As someone who has spent more time than I'd care to admit playing both the first JellyCar [Free] and JellyCar 2 [99¢], I've been having an absolute blast with Chalkboard Stunts [99¢ / Free]. Featuring similar gameplay to the JellyCar series, developer Manta Research ups the ante by including a full featured level editor that not only allows you to create your own levels, but also upload them and download levels made by other players.
The object of the game is simple, you drive your little car across a track drawn out on a chalkboard to reach the finish flag. Buttons on each side of the screen control your movement and the rotation of your car for landing properly off jumps. You can also make your car bounce by tapping the screen. The included maps start out extremely easy, and slowly introduce more gameplay elements such as loops, ramps, and objects you can ram or otherwise interact with using your car.
Much like the JellyCar games, it doesn't take long for these courses to get amazingly difficult and you experience the same sense of satisfaction when you finally beat a level with your car spinning out of control and just barely crossing the finish flag. The levels you can download online vary in quality, but I've had a good time playing through the ones I've tried.
These silly physics puzzle racing games are among my favorite kind of iPhone games, and I've been having a great time exploring the various user submitted levels in Chalkboard Stunts. So much so that this review was delayed by nearly a week because every time I'd sit down planning to write something about it I'd fire up the game and lose an hour to it.
I still prefer the original JellyCar (Mostly because of the awesome music) but if the community generated content in Chalkboard Stunts keeps up, I can easily see it living a long and happy life on my iPhone.
It is said that the best ideas are often the most simple ones, and there doesn't seem to be anything quite as simple as the dot. Developers One Man Left seem to agree, as they've staked their entire game, Tilt to Live [App Store], on the premise of our beloved period; albeit the rapacious, hell-bent variety.
Tilt to Live is at its core, an object-avoidance game wholly utilising the accelerometer of the iPhone or iTouch to maneuver your arrow around the battlefield. I say battlefield, because that's exactly what is going on here– the dots are out to get you and will stop at nothing. And it is remarkable just how much personality One Man Left have managed to inject into such a straightforward concept. These are certainly no ordinary dots– these perilous periods make a point (ha!) of chasing you around the screen; coalescing into arrows and other shapes then hurling themselves at you at breakneck pace, or circling you like vultures, slowly closing in until it is impossible to escape. Make no mistake, touch even one of the hundreds of dots on screen at once, and you are history.
Sounds mind-numbing? Fear not! Our arrow protagonist has a range of very awesome weapons at his disposal to send these dots back to whence they came. Your arsenal really defines Tilt to Live because it shows an attention to detail and knack for the inventive that escapes many games we see on the AppStore. You start off with just a few basic powerups floating around the screen waiting to be collected. The most basic is a nuke explosive (Yes, a nuke is standard fare in Tilt to Live) but you also have a dot-seeking multi-rocket powerup and a haduken-style fireball which clears a portion of the screen in the direction you're facing. Each of the weapons require a different strategy to operate effectively and are useful in varying situations.
This thoughtful design factor continues through to the unlockable weapons, too, where eventually you'll unlock weapons such as a spike shield that lets you hurl yourself at dots as they literally cower away in fear or a vortex attack that sucks all nearby dots (and you if you're not careful) into a black hole, to name just a few. But it's the manner in which they're unlocked that I appreciated the most. Tilt to Live uses the AGON platform to deliver its achievements and leaderboard results. But, it takes the system one step further– integrating in-game rewards for unlocking achievement points– namely in the form of additional weapons. I'm ordinarily not one for achievements, but the added incentive of new weapons was enough to get me to actually pore through the list and attempt most of the nefarious challenges, a fact I found pleasantly surprising.
Tilt to Live is a game that draws you in with its edgy personality and inescapable 'just one more go' gameplay. It is gorgeously crafted and presented and has a wicked sense of humor to boot (just take a look at the loading screens to see what I mean). Completing its challenges and unlocking weapons has the added benefit of enabling you to achieve even higher scores and multipliers, meaning even those not normally counting themselves as completionists may be eager to experience the width and breadth of what Tilt to Live has to offer. This is one game that will remain a fixture on my iPhone for a long time to come.
