We ran in to Subatomic Studios back at the Penny Arcade Expo in September, and part of my chat with them included the mention of the new levels in the PSP version of Fieldrunners [App Store] eventually making their way to the App Store. These new maps are coming next month when the game is relaunched as the first member of OpenFeint's gold game program. Fieldrunners: Gold Edition will have an in-game store where these new maps will be sold as downloadable content, as well as being the first game to include OpenFeint 2.4 which will boast a number of new features including an in-game instant messaging service. Note, the "Gold Edition" will be a free update to current owners of Fieldrunners.
Similar to our monthly game ratings, the OpenFeint Gold program aims to pick out games which are not only of the highest quality, but also make excellent use of the OpenFeint service. They seem to be setting the bar fairly high in nominating Fieldrunners as the first game to get their gold rating, and it should be interesting to see what games they choose in the future.
Here are two screenshots of the upcoming levels, Frostbite and Skyway:
Each will feature new towers, new enemy units, and will require new strategies.
Fieldrunners was among the first of the highly successful tower defense games for the iPhone, and it's always nice to see original App Store classics like this still getting attention from their developers.
As one of the early tower defense games on the iPhone, Zombie Attack quickly became a cult favorite. The story of one man’s survival against a zombie invasion is something we could all get behind. But despite a fresh approach to the genre and all of that undead-hacking fun, the original game ultimately lacked a lot of variety with one small map and only four turret types. Zombie Attack: The Second Wave takes those concerns to heart and offers a vastly superior offering for those looking to fight off a legion of re-animated corpses.
Like its predecessor, Zombie Attack: The Second Wave will place you in the shoes of a zombie invasion survivor. You’ll be tasked with protecting a building from the undead horde. What sets the Zombie Attack series apart from other iPhone tower defense games is that your survivor will have to manually place and upgrade the turrets. You can’t simply swipe around the screen with a high omnipotent finger placing units willy nilly. You’ll need to safely guide your survivor past the oncoming monsters if you want to place that gun turret just right, or upgrade that cannon to maximum ferocity.
New turrets join old favourites and add a little bit of whimsy to this terror-filled TD. Scarecrows will attract zombies to their location and blow up in their faces. A giant hammer will pound back and forth trying to smash any zombies that get in its way. A ray gun will send out a space age sonic pulse that will slow the shuffling feet of the undead. Mix in Zombie Attack staples like saw blades and flamethrowers and you’ve got a fairly decent assortment of weapons at your disposal, which is good, as you’ll need them to tackle an assortment of new enemies.
The original Zombie Attack offered a fairly generic, repetitive experience in terms of enemy units. While the game boasted two zombie types, it was hard to ever notice a difference. This time around IUGO has introduced a slew of new baddies to tackle. Cheerleaders can use their heads as projectiles. Winged beasts are immune to a variety of turrets. Hounds lock on to the survivor and go for the throat. The Second Wave offers 6 zombie types, which is more than enough to help keep things fresh and a definite change from what’s come before.
Tools of death and types of terror aren’t the only thing to see an increase in Zombie Attack: The Second Wave – the map situation has taken a drastic step forward, going from only one map to four. The maps aren’t just greater in number, they’re also better by design. Larger areas mean you’ll need to scroll around the playfield to see every inch of zombie territory, and different map layouts mean there will be different obstacles that you can try and exploit. Each of these areas showcases a different location like a backyard or a trailer park. It’s a nice touch, but at the end of the day what makes these maps a success isn’t whether or not you’re navigating a spooky graveyard or an abandoned highway, it’s how different each of these levels plays.
This video by AppBank doesn't show much of gameplay strategy but shows moving your character around, though many towers have already been built:
If you grow tired of playing these different maps in the standard Survival Mode, you can check out the surprisingly robust Challenge Mode. You’ll select from 20 different challenges (5 for each map) that offer up some twists on the series tried and true survival gameplay. One challenge may restrict you to using certain turrets. Another may speed up the movement of the zombie horde. With 20 in all, there’s enough here to keep any tower defense fan occupied for days.
