In late February Angry Mob Games, creators of Muffin Knight [$0.99 / Free] and Guerrilla Bob [$0.99 / $2.99 (HD)] on iOS, released a new 3rd-person action game in the Aliens vs. Predator crossover universe titled AVP: Evolution [$0.99]. In fact, Angry Mob had already proven their merit in working with this kind of IP with their previous dual-stick game Predators [$0.99], which was actually quite good.
Graphically, AVP: Evolution is very impressive, and it lets you battle through its campaign as either an Alien or a Predator. At first blush, though, it felt like nothing more than a mindless, button-mashing brawler. In some ways it actually is, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. However, put a little time into learning the mechanics and there's actually a very satisfying game here, and it's one that players in our forums have been enjoying a ton since its release.
Yesterday Angry Mob pushed out the latest update to AVP: Evolution and it's a doozy. Two new playable characters have been added, the Berserker Alien and the Chopper Predator, and each come with their own unique new abilities. There are some new missions to play through and secret areas to discover throughout the game's campaign. Oh, and the Predator has gotten a couple of new weapons to add to his arsenal: a Shuriken and a Plasma Railgun.
Additionally, the combat camera has been improved, following up on some tweaks made to the camera and combat mechanics in the previous update. Difficulty has been adjusted as well, along with performance improvements so the game runs more smoothly on all the various supported iOS devices.
AVP: Evolution opens up as a pretty awesome action game once you've spent some time learning the ropes, and especially if you're already an Alien or Predator fanatic. This new update keeps the good times rolling, so be sure to check it out.
GameVision's Mr. Runner [Free] series has proven popular on the App Store, garnering more than 5 million downloads across its normal and Plus [Free] versions. Yesterday a proper sequel to the original games appeared in the App Store, titled Mr. Runner 2: The Masks [$0.99].
Mr. Runner 2 is an auto-running game. Big surprise, right? However, unlike most typical runners that have you jumping over enemies and gaps in the terrain, you're actually tasked with controlling your character's speed in order to safely get through the very dangerously designed levels.
You see, as you run along, the ceiling will occasionally lower down to meet the floor. There are plenty of very fortunately-placed gaps in the ceiling though, so you'll need to slow down or speed up your character so that you're situated in one of these gaps at the time the ceiling decides to drop down, thus saving you from getting crushed.
Back in the late '90s, Sega's House of the Dead was one of the most popular games in arcades. It let you team up with a buddy, each with brightly-colored plastic guns in your hands, and lay waste to hordes of the undead. How could it not be popular?
While having a stand-up cabinet with physical faux guns attached was a big part of the appeal of a game like House of the Dead, the franchise went on to become quite popular on home consoles, utilizing its own set of gun peripherals or more recently being compatible with motion controllers like the PS3 Move and Nintendo Wiimote.
Tonight Sega is getting ready to drop House of the Dead: Overkill - The Lost Reels on the App Store. It's a touchscreen-tuned, remixed version of the title released for the Wii back in 2009, and I've been playing around with it for most of the morning. To be honest I wasn't exactly expecting much out of the iOS House of the Dead, but I have been pleasantly surprised so far, save for a few head-scratching quirks.
The game is broken up into three different "movies" which each contain four levels and a boss fight at the end. The initial download gives you the first movie, Papa's Palace of Pain, as well as a locked second movie Ballistic Trauma. You unlock that second movie merely by playing through the first, but the third movie, Naked Terror, must be purchased for a $1.99 IAP. I don't mind so much having to pay for additional DLC levels in games, but on day one in a paid game that already only comes with two chapters it feels a bit weird.
On the bright side each chapter in the game is quite lengthy. You're guided around "on rails" through each environment, blasting at zombies (oh sorry, I mean the infected) at every turn. There are also a ton of cool little touches to discover, like hidden items or secret doors you can access by shooting them.
A pretty robust shop system allows you to buy and upgrade new weapons. While you can certainly buy the "Koins" currency as IAP, I found I had more than enough to upgrade my starting shotgun and handgun quite well just using what I earned through playing. Good thing too, as the third segment of the first chapter is where things really started to get tough, and the upgrading instantly made the going a lot easier.
