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 holiday in America today. Apparently, anyway. I never stop working ever, so I surely wouldn’t notice such things! As such, here is a normal slate of updates for you to enjoy during this lazy day. I threw a couple of Apple Arcade games in there just for variety’s sake. 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 Ah, I love me some Horizon Chase. I play it on my phone, I play it on my Switch, I play it anywhere I can. And now I can play on some new tracks with a new car. This free update to the game adds two tracks set in Porto Alegre, the hometown of the developers. You’ll encounter those tracks in the Brazil Cup. And yes, as mentioned, there is also a new car. This update also adds a new feature in the form of the Weekly Challenges, which give you some new rules to contend with each week. If you’re a Premium player, you’ll get more tracks and some special rewards.
Jetpack Joyride, Free Jetpack Joyride rockets into the awkward period between spring and summer with this hot-but-not-too-hot update. So what can you look forward to in this one? Just a new event, and not one with any sort of special license or seasonal tie-in. Instead, the Zappy Bird event seeks to see just how skilled you are with that Profit Bird. Show off your skills by navigating through a ton of deadly zappers and you can get some nifty rewards.
Mario Kart Tour, Free Generally speaking, most of the updates to Mario Kart Tour end up being a new cup where you can unlock, like, Peach wearing a new hat. Sometimes literally that. But every once in a while, a genuinely new character gets added. And in even rarer cases, it’s a character people actually care about. The latest update to the game is one of those latter situations, filling out the Kong family with two popular characters. Funky Kong jumps into a Mario Kart game for the first time since Mario Kart Wii, and Dixie Kong joins for the first time ever. Of course, you’ll only be able to get them if you’re very lucky or spend a lot of dough. Cranky probably wouldn’t approve, which may be why he isn’t here.
Transformers: Earth Wars, Free This update to the long-running Transformers: Earth Wars game is mostly aimed at pleasing the higher-level players. Basically, if you’re looking for a stiffer challenge in Alliance Wars, you can now choose to battle harder versