Horn [$6.99] creator Phosphor Games is working on a World War Z movie tie-in game, IGN reports on its mobile blog. It's scheduled to hit mobile devices this May 30. Details on this one are few and far between, but the teaser trailer IGN secured does shed some light on what this thing will be packing. Notably, it'll have zombies. Also, helicopters. And human arms. And crowbars. Here's the trailer:
Bad movie tie-in games (and even worse zombie games for that matter) are incredibly common on the App Store, so it's probably very wise to keep your expectations in check on this one. Don't get us wrong, it'd be neat to if Phosphor can pull this off, but it seems like time and money are always short on these sorts of projects especially given the typical scope of mobile games and the relatively low development budgets that App Store price points even allow.
At GDC back in March, Sega announced they were remaking and rereleasing the original Sonic the Hedgehog [$2.99], and that it would be coming as a free update to the existing game on the App Store. Today, that update has gone live. For the nitty gritty behind the Christian Whitehead/Sega saga, refer to our previous post on the remake, but to summarize: Christian Whitehead, who is responsible for the sublimeSonic CD [$2.99] remake on iOS, was commissioned by Sega to give a similar treatment to the original two games (and hopefully Sonic 3 & Knuckles too!). This means proper widescreen and Retina Display support for Sonic 1, Universal iPad support, vastly improved virtual controls, 60 frames per second, a new Time Attack mode, unlockable playable characters Tails and Knuckles, and I'm sure tons more little goodies.
I've given just a quick run through the updated Sonic 1 and it's everything I dreamt it would be. This is what it feels like when doves cry. Right from the moment you boot it up, you realize the kind of care that was put into this port as a 3D rendered Japanese Mega Drive game case pops up on the screen. You touch the screen to play and the case opens up, revealing the cartridge itself. You have the option of choosing the Japanese, American, or European versions of the box art and cartridge. It's those little touches that tell you this is by fans, for fans of Sonic The Hedgehog.
It also plays like a dream now, or at least as much of a dream as virtual controls can be. If you have no problems with Sonic CD on iOS, you'll be more than happy here. I can't wait to beat the game yet again today, hopefully unlock a new character, and mess around with Time Attack mode. Oh, and there's Game Center leaderboards and achievements, too. Seriously, if you've suffered through the shoddy original port of Sonic The Hedgehog on iOS for the last several years, this is a handsome reward. Head to the App Store immediately and update, and drop by our forums for discussion from the community.
Few recent tactical strategy games have received such a large amount of attention as Frozen Synapse [$6.99 (HD)]. It has been praised for both its art style and excellent strategy gameplay. Starting on PC and Mac it has now found its way to iOS. While initially overwhelming with a busy interface and lengthy tutorial, Frozen Synapse is able to find a totally appropriate home on iOS.
In Frozen Synapse you take on the role of a tactician. Your task is direct a team of soldiers second by second. They can be ordered to move behind cover, fire a weapon, and many other options. Once all players have decided on the directions for their teams, the actions are carried out simultaneously. It calls to mind the X-wing Miniatures game as your success is based upon the ability to read the other player. Will they take cover or launch an offensive? In some modes of the game you are also locked into seeing only those enemies in your line of sight, which can be challenging. Beware, your sci-fi soldiers are very fragile and a single misstep can mean instant death. Matches usually last only a few rounds as players bluff and bait each other.
There are a myriad of ways to enjoy this title whether alone or with others. There is a fully functional AI in the game which can allow for quick matches. This little buddy is no pushover; you will die often. It is no wonder the developers recommend this mode as the best teacher after finishing the tutorial. The game also features an excellent campaign mode with a story spanning several levels. These range from straightforward skirmishes to  more complex missions of capture or defense. It is the gameplay that stands out, but the story certainly has its strong points.
Frozen Synapse really shines when playing with others. The online play features a separate login and a full blown PC-esque lobby. There are always plenty of people online and games can be completed live or in an asynchronous fashion. You can play with friends, complete strangers, or participate in tournaments. It really is a full fledged online system, the likes of which is rarely seen on iOS. This version also features Hotseat mode which is great for mobile as you can pass the iPad around a room and play with your friends in one location. If you find online play too insular or intimidating, this is an excellent way to play with friends on your terms.
