Surprise! Sid Meier's Ace Patrol [Free], that turn-based WWI aerial combat game we talked about not too long ago, is now available on the US App Store for the low price of $0. What you get with that initial download is the first handful of missions in the British campaign, one of the four campaigns in the game. For a price, you can grab the rest of that one as well as the other campaigns.
There's some other IAP goodies being offered, too, including new skins and fighters, as well as a get-out-of-jail card, in case your fighter gets captured. I'm beyond tired of describing free-to-play systems, so check out our video to see them in action. Speaking of that, here it is:
Like most of Sid Meier's stuff, Ace Patrol is pretty rad. We've been digging it so far, free-to-play and all. Give it a look.
Back in early March we told you about Zynga's upcoming Temple Run-style game called Running With Friends, which was just entering a beta period in the Canadian App Store. Early today, Running With Friends [Free / Free (HD)] bid adieu to its limited beta launch and is now available in the US App Store and internationally. VentureBeat has uploaded an official trailer, check it out.
So, endless runners, ya'll. By now you know what they are, you've likely played many different kinds, and here's a new one from Zynga. I'm not really sure what else there is to say on the matter. Running With Friends is free for iPhone or iPad, so you can just download it and try it yourself if you're dying for a new endless runner, or check out the forums for discussion.
The folks over at Butterscotch Shenanigans may be relatively new to the iOS scene, but they've already made some waves with their offerings. Known for quirky humor and bright, silly visuals, I was introduced to their crazy world with Towelfight 2, a game that we enjoyed. Recently, I had the opportunity to check out a build of their upcoming game, Quadropus Rampage which looks to continue the developer's amusing style in a different setting.
Where Towelfight 2 was a set adventure in similar vein to classic top-down Zelda titles, Quadropus takes the same action-oriented gameplay but puts it in a different setting entirely. Dubbed a 'Rogue-like platforming action RPG' by the devs, there's a lot of different elements at play in Quadropus that come together for a pretty fusion of genres.
Players start every run with a level 1 Quadropus at the entrance of a dungeon in search of baddies to kill. Dungeons are comprised of randomized rooms filled with enemies, pitfalls and an exit to the next depth (i.e. room/level). Thus, the goal becomes to kill all the enemies while avoiding the chasms, and move towards the exit to the next level. Killing enemies reward orbs (which act as currency), experience, which levels up your Quadropus, and new weapons and power-ups. Interestingly, falling off the ledges instantly take you to the next depth, but at a significant health penalty.
While it's theoretically possibly to avoid killing enemies and simply look for the exits, it doesn't seem recommended as you miss out on essential experience and possible power-up and weapon drops. This is especially important as deeper levels contain stronger enemies which will easily mow you down if you're weak. In true rogue-like fashion, players move from depth to depth until they eventually succumb, with the next run starting at the top with a beginning level character. However, Quadropus Rampage features two different systems for improving your Quadropus between runs.
The first, simply called Upgrade, uses the orb currency to upgrade a variety of attributes that persist between runs. Examples include attack, critical damage, and special move improvements. It's a relatively standard system and, when combined with the leveling system, doesn't seem to offer many surprises.
The second system, known as Masteries, are a collection of achievements that award special skills upon completing them. Skill examples include earning more orbs when defeating bosses, unleashing a damage-causing explosion when leveling up, or gaining health whenever moving down a depth. If achievement hunting for skill-ups doesn't suit your fancy, Rampage also has a premium currency known as doubloons which can be bought and used to bypass the achievement portion of Masteries (they can also be used to revive your Quadropus and continue a run).
While the game is still in flux (for example, the tutorial mode hasn't wasn't in), I'm really liking what I see with Quadropus Rampage. The game's rogue-like nature, which includes randomized weapons and an amusing naming system, adds to a game that seems to have a lot more depth than one might originally see. In addition, the IAP system, at least as currently implemented, doesn't feel onerous. Finally, as was the case with Towelfight 2, Quadropus is simply funny and share the unique humor of other B-Scotch games.
