As both a lover of retro 1950s sci-fi design and an enthusiast of gaming history, it was inevitable that Rocket Patrol [Free (HD)] would snare my attention in its tractor beam. This recent, iPad-only release by GRL Games is a descendant of the classic card games Touring (1906) and the French-designed Mille Bornes (1954). Those games took two players on a head-to-head, cross-country automobile race, avoiding fender benders and flat tires along the way. Rocket Patrol trades wheels for warp drives, taking that competition into the final frontier.
It's not a terribly complex game, nor does it claim to be. Games are short, and (aided by a few brief tutorial screens) most new players should have a good grasp of the basics by the end of their first single-player match. Even the game's subtler strategic possibilities will become clear to attentive players after just a handful of games.
The Rocket Patrol deck is comprised of three basic card types. Numbered light year cards are the fuel that propels your ship forward a set distance, in increments of 5, 15, 25, and 100 light years. Red hazard cards, depicting events such as engine fires and asteroid fields, can be played offensively to stall your opponent. Green repair cards--star maps, space stations, etc.--overcome a specific type of hazard when played, allowing your own stalled ship to resume its course toward victory.
It's hard to think of a more unimaginative name for a video game than Hell Invaders, but don't hold that against Spicy Horse. It's just the working title for its Next Big Thing, a collectible card game with RTS mechanics. That caught you off guard, didn't it? This certainly isn't the type of game that I thought it would try to tackle coming off the latest Alice, but hey, I'll take it. Just look at those graphics. The spit and polish in the visual arena already puts this leagues ahead of other CCGs.
Hell Invaders is due out this fall across Mac, PC, Linux, and tablets. According to the announcement materials I've received, it'll feature the usual bits and bobs, including trading, a PVP arena, and a single-player campaign.
More details are coming down the line. One of those details will apparently be a final, actual title, which suggests Spicy Horse is still working that out. Let's help! I put forth this banger of a name: Dungeons of Darkness Battle Arena: Origins.
It seems like as poker surges in popularity games that utilize familiar poker mechanics to do non-poker-y things have been popping up all over the place. My personal favorite(s) still are Sword & Poker [$2.99] (and its sequel/expansion Sword & Poker 2 [$3.99]) but the recently-released Alice of Hearts [Free] sure is a worthy contender in this weird genre, especially at the current asking price of free. Like other poker battlers (That's a genre, right?) gameplay revolves around using cards from your Scrabble-like rack of cards and placing them on a grid to form the best hands you can. It sounds simple, and to some extent it is, but there's a surprising amount of strategy that goes in to these games as your opponent can also use these cards after you place them. So, while you might think you're super clever playing a three of a kind, you need to consider that you could potentially be giving your opponent the opportunity to counter with a full house.
So, Alice of Hearts is a totally competent poker battle game, but it actually kicks things up a notch further via the "Ego" system which essentially gives you multiple characters with different bonuses to play as. Additionally, if you've found yourself annoyed by the AI of other similar games, Alice of Hearts also has online multiplayer. At first look, the IAP systems powering the game seem fairly optional, allowing you to buy coins and various "premium" upgrades such as allowing you to have a wider stable of "Egos" to choose from with additional slots to store them in.
If you haven't yet tried a game with this sort of card battle mechanic yet, give this one a shot. These always seem to work really well on iOS devices.
Back at GDC, we got all up in GRL Games' latest card game, Rocket Patrol. It's coming out this evening, and as we described it before, the game is a turn-based strategy game that's just dripping with retro sci-fi charm. Like most card games, it's easier to just get an idea of what to do by watching someone else play it:
Of course GRL Games has also uploaded their own trailer, if you're interested in a little more "official" tease of the game. Definitely check this one out when it comes out tonight, it's even free which just serves to sweeten the deal even further- Especially when it's from a developer who has put out such great titles in the past.
Rocket Patrol 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.
Have you ever found yourself playing Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes [$4.99] and wishing it was less of a puzzle game and more of a card game? (Hey, that might be the case for someone?!) You're in luck, as Ubisoft just released the iPad-only card game Might & Magic: Duel of Champions [Free (HD)].
