Further ramping into Q4 and barreling towards the “holiday season" (or I guess now the day after Halloween is technically the holiday season) it’s not a surprise we’re seeing better and better games. Developers are going to continue to jockey for position over the next month before the iTunes freeze… So if you think these last few weeks have been good, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Bitcoin Billionaire, Free [Review] – I hate Bitcoin Billionaire for existing. It’s an idle clicker game, where tapping the screen gets stuff that can be spent on other stuff, but I’ve spent way too much time playing this. I’ve mined way too many fake bitcoins to be proud of myself in any way. I’ve had fun, and this game provides some real excitement and does so in a way that can be played for free with innovative incentivized advertising, but again, I feel kind of ashamed about it. Genuinely, it deserves five stars for excellence at what it is, but perhaps one star out of spite for existing.
Drift'n'Drive, $2.99 [Review] – Drift’n’Drive is quite the fun chaotic top-down racing game. I was intrigued by the game when I saw a GIF of it in action with a whopping 32-car field, and it looked like something I had to play. And it lived up to my expectations. It’s very much an arcade-like experience. The cars auto-accelerate, and have tires with low grip, making them drift-happy, and providing for a very chaotic game. And the only controls are left and right to steer, with a turbo boost that charges up over time. Helping with the chaos is the fact that the courses are generated randomly in the career mode, so it’s about reacting to what might be coming up next and trying to stay on the road. Grass and dirt slow the car down, hitting trees and walls causes damage to the car, and it’s possible to lose a wheel, which makes steering more difficult, until both front wheels are gone, and the vehicle is just straight-up wrecked.
Puzzle to the Center of Earth, Free [Review] – There still aren’t enough mining games out there in the world. Despite the resurgence of the genre on the mobile platform and recent mainstream hits like Steamworld Dig, I could probably play a new mining game every week without getting bored. There’s something about digging down into the great unknown that fills a void many other titles can’t, and Puzzle to the Center of the Earth manages to keep the core facets of the genre intact, while adding in some unique puzzle elements.
RPG Asdivine Hearts, $7.99 [Review] – Well, friends, it was bound to happen sooner or later. A couple of the developers of Kemco’s regular RPG releases have been dancing at the knife edge of quality for a while now, and it was only a matter of time before one of them finally lined up all the pieces and created something truly excellent. I always knew it would be you, EXE Create. Asdivine Hearts isn’t just Kemco’s best RPG release to date, it’s one of the better original JRPGs available on mobiles from anyone. It doesn’t transcend the genre in any meaningful ways, but every aspect of it not only shows a desire to change things up a bit, but to make sure all of those ideas actually work well together. If you like JRPGs and want something that isn’t a port of a classic, this game should definitely be on your short list.
Talisman, $3.99 [Review] – I’ve been on a Games Workshop kick lately, and with the relatively recent universalization of Nomad Games’ Talisman, I couldn’t help but scoop it up. This app has some sky high production quality with a full compliment of features including multiple view modes, full musical scoring and future content updates. I have to admit I caught a serious case of nostalgia seeing the old familiar 3-ringed map and some of my favorite classes again. This port is going to amaze and excite even if you haven’t experienced the physical version of this classic board game.
Additionally, we reviewed a few other games this week. As always, you can dig into all of our reviews by clicking here. Alternatively, you can hit up specific scores by using these links:
