It looks like we're off to kind of a slow start in 2013 in terms of weekly releases. That's not to say there weren't a few interesting looking games in our weekly Coming Tonight post (and all of those games should be out in the US App Store now, by the way), but I guess it just doesn't have the same impact as the usual onslaught of new games that typically hit in the weeks that aren't so close to the holidays.
However, I think the most notable new release has to be the puzzle game Hundreds [$4.99]. It's notable for one just by being the collaborative effort of Canabalt [$2.99] creator Adam Saltsman of Semi Secret Software and Greg Wohlwend of Solipskier [$0.99] and Gasketball [Free (HD)] developer Mikengreg. Both are well-respected indie developers and basically anything they're a part of is something to be interested in. Beyond just good game developer pedigree though, Hundreds is also fantastic. I spent the better portion of the day playing the original Flash version, and became completely hooked. Adam and Greg have spent the last year improving on that initial version for Hundreds on iOS, adding new mechanics, modes, and more.
It should be a winner, and although I've literally only spent a few minutes with the just-released iOS version of Hundreds I can already tell it's head and shoulders above its Flash counterpart. If you're on the fence though, give that Flash version a go because it should give you a good idea of what you're getting yourself into. It's the kind of game that once it "clicks" there's no turning back. Check it out, and give our forums a look too for more impressions from early adopters of Hundreds.
Have you been asking Santa for an arcade cabinet for the past 30 years and every Christmas you wake to look under the tree just to be disappointed yet again? Maybe that's just me, but if you have a similar longing for some button mashing action then I have something that just might ease the pain a bit.
Thinkgeek, the folks responsible for playing us for fools with their awesome iPad arcade cabinet April Fool's joke, and then making it all better by turning it into a real thing called the iCade the following year, has released yet another model of iCade in 2012. It's called the iCade Jr. and it's a miniaturized, adorable-ized version of the regular iCade for your iPhone or iPod touch. It works just like the big version, connecting via Bluetooth to one of hundreds of available games in the App Store that have iCade support built in.
It seems like more of a novelty type thing rather than a hardcore gaming controller, but at its current sale price of $9.99, which is 80% off the regular price of $49.99, it fits perfectly into the novelty item budget zone.
The product description specifically notes that the iCade Jr. is built for a secure fit with an iPhone 4/4S or 4th generation iPod touch, but it will work with the taller iPhone 5 if you leave the top lid flipped open. Not ideal, but I'll take it, and more than likely this will just be my new home for my now retired iPhone 4S. It's just so cute, I have to have one. And ten bucks is super impulse-buy friendly.
Not to try and strain your wallet any further, but I should mention that the iCade Jr. sale is just one part of a massive Winter Clearance sale that Thinkgeek is throwing, and if you're going to order an iCade anyway you might as well flip through all the other cool things they've got on sale. I mean, you might as well just look, right?
It seems like Subatomic and Halfbrick are on the same page lately, as both companies released an update last week for the iPad versions of their game which have finally come to the iPhone versions this week. One week ago today, Fieldrunners 2 HD [$4.99 (HD) / Free (HD)] was updated with a couple of new towers as well as two new Christmas-themed power-ups. Today those items have come to Fieldrunners 2 [$2.99 / Free] on the iPhone, along with widescreen support for the iPhone 5.
I get unreasonably excited when my favorite games get widescreen support. I totally appreciate the fact that non-widescreen games can run on the iPhone 5 with borders rather than not run at all, but just like with playing iPhone games in 2x on the iPad it gets old not having a truly native version of a game or app for your device. And it seems like every day my list grows longer for games I wish to get widescreen updates.
Anyway, if you've been holding out on digging into Fieldrunners 2 waiting for widescreen support to come (I know some of you out there have been), then now is the time to update and get to playing. Oh, and one of the two new towers will run you an unusually high price to unlock in-game, but with good reason. Just like with the iPad version, Subatomic has a new lite version of Fieldrunners 2, and if you download and install it you can unlock the new Polymorph Tower totally for free. So be sure to do that and save yourself some in-game scratch.
One more thing. As a special bonus both the iPhone and iPad versions of Fieldrunners 2 are currently on sale, with the former available for 99¢ rather than its normal $2.99 and the latter down to $2.99 from its regular $7.99. Be sure to take advantage of these sales while they last, and hit up our Fieldrunners 2 review or the thread in our forums for more on this fantastic tower defense game.
