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. Tis the season for holiday updates, and we’re already starting to see a bunch of them. There are some other great updates that fall outside of that pattern, though, and I’ve tried to pick the best of the bunch. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself using AppShopper or by participating in the TouchArcade forums. This weekly summary is just here to fill you in on the things you might have missed. Let’s dig in!
MARVEL Avengers Academy, Free After a reasonably chill event based on Thor: Ragnarok, the big holiday event has come to Avengers Academy. It’s… the Pet Avengers? This game can be so weird sometimes, friends. Anyway, you can unlock Howard the Duck, Hairball, Throg, Redwing, Firebird, Zabu, and some returning characters. There are also some special animal forms for existing characters, but they’re already looking like complete whale-bait. I’m also deducting points for not including Ms. Lion.
Fire Emblem Heroes, Free Animal Crossing may be the new baby in the family, but I firmly believe that Fire Emblem Heroes will remain Nintendo’s most successful mobile game for the foreseeable future. I mean, look at this latest update. It kicks off a new story that is immediately accessible to new players and gives away a decent 5-star character just for completing the first chapter. On top of that, there’s a new weapon refinery system that allows you to enhance your existing characters, and 100 new free slots in the barracks for you to expand your character collection with.
Cat Quest, $4.99 Cat Quest is one of the best mobile games of this year, in my opinion, and it would have been just fine to leave the game as-is. But I’m not going to say no to new content, and that’s just what this update delivers. There are two new modes to play. New Game+ is the usual example of such, allowing you to play through the game again with your beefy level and gear. Mew Game allows you to play the game with some special modifiers. Both modes are unlocked when you clear the game for the first time. I can’t see any reason at all to withhold the coveted UMMSotW award from the Gentlebros this week, so there you go.
Alpha Omega, Free The quirky yet relaxing word game Alpha Omega gets fairly regular updates with new level packs to keep its players busy. The latest of the bunch is a holiday-themed pack. You can pick it up via a reasonably-priced IAP and have something to discretely keep you busy while you pretend to care about what your relatives are nattering on about at the family Christmas dinner. Just act like you’re checking the weather or something. A lot.
Disney Crossy Road, Free Life is like a hurricane, here in, Duckberg! Ha, now the song is playing in your head. One of the weirdest yet coolest things I’ve seen in recent years is the comeback of DuckTales, something I thought would never again be let out of the Disney vaults. Yet here we are with a remake of the game, a brand new cartoon, and now the characters appearing in more generally Disney-branded things. Scrooge, Gizmo Duck, Darkwing Duck, and more are now available to unlock in Disney Crossy Road. Let’s get dangerous!
Subway Surfers, Free If you’re looking for an interesting urban location to have your hooligan children subway surf around in, it’s hard to go wrong with Saint Petersburg. In this latest update, the kids are zooming around a holiday-themed version of the city, complete with Christmas trees, wreaths, and presents. You can recruit a new surfer named Nicolai and even unlock a special new outfit for him. There are also two new boards up for grabs. Plenty to keep you busy through the cold winter nights.
MARVEL Future Fight, Free The whole Marvel Ultimate brand sure took a twisty road, didn’t it? What started as a fresh continuity aimed at new readers eventually collapsed under the weight of its own continuity and now lives on with certain characters sprinkled into the main continuity and the Ultimates name affixed to a team that has largely no affiliation with that other, expired continuity. Woof. Anyway, the latest event in Future Fight involves that team, which means there are some new characters in the game. Sam Nova, America Chavez, the latest incarnation of Quasar, Blue Marvel, and Anti-Man are now on the roster. Enjoy an all-new chapter! If you can afford it, anyway.
Star Warsâ„¢: Commander, Free This is apparently a big update that celebrates the release of The Last Jedi, a movie which will clearly depict the last time we see a Jedi in anything Star Wars ever, a-yup. At any rate, there’s some kind of new event system implemented here that has you earning EP to work your way through the event. You can open supply crates for extra goodies and clear events to try to earn some new Last Jedi-themed units, including some new Speeder vehicles. Sure, that seems fine.
Moscow Metro Wars, Free Hunh, this is still getting updates. That’s cool. This new version includes seven new fighters from a Russian Super-Soldier project, some improvements to the UI, and new incentivized advertisements. Also, bug fixes, balance tweaks, and other improvements. I wish there were more to say here, but some updates just have to speak for themselves. Then I have to say something else so that the paragraph doesn’t look weird. Obscure 1980s reference!
Temple Run 2, Free Temple Run 2 always knows how to do holidays right, and this year is no exception. The Frozen Festival introduces two new zones, the ice caves and the frozen cliffs. There are also two new costumes. Sigur dons the attire of a lumberjack, while Freya takes after a forester. Of course, there are a lot of little extra touches like snowmen, lights, presents, candles, and more to set the mood. As much as you can with an evil monkey in pursuit of the player, anyway. At least it’s a festive evil monkey!
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!
