Sometimes a game just feels right on the iPhone, and that's totally the feeling I'm getting with Daddy Was A Thief, the latest game from Crumble Zone [$1.99] and Night Flight [$1.99] developer Rebel Twins. In it you play as a thief (duh) who has just robbed a bank, or if not a bank, some other building with giant dollar signs on the side of it. Pretty sure it was a bank, though.

The game begins with you bursting onto the rooftop of the bank and leaping to the building next door. It's here that you'll make your escape, and you do this by literally pounding through the floor of each, well, floor of the building. A swipe downward smashes your thief through the floor, and a swipe upward makes you jump. Your character auto-runs so these are literally the only controls in the game, and it works brilliantly.

The different floors in Daddy Was A Thief contain various items or people that can affect your downward journey. Smash up an electronic appliance like a TV or refrigerator and you'll zap the entire floor below your feet, disintegrating. Hop into a bathtub and you can take a free ride through several floors at once, with the bathtub protecting you from any hazards you might hit along the way. Run into a granny and she'll give you a proper kicking, sending you up a couple of floors and potentially knocking you into a hazard that you so carefully avoided the first time through. Of course it could be worse, though: run into a police officer and he'll waste no time literally turning you into a pile of bones.

Occasionally you'll run into a Casino floor, which contains a Pachinko-like set of bumpers and a group of green orbs. Bounce your thief off the bumpers and collect the green orbs and you'll be rewarded with a handsome cash prize. It feels sort of like the bonus stages from the original Sonic the Hedgehog, which is not a bad thing at all, and the Casino mini-game breaks up the smash-through-every-floor-of-a-building gameplay nicely.

This is all just through the first 100 floors or so, which is currently as far as I've managed to make it in Daddy Was A Thief. As you get deeper in the building, more items and dangers appear and things get much trickier. I have a feeling that even 100 floors in is just scratching the surface, and there's even more items and personalities to encounter waiting for me beyond that point.

As much as I love sining my teeth into big, meaty games, I also love those games you know you can jump into on a whim, spend any amount of time with, and know you're going to have a good time. I think Daddy Was A Thief is one of those games. It should be dropping later tonight around 11pm EST, so toss it on your TouchArcade [Free] app Watch List and we'll send you an alert when it hits the US App Store. You can also read more early impressions from players in our forums.

International App Store Link: Daddy Was A Thief, $1.99 (Universal)

Among the games coming out tonight is a new title from the creators (and publisher) of Pocket RPG [$4.99 / Free], which was a neat spin on the dual stick shooter formula while adding in elements of both roguelikes and dungeon crawlers. Seriously, take a look at our review- It's a great game. Anyway, the new Tasty Poison and Crescent Moon joint is called Dig!, and from the title alone I bet you can guess what you do in the game.

Snark aside, you play as an aspiring archeologist in a fast-paced puzzle game with a strong nod back to games like Qix as the way you both dig up new artifacts and deal with enemies in the field is by controlling your guy to draw boundaries for the areas you're digging in. Completing levels involves managing bad guys, collecting treasure, then digging deeper. Check out the trailer:

I've played a bit of the early part of the game, and am really digging it so far. The tutorial makes the game seem way more basic than it actually is, as once you're a good 10 or 15 minutes in you're actively playing a much deeper set of mini-games between deciding which hats (the game's power-ups) you'll have available as well as managing your own museum where all your artifacts end up which serves as a persistent nearly tycoon-like money making system.

I'm excited to get deeper into the game, but, in the meantime, if you want to be alerted when it's available in the US tonight be sure to add it to your TouchArcade app [Free] watch list.

Kevin Ng's upcoming Impossible Road has the look and feel of an everyday mobile arcade game, but it's definitely not. In it, you guide a ball down an infinitely winding neon stretch of track, collecting points as you rocket through the numbered gates that line it. It's a simple, breezy task where death comes fast because the track twists, turns, and falls into itself. As you play, though, you start noticing gaps in the system. For instance, the ball doesn't need to follow the track linearly. You can let it fall off and land onto a stretch that's deeper down. You can also skip gates, too, and earn the same amount of points that a person that managed to hit them all would. Also, the ball doesn't even need to roll down. If you're a bad enough dude, you can just keep throwing it off the track and controlling its ricochet off of the curves.

