There’s nothing quite as timeless as the bond between a boy and his dog. Countless movies, books, and television shows have been devoted to this heart-warming and somewhat emotionally manipulative theme. However, aside from a less-talked-about-the-better virtual pet craze a dozen or so years ago, this Hollywood favorite has not been particularly well mined by the gaming industry. Fetch [$3.99 (HD)] a new point-and-click adventure from Big Fish games, hopes to fix that.
At its most basic, Fetch is a very pretty, very cute, and mostly compelling point and click adventure game that charges a little boy in a space helmet, Milo, with the harrowing task of rescuing his beloved puppy, Bear, from the clutches of a not-quite-evil madman. A bizarrely designed sewer, an oddly populated desert island, and the most dangerous museum of all time stand between Milo and his best friend, and each colorful locale is loaded with puzzles, mini-games, and enough interactive elements to make your tail wag.
The plot is minimalistic, but heartfelt and earnest, with barks, sobs, whines, and some minor dialog from Milo, doing the emotional heavy-lifting of a story that takes place in a world containing flyable paper airplanes, dog-catching robots, Pirates, shellfish, row-boats, and singing rodents. Despite the wild setting, the characters ring true, and some nuanced animation and art direction has you rooting for poor Milo and Bear from the first time you see them.
There's no doubt that Mojang's Minecraft has become a nearly unfathomable success over the past few years, and as with anything that becomes popular there's a seemingly unending line of people that rush to ride the coattails of that success.
Not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with taking heavy inspiration from a game. I mean heck, even Minecraft was inspired by similar games that came before it. But in the mobile space especially, 99% of anything that gets released that's reminiscent of Minecraft is just a crappy knock-off and cash-in attempt that's of little value to anyone. "Minecraft" is the new "Angry" or "Temple" in terms of latest SEO hotness, I guess you could say.
I can tell you from personal experience working at TouchArcade that with dozens of these kinds of games coming out every week it gets very hard to decide which ones are worth exploring and which ones should just be written off as the cheap clones that they are. It gets very easy to dismiss these games when so many bad ones are churned out at such an incredible pace.
With that said, a new Minecraft-y game has been ripping up the charts lately and even jockeying for position with Mojang's official Minecraft - Pocket Edition [$6.99]. That game is called Survivalcraft [$3.99], and despite being made by just a single person it bests even Mojang's official mobile offering and even does some unique things to set itself apart from the pack. And, despite our initial hesitations, this is anything but a cheap knock-off attempting to cash in on the Minecraft craze, and is in fact the best mobile sandbox game of its kind that you can get at this time.
Heads up: Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded isn't hitting at the end of this month, as was planned. Instead, it'll hit towards "the end of June," creator Replay Games confirmed via the game's Kickstarter page. This latest delay comes courtesy of bugs, as is the usual case with these kinds of short-ish postponements.
Here's the skinny, ripped from that update:
Here’s the problem, and thus this un-scehdule Kickstarter update: due to the pure number of bugs found in the PC version alone (the Mac version is being tested now, but not via Steam), we’re having to delay the game, yet again, until the end of June.
I can’t tell you how many phone calls, arguments, and heart breaking conversations I’ve had with my advisors on this. I SERIOUSLY wanted this game out by the end of May because we’ve postponed it more times than Larry’s been rejected. Ok, well, maybe not THAT many, but still... we’ve had some delays.
While a bummer, delays are usually a good thing. Who wants to play a buggy game? For this one in particular, a buggy release could be pretty catastrophic. If bugs keep folks from enjoying this one, there's really no incentive for them to play the next re-make in the series. Plus, there's that whole "re-introducing Larry to people who have never played the original" thing, too.
The Nightjar [$4.99] is a fantastic fabrication of horror, creating a vision of terror from the wonderful and disturbed recesses of the subconscious. Your eyes are rendered useless and your ears become sight. Focusing on finite and nearly faint ‘beeps’ of access panels to exit doors, the paces of creatures, and the echoes of a dead and void space station made my body have claustrophobic reactions and my thoughts feel with the dread of a disgustingly loud and crunchy demise. As Somethin' Else's spiritual successor to Papa Sangre [$4.99], The Nightjar is impressive in design and even more in the execution of an auditory warp into darkness.
Left behind to survive on the derelict spacecraft, your goal is to escape its metallic remains. Nightjar has a unique pacing that immediately builds tension as you internally battle the ship’s on-board computer (an eerie homage to ‘Mother’ from Alien) and your guide (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch). Each contradicts the other, making trust rest with the voice that saves you from the most recent dire circumstance. Sound becomes equal parts enemy and ally.
The controls are minimal using two light bridges expressing your steps and a rotating dial as your compass. As my brain rewired and adjusted to not using the sense of sight, I failed a small number of early acts before I confidently connected to the UI. Nightjar's refinement is displayed when the controls are synchronized with 3D audio from the Papa Engine. As direction is navigated by sounds, going towards something perceived as awful is often done. However, the closer to danger one may come, also yields the true path to your exit as a new sound may be introduced, better defining the correct direction. This made me move with purpose, but not too fast, as every step is wonderfully pivotal by syncing ambience to situational awareness. Utilizing the instructions of the ubiquitous guide, I filtered my projected madness from the atmosphere, and eventually, pinpointing the lifesaving “ding”.
If a deadly apparition feels like its nipping at your feet, it is. Crystal-clear is every sound and yet, The Nightjar often placed my bravery into question as I continually second-guessed myself in moments that needed complete poise and some common sense. When watching a horror-flick, common sense can be constantly absent as supporting characters are either too patient or overly edgy at the incorrect moment. The Nightjar gives you a construct but it doesn’t necessarily have to be obeyed. When death is close, there is no shame in running; or if the exit appears to be near a threat, trying another approach may prove better.
Though a short experience, besting 2 hours, there are several challenging stages in Nightjar's second half that can surely extend your length of play. Coupled with a few generic twists, there’s enough variance in the plot to see The Nightjar through to completion. It is a fresh survival horror app that will test your nerve and synesthesia while leaving a strong sense of fulfillment. The Nightjar is a definite bird to catch so check out our forums and see what the community is saying about the experience.
It's been almost a year since last we saw an iOS port of the successful LEGO series. While we've yet to see the likes of LEGO Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean grace Apple's platform, the folks at Warner Bros saw fit to show some DC universe love with LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes [$4.99]. Hampered only by spotty controls, DC Super Heroes is an otherwise great port bringing a fresh coat of paint to the classic LEGO gameplay formula.
Unlike the previous LEGO ports we've seen, DC Super Heroes actually features an original narrative within the DC comic universe. While the game focuses at the onset on the escapes of Batman and Robin (along with the usual villains) other heroes, such as the iconic Superman, get weaved into tale. Of course, being a LEGO game, players eventually have the option of playing as a wide variety of DC icons, with over 80 playable characters (along with create-a-character minifigs) available for the unlocking.
Gameplay, meanwhile, is pretty familiar if you've played any other LEGO games. Like others in the series, DC Super Heroes combines platforming, puzzles, and decent amount of brawling. In addition, there's also ample opportunity to collect studs, which are used to unlock the myriad of characters and extras available. While DC Super Heroes does offer a few new twists, such as some additional depth with the various Batman and Robin suits that expand powers, gameplay largely remains unchanged and fairly linear. That's not to say it's a bad thing, as LEGO games have typically been highly approachable while offering tons to do. DC Super Heroes certainly doesn't disappoint in this regard.
Another new addition to the iOS LEGO ports is the inclusion of Golden Bricks, which can be purchased via IAPs. While the game's additional characters and extras can still be unlocked with enough studs, progression, and collectibles, golden bricks can be used to sidestep a lot of the stud grinding and unlock items a lot faster. In this regard, I didn't really mind the IAP as most LEGO games are a bit too grindy for my tastes and golden bricks could be used to speed up some actions of the game.
Maybe it's due to the freedom of an original story or because the universe history is so deep, but I really enjoyed DC Super Heroes from a thematic standpoint. From the onset, you're treated to the epic tunes of the Danny Elfman Batman theme and the game is full of little nods to various facets of the DC Universe. In addition, the large swatch of playable characters means fans should have plenty of options in playing their favorite characters (assuming said characters have the necessary super powers to pass the level). The fact that the game features full voice acting (a first for iOS) also goes a long way towards making the story more enjoyable.
