It’s been sort of a strange week for new iOS releases. First off, several developers opted to release their games earlier in the week than usual in order to coincide with the release of the shiny new iOS 5 software update. Second, TouchArcade’s trusted Captain Hodapp is off gallivanting around at GDC Online in Austin, so was a little too tied up to bust out the usual midweek roundup of Wednesday new releases. Thus, the burden has fallen upon yours truly, The Bearded Night Watchman of TouchArcade, to put together a list of what has come out today.
But hey, this post coming later than normal has a nice side effect – if there’s a game on here you weren’t expecting, then it’s already out right now, and you don’t have to suffer in anticipation as you wait for it to filter through the various international markets and hit your own local App Store. Ok, enough blabbering, on to the releases, and we should be back with your regularly scheduled Wednesday release post next week.
Espgaluda II HD, $10.99 – Lite – Forum Thread – CAVE has made quite a few fans by bringing their bullet hell shooters to the iOS platform in excellent fashion, but many people have been clamoring for native iPad versions of their games. Today that finally happens with Espgaluda II HD. One interesting twist to this release is that you can actually buy each of the two modes from the full game as their own separate apps with Espgaluda II HD Arcade Version, $6.99 and Espgaluda II HD Smartphone Version, $6.99. Kind of a cool idea if you’re interested in some CAVE shootery goodness but aren’t interested in the full package. Just keep in mind, if you pick up any of these games, you’re going to need an iPad 2 to play them.
Galaxy on Fire 2 HD, $9.99 (Universal) – Forum Thread – Fishlabs’ epic scifi space shooter, now with insane visuals tailored specifically for the increased horsepower of the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4S, either of which are necessary to run the game. Content-wise you’re essentially getting the same game as the regular Galaxy on Fire 2 which launched just about a year ago, but with all sorts of technical enhancements like completely rebuilt ship models, increased texture resolutions, additional lighting and shader effects, and tons more. This just might be the most advanced game visually on the iOS platform to date, and it sure doesn’t hurt that it’s also one of the deepest, most satisfying gameplay experiences either.
Steambirds: Survival, Free – HD – Forum Thread – After jumping the gun and accidentally releasing the iPad version earlier this week, and then quickly having to pull it from the App Store, today marks the official release date of Steambirds: Survival and both the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad versions are all once again available for sale. Steambirds: Survival takes everything about the original Flash version of Steambirds (which was also ported to iOS last year) and cranks it up to 11. There’s now a more meaty campaign structure, survival levels, plane power-ups, and more. Plus, the wonderful turn-based mechanics of the game would make for a perfect fit with the new asynchronous multiplayer options in Game Center, which the developer hopes to implement in the near future.
Pocket BMX, 99¢ – Forum Thread – I’ve been excited for this little title since we first caught wind of it back in early September. I’m a pretty big fan of the Stickman Skater and Stickman BMX games, with their simplified 2D side-scrolling take on those “extreme" sports. Pocket BMX looks to take that basic concept to the next level, offering much more control over your character as well as the ability to string together a bunch of tricks into a combo, highly reminiscent of the old Tony Hawk Pro Skater games. The one question mark I have is about the controls, but if those are solid enough then this should be a winner.
Advena, 99¢ – Forum Thread – Gamevil’s latest action RPG title. The big features of this one are the ability to play with up to 5 party members and switch between them on the fly, as well as the ability to pick from multiple character classes. I’ve pretty much had my fill of these hack ‘n slash-heavy side scrolling RPGs, as they usually end up being quite repetitive, but so far the impressions in our forums are quite good, and you can’t really beat the price if you’re looking to get your action RPG fix.
Descend RPG, $3.99 – Forum Thread – Harkening back to the days of old-school, turn based, first person, grid based dungeon crawling RPGs of yesteryear, Descend RPG attempts to keep the classic gameplay intact while bringing the visual style into the current age. And, it seems to accomplish that pretty well, especially for a game that was created by just one guy. Inspirations for the game include classics like Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder, so if you were a fan of those games back in the day then you just might have an affinity for what Descend RPG is offering.