After an incredibly positive response from our new TouchArcade Free Play feature last week, we've already nailed down another fantastic title for you to grab for free. Arc Squadron [$2.99] from developer Psyonix is an arcade-style space combat game built using the Unreal Engine, so it's definitely a visual showpiece title.
Beyond its great looks, though, lies a visceral behind-the-back rail shooter with a heavy influence from the classic Star Fox series. An intuitive touch control scheme translates your taps, drags and swipes into firepower, barrel rolls, and deft ship maneuvers. The controls are what really appeal to me about Arc Squadron, as it feels like you have real hands-on control over your spacecraft, almost like it's an extension of your finger, and it's much more satisfying pulling off cool moves using a scheme like this as opposed to some plain old virtual buttons.
If you're still waffling on whether or not to take advantage of this freebie promotion, you can check out our TA Plays video of Arc Squadron from before its release or read our full 5 star review from when the game launched back in October. Here's an excerpt from that review:
When it comes to a game focused on accuracy and precision, pin-point controls are an absolute must. This is an aspect that ARC Squadron nails, and I think puts it above any other similar games. Rather than focuses on virtual joysticks or buttons, ARC utilizes a simpler control scheme that allows you to move your ship with a simple touch-and-drag.
I'm a huge fan of the control scheme in ARC Squadron. Movement feels so intuitive, and the auto-fire is an excellent move, letting players focus on other aspects. Maneuvering your ship simply feels natural, which is a rarity for me.
One other thing worth mentioning about Arc Squadron is that it's a lengthy game with tons of levels to play through, and should last you a good long while. This is especially true if you buckle down and go for full 3-star completion of every level, which is no easy feat. Though it does recycle environments to fill out its sheer number of levels, Arc Squadron somehow manages to still feel fresh throughout, and it's an exciting ride. Oh, and since its release Arc Squadron has been updated to include iCloud support, a higher sensitivity option for the drag controls, and new items in the shop.
We hope you enjoy taking Arc Squadron 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!
Shadow Love [$0.99] is exactly the kind of game you'd expect from a developer named Strawberry Gohan (Japanese for "rice," in this instance). This familiar-feeling platformer transforms into something visually and mechanically enchanting, as a world of hand shadow puppets comes alive. Sharing many of the hand shadow puppet enemies and interactive backgrounds in detail would spoil the fun, but the appearances of a four-armed shuriken and finger-firing bosses should coax you to try another stage.
Shadow Love begins as a simple sidescrolling, head-stomping platformer and later adds punching and flying abilities along with auto-scrolling (a la Canabalt) and vertical climbing stages. At the end of each five stages, you fight increasingly challenging bosses, but none of them felt as difficult as the stages themselves. After beating the 30 levels of the main game, a "light" mode opens up with tougher stages.
The shadow puppet visuals and their implementation were so charming that I overlooked the virtual buttons and repetitious music. Shadow Love received similar great praise in the Touch Arcade forums for its visuals during its quiet summer release. The developer recently made the game free, and now it has the chance of reaching a much larger audience.
In my test play, Shadow Love's screen had black bars on the side to suggest it is not iPhone 5 optimized, but it still looked and worked well on the new device. In the end, how often do you get a solid platformer (or any type of game) with cleverly implemented shadow puppets? Exactly.
Whoa, Christmas really has come early with the sheer amount of incredible freebies lately. Well get ready for a doozy: the first episode of Telltale's Walking Dead: The Game [Free] is currently free for some reason. Why is it free? Don't concern yourself with such things, just get to downloading already.
Walking Dead: The Game is an episodic adventure game set in the same universe as Robert Kirkman's critically acclaimed Walking Dead comic series. Its hook is that it presents you with incredibly tough choices thoughout the story, and your choices affect things that happen later in the game. Telltale has pulled this off with varying degrees of effectiveness, but despite that the emotional aspects and the connections with the characters in the game are what people have really been applauding about Walking Dead, and everyone seems to have it in their running for Game of the Year this year. Heck, at the Spike VGAs this year it did win Game of the Year, among other awards.
If you need to know more about Walking Dead: The Game, you can check out our full review of all 5 episodes. Since its an episodic game, we made our review episodic as well, reviewing each episode as it came out and adjusting our feelings and ratings as needed based on the new content. It ended up being a 5 star game as a whole, but let me warn you that Walking Dead is something that's best experienced spoiler-free, so my advice is to just download this sucker and have at it fresh.
It's also worth noting that this is just the first episode being offered free, and episodes 2-5 are available through IAP for $4.99 each or as a bundle for $14.99. You're still saving yourself a fiver though, and since this first hit is free chances are pretty good that if you enjoy it you'll be springing for the rest of the episodes. But seriously, stop reading right now and go download this first episode of Walking Dead: The Game for free, and tell every zombie-loving person you know to do the same.
Whoa, this is nuts. Australian developer Halfbrick Studios is looking to end the year with a bang, and their way of doing this is apparently to slash the price of every single one of their titles on both iPhone and iPad to free for 24 hours. I can dig it. Most notably, I think, is the game that put Halfbrick on the map permanently: Fruit Ninja [$0.99 / $2.99 (HD)]. It's never been free before, and is an essential title for every iOS gamer's library. If you've somehow never gotten around to picking it up for whatever reason, now is your chance.
But let's not forget what else is on offer. Age of Zombies Anniversary [$0.99], the colorful dual-stick shooter starring Barry Steakfries, is also free for the first time ever. And if you have an older device, the standard definition Age of Zombies [$0.99] is free as well. Barry Steakfries' first iOS adventure, the auto-runner Monster Dash [$0.99], is - you guessed it - free. The Fruit Ninja movie tie-in Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots [$0.99 / $2.99 (HD)] is free, and Halfbrick's somewhat obscure inaugural iOS offering Blast Off [$0.99] is free too. Oh, and Jetpack Joyride [Free] is free too, but it always is anyway. I just wouldn't have felt right not including it. Huh, I guess I could have saved myself a bunch of typing by just saying everything is free.
This sale is just insane, it's like an Oprah show up in here with all these freebies. Halfbrick has consistently put out quality iOS games for coming up on 3 years, and it sounds like they've got big plans for 2013. We'll be keeping a close eye on them for sure, but right now I just want everybody to focus on downloading all these free games. I mean, really, get on it. Halfbrick says the sale will last just 24 hours, ending at 6:00am GMT on Tuesday, which for us here in the US should be around 1:00am EST tomorrow morning. Unlike most "one day" iOS sales that last for far longer, I tend to believe them on this whole 24 hour thing.
That's still plenty of time to grab what you want though, so be sure to share this with the iOS gamers in your life and snag all of these fantastic titles for free while you have the chance.
All eyes were on Rovio as they prepped to release a legitimate follow-up to the Angry Birds series that has defined them, and they successfully pulled it off with Bad Piggies [$0.99 / Free], proving that they're not just a one trick pony. Well, I mean technically Bad Piggies is still in the Angry Birds family, but it offered such a different type of game and with such a unique perspective from the Piggies' point-of-view that it really felt like its own thing, and would have been a great game even without any affiliation with the Angry Birds.
Anyway, if you haven't taken the plunge with Bad Piggies just yet then now is the time. Free lite versions have been released for both the iPhone and the iPad, and right now the iPad version Bad Piggies HD [$0.99 (HD) / Free (HD)] is actually on sale for 99¢, down from $2.99. In case you didn't know, we really liked Bad Piggiesin our review and were quite happy when an update landed a short time later which added in new levels and content.
Oh, and along with the sale on Bad Piggies HD Rovio has also marked down ALL of the other iPad-native versions of their games, some for the first time ever. That's Angry Birds HD [$2.99 (HD) / Free (HD)], Angry Birds Seasons HD [$2.99 (HD) / Free (HD)], Angry Birds Rio HD [Free (HD) / Free (HD)], Angry Birds Space HD [Free (HD) / Free (HD)], Angry Birds Star Wars HD [$2.99 (HD) / Free (HD)], and Amazing Alex HD [$2.99 (HD)]. Whew! Seriously, if you've got an iPad definitely take advantage of some of these sales, or at the very least check out some of the lite versions.
It's a good time to be an RPG fan on iOS. Not only has an updated and enhanced version of the classic '90s Bioware RPG Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition [$9.99 (HD)] become available, but the 2008 Nintendo DS 3D remake of the original Final Fantasy IV is also coming to the App Store next week. Now, another classic RPG franchise, The Bard's Tale [$2.99], has gone free for a limited time.