Spotty controls have been an issue with LEGO iOS ports in the past, and unfortunately they continue with DC Super Heroes. Previous LEGO games offered players either virtual buttons or touch-based movements. While DC Super Heroes is the first port to offer players both options, I still had some problems with both. The touch-based scheme is the more intuitive of the two options, but there's a tendency to tap errantly on enemies/environmental items on the smaller iPhone screen (although it works better on the iPad). Virtual controls, meanwhile, work as mediocre as one would expect. That's not to say the game isn't playable, but it's definitely the weak link for the game.
Control issues aside, DC Super Heroes is a welcome addition to the few LEGO games currently on iOS. In fact, I'd say it's the better LEGO game currently on the App Store considering the wider appeal of the story combined with the decent visuals, awesome music, and familiar LEGO gameplay. Suffice to say, LEGO fans have little reason not to check out DC Super Heroes, while anyone else interested in a light-hearted adventure should take the plunge.
Outer space. It ain't all that great because you can't breath in it, but the video games set in it are generally cool, so the pros and cons kinda shake out. Case in point: Space Age, the next game from The Incident [$0.99] creator Big Bucket. Described as "a love letter" to the games the two-man studio enjoyed while growing up, it's a real-time strategy mash-up with adventure and stealth game sensibilities. Peep these images:
"It's a lot bigger and more ambitious than The Incident and we really hope you're going to like it," Big Bucket's Matt Comi notes on our message board. Big Bucket has a site up for the game where you can sign up to get more info when it's available. There's also an official Twitter account that'll be pumping out news down the line, probably.
In that forum post, by the way, Big Bucket tossed out two videos of the game's systems in motion. In this one, you'll see some dynamic weather and a bit of dialogue. In this one, you'll peep how mineral harvesting kinda works.
Judging by those videos, we get the sense that this is a project that's still early, so gear up for a wait. We'll keep you posted on the game as it progress, so maybe add it to your watch list on the TouchArcade app [Free], yeah?
At the outset of Garden of Fear [Free / 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.
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.
So far, I've played what I would call the prologue of Wadjet Eye's Gemini Rue [$4.99]: I've experimented with the game's various mechanics and met the major players of its cyberpunk detective plot. What interests me most so far, though, is how writer and designer Joshua Nuernberger teaches players about the game's world and rules.
I've run into three different ways that he does this: the main character's internal monologue, on-screen text boxes, and a series of clinical testing chambers.
I'm a big fan of survival horror games, especially ones like Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Slender, which provide no means of defending yourself from their boogeymen. You run and hide, or you die. While scoping out upcoming App Store releases late Wednesday evening, I learned about Eyes - The Horror Game [$0.99], a port of the indie PC title of the same name that promised a similar flight-no-fight experience. On an iPhone.
It was to laugh--to guffaw, I tell you!--at the idea that any game on a five-inch screen could make me shriek like Jamie Lee Curtis in a Halloween flick. But I am comfortable enough in my rugged masculinity (I haven't shaved in six weeks) to admit that's exactly what happened. I downloaded the game, plugged in my ear buds, turned off the lights, and turned up the volume. And within two minutes--give or take 60 seconds--I bounded out of bed mumbling "Nope nope nope nope" and switched the bedroom lights back on and started in on the much more cheerful Sonic Dash.
The goal of Eyes, like the controls you'll use to accomplish that goal, is deceptively simple. Ransack an old house to retrieve bags of money. A virtual stick moves you forward and back, sliding your thumb over the right half of the screen rotates your view, and you pick up objects by tapping them. Drawers also open with a quick tap. Simple, just like I said.
The hard part is mustering the courage to pillage and plunder. Eyes immerses you in incredible atmosphere, and as any survival horror savant will tell you, the right atmosphere makes or breaks the experience. Every chamber is dark and dusty. Wind howls and batters against the walls, your footsteps thump along, clocks tick and tock, and doors creak when you open them.
Those ambient noises set the mood, but they also serve as an early warning system. When your teeth begin to chatter and the furniture begins to rattle, make for the nearest room and cower in the corner. A ghost roams the manse, and she's not keen on the idea of letting you abscond with her earthly possessions. Catch more than a glimpse of the lady of the house and it's game over, much like bumping into the Slender Man in his backwoods domain.