Quadropus Rampage is slated to come out in the next month and we'll certainly keep an eye out for it upon release.
The roguelike is a timeless video game genre and helped shape the RPGs and dungeon crawlers we've known and loved for decades. But I've never played one that was a side-scroller. Not until WazHack [Free] anyway. Warwick Allison's WazHack has been around on desktop and Android for about a year, and has now made its way to iOS. I've only just barely scratched the surface of the game, but I'm already hooked.
The funny thing about WazHack is that it being a side-scroller doesn't really change its roguelike feel. You still explore a large, randomly generated dungeon; battle monsters in turn-based fashion; and collect all sorts of sweet loot like items, spells and weapons. Your overall goal is to plunge down to the bottom of the dungeon, retrieve the Amulet of Zaw (hey, that's Waz backwards!), and make your way back up and out alive.
Best of all is that WazHack is free to download and play (or free to play on the official website). Once you get to a certain depth in the dungeon, you'll be prompted to purchase a character class to unlock the full dungeon and continue on. There are four character classes (Knight, Wizard, Sorcerer and Huntsman with male and female versions of each) and each class goes for 99¢ as an IAP.
I like this system, as you can play as each of the different classes up to the cutoff depth as many times as you need, and then you can decide to buy whichever ones you really want. The free portion of the dungeon is more than enough to help you decide if WazHack is something you'd like to drop some money on, too.
I have a feeling there's lots more that I'll be discovering about WazHack in the days to come, but I was having such a good time and the players in our forums have been having such a good time that I felt the need to share it with you right away. But seriously, this thing is deep. With over 300 types of items and more than 130 types of monsters, not to mention the various unique attributes of each of the different classes, both male and female, and randomly generated dungeons, WazHack should be a very different experience every time you play.
Check out an older trailer from the desktop version to see it in action.
Something worth noting is that a couple of minor bugs are in this release version of WazHack. From the App Store description:
* Keyboard input on iPhone does not allow pop-down. This will be fixed very soon (1.1.5).
* Multiplayer does not work except by very circuitous means. This will take a little longer to get working - I may use GameCenter for this, but I would prefer that cross-platform multiplayer works, which will take longer.
Nothing major, but good to be aware of at least.
So, go check out WazHack, it's available right now and it's awesome. You can thank me later.
Heard about Tetris Blitz yet? In a nutshell, it's an arcade take on the title that has you dropping blocks and creating lines in a two-minute rush to get the sickest of sick scores. As you can imagine, it's flashier than regular Tetris. Provided you've got the coin to buy them, you can deploy power-ups that jumble, explode, or even remove blocks. And if you're making lines fast enough, you can activate a frenzy mode that, basically, turns most of the board into TNT. It's sorta like Bejeweled Blitz, except with Tetris. Simple enough.
Tetris Blitz hit the Canadian App Store today as part of seems to be a soft launch for the game. Eli and I took a look at it, mainly because we've been hearing a lot of junk about its free-to-play-ness.
As you'll see, it's loaded with ads, as well as those weird "take a survey" or "sign up for such and such" opportunities. You can also buy the game's currency for real money, and if you're feeling froggy, buy a couple of spins on the game's slot machine mechanic, which hands out random power-ups and coin allotments.
Surprisingly, Blitz isn't as aggressive as we though it would be. The game doesn't beat you over the head about what you can buy, at least. But, some of the power-ups do give players better pieces, which could certainly up their score pretty artificially.
One thing for sure, though: this game actually plays pretty good as far as Tetris games on iPhone and iPads, go. A neat prediction mechanic outlines where you can drop a piece, so all you have to do is tap instead of endlessly rotate your piece and follow it down. It's a neat touch. Also, there's the whole Tetris thing: this game, despite how old it is, continues to hold up as a great puzzle game.
Blitz should be out in the coming weeks. We'll keep our eyes on changes, as there will presumably be a few during this launch phase. Check out our video if you want to see it in action, by the way.