This game comes packed with many hours of content- The campaign will take you some time to complete and then there are untold hours of play both online and off. There are dozens of maps, different unit types, several game modes, and on and on. I was impressed by the amount of things to do. Frozen Synapse is an exercise in complex simplicity. On the service the controls are simple taps and turns, but to really succeed it will require practice. This process can be terribly rewarding, and even games you struggle in will end quickly.
It is this hidden complexity that provides some challenges for this app. The number of choices available to you at any moment make the interface large and somewhat confusing. To really succeed at the game you will have to learn all of these options and know when best to ask them. For a new player they can look downright baffling and it would be great to see a more interactive tutorial that guides a player through step by step. This UI difficulty is paired with the games overall menu system which has a decidedly PC feeling. There are cases of strange pop-up issues and overlays that seem traditional reserved to the wild world of PC gaming. While the gameplay fits perfectly on iOS, the surrounding menus seem to miss the boat.
Frozen Synapse succeeds at bringing a beloved PC game to iOS. It is fiercely faithful in bringing the whole experience to mobile which has its own pros (tons of content, great online experience) and cons (archaic menu system, hard to manage UI). This is a great strategy title which is enjoyable on many levels. There is complexity there if you want it or you can stay on the surface and have a great tactical experience.
Eli and I opened up a lot about the movies that made us cry while we gave Trigger City [$0.99] a spin the other afternoon. If you don't know about it, it's a retro-inspired brawler that plays pretty much just like... a retro brawler. In the game, you're tasked with punching and kicking a bunch of bad dudes while eternally moving to the right. Sadly, there's not much more to see here outside of a currency system. Basically, you get cash for beating up folks and then you can use that to buy permanent boosts and new combos.
I'm not a big fan of this. It's pretty clear that a lot of love went into the look and sound and feel, but it fails in delivering a reason for me to feel like I need to keep fighting and moving to the right. It's kinda hollow, in a way.
You can see for yourself in our look, which includes a lot of real talk.
Last year, Jordan Mechner teamed up with Liquid Entertainment to create a modern remake of his 1984 beat 'em up classic, Karateka. The modern, 3D recreation of Karateka [$1.99] (which we reviewed in December) does an excellent job of conveying the tragic tale of the poor, imprisoned princess Mariko and the bold quest to rescue her to today's gamers using modern visuals, an original score, and unique, new fight mechanics. Another thing it does is give old school gamers a real itch to go back and play through the 8-bit original. Happily, as of tonight, that itch is easily scratched.
As word of the Karateka remake hit the news towards the end of last year, Mechner began hearing from lots of these gamers expressing a desire to replay the original game on their modern devices. And, so, he teamed up with Olivier Goguel of FTA to bring the original Karateka to iOS (and Android) by way of Goguel's Apple IIgs emulator, ActiveGS (which we first highlighted back in 2011). (more...)
Blitz Brigade [Free] is a class-based, competitive shooter that takes a lot of cues from other class-based, competitive shooters like, say, Team Fortress 2 and Battlefield 1943. It's a Gameloft joint, so it's more copycat than original and it's loaded with a ton of free-to-play features, including the ability to buy gems to respawn instantly in battle. I'm guessing the free-to-play part specifically is going to turn folks off. I get that. But, I've gotta say, this isn't a terrible shooter as far as touch device shooters go. Also, the matchmaking and network functionality actually works consistently, which is pretty rare for these types of games.
Eli and I gave it a spin the other afternoon. We killed a bunch of dudes and we also got to drive around in a tank for a few seconds. More importantly, we met a man named Bobby. He was a good man (or a spy), that Bobby:
Blitz is free, so the barrier to entry is pretty low. Give this a shot if you're in the mood for a shooter and can stomach virtual controls and the design wizardry that comes with it. Oh, and if you see Bobby, tell him we said "Hi!"
Frozen Synapse on iPad is one of the few notable "core" kinda releases this week, and it is what you think it is: a pretty straight-up port of an imaginative PC title that got a bunch of awards and praise. This version sees the addition of one-tap touch controls, as well as cross-platform play.
At the top level, this a turn-based strategy game set in a world bursting with neon. For the most part, you'll be tasked with ordering around a squad of lo-fi dudes in an effort to clear the enemy team or take an objective. You'll send your dudes to take cover or to flank and, if you're lucky, to go in for a kill. What makes this interesting is the fact that you're controlling the smallest movements. You pick which direction your dudes will look, at which point they'll crouch, and so on. As you do this, the enemy team moves too, so there's a bit of a reaction and prediction component going on as well.
