There was a time when pretty much every movie tie-in game was just plain awful, but for some reason in the mobile gaming world there have been quite a few really good ones. Games like Temple Run Oz or Fruit Ninja Puss in Boots take an already proven formula for a game and weave the movie theme around it to make a natural fit.
One of the newest movie tie-in games released is a joint venture between PikPok and Dreamworks Studios for the upcoming movie Turbo. The movie is about a snail named Turbo who dreams of being a race car driver, and following a freak accident involving a nitrous oxide spill that gives him turbo speed he sets out to make his dream come true.
PikPok's take on the movie is called Turbo Racing League [Free], and follows Turbo's escapades on his way to becoming the fastest snail in the universe. Is that even something to be proud of? That's like being called the smartest dumb person in the world. But I digress.
Turbo Racing League itself is actually a very fun kart-style racing game. By that I mean it's very casual and arcadey, with a heavy emphasis on drifting and hitting turbo pads spread along the track. The game's 9 courses are all made out of real-life mini locations like a kitchen table or a garage, and you can trick Turbo out with spoilers for his shell that give him improved attributes.
It's all pretty standard racing game stuff, but it's very well done, like most PikPok games. What sort of blew my mind is that in conjunction with the release of Turbo Racing League, Verizon has stepped in to throw a competition called the $1,000,000 Shell Out and are giving away a million dollars in prize money. For the next 8 weeks the top 10 racers per week will each win prizes from a $500,000 pool, then all 8 of the 1st place winners will fly out to Los Angeles for the finals and a chance to win the grand prize which is the other half of the million.
A million dollar prize for a mobile movie tie-in game seems nuts to me, but here we are. You can get the full rules and all that jazz from the official $1,000,000 Shell Out website if you're interested in entering, but even if not, Turbo Racing League is a pretty neat racing game that's free to check out. People in our forums have been enjoying it as well, and as for the actual movie, that'll be opening in theaters in July.
Gangstar Rio: City of Saints, Free - Gameloft is offering up a couple of freebies this weekend on two games which have never been free before. First up is Gangstar Rio: City of Saints [Free], their take on the whole Grand Theft Auto open-world sandbox game. We reviewed Gangstar Rio when it released back in late 2011, and despite some typical Gameloft-isms like terrible voice work and a paper thin story, we thought it offered up a fairly robust open-world crime game experience.
It's been pretty regularly updated too, adding in new content and most recently widescreen support for the iPhone 5.
N.O.V.A. 3 - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance, Free - The second game being offered up for free is N.O.V.A. 3 [Free]. Previously, the N.O.V.A. series had been mostly a riff on the Halo games, but this most recent entry more closely resembles something like Crysis. Either way, expect lots of sci-fi first-person shooting action and impressive visuals. As with most Gameloft entries, there's a robust online multiplayer offering in N.O.V.A. 3, and as such we gave it its own review back when the game released in May of last year. We also reviewed the single-player campaign, which is pretty excellent as well.
Gameloft has been flirting more with free-to-play games as of late, but both N.O.V.A. 3 and Gangstar Rio are premium-priced games that you can snag for zero dollars right now and through this weekend. Don't miss out.
While tower defense is one of those genres that I can't seem to get enough of, even I have to admit that it's high-time for some innovation. Enter Go Home Dinosaurs [$4.99 (HD)], the latest title from Fire Hose Games and a TD game that looks to carve its own niche.
While a first glance might lead one to believe its primarily for kids, beneath the playful, cartoony exterior lies a game that expertly combines tower defense with puzzle elements, making it one of my current favorites of the genre.
Apparently the love for BBQ is so great it extends across time periods and species. As such, Dinosaurs puts you in command of an army of gophers that must guard their delectable BBQ pit against an onslaught of hungry dinosaurs.
When it comes to basic tower defense gameplay, Go Home Dinosaurs plays similar to many other titles. Dinosaurs run down a pre-set path towards the BBQ pit with two pieces of dynamite acting as last-second defenses against impending BBQ devouring. Meanwhile, players place a variety of gopher-manned weapons around the path in an attempt to drive the dinos towards extinction. A coin system rounds out the gameplay, allowing players to earn currency in-game (no IAPs) and purchase supplemental towers with limited, but powerful effects.
The introduction of airplanes changed the face of warfare. The same could be said of Firaxis' entry to the iOS gaming scene: when a Triple-A studio headed by the cherished game designer Sid Meier starts putting out iOS exclusives, you just know things are never going to be the same. Only, instead of bringing about unparalleled death and destruction, this watershed moment marks a new era of quality mobile gaming.