I thought I was a crazy person when I started noticing this, but sure enough, Ng notes in the app description that this is a game about exploitation. "And when you learn how to cheat the game and you discover that it is rewarded not punished," the description reads, " the leaderboards will belong to you."

As far as physics and feel go, Impossible Road is hard to measure. I mean, as an arcade line game it feels OK. I mean, you can keep the ball on the track and it has a decent amount of weight and predictability behind it. But, the point seems to reside in breaking the game part, letting the ball tumble and roll and bounce off lower swathes of track -- you know, stuff that you're typically not supposed to be doing. Does it feel a little funky as a result? Sure, a little.

Strangely, Road also has that one-more-time thing going for it. I'd still be playing if I didn't NEED to stop and let you guys know about it. Does this say something about how much fun subversive play can be? I don't know! But since I plan to go back and keep racking up my sick scores that I totally broke the game for, may it does.

Impossible Road will be out tonight at around 11PM EST. You can add the game to your Watch List on our app [Free] and get a notification whenever it makes it over alongside the rest of tonight's releases.

International App Store Link: Impossible Road, $1.99

While most fans of Square Enix should be rightfully concerned with some of the recent Final Fantasy mobile offerings, one area competently executed are their ports of preexisting console FF offerings. Final Fantasy V [$15.99], the latest port to grace iOS, thankfully continues the trend of offering improved versions of the classic RPG series. Offering one of the better implementations of the main series’ job system, FFV is a great game in its own right, successfully makes the transition to iOS and should be added to the collection of any nostalgic RPG collector.

Originally released in 1992, Final Fantasy V wouldn’t grace the US until its inclusion in the PSX Fantasy Fantasy Anthology in 1999 (and wouldn’t see a mobile release until the 2006 GBA Version). It’s a shame that US FF fans had to wait so long, because Final Fantasy V was a pretty good entry in the series. The overall story, which centered on a sealed evil looking to destroy the elemental crystals holding its bond in place, features a lot of themes and character development that would be utilized in later entries in the series.

There’re a lot of folks that have probably played FFV in some previous iteration and are wondering what the differences are between this iOS version and previous ones. Content-wise, FFV for iOS features the same additions as found in the GBA version. This means that players will find an additional end-game dungeon as well as four extra job classes that weren't in the original. While the additional content is purely optional, the additional job classes add some variety for players that haven't experienced the GBA remake.

The one area that does change significantly in this iOS port is the art style. Instead of using the classic, highly pixelated models of the original, FFV on iOS has a very smoothed art style, with the game looking closer to the recently released Final Fantasy Dimensions. In addition, the game features more artwork from original artist Yoshitaka Amano at a much higher resolution than previous versions. While I welcome the additional Amano art, I'm on the fence about the rest of the visual improvements. There's a lot of nostalgia and charm lost in the move away from the pixel graphics and the current look feels a little bland.

The rest of the additions, meanwhile, are positive in my book. The music, which is classic Nobuo Uematsu, has been remastered beyond the chiptunes of old but still retains everything that made the original soundtrack great.  FFV for iOS also includes an auto-battle mode, which speeds up the wait time between turns and automatically uses the previous commands issued for every character. This one little addition does a lot towards speeding up the grind, which is always a concern with these early RPGs. Little additions such as the ability to pinch-zoom the in-game map are also nice touches.

It's always hard to review these classic FF titles on iOS because they're always essentially ports of ports of the originals. Just as was the case with the previously released iOS ports, Final Fantasy V is a no-brainer if you're an RPG fan and have not had the pleasure of playing it. The story, job system, and classic Final Fantasy gameplay are strong in this title and showcase the golden age of  Squaresoft 16-bit RPGs.

At the same time, the changes to the visual engine and minor gameplay tweaks probably aren't enough to justify a purchase for fans that have already completed the game (especially on GBA). Although, there's still enough nostalgic appeal that odds are you'll probably buy it anyways.

We've been following along with the development of iMech Online [Free] since its first unveiling at WWDC last year, and over the weekend the game quietly launched for free in the App Store. Actually, to back up a bit, iMech was a game originally released way back in 2009 and was among the first iOS games to feature full competitive online multiplayer for up to 8 players. It was extremely impressive for the time, and iMech accumulated a dedicated fanbase of online players.

