Rockabilly Beatdown ($0.99) from Rumblecade was released a couple of years ago and offered a neat spin on the beat ’em up genre. It was a strictly side-scrolling affair and rather than playing through pre-defined levels you were dropped into a level filled with never ending waves of bad guys which you would punch away at as they approached from either side of the screen. The simplistic style lent itself well to touchscreen controls and there was a nice rhythm to the action once you warmed up to the unique timing of attacks. What really brought this endless punch-a-thon together was an extensive set of unlockable costumes and levels as well as numerous achievements and stat-tracking which gave a sense of progression to the otherwise high-scoring nature of the game.

Despite its simplicity we enjoyed Rockabilly Beatdown in our review, and especially praised it for the fantastic pixel art and its rockabilly style. We also covered one of the more major updates to the game which arrived several months after its release, but as it turns out Rumblecade has been steadily updating the game in the years since too, and we thought that the game’s latest update was a good enough reason to talk about this quirky little brawler again. Version 1.4 of Rockabilly Beatdown brings a new Hotrod power-up to the game which, once you’ve collected all the letters to spell out H-O-T-R-O-D by punching tires that bounce at your during the game, allows you to hop into said hotrod and go on a joyride mowing down all the zombies and other baddies that litter each level. Check it out.

Rockabilly Beatdown will set you back a whopping 99¢ and as mentioned it comes with a crazy amount of stuff to unlock and track the more you play the game. It also features a few IAP purchases that will give you additional characters and costumes, but it’s all strictly cosmetic so there’s nothing forcing you to buy anything extra to enjoy everything the game has to offer. Like I said this is a quirky little game and takes a bit of time to warm up to, and it certainly won’t be for everyone, but I really enjoy it’s high-score spin on typical beat ’em ups and I absolutely love the presentation and style. If you haven’t jumped in on this one previously it’s worth a buck to check out if anything here sounds interesting to you, and if you already own Rockabilly Beatdown I’d make sure you’re all updated to the latest version so you can take that sweet new ride for a spin.