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. Today is May the 4th, which is that day that fans realized sounded kind of like something from Star Wars and corporations quickly figured out they could use it to sell stuff. Strangely, no big Star Wars game updates to talk about this year. But we do have some stuff from the company that owns Star Wars, so it all works 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. Let’s go for it!
Horizon Chase, Free After putting Horizon Chase on just about every platform that could run it, the developer has turned its attention back around to the mobile original. There will be plenty of updates coming for the game this year, apparently. This one is rather modest, adding a new UI to prepare the game for upcoming updates and adjusting how much of the game you can enjoy for free before you have to pay. There are now 30 free tracks and 7 unlockable cars, giving you a solid chunk of racing action without dropping a cent. Sweet.
Jetpack Joyride, Free You know in Back to the Future II when Marty ends up back in 1955 and has to avoid running into his past self from the first Back to the Future? Sometimes I feel like that’s where Jetpack Joyride is at with this Back to the Future event they keep running now and then. It was a great event and I do like that this content isn’t locked away from people who missed it originally, but wouldn’t it be neat if there were, you know, new events like this? Well, here’s your chance to enjoy the hoverboard and DeLorean again. Once again, this is a limited event, and who knows whether or not it will return in the future? Maybe Doc. I mean, dude’s got a TIME TRAIN.
Door Kickers, $4.99 It’s a bit odd to me that here in the futuristic world of 2020 there are still iPad-only games, but we’re seeing some of the more notable ones slowly throwing off those limitations and opening up to people who own the now rather chunky newer iPhones. And that is pretty much what we’re seeing with this update for Door Kickers. It’s now iPhone compatible, and with that comes larger fonts and some changes to the UI. There is also support for a few new languages and a whole bevy of bug fixes and improvements.
Grimvalor, $5.99 Ahh, GrimValor is such a good game. Just so fun to play, and every time I pick it up to check something I end up sinking in a couple of hours. This is another game that has been making the rounds to new platforms, and mobile players are reaping the benefits in this new update. A spiffy New Game+ mode has been added, and it is very much worth the trip. There’s also support for eight new languages, and a new Arachnophobia mode that swaps out spider-like enemies for a different design for John Goodman’s comfort. On top of all that, the loading times between levels have been significantly reduced. All of that is good enough for the coveted UMMSotW award for this week. Yay!
Marvel Contest of Champions, Free A-yup, here’s another movie tie-in for a movie that has been pushed back until later this year. The Black Widow: Red by Dawn event has Black Widow (Deadly Origins) trying to find a lost weapon. She has to enlist the help of Red Guardian to outrace Taskmaster, who is also looking for the weapon. Does this have anything to do with the movie’s plot? I don’t know, but I’d imagine Disney and Marvel were careful to make sure it didn’t spoil anything too important. In addition to the new event, there are a bunch of balance tweaks, bug fixes, and performance improvements.
Matchington Mansion, Free Here’s our obligatory free-to-play matching puzzle game update for the week. This time it’s the vaguely ‘Scapes-like game Matchington Mansion. You get 43 new levels to play, a new event called Mansion Badge, a new timed room in the form of the Cozy Bedroom, and a new regular room called Spa P1: Lobby. Some bugs were also fixed, of course. So yeah, make some matches, make a nice bedroom, and put together the finest spa you can. That’s roughly all the energy I can muster for this one, so let’s move along.
Disney Magic Kingdoms, Free You know, I don’t like Disney’s Pocahontas very much. I’m not going to go into the reasons why, but I’ll say that it has nothing to do with the excellent music and superb art. Those who like Disney’s fairy-tale take on a real person better than I may be happy to see some of the characters joining Disney Magic Kingdoms in this new update. Pocahontas, Meeko, and Percy come to the park as part of the permanent Kingdom Quests storyline. I legit do not even remember who Percy is. Okay, I looked it up. It’s a pug dog. Yeah, he’s cute. Oh, and pop in today to get your free Star Wars Day gift.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, Free I understand many of us want to be good, responsible wizards. But that’s a tough job these days, as we’re not really supposed to go out unless we need to. Well, no worries! Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is adding a new feature called the Night Bus that allows you to play Wizarding Challenges without leaving your home. You can use the Night Bus to head out to the Fortress at Hogwarts Castle, pick a Chamber, and battle some Foes. And unlike in the real world, no weird people are waiting on the Night Bus to knife you and steal your wallet! Wow, that’s the magic of video games!
Pocket Build, $0.99 The developer of Pocket Build is always working hard to deliver fresh new updates, and I really do appreciate that. They’re not always flashy, but they’re always good. And so it goes with this latest version, which allows you to change the size of items, drag and re-order items to line up your favorites, and squashes some pesky bugs. That’s really all there is to it, but I’ll always be happy to get UI improvements and size-changing powers. Reckon they’re using Pym Particles for that?
Fishing Strike, Free Let’s finish things up this week with a look at an update for a fishing game, because why the heck not? This big update for Fishing Strike has a bunch of stuff in it. There’s a new Club Competition, five new fishing spot stages, 70 new competition fish including 5 new named fish, some new fishing equipment, and more. Wow! That’s some real… real fishing stuff right there, friends! Ah, I’m just kidding. Fishing games are pretty chill, and this update looks like a really solid one.
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!
