Monsters Ate My Condo creator Pikpok has unveiled a new game and we sure hope you aren't tired of shooting and evading the undead yet because that's exactly what you'll be doing in it. Into the Dead, as it's called, is a 3D endless runner that has you plowing into a zombie horde in an escape attempt that'll have you both dodging and shooting as your way through. It's an interesting next game from Pikpok, which just wrapped up an Oreo game.
IGN, which has the scoop on this one, reports that Into the Dead will hit on December 6 as a free-to-play title. We're not 100 percent sure how the game's model works, but from what we gather, you'll be able to buy weapons with real dough.
First-person endless runners are rare in the clotted runner space, so Into the Dead has that going for it in addition to having a great developer behind it. Regardless of what you think about zombies, this might be one to check out. We'll get you more details soon.
We were pretty excited back in August when we got word that a compilation of games in the classic Raiden series of arcade shooters was coming to the App Store, especially since it was in the very capable hands of developer DotEmu who has done a killer job in the past porting older titles to the iOS platform. Well, bucking the trend of releasing on a Thursday, Raiden Legacy [$4.99] popped up in the US App Store last night and is now available worldwide.
The Raiden Legacy iOS compilation includes the original arcade versions of Raiden, Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters 2 and Raiden Fighters Jet. Four complete games in one package. They all come equipped with the additional features we've come to expect from DotEmu games too, like adjustable controls and screen sizes, optional video filtering, multiple difficulties, an auto-fire toggle, and iCade compatibility. Here's the official launch trailer for Raiden Legacy.
Other noteworthy features include Game Center integration for achievements and leaderboards, Universal iPad support, and widescreen display support for the iPhone 5 and newest iPod touch line. Players in our forums seem to be incredibly pleased with Raiden Legacy so far, so if you were a fan of the original games or just a newbie looking for some solid '90s shooter action then definitely check it out.
There are certain games on iOS that just kind of "stick" with some gamers. Even if it isn't the most popular game, or it's a few years old, some games just click for some reason and become lifelong favorites. One of those games for me is TwoHeads Games' Aftermath [$2.99].
Originally launching in March of 2010, the realistic lighting effects, interesting environments, and overall creepy atmosphere made Aftermath a game that we highly recommended checking out. A fairly high level of difficulty and somewhat short campaign were our only real negatives at the time.
Then, more than a year and a half after release, Aftermath received a significant new update which added Retina Display support and a bunch of new levels to the campaign. It also added a welcome new control scheme and a brightness adjustment option, two things that helped tone down some of the more frustrating non-gameplay difficulties in the game.
Earlier this morning, Eli and I checked out Crumble Zone [$1.99]. It's a brand new arcade space shooter action game thing that tasks you with destroying asteroids as they circle around a lone green planet inhabited, luckily, by a little man with a mortar cannon. As you move about and fire, asteroids drop currency that you can use to obtain special one-use mortar shots. This currency also serves as a high score mechanism.
This is a hard one to explain, so check out our video if you're still kinda lost. As a whole, we're really digging Crumble Zone. It's a cellphone game through and through; easy to pick up, easy to play, and easy to put down.
ARC Squadron [$2.99], our current favorite space arcade flying action game that sorta plays like Star Fox, has been updated with some new features. Most notably, iCloud support. Now you can resume your current game from any of your iDevices. Version 1.21 also adds new items to the Hangar and increases the "maximum sensitivity" for touch input.
Oh! Also, ARC Squadron is on sale again. After spending some time at $2.99, and even a brief period at $4.99, the game is sitting at a cool 99¢. TouchArcade's own Space Flight Expert, Jared "Space Flight Expert" Nelson, says ARC is a steal at this price. TRAILER TIME.
If you want to know a little bit more about ARC Squadron before taking the plunge, check out our review, our TA Plays, or give the Light version a spin. But, really, just buy it. It's awesome.
Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy was a big deal when it launched back in March. It was one of the first games optimized for iPad 3, and it showed off that tablet's capabilities as a game device well. In short, it was gorgeous and ran like a champ. But it was also a pretty good video game, which is why we're stoked that a new follow-up has shown up on the App Store.
A couple of days ago, Sky Gamblers: Storm Raiders [$0.99] was released for iPhone and iPad, and it appears to be doing everything that its predecessor did right. For instance, it's got a ton of visual bells and whistles; heat haze, radial blur, volumetric clouds, god rays, all that sort of stuff are included in the package. It also has massive campaign and online modes that put you in control of several different planes across a bunch of cool environments.