Zombie Attack: The Second Wave retains everything that made the original a cult classic while at the same time offering a drastically more robust package than its predecessor. If you were a fan of the original, Zombie Attack: The Second Wave is pretty much a no brainer. As for tower defense fans that found the original a little too shallow, the depth of content offered here definitely makes this franchise worthy of a second look. With all of the new additions and improved gameplay, it’s hard to not fall in love with Zombie Attack: The Second Wave. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun killing zombies with saw blades.
Here are some games that have come out recently that are worth a look, but with all the excitement this week between the Eliminate and TouchPets Dogs previews and the 360iDev Game Jam they sort of fell between the cracks of front page coverage.
Bloons Tower Defense
Last month we posted an early trailer for Bloons Tower Defense [$2.99], an iPhone port of the Bloons spinoff tower defense flash games, all playable on the Ninja Kiwi site. Bloons [99¢ / Free] was a wildly popular game on the App Store, and if the positive reactions in our forums are any indication, Bloons Tower Defense may be another hit.
Bloons Tower Defense comes with 50 levels over 15 different tracks with multiple difficulty levels and unlockable medals for each. The game has the same touch controls of other tower defense games on the platform, along with oodles of different towers, upgrades, and tons of balloons for your monkeys to pop.
Mr. Mahjong Touch
FDG Entertainment, most famously known for Parachute Panic [99¢ / Free] and Bobby Carrot [$3.99] recently released Mr. Mahjong Touch [$4.99] based on the popular Mr. Mahjong series of mobile games.
Mr. Mahjong Touch features 100 layouts, 4 tilesets, tons of unlockables, and even a shop system where you can buy power ups. Big Albie posted a review of the game on our forums, and according to him, the game is "easily one of the best mahjong games on the platform."
Galcon Labs
Galcon Labs [99¢] is an evolution on the original Galcon [$2.99 / Free], providing the same basic gameplay with four new game modes not found in the original.
Billiards – The the planets that make up the battlefield are in constant motion.
Stealth – Enemy ships are only briefly visible after launching from a planet.
Crash – Ships collide with each other, so instead of just going after planets you can run in to the enemy to win.
Assassin – Players start with assigned planetary targets, the first player to capture their targets wins.
Reactions on our forums have been mixed as some people feel there hasn't been enough change to justify an entirely new game, while fans of the original are greatly enjoying Galcon Labs. If you haven't played a Galcon game, I recommend trying Galcon Lite.
Toy Bot Mini Missions
IUGO seems to be pumping out additions to the Toy Bot series like crazy lately. Toy Bot Mini Missions [$3.99] is based in the Toy Bot universe and comes packed with 100 mini games and 12 unlockable playable characters. These ultrashort levels are a bit of a departure from the other Toy Bot games which feature an extended level structure.
Fans of the Toy Bot series may want to consider Mini Missions, but if you're new to the Toy Bot world, you might want to try some of the other games or even the free version first. Take your pick of the seven different Toy Bot games on the IUGO App Store listing.
Here are a number recent game releases that we had previewed in the past. All seem to be solid titles, though none we felt compelling enough to highlight on their own.
Skee-Ball ($0.99) – The officially licensed version of Skee-Ball from Freeverse and Graveck. This game will feel familiar to owners of 10 Balls 7 Cups as it was created by the same developers, but with some notable improvements. There are some additional control options as well as the use of the accelerometer to add spin to the ball. The biggest upgrade, however, seems to be the integration of actual pictures of prizes that you can keep and integration with Plus+ for achievements and leaderboards.
As good a version of pure Skee-ball as can be found on the iPhone, but it's still just endless Skee-ball.
Against the Fire ($0.99) – Meridian's followup title to the well received dual-stick zombie shooter Alive 4 Ever. Against the Fire shares the same excellent dual-stick controls that control your player through the flaming levels. The goal is to save all the people on each of the 50 included levels. Unlike Alive 4 Ever, the game is more of an arcade game without any of the RPG elements we loved so much in their last title. Gameplay is also a bit simpler with a few power-ups on each level that are only active for a short period of time. The level designs are much more intricate with rooms and hallways that must be navigated to find the trapped people who you must lead to safety.
Overall a very well executed title, but we preferred the gameplay of Alive 4 Ever for the reasons listed above.
