Hello everyone, and welcome to the week! It’s time once again for our look back at the noteworthy updates of the last seven days. This week’s batch is a bit smaller than the last few weeks, but there are some very significant updates in there. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself using AppShopper Social (Free), the watchlist in the TouchArcade App (Free), or by participating in the TouchArcade forums, but this weekly summary is here to fill in the things you might have missed. Let’s dig in!
Kingturn RPG, Free Let’s kick things off with a pretty significant update to Mangobile’s Kingturn RPG trilogy. The graphics and fonts have received a resolution boost, particularly welcome in both cases. There are also some UI improvements, new animations, a new overland map, and Dropbox support. One great improvement is that you can now tap on an enemy to see their movement and attack ranges. Although I’ve only linked the first game’s icon here, both Kingturn RPG Plus (Free) and Kingturn Underworld RPG (Free) have received similar updates.
Planet Quest, Free Planet Quest is an awesome rhythm game that you need to try if you haven’t already. This update adds new variations in the songs to keep you on your toes, a pause button, and the ability to tweet your high-score. No Game Center support yet, but that’s apparently on the way in a future update.
Subway Surfers, Free Subway Surfers is heading to India in its latest update. A new character, Jay, has been added, and you can use him or any of the other surfers to make your way through the new Mumbai stage. As usual, there’s also a new board to unlock. This time, it’s the Bengal Board, a cool tiger-striped plank.
HROOGAR: Fantasy Board Game, $0.99 HROOGAR is a pretty fun Talisman-style board game that has gotten plenty of update love over the years. This new version adds support for both iPhone 6 devices, and some ten-sided dice to be used for some of the game’s Event cards. If you haven’t played it in a while, you might want to look at it again, especially if you’re sporting a bigger screen.
Muscle Run, Free I’m never against games getting prettier, and that’s what has happened in Muscle Run‘s latest version. There are new models for all of the cars and a bunch of new visual effects, some of which might be going a little overboard, but hey, enthusiasm should be encouraged. There are a few new gameplay elements, like bank trucks that give you cash when you catch them, and a ton of balance changes to try to make the game a little more friendly to the player.
The Simpsonsâ„¢: Tapped Out, Free Superhero mania continues in The Simpsons: Tapped Out. Lots of non-superhero stuff in this new update, including the arrival of Jessica Lovejoy, the little brat who brought out the worst in Bart when we thought he couldn’t go any lower. With her comes a new level, Level 50, so I guess all you Springfield fans better get to work.
Drop7â„¢, Free Some say backpedaling lacks dignity, but I can appreciate when a developer admits a mistake, especially a big one like Zynga. Drop7 got an update a few weeks ago that irritated almost everyone. They already added an IAP to remove the new ads in a previous update, and now they’re even allowing players to walk back the overhaul made to the game’s presentation. With this update, you can now select the classic version of Drop7‘s interface if you prefer it over the new one. There is peace in the kingdom once more.
Pet Rescue Saga, Free Oh no, it’s here again. Okay, so I guess the pets have left the moon or whatever, because now they’re following the Yellow Brick Road to Viridian City. Basically, if you live in Oz, you might want to lock the doors and stay inside for the next few weeks to avoid the glassy-eyed stares of creatures from the netherworld. 15 new levels to enjoy this time around, have fun!
Combo Quest, Free Combo Quest has made some major changes to its gameplay balance to try and make things easier on everyone. There are now checkpoints after each boss, new difficulty balancing on said bosses, buffs to combo damage, a health boost to all enemies to compensate, and a bunch of bug fixes. Hard to argue with most of that list. Feel free to make an attempt anyway, though.
Skyline Skaters, Free The Skyline Skaters are getting ready to take a big bite of Vegemite toast in their latest update, which takes them to Sydney, Australia. You get to skate along the Sydney harbor and enjoy the beautiful view. Somehow an Easter update got mashed in here with the new character, Bonnie The Bunny, and a new egg hunt event to unlock her. With her special Bunny Jump move, she’s one character you’ll want to have.
The Ensign, $1.99 Acting as sort of The Lost Levels to A Dark Room ($1.99)’s Super Mario Bros., The Ensign is not a game for the weak of heart. It is, however, a game for all iOS device owners, as the new version adds support for iPad and the iPhone 6 family. There are also a few minor changes to the aesthetics and the storyline in the end game, if you can survive long enough to see that.
The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth, Free In The Hobbit: Kingdoms Of Middle-Earth, heroes are very important units if you want to do well. They’re incredibly powerful, and they’ve just gotten more powerful with the new update that adds new Hero Skills to the mix. There are also a number of UI improvements and the usual bug fixes.
Shoot The Moon, Free Some games have very mysterious titles. Shoot the Moon does not. There’s a singing moon, and you have to shoot his stupid face as many times as you can. The new version adds a brand new mode that facilitates that strategy, a 60 Second Challenge. There are also six new costumes to unlock so that you can dress up the moon’s stupid face. Add in support for the iPhone 6 family and a bug fix or two, and you’ve got a pretty sweet update.
Diamond Digger Saga, Free The Waluigi of King’s iOS lineup, Diamond Digger Saga gets a new episode in its latest update with 20 levels to play. There’s also another episode coming this week with 20 more levels, in case you finish the first batch quickly. The game has also gained the hotly-requested feature of sending you notifications when your lives are refilled. Wow, thanks!
