The last few months of iOS gaming news, at least for me, have been highlighted by the news of old classic titles from my childhood making a comeback. Cynics amongst us may claim this is because of a relative dearth of interesting news of contemporary App Store releases, but take one look at the content that Jared and Mikhail manage to dig up every day and you know that simply isn’t true in the slightest. I think there’s just a particular appetite for nostalgia in what is an ageing App Store, and so any opportunities to celebrate the weird and wonderful titles of the past are completely fine by me. This is my way to subtlety segue into the latest announcement from GameClub – Melodive, an incredibly strange yet captivating experimental music game by Johan Gjestland, is set to make its mobile comeback, marking yet another impressive addition to the upstart developer’s roster.
In our four-and-a-half star review all the way back in 2013, Melodive is an ‘endless rhythm flight simulator’ – but even then, it’s definitely one you need to experience to truly understand. With just you, a sprawling universe, music, glowing mushrooms and the abyss, you create dynamic soundtracks through navigating around the chunks of Melodium that are scattered throughout space. It is genuinely unlike anything else on the App Store, and an absolutely token example of how, before the days of loot boxes and other maligned mobile practices, iOS developers could just express their abundant creativity in the most abstract forms. Melodive’s inherently obtuse and risky design perhaps acted against it when it originally launched, but that’s why it’s so cool to see GameClub include out-of-the-box titles in their roster.
Chopper 2 by @majicDave was an instant classic when it hit the App Store in 2010, and on Monday it will be released for testing to members of the GameClub early access program. Sign up now to be one of the first people to play Chopper 2 again at https://t.co/xa26bCYO0b 💥🚁💨 pic.twitter.com/eCVqWIFGrc
— GameClub (@GameClub) April 10, 2019
In other GameClub-related news, the previously announced Chopper 2 is set to hit early access next Monday. Similar helicopter-based games were incredibly common in the early days of the App Store, as they were so easy for developers to make; while normally an enjoyable arcade experience, none of these games tended to have any substantial amount of depth. Chopper 2 by Majic Jungle Software was a notable exception, with meticulous controls, an interesting combat and rescue gameplay loop, and (for its time) impressive 3D graphics. For a sequel of one of the App Store’s earliest classics, Chopper 2 really did live up to expectations – while I’m interested to see whether it still holds up today, Chopper 2 is certainly a game that deserves its place in the iOS history books. Chopper 2 is set to launch on GameClub’s early access program on Monday, so be sure to sign up on their website to try the game, alongside past and present GameClub releases such as Melodive, before anyone else.