Moonlight Minions ($1.99) – Yet another entry into the tower defense section of the App Store which seems to be getting more and more crowded on a daily basis. All of the standard tower defense elements are in place such as six different towers that cover all the standard attack types (direct damage, splash damage, slowing, etc.) and each have a three tier upgrade system. Moonlight Minions also features Sentinel 2-style special powers such as Earthquakes or Lightning that are unlocked as you clear levels in the game. Each level can be played in classic or endless mode across three levels of difficulty.
The main thing that makes Moonlight Minions stand out from the pack is the whimsical fantasy art style. While it's a solid take on Tower Defense that may be worth adding to your TD arsenal, it's hard to say that it's better than many of the iPhone TD staples.
Critical Thought Games' geoDefense Swarm has finally arrived in the App Store [$0.99]. We previewed the game back in August and loved it.
Fans of the original will no doubt love geoDefense Swarm. It has the same excellent Geometry Wars-inspired graphics, massive particle effect explosions, and (at higher difficulty levels) will test the skill of even veterans of the tower defense genre. In my time with the game there has been many times where I've lost levels (or been close to losing) and just turned my phone off, decided I was finished with the game… and then five minutes later would be playing again. How much geoDefense Swarm has me coming back to it, even after punching me in the face with creeps, really is an excellent benchmark for how good the game is.
geoDefense Swarm is an open field tower defense (TD) followup to the original geoDefense which was a fixed path TD game. Beyond its beautifully implemented retro style, the original geoDefense received high praise for the franticly paced and challenging nature of its levels. geoDefense Swarm seems to carry this design philosophy forward into the open field format where you need to build the path for the enemies to traverse.
While some of the tower placements were obvious in the original, the sequel leaves you with wide open maps and many decisions to be made. Towers can be built on a hex grid which is constructed of several types of terrain. For instance, some hex tiles you can't build on but creeps can move through, and some tiles speed creeps or even heal them. The amount of variety in each level really tests your tower defending skill and how well you can utilize the included towers to survive. A strategy you discovered in a previous level can be rendered completely ineffective thanks to the next level's hex grid layout.
The game has 30 levels, 6 tower types with 7 levels each. geoDefense Swarm is available for only $0.99.
Everyone loves a freebie! If you don't already own these four games, their respective developers recently released lite versions for you to whet your appetite before jumping in to the full version:
Lion Pride Lite, Free (Lion Pride, 99¢) – A neat spin on line drawing games, Lion Pride has you taking control of lions and chowing down on the various prey of the African wild. Utilizing a Draw Race-like system where the speed of the line you're drawing determines how fast you move, Lion Pride is a great addition to the somewhat crowded line drawing genre. We enjoyed the full game in our review, and Lion Pride Lite is really worth checking out.
Uno Free, Free (Uno, $4.99) – What even needs to be said about this? If you've ever played the XBOX Live Arcade version of the game, the iPhone version is very similar. If you haven't, just imagine the classic game of Uno playable against AI opponents as well as friends or complete strangers online, all without needing to carry around a deck of Uno cards.
Dungeon Defense Lite, Free (Dungeon Defense, 99¢) – Dungeon Defense is similar to a tower defense game, except instead of building towers you position guards in a number of predetermined points on the map. You have a variety of units that can be placed such as swordsmen, archers, or axemen, and you need to fend off waves of attackers. The lite is worth checking out if you're a fan of the tower defense genre.
NFL 2010 Free, Free (NFL 2010, $2.99) – If you're looking to find out how a full-on football game works on the iPhone, give NFL 2010 Lite a try. We thought NFL 2010 was impressive in our review, but since then, Madden NFL 10 has also been released. Gameloft has attempted to make the decision between which game to get a little easier, recently dropping the price of the full version to $2.99.
Wandering around the PAX floor today sniffing out iPhone news I came across Ash from Subatomic Studios showing off Fieldrunners [App Store] while handing out swag to anyone walking by. It's no secret that Fieldrunners is going to be a premiere title for the PSPGo's equivalent to the App Store. The game is obviously getting tweaked for the PSP, but the two new levels not found in the iPhone version of the game will be coming sometime this holiday season via downloadable content (DLC) at 99¢ per map.
If you haven't seen the two new maps, check out this trailer for the PSP version. Frostbite is the winter themed one, and Skyway is the air field map.