As expected, impressions coming in from our readers are overwhelmingly positive. Be sure to check out the developer's YouTube trailer above for a preview glimpse of Tilt to Live.
The original Zuma by PopCap Games spawned a raft of look-a-likes of varying quality, but the recently released Sparkle [App Store] certainly appears to be amongst the best now available on the iPhone. Created by the developers of Azkend and Dragon Portals, two other excellent action puzzlers, Sparkle is gorgeously presented in every way.
For anyone new to the concept (frankly, you've been living under a rock), Sparkle is essentially a Match-3 game spread out over a track, where a long string of various colored balls slowly moves to the end of the path. You fire randomly colored balls at the string in an attempt to make groups of three or more like-colors, causing them to disappear from the playing field. If the string reaches the end of the path, it's game over.
Along the way you'll collect a number of power-ups and items to help your cause, and be introduced to a chain-reaction combo system to really rack up the points. There are three game modes in Sparkle which are gradually unlocked and help to deviate its offering, including a story-driven Quest mode, a time-attack Challenge Mode, and a score-tracking Survival mode. Sparkle also keeps track of your progress through an achievement and stat system, though no global leader boards are available at present.
Sparkle is great if only to rekindle some of that Zuma nostalgia right in the palm of your hand. As we're often finding, the tried and true gameplay works surprisingly well on a touch device, making Sparkle one highly polished and easily recommended action puzzler.
When we took a look at the original Ragdoll Blaster, we were quite impressed by the crafty blend of ragdoll physics, puzzler and hand-drawn, cannon-fed craziness. Backflip Studio has strapped on its helmet again in their second iteration of the series with Ragdoll Blaster 2 [App Store].
The sequel reveals a more polished title than the original, discarding the hand-drawn art and instead drawing heavily from the steampunk genre to create a rich game world of oiled cogs and shiny bronze contraptions. It is thanks to these machinations that the gameplay in Ragdoll Blaster 2 does vary a little to the original, if still sharing that same overall feel of blasting (and resetting) over and over again until you reach your target in as few shots as possible.
The new objects you'll come across include teleporters, additional cannons, objects that adversely affect gravity, ice blocks and mechanical arms to name a few, along with the expected array buttons, cogs and switches. All in all, levels feel more purposeful thanks to the new mechanics, and we're confident that the 150 levels that make up Ragdoll Blaster 2 will continue to be interesting (and undoubtedly difficult) and show the same attention to detail throughout as the ones we've played up to now.
Backflip Studios have also made the decision to incorporate the Plus+ platform in Ragdoll Blaster 2 to provide high scores for each of the nine 'rooms' which theme the levels. Both a Par score and Best score is displayed at the end of each room as a target to beat for those competitively inclined.
We're enjoying our time with Ragdoll Blaster 2, though it does still feel very familiar. Certainly, if you're a fan of the first title, we see no reason why you shouldn't thoroughly enjoy the new features on offer. (And if you haven't had a chance to try the first, we highly recommended it) Impressions from our readers are collecting in our discussion thread and to date seem largely positive.
iPhone developer Marco Mazzoli recently released a fresh new iPhone game called Spirit [App Store].
The $0.99 retro-styled game has been getting high praise in our forums for what is a relatively new game mechanic wrapped in a very nice package. The idea behind the game is somewhat similar to Upsi Looper (no longer available), but thankfully implements touch controls rather than tilt.
In Spirit you move your ship around the screen by simply tounching any part of the screen and moving around. The ship moves relative to your finger so it never has to be in the way. The goal is to destroy the enemies by looping them with your ship's trail. If successful, a vortex appears sucking them away to nothingness. Combos and chains improve your score, and all the while you need to avoid running straight into an enemy.
