Heads up: Real Racing 2 HD [$0.99 (HD)] is on sale ... again. Starting now, you can grab the title at $1.99 instead of its usual $6.99. This is a pretty deep price cut for a simulation-based racing game that, mechanically and visually, still holds up despite its age.
If you're holding out for the iPhone version's sale, you missed the boat. It got marked down last week and recently just shot up to its regular price. The good news is that one of these versions seems to go on sale every other week, so if you keep your eyes peeled, you'll probably catch the next one.
Real Racing 3, the next game in the franchise, is due out at some point this year. And, man, does it look absolutely fantastic. Check it out if you haven't.
That God of Blades [$2.99] update we talked about a few weeks ago is now out and available as a free download. Also, the game is on sale for the first time ever. Starting now, you can grab it for 99¢ instead of its usual $2.99. Not a bad bit of savings.
If you haven't been following along at home, this update's big feature is Revenant. It's an asynchronous multiplayer component that lets you make, customize, and level up a new character and then pit that character against your friends' characters and their scores. Two new worlds have been added to the core game as part of this update, too, and every sword now appears to be unlockable via sword points.
God of Blades is going to be on our year end lists, no doubt. It's highly recommended, in other words, so consider giving it a shot.
After piquing our interest with its lush, gorgeous visuals back in July, the pacifist's action adventure game Lili [$2.99] finally hit the App Store back in September and was amongst the first to harness the larger screen of the then-new iPhone 5. We took it for a test spin in our TA Plays video and enjoyed the heck out of it in our full review, despite a few niggles which were promptly taken care of in a post-release update.
After seeing a brief price drop last month in celebration of the new iPod touch hitting the market, Lili is once again on sale for the low low price of 99¢.
During last month's price drop many gamers noted that they'd paid the full original price of $4.99 for Lili and had no regrets over doing so, something that's sort of rare for the typical iOS gamer. So I'll venture out and say that for 99¢ it's an absolute steal. If you need further information or have questions about Lili then check out our forums, but definitely take advantage of this sale while you can if you have any interest in beautiful adventures.
In early October, Ravenous Games took the liberty of releasing a port of Juicy Beast Studio's stupidly popular Flash game Burrito Bison [$0.99] to iOS, and it fit the touchscreen platform rather well. We had some fun with it right after it came out in our TA Plays video, and found it to hold up rather well to extended scrutiny about a week later in our full review.
Both our TA Plays and our written review are good places to see what Burrito Bison is all about, so be sure to give them a look, but in short it's one of those "catapult" type game where you launch a bison who is also a Mexican wrestler for some reason and see how far you can bounce him along using the help of gummi-bear citizens and various power-ups along the way. Yeah, it's weird. But awesome too!
In case the title of this post didn't give it away for you, currently you can grab Burrito Bison for the delectable price of FREE. In conjunction with this price drop is a new update which gives Burrito Bison widescreen support for iPhone 5 and the new iPod touch models, as well as save syncing using iCloud so you can maintain your game progress across devices. Don't wait around to grab Burrito Bison during it's temporary fit of free-ness, as it likely won't stay that way for long.
Over the summer at E3, Capcom unveiled a mobile version of their console fighter that pit Street Fighter characters against those from long-time rival series Tekken. They looked to up their game over their previous iOS fighter Street Fighter IV Volt [$4.99] by including fully 3D character models and backgrounds, as well as backgrounds that actually animated rather than the lifeless still shots used in Volt. For the most part they succeeded with Street Fighter X Tekken Mobile [$2.99], though a severe lack of characters and an annoying token system for online battling brought down the experience, things we noted in our review.
Since the game launched in September, Capcom has updated Street Fighter X Tekken with online improvements, and have run several different multiplayer token promotions to give players more chances to battle it out online and level up their profile. Last week, the latest update hit that has added even more technical improvements, but also addresses the tiny roster by adding Rolento from the Street Fighter world and Heihachi from the Tekken world as two new playable characters.
Hopefully everyone in the US is enjoying their Thanksgiving holiday, and made sure to grab a ton of games from the massive EA sale that we posted about earlier. Seriously EA, you guys are cray. Anyway, I'm peering into the future as I write this late on Thanksgiving Eve, and I picture myself laid out in a recliner, belt unbuckled, a small dribble of drool coming from the corner of my mouth as I stare blankly at the sportsball game on TV...
