
In mid-March, Ubisoft and RedLynx released MotoHeroz [
In January of last year, 
Late last month Everplay and FruitFireForge released Spellsword [ 
Big Pixel Studio’s Off the Leash [ 
