The Tapping Dead [Free], a retro, free-to-play, one button platformer with more than a passing resemblance to classic arcade games like Donkey Kong and Burger Time hit the App Store recently and I decided to give it a go. Boasting 150 levels, five playable characters, and a steep difficulty, The Tapping Dead hopes to separate itself from similar games with its unique aesthetics. Does it?
Well, yes, actually. The description for the The Tapping Dead on the app store claims that it’s easy to use, easy to learn, and easy to die (followed by a mwahahahaha) - and they ain’t kidding. This game is tough.
In a given level you’re presented with a complex room filled with zombies in mine carts, zombies tossing rotten flesh, and zombies doing all sorts of other dastardly things that you need to avoid...by waiting. The Tapping Dead’s one button namesake stops your character in his tracks. Going down a ladder, in between the blast radius of falling projectiles, or right in front of a shopping cart if you’re feeling suicidal, you push and hold that button, you’re not going anywhere.
There’s nothing quite as timeless as the bond between a boy and his dog. Countless movies, books, and television shows have been devoted to this heart-warming and somewhat emotionally manipulative theme. However, aside from a less-talked-about-the-better virtual pet craze a dozen or so years ago, this Hollywood favorite has not been particularly well mined by the gaming industry. Fetch [$3.99 (HD)] a new point-and-click adventure from Big Fish games, hopes to fix that.
At its most basic, Fetch is a very pretty, very cute, and mostly compelling point and click adventure game that charges a little boy in a space helmet, Milo, with the harrowing task of rescuing his beloved puppy, Bear, from the clutches of a not-quite-evil madman. A bizarrely designed sewer, an oddly populated desert island, and the most dangerous museum of all time stand between Milo and his best friend, and each colorful locale is loaded with puzzles, mini-games, and enough interactive elements to make your tail wag.
The plot is minimalistic, but heartfelt and earnest, with barks, sobs, whines, and some minor dialog from Milo, doing the emotional heavy-lifting of a story that takes place in a world containing flyable paper airplanes, dog-catching robots, Pirates, shellfish, row-boats, and singing rodents. Despite the wild setting, the characters ring true, and some nuanced animation and art direction has you rooting for poor Milo and Bear from the first time you see them.
Some companies like to release their games and apps in a market outside of the United States, to test the waters, gather feedback, and see how it performs. It's basically standard operating procedure for network-intensive games on the App Store.
That’s just what EA has done with Ultima Forever [Free]. Lord British is currently enjoying a soft launch in the Canadian App Store, with a worldwide launch expected by mid-June. As someone who currently lives in the Great White North, surrounded by hockey players on mooseback brandishing hockey sticks and maple syrup-filled squirt guns, I figured I’d give it a try. I was always a fan of the Ultima games, and this is the closest we’ll come to an Ultima Online 2 at the moment.
Character creation is pretty straightforward, with not too much variety. You have two slots available, and the game gives you a series of four questions, which dictate your personality. These four questions are always the same, and in the interest of science (well, gaming), I decided to go through each of them multiple times and see the outcomes. Sadly, after picking the same answer to all four questions twice in a row, the game gave me two different traits. Perhaps there’s something running under the random number generator that shouldn't be, or this is an intended choice. Either way, it seemed weird that choosing to turn a beggar in for his crimes, and telling a thief’s children what he did wrong, both resulted in a Compassion trait. Odd. Of course, you can skip all this and choose have a trait randomly assigned to you from the outset.
The game is billed as cooperative, with dungeon level requirements and estimated times to complete them, but in the amount of time I played, I came across, at the most, five players. This is hardly enough to warrant a conversation, much less embark in a dungeon. Perhaps this is an issue of a soft launch, and clearly not many people had downloaded the game as of yet.
There are some weird oversights, such as the inability to buy or sell items, as there are no vendors in the world of Britannia. Oversight? Or design choice? I guess we’ll see. There are also some missing textures and character models, which are most noticeable during a conversation, as portraits appear at the bottom of the screen.