Check out the developer video:
Learning to move your ship accurately is a bit of a challenge, but in that "gotta try one more time" kind of way. The gameplay is also further enhanced by a great visual style and sound effects as well as a good variety of enemies. At only $0.99, if you're looking for a challenging new arcade experience, this one's easy to recommend. The current version does not have global leaderboards, but the developer has indicated Open Feint integration is on the way.
Late last week we posted a preview of Vector Tanks Extreme, which was released just hours later through author (and retro lord) Peter Hirschberg's new operation, BlipTime Studios. As I had the final build in-hand a few days before its official release, I knew the game was something to get excited about, but since then I've spent a great deal more time with the title and, well, I haven't been disappointed. (I have, however, been blown to bits more times than I'd like to confess…)
First, let's step back a moment and take a look at the overall Vector Tanks situation. Peter's original Vector Tanks appeared in the App Store, published by Chillingo, just over one year ago. It delivered a stylized iPhone take on Ed Rotberg's 1980 arcade classic Battlezone, with a large helping of modern-day retro, thanks to the lovely glowing vector effects that make the iPhone's screen feel more like an Atari Quadrascan display than a 3.5-inch LCD. It's some of the best retro gaming to be found in the App Store.
Early this year Peter parted ways with publisher Chillingo and formed his own studio, the aforementioned BlipTime Studios. In that transition, he brought Vector Tanks along — and with an update — but was unable to provide said update for free to those who purchased the Chillingo Vector Tanks release.
…I apologize that there isn't a way to upgrade. I worked with Apple to try and establish and upgrade path for my current customers but the final answer from Apple was that once you change the account under which an app is published, it will always appear as a "new" app and upgrading is NOT possible. I sincerely apologize. I did try and I know it sort of stinks. My hope is that the reduced price will serve as a good-faith gesture to my current customers who wish to pick up this updated version of Vector Tanks.
To soften the blow of the situation to those who purchased the original, and in honor of the release of Vector Tanks Extreme, Peter is offering the latest version of the original, Vector Tanks (Classic Version) [App Store] for free for one week. Everyone reading this post should just go grab it right now.
Now that we've got all that sorted, let's move back to Vector Tanks Extreme. I had, earlier, described the original Vector Tanks as Battlezone on crack. Given that, Vector Tanks Extreme can only be described as Vector Tanks on crack — squared (and on fire, screaming while giving out wedgies). It's one of the most intensive, white-knucle shooters I've ever played on any platform. And this is true even on the easiest setting. But, when you play at the INSANE difficulty level or in the game's unlimited-lives, balls-to-the-wall, 2-minute Rage mode, it's enough to necessitate a heavy dose of beta-blockers.
The game is basically an exercise in GO GO GO, watch the map to dodge enemy fire, swing behind an obstacle for shielding, and lay down the smack as fast and as hard as you can. And if the aforementioned obstacle is slowing you down, just blow it away. Like the original, Vector Tanks Extreme is controlled by left and right thumb sliders at the edges of the screen that guide the action of your tank's tracks. It's a tap to the screen to fire your weapons, and this time around there are more to be found lying about the battlefield. Canons, rapid fire turrets, rockets, rail guns, nukes — not a very good place to get caught in the crossfire.
Notching up the intensity of the virtual battlefield carnage are the encouraging quips of your in-game crew, consisting of the voices of both Jon St. John (the voice of Duke Nukem) and Jeff Straub. When I try to capture the essence of the game experience, I keep conjuring the image of the famous, '80s Memorex advertisement. It's pretty much like that, but on an iPhone. And with glowing vectors.
Vector Tanks Extreme uses the network to track global scoring, but things should get even more interesting when Peter releases the first major update, which will enable network competitive play. I'm quite anxious for that to land, but until then, single play against the game's vicious AI is definitely keeping my hands full.
If all that gets your juices flowing, go grab Vector Tanks (Classic Version) [App Store] – for free (for a few more days) — and give it a try. And if you want to take that experience a fair piece beyond the next level, you know where to look. Vector Tanks Extreme. Can you take it?