We're going to dive deeper into the game very soon, but at first blush it seems like a fast-paced fantasy-based card game that centralizes around using cards to summon an army, cast spells, and pull off other tricks to defeat your opponents. Of course being free to play there's an extensive in-game store to buy all sorts of things to tweak out your deck, and an online tournament and guild system to participate in once you've got a handle on the game.
Right now, early reactions on our forums are a bit mixed between the game offering a strong first impression, while also being "riddled with IAP." There's been a bit of weirdness with where the game has been available as well, with no real rhyme or reason as to why it's available in some regions and not in others. Regardless, if you're a Might & Magic fan and own an iPad, there's not much reason to not give this game a shot.
One of the first things I checked out at PAX today was Wizards of the Coast's Magic 2014. If you like the 2013 iteration of the game, well, you're in luck as it is mostly the same with very minor tweaks and improvements. The main difference is an all new set of cards, and if the release timing works out how Wizards hopes it will actually have all sorts of new cards before they even see a paper release in the upcoming M14 card set.
I recorded this video using the same setup we use for TA Plays, but because of the ridiculous amounts of noise on the convention center floor the audio is a little crazy. The game is being piloted by a Wizards employee who goes through all the different features of the game. If you just want to see actual gameplay, skip to around the 5:00 minute mark, although keep in mind the game engine is basically the same so there's not a whole lot that's new in this video.
This is incredible. Blizzard Entertainment's big game reveal at PAX East is Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, a free-to-play collectible card game that's coming to PC, Mac, and eventually iPad. Let this one sink in for a moment: Blizzard, the studio behind some of the biggest and greatest PC titles ever, is going to put a game on iPad. Wild!
Set in the World of Warcraft universe, each Hearthstone deck will revolve around heroes of nine of the MMO's classes. At least 300 cards will be available at launch, and you'll be able to earn or buy packs. Also, you'll be able to put together your own decks and be able to "disenchant" duplicates and craft better, presumably original cards from them.
The competitive side of the game will feature one-on-one fights via Battle.Net, which, if you didn't know, is the service Blizzard uses for its PC games. We're not sure what the iPad version will use -- details are still coming out from the event.
Chances are we'll have a lot more on this one as the day goes on. Hearthstone is due out at some point this year. The iPad version will follow the PC and Mac release. A playable build is apparently available on the PAX East show floor, so we'll probably have more on this for you later.
We're guessing this news is going to make a Boston-bound Eli happy. Wizards of the Coast have just revealed Magic 2014: Duels of the Planeswalkers is indeed coming, and it'll be at PAX East this week. The game, which is set for release across iPad, Android, XBLA, PSN and Steam, will feature 10 new decks, 15 new encounters, 10 new puzzle challenges, and a new game mode. It'll also give players a first look at 2014 Core, which is cool.
Everybody attending PAX East is invited to check out the upcoming game. Wizards will be dishing out opportunities to "earn exclusive Chandra-themed items" on the floor, too, in addition to other stuff like compete against pros.
The Duels series is great for rookies and Magic veterans alike. Magic 2013 was the first version of the game that saw a release on iPad, and it was an excellent port. We imagine 2014 will just build on this foundation.
The Sword & Poker games are ancient by today's standard, but, man, we couldn't get enough of them back in 2010. We reviewed both the first and the second game three years ago, but here's the gist of the game(s)- Imagine a game dripping with RPG trimmings, but all of your battles are played on a grid of cards where you have to make poker hands in order to attack monsters and crawl through dungeons.
It's one of those games that sounds totally crazy, but sucks you in and quickly becomes impossible to put down. It's debatable whether the first or the second is the better of the two, but here's what I recommend you do: Download the lite version of either or both games immediately, give it five minutes. If it clicks to you, grab 'em both. The Sword & Poker games have had sort of a mysterious life on the App Store, randomly disappearing then re-appearing like some kind of creepy carnival.
