Little Inferno [$4.99] is one part puzzle game, one part social commentary, and one part fireplace simulator. Ok, that's not exactly right, but it sort of is. Originally released to critical praise on desktops last November, Little Inferno surprised everybody by launching on the iPad with practically no warning back in January. As we elaborated in our 5 star review, Little Inferno shined even more brightly on the touchscreen iPad, and for this weekend only you can check it out for yourself for just 99¢, down from its original price of $4.99.
So what exactly do you do in Little Inferno? Well, you buy things, and then you burn those things in a fireplace. The burnt items inexplicably give you more money, which in turn you can use to buy better, more elaborate items. And then burn them. Seriously, that's basically the entire game, though there is a sweet combo system to discove, and the game itself is a visual and aural treat. Also it's just plain fun to burn stuff.
Little Inferno is one of those strange experiences, where there's not a ton about it in which you technically "play", but it's somehow still compelling and satisfying in a way that's hard to describe. I definitely recommend reading our aforementioned review, or checking out our forums for more impressions to see if it seems like your cup o' tea. But if you like quirky, entertaining experiences and had been on the fence about Little Inferno previously, this 99¢ sale is a great reason to finally take the plunge.
Heads up pen and paper role-playing enthusiasts or just anyone looking for a quirky new adventure: you're going to want to check out Knights of Pen & Paper [$1.99] which is currently free for the first time ever. Originally releasing this past October, Knights of Pen & Paper is more about the theme of classic pen and paper role-playing games rather than trying to be a digital recreation of it. It's literally a game about people playing a game, and it's full of self-referential humor and references to the world of video games that will bring many a smile to your face.
Knights of Pen & Paper doesn't ever take itself too seriously, and has an abundance of personality and charm throughout, which are big reasons why we enjoyed it so much in our review. There's also a challenging battle system and more quests than you can shake a stick at, all jammed into a tight little package that feels very well-suited to the mobile gaming platform. It can be a tad grindy at times and the quests aren't always the most creative, but these are minor shortcomings compared to all the things that Knights of Pen & Paper does really well.
You don't have to be a diehard role-player – in analog or digital form – to get a ton of enjoyment out of Knights of Pen & Paper, and for free it's definitely in no-brainer territory. Grab it and check it out, and don't be surprised if its charms win you over. Also be sure to hit up our forums to talk strategies and hear new information straight from the developers.
We're fairly eagle-eyed when it comes to spotting the good games that grace the App Store's shelves, but inevitably with such an expansive offering of games there's bound to be those that fly under our radar. One of those games was Help Volty [$0.99 (HD)], an atmospheric and clever puzzle game for the iPad.
Help Volty actually released back in October of last year, a lifetime ago in the mobile space it feels, but Brad happened across it last month in his never ending plight to discover cool games, and found it enjoyable and worth talking about. Him and Eli took it for a spin in a TA Plays video, and a couple of days later offered out a full review for Help Volty, awarding it a solid 4 stars.
I'm bringing all this up because right now, to celebrate the integration of Game Center leaderboards and achievements late last month, Help Volty's creators have decided to make the game free until March 10th.
If you're an iPad owner looking for a new puzzle game to work through, and this one originally slipped by your watchful eye just like it did ours, then you should be all over this free promotion. Check it out with the link below, and also be sure to stop by the thread in our forums for some discussion and strategies for Help Volty.
If you happen to be among the last people on the planet who still don't have Angry Birds [$0.99 / $2.99 (HD)], guess what? It's free, so you've got absolutely no excuse anymore. Angry Birds has turned into a classic of sorts on the App Store, and has been ported to basically ever platform under the sun, including, hopefully, your refrigerator at some point in the not too distant terrifying future.
In weirder Angry Birds news, Angry Birds Space [$0.99 / $2.99 (HD)] has been updated with an all-new version of the theme song by Slash. Yes, as in Guns 'n' Roses Slash. It's pretty wicked, I guess, but I'm still stuck on the fact that an 80's rock god is playing the Angry Birds theme.