Kevin Ng's upcoming Impossible Road has the look and feel of an everyday mobile arcade game, but it's definitely not. In it, you guide a ball down an infinitely winding neon stretch of track, collecting points as you rocket through the numbered gates that line it. It's a simple, breezy task where death comes fast because the track twists, turns, and falls into itself. As you play, though, you start noticing gaps in the system. For instance, the ball doesn't need to follow the track linearly. You can let it fall off and land onto a stretch that's deeper down. You can also skip gates, too, and earn the same amount of points that a person that managed to hit them all would. Also, the ball doesn't even need to roll down. If you're a bad enough dude, you can just keep throwing it off the track and controlling its ricochet off of the curves.
I thought I was a crazy person when I started noticing this, but sure enough, Ng notes in the app description that this is a game about exploitation. "And when you learn how to cheat the game and you discover that it is rewarded not punished," the description reads, " the leaderboards will belong to you."
As far as physics and feel go, Impossible Road is hard to measure. I mean, as an arcade line game it feels OK. I mean, you can keep the ball on the track and it has a decent amount of weight and predictability behind it. But, the point seems to reside in breaking the game part, letting the ball tumble and roll and bounce off lower swathes of track -- you know, stuff that you're typically not supposed to be doing. Does it feel a little funky as a result? Sure, a little.
Strangely, Road also has that one-more-time thing going for it. I'd still be playing if I didn't NEED to stop and let you guys know about it. Does this say something about how much fun subversive play can be? I don't know! But since I plan to go back and keep racking up my sick scores that I totally broke the game for, may it does.
Impossible Road will be out tonight at around 11PM EST. You can add the game to your Watch List on our app [Free] and get a notification whenever it makes it over alongside the rest of tonight's releases.
While most fans of Square Enix should be rightfully concerned with some of the recentFinal Fantasy mobile offerings, one area competently executed are their ports of preexisting console FF offerings. Final Fantasy V [$15.99], the latest port to grace iOS, thankfully continues the trend of offering improved versions of the classic RPG series. Offering one of the better implementations of the main series’ job system, FFV is a great game in its own right, successfully makes the transition to iOS and should be added to the collection of any nostalgic RPG collector.
Originally released in 1992, Final Fantasy V wouldn’t grace the US until its inclusion in the PSX Fantasy Fantasy Anthology in 1999 (and wouldn’t see a mobile release until the 2006 GBA Version). It’s a shame that US FF fans had to wait so long, because Final Fantasy V was a pretty good entry in the series. The overall story, which centered on a sealed evil looking to destroy the elemental crystals holding its bond in place, features a lot of themes and character development that would be utilized in later entries in the series.
There’re a lot of folks that have probably played FFV in some previous iteration and are wondering what the differences are between this iOS version and previous ones. Content-wise, FFV for iOS features the same additions as found in the GBA version. This means that players will find an additional end-game dungeon as well as four extra job classes that weren't in the original. While the additional content is purely optional, the additional job classes add some variety for players that haven't experienced the GBA remake.
The one area that does change significantly in this iOS port is the art style. Instead of using the classic, highly pixelated models of the original, FFV on iOS has a very smoothed art style, with the game looking closer to the recently released Final Fantasy Dimensions. In addition, the game features more artwork from original artist Yoshitaka Amano at a much higher resolution than previous versions. While I welcome the additional Amano art, I'm on the fence about the rest of the visual improvements. There's a lot of nostalgia and charm lost in the move away from the pixel graphics and the current look feels a little bland.
The rest of the additions, meanwhile, are positive in my book. The music, which is classic Nobuo Uematsu, has been remastered beyond the chiptunes of old but still retains everything that made the original soundtrack great. FFV for iOS also includes an auto-battle mode, which speeds up the wait time between turns and automatically uses the previous commands issued for every character. This one little addition does a lot towards speeding up the grind, which is always a concern with these early RPGs. Little additions such as the ability to pinch-zoom the in-game map are also nice touches.