Ok, enough unpleasant visualizations, on to the good stuff - the sweet, sweet deals on iOS games.
In this post we look at what's on sale from Gameloft, Sega, Namco, Tin Man Games and Gamerizon (all of their Chop Chop games are currently free). Then below that we've got a huge catch-all for all the other deals we could spot, and if any significant new price drops hit during the next couple of days we'll just stick 'em down there at the bottom, so keep an eye on this space over the weekend. Or you could just skip ahead to the shameless self-promotion in the final paragraph and equip yourself with everything you need to stay on top of the tumultuous App Store. Empower yourself! (more...)
As all of us here in the US get ready to settle in and gorge ourselves into a coma on Thanksgiving, as well as wake up in the wee morning hours to battle mobs of shoppers fighting tooth and nail for the best deals on Black Friday, we want to take a moment to highlight some of the amazing deals going on in the App Store. The best part about this kind of shopping spree is that it's entirely pants optional. The future!
Here we've got an absolutely massive selection of games on sale from EA – who is well-versed in the ways of chart dominating holiday sales – as well as the EA-owned Chillingo, Firemonkeys and PopCap. Something else to chew on: if you don't see a game you're looking for on this list, or if it's the iPad-only version and you want it for iPhone, chances are that that game is already priced at 99¢ and you can head to the App Store pages for each respective company with the links below to check out their full library:
If for some reason you were holding off on downloading Fish Labs' Galaxy on Fire 2 [Free], you officially just ran out of excuses. For the first time ever, this space shooter is totally free. If you need that extra push over the edge, you could check out our review, but really, you should just download it.
Galaxy on Fire 2 comes in two varieties these days, the free version is the "standard definition" one. If you've got a newer device and want all the fancy (and huge, in a file-size sense) graphical effects, you'll need to spring for Galaxy on Fire 2 HD [Free]. So, if you've a new iPad, give the free version a shot, and if you like it maybe download the HD variety instead?
We have a special place in our hearts for the developer Ponos, who consistently releases quirky, humorous and fun titles to the iOS platform. Their latest release is Battle Cats [Free], a game featuring the Internet's favorite animal mixed with castle defense gameplay and one we thought was pretty darn good in our review. To celebrate this release, some older Ponos titles are currently available for free.
Mr.AahH!!, $0.99 - First up is Mr. AahH!!, a swinging platformer that released way back in 2009 and kicked off the whole "Mr." series of games from Ponos. It's a simple but challenging title that we really enjoyed in our original writeup of the game.
Gameloft's Asphalt series of racing games have come a long, long way since their humble beginnings on mobile phones, the ill-fated N-Gage, and Nintendo DS almost a decade ago. The latest in the series, Asphalt 7: Heat [$0.99], was released over the summer and was easily the most impressive iteration yet, offering a full-blown arcade racer wrapped up in an incredibly shiny package.
Currently you can grab Asphalt 7 for the very agreeable price of free. Now, the game has always been just 99¢ anyway, which is incredibly cheap for such a full-featured title. This probably has something to do with the amount of IAP in the game: there's a lot of it. It's not the bad kind though, just the kind that asks you to play a whole lot in order to earn enough in-game currency to buy all the various cars and upgrades. The "buy some IAP if you're impatient" kind, if you will.
Still, removing the barrier of entry will likely be a good way to get people to check out Asphalt 7 if they were on the fence before. I mean, why not? All you've got to lose is time, and admittedly it is a huge download at over 1GB. If you're a racing game fan then you'll definitely want to check it out, as although they're different in many ways, it compares favorably to EA's Need For Speed Most Wanted [$0.99], which came out just last month and also seems to be vying for the spot of "best iOS racer" in the minds of gamers.
You might need to hurry though, as according to the description Asphalt 7: Heat will only be free for a day.
This past April, Mighty Rabbit Studios and Joystick Labs released Saturday Morning RPG [Free], an episodic iOS role-playing game crafted in the vein of those from the 16-bit era and absolutely dripping with radical '80s references and style. We thought it tickled our nostalgia bone ever so lovingly in our review of the original release, which contained two full episodes with plans for more to follow.
Then in July, we detailed the uh, details of the upcoming Episode 3 installment, titled To Bot or Not to Bot. That episode is finally ready to roll and will be launching next week on November 15th, but you can get a brief tease right now in the trailer below.