As can happen, the original development team broke apart and eventually iMech was removed from the App Store and its servers were shut down. A phoenix rose from the ashes in a sense, though, as some of the original team banded together and purchased the iMech IP and set forth to revamp and rerelease the game. And that's where we're at now with the release of iMech Online.

It's free to download and try iMech Online, and there's really no reason why you shouldn't. It has a fairly robust selection of mechs to choose from as well as a ton of customization options so you can trick them out with special abilities and weapons. It's a free-to-play title, though, so expect to need to grind away to earn some of this stuff or pony up some real dough to do it more quickly.

However, the game's new developer Mobula has tried to ensure there's nothing that's "pay-to-win" about their upgrade system, so even if you are new to the game and not quite fully-equipped just yet you can still match up well with those who are. Also they're using a League of Legends-inspired rotating system which gives you a selection of different mechs to try out each week, so you can check them out before committing to investing time or currency into them.

So far I've only spent a small amount of time with iMech Online, but it feels like there's a lot of potential here. I like the amount of different mechs and customization options, but with just one arena and a simple deathmatch game type it feels very basic. We'll see how it continues to evolve, but for free I think it's definitely worth the time to check out. Also, there's a discussion thread in our forums if you want to drop your own thoughts or suggestions on iMech Online, or just find some folks to frag.

Nintendo's Wii U launched late last year, and so far it doesn't seem to be doing so hot. It's missed its original sales projections, and it seems like Nintendo is scrambling to try and right the ship. A similar thing happened with Nintendo's 3DS handheld too, and after dropping the price significantly shortly after launch and speeding up the delivery of some highly-anticipated titles the platform is finally starting to show some life.

According to a report in the Japan Times as noted by Polygon, Nintendo is hoping to pull of a similar turnaround with the Wii U by making it easier for developers to port their existing mobile titles to be playable on the system. The Wii U, in case you didn't know, features a tablet-like controller with a large touchscreen, so existing smartphone and tablet games would make sense on the console. Nintendo is reportedly offering developers special software which would allow them to port existing games to Wii U as well as build games from the get-go with the Wii U in mind as one of the target platforms.

The consensus surrounding this news seems to be that most people would rather Nintendo put their focus in the opposite direction: port their existing library of first-party titles to smartphones and tablets. I mean, touchscreen controls aside you can't deny that a Super Mario Bros. or Legend of Zelda port wouldn't immediately top the App Store charts, even at the higher price tiers. If Nintendo's goal was strictly to make boatloads of money, I think they would already be doing this.

However, Nintendo is a proud company and I think they'd rather have their latest system tank than put their beloved franchises on different platforms. Increasing pressure from shareholders and fans may change that sometime down the line, but I wouldn't bet on it in the near future. As for porting mobile titles to the Wii U, I think there's greater problems at play here than a dearth of downloadable games, but it will be interesting to see how the initiative shakes out nonetheless.

[Polygon]

One big thing that has held iOS gaming back compared to dedicated handheld game systems is a lack of a way to manage save game files. Sure, a great deal of mobile games are fairly disposable experiences that don't require tracking progress, but plenty of others are full, robust games that can take many hours to complete.

If you're an app addict like most of us here then chances are you'll need to play the make-space-on-your-device shuffle from time to time, meaning you might have to delete a hefty game and potentially all the progress you've made in it, never to get it back again.

Apple's iCloud has been a decent solution… when it works, that is. Sadly that seems to be a pretty rare occurrence. Admittedly it's getting better, but iCloud does not feel reliable enough yet to put my precious, precious game saves in its hands just yet.

Rovio is concerned with this problem as well, and as iMore reports they're working on their own save game solution to work in their stable of games. Using the new Rovio Account feature, which requires just an email to sign up for, game progress will be uploaded and saved on Rovio's end and can be transferred across devices, Rovio explains on their blog.

What's still not clear is just what devices this will work for. Since just about every Rovio game has a separate iPhone and iPad version, will my iPhone Angry Birds progress sync up with Angry Birds HD on the iPad? Will this work cross-platform for Android versions of the game?

I'm sure we'll find out all the details soon enough. Currently, Rovio Account is available in globally in Rovio's The Croods [Free] and regionally in Poland and Finland for the original Angry Birds on iOS. The service will roll out gradually to other regions and titles, and I'm actually pretty curious to see how it ends up panning out.

