My vote for weirdest game that's coming tonight goes to Jared Bailey and his newest release Fist Face Fight. I mean, to my knowledge there aren't any other games that let you play as a giant ninja fist with legs who must use their fist-shaped body to fight off various brightly colored enemy ninjas who are all hellbent on breaking your heart. Yeah, it's strange alright, and it's also deceptively fun.
Like his previous games Cubed Rally Racer [$0.99 / $1.99 (HD)] and Cubed Rally Redline [Free], Fist Face Fight is a throwback to the old-school of gaming and keeps the mechanics and visuals fairly simple, but has that certain something that drives you to keep coming back and giving it just one more go.
While guarding your heart in the lower center of the screen, you simply need to tap in front of where the enemy ninjas are approaching from to position your fist-y self and fight them off, sort of like stopping missiles in Missile Command.
It's stupidly simple to play, but as you progress in levels things get hectic and much more challenging, also due to the increasing difficult of new enemy ninja types. The difficulty levels are cleverly split into the different kinds of belts you probably earned in karate class as a kid, so starting off with white, then on to yellow, orange and so on.
Fist Face Fight might not be the most robust title ever made, but it's a cool little arcade game that is surprisingly engaging despite its simplicity. Oh, and the chiptune-y music kicks ass too. It's free, so don't be afraid to give it a look when it drops later tonight.
Fist Face Fight should be available on the US App Store at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially much earlier if you're in a region east of the USA. To be alerted when the game is available, open this story in the TouchArcade App [Free] and add it to your watch list. A little after 11:00 PM tonight you'll get a push alert with the download link.
Halfbrick's Fish Out Of Water is among the many other games that are launching tonight, and I'm not sure I could be more stoked about it. We've extensively covered the game in the past, but here's the gist (again)- Imagine skipping stones in a constantly changing ocean that's directly linked to the weather in game, only instead of stones you've got a variety of fish that each have slightly different abilities such as being able to fly extra far or being able to skip across the surface like mad. Each attempt is graded by a set of judges who each look for specific things in your tosses, and doing well involves not only choosing the right fish for the weather but also throwing them appropriately to best handle the current state of your waves.
Of course there's a Jetpack Joyride-style objective system, so even if you're totally failing at impressing the judges you can at least complete different mini-goals, such as tossing all of your fish to stay under a low vertical line across the screen and much more. Will it be the next Fruit NinjaFish Out Of Water.
Fish Out Of Water should be available on the US App Store at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially much earlier if you're in a region east of the USA. To be alerted when the game is available, open this story in the TouchArcade App [Free] and add it to your watch list. A little after 11:00 PM tonight you'll get a push alert with the download link.
Those of you who weren't born with a smartphone in your hands might recall the simpler days of video games. How simple? I'm talking stick figures, backgrounds painted in one, maybe two shades of color, and jarringly loud bleeps that passed as sound effects. Some of these games were awful. Others stand as classic examples of gameplay over graphics, a no-frills approach often lost in the desperate struggle to produce photorealistic graphics, and realistic physics, and realistic bleeps.
Plasma-Sky [$1.99] isn't quite so stark, but it does hearken back to the simpler days of shmups. There's no IAP, no dizzying array of ships with different stats and weapons, and the screen won't fill up with bullets and background flashes and flickers that send you into seizures. At least not right away. Like Geometry Wars, Plasma-Sky applies a coating of retro paint. You control a shiny ship made up of brightly colored lines and fire away at fleets of equally effervescent enemy ships, collecting bigger and better power-ups that light up the black-as-ink sky like colored pegs battling it out on a Lite-Brite.
Plasma-Sky's utilitarian aesthetic carries over to its control scheme, and in a good way. You can tilt your device to steer your ship, or better yet, slide your thumb around; where your digit goes, your ship will follow. Firing is done for you, giving you the leisure to focus on dodging enemy fire and weaving in and out of their synchronized (space) swimming formations. The tilt controls aren't responsive, and your thumb occasionally impedes your view, which can mean the difference between an enemy tagging or missing your vehicle. Otherwise the touch controls are snappy and will carry their weight on your flight to victory, depending on how you choose to play.
The game offers three modes, each of which should pose a hefty challenge to even the most accomplished shoot 'em up-er. Conquest starts you at level one and challenges you to survive up to 80 waves of ships big and small. Every second you survive increases your score multiplier; die, and those impressive numbers you racked up reset to zero. Hardcore mode strips away your life bar and gives you only a single hit point to go on, and Survival throws massive waves of enemies at you in wild displays that should please fans of tough-as-nails shmups like Dodonpachi Resurrection.