Another neat thing: Storm Raiders is set during WWII. Instead of modern jets, you'll be flying around old WWII fighters across the pacific. It's a change of pace that opens the game up to a few new features, including our current favorite, bullets ripping through the cockpit in real-time.
We'll be giving this one a closer look for review, so stayed tuned. That said, it seems like a pretty safe bet for Sky Gamblers fans.
We've been keepingtabs on Foursaken Media's zombie sequel since we heard that one was in the works earlier this year. Considering the large cult following that N.Y.Zombies [$0.99] garnered in our own community, there was certainly some excitement to see if Foursaken could repeat and expand upon its successes. N.Y.Zombies 2 [$0.99] certainly accomplishes those goals. With great visuals, an expanded skill set, online co-op and well done presentation and theatrics N.Y.Zombies 2 is a great sequel and worth the wait.
Following the journey of a survivor of the zombie apocalypse, N.Y.Zombies 2 charges you with trying to stay alive in a world now ravaged with the undead. Story missions are separated by location, with the narrative being driven via journal pages that act as the story progression between levels. While a decent story isn't a particularly pressing prerequisite for a good survival based horror game on iOS, I still enjoyed the narrative techniques used by Foursaken in setting the tone for the rest of the game.
As you probably know,we'renostrangers to Cobra Mobile'siBomber series. Once a series focused on simple tap-to-destroy bombing runs, the shift to tower defense with iBomber Defense [$2.99] and iBomber Defense Pacific [$2.99] brought welcomed depth and a larger following to the collection of games. Well, Chillingo and Cobra are mixing it up again with iBomber Attack [Free], a tank-based dual stick shooter. While Attack is a pretty competent tank game on its own, the lack of co-op along with a few other issues keep it from the heights of its tower defense brethren.
Like other iBomber games, Attack doesn't have much of an overarching story. Each mission is self-contained with a few sentences of backstory that set up the primary and bonus objectives. While most missions charge players with blowing up buildings or enemies (sometimes both!) Attack attempts to mix it up a little with time limits and multiple objectives. Still, the story and mission structure is rather basic and doesn't offer much that hasn't already been experienced.
If there's one thing this world needs more of, it's video games with zombies in them. Or not. Anyway, one of the cooler zombie games we recently checked out in a TA Plays is Bignic's very directly-titled Zombies. [$0.99]. It's an isometric dual-stick shooter that sees you trying to survive a zombie apocalypse that breaks out at your corporate job. Zombies. has a great pixel art style reminiscent of Sword & Sworcery [$4.99], and a fantastic chiptune soundtrack. More importantly, though, it features a ton of humor and an over-the-top level of destructible environments, two things that heighten the level of enjoyment greatly.
Last week, Zombies. was updated with Universal iPad support, something fans had been clamoring for since release. Also, the update previous to this one tweaked the transparency of the dual d-pads so they didn't stick out so much, and it also fixed a bunch of bugs, including a nasty one that could prevent you from progressing under certain circumstances.
Today Bignic has revealed yet another new update that's set to go live this week, and it looks like a good one. It'll add an endless survival mode where you battle through wave after wave of undead board members, as well as the ability to pick up objects in the environment and use them as weapons by throwing them, adding another layer of offensive strategy and opportunity for destruction. If you thought the carnage in Zombies. was intense before, check out the endless mode in this trailer for the impending update.
If you're an iPad owner looking for a new zombie fix, or even if you only own an iPhone or iPod touch, definitely check out the new and improved Zombies. for a good time, players in our forums certainly have been. Also be on the lookout for the endless mode and throwable objects update to hit later this week.
One of the coolest things to witness on iOS is when a developer creates a game that successfully makes a complete transition from traditional controls to touch mechanisms. Sure, a lot of games can get by through simply adding virtual control pads and buttons, but it's the games that make perfect use of touch controls that feel much more natural and fun. ARC Squadron [$2.99 / Free] by Psyonix is one such game and is a blast to play on iOS. By including a simple but highly effective control scheme, a decent selection of beautifully detailed levels, and a great upgrade system, ARC Squadron embodies what makes an iOS game great and is a must-play.
As an elite pilot in the aptly named ARC Squadron, players are tasked with taking down the Guardians, a nefarious race bent on destroying the universe. You'll fight the Guardians through a variety of on-rail stages that have you destroying enemy ships, collecting energy cubes and avoiding planetary obstacles. Clusters of levels culminate with boss stages, each of which require their own strategies and techniques. While the story is rather cliché, there's still a lot to do in ARC Squadron, as completing the story unlocks harder difficulties to try. Normally, the basic formula and story described above would be enough for a decent game, but ARC does so much more.