Another interesting point of the discussion may be of interest to other iPhone developers, according to Subatomic Studios, porting the game to the PSP Go was an easier transition than they initially expected. At the $250 price point it's hard to say what kind of a customer base will be available for Sony's App Store, but any competition to get Apple to streamline how things work on their own App Store is a good thing for everyone.
Subatomic Studios also has some new games in the works, although they were reluctant to talk about them. They said we could expect some announcements next year.
There is by no means any kind of shortage of tower defense games for the iPhone, and for a good reason. The genre works great with the touch screen controls, and most of the games are fantastic for playing for a few minutes at a time on the go. We've recently got word of two new contenders throwing their hat in to the tower defense ring:
Bloons Tower Defense – Playing on the success of the balloon popping game Bloons [99¢ / Free], Digital Goldfish recently released this trailer for their tower defense spinoff game. Similar to Bloons, Bloons Tower Defense also started as a popular flash game. Will Bloons Tower Defense see the same positioning on the App Store top ten as Bloons did? It's hard to say, but if they can recruit the army of Bloons players in to being tower defense junkies, they will really be on to something.
Moonlight Minions – Another 2D tower defense game with a few unique twists and a very nice art style. Each monster in game has their own abilities such as being able to teleport, spawn hatchlings, or even go in to stealth mode. To cope with these abilities, in addition to the array of towers there's also a bar along the bottom with three different powers you can use. The lightning bolt does heavy damage to a single target and stuns nearby monsters, the earthquake briefly stuns all the monsters when you shake the iPhone, and there's even a meteor shower that does periodic area effect damage. Also included are two different boss types which also have their own powers too.
Both Bloons Tower Defense and Moonlight Minions are coming soon.
PopCap Games announced this morning that Plants vs. Zombies will be available on the App Store by the end of the year. Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense game for the PC and Mac that has been well received by critics and so far has sold more copies since its release earlier this year alone than any other game PopCap has published.
In the game, players plant various types of plants to stop an army of zombies from reaching your house. As you survive through the different levels, you encounter new zombie types and unlock new seeds for your horticultural arsenal. Plants vs Zombies has the same cartoon art style seen in other PopCap games, and is dripping with charm as zombies equipped with pots for helmets and screen doors for shields are slowly dispatched by your pea shooters. There's even a Michael Jackson lookalike zombie that dances and raises other zombies.
The PC and Mac versions of the game also include an endless survival mode, a puzzle mode, and a set of mini games based on other PopCap titles. If they manage to pack all of these features in to the iPhone game, Plants vs. Zombies is going to be very hard to pass up.
Here is the trailer PopCap released for the computer game:
Plants vs. Zombies is a surprisingly fun game that seems to appeal to both casual gamers and tower defense nuts alike. If you've never heard of it, I highly recommend downloading the free trial from the PopCap site.
It seems like the cool thing to do this week is to drop the prices of your games, or even put them up for free. Here are two more games that just went free today that we enjoyed in the past that are worth downloading.
Saucelifter – A retro styled game with vector graphics and simple tilt controls. In Saucelifter you fly from side to side blasting open prisons to save your captured alien buddies. It's not that easy though, you have to deal with the Earth defense forces that include tanks, turrets, and even flying attack drones. Since its initial release, the game was updated to include even more content, weapons, graphics, and sound.
Note: These games both recently had their prices adjusted to free, so if you don't see the price changes yet, you may have to wait a bit to the changes to propagate to your country's App Store.
We ran in to Subatomic Studios back at the Penny Arcade Expo in September, and part of my chat with them included the mention of the new levels in the PSP version of Fieldrunners [App Store] eventually making their way to the App Store. These new maps are coming next month when the game is relaunched as the first member of OpenFeint's gold game program. Fieldrunners: Gold Edition will have an in-game store where these new maps will be sold as downloadable content, as well as being the first game to include OpenFeint 2.4 which will boast a number of new features including an in-game instant messaging service. Note, the "Gold Edition" will be a free update to current owners of Fieldrunners.
PopCap Games announced this morning that Plants vs. Zombies will be available on the App Store by the end of the year. Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense game for the PC and Mac that has been well received by critics and so far has sold more copies since its release earlier this year alone than any other game PopCap has published.