The weapon upgrades are permanent, and there are some abilities you can permanently upgrade for your character too like beefing up your life bar or combo multiplier. The shop also contains consumables which will give you a temporary boost in things like damage done or Koins earned.
One of the biggest head-scratchers so far has to do with the controls. There are options for a virtual stick which moves your aiming reticule around the screen, and it works really well, and then there's an option for accelerometer controls which aren't quite as good in my opinion but still seem to get the job done alright. Then there's a Frenzy Tap option, which sounds like a tap-to-shoot scheme, and also seems like the control option that would make the most sense for this game.
I say "sounds" and "seems" because I haven't actually tried Frenzy Tap yet. For some inexplicable reason it's locked, and I haven't quite figured out how to unlock it. It seems very strange to lock away something like a control option, but I'm getting along just fine with the virtual stick so I guess I'll just see what happens I do end up running across Frenzy Tap.
Other than the couple of quirks I mentioned, the actual action in House of the Dead is as solid as ever, and I'm having a blast so far. The production values are quite high, and fans of the series should be pretty happy having a version to carry around in their pocket. House of the Dead: Overkill - The Lost Levels should be hitting the US App Store tonight at 11pm EST, so in the meantime hit up our forums for more impressions and feel free to add the game to your Watch List in the TouchArcade app [Free] to be notified when it does land here in the US later tonight.
Pocket Frogs [Free], Tiny Tower [Free], Pocket Planes [Free]… Nimblebit’s gotten pretty good at keeping us enraptured on our devices with cute graphics and pixelated timers. With Nimble Quest [$0.99], the team takes a turn towards improving upon and deepening a classic arcade experience. Less of a time-management title and more of an action-oriented experience Nimble Quest is an excellent title that continues the trend of high quality games coming out of Nimblebit.
The best way to describe Nimble Quest is like a game of Snake, except way better (to paraphrase the title of our TA Plays). Similar to what Call of Snakes [$0.99] did last year, Nimble Quest takes the simplicity of Snake's mechanics and adds layers of variety to turn it into something more. The game centers around guiding a group of heroes around a bordered plane with simple swiping controls turning your heroes left or right. Movement and attacks are both on auto-pilot and the goal is to dispatch enemies that randomly appear in the environment. Take out a certain number of baddies, and you move on to the next level.
Away from the heart. You have to bounce the ninjas—no, punch them—away from the heart, not toward it. Indiscriminate punching isn't good enough. "Defend Heart!" they said. You had one job, and you failed by scoring on your own goal, punching some guy right into your own vulnerable heart. There might be a metaphor there.
In Jared Bailey'sFist Face Fight [Free], you're a disembodied fist. A disembodied fist with feet, that is, fighting face ninjas with feet of their own. They aren't particularly malicious ninjas. They're probably just going about their days. But your heart is right there, exposed, helpless. So you punch, because that's the only way to keep it safe.
You begin as any child starting karate class might, with a white belt. In the distance is your goal, the coveted black belt. Between you and it are quite a few ninjas and no shortage of punches. Each belt is functionally a level. White is easy - the ninjas will hardly have a chance as you tap them in their expressionless faces. Each time you earn enough coins to unlock a new belt the ninjas you have to fight get more dangerous. They'll take two hits, three, nine. They slip in and out of reality. Things start to get chancy.
Back at GDC we took a peek at some of the new stuff heading to Pixowl's The Sandbox [Free], and today the first of those updates has gone live in the App Store. The Sandbox, if it wasn't obvious, is a 2D sandbox game which lets you play as the almighty finger of God and create things by mixing different elements, making machines, using electricity and steam power, and so much more.
It's really incredible some of the things players have created in the game, and in addition to passing the 4 million download mark Pixowl has also announced that more than 200,000 user-created levels have been shared in the online gallery. You should definitely check out what's on there.
Today's update adds to The Sandbox in 6 new elements based around lasers and pipes and all the various items to go with them to make them work. A new 10 level campaign is available for $1.99 that has you putting those new items to work in different ways which will teach you the ins and outs of how to use them.
In addition to the Lasers & Pipes campaign content, there are 5 new levels for the Dinosaurs campaign and 5 new levels for the Pixel Art campaign. And the Contraptions campaign, which was previously a paid DLC item, is now free for all players. Finally, a set of new instruments have been added to the game – guitar, bass, drums and trumpet. Some of the musical levels created by players are just mind-boggling, and I'm sure they're ready to go nuts with these new instruments.