The combat is fun, if overly simplistic, and a lot of the boss fights tend to descend into a simple pattern:
Tap on target to attack
Stand still while autoattacking
Move away when boss gets close
Repeat from step one
As it stands, Ultima Forever is a fun grind, but missing aspects that are commonplace in many RPG games, and currently has a very limited social aspect. When the game is launched worldwide, hopefully the majority of these issues will be addressed. You can discuss your feelings of Ultima Forever in the forums, perhaps find some people to group with, and let us know what you think of the game. I’ll be sure to have a review ready for its full release.
If you asked me what I've been spending the most time doing the past week or so, the answer is simple – playing the bajeezus out of the recently remastered version 2.0 of Sonic The Hedgehog [$2.99] that was released as a free update to the original iOS game. Seriously, this think is a bonafide work of art.
Rebuilt from scratch using the Retro Engine developed by Christian "Taxman" Whitehead, and with help from fellow Sonic hacker Simon "Stealth" Thomley, Sonic The Hedgehog 2.0 features tons of awesome enhancements over the previous bare-bones iOS version, and even over the original Genesis/Mega Drive classic.
You've probably heard about these features already: widescreen and Universal iPad support, 60fps smoothness, playable Tails and Knuckles as unlockable characters, a Time Attack mode, cleaned up visuals, a remastered soundtrack, Game Center and more. This truly is a remake for the fans, made by some of its biggest fans. (The Retro Engine was originally used in a fan-made iOS port of Sonic CD by Taxman several years ago, which Sega officially got on board with and released as Sonic CD [$2.99] and now Sonic The Hedgehog on iOS using his engine, with more said to be on the way. Kudos Sega.)
Anyway, what you may have not heard about yet are all the crazy features that are in this version of Sonic The Hedgehog that aren't on the "back of the box" so to speak. It didn't take the members over at the Sonic Retro forums, which is where Taxman and Stealth hang out themselves, to dig into the game and discover more of what it had to offer. The full level-select and Debug Mode from the original 16-bit games is intact here, but it goes beyond even that. Elements of Sonic 2 and 3, including the ability to add a 7th Chaos Emerald and get Super versions of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, are among the additional goodies tucked into Sonic 2.0.
A forward-thinking member of our forums took the initiative to compile all of Sonic's secrets in one handy discussion thread. There still may yet be more to uncover, but let's take a look at what's out there so far in terms of secrets, glitches and easter eggs. (more...)
Fans of bullet-hell shooters simply don’t see enough of the genre these days. Outside of Cave’s wonderful shoot ‘em ups – or annoyingly “Shmups” to some - the selection for these kinds of experiences fall short of what I’d expect; especially with how well they tend to play on touch devices. I was both excited and a bit cynical when I spotted Inheritage: Boundary of Existence [Free / $1.99] on the app store this week. Not only because it was a shoot ‘em up, but because Tinker Games - its developer - doesn’t seem to be another app store hack, pumping out cash-in-games with hopes of striking gold. As for the game: it’s unfortunately not a Cave quality experience but…it’s also not as bad as I was expecting.
In some instances, Inheritage is just another 2D horizontal-scrolling shooter with touch-controls - a la Blazing Star. In others, it’s attempting to weave compelling narrative in a genre that, primarily, throws story-beats out the window. Thankfully, if you want to skip all the blah-blah-blah and simply want to avoid a screen-full of bullets you can skip 90% of Inheritage’s story. I, on the other hand, believe Tinker Games should be commended for their efforts, of realizing a world – yes, with chunks of optional lore to read - in a shoot ‘em up. Not because their narrative is groundbreaking but because it simply exists where most others tend to stick to tired tradition.
Fore-warning: Anime! Tinker’s clearly a developer from the “far-east coast”, so expect a few hours of rad Indonesian voice-over, absurd plot-twists, loud elongated growls and all the other Anime-troupes some of us have come to enjoy. Inheritage’s plot grew on me, though, and by its end piqued my interest.