[iMore]

Because we're always scanning the scene for games with sickest of sick tricks, Eli and I decided to give Djinn Works's Stick Stunt Biker 2 [$0.99] a shot. By titling alone, you probably already know what to expect. Yes, it's a stick figure game. Yes, it's physics-based. And yes, it has sick tricks. But here's something you might not know: it also doesn't have a rigid progression structure. Once you get access to a world, you can play every level in it, regardless if you manage to get one or even zero stars in a given level. Each win or loss is met by a loading screen that instantly sucks you into the next level, which is a nice pacing touch. A lot of these games make you retry and retry the same stuff over and over again, which for us tends to cause a lot of fatigue.

In this look, you'll notice that we can't quite pull of a sick trick. I swear, I could almost write a guide about how NOT to play this game. I'm pretty bad at it. Oh god, is this becoming a theme in TA Plays? It is, isn't it.

Anyway, you can grab Stick Stunt Biker 2 right now if you'd like. And if you still dig these kinds of physics games, you should consider doing so. The rapid-fire progression is a nice touch, plus the physics keep your bike really rounded to the ground. It just doesn't feel as loose and insane as its brethren, which is cool.

I don't have any history with Warhammer Quest. I didn't catch it in 1995 when it started hitting shelves. Heck, I didn't even know it existed until Rodeo Games announced that it was bringing the game to iPad. Usually, this kind of obliviousness is a Big Problem when it comes to playing board game ports. Studios tend to double-down on what made the board game great instead of focusing on making a good video game, leaving players with a super sluggish, systems-heavy title that kinda just makes you want to play the physical version instead of even bothering with the digital port. Credit goes to Rodeo for not doing this with Quest. It's a video game first, and to a guy as clueless about the board game as I am, it basically just feels like a modern strategy RPG. That's kinda wild.

Set in a universe bursting with crypts, wizards, orcs, spiders, and at least one magical lute, Quest revolves around an old-school premise: earn fame and fortune by plumbing the depths of the nastiest, monster-filled places in a cold, unforgiving fantasy land. You're given control of a couple of axe-wielding bruisers, as well as an archer and mage at the start.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you get the feeling that you've been reading about Steph Thirion's 'Faraway' for years now, you'd actually be totally correct in that notion as we first posted about the game all the way back in 2010 when we first saw it at GDC. In a nutshell, the game as we saw it then involved flying around the universe and hooking on to stars via a familiar gravity mechanic that (most recently) appeared in games like Astro Shark [$0.99] and many others. Faraway's unique hook is that it combines this style of gameplay with actually drawing star constellations depending on which stars you hook on to.

You can see how this all shakes out in our video from GDC 2010:

We caught up with Thirion a year later at GDC 2011, where we got a look at a slightly more complete version of the game along with the explanation that he had been delayed by other projects that had prevented him from working on Faraway. We shot another video, and it seems the most notable change is tweaked progression to make it easier for players of all skill levels.

The following August we got word that the game was going to be released in the fall of 2011, and there even was a pre-release teaser trailer that hit Vimeo. It's a good trailer, and we found ourselves justifiably stoked that Faraway was (then) just around the corner.

After that, things went totally dark and updates on the game's progress were limited to the Faraway thread getting bumped every now and again as someone found a new vague tidbit or just stopped by to ask if anyone knew where the game was.

The most promising sign that the game is still in the works came from The New Yorker of all places, where Rob Dubbin, a writer for The Colbert Report actually managed to get his hands on a copy of the game. The story touches on its epic development cycle, as well as areas of the game that Steph Thirion has reworked after being inspired by recent indie darlings like Journey and Fez.

Overall though, this is just a promising sign that Faraway isn't a dead project, and that it exists somewhere, and might eventually be released some day. If you've been following this title for years now like us, be sure to add it to your TouchArcade App [Free] watch list.

The term “4X game” is either scary or foreign to you if you are not a strategy gamer. Even if you are one, like myself, they can still be daunting. With Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy [$6.99 (HD)], Big Daddy’s Creations has attempted to make this genre more accessible. Based on a complex board game of the same name, Eclipse simplifies the the 4X genre by providing guided, limited options and a set game length. That is not to say it is simple, but it has elegant European design; imagine Masters of Orion and Settlers of Catan had a baby.

