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. Well, it’s a lot of the usual suspects this time around, friends. Some of them are good. Some of them are evil. Some of them are Chaotic Good. Some of them are Evil Good, which is not even a thing at all. But they are here, and you can read about them if you like. 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 go for it!
Zynga Poker â„¢ - Texas Hold'em, Free Poker: a game anyone can play as long as they have a one-dollar deck of playing cards, some scraps of paper, and some friends nearby. And yet, many choose to play poker on their thousand-dollar pocket super computer. It is a mystery to me. But what is not a mystery is that this game had a recent update. That happens a lot, you see. And this update includes a new Spin & Win mode where three players compete in much quicker tournaments than usual. The “Spin" bit refers to a spinning wheel that determines your payout. It does not mean that if you spin around in place you will win something. You will not.
Choice of Games, Free Space diplomacy: a pursuit so noble that even the mighty Spock chose to spend his twilight years working at it. And that is what is waiting for you in the latest adventure to hit Choice of Games. Titled The Superlatives: Shattered Worlds, it is a follow-up to the previously-released The Superlatives: Aetherfall. You can import your old character in or start fresh in this new story where you play as the Arbiter, an operative whose job is supposed to be diplomacy but ends up being quite a bit more than that. As usual, you have a lot of flexibility to shape your character as you see fit. This is quite a substantial one, but it’s well-written and takes a lot of interesting turns. I recommend it.
ANOTHER EDEN, Free The game that has definitely never ever heard of anything called Chrono Trigger, no sir, got a decent little update last week. It adds a new episode to the story and with it, two new characters to encounter. The Lone Encounter and 10 Allies Bundle encounters have been updated appropriately. Naturally, we’ve also got some bug fixes in here. If you think about it, bug fixes are sort of like correcting errors in the time stream. Anyway, that’s nothing to do with anything. Please keep inserting coins so Mr. Kato can buy curry bread each day.
MARVEL Strike Force: Squad RPG, Free The latest update to the perpetual third-place Marvel game adds a big new feature that may spike its popularity up a bit. Alliance War lets you deploy your entire roster in epic Alliance versus Alliance battles to take down each other’s Helicarriers. But you can’t just attack and expect to win. You’ll also need to defend your own Helicarrier, and that means deciding who should guard which rooms. This update also adds two new characters, Okoye and M’Baku, and fixes a big pile of bugs including but not limited to making sure Minn-Erva’s legs don’t disappear. I’m sure she appreciates it!
Lineage 2: Revolution, Free How many years has it been since the age of lines descended upon us? A revolutionary game that is so advanced, it plays itself, leaving your hands free to eat nachos or play something better. Ha, Shaun’s being a meanie today. Grr! Anyway, big update. Some new system has been added that lets you have cute pets. That’s a big deal. A new field boss named Marlox. Also a big deal. A new territory called Schuttgart. That’s a big deal and I don’t know how to pronounce it properly. And the level cap, previously sitting at a paltry 320, has now been raised to a beefy, sensual 360.
Rebel Inc., $1.99 Have they done a commercial for this yet where they use Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell and replace the word ‘Yell’ with ‘Inc.’? Because if not, they really should. That’s a great song. Anyway, Plague Inc.‘s little brother got a lot of new stuff in its latest version. There’s a new map called Black Caves where insurgents can easily take cover and terrorize the locals at their leisure. We’ve also got a new governor called Tank Commander, and I really hope that’s their name and not just a job title. Anyway, if you want to give your tanks to the rebels, Tank Commander will help you out. Another highlight is the new Command Pack IAP, which acts as kind of a season pass. If you don’t want to buy it, you can earn it by beating the whole game on Brutal. There’s a bunch of other new stuff in here too, so I’m content giving this the coveted UMMSotW award this time.
Fortnite, Free Epic may not be the most popular of companies in some circles these days, but Fortnite remains a huge hit that tons of people are playing regularly anyway. This latest update isn’t very big by the game’s usual standards, but it’s not just bug fixes either. There are some new foraged items in the form of bananas, coconuts, and peppers, for instance. I… I’m not really sure what they’re for, but enjoy. There are also some new Pirate Cove prefabs including the gallery and the shooting range. Neato mosquito.
Toon Blast, Free Well, I’ll level with you all, friends. I had a lot of trouble filling out the minimum amount of updates for this week. I don’t know why, but there just weren’t too many interesting-looking ones. So here we are with another entry for Toon Blast. You get 50 new levels that are apparently themed around a mystery in foggy London town. That may very well only exist in the update notes, though, since story stuff takes more time and money than just pooping a bunch of levels into the app, and people usually ignore it anyway. But there you go, 50 more. Match. Tap. Clear. Count the seconds of your fragile existence melting away, never to return. No wait, don’t do that last one. It leads to the bad place. Toon Blast, y’all!
Homescapes, Free Oh, thank goodness. Austin is here to save us all from existential dread. I guess Homescapes has some sort of team multiplayer business going on now where you can help each other beat levels and chat. All very chill, probably. This update also lays the groundwork for the next story bit, which kicks off on April 12th. While you’re waiting, you can finish out the previous story which has been extended out a bit. And newly added to puzzles is corn and balls of yarn. Things you don’t want to find in the toilet together after doing your business, I’d say. And yet, perhaps inevitable.
Rise of Kingdoms, Free I see this game had a little name change since the last time I looked at it. I had been wondering how long they were going to get away with having the word ‘civilization’ in the title of their game that seems so obviously, ahem, “inspired" by Sid Meier’s classic series. Anyway, it’s kingdoms now, even though it’s not just kingdoms in the game. It’s fine. And so is this update, which adds an event calendar so you can see what’s coming up. Also: springtime events! When are they? Why not check on that new event calendar? See, it’s already useful! Lots of other things too but I wasted too much time on the preamble and am desperately running out of internet space so I’ll snip it here.
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!