I flew our cat-eared protagonist – and her trusty animal companion - between the tightest of spaces by simply dragging a finger about the touch-screen. Controls work smoothly and never flinch, although on an iPhone the lack of screen tends to make things more difficult than they should be. Truth be told, I only managed to complete the game while running on my iPad; which should be a concerning note to anyone without one. The extra screen real-estate simply makes the action more visible without your finger blocking the view. To my surprise, the up-scaling to iPad doesn’t hurt the visuals with jagged edges noticeably.
Still, controls are not what tend to breed skepticism with shooters these days on iOS. The intricate dodge-patterns – yes, I’m totally being a nerd here – of Inheritage were a blast to fly through, even when they make you pull hair out with difficulty. These patterns are not often repeated and knowing what to expect – or figuring out how to navigate through the bullets – takes effort and a bit of practice, as it should.
Shoot ‘em ups are about challenge. It’s a niche genre that scares those away who are unwilling to struggle; unwilling to get better at the tasks the game is expecting of the player. Inheritage obeys those troupes, challenging the-will-to-try again. When your health meter depletes, you face the continue screen and decide to continue. Continuing does not penalize the player by dashing you back to the start of a level, instead dropping you right where you left of. Face the continue screen 5 times, though, and it’s game over; resetting all progress. Too harsh for some, I know, but it’s the kind of challenge fans of “Shmups” respect. The kind of challenge I too respect, mainly because the game feels designed around the principle.
Inheritage: Boundary of Existence has a lot going for it. Its music, unlockables, art, and story all prove Tinker Games makes love when developing their games. And while Tinker’s debut release on the app store is respectable it’s not without problems.
Its narrative, while interesting, is poorly translated. Levels are bite-sized endeavors – which is an understandable point being on a mobile device – and lack any environmental dangers. Load times are a bit long. No Game Center support means leaderboards remain only local and useless. And the lack of rotation-detection means you can’t turn your device over to a preferred holding position. Nit-picks and nothing a few updates can’t fix, sure, but still notable issues – especially the lack of Game Center leaderboards.
Inheritage should be respected. It’s a first-effort, packing impressive amounts of care and detail, and evidence of solidity with Tinker. If you “occasionally play things like this” or find Toon Shooter to be your favorite on iOS you may want to test run this puppy with the lite version; this is a challenging game and has plans to crush all motivation with every game over. Inheritage is fun, though, and an exciting effort to drive story through a shoot ‘em up. It’s an impressive game that's *just* an update away from being great.
Fact. Everybody loves vikings. Miniature vikings escaping dungeons? Even better. And there’s a lot to like about Utopian Games’ Little Viking Dungeon Of Doom [$0.99], but a bunch of small annoyances hold it back.
In Little Viking Dungeon Of Doom, you control the titular lil’ viking as he moves from room to room (100 total), collecting coins and keys to unlock doors to the next level. At the end of every level, the lil’ viking does a lil’ viking yell that is simply darling. Darling, I tell you!
A virtual controller moves the viking left and right and shifts gravity in four directions. You avoid spikes, monsters, guillotines and pits, and use boulders and pulleys and quick gravity shifts to get to those beloved golden keys. Levels start out incredibly simplistic, but gain in difficulty. Figuring out and finishing the later levels feels tremendously good, as that viking yell feels more and more earned.
The gravity mechanic is cool, and the best stages require thoughtful consideration and nimble movement. It takes a fair amount of futzing with each level, followed by some solid strategy, and finally, solid execution of the strategy. Unfortunately, the virtual buttons are way too small and close together, so after thirty attempts at one stage, losing because that gravity button is way too small and too close to the “move left” button makes the game feel like a dirty cheat.
This is the kind of casual game the iOS was made for. It’s got a nice, colorful art style reminiscent of Dungelot, the levels are quick and low commitment, and the concept is incredibly simple, but will have you constantly coming back as you further refine your technique- A similar impulse that classic puzzlers provide.