It's always hard to review these classic FF titles on iOS because they're always essentially ports of ports of the originals. Just as was the case with the previously released iOS ports, Final Fantasy V is a no-brainer if you're an RPG fan and have not had the pleasure of playing it. The story, job system, and classic Final Fantasy gameplay are strong in this title and showcase the golden age of  Squaresoft 16-bit RPGs.
At the same time, the changes to the visual engine and minor gameplay tweaks probably aren't enough to justify a purchase for fans that have already completed the game (especially on GBA). Although, there's still enough nostalgic appeal that odds are you'll probably buy it anyways.
We've been following along with the development of iMech Online [Free] since its first unveiling at WWDC last year, and over the weekend the game quietly launched for free in the App Store. Actually, to back up a bit, iMech was a game originally released way back in 2009 and was among the first iOS games to feature full competitive online multiplayer for up to 8 players. It was extremely impressive for the time, and iMech accumulated a dedicated fanbase of online players.
As can happen, the original development team broke apart and eventually iMech was removed from the App Store and its servers were shut down. A phoenix rose from the ashes in a sense, though, as some of the original team banded together and purchased the iMech IP and set forth to revamp and rerelease the game. And that's where we're at now with the release of iMech Online.
It's free to download and try iMech Online, and there's really no reason why you shouldn't. It has a fairly robust selection of mechs to choose from as well as a ton of customization options so you can trick them out with special abilities and weapons. It's a free-to-play title, though, so expect to need to grind away to earn some of this stuff or pony up some real dough to do it more quickly.
However, the game's new developer Mobula has tried to ensure there's nothing that's "pay-to-win" about their upgrade system, so even if you are new to the game and not quite fully-equipped just yet you can still match up well with those who are. Also they're using a League of Legends-inspired rotating system which gives you a selection of different mechs to try out each week, so you can check them out before committing to investing time or currency into them.
So far I've only spent a small amount of time with iMech Online, but it feels like there's a lot of potential here. I like the amount of different mechs and customization options, but with just one arena and a simple deathmatch game type it feels very basic. We'll see how it continues to evolve, but for free I think it's definitely worth the time to check out. Also, there's a discussion thread in our forums if you want to drop your own thoughts or suggestions on iMech Online, or just find some folks to frag.
Because we're always scanning the scene for games with sickest of sick tricks, Eli and I decided to give Djinn Works's Stick Stunt Biker 2 [Free] a shot. By titling alone, you probably already know what to expect. Yes, it's a stick figure game. Yes, it's physics-based. And yes, it has sick tricks. But here's something you might not know: it also doesn't have a rigid progression structure. Once you get access to a world, you can play every level in it, regardless if you manage to get one or even zero stars in a given level. Each win or loss is met by a loading screen that instantly sucks you into the next level, which is a nice pacing touch. A lot of these games make you retry and retry the same stuff over and over again, which for us tends to cause a lot of fatigue.
In this look, you'll notice that we can't quite pull of a sick trick. I swear, I could almost write a guide about how NOT to play this game. I'm pretty bad at it. Oh god, is this becoming a theme in TA Plays? It is, isn't it.
Anyway, you can grab Stick Stunt Biker 2 right now if you'd like. And if you still dig these kinds of physics games, you should consider doing so. The rapid-fire progression is a nice touch, plus the physics keep your bike really rounded to the ground. It just doesn't feel as loose and insane as its brethren, which is cool.
Remember Fall Down? It's a super simple arcade game that revolves around dropping a ball down a series of gaps between ledges. Think Doodle Jump, but flip the mechanics on their heads. Recent release FallDown! 2 [Free] takes this formula and spices it up a bit with a bunch of power-ups, a forever-falling laser beam of death, and some insane colors. People seem to really be digging this new treatment, too, as the game has rocketed up the charts and is currently sitting pretty at number one in Top Free.
Eli and I gave it a spin this afternoon and came away pretty impressed with the lack of free-to-play grossness. The actual game part is pretty rad, too. Its breeziness as well as accessibility are great features.