From the moment Leviathan: Warships [$4.99 (HD)] was announced, I was crackling with an electric anticipation. Published by the developer of some of my favorite PC games, Paradox Interactive, this strategic naval combat game challenges players to outfit and lead a fleet against AI and online opponents. Set in an alternate history, beautifully stylized ships combine traditional firepower with a few high-tech tricks like beam weapons and energy shields. Personally, I can't think of many game concepts that would get me more excited than this one. But, as Leviathan: Warships has reminded me, even amazing concepts don't always translate into amazing experiences.
The game blends interesting elements of several PC games I've enjoyed over the years, such as the mixed turn-based and real-time naval combat of the Age of Sail series (1996-2002), and the fantastical-but-familiar-feeling, derring-do, alternate history of Crimson Skies (2000). A 2011 Crimson Skies-cribbing iOS release, Crimson Steam Pirates, featured ship-based combat comparable to Leviathan: Warships, but it offered much simpler gameplay, and its content was limited to few single player campaigns and modest local multiplayer capability. So from its outset, Leviathan: Warships--promising deep strategy, robust customization, and an ambitious, cross-platform multiplayer experience--was boldly setting sail into unexplored waters.
Just a quick heads up that a very neat game is currently free, and worth checking out even if you miss out on the freebie. It's called Floris [Free] by Ox & Coon, and it takes similar matching inspiration from games like Tetris and Dr. Mario and blends them into an audio/visual treat that feels equal parts art and game.
To be perfectly honest, Floris seems pretty simple on the surface but it actually can get quite complex and strategic as you go. It's also one of those things that's hard to explain, but will eventually "click" after you play for a bit and from that point on Floris really begins to shine.
Floris is based around a center point with 12 extensions branching out from it evenly, like the numbers on a clock. At any given time two of the extensions are pointing towards the top of the screen, and two sets of colored dot-like petals travel down them towards the center. Buttons on either side of the screen allow you to spin then entire shape around, changing which extensions are pointing up and receiving the dropping petals. Another set of buttons allow you to swap the position of the dropping petals, and touching the center of the Floris causes your petals to fast-drop to the center. It's easier to see in motion in the following video.
Matching five of the same color on one extension will eliminate the petals in that extension, but the real fun lies in making entire circles of a matching color around the entire Floris. Again, it's tricky to explain and I'm even still trying to wrap my head around the game, but suffice to say there is a lot of strategy involved in the mechanics of Floris. You'd do well to read the developer's guide which does a great job of explaining things, as there really isn't an in-game tutorial to speak of.
There's so much more to Floris than the basics that I've covered here, and it's worth the effort to read up on and learn its ways as it really is a clever and visually striking little game. Players in our forums seem to be really enjoying it ever since its release a month ago, and you'd do well to snag Floris during its freebie sale.
Rail shooters are one of my guilty pleasures as a gamer. They're mindless fun, like climbing into a rollercoaster car that happens to rumble and weave through a shooting gallery. I'm especially fond of The House of the Dead, the first on-rails shooter I had the pleasure of touring from inside the cool darkness of a video arcade. The House of the Dead: Overkill - The Lost Reels [$4.99] is arguably the best entry yet, but an aggravating pay model and IAP leaves some divots in an otherwise smooth and flowing track.
Lost Reels consists of three episodes broken up into five stages each. You choose a character, lock and load two guns, and unlock levels as you clear haunted houses and zombie-infested hospitals. By default, you aim your crosshair using a virtual d-pad. After the first few levels, zombies come rushing in from all directions, and the d-pad just doesn't respond fast enough. Aiming using the accelerometer works much better, but did leave me massaging my wrists as I stepped over dozens of corpses toward boss battles and victory screens.
A tiny world unfurls across your iPhone screen: the surface of a tranquil pond, where water beetles swim about, tadpoles wriggle to and fro, and turtles laze atop drifting waterlilies. But do not be deceived, beneath this soothing surface lies a cruel, Darwinian realm, where you must guide the tastiest of the Tasty Tadpoles [$0.99] as he attempts to eek out an existence.