And yet there are so many issues that keep Little Viking Dungeon Of Doom from achieving casual bliss. All 10 levels need to be completed before gaining access to the next 10, meaning if there’s just one obnoxious stage that’s impossible to finish, tough luck. Keys don’t reappear after beating a level, meaning going back and replaying a level is useless. And there’s no Game Center support. So many little bummers.
The 100 stages are fun, and the gameplay gets more complicated and interesting as it goes along, but the look and music are stagnant. The visuals may be nice, but after 50 levels of the same color scheme, it’d be nice to see a change.
It was just released (with no IAP or ads), so hopefully Utopian Games could remedy some of this in an update. Bigger buttons alone would improve the experience immensely. As it stands, Little Viking Dungeon Of Doom is an imperfect but charming time-waster with lots of potential. And that viking yell. Seriously, someone needs to add that to a soundboard. So darling!
Telltale Games is on a high after their humongously successful Walking Dead: The Game [Free]. If you doubt that, go here to check out the ridiculous amount of awards it has won. Any game that releases after a massive hit always has a harder time living up to expectations which is why it was probably smart of Telltale Games to release another one of their most popular IPs to help offset the expectations. Enter Poker Night 2 which hit the App Store Thursday night. Sadly, they seem to have fallen victim to the classic Telltale blunder of releasing iOS ports that are choppy, glitchy, and overall just not up to snuff with any other version of the game.
Poker Night 2 [$4.99] itself is the sequel to their PC game Poker Night at the Inventory released in 2010. The sequel continues the tradition of bringing together many of their (as well as other developers’) popular characters. This specific installment features Claptrap (Borderlands 2), Brock Samson (The Venture Bros.), Ash (Army of Darkness), Sam (Sam and Max series) and GLaDOS from the Portal titles as your dealer.
For a game that lives and dies on its well established and famous characters, Poker Night 2 actually succeeds in this regard. There are lengthy dialogues intertwined between plays (which can be frustrating if you’re trying to play a quick game), and actual playing styles that are true to each character. They’ve done a great job meshing these characters in way that feels ultimately rewarding to those players who have played the characters’ solo titles. My favorite’s have got to be the sometimes off putting (in a good way) decision to make GLaDOS as your dealer.
The game has Texas hold ‘em and Omaha hold ‘em as your poker games. It does little variance (if at all) to these games which I enjoyed. My problem rests on being able to play the game at a “faster” pace. First, there aren’t any standard ways to fast forward through some cutscenes and dialogues per se. But worse yet, Poker Night 2 can get very choppy and often times laggy while playing. This is a constant problem with the game engine they use and direct port to iOS. In fact, this goes all the way back to our Jurassic Park: The Game [$2.99 (HD)]. Things have vaguely improved since then, but this has more to do with the hardware catching up to their engine’s requirements. Telltale has got to do some serious tweaking for iOS ports in the future.
Poker Night 2’s other big advantage is that tokens must be earned and cannot be bought. This provides much needed push to compete and actually win games. Said tokens can be used to buy in game items hardcore gamers should feel pretty happy about. The game’s got lot a lot of personality and character but falls short on actual playability on mobile which can be said for most of Telltale iOS games... sadly. I only recommend buying the game if you’re a dedicated fan of the series and want to play on the go, or if you’re willing to make do with said existing issues to play a game of poker with some of your favorite "friends".
Much like the Walking Dead game and other iOS Telltale titles, if your iOS device is the only way you have to experience them then they're worth checking out, but if you've got any other piece of kit capable of running these games you'll have a substantially better experience regardless of whether you're playing on a PC or home console.