Eli used to play this on his old Calculator For Smart People, so we talked a lot about that in our elongated look at this chart topper. If you ever wanted to see it in action, here's your chance.
Fights in Star Command [$2.99] feel like sci-fi slugfests. Two interstellar pugilists meet and one meets its fiery doom under barrage after barrage of vicious, cutting plasma blasts. And that's just ship-to-ship combat. While fire is raining down all over the place, your crew is fighting off on-board enemies intent on destroying the innards of your ship. Even if you're a great player, you will lose people and your ship will be a fiery wreck after the battle. That's just how Star Command is.
What we're trying to get at is simple: this is a brutal game full of a lot of bad stuff that can happen. The majority of you were probably prepared for this, but for those of you who weren't and are struggling, we've prepared some tips and tricks that'll make your space adventure just a wee bit easier. We're cool like that. Here's five tips that we've discovered are key to staying alive long enough to smell the sweet smell of victory. And tokens. And space.
You've read the review, now watch a couple of idiots stumble around in the trap-filled crypts and hidden passages of Dark Quest [$1.99 / $1.99 (HD)], a turn-based strategy game with a ton of old-school board game design flavor. Also, skulls. It has tons of skulls, one of which must be rubbed from time to time in order to satisfy a jerky wizard.
I know, I know, hold the phone: you have to rub skulls in this game? The review's going to fill you in the best, but, in brief, every dungeon in Dark Quest is a mission sent to you from an evil overlord-y wizard guy. As you move around these dungeons and accomplish whatever the wizard wants, he'll hit you up at random times and ask you to rub something called the Skull of Fate. When you do this either something good or bad happens. For the most part, it seems like the results are always BAD.
Anyway, we had a blast playing this game earlier today. Who knew wizards could be fun?
With the new release of Angry Birds Friends [Free] yesterday, Rovio hasn't forgotten about their flock of other Angry Birds games as they've been teasing a new update for Angry Birds Seasons on their Twitter.
Last week, they tweeted out a teaser image featuring the iconic birds and pigs decked out in magician and clown costumes, promising that the next update will feature "magic."
Today, they've gone a step further and have actually created a live-action teaser and posted it to Vine [Free]. The video shows some of their planned magic in the form of portals that will transport your birds. Check it out.
I really liked that little video, it was really well done. And, much in the same way that adding gravity into Angry Birds Space and Angry Birds Star Wars, adding in a portal mechanic is a small but fundamental change that can really affect the way we normally play Angry Birds levels. I'm definitely interested to see how it turns out, so stay tuned and we'll let you know when the latest Angry Birds Seasons update hits.
If it's one thing Brain Seal Ltd's Dark-Quest [$1.99 / $1.99 (HD)]Â is good at, it's staying close to its roots. In fact, some might argue that this old-school turn-based strategy succeeds in that regard a little too well. Still, as a relatively basic TBS Dark-Quest offers an enjoyable experience with plenty of missions, a party combat system, and a few twists to the standard gameplay that will either intrigue or frustrate you.
If you're familiar with old-school boardgame dungeons such as Milton Bradley's HeroQuest, Dark-Quest will probably seem intimately familiar. Like the classic board game, Dark-Quest's missions are based on pre-generated tilesets full of traps, enemies, and loot. Players have a pre-determined amount of turns to accomplish the board's objectives and escape. Each action, such as attacking, moving, or casting a spell cost a turn. The mission ends when all your characters exit the dungeon (thus signaling completion), die, or run out of turns. Besides its boardgame underpinnings, Dark-Quest plays most closely to a combination of a rogue-like and turn-based dungeon crawler.
The combination of genres makes Dark-Quest a bit deeper than one might initially suspect. While the mission levels aren't randomized, the loot isn't which adds to variation between playthroughs. In addition, the available weapons, spells, and abilities that can be purchased for each hero between missions add to the available tactics and reinforce the roles that each should play. While these are important foundational elements that Dark-Quest gets right in making it a good strategy game, it still felt a little bland overall.