Gameloft's port of Rayman 2: The Great Escape [App Store] launched this evening, and fans of the original will be in for a treat as it appears that very little, if anything, has been cut from the game in the process of squeezing it on to the iPhone.
Rayman 2 is a 3D platformer released in late 1999 that takes place in a world known as the "Glade of Dreams" that happens to be infested by robot pirates who, lamentably, invaded and destroyed the "Heart of the World". Now it's up to Rayman to seek out the four magic masks needed to awaken Polokus, the spirit of the world, and set things right.
In the graphics and sound department, Rayman 2 is great. It looks just as I remembered it on the Dreamcast, and the soundtrack does a great job of setting the mood of the game. Unfortunately, once you get past how cool it is to be playing a late 90's console classic on your phone, things start to quickly fall apart.
As a 3D platformer, the two most important things are the controls and the camera system. A virtual joystick on the left side of the screen controls Rayman's movements, while a set of buttons handle jumping and tossing orbs to attack. Additional buttons appear when needed, such as a third button to dive while swimming.
The camera can be moved left or right by swiping that direction on screen, and to lock on to enemies a confusing pinching gesture is used. There are also some portions of the game with an obligatory tilt gimmick thrown in for good measure.
I feel like there are a lot of similarities between what I think about Rayman 2 and how I felt about Earthworm Jim when Gameloft brought it to the iPhone last year. The game itself looks great, but even a fantastic looking port of a game I had a lot of fun with when it was first released in the late 90's doesn't outweigh the cumbersome controls that make even the simple tutorial levels much more difficult than they should be.
I can forgive Gameloft for yet another game that doesn't really fit the iPhone with a set of virtual controls plastered on top, because Rayman 2 with bad controls is still better than not having Rayman 2 at all. As you progress through the game, you even start to get used to the crazy camera system and end up falling off ledges much less than you were originally, but something as simple as character movement really shouldn't have a learning curve attached to it.
Where Gameloft completely loses me on this port is in the save system. If you need to answer a phone call, a text message, or quit the game for any reason, the next time you load it you're back at the level select screen and need to start the level you were on over, complete with skipping through any associated cut scenes.
Taking these flaws in to account, Rayman 2 is hard to recommend, especially as your first foray in to the Rayman universe. If you are willing to invest the time in to mastering the game's irritating controls, and can work around the ridiculous save system, you will be rewarded with a classic adventure across tons of unique levels that are loaded with oodles of different hidden collectables.
Facing the possibility of bankruptcy in 1987 after a string of failed titles, SquareSoft (now Square Enix) only had the resources left for one final game. Hironobu Sakaguchi was in charge of the seemingly insurmountable task of saving the company. Aptly named, Final Fantasy needed to succeed, and with the help of artist Yoshitaka Amano and composer Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy not only was massively successful, it also spawned the series that has since become the benchmark that nearly all roleplaying games are compared to in one way or another.
Final Fantasy tells the tale of four "Light Warriors" with mysterious backgrounds that have joined forces to restore light to the world and vanquish the evil that has spread across the land, illuminating four elemental orbs in the process. While the plot of the game is entirely cliche by today's standards and the in-game dialog is succinct and non-sensical at times, Final Fantasy was unlike anything console gamers of the late 80's had ever seen before with an epic world map spanning three continents, party customization, and unmatched gameplay depth.
Final Fantasy
The original Final Fantasy [App Store] was not an easy game by any means. The magic system didn't make much sense, the death and save system was extremely unforgiving, and some of the later dungeons required tons of grinding to earn experience and money to buy the provisions needed to make it through alive– And even then, a string of random encounters could put an end to hours of progress. A strategy guide was practically required, and in its day, Funco Land (now GameStop) sold the used Final Fantasy NES cartridge for far more than its original retail price after the supply dwindled following the surprise success of the game.