I accidently recommended the endearingly terrible World Of Aircraft , [$2.99] to a very good friend, and I kinda feel okay about it. I was...blinded by ambition. In an effort to make a good impression here at TouchArcade, I gobbled up World of Aircraft with gusto and told my friends about it sight-unseen. I should have figured something was fishy when noticing the release notes’ less than familiar association with spelling, grammar and punctuation marks. However, it is safe to say that World of Aircraft’s tutorial level is the most unintentionally hilarious use of the English language in a video game since “All your base are belong to us”. The icing on the cake? The Tommy Wiseau level enthusiasm for its misappropriated text.
The game itself doesn’t seem that bad, if maybe hastily produced. You control a plane with swipes on the left, and on the right you get a sniper shot, shotgun shot, and machine gun for your dogfighting needs. The control is decent, diving can feel a bit loose, and there’s no way to loop around your enemy ala Star Fox, your only evasive maneuver being a dramatic high altitude shift activated via a double tap on the right of your screen. But, World of Aircraft certainly has the potential to be a fun little diversion to be enjoyed ironically. Or if you believe the folks on the forums, it's objectively bad - to which I say, a little junk food never hurt anyone.
But, guys, no one seems to be playing it. I have yet to get into a multiplayer game, and have found no one willing to brave the slam poetry of the tutorial. I can’t say with much authority that this is .99 cents well spent, but somehow I doubt you’ll regret it, and if enough folks buy it, maybe some of us who have already (accidently) purchased the game, can play too. As long as the developer games promises to never hire a translator, they may just gained a lifelong fan.
Rootwork [$4.99] bills itself as a Sophisticated Card Game, but what that means is left open to interpretation. It isn't a deck building game, a collectible card game or even a multiplayer experience. It's a solo game about being lost in the woods and staving off fear while you find your way home.
Doesn't sound much like a theme you'd expect in a card game, which are usually fixated far more on mechanical than thematic elements, but Rootwork succeeded at sending a shiver or two down my spine. It's an unsettling game, rooted in mysticism and darkness, and the creepiness weaves its way into the mechanics of the thing almost unseen.
You play a character lost in the woods—a child, an elder, a teen or an adult to begin with. Two have extra benefits, two have major weaknesses. They are something like difficulty modes, and something like game's one major source of variety.
You're accompanied by a capricious force known as She. She can be helpful—her card is always in your hand. If you make use of her power, she'll win a round for you outright. Every so often She will hurt you for it, though. That gamble is the central thematic conflict of the game.
To find your way out of the woods, you take your cards and visit Sites. These locations in the woods are milestones, and each character has a few milestones they need to visit before they escape. Find the right ones, clear them, and you're free for another night.
In your way are Menaces and Sticks. You clear them by matching the colors of your cards with the colors on them. Menaces will kill you with fright if you fail to get past them. Sticks will fill your pockets, leaving you without any flexibility for forming your hand. All the while, time is passing, and the weather is against you. Each turn a weather card is used, and when they're all gone, you're lost. Fright alone can kill you, but so can staying out in the woods too late.
So you match your cards to menaces, staving off fear, loss, fury corruption and deception. You trace your path back from milestone to milestone. In the end, hopefully, you make it out alive.
In practical terms, this means a good bit of clever card management and a lot of luck. Most of the time you'll need to manage your resources carefully, tucking certain cards into your pockets and knowing when to take some strategic damage. Sometimes you'll lose because you just couldn't draw the milestones you needed. Sometimes you'll lose because every big bad menace will show up against you. Sometimes you'll win because every single hand will go your way. Small hands and short games mean there's a limit to how much variety you'll encounter.
This is offset by the characters you have to choose from, and the way Rootwork manages progression. Your wins are tallied by character, and you unlock new cards at certain milestones. Playing the Adult or Child is distinctly easier than playing the Elder or Teen, but you'll need to handicap yourself with the latter in order to unlock the next cards.
The flaw in that system is that the milestones are far apart. Twenty wins per character, up to a thousand times overall—it's a lot to ask. The gaps are a little too large to keep the game interesting via progression alone, and the core game does need a little help with its hooks.
