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. So, yeah. The whole plan of continuing updates while I was on vacation did not go well. The internet connection where I was at was a lot worse than I was expecting. But hey, I’m back now, and I’ve got a nice assortment for you to check out. 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. If you’re a developer with a cool update you’d like to see here, get in touch! With that said, let’s dig in!
MARVEL Avengers Academy, Free After a pretty rough event based around Cosmic Marvel, things are heading back down to Earth in a big way at Avengers Academy. The new event is based on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and you’ll be able to add Melinda May, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, and others to your campus provided you can jump through some ridiculous hoops. At the very least, you should be able to pick up and upgrade returning characters like Agent Carter, Nick Fury, Agent Coulson, and She-Hulk. That’s… that’s not nothing, right?
Mini Metro, $3.99 Is it just me, or has Mini Metro been getting a lot of updates lately? Well, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. This update adds a couple of new features to the game. An interactive guide that explains the rules of the game is now available for newcomers, while the new challenge mode will task veteran players with building a metro under certain restrictions. Fun for all! Alternate maps will now unlock if you’ve reached the required score before, so if you’ve done well enough on the maps already, no worries. Other than that, this one comes down to performance improvements and bug fixes.
Pokémon GO, Free Not going to lie: this is a pretty modest update. But Pokemon Go brings lots of eyes, so here it is. You can now use QR codes to add friends! Yes, those still exist! You can now search your Pokemon collection using the term ‘Lucky’ if you want, and you can see map details for Pokestops on your screen. There are a few other UI updates and fixes, along with some performance improvements and such. So, you know… Pokemon Go to the app if you want to check it all out yourself. Look, no matter how bad of a joke I make with that, I’ll only ever be second-worst. There’s comfort in that.
Disc Drivin' 2, Free Ah yes, turn-based racing as you… wait, hold up while this ad plays… turn-based racing as you li… okay, another ad… racing as you like it! Yes, I’m teasing a little, and glass houses and stones and all of that rot. Thanks for scrolling down this far, by the way. Anyway, just buy the premium upgrade and grit your teeth on the mulligans, because there’s a really great game here that not enough people are playing. And now with this new update, you can play it with full text chat during online races! Communication! Yes!
Fate/Grand Order (English), Free Fate/Grand Order is doing surprisingly well with its English release, in spite of a… well, iffy localization is probably the diplomatic way to put it. It’s a great game, at the end of it all. Anyway, this update isn’t really anything special by the game’s usual standards. Most UI tweaks, bug fixes, and so on. But the developers are also using this update as a way to get the word out about the latest in-game event, a collaboration event called Magical Girl Cruise – PRISMA CODES. It’s a cross-over with one of the other Fate spin-offs that goes under the title Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, because to hell with naming conventions. The important thing here is that there are magical girls and lots of them, so… go get them?
TSM Game, Free I’m having a bit of a chuckle at the update notes for this one. It says that the Waterfront District has arrived, “just in time for summer". Eh… late August isn’t exactly just in time, you know? You’re a bit late, really. I mean, yeah, it’s still summer, but the kids are back to school pretty shortly here no matter what the thermometer says. Oh well. The Waterfront District is here, and it has all kinds of water-ish and summer-esque things to do in it. Actually, a lot of it is marine biologist-like, but you’re getting wet socks no matter how you slice it.
AXE.IO, Free Axe.io gets another update, this one with some minor but useful changes that are sure to please those who are still playing it. What’s new this time? Well, you’ve got an improved shoulder view camera, allowing you to aim and rotate by swiping around the screen. The gameplay in multiplayer modes has been improved, with the loot spawn adjusted to make for more competitive matches. Should you fell a high level opponent, you’ll find that you’ll earn a greater reward than before. Finally, there are some bug fixes in here for all those who hate bugs. Most people, I’d think.
Samurai Love Ballad: PARTY, Free HOLD THE BUS. SAMURAI LOVE BALLAD: PARTY GOT AN UPDATE? Oh man, oh man. I wonder what it could be? A new hunky samurai to romance? New endings? CAN YOU MAKE EVERYONE SMOOCH EVERYONE, AS IS PROBABLY HISTORICALLY ACCURATE FOR THE ERA? Let’s have a look and see. Well, that’s a little disappointing. No actual new content here, but the game is now compatible with newer versions of iOS and new hardware, so that’s cool. Some adjustments have been made to the UI as well. But no new smooching, and that’s just sad.
ROME: Total War, $9.99 Lots here, albeit most of it in service to the biggest change that came with this update: iPhone support. Yes, you can now engage in amazing strategic battles on a very teeny-tiny screen, and it somehow works pretty well. Other additions and changes include a manual camera tilt mode, increased zoom level on the campaign map, tap-to-move controls, increased zoom-out level on the battle maps, improved character details and faction summary screens with more data, and quite a bit more. I’d be handing out the coveted UMMSotW award to the game just for making it playable on the iPhone, but add in all the other stuff and it’s an easy victory.
Fortnite, Free Have you heard of this one? Enjoy one of the versions of Fortnite that doesn’t leave your phone vulnerable to hackers while simultaneously basking in a new update. But what is actually new here? Well, there’s the Rift-To-Go, which allows you to teleport into the sky and leave a rift behind you. That’s neat. The Playground Limited Time Mode has received some updates to make it more fun, hopefully. Some new locations are appearing on the map, apparently? I’ll let you sniff those out. I’m going back to bed.
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!