Final Fantasy has since been remade and rereleased several times over the years, and while the basic story and gameplay mechanics have remained the same, many tweaks and refinements have been applied in the process. The iPhone port of Final Fantasy includes the high resolution graphics and reworked soundtrack of previous revisions, the additional "Soul of Chaos" and "Labyrinth of Time" dungeons, as well as a greatly reduced difficulty level which has served as a point of contention amongst Final Fantasy fans.
Your party seems to level up much faster, you can save anywhere outside of battle, and ineffective attacks are a thing of the past. (Previously if you assigned a party member to attack a monster and that monster dies before they attack, they just swing at nothing instead of the next available target.) Like any good iPhone game, your progress is saved when you quit the game. When you load the game again, you will be able to resume from where you were in a dungeon or on the world map. This has one side effect though, in that you can cheese your way through skipping random encounters by just quitting the game when you enter battle. On your next launch, you'll be right where you were before the battle and can keep on truckin' through the dungeon.
SquareSoft never imagined Final Fantasy would be a smash hit, as the game in no way lends itself to a sequel. A year after the original Japanese release of Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II hit the streets, starting the trend of releasing Final Fantasy sequels that all feature a similar theme with a new game world as well as tweaks, refinements, and modifications to things like the battle and leveling systems. Again you play as a party of four (this time without the ability to customize which classes were in your party like the first) and once again save the world from evil.
Final Fantasy II
The most drastic change in Final Fantasy II [App Store] is way your characters level up. Instead of strictly increasing in level as you earn a certain amount of experience, the more you use certain abilities, the more powerful they become. For instance, by taking damage you will eventually earn more hit points and by casting spells you eventually earn more magic points. This often confusing cause and effect system was supposed to allow players greater customization of their characters instead of the rigid class types of the original Final Fantasy, but also allowed several opportunities to cheat the system to artificially inflate the various attributes of your party members.
Final Fantasy II also comes with a new system to interact with the various in-game characters where players can memorize certain key terms, then recall them to question townspeople. While there is more interactivity than finding the correct character and talking to them until they tell you the next part of your quest, the new dialog system introduces tons of trial and error as you explore multiple conversation trees with each character you come across.
While advancing the plot may be tedious at times, Final Fantasy II is the first game in the series where you can have less than four party members, with new characters rotating in and out as the plot progressed instead of playing the part of silent protagonists in the first. New vehicles were added, and the chocobo was first introduced, a rideable bird that allows players to move around the game world without random enemy encounters.
Final Fantasy II wasn't available in the US until 2003, as before then what we knew as the Super Nintendo Final Fantasy II was actually Final Fantasy IV, a confusing numbering scheme that wasn't rectified until the release of Final Fantasy VII for the Playstation. The iPhone port of Final Fantasy II also comes with bonus content released in previous remakes of the game. Both the "Soul of Rebirth" and "Arcane Labyrinth" dungeons are included.
Final Fantasy II features the same save system, allowing players to save anywhere. The game also will resume where you left off, and is susceptible to the same random battle cheesing as the original Final Fantasy where you can just quit the game and load it back up before the random battle occurred.
iPhone Adjustments
Both Final Fantasy games are controlled via an on-screen D-Pad for character movement and a button to run while in town or dungeons, with similar menu systems as previous releases, except now the various menu items are all touch sensitive. Movement and menu navigation works well enough to get the job done, but the D-Pad feels stiff and much larger than it should be. Also, navigating the menus can be irritating at times, as the touch areas for scroll bars and some menu options are annoyingly small. Regardless, this didn't hinder gameplay much as neither Final Fantasy game really requires quick or precise movement or menu work.
In battles, the menu system as you may remember it is gone, instead replaced with a row of icons on the bottom of the screen to attack, cast magic, use items, etc. Targeting is as simple as touching the party member or monster you want to select, and overall the battle system works well although like most games with random battles, can get very tedious, especially when backtracking and potentially fighting much lower level enemies that you can kill in one hit but still have to go through all the motions of attacking and targeting.