Frustration is also added to the mix with the the skull of fate, where the antagonist wizard will randomly force you to enact a random status effect on you (which is typically negative). The concept is supposed to keep you on your toes as the wizard is constantly watching your party throughout the story, but it seemed unnecessary at best and a cheap way to ruin your mission at its worst.
While Dark-Quest does a good job with the basics of the game, some of its supplemental design decisions are questionable and can be frustrating. For example, each turn defaults to the Barbarian's actions, with the game's limited AI taking over for the other two party members if you don't manually select them before ending the Barbarian's turn. In theory, the AI should go a long way towards speeding up the gameplay and lets you focus on the Barbarian. Unfortunately, the AI is incredibly spotty, with my cohorts either not attacking enemies when they're in range, or doing dumb things like picking up cursed gold that cause health damage. A very recent update thankfully provided the option to turn off auto-follow.
Another questionable decision is the fact that the game does not allow you to save mid-quest. If the game remains in your device's memory you can return to it if you leave the App, but if it gets cleared, you'll have to restart the quest from the beginning. Granted, most of the quests are relatively short, but I still don't understand the lack of some kind of auto-save.
On one hand, there's very little in terms of originality with Dark-Quest, especially in comparison to the board games it gets its 'inspiration' from. On the other hand, it's still an enjoyable strategy game that offers a simplified old-school experience that isn't typically executed well on iOS. Thankfully, as mentioned earlier, the developers are listening to players and updating the game with changes. Assuming you can get by its relatively basic offering (as well as the incredibly simplistic visuals), Dark-Quest is worth checking out for genre fans.
With the recent release of the excellent Lego Batman: DC Super Heroes [$4.99] on the iOS App Store, my heart fluttered quite a bit when I saw a game called Lego Star Wars The Yoda Chronicles [Free] pop up in the list of new releases. Was this a similar mobile version of the console Lego Star Wars games that I loved so much all those years ago?
No. It's not that, sadly. Instead, The Yoda Chronicles is more of a free-to-play, social, extremely light real-time strategy/action game that takes place in the Lego Star Wars universe. It seems a bit flimsy so far, but it's also not completely terrible, to my surprise.
You'll start by picking a side, either as a Jedi fighting for Yoda or a Sith fighting for Dooku, and then embark on a series of missions based on your choice. Missions take place in tiny environments from a sort of top-down view using a simple one-tap system to move your characters and vehicles around and interact with the environment.
The missions seem pretty straightforward, and involve things like killing certain enemies, collecting a specific item, and making it to an endpoint in the level. There's a 3-star grading system based on the missions you're able to complete and how quickly you're able to complete them. You can also collect studs by destroying enemies or items and then use them to build different kinds of vehicles at certain points in the level.
The missions may be standard fare type stuff, but they're bolstered by excellent CGI cutscenes in-between that tell the story of the struggles between the Jedi and the Sith. The Yoda Chronicles also has lovely 3D visuals and stellar music and sound effect, all straight from the Star Wars films and shows, naturally.
I was initially disappointed that we weren't getting the full-blown Lego Star Wars games from consoles, and I still am actually, but Lego Star Wars The Yoda Chronicles seems neat for what it is. I mean, it's free to download and there isn't a single in-app purchase in sight, so you've really got nothing to lose if you're a Star Wars fan looking for something new on your iOS device to occupy your time.
You can also play The Yoda Chronicles on the official Lego Star Wars website after May 4th ("May the 4th Be With You," get it?) and if you log in with your Lego ID you can even keep your progress up-to-date between the iOS and web versions as well as unlock special bonuses for doing so. Finally, later this summer when the game hits Android a new batch of levels will be released doubling the current amount of levels.
Surprise! Sid Meier's Ace Patrol [Free], that turn-based WWI aerial combat game we talked about not too long ago, is now available on the US App Store for the low price of $0. What you get with that initial download is the first handful of missions in the British campaign, one of the four campaigns in the game. For a price, you can grab the rest of that one as well as the other campaigns. 