The original Bard's Tale games were released on desktop computers as first-person style dungeon crawling RPGS in the '80s, but this iOS version is actually a 2004 reboot of the series that's completely done in 3D and follows a completely new story. It still harkens back to the original games in style, humor and tone though, and was critically acclaimed when it released almost 8 years ago. We thought the iOS version was pretty darn good in our review, and as a very cool bonus InXile Entertainment, who are responsible for this port, have added the original trilogy of The Bard's Tale games to the iOS version for free.
It's worth it to download The Bard's Tale for free just for that original trilogy if you were a fan of them back in the day, but the contemporary version of the game is also one of the better action RPGs I've played. It's never been free before, and I get the feeling this promotion won't last too long, so be sure to grab it at a discount while you can.
Quite a few stars have aligned to launch the TouchArcade Free Play initiative. Our first game we're going to be featuring is Crescent Moon Games'Aralon: Sword and Shadow HD [$4.99]. The two year anniversary of the game's original release is coming up and Crescent Moon is gearing up for the impending launch of Ravensword: Shadowlands- Another massive open-world RPG. Aralon provides a fantastic glimpse of what iOS devices are capable of, and according to everything we've seen, Ravensword: Shadowlands is taking this formula one step further.
I used to look at my iOS device as a small window into new worlds and fun experiences, and with Aralon I feel like I actually have a fully realized living and breathing universe sitting snugly in my pocket.
Aralon features over 30 hours of gameplay, and an incredibly depth character creation system complete with multiple races and classes- Each with their own unique skill trees. Accompanying the main story quest is tons of optional side quests to complete, hundreds of items to acquire, faction systems, crafting systems, and mounts ranging from basic horses to epic dragons.
To sweeten the deal further, online save game syncing allows you to bring your character with you across multiple devices. Additionally, because it was released in 2010, the game runs well on basically every iOS device out there, and has only gotten better on newer hardware which has allowed for rock solid frame rates and Retina Display graphics.
We hope you enjoy Aralon: Sword and Shadow as much as we have over the years. It's an incredibly solid start to the TouchArcade Free Play program, and serves as an excellent benchmark for what to expect in future Free Play titles. We'd like to thank Crescent Moon Games for agreeing to participate in this inaugural Free Play.
Aralon is going to be free for a very limited time, so be sure to grab it, tell your friends, and have fun playing it.
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!
There is precisely one video game in the world where you get to play as a handsome gentleman who can throw exploding cats from his beard, and right now that game is free just for you. The game in question is Halfbot's The Blocks Cometh [$1.99], and the bearded gentleman I'm referring to is myself. The exploding cats thing is also based on a real life experience, but I just don't want to go into right now. Just kidding. Hey, you can also play as digital versions of Eli and Brad, among a ton of other special characters plucked from the crazy world of video games.
If you need a refresher course on what exactly The Blocks Cometh is, you can read our original review from early last year. However, a massive update arrived later that year that added landscape support, new unlockable characters, and two sweet new game modes which made it an even better experience than the initial release version, which was already pretty darn good.
Then this past August another major update hit which added The TouchArcade Crew as playable characters, in addition to the main characters from Velocispider [$1.99 / Free] and 1-bit Ninja [$2.99 / Free]. Good company to be in, I might add. That update also added Universal and Retina Display support for the iPad, and let me tell you that The Blocks Cometh feels best to me on the larger iPad screen. Also Brad's muscles are all the more glorious on an iPad, and Eli's snark is practically palpable. We dig into that particular update in our TA Plays embedded above.
Don't mess around and give The Blocks Cometh a download while free. It's an incredibly challenging and satisfying endless platformer that was one of my favorite games even before it included the most dynamic and electrifying trio of iOS game editors on Earth.
Hey, remember this past Friday when we told you that the Nintendo DS remake of Final Fantasy IV was heading to iOS later this month? Yeah, it's a pretty big deal. Anyway, that's not the only Final Fantasy-related news going on right now, as in celebration of this announcement Square Enix has put the rest of the Final Fantasy iOS RPGs on sale until December 14th. You can gear up for the upcoming new release by running through the original Final Fantasy trilogy, that is if you have a couple hundred spare hours to spend doing so. I wish I had that kind of free time! Anyway, here's the rundown of the price cuts.