If you haven't checked out The Sandbox previously, give it a shot. It's free to download and comes with enough content to give you an idea if it's the sort of experience you'll dig, and there's tons more content available as IAP if you want to dig in even deeper. The second update we covered at GDC, which will add zombies to the game, should be hitting sometime next month, so keep an eye out for that too.
At TouchArcade, we pride ourselves on highlighting the best games the App Store has to offer. The Best Worst App Ever - EPIC [Free] is not one of those games. In fact it's terrible, but in all the right ways. Indeed, as its name implies, in the world of bad apps this is definitely among the very best. The very best of the worst. And that's how the developers intended it.
Now, I've played a lot of bad iPhone games in my days, and Best Worst App Ever - EPIC definitely isn't the worst I've played. It's just a little too simple. As a rocker bro cuts licks on his axe in the middle of the screen, a bunch of crazy crap begins zooming by. Tap an item to collect it, and tap three of the same item in a row to create a combo for more points.
That's… pretty much it. You can play through a level-based campaign, which increases in difficulty and throws new silly items into the mix as you go, or play in free mode and just tap items to your heart's content. In both modes you earn coins which go towards buying new items to deck out your rocker dude and his surroundings. The items also add various levels of coin bonuses, so you can earn a bit more based on what decorations you choose.
You can see everything you need to know about Best Worst App Ever - EPIC in its trailer, though if you're prone to epileptic seizures then it might be best to avoid watching.
There are a lot of games in the App Store that are just thrown together and barely functional, but the Best Worst App Ever - EPIC isn't one of those. It's obviously had some love and effort put into it. The main gameplay mechanic is a bit too simple to keep me engaged, but it's a free download and good for a laugh if you're into sheer wackiness. Or you could just watch the trailer and basically get the entire gist of it, the choice is yours.
As we told you back in February, the folks over at Ravenous Games are prepping the release of Random Heroes 2, the sequel to last summer's action platformer Random Heroes [Free]. The original Random Heroes was pretty cool, but Ravenous is hoping to ratchet things up in the sequel with new mechanics, new enemies, and plenty of hew heroes to play as. Check out the latest trailer to see the new game in motion.
Today Ravenous announced that Random Heroes 2 is approved and set for release this Thursday, which is actually Wednesday night here in the US. In equally exciting news, to celebrate the impending release of Random Heroes 2 they've just dropped the price of their other platforming sequel League of Evil 2 [$1.99] to free for the next week. Here's the trailer for League of Evil 2 in case you want to see it in action first.
If you like fast-paced platforming with quick, bite-sized levels then you should jump all over League of Evil 2 while free, if you don't own it already that is. It's been on sale before, but this is the first time that I can recall it being completely free, so it's definitely noteworthy. Grab it while you can and keep your eyes peeled for Random Heroes 2 to drop later this week.
Edit: See correction below, original story follows:
Strangely, rhythm game pricing controversy isn't new to TouchArcade as many people were upset at the piecemeal way in which Square Enix brought Theatrhythm Final Fantasy [Free] to the App Store, but NamcoBandai may have just one-upped them with the US release of their hit Japanese rhythm game iDOLM@STER on iOS.
The gist of iDOLM@STER (yes, that's how they stylize it) centers around managing an up-and-coming pop star and taking them to the top of the charts, using your typical rhythm-based gameplay of tapping various combinations in time with the beat. The game has seen a few different releases on various consoles and handhelds since 2005, and as best as can be determined by some fans in our forums this iOS version is based off of the Sony PSP release from several years back. Also, the band management portion and arguably the one thing that sets this apart from being just another rhythm game doesn't appear to be in the iOS versions of the game.
The real kicker here is that iDOLM@STER has been split into three separate apps: iDOLM@STER Shiny Festa Rhythmic Record [$54.99], iDOLM@STER Shiny Festa Melodic Disc [$54.99], and iDOLM@STER Shiny Festa Harmonic Score [$54.99]. The difference between each seems to be the selection of idols and songs that you can play with, basically chopping the PSP game into three $55 chunks. Also, each app is roughly 2 GB to download and around 3 GB installed.