Last week we got our first big taste of Super Stickman Golf 2 with a new trailer showcasing the various new features of the upcoming sequel to Noodlecake Game's physics golfing extravaganza. The release of Super Stickman Golf 2 is fast approaching too, and to celebrate this the original Super Stickman Golf [$2.99] has gone free.
We've previously talked about how much fun the online multiplayer is in Super Stickman Golf when it first arrived via an update to the game almost two years ago, but the single-player portion is not to be dismissed either, and provides a fantastic challenge and loads of content that will keep you busy for hours on end.
Super Stickman Golf has been free before, and ridden the rollercoaster of price drops that most games endure in the course of its more than two year lifespan. However, if you somehow have managed not to pick it up yet, I just can't recommend it enough and it should be a great introduction as to what to expect in Super Stickman Golf 2. We'll have more on the sequel as it nears release, but definitely don't slip on picking up the original for free while you can.
If you don't know Whitaker Trebella by name, you'd probably know him by his work. Aside from designing Polymer [$2.99] he's also composed themes for fantastic games like Tilt to Live [$2.99 / Free / Free (HD)], Super Stickman Golf [$2.99] and more. We haven't done a Free Play for a while, and a super clever puzzle game seemed to be the perfect fit following our previous offerings in both the action and RPG space.
We explained how Polymer works in our preview, which also provides the origin story for the game if you're curious about that:
A polymer, in the parlance of the game, is a complete shape, one with no unfinished edges. You achieve this by sliding rows and columns back and forth to move pieces into place. A skilled player might be able to use every piece on the board, but each piece you move takes six or nine others with it. Larger creations become exponentially more difficult to make without disruption, but they're oh so satisfying to reach for. It's almost a shame to destroy them, but that's where the points come in.
We liked it a lot in our review, and since then the game has been updated with universal support, iCloud syncing, multiplayer, and more- Turning a great game into an even better one. Whether you're a iOS puzzle veteran or don't play too many games like this, Polymer is worth a look.
We hope you enjoy taking Polymer for a spin during this TouchArcade Free Play promotion, and feel free to visit our forums to leave your thoughts or questions about the game and join in on the community discussion. We'll be on the lookout for more games to feature in the Free Play program, so keep your eyes glued to TouchArcade for all the best news, reviews and deals in the world of iOS gaming.
To read more about the TouchArcade Free Play program, check out our introductory post: Introducing TouchArcade Free Play - Get Amazing Games for Free where we lay out what it takes to be a Free Play game, and how often you should expect to see awesome freebies. To stay on top of future TouchArcade Free Play titles, bookmark http://toucharcade.com/freeplay and download the TouchArcade app [Free] to get push notifications of when they go live!
The run 'n gun platformer genre hasn't fared especially well on iOS. Usually this boils down to the whole touchscreen virtual controls thing, since these kinds of games typically demand faster reactions and more precision than a smattering of virtual buttons can offer.
Wandake seems to have figured out a great solution though with their title Apocalypse Max [$2.99]. They kept all the running and gunning intact, but made the simple decision to have aiming handled automatically. It sounds like something that might dumb down the action, but it really doesn't. We found Apocalypse Max to be a lot of fun when we reviewed it last September.
This week, a pretty big update was released for the game which adds four additional playable characters to the mix. Each character has their own unique abilities that differentiate themselves from the default Max character. For example, Commando Max has unlimited ammunition on all weapons, and Ninja Max does double damage with his melee blade. These new characters add a good amount of variety and let you play the game in new ways.
Each of the four new characters are available as a 99¢ IAP purchase or you can save yourself a buck and buy the whole lot for $2.99. And, if you haven't picked up Apocalypse Max already, it's currently free to download in celebration of the new update. It's one of my favorite games of its kind, and especially for free I can't recommend it enough.
Here's a real treat. One of the most popular and beloved tower defense games, and really just one of the most popular games in general, Plants vs. Zombies [$0.99] and its iPad counterpart Plants vs. Zombies HD [$0.99 (HD)] are both currently free for the first time ever.