As a shmup fan, I enjoyed Survival and Hardcore modes the most, but Conquest presents a rounded mode suited for players of all skill levels. The mode increases the challenge at a slow burn, giving new players time to find their space legs. At the same time, old hands will appreciate the challenge of keeping scores and multipliers intact during the more grueling stages that come up later on. Giving players unlimited continues might seem a strike against challenge, but it actually adds a layer of difficulty: do you continue, knowing that pressing on means losing your score and power-ups? Or do you go all the way back to level 1 and give 'er another go?
Three modes, touch controls that hop to at the slightest touch, and retro graphics. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Don't be fooled by appearances, Plasma-Sky is a solid addition to the ever-expanding galaxy of shmups available on the App Store.
In the world of iOS games, we're often impressed with what our mobile hardware is capable of, and crave those big gaming experiences that are comparable to those found on consoles and desktops but with the ability to be played on the go. It's a neat world we live in where stuff like that is possible.
The flip side of that coin is that mobile devices are also a perfect place for the not-so-robust title; something quick and accessible that we can distract ourselves with for those few moments throughout the day when we'd otherwise just be killing time.
With that, sometimes a game does basically just one thing that's clever or unique, but won't necessarily be a game you spend months or years with. But for their intended purpose – a quick distraction – these games do what they set out to do really well, and while an in-depth review typically isn't warranted for such a game it's worth quickly highlighting their unique aspects for those people who are constantly looking for new and interesting gaming fixes while on the go.
Over the weekend a game caught my eye that fits this bill perfectly. It's called 1800 [Free], and the idea is simple enough that literally anybody can give it a shot. Picture those meters used in golf games over the years, you know the ones I'm talking about – a cursor travels back and forth and you're tasked with stopping it at just the right spot on the meter which correlates to the power and accuracy of your shot. It's a classic game mechanic used in lots of instances, and the basic idea is what drives 1800.
A cursor travels back and forth, and stopping it in the dead center awards a perfect score of 1800. You're graded on a 3-star level based on how accurately you can stop the cursor in the center and get 1800. That's the game at its core, at least, but as you progress through the 20+ levels more complicated and challenging variations of the idea come into play.
For example, a line will run across the meter along with your cursor, both traveling in different lengths at different speeds. You'll need to time it just right to stop the cursor and the line right in the middle of the meter at the same time. Levels increase in difficulty by adding more line variations and even an additional cursor to keep track of.
1800 is an incredibly difficult game. Just getting the 2-stars in a level that are needed to progress to the next is really hard, but if you're going for 3-stars on every level then it's downright brutal. It's extremely quick and easy to retry levels though, so it's actually a pretty welcome challenge. There's an additional Timed mode to unlock too, which gives you 60 seconds to land as many direct hits as possible. Game Center leaderboards are included for both the regular and Timed mode, along with just a handful of achievements.
It might not be the most robust title out there, but 1800 is a quick bit of fun when you feel like challenging your motor skills, and if you really click with it then chasing the elusive 3-stars for every level will keep you busy for a good long time.
This past February a sequel to one of our favorite quirky little iOS titles King Cashing was released, aptly titled King Cashing 2 [$2.99]. It took the main hook of light RPG elements based around a slot-machine battle mechanic and basically cranked everything else up to 11 in terms of new content and improved visuals. We really liked King Cashing 2in our review, if you want to delve a little deeper.
Late last week King Cashing 2 received its first major update, and it's quite a doozy. First off is an entirely new 4th Volume called Wet Crown which continues your adventure with new battles and story progression. Also it has rain, apparently. That crown has to get wet somehow.
Other new additions include a new Hard difficulty if you've felt the current game is a bit too easy, as well as an actual Hardcore mode which will completely delete your save file if you die. Sounds brutal. Enemies get a bit tougher too with a new Fader enemy ability which takes their avatar off the slot reels after a successful hit from you, lessening your chances of hitting them as the battle goes on.
There's also more than 30 new weapons including 6 unique diamond weapons, and a hint at a "super secret" weapon; new bonus items and a new bonus item type called Amulets which let you prevent an enemy from using a move; and two new Game Center leaderboards along with 15 new achievements.