The inherent sloppiness of the virtual stick inadvertently added to my experience. Doors are supposed to open when you push against them, but unless you hit them dead on, you'll just slide back and forth against them like a drunkard who's forgotten how knobs works. Every time the ghost got the jump on me, I ended up turning heel and throwing myself at the nearest door and fumbling against it due to the virtual stick's slipperiness. That heightened my sense of panic; I felt like I was a character in a horror movie who was too overcome with fear to properly grasp and turn a knob.
To finish Eyes, you need only collect a specified number of bags determined by your difficulty level and escape through the front door before the ghost nabs you. The house both helps and hinders your quest. Bags and other items such as keys are randomly strewn about each time you play. Your map fills in as you explore, but does not show your position, so you'll need to keep track of every twist and turn you take, especially in the basement. Eye symbols, also randomly placed, let you look through the ghost's eyes for a few moments--a handy if disorienting tool that can help you plan routes.
My only complaints are the ease of finding money bags and the short length of the game. The bags sparkle, standing out even in pitch blackness. Some are stashed away, but you can spot most by standing in one spot and turning around. Once you collect your bags and hit the front door, that's it. You're done. Once you learn your way around the house, completing the adventure won't take long even considering the random placement of items. I understand why randomizing the architecture isn't possible, but I'd love a longer experience--maybe an extra stage or two as IAP, or perhaps a sequel or remake along the lines of Slender: Arrival.
Those are minor gripes, though. Take my advice: don't be like me. Wait until after dark, shut (lock) yourself in a quiet room, and pop in your ear buds. Eyes is as immersive, as unsettling, and as chilling a horror experience as you'll find on any platform, if not as lengthy as horror fans would like.
Trauma [$2.99] gives us few concrete facts. There is a hospital, a woman in a bed, a doctor offering an uncertain prognosis. Beyond that, a series of dreams pieced together from photographs and memories, narrated by the woman, a victim of a traumatizing accident.
Taken on its surface merits, there isn't much to it. As with its original desktop release, Trauma is a tiny game, an experience of no more than an hour or so at most. There are a few ways to explore its virtues, but only so much to discover. What's there is, however, interesting to examine in a way that few mobile games manage.
The goal is to work through four dreams, each with a specific challenge: a teddy bear crushed under a large weight, a ghost that cannot be caught, a road that must be followed, and path that must be found.
Walking Dead: The Game creator Telltale Games is no longer doing a King's Quest game. In a statement sent to Digital Trends, Telltale confirmed that the studio has decided to move on from the project and that it doesn't know what Activision plans to do with the franchise in the future.
“While we deeply love King’s Quest here at Telltale, we can confirm that we are no longer working on the franchise. There was a time last year that we investigated partnering with third party developers to produce the game as a partnership but decided against outsourcing.
We are not privy to what plans Activision has for the franchise, if any.”
We're bringing you this, by the way, because a mobile port of King's Quest seemed like a pretty likely thing since Telltale has been putting all of its stuff on iPad and iPhone. Also, it's just nice to know these things. Fingers crossed that Activision has some sort of plan to do anything with King's Quest in the future -- we'd love to see it (or really any other old-school adventure game IP that it holds) resurface.
Frogmind's Badland [$3.99] is an interesting 2D, side-scrolling platform game with a touch of puzzle thrown in for good measure. In it, you control a bulbous flea-looking... thing and traverse a forested environment. As you go, you'll pick up various power-ups that change your size, speed, and number. All this stuff comes in handy since your neck of the woods has been corrupted by machine parts and traps that require your attention.
It's out now and we're thinking you'll want to check it out, just like we have. The one-touch controls are a breeze to master and the puzzle design (which leans heavily on physics) is both frantic and thoughtful. Jared and I gave it a spin just the other afternoon to give folks a tour:
We'll be following up on this again in the near future, but go ahead and buy this thing if what you've seen has clicked with you. Badland is good.
There’s nothing quite as timeless as the bond between a boy and his dog. Countless movies, books, and television shows have been devoted to this heart-warming and somewhat emotionally manipulative theme. However, aside from a less-talked-about-the-better virtual pet craze a dozen or so years ago, this Hollywood favorite has not been particularly well mined by the gaming industry. Fetch [$3.99 (HD)] a new point-and-click adventure from Big Fish games, hopes to fix that.