Conclusion
As far as which game you should get, both are substantial pieces of gaming history. If you weren't around when Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II were released, keep in mind these early RPG's lack many of the features that have since become commonplace. Because of that, you might require a trip to GameFAQs to figure out what to do or where to go next as it's not always spelled out for you. There's also no quest log if you forgot where you were supposed to be going.
Personally, I love the original Final Fantasy. I've played through the game more times than I can even remember, on more platforms than I'd even care to admit starting with the NES and ending with the iPhone. I'd recommend anyone who considers themselves a fan of RPG's or the Final Fantasy series to download the iPhone port immediately. If like me, you've been around since the beginning, the iPhone version is a competent port and an excellent blast from the past, even with the mediocre controls.
The sequel is good as well, but I've never been a fan of the wacky leveling system, and the new dialog trees that are the result of the key term memorization system will quickly have you heading to GameFAQs. I'd really recommend playing through the first before downloading the second, as if you can't make it through Final Fantasy, you likely won't have the patience for Final Fantasy II.
As an aside, I'm absolutely ecstatic that Square Enix has decided to start porting Final Fantasy games to the iPhone. I think I speak for every iPhone-owning fan of the series when I say: Please, don't stop. Bring them all.
As a child of the 80’s I grew up on Transformers. As a mobile strategy fanatic I’ve been in love with turn-based strategy games for years. It should come as no surprise then that Transformers G1 Awakening ranked pretty high on my most wanted list. But it also ranked fairly high on my list of concerns. After all – Transformers has had countless reinventions over the last few decades, none of which could hold a torch to the series that started it all. Likewise the series has had a number of video game spinoffs, nearly all of which have managed to disappoint. Could a Transformers game released more than 25 years after the series inception possibly live up to the expectations of series purists and strategy fans alike? As mobile gamers first learned in 2008, the answer is a resounding yes.
Originally available for mobile phones back in 2008, Transformers G1 Awakening is a solid strategy game that takes fan service to a whole new level. If you grew up on the original Transformers cartoon from 1984, you’re going to squeal like a 6 year old when you see some of the choices the game has made. The cast is comprised of series mainstays like Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, but the game happily makes room for fan favourites like Grimlock and Ironhide. True to the television storyline, the story starts with the crash of the Ark and continues through to the Space Bridge built by the Decepticons. Jetfire’s first appearance is even true to his back story, starting out with the bad guys and quickly switching sides.
Gameplay here should be familiar to anyone who’s played turn-based strategy games like Rogue Planet or UniWar. Each unit will be able to move a certain number of squares, attack opposing forces, and capture important structures. Unique to Transformers however, is the ability to -– well -– transform. Every character can transform from robot mode to vehicle mode and back again. Vehicle mode offers a major advantage if you need to cover ground as you’ll be able to move around with much greater ease, but it also comes with a major disadvantage as you won’t be able to defend yourself from attacks.
Unlike many of the games that G1 Awakening draws inspiration from, the gameplay emphasizes strategy over sheer force. Certain levels play out more like puzzles than tactical combat situations. By offering up actual characters instead of generic unit types, you can never have more than one of a certain unit on screen at the same time. Like the morale boost Optimus gives his troops, but also enjoy his high attack rating? He can’t be in two places at once, so you’ll need to place him where he’s needed the most.
Some of the characters will share similar stats and abilities, but no two Autobots play exactly alike. Prowl and Sideswipe both utilize ranged attacks, but their distance and power are different. Ironhide had a great chance to deflect damage, but his mobility is severely limited. It’s very rare that you’ll ever have more than 4 or 5 characters on screen in any given level, so knowing the strengths and weaknesses of every character (including those of the Decepticons you’re trying to destroy) is essential to your success.