The more mundane details of this King Cashing 2 update include a fast animation option to speed up the battles if you desire, a fix for Volume 3 on the iPhone 3GS and the 3rd Generation iPod touch, and a collection of various other tweaks, fixes and optimizations. King Cashing 2 is an even tighter overall package now and is literally stuffed with content, so if you enjoy a good adventure then it's a game that's definitely worth your time.
I just got the call from fellow carb-free buddy, all around nice guy, and honorary King of Australia: Halfbrick's own Phil Larsen (who was also actually on a recent podcast) to tell us that Fruit Ninja [$0.99] as well as the iPad counterpart Fruit Ninja HD [$2.99 (HD)] are both free. Originally released in 2010, Fruit Ninja quickly ascended to "classic" status along side App Store staples like Doodle Jump [$0.99] or Pocket God [$0.99] with an incredibly simple premise and controls that even your grandma can get a hang of.
It seems silly to explain the premise of Fruit Ninja, as I'd hope anyone who reads TouchArcade would already know about it, but the basic idea is fruit gets tossed up on the screen of your iOS device of choice, and you swipe it to slice it while avoiding slicing bombs. Through a variety of updates they've added new game types, fruit to slice, and have even released the movie-themed spinoff Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots [$0.99].
I figure there's a good chance most people around here already have Fruit Ninja, but still, if you don't now is a great time to snag it. Similarly, if you're a TouchArcade regular chances are you're also "that guy" who all your iPhone-owning friends ask for game recommendations, and, well, Fruit Ninja for free is a pretty solid one.
Alright, so posting about iPhone 5 updates might be a little old hat these days, considering the iPhone 5 came out in, um, September of last year... But, you can't miss out on a game this good when it's free. The Blocks Cometh [$1.99] is a great game with a simple premise: Survive as long as you can by avoiding and climbing on top of the endless supply of boxes falling from the sky.
This simple gameplay mechanic is greatly enhanced by a silly amount of playable characters that you can unlock. Each have a slightly different play style, and can make the way you approach the game change substantially. For instance, dudes with a more powerful attack can get away with destroying more blocks, while guys who can jump well are often better off relying on acrobatics to survive.
Oh, and to make things even better, you can play as me, Brad, and Jared in the game if you're a bad enough dude to unlock us. If you missed it the last time the game went free, now's your opportunity to snag it. If you've already got the game on your phone, and you're rocking an iPhone 5, be sure to grab the new widescreen update.
If you've found yourself wondering what in the world Bolt Creative has been up to lately, I've finally got an answer. Aside from updating Pocket God [$0.99] for quite literally years now, releasing Pocket God: Journey to Uranus [$1.99], getting cool toys made and exploring the background of the pygmies in a comic series (which is also available digitally) they've been hard at work on a new game.
It's called Ooga Jump, and it takes the existing mini game found inside of Pocket God and turns it up to 11. We got a very quick look at GDC, and it's definitely as advertised. Imagine a jumping game, but just dripping with everything that makes Pocket God, well, Pocket God. We'll have more details soon, so make sure to add Ooga Jump to your watch list in the TouchArcade App [Free].
Hello everyone. My name is Eli, and...I can't say no to the retro aesthetic. Wow! It feels good to get that one off my chest. In all seriousness, though, the resurgence of 8 and 16-bit era visuals on iOS has done a number on my wallet over the past few years, and that's been somewhat of a double-edged sword.
On one hand, I've discovered some fantastic experiences steeped in nostalgia: everything from Velocispider [$1.99 / Free] to Mikey Shorts [$0.99 / Free]. Yet for every gem that's still on my device, there's at least three lame ducks that have suckered me in with the power of childhood fan service.
So when I discovered Pixel Licker Games' Slayin [$0.99]Â as the result of a friend's tweet - complete with an icon that looked like a cartridge and an in-game controller skin - I knew I was powerless. The only question that remained was: would it be a wonderful walk down memory lane, or end up collecting virtual dust with all the other deleted duds?
It's time to take a bite of the reality sandwich. At the end of the day, office worker bees can only put out so many fires and circle back to so many tasks before they need to table their workload and develop a more synergistic flow. What I mean to say, I think, is that you need to loosen your white collar, grab a foreign object, and smash your office to smithereens or risk becoming a lifer who goes postal or, worse, stares mindlessly while muttering about a stapler.
The prototypical office drone you play in Smash the Office [$0.99] has done just that. Reduced to a gibbering mess by unrealistic time tables, micromanagement, office jargon, and conversations that no doubt began with "Workin' hard or hardly workin'?", your character takes up the nearest blunt instrument and sets out to raze his workplace to the ground.