I've got to admit, it's getting pretty hard to be enthused about zombie games these days. Not that there's anything inherently bad about undead annihilation, but the market does seem to be getting over-saturated. Zombiewood [Free] tries to make a name for itself by combining familiar zombie killing mechanisms (in the sense of dual-stick shooting) with thematic settings and freemium elements. While most would rightfully be leery about any free-to-play elements, Zombiewood does a good job incorporating a dual-currency system into an otherwise solid game, making it well worth checking out.
Zombiewood puts you in the role of a stuntman turned hero after a zombie invasion overtakes Hollywood. After figuring out that the mass slaughtering of undead makes good film, your director decides to put you in a variety of flicks all centered around zombie killing. Each movie is divided into scenes with each featuring a variety of objectives to accomplish. Hit enough objectives and you'll unlock a new movie to play in, with additional objectives to take on. It's a standard story system, but I still enjoyed the way levels were divided into movies and scenes. The use of multiple objectives per scene is also a nice way to encourage replayability.
Earlier this morning, Eli and I dug into Wreck-It Ralph [$0.99], the video game based on the movie. Wreck-it Ralph is actually a bundle of three games, each featuring one of the video games featured in the movie. The first one you'll see is "Fix-It Felix Jr.," a retro-infused platform game that tasks you with fixing windows that Wreck-It Ralph breaks. The second game you'll see is "Sugar Rush Sweet Climber." It's a tilt-based jumping game that plays a lot like Doodle Jump, but with different power-ups. The third game is "Hero's Duty," a fairly uninspired waved-based, dual-stick shooter.
Wreck-It Ralph isn't exactly the most complex set of games out there. Each one is fairly simple and control pretty easily. In fact, you could probably argue that this is a kid's game. Take that as you will.
The main reason we're showing this off is because it's a good example of a solid movie tie-in video game, which is something you still don't see a lot of. If you're into Wreck-It Ralph the movie, consider giving this a shot.
One game I don't think gets the recognition it deserves is Epoch [$0.99] from Uppercut games. It basically re-imagined the cover-based shooter for a touchscreen platform, and did it with loads of style. Instead of taking the oftentimes cumbersome approach of virtual controls, Epoch automates much of the actual shooting mechanics of a 3rd-person shooter. It guides you through its various combat scenarios and your main weapon fires automatically, leaving you to focus more attention on diving to different cover positions and determining the best times to pop up and take some shots.
It does this elegantly too, with an intuitive set of swipe gestures that make you feel like you're making your character dance in and out of hiding. With a host of upgradeable weapons and armor to choose from, as well as a cast of enemies each with unique attacks, Epoch is a highly strategic affair rather than a mindless blast-a-thon, and a satisfying one at that.
Earlier this morning, Eli and I spent some time with Gameloft's Zombiewood [Free]. It's a dual-stick zombie shooter that tasks you with killing a bunch of zombies across a variety of scenarios. In one level, you'll defend a boy as he runs around an undead-laden town. In another, you'll put out fires while the dead harass you. The scenario design in general is one of this game's high points, surprisingly. You'll always be doing something.
As you play, you'll level up your dude and gain access to newer, bigger, better, and increasingly more outrageous weapons that can be upgraded with the game's currency. As with most free-to-play titles, there's also a "control" currency that's rarely dished out, but is necessary for the best weapons and, oddly, support stuff.
We're still gathering our thoughts on this one, but we're high on the game so far. If you like shooting zombies and dual-stick shooters, considering give it a whirl.
Fans of Starfox or just very pretty space shooters are in for a treat as Brad and I sit down with Arc Squadron, the new release from Psyonix. Unfortunately, there is no annoying frog incessantly whining or a bunny rabbit yelling at you to "do a barrel roll!" Oh wait, did I say unfortunately? I meant fortunately.
While the surface similarities are there with a game like Starfox, Arc Squadron is very much its own thing, and it's also very good based on my time with it. You can do barrel rolls, and the control scheme is a very clever and intuitive touch-based one that gives you a very hands-on feel with your ship, and also allows you to make quick reactions to the bullets or general space debris that might will definitely end up in your path.
Arc Squadron looks absolutely fantastic, and more importantly it's a lot of fun. Plus it appears to have a whole lot of content to play through. It should be hitting with tonight releases, so be sure to check it out when it finally barrel rolls into the App Store.
Earlier this morning, Eli and I checked out Crumble Zone [