- Chapter 2: The Generals Approach, $9.99 → $5.99
- Chapter 3: Warriors of Light and Darkness, $9.99 → $5.99
- Chapter 4: Twilight, $9.99 → $5.99
- Chiptune BGM, $9.99 → $5.99
Square Enix marches to the beat of their own drummer when it comes to pricing on the App Store, and have seemingly done pretty well targeting the higher price tiers. They also don't run a whole lot of sales, so if there's anything in the list above that you have yet to pick up it might be worth busting the wallet out for during this sale. Also keep an eye out for Final Fantasy IV to drop next week on December 20th.
I have to admit, when I first laid eyes on Ski Safari [$0.99] when it released back in April, I had to let out a groan. Another endless running game? Sigh. But I try never to judge a book by its cover (or rather, its genre) so I downloaded the game and took it for a spin. Much to my surprise, there was a ton going on in Ski Safari that totally set it apart from similar titles. The biggest thing was how it controlled. It used just a single "touch anywhere" control mechanism that caused your little skier - who was racing across the snowy terrain as quickly as possible trying to outrun a pursuing avalanche - to jump into the air, and rotate into a backflip if you held down long enough.
This single-touch and single-rotation gameplay really worked well in Ski Safari, as the game was not only about keeping your speed up and avoiding obstacles so as not to be overtaken by the avalanche but also a risk/reward element as you tried to pull off as many backflips and tricks as possible and land them cleanly in order to drive up your score. Something about the simplicity of playing coupled with the subtle depth of high score chasing really clicked with me and Ski Safari.
Besides that, though, Ski Safari had an undeniable charm and a huge variation of things that could happen in the game. You could crash into a penguin and use them as a temporary sled while racing down the slopes, or launch off a cliff and get picked up by an eagle who would take you along for a ride through the sky, along with so much more. It seemed like the more you played Ski Safari the more little details like that you'd come to notice, and that's not even going into the staggering number of unlockable items and power-ups in the in-game shop or the numerous achievements and leveling system built into the game.
We originally really enjoyed Ski Safariin our review, but since that time the game has been updated several times adding in even more features, unlockable items and environments to play in. It's simply incredible how much is stuffed into Ski Safari, and right now for the first time ever you can download the game for free. After actually trying out Ski Safari and realizing it wasn't just another me-too endless runner, I would have had no problem recommending it in its initial state for the asking price of 99¢. The fact it has been expanded so much since then and is available for free makes it a definite must-download, and I have a feeling it's just going to keep on improving well into the future.
If you're just lounging around enjoying a lazy Sunday, here's something worth hopping off the couch for: One Man Left's frantic arcade game Tilt to Live [$2.99] is currently 100% FREE. Actually, now that I think about it, if your iOS device is at arm's length you probably don't even need to get off the couch to download this bad boy. Score!
If you need a refresher course on just what the heck Tilt to Live is, at its heart it's an object avoidance game where you, well, tilt to live. You move a tiny arrow around the game arena by tilting your device, avoiding enemy red dots that appear and gradually increase in numbers as you play, and every last one of them are hell-bent on taking you out. While avoiding these enemies, you'll also need to collect various weapons that appear in the arena, which are how you take out the red dots. Collide with an enemy even once and it's game over for you.
ARC Squadron [$2.99], our current favorite space arcade flying action game that sorta plays like Star Fox, has been updated with some new features. Most notably, iCloud support. Now you can resume your current game from any of your iDevices. Version 1.21 also adds new items to the Hangar and increases the "maximum sensitivity" for touch input.
Oh! Also, ARC Squadron is on sale again. After spending some time at $2.99, and even a brief period at $4.99, the game is sitting at a cool 99¢. TouchArcade's own Space Flight Expert, Jared "Space Flight Expert" Nelson, says ARC is a steal at this price. TRAILER TIME.
If you want to know a little bit more about ARC Squadron before taking the plunge, check out our review, our TA Plays, or give the Light version a spin. But, really, just buy it. It's awesome.
It looks like we're off to kind of a slow start in 2013 in terms of weekly releases. That's not to say there weren't a few interesting looking games in our weekly Coming Tonight post (and all of those games should be out in the US App Store now, by the way), but I guess it just doesn't have the same impact as the usual onslaught of new games that typically hit in the weeks that aren't so close to the holidays.