Firaxis has stormed on to the mobile scene: first came last week's spooky strategy game, Haunted Hollow [Free] (see our review here), and later this summer should see the release of the much-anticipated iOS port of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Sid Meier's Ace Patrol [Free] completes this strategy trifecta, and is the first iOS exclusive to bear the legendary designer's name. His involvement shows: Ace Patrol is a fantastic, meaty title well-deserving of your time and gaming dollar.
Ace Patrol sees the player leading a squadron of pilots in World War I, witnessing the infancy of aerial combat. Ace Patrol is a premium game masquerading as a freemium title: the free download serves as a demo and gives you a portion of the British campaign to play. The full British, French, German and American campaigns are unlocked as IAP for $0.99 a piece.
With the recent announcement that Diablo would be making its way to consoles, gamers have been looking for something to satisfy their hack-and-slash needs on their iOS device. Gameloft recently released the fourth installment of their dungeon crawler, Dungeon Hunter 4, and less than two weeks after, Gamevil has come out with their first foray into dungeon crawlers with Dark Avenger [Free]
Dark Avenger is all action with little in the way of overall substance. As of this review, there is only one playable class, the Templar, with a second class “coming soon”, the Ranger. Despite having only one type of character at the moment, the game gives you three save game slots. You're tasked with killing bad things from bad places because... well, it's a game without a story. Perhaps because some evil convenience store clerk looked at your grandma the wrong way and now you're exacting sweet revenge.
Delving into the game proper is as easy as choosing your character and selecting your mode. Single player consists of progressing through multiple levels, all within the same basic environment. The virtual joystick is dead simple to use; one joystick on your left controls movement and direction, while the icon on your right controls attacks. Tap it once for a basic attack, tap it up to three times for a combo attack.
Veteran designer John Butterfield's Batle of the Bulge [$9.99 (HD)] is one of the best historical wargames we've played. Designed from the ground up for the iPad, it feels perfectly suited to that device - so much so that one of its few flaws is that it isn't quite as perfect a fit on the iPad Mini's smaller screen. With it's Avalon Hill-esque gameplay, appealing and unintrusive winter campaign styling, and inspired mix of original and sampled period music, the main thing we wanted in our review of it was more.
Shenandoah Studio delivers in a new update that includes three additional scenarios (two free, one IAP) and two new AI generals. They're so confident that the new AIs, modeled on Omar Bradley and Hasso Von Manteuffel, are going to your socks off that each one is a $1.99 IAP. I was initially skeptical of that decision, but having played against each one, I have to say that Von Manteuffel is, as advertized, a tricky bastard. He stole a draw from me in what should have been a clear win for the Allies. When I played Axis against Omar Bradley in the shortest scenario, "Race to the Meuse," I won easily, but I noticed that he'd done a good job of flanking me: if I'd been playing the full Battle of the Bulge scenario, I would have been in a lot of trouble going forward.
The scenarios are more straightforward: "Bitter End" appeals to those with no patience for victory points and conditional wins by playing out to the, ahem, bitter end of the engagement. That's a feature many players had been clamoring for. There's also added replayability with "Luck of the Draw" which deviates from history by shuffling starting unit placement and reinforcements. Both "Bitter End" and "Luck of the Draw" are free, and are more oriented to players who want some of the options commonly found in strategy videogames.
For the grognards, there's "The Endgame," featuring the siege of Bastogne, which some of you may know from Band of Brothers, and famous for Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe's laconic response to a demand that he surrender: "NUTS!" If you've ever wanted to stand with the 101st Airborne at Bastogne, or if want to see if you can break McAuliffe for his impudence, "The Endgame" will let you fulfill that fantasy for $3.99.
The pricing scheme here is clever: Shenandoah has made the content that will appease those who wanted more "bang for their buck" free, while offering more exotic goodies to the hardcore at a premium. In a move worthy of Von Manteuffel, you have to go to the "purchase" screen to get "Luck of the Draw" (for free), thus ensuring that nearly every player will see the premium IAP. The update is also well-timed, bridging the gap between the winter release of Battle of the Bulge and forthcoming El Alamein, which should be giving us a chance to wage war in the desert sometime this summer.
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.
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...)
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.
"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.
There was a time when pretty much every movie tie-in game was just plain awful, but for some reason in the mobile gaming world there have been quite a few really good ones. Games like Temple Run Oz or Fruit Ninja Puss in Boots take an already proven formula for a game and weave the movie theme around it to make a natural fit.