Plants vs. Zombies is an institution in the world of video games, but in case you're unfamiliar it sees you strategically placing various types of defensive plants in order to keep waves of undead from breaking through and munching on your brain.
It can be a highly strategic and challenging game, but Plants vs. Zombies is also great at explaining itself and gradually ramping things up, and is the kind of game that even non-gamers can easily pick up and get totally engrossed in. That's probably why it's so darn popular.
Anyway, if you somehow haven't picked up Plants vs. Zombies at some point over the last few years, or if you're a fan on a different platform but haven't yet grabbed a copy for your phone or tablet, then now is your chance. My only gripe is the lack of widescreen support for the iPhone 5, though that's a minor thing. Hopefully PopCap will add support in the future, or maybe we'll just have to wait for Plants vs. Zombies 2.
You can check out our original review of Plants vs. Zombies or see what's shaking in the forum thread, but no matter what don't miss this chance to snag an absolute classic for free while you can.
You can now buy a bunch of new features for 2K Games' Civilization Revolution [$2.99 / $6.99 (HD)], if you've got the dough to spare. Today's update has ushered in a weird new in-app purchase scheme that allows you to separately purchase packs of new units and buildings for each of the game's armies. You can also buy a pack of four additional wonders or, if you're feeling froggy, you can buy a competitive multiplayer mode to challenge "up to three" friends.
Each unit and building pack, which covers four specific armies, is 99¢. The Wonders pack is also 99¢. The multiplayer will run you $2.99. There's a bundle option for the armies, if you're wondering, which allows you to grab them all for $3.99.
The patch notes cover what armies are bundled together, so hit those if you're thinking about grabbing an upgrade or two, but not three or four. We're definitely interested in giving the new multiplayer a spin -- this game has been a radical solo experience for a while now, and it'd be nice to see how it plays with friends.
Both the iPad and iPhone version of Civ Rev are now on sale, by the way.
Yesterday was a holiday here in the US, so we took it a bit easy around TouchArcade Towers. However, there are a few notable game sales going on that are worth highlighting, especially if you had yesterday off too and today is technically your "Monday." Nothing cures a case of the Mondays like some cheap or free games, I always say. However, be quick – a couple of these sales started yesterday and things can change in the blink of an eye in the world of the App Store.
Lords of Midnight, $4.99 → $1.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - The late Mike Singleton's classic RPG adventure, respectfully and tastefully ported to iOS in tremendous fashion.
Are you just so mad that the new Real Racing 3 is a free-to-play title? Well, if you're in the market for a racing game for your iPad but aren't interested in putting up with freemium shenanigans, then now is a good time to check out Real Racing 2 HD [$6.99 (HD)] as it's just been put on sale for 99¢.
Real Racing 2 HD is literally on sale every week or two, but if you didn't already own it for your iPad it's certainly worth picking up. We thought the iPhone version was about as perfect as a mobile game can be when we reviewed it in December of 2010, and it's only gotten better since then with many updates and it feels great on the iPad as well. Despite being more than 2 years old, Real Racing 2 still feels like it can hang with any current AAA release.
I didn't take enough math classes to properly convey the degree of the alarm that we'd need to set off to properly gauge this freebie alert, but, regardless, Infinity Blade [$5.99] just dropped to free due to Apple's app of the week promotion. Infinity Blade is a platform-defining game, which utilizes the Unreal Engine and swipe gestures to bust out some of the best looking visuals out there coupled with a really slick swipe-based control method.
Sure, the original Infinity Blade might seem a little dated when held up next to its sequel, Infinity Blade II [$6.99] but both are phenomenal games that shouldn't be missed. Seriously though, if you don't already have Infinity Blade download it for free right now. You won't be disappointed.
In the weeks ahead of GDC the talk of Twitter town amongst the indie developer community is at least partially revolving around making up stickers for trading with other developers. I'm not sure who is responsible for coming up with the idea, but Imangi Studios definitely brought it to our attention by handing our slick little 2" x 2" rounded corner stickers with the icon for Temple Run [Free] which I've been rocking on the back of my iPad ever since. Everyone saw the Temple Run stickers, said, "Hey, that's a really good idea," and well, here we are.