While you're unlocking new cards, you're also unlocking the story. Rootwork has a tale to tell about the malevolence of She who rules the Woods, and you unlock it piecemeal as you escape the menaces you encounter. It's a dark and bloody tale, well-suited to this unsettling game.
If you don't care about the story and you don't care about progression, you can go ahead and unlock all the cards via IAP. The game cautions against this sort of cheating, and unless you're going to be satisfied with the intrinsic motivation of simply playing, you'll probably regret it. Playing with those regrets is all part of the theme, though. Like the terrible mistakes Rootwork will let you make with She, you're free to ruin your own experience at will.
Ultimately the card game at the heart of Rootwork doesn't quite uphold its thematic aspirations. It's creepy, sort of, but not as unsettling as the rest of the package. It's mechanically strong, but not strong enough to carry it through a thousand or more winning games. That's not to say it isn't worth playing. Rootwork is a game worth sinking into, but few will have the tenacity to dig down into its depths.
Mugshot Games'CastleMine [$0.99] is one of those rare mobile titles that did not make its initial debut on iOS. In fact, the tower defense game was first introduced on Windows Phone and garnered enough popularity to hit a million downloads across the platform. In celebration of that milestone, the developers have now ported CastleMine over to iOS. While the game's basic TD premise is relatively simplistic, its deep upgrade system, tons of missions and digging mechanic offer a lot worth checking out.
CastleMine doesn't pretend to offer a compelling narrative to set up the game; all you need to know is there are baddies underground coming towards your castle and you need to defend your fortress from them. As this is a TD title, defending your castle is done via placing towers along the enemies' path. Missions are graded with a three star system, and players earn experience after each level that allow them to buy permanent tower upgrades.
I expected to play Magicka [$1.99 (HD)] lying on the couch with my feet up, slowly tapping the iPad in relaxing rhythms. Instead I found myself sitting-up, hunched over like a mad scientist franticly rapping on a touch-screen. I never expected to be as engaged as I would be, nor as impacted by its combat system. I did, though, expect this game to be great.
At least I got that one right.
Up to 4 players can adventure, as merry-men of magic, through Wizards of the Square Tablet’s comic-mischief story-beats. Its writing is as charming as its voice-acting and never misses an opportunity to crack a joke or make a few good references. More importantly, the story is paced perfectly for those using their iPad on the go, and never loses its charm because of it.
Magicka’s story weaves in-between 2D battle scenarios where the player – or players – is tasked to kill enemies, avoid and set traps, slay giant bosses, fight off hordes of ghouls, or simply survive. To do this one must learn the craft of Magicka; mixing and matching between 7 elements – earth, fire, water, shield, life, cold and lightning - to cast a spell. It’s up to the player to evaluate each battle's situation and cast the most effective attacks and defenses possible.
We called it whack-a-mole, back when I was a raid healer in World of Warcraft. It's been a while, but I'll bet things haven't changed all that much. You watch a screen of green boxes slowly deplete, and do your damndest to tag them with heals as they drop. Whack - a heal-over-time on the off-tank. Whack - a big heal on the main tank. Whack - a last second save for someone squishy. On and on until the boxes stop dropping, you look up, and hey—the boss is dead.
If you ever want to get that experience without all the fuss and pressure of actually raiding—to try it for yourself, to get a little practice in, or to remember the good old days, say—Healer: A Light in the Darkness [Free (HD)] has pulled it together just about perfectly. All the tension and tedium of healing big raids on the go.
In Healer, the experience of raid healing is whittled down to its finer points. There's no positioning to fuss about, no interactive widgets to interact with, nothing but pure, clean healing. You're not the raid leader, so you can't help your imaginary friends figure out that they should focus fire or, you know, tank better. You just heal.
Zynga gets a lot of flack for a myriad of reasons. This is typically due to ripping off other people's original ideas, spamming your Facebook feed (and your friends) with useless requests, or making a game that primarily exists to be an IAP cash cow. Did the inevitable finally happen, and they actually delivered a game that at its core is designed to be fun and playable?