Each level drops you in a standard nine-to-five office setting replete with cube farms, servers, computer, and other office gear. With a club in hand, you have exactly one minute to earn a high score by smashing and bashing everything in sight. Once you've, uh, taken the meeting offline in one room, break down the door to move on to the next room of breakables.
Heads up: NimbleQuest is hitting this coming March 28 across iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and even the Mac App Store, creator NimbleBit told to us this afternoon. A new teaser trailer has been released in celebration of this news, showing off all the cool stuff you can do in the Snake meets RPG game. Make sure to check the vid out -- especially if you managed to miss our exclusive web preview of the game over the weekend.
We've been playing NimbleQuest for quite awhile, and while it's definitely a different kind of game from the creators of Pocket Planes and Tiny Tower, it's still an awesome one. The action-y mechanics feel great, the skill progression system is fair, and the characters have ton of charm. You'll probably dig it.
Of course, NimbleQuest will release as a free app. An Android version of the game is slated to hit later this April.
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.
We've got one last bit of content on Ridiculous Fishing [$2.99] that we think you'll dig, even if you've been cranking away on its core play loop since the game hit last night. Below, is a TA Plays "Bonus" in which Rami and JW from Vlambeer join us for a quick session of the game. They drop some mad knowledge about its creation and mechanics, and do a decent bit of chiding over my inability to fish all that well. Even if you've read the reviews, checked out our latest podcast, or got swept up in the pre-release buzz, this is a video that's worth the watch since we've got two of the creators with us.
In case you didn't know, by the way, Ridiculous Fishing is insanely good. It's quirky in all the right ways and has an amazing amount of production value. From art, to sound, to controls, this thing sings on the iPhone and iPad. Give it a look if you haven't yet:
The iPhone 5 and 5th generation iPod touch have been out for a while now, and slowly but surely many of my favorite games have since been updated with widescreen support. I still maintain a short list of ones that haven't, though, and a small part of me wakes up each day with a glimmer of hope that I'll be surprised with an update waiting for me in the App Store for one of them. Today was one of those days as Simogo's brilliant Bumpy Road [$2.99] had the red notification badge lit up on my App Store app this morning, and there was much rejoicing.
I guess it's not totally accurate to say this update was a surprise, as Simogo had mentioned recently on Twitter that it was in the works. But I wasn't any less excited. I know, I know, it seems silly making a big deal about such a tiny thing, but owners of the widescreen devices know how frustrating it can be to run unsupported games in the old aspect ratio with borders. It can sometimes mess up your control as your finger moves off the edge of the playable screen, and it just makes a game feel "out of date" with your current device.
That's no longer an issue in Bumpy Road, but actually this goes even beyond simple aesthetics. Bumpy Road itself is now wider, meaning you have a better chance to see what's approaching, or a bit more room in the terrain behind your car to capture a missed item. The game being wider actually makes it an even better playing experience. I've already broken my previous high scores, in fact. Here's a few widescreens of the game for you to check out.
Bumpy Road launched way back in May of 2011, and is arguably the game that really put Simogo on the map in the iOS world. We loved it in our original review and have recently been reminiscing about it with a TA Plays Rewind of the game. It's just flat out one of my favorite video games of all time, so I'm glad to see it refreshed and ready for my iPhone 5. And, not to sound greedy, but I am also holding out hope that Simogo's other previous titles, Kosmo Spin [$0.99] and Beat Sneak Bandit [$2.99], can get a similar treatment at some point down the line, too. (Yes, that is an official not-so-subtle request, Simogo.)
Games like this are always somewhat sparse on narrative, but let's just say our beleaguered pink protagonist must have done something terrible, because we find him in the room from hell. An inescapable rectangle filled with spikes, missiles, buzz-saws, lasers, and fiery flying heads, this chiptune thunderdome offers only one choice: survival. Luckily, some idiot left an anti-gravity device lying around, allowing you to zip to the top and bottom of the screen collecting gems on the way to safety. Why gems? Because…because high scores. Somewhere along the way, this "make up a story" thing really fell apart.
My vote for weirdest game that's coming tonight goes to Jared Bailey and his newest release Fist Face Fight. I mean, to my knowledge there aren't any other games that let you play as a giant ninja fist with legs who must use their fist-shaped body to fight off various brightly colored enemy ninjas who are all hellbent on breaking your heart. Yeah, it's strange alright, and it's also deceptively fun.