The preferred place to get these stickers from seems to be Sticker Mule. They're indie too, located in New York and pumping out great looking stickers for over three years now. The quality of these stickers are actually surprisingly good as well, and after getting in touch with the guys at Sticker Mule I discovered the reasoning: There's a real human proofing everything they print, so they'll never print junk. If you send them a source image that's not quite right, they'll tell you instead of just sending you jank. (I think we've all had a bad Cafe Press or Zazzle experience!)
Since everyone is talking about getting these stickers printed, I chatted up the Sticker Mule dudes and got them to cut us a deal to guarantee massive amounts of app icon sticker trading at GDC. Use coupon code "TOUCHARCADE" during checkout to get 50% off an order of 50 2" x 2" rounded corner stickers. For larger orders, it's effectively $25 off. Like getting anything printed, prices scale dramatically as you order more, so it almost seems silly to only get 50- Especially when 100 is only $8 more.
Sticker Mule is the real deal, and I can personally vouch for the quality of these stickers. We did a small run of the TouchArcade App [Free] icon, and they turned out phenomenal. They can even print edge to edge too, and the rounded corners jive perfectly with your typical app icon. The coupon code will be valid through 3/15, which really is the last date you should order by if you want to get your stickers with the free shipping option before GDC.
As NimbleBit's Ian Marsh has discovered, your typical MacBook Air can hold 44 of these app icon stickers, so, at least 44 people better want to trade with me as I refuse to run dupes on the lid of my laptop. So, seriously, here we have a great product, at an insane price, and I really want to trade stickers with people at GDC if that isn't clear. Let's make this happen!
Stop everything and go grab Super Monsters Ate My Condo [Free]. It's a great game, and it's free right now on the App Store. It usually goes for a buck, so you're saving a little bit dough here if you mash the download button.
If you didn't know, Super Monsters is a frantic puzzle game that plays a bit like Jenga mixed with a traditional match-three. In the game, you swipe blocks from a multi-tiered and multi-colored condo and feed them to a duo of monsters. The blocks left slide down, and if they match, the game awards you points. Eventually, sets of matched blocks form newer, single blocks that you match for even more points.
In addition to being awesome, this was one of the first iPhone 5 games we fell in love with. If you're still looking for a good "tall phone" game, this is it.
It's Friday, you've got the whole weekend ahead of you, you own an iPad, and you happen to be one of those people who aren't too into the idea of paying a premium for iPad "HD" versions of games. If this at all describes you, you'll be happy to know that Rovio just dropped the price of all of their iPad titles from $2.99 to 99¢. Now's your chance to load that bad boy up with so many different iterations of Angry Birds that you can't even decide which one to play.
Here's some handy dandy links to all the stuff on sale:
Oddly enough, the only iPad app of theirs that isn't on sale is Bad Piggies Best Egg Recipes [$2.99 (HD)]. But, you're not missing much there. Seriously though, for $7 you can pick up all of their iPad titles which would give you so many hours of gameplay that I couldn't even begin to estimate. Otherwise, I'd probably pick up Star Wars first, or maybe Bad Piggies if you still don't have either of those. Both are fantastic games.
Little Inferno [$4.99] is one part puzzle game, one part social commentary, and one part fireplace simulator. Ok, that's not exactly right, but it sort of is. Originally released to critical praise on desktops last November, Little Inferno surprised everybody by launching on the iPad with practically no warning back in January. As we elaborated in our 5 star review, Little Inferno shined even more brightly on the touchscreen iPad, and for this weekend only you can check it out for yourself for just 99¢, down from its original price of $4.99.
We're fairly eagle-eyed when it comes to spotting the good games that grace the App Store's shelves, but inevitably with such an expansive offering of games there's bound to be those that fly under our radar. One of those games was Help Volty [