Running With Friends [Free / Free (HD)] has been out in Canada for a while and was finally released worldwide a couple of weeks ago. I decided to check the game out for myself since it's free, and much to my delight, Zynga has added a successful social component to separate this runner from other games in the genre.
A comparison to Temple Run [Free / Free] is quite unavoidable at this point, so let's address that elephant in this review already. Frankly, Temple Run is indeed considered the father of all iOS runners. However if anyone's going to have beef with this game, Subway Surfers' [Free] is definitely its rival. In its core, Running With Friends is a touch-controlled lane-based runner as a opposed to Temple Run's tilt-based method of moving side to side within the game's levels.
You smash down into the outside of an airport. There are a swarm of yellow baddies attacking the place. J.A.R.V.I.S. tells you to get going while you can. You touch a button on your suit. You’re flying through the air.
This is how Iron Man 3 [Free] begins, the iOS game based on the $1B grossing film of its namesake. Gameloft’s latest casts you as the famous Tony Stark, on a quest to save the world from the evil ne'er-do-wells. While fun, the game sadly is in stark contrast to its business model, which partly goes against the protagonist.
The first thing you’ll notice are Iron Man 3’s graphics; they are outstanding. Gameloft has definitely gone to great lengths to make the game look good. Iron Man’s suit is reflective, which slightly shows off the world surrounding him. The environment is lush and detailed, making you feel like you’re actually in a living, breathing world, not laying in bed with your iOS device on your lap. However, the environments are also very limited, and you’ll quickly wish for some variety.
Appearances can be deceiving. In the App Store, Mosaique [$0.99] looks like it might be a generic block-pusher game, or some sort of warped Tetris clone. The truth is that developer Winning Blimp uses these familiar aesthetics to create something altogether completely different.
In Mosaique, Colored squares assemble onscreen in a seemingly random pattern, and you must navigate the screen’s perimeter to clear them by going to the side you want and then dispatching your colored square out into the field. You can only remove same-colored squares – send it out against something not matching your color, and the new color comes boomeranging back, and what you sent out originally takes its place.
It might sound somewhat complicated, but it really isn’t. It’s your level of mastery with this mechanic that will determine whether you’re a skillful player or merely just okay. It can be a little confusing at first, even with the tutorial, but the best way to understand Mosaique, alas, is to just try it for yourself. After spending a few hours with it, though, I can tell you: This is not a time-suck game in the traditional sense.
With soothing, almost meditative music playing, and a hyper-focus on the game’s sole mechanic, Mosaique can be downright distracting to the extent that the rest of the world can seemingly fall away and disappear. Falling under Mosaique’s spell, my entire world became these giant, differently hued pixels. Even though there's not a ton of depth here, there's something very absorbing about the game that's difficult to articulate.
What prevents Mosaique from being too easy is your shot meter. Every time you spew a square out to try to remove more, it dissipates slightly. If you’re careless, your play sessions will be rather short. The only way to survive is by strategizing, Raiders of the Lost Ark-style, when Indy is trying to grab the idol. If you’re in a rush and just go for the easy shots, you’ll be penalized. But if you’re crafty and realize, “Hey, if I shoot this blue one here for this green one… then I can use it to line up all these purple ones after I move the yellow one,” well, then, you’ll fare much, much better. You’ll also be able to continue on, because obliterating two or more squares in one go is the only way to extend your shot meter.
“Winning” is defined by completing seven different, increasingly more difficult puzzles. The game isn’t timed, so you can take as long as you want to hem and haw, but unless you have a chess-master’s mind, you probably will need to dive in and just start square-swapping to crack how to best survive the world of Mosaique.
The Tapping Dead [Free], a retro, free-to-play, one button platformer with more than a passing resemblance to classic arcade games like Donkey Kong and Burger Time hit the App Store recently and I decided to give it a go. Boasting 150 levels, five playable characters, and a steep difficulty, The Tapping Dead hopes to separate itself from similar games with its unique aesthetics. Does it?