What is a 4X game you ask? It stands for the four basic actions you can take in this type of game: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. Examples include Starbase Orion on iOS and Heroes of Might and Magic on PC. In Eclipse you take on the role of one of several alien or human races with the goal of building your empire over 9 rounds. By exploring and claiming sectors of space, researching technologies, and engaging in combat with other players you will earn points which will contribute to your empire’s overall reputation. There are also other actions to take like engaging in diplomacy, building new ships, and upgrading those ships that round out the experience.

It does seem like there is a lot going on (and there is) but Eclipse is focused in its approach. Each round you have a limited number of resources to work with based on planets you have colonized. Materials allow you to build spaceships, fighters, and other constructs. Out of materials? Ok, then those options are gone. Science allows you to research new technology which can help you colonize new sectors of space or outfit your ships. Do you have enough science to research this round? Maybe only once, ok that’s easy to plan out.

Lastly you have money which determines how many actions you can take that round and how many sectors of space you can control. Clearly knowing how much you can do each round keeps you focused. This is the secret sauce that makes Eclipse so palatable as a grand strategy game. Rather than giving you freedom to control every unit you have in play each round, you are funneled into taking whatever actions you can fit in.

Of course, this is not solely an economic game, there is also deep space combat. As you explore the galaxy you may encounter “Ancients” which are a remnant of the former controllers of the galaxy. You also may spar against other players as you attempt to invade their territory. Combat in Eclipse is basically done by a roll of a die, but smartly the designers don’t show you some cheesy dice rolling animation. Instead there is an interesting combat animation as ship goes against ship.

Eclipse also features a very cool ship customization system that is as easy as dragging and dropping. As you research new techs you will get things like bigger guns, better armor, and faster engines. You can upgrade your ships by adding these different techs to what is already on the ship. It has become apparent after playing this game for the past week that ship construction is a key strategy in winning the game.

The sleek UI design given to both upgrading and combat is carried throughout the app. There is a lot of information to process and access, and it could have been a nightmare to access it all. Luckily, this is some of the best UI design I have ever seen. You always have a view of the galaxy at large and can quickly access trays that contain the other information you need to know. For what is at its heart a port of a board game with about a gazillion pieces, Eclipse is designed so well I am not sure you would have known it was based on a board game if I had not told you.

Staying true to the goal of a grand space opera, Eclipse can handle up to 6 players. This can be all human players gathered around your iPad as you pass it around like some sort of deep strategy peace pipe. Of course, finding five friends that can all be together at the same time can be challenging. The game features AI opponents which may be the main way to play the game. They are challenging at each level and play differently to help you perfect your skills.

For example, the peaceful AI will never invade your territory allowing you to learn the game without having to defend yourself. This builds up to the hardest AI which starts with an advanced spaceship and is very aggressive. For the brave at heart there is also asynchronous online play. So far there has always been a healthy crop of opponents from around the world to choose from. The system even allows for private games and features in-game chat. There is even a public chat lobby which has a very early StarCraft vibe. Our forum community has been loving Eclipse since its release as well.

Eclipse is an accessible and polished strategy game that feels at home on iOS. This is not a casual game, but if you have been interested in the 4X genre or strategy gaming in general, this is a great place to dip a toe in. Even with the game's excellent tutorial, it requires some repeated play to really master. If you are ready for a grand space strategy epic, this an amazing specimen on iOS.

Back in late March, PopCap announced a beta for a Facebook version of their classic tower defense game Plants vs. Zombies, and during that announcement they casually hinted that the long-awaited sequel would be coming sometime in early summer.

Today PopCap has narrowed that release window down to just July, and they've released a humorous new teaser showing just how long-awaited this sequel really is and how it can drive some fans and industry folks alike just a little batty.

Tying into the huge wait for this sequel, it appears the game has an official name poking fun of that very thing: Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time. It's about time indeed, PopCap. The possible bummer of all this is that no specific platforms have been officially announced, but the original game is on… pretty much everything and I'd expect the sequel to be too.

However, the July release date may just coincide with PC or something, so stay tuned and as soon as we have official word on an iOS release we'll be sure to let you know. Also, as always, add Plants vs. Zombies 2 to your TouchArcade [Free] app Watch List to be notified of new stories when they hit.