So this is a perplexing release on several levels. For one, I think there's definitely an audience who are stoked for an English version of iDOLM@STER, and if you're absolutely nuts for the series then maybe you're down to drop the $165 to get all three games on your iOS device. But I can't imagine there are a significant number of people who feel that way. If the goal is to broaden the audience for this niche genre, which has blown up in Japan and other markets but never really hit hard in the West, then this pricey and split-up iOS release is a tough barrier to entry for newbies. Finally, why the heck would they strip out the actual band management mechanics when that sounds like the most interesting part?
I guess we'll just keep our eye on iDOLM@STER and see how it shakes out, but if you are a huge fan who has been waiting for a native English version of the game and you have both the money and device space to spare, then feel free to check out the iDOLM@STER Shiny Festa games with the links below or hit up the forums for more impressions and discussion.
Correction: As pointed out by several readers, the original iDOLM@STER Shiny Festa was released on PSP late last year in Japan and was indeed 3 separate games, each featuring different pop idols and focusing exclusively on rhythm gameplay without any management. So the iOS versions are merely ports of those games, and not a split-up version of the 2008 PSP release as originally thought. We apologize for the error.
Halfbrick's games usually grab me immediately. Jetpack Joyride [Free] was the cave flier of my dreams, Fruit Ninja [$0.99] devoured my high-score hunting hours. I didn't immediately latch on to Fish Out of Water [$0.99], though. It doesn't have the same obvious hooks—the shiny coins and the upgrades that keep you hitting that play button over and over. Heck, it doesn't even have a typical high score system.
That initial ambivalence gave way after I spent a bit more time with the game. What seemed painfully simple at first—skipping fish over the water as far as possible—began to show off some of its hidden depth. You can get by without paying any mind to the different qualities of the fish that star in Fish Out of Water, and you can ignore the weather as an oddity. It just wouldn't be very much fun.
Without those things, Fish Out of Water is a quick, simple game. You pick a fish, fling it upwards and outwards, and watch as it skips across the water and eventually plunges beneath the surface. Once you do that three times a panel of crabs pops in, judges you on your performance on a rank out of 10, and takes off to let you start again.
The retro game porting experts at DotEmu have brought all sorts of classics to the iOS platform in impressive fashion, and this past December they gave us the landmark scrolling shooter Raiden along with some of its sequels in one tight little package called Raiden Legacy [$4.99]. And for the first time since launch Raiden Legacy is on sale for just a couple of dollars, down from its normal price of $4.99.
Raiden Legacy comes with four titles in total: the original Raiden, Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters 2, and Raiden Fighters Jet. The original game is an all-time classic, but the Raiden Fighters series really shows the strides the shoot 'em up genre made during the '90s. I was a huge Raiden fan as a kid but never got around to playing the Fighters series, and was pleasantly surprised with just how excellent they are when I experienced them for the first time on iOS.
Of course since this is the work of DotEmu you can expect all sorts of great features and options in Raiden Legacy. Control-wise you can adjust the speed of your movement, even setting it to the arcade original. By default touchscreen controls make shooters like this easier since the ship moves at the speed of your finger, so the arcade setting is nice for purists. You can also move your bomb and fire buttons around to wherever you like or just toggle auto-fire on or off. There's also video settings including running the game in fullscreen or the original arcade aspect ratio, and a toggle for video filtering if you like your pixels smooth or crisp.
If you were a Raiden fan back in the day, or if you've never experienced the series but love yourself a good shoot 'em up, definitely jump on Raiden Legacy during this sale. Hopefully the folks at DotEmu have another compilation in the works that will include the other two games from the original trilogy, Raiden II and Raiden DX, and then I can finally die a happy man.
At the outset of Garden of Fear [$0.99 / Free], you wake up in a cold, dark dungeon with no idea how you wound up there. I think there's more to the story, though. I submit that your rowdy friends got you liquored up, blindfolded you, spun you around a dozen times, stuffed some supplies in your pocket, and dumped you down a hole, leaving you to feel your way to freedom while avoiding bloodthirsty monsters and a wicked hangover. That's how playing Garden of Fear feels, at any rate.