FarmVille 2: Country Escape, Free Spring has come to FarmVille, melting the snow and bringing in the birds. With the warmer weather comes a new event titled “For The Birds" that allows you to earn Power Pin rewards for completing certain objectives. No word yet on whether or not this update finally allows you to escape the country, however.
Alto's Adventure, $4.99 Alto’s Adventure may not have a lot of new gameplay quirks, but its gorgeous presentation certainly helps it stand out from the crowd. This update smashes a bunch of pesky bugs and makes several tweaks to the gameplay, including extra ramps on steep hills and more. Plus, you can now listen to your own music while you play the game. That’s a perfect feature for a game where you can just relax and zone out.
SimCity BuildIt, Free Perhaps a little bittersweet given the news last week of SimCity‘s original developer Maxis closing their doors, but SimCity BuildIt is proving to be a solid success for the franchise. The new update’s theme is Tokyo Town, allowing you to give an exotic flair to your city. Unless you live in Japan, in which case, hey, taste of home! There’s a new international airport, special Tokyo Town buildings, and a new landmark, Himeji Castle. The update notes call this an iconic Tokyo landmark, which is pretty impressive given it’s on the other side of Japan from Tokyo. Hey, it’s SimCity. We don’t follow maps, we make them!
Elune Saga, Free Of all the many social RPGs on the App Store, Elune Saga is certainly the one most named Elune Saga. This update’s a fairly minor one, but it adds the ability to sacrifice cards to get them out of your inventory, and improves hero effects. There’s also a new hero and soul review system in the game.
Ultimate Generalâ„¢: Gettysburg, $3.99 The American Civil War. Brother against brother. North versus South. Warring ideologies. Unwitting future fodder for countless board and video games. Ultimate General: Gettysburg is a really good Civil War strategy game if you’re not burnt out on the setting yet, and its new update is probably the best kind of update any strategy game could hope for. Namely, it improves the computer AI, giving you a much more challenging opponent to play against.
Asphalt 8: Airborne, Free Man, Ferrari is getting around lately. This new update to Asphalt 8 adds five more Ferrari machines, including the Enzo, the 612 Scaglietti, the 330 P4, the F40, and the F50, all of which will become available over the next little while. The big news this time around is the addition of decals for your cars, however. Now you can customize your cars with a bit of your own personality. Going with that, there’s a new design for the garage, allowing you to admire your handiwork in style.
WWE Immortals, Free So, the last update to WWE Immortals was pretty cool, adding a couple of new characters and taking care of a few outstanding bugs, but one of the not-so-cool things was that the price of upgrading your special moves went through the roof. That was apparently a bug, and it’s been fixed with this update, bringing things back down to a more reasonable level.
Space Marshals, $3.99 Space Marshals is arguably the finest game based on space cowboys released this year. If you’ve got the game or are interested in it, you might like to know that the free second chapter has arrived, bringing with it eight new missions, new weapons and gear, and some new enemies to battle. There are also a few newly-supported languages, and some little fixes here and there.
Auction Wars : Storage King, Free If you like auctions and geopolitical conflicts between nations, you’re sure to love Auction Wars. Er, wait, it actually has nothing to do with that second thing. Well, anyway, a whole bunch of new items are here, along with two new characters, iOS 8 updates, and several bug fixes and gameplay tweaks.
Temple Run 2, Free St. Patrick’s Day is almost here, and Temple Run 2 is getting ready. If you collect all of the special artifacts during the limited time St. Patrick’s Day event, you’ll earn a special green hat. Keeping in mind the last update this game got, this means that in the year 2015 you can now play a game where Bruce Lee wears a drunken college kid’s hat while he runs away from monster apes and collects coins. Didn’t see that one coming, did you, Back To The Future 2?
Lowlander, $1.99 It’s a small update this time for Ultima-tribute RPG Lowlander, but some people are going to appreciate it quite a bit. With this update installed, you’ll see an immediate difference when you open up your world map. Things have names! Also, there’s now a quest log to help you remember all the things you’re supposed to be doing. Why, it’s getting so you don’t need to keep a notepad nearby while playing at all.
Heroes of Steel RPG, Free Okay, not technically last week, but I missed this one and it’s pretty significant, so here we go. Heroes Of Steel RPG got a new subquest added to its third episode named “Fang". This subquest adds five new dungeons, seven new monster types, and a mess of new gear. As usual for a Trese Brothers update, there are a bunch of other little fixes and changes, as well. This game has come a long, long way from its launch build, and I intend to revisit it later this year to show just how far.
Star Traders 4X Empires Elite, $4.99 Another Trese Brothers game, another significant update I missed last time around. Star Traders 4X Empires already has a lot of content, but if you feel like adding to it, there’s a new Faction Expansion pack available for $1.99 that adds a ton of new stuff. Three new factions, 20 new technologies, 15 new colony upgrades, and more. If you’ve enjoyed what’s in the game already, you’ll definitely want to splurge the two dollars on this.
That about wraps it up for last week’s significant updates. I’m sure I’ve missed some, though, so please feel free to comment below and let everyone know if you think something should be mentioned. As usual, major updates will likely get their own news stories throughout this week, and I’ll be back next Monday to summarize and fill in the blanks. Have a great week!