Having a limited number of characters doesn’t mean you can’t introduce more into the battlefield, it just means you’ll need to be selective on who you introduce. New units can be purchased by spending Energon, which you’ll earn on each turn. The amount you earn depends on the number of pylons or power stations you’ve captured. As strange as it may sound, unit production became one of my favourite parts of the G1 Awakening – not for any gameplay reasons, but because it’s a shining example of the crazy amount of fan love that went into the game design. Units aren’t created in a factory or rolled off the back of a truck – they’re introduced into the battlefield by Metroplex, the Autobots living battle station. The only thing that could have been better is if Blaster was able to produce units like Eject and Rewind, and guess what? He can do that too. If anyone tries to tell you that G1 Awakening isn’t everything an old school Transformers fan has been waiting for, you just tell them to shut their lying mouth.
G1’s campaign is 17 missions long and should take the average gamer 3 or 4 hours to work through – not a bad package, but not necessarily as long as similar turn-based strategy games on the App Store. In addition to the story mode G1 Awakening also offers Showdown mode, a series of challenges that pit the Autobots against the Decepticons in a number of unique situations.
Rounding out the package is Cybertron Arena, G1’s fancy name for multiplayer. Cybertron Arena earns serious points for finally letting us play as the Decepticons, but it loses just as many for its limited gameplay options. You can’t play online, you can’t play over local wifi -– the only option for multiplayer is single device pass’n’play. It’s a good fit for this style of game, but on its own it just feels like too slim an offering. Still, if you don’t have another friend to play with sitting next to you G1 Awakening at least offers up a Cybertron Arena AI option.
Outside of the slim multiplayer options, the only real disappointment here came from the visuals. The game was ported from a 2008 mobile phone release and when you’re issuing commands on the map it really shows. It’s not just that the graphics are ripped from a mobile phone, it’s that the design decisions made for the mobile phone version just made no sense. Each character has a constant animation when standing still that has their torso and arms moving in a way that mimics breathing (which, I’m pretty sure robots don’t do), so we know they can do animations. Yet when characters move around the map in robot mode their feet don’t move. It’s like moving asthmatic chess pieces. The terrible command mode visuals are a stark contrast to the battle visuals which easily rank amongst the best in the genre. Cel-shaded graphics come to life in a quick battle animation that looks like it could have been ripped right out of the series. If anything, they reminded me a lot of the visuals in 2002’s Robotech: Battlecry for home consoles. If you’re not familiar with the game, trust me, that’s a compliment.
As a strategy game, Transformers G1 Awakening offers up enough twists to help it stand out in a sea of similar games. As a Transformers game, it offers up anything and everything an old school Transformers fan could want to see. G1 Awakening isn’t simply a great strategy game, it’s the greatest Transformers game I’ve seen to date.
Easily one of the more stylish games to grace the AppStore, Colorbind brings to the platform the fresh concept of puzzle-oriented ribbon weaving. Your objective each level is to match all the circles on screen with their respective colored ribbons and you do so by simply dragging your finger across the screen.
What makes Colorbind challenging is that each ribbon cannot intersect with another on the same plane– they must be folded either under or over the other by creating a right angle. The concept sounds difficult in text but soon becomes second nature after seeing the ribbons interact first hand, revealing a simple elegance to Colorbind that looks incredible.
That's not to say the game isn't challenging though as Colorbind has some of the more difficult puzzles we've seen yet on the AppStore. Some levels will have you at wits end trying to unravel (pun very much intended) the correct maze of ribbon needed to collect all the various colored circles. Certainly not one for the faint of heart, but all ye puzzle fans and lateral thinkers will definitely get a kick out of Colorbind.
In any case, be sure to check out the free Lite Version for a hands-on with the gameplay.
As someone who has spent more time than I'd care to admit playing both the first JellyCar [Free] and JellyCar 2 [99¢], I've been having an absolute blast with Chalkboard Stunts [99¢ / Free]. Featuring similar gameplay to the JellyCar series, developer Manta Research ups the ante by including a full featured level editor that not only allows you to create your own levels, but also upload them and download levels made by other players.
Gameloft's port of Rayman 2: The Great Escape [