Garden of Fear's randomly generated dungeon is a snarl of gloomy hallways, dead-ends, and doors. One door leads to freedom and a nifty take on a developer credits screen; the others lead deeper into the dungeon. You don't receive a map to keep track of the halls you've traversed. Instead you get a compass and a finite amount of charcoal to mark doors and passageways you've explored.
You might think that the flayed, mouth-breather demon stalking the dungeon presents your biggest obstacle. You would be wrong. Movement feels ponderous and will test the stomach of even the most stalwart first-person gamer.
You might remember an interesting little title that released late last year called Arranger [$0.99], developed by composer Arman Bohn and published by Ayopa Games. It was a retro-inspired RPG/adventure/mini-game concoction that saw your little yellow square of a hero traveling fantastic lands and completing quest in an effort to complete a collection of instruments. The whole game is very music-centric, being created by a composer and all, but it really gelled together well, as we noted in our review. Arranger was a really cool game.
As we've seen happen in the App Store world before, the publishing deal with Ayopa expired or otherwise went south for some reason, and the original release of Arranger is no longer available. Arman has just re-released Arranger under his own name in the App Store, and in an effort to do right by previous purchasers, he's making it available for free for a limited time.
The Ayopa-published version should still continue to work for the forseeable future, so you can continue playing that version if you wish. But it won't be seeing any future updates. My advice if you enjoy Arranger is to grab this new version while it's free.
And if you hadn't picked up Arranger previously but had your eye on it, well, you can basically score it for free right now too. It's a really unique game, and although it doesn't take too long to complete, it's a fun journey while it lasts.
If there ever was a series that could pose as a case study in the general shift to freemium in iOS gaming, Gameloft's Dungeon Hunter would be at the top of the list. The first two games operated as full-featured Diablo style clones with everything you'd want in a dungeon crawler. The third made a dramatic leap into the freemium sphere by going away from its dungeon crawling roots with arena-style gameplay, very little narrative, and plenty of IAP.
Dungeon Hunter 4 [Free] looks to bring some balance back to the series with the return of an actual story and a greater emphasis on traditional dungeon crawling. For the most part, the game actually succeeds in this regard, with a legitimate story, plenty of gameplay and options and beautiful visuals to boot. While the game certainly brings back some of what we loved in the first two titles, the 'in-your-face' IAP and other freemium elements leave a wistful feeling in your mouth.
After mysteriously waking up in the middle of a demonic invasion of your kingdom. Dungeon Hunter 4 puts you in the role of one of four heroes mysteriously imbued with power and charged as last hope of the kingdom of Valenthia. As the kingdom's savior you'll journey from region to region taking on standard story-based dungeon crawling quests coupled with a decent amount of side quests that provide supplemental awards. I didn't find the story to be particularly enthralling but it is a full-featured narrative and provides a far better experience than the previous Dungeon Hunter.
Landlubbers take notice: Johnny Two Shoe's awesome swashbuckling adventure Plunderland [$0.99] is currently free for a limited time. It's a side-scrolling affair that sees you controlling a group of pirates in a God-like manner as you travel the seas going port to port and pillaging everything you encounter along the way. There are tons of neat interactive elements in Plunderland, like being able to pick up people in the game and fling them about or set them on fire, swipe enemy cannonballs out of the sky, and discover treasures by tap-digging on islands.
Plunderland is unlike practically anything else on the iOS platform, and although it launched nearly three years ago it still holds up incredibly well to this day. It was even updated last fall to include some modern features like iPhone 5 widescreen support and Retina Display graphics for the iPad, in addition to some tidying up of menus and other optimizations.
You can check our original review of Plunderland as well as the details of a huge update which added a new campaign, or check out the lengthy thread in our forums for player impressions. Plunderland has only been free once before, and while we're still waiting extremely patiently for Johnny Two Shoe's upcoming epic Prevail, there's no reason you shouldn't jump all over it right now for some free plundering in the meantime.
In late February Angry Mob Games, creators of Muffin Knight [$0.99 / Free] and Guerrilla Bob [$0.99 / $2.99 (HD)] on iOS, released a new 3rd-person action game in the Aliens vs. Predator crossover universe titled AVP: Evolution [$0.99]. In fact, Angry Mob had already proven their merit in working with this kind of IP with their previous dual-stick game Predators [$0.99], which was actually quite good.