Keep in mind, these are every bit games from 2010. This means no iPhone 5 widescreen graphics, no multitasking support, and hell, it doesn't even seem to have retina display assets. None of this makes Sword & Poker any less fun.
2012 had a lot of cool surprises and good games, as you've probably noticed. But not all of those good games could be neatly categorized. This post is for the weirdos, the games that straddled too many genre lines or are members of genres that have too few rad games to sufficiently flesh out a "best of" post.
You'll see some oddities in this listing -- games that really stretch the meaning of game or apps that just have stupendous gaming elements. There's also titles that can be firmly categorized, and would have been, if there was more to celebrate.
It'll be interesting to see what 2013 will bring. Will we see way more card games than we did this year? What about open-world god games? New trends might have us re-thinking the way we categorize and the lists we bring to you.
For now, though, here's our best of the best of the rest of 2012.
Topia World Builder, $1.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Topia World Builder has the creation and the emergent systems we look for in a solid god game, but shrugs off messy scenarios. In the game, you can build valleys, rivers, trees, and animals. Then, you can watch world you've created work. It's kinda wild.
Hatchi - A retro virtual pet, $0.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Hatchi is a spiritual successor to the Tamagotchi. In the game, you hatch a pet monster and then care for it, subtly changing the way it grows and forms as you do so. The retro visuals and simplistic mechanics might be a drag for some, but for those of us who had a pet monster on a keychain, they struck the right chord.
Magic 2013, Free - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 is a brilliant follow-up to a rad series that not only show you how to play Magic the right way, but allows you to jump in without plunking down dollars for cards. It's also nice that the core action of Magic is front and center throughout. This is truly a joy.
Zombies, Run!, $3.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - If you like jogging, but hate the tedium that can sometimes come along with it, consider giving Zombies, Run a try. It measures the distance you run and all of that jazz, but it also tells you a great survival story in the process. The audio has some neat hooks in it that gets you running faster, as well as systems that reward you for the effort.
Shufflepuck Cantina, Free - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Shufflepuck Cantina is what happens with adventure game meets sports game. Presented as a "space western," Cantina tasks you with dominating a bar's shufflepuck table, while also learning about the world's creatures, characters, and mysteries. It's weird, but we think you'll dig the game's commitment to seeing its premise through.
Organ Trail: Director's Cut, $2.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Organ Trail is an awesome little satire that rips on Oregon Trail. In the game, you play as a survivor of a zombie apocalypse on a journey to get his friends to a so-called Safe Haven. Along the way, you'll have to hunt for food, as well as repair your car's tires and mufflers. This is one you shouldn't miss.
Micro Miners, $1.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - This is a weird one. In Micro Miners, you control a horde of little miners and are tasked with collecting every possible scrap of resource as a screen scrolls eternally downward. Solid controls bolster the experience, while a great art style really sells it.
Skee-Ball 2, Free - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Skee-Ball 2 is, oddly, a big favorite around here. It's a Skee-Ball game through and through, but it feels remarkably good, boasts a ton of lanes and balls, as well as a good amount of collectibles to obtain as you rock out.
If you're a fan of card games on the App Store, there's a good chance you've heard of Playdek. Creators of the competitive card game Ascension [$4.99], we gave it acceptable marks when it debuted over a year ago. Now, Playdek has partnered with Looney Labs to create an iOS port of Fluxx [$2.99], a more casual-oriented game than its previous offering. Assuming you're in the mood for a game more reminiscent of Uno than Magic, Fluxx may be worth checking out.
For folks unfamiliar with the actual title, Fluxx is a card game for 2-4 players with an emphasis on changing the rules. Cards are divided into four different types: Rule Cards, Keepers, Goals, and Actions. Players initially start out with two cards the baseline rules of having to draw a card from a pile and playing a card from their hand. However, strewn across the virtual deck are rule cards that can change a variety of different parameters. Some examples are cards that change how many cards you can hold in your hand, the amount of cards drawn during each turn, the maximum amount of cards you can hold at any one point, and so on.