Remember Fall Down? It's a super simple arcade game that revolves around dropping a ball down a series of gaps between ledges. Think Doodle Jump, but flip the mechanics on their heads. Recent release FallDown! 2 [Free] takes this formula and spices it up a bit with a bunch of power-ups, a forever-falling laser beam of death, and some insane colors. People seem to really be digging this new treatment, too, as the game has rocketed up the charts and is currently sitting pretty at number one in Top Free.

Eli and I gave it a spin this afternoon and came away pretty impressed with the lack of free-to-play grossness. The actual game part is pretty rad, too. Its breeziness as well as accessibility are great features.

Eli used to play this on his old Calculator For Smart People, so we talked a lot about that in our elongated look at this chart topper. If you ever wanted to see it in action, here's your chance.

You know you're an O.G. iOS gamer when you've got fond memories of the original array of Ngmoco games. I'm talkin' Dr. Awesome, Word Fu, Mazefinger, Rolando, and the Topple series. After all, there was a time when it was totally fair to say that ngmoco were well on their way of being the "Nintendo of the App Store" or whatever other cheesy phrase you wanted to assign to a developer that was continually raising the bar of what you could expect of iOS gaming. For better or for worse, the free to play explosion happened along side the release of Eliminate, and, well, here we are.

In the aftermath of the free to play apocalypse, the DeNA buyout, and all the other weird junk that's been going on in the lifecycle of ngmoco a few of these classics have been pulled from the App Store as they originally existed, or replaced with strange Plus+ laden free releases. However, per a recent interview with our pals at 148apps, Topple 2 is on its way back.

As explained in our review, Topple 2 is a block stacking game that is/was a ton of fun. From our review:

The premise of the Topple series is simple, you stack blocks of various shapes and sizes to reach a set altitude goal within the provided time limit. Blocks can be rotated to fit better in to the existing stack and the game makes excellent use of the accelerometer. If your tower of multicolored blocks isn’t as sturdy as you would like it to be, tilting the phone left or right causes your stack to lean, potentially giving you the extra bit of stability you need in order to not send everything crashing down.

It'll be interesting to see how the game stacks up now, as admittedly a lot of the original appeal of games back then revolved around the fact that it was super-nice to see titles that were cleverly designed to be iPhone games instead of just being games that run on the iPhone. It was a serious distinction that anyone around for the inception of the App Store likely will remember all too well.

[via 148apps]

Update: Aaaand it seems Topple 2 [$0.99] is now out. It's 99¢, and filled to the brim with Mobage stuff pressuring you to sign in, link your Facebook, and all that. Oh, and it has up-scaled blurry non-Retina assets. And advertisements for CSR Racing on the title screen and ads that load on the world map screen in between levels. Le sigh.

Yep.

So at about this time last week we were letting you know that Paradox Interactive's nautically-themed turn-based strategy title Leviathan: Warships [$4.99 (HD)] had jumped the gun of weekly Thursday releases and had launched early in international markets with a spot on the shelf of the US App Store reserved for 11pm EST that night. Except… that never happened. Due to several bugs and a completely non-functional online multiplayer, Leviathan: Warships was pulled several hours later.

If you're a Paradox fan in the PC world then this is all just par for the course. They have a reputation of releasing buggy games initially, but also have a pretty great track record of updating and fixing them in a somewhat timely fashion. In the end, Paradox's games typically end up being great, and the rocky road to getting there is all just part of the, uh, "fun" I guess.

Well, as of today, Leviathan: Warships has returned to the App Store, and it seems all online multiplayer connection issues have been fixed. However, according to some players in our forums and elsewhere, it still seems there's quite a few bugs or oddities taking place in the game. I mean, you didn't think Paradox would get everything worked out in the very first patch, right?

Despite its issues, though, it sounds like people are still enjoying Leviathan: Warships a lot so far, warts and all. I'm sure Paradox will continue to chip away at the game's problems and release further updates down the road, but if you're used to this sort of song and dance and aren't scared of some bugginess, then you can mash away at the link below and check out Leviathan: Warships on the iPad for yourself. For everyone else, we'll continue to keep tabs on the game's issues and are currently working on a full review, so keep an eye out for that in the near future.