To celebrate the release of To Bot Or Not To Bot, both versions of Saturday Morning RPG are currently on sale. The free version of the game comes with Episode 1 and the ability to buy future episodes through in-app purchases, and right now Episode 2 is on sale for 99¢ instead of its usual $1.99. Then there's Saturday Morning RPG Deluxe [$5.99], which costs more up front but will get updated with all future episodes for free, and right now you can grab that for a dollar off at $4.99.
Either way you choose, Saturday Morning RPG is a lighthearted and humorous game for those with fond memories of the '80s and is totally worth checking out, so be on the lookout for Episode 3 to drop next week.
Check this: NimbleBit has slashed all of the in-app purchases in Tiny Tower [Free], Pocket Planes [Free], and Pocket Frogs [Free] by 50 percent. From now (and, well, since Friday) until this coming Sunday, you can go nuts in these games and buy anything for half the price.
This is a solid deal for three radical free-to-play games that don't require, and heck, aren't even balanced for, in-app purchases.
In celebration of this sale, NimbleBit has released a brand new "short" starring one of its games. Specifically, this is the first "Tiny Tower Short," a web series that pokes a bit of fun at the characters, places, and items in the game. Check it out:
One game I don't think gets the recognition it deserves is Epoch [$0.99] from Uppercut games. It basically re-imagined the cover-based shooter for a touchscreen platform, and did it with loads of style. Instead of taking the oftentimes cumbersome approach of virtual controls, Epoch automates much of the actual shooting mechanics of a 3rd-person shooter. It guides you through its various combat scenarios and your main weapon fires automatically, leaving you to focus more attention on diving to different cover positions and determining the best times to pop up and take some shots.
It does this elegantly too, with an intuitive set of swipe gestures that make you feel like you're making your character dance in and out of hiding. With a host of upgradeable weapons and armor to choose from, as well as a cast of enemies each with unique attacks, Epoch is a highly strategic affair rather than a mindless blast-a-thon, and a satisfying one at that.
Back before they had us exploring the inner depths of the Red Planet in Waking Mars [$4.99], Tiger Style Games had us exploring a creepy mansion as a tiny arachnid in Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor [$1.99 / $1.99 (HD)]. Let me go ahead and spoil the biggest secret for you right now: Spider is phenomenal. Ok, that's not actually a secret at all. Spider has received critical acclaim from practically every corner of the Earth, including getting our own Game of the Year 2009 nod as well as a similar nod from Apple themselves that year.
The reason Spider shone so brightly was that it was one of the best games during the early App Store days to take the touch screen available on iOS devices and really own it. As you sent your spider soaring through the nooks and crannies of Bryce Manor using swiping gestures, there's a point where you realize that the game just couldn't be the same if it was on a traditional gaming console. It fit iOS perfectly, and had an engaging story and fantastic art design to boot.
So all this gushing, as I'm sure you've already guessed, is because currently Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor is free for both iPhone and iPad. It's seen its fair share of sales over the years, but this is the first time ever Spider has been completely free, and the bottom line is if you don't already own it you need to download it immediately. Or even quicker than immediately, if possible. Seriously. Or we just can't be friends anymore.
If you for some reason are not heeding my advice, just read our original review from back in 2009 for some more insight. Just be aware that since its initial release, Spider has been updated with modern trappings like Game Center, Retina Display support, and 4-inch widescreen display support, so it's an even greater game than the great game it was when it first released. Why are you still reading this? Start downloading!
Heads up: time's running out on Organ Trail: Director's Cuts' [$2.99] Halloween update.
The survival-slash-car breakdown simulator's latest content drop -- which added twelve Halloween road missions, a Frankenstein boss fight, and a couple of other themed objects earlier this month -- is only around for two more weeks. The patch notes state that the Halloween fun will end this coming November 7th. Booo.
Organ Trail, by the way, is also on sale. For a limited time you can grab it for 99¢, as opposed to its usual $2.99. It's definitely worth it.
Heads up: Real Racing 2 HD [$0.99 (HD)] is on sale ... again. Starting now, you can grab the title at $1.99 instead of its usual $6.99. This is a pretty deep price cut for a simulation-based racing game that, mechanically and visually, still holds up despite its age. 