Back in the fourteenth century, a hot new device hit Europe: it was pocket-sized, and people used it for entertainment as well as divination, and in order to make poor financial decisions. Playing cards were hot (and expensive) and it was amazing all the things you could do with them. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Reiner Knizia: Card Buster [$0.99] is optimized for iOS, but it will also run on a deck of playing cards, if you still have them.
Kniza is well-known for his love of poker-like mechanics, betting and bluffing, so it was only natural that he's create a game that used poker hands for scoring, without any betting or bluffing. It really is, if you know the scope of Kniza's work. In Card Buster, Aidem Media and Bulkypix have put together three related games: Grid Buster, Deck Buster 32, and Deck Buster Wild. The latter two games were previously released by Aidem as Reiner Kniza's Deck Buster [$0.99], so Grid Buster is what's totally new here.
Square Enix' Guardian Cross [Free] is exactly the game it wants to be. Coming from me, that would usually be a compliment, but in this case, it's more of a sigh and a shrug.
I'm not categorically opposed to free-to-play games. Agharta's Shufflepuck Cantina came out at the same time as Guardian Cross and has an unobtrusive IAP model combined with strong core gameplay. A few years ago, I was hooked on Alteil, a game that looks a little like Guardian Cross, but plays more like Magic.
Guardian Cross does not play anything like Magic or even a strategic RPG. It's a card-battling game where battles are completely non-interactive, and deckbuilding is so obvious that there's a button to do it for you. The English release of Guardian Cross feels calculated, like a decision on Square Enix' part to claim some of the cash raked in by "Japanese style" social games like Rage of Bahamut [Free].
Tangled amongst the seemingly endless torrent of app updates as everything under the sun gets updated to iOS 6 and/or to support the iPhone 5 is some brand new content in the fantastic iPad-only Magic 2013 [Free (HD)]. If this is the first you've heard of the game, dig into our five star review. In essence, it's the perfect primer to get into Magic the Gathering as a new player and does a fairly decent job at still providing a fun gameplay experience for veterans of the card game. With online multiplayer, tons to unlock, and a great try before you buy payment model it's an incredibly easy recommendation.
Anyway, in this recent update players are offered a single $4.99 IAP unlock to gain access to five new two color playable decks that are inspired by the upcoming Return to Ravnica set. Additionally, there's five new puzzle challenges, ten new single player campaign levels, and foil conversions for all the new included decks. Considering a single pack of Magic cards will run you $3 to $4 depending on where you buy them from, five bucks feels like a steal for this much new stuff.
If you've played Hothead Games' Kard Combat [Free], it's a safe bet that Three Donkeys' Spectromancer [$1.99 / $3.99 (HD)] is going to seem familiar. Very familiar. It's not just that they're both card-battle games in the same vein as Magic, it's that they have exactly the same rules, play the same way, and while the cards have different names and art, their game stats and abilities are identical.
So is Spectromancer a clone of Kard Combat? Well, no. Then Kard Combat is a clone of Spectromancer? No, not really. The thing is is that Kard Combat is a licensed port of Spectromancer - the computer game that's been out for years. The new Spectromancer iOS game is also a port, but it's a direct port, keeping the title, card names, art and style of the computer game (which, apparently now exists in a free Flash version as well).
The crisis of origins doesn't stop there: Spectromancer is based on Apus Software's Astral Tournament (2001) a game heavily inspired by, you guessed it, Magic: the Gathering. Spectromancer is a joint project by Alexi Stankevich, the creator of Astral Tournament, and Richard Garfield himself (y'know, the guy who created Magic).
As both a lover of retro 1950s sci-fi design and an enthusiast of gaming history, it was inevitable that Rocket Patrol [Free (HD)] would snare my attention in its tractor beam. This recent, iPad-only release by GRL Games is a descendant of the classic card games Touring (1906) and the French-designed Mille Bornes (1954). Those games took two players on a head-to-head, cross-country automobile race, avoiding fender benders and flat tires along the way. Rocket Patrol trades wheels for warp drives, taking that competition into the final frontier.