As a game, Tasty Tadpoles places itself firmly in the realm of the sort of one-touch controlled mobile experience first imagined in Angry Birds. You've seen this before: the cute cartoony characters, the colorful visuals, and those three stars to collect each level. . . So, after slinging birds for them, cutting ropes for them, filling buckets with water for them–is this latest three star scavenger hunt worth your time? In a word: yes.
In Tasty Tadpoles, you must guide your intrepid little amphibian to the pond's exit, dodging predators and collecting stars along the way. The game is played in portrait mode, with the entirety of the level displayed on your screen (though some later levels will buck this trend). A single screen tap will send your tadpole darting on his way, or by dragging your finger you can create a more complex path. The stars must be collected sequentially, and only after grabbing each one will the next one's location reveal itself.
If you've been getting stomped in Star Command [$2.99] and stopped playing as a result, consider giving it another shot. Creator War Balloon just pushed out an update that added a bunch of rookie-friendly features, including tutorials, a beginner difficulty level, and tips for the weapon-firing mini-games. Also, three additional tokens are now being dished out at the start of every new game, bringing the total to a hefty 15. Show the space zombies who's boss! Or not!
This update also sees a bunch of other tweaks and improvements. The list is sorta crazy huge, actually. Here are some notable additions: room ammo and assign buttons have been disabled if a room can't hold anymore, max crew has been increased, and you can unlock "larger ships and heavy difficulty," provided you're a Bad Enough Space Dude to handle them.
You can check out the patch notes for yourself over at our sister site AppShopper. Also, if you're still having troubles after updating, consider swinging by our guide for Star Command, which is full of hot tips from us and our community.
"Endless fallers" isn’t a proper genre name, but if it was, that would be the easiest way to describe Daddy Was A Thief [$1.99] In Rebel Twins' latest, you play as the titular daddy -- imagine a more nefarious Andy Richter -- who finds himself abruptly fired and turns to a life of crime to provide for his family. Instead of cooking meth a la Breaking Bad, he opts for something much more traditional: robbing banks.
Every game starts off with dad escaping the bank’s rooftop and then leaping onto an adjacent building’s roof presumably to make his escape. He automatically runs from left to right, reversing course whenever hitting anything, which frees you up to either jump (swipe up) or smash through the floor below (swipe down). That, pretty much, is the entire game.
Nevertheless, Daddy Was A Thief tries admirably to not feel repetitive. There are obstacles to get in your way, certainly, but part of what keeps things moving are the aesthetics. It’s a subtle move, but each floor is a different, bright, warm color. When you’re crashing through floor after floor, it tricks the eye into feeling like there’s more variety than there really is. Not that Daddy Was A Thief is tricky: It has a few core things going on, and sticks only to them.
Talisman is a geeky boardgaming legend. Created in 1983 by Games Workshop, it features a broad range of fantasy archetypes (Elves, Wizards, Monks, etc.) competing to be the first to reach the Crown of Command.
Each of the heroes available has a simple set of RPG stats, including Strength and Craft (magical power); plus one or two special abilities, such as the Druid's ability to change his alignment at will. Some also have drawbacks: the Monk can add his starting Craft to his Strength when fighting, but can never equip weapons.
The goal is to reach the center of the board, but movement is intentionally imprecise. Each turn you roll a die and move that many spaces in either direction then follow the instructions for the space you landed on: usually drawing one or more Adventure cards, which can represent monsters, loot, followers and other kinds of enconters.
As someone who can get pretty obsessive about both reading and video games, I keep expecting gamebooks to grab me by the throat. It seems as though they should be perfect for that: part game, part book, all gripping entertainment.
Most of the time, however, I find them a bit thin. Not enough game to really sink into mechanically, not enough book to really reel me in. Sorcery! [$4.99] managed to keep me up well past my bedtime, though. Inkle offers the same expertise they displayed in bringing Frankenstein [$4.99] to life to the task of drawing the magic of Steve Jackson's Sorcery! out onto the screen. At least in part: thus far, only the first of the four books of Sorcery!, The Shamutanti Hills, is available.
The journey through those hills is still a gamebook trip, no doubt about it. There are stats, interactive combat scenes and plenty of big decisions to be made. It's just that nothing feels restrained; nothing feels all that formulaic. Sorcery! goes big where needed, and the app shines for it.
Few recent tactical strategy games have received such a large amount of attention as Frozen Synapse [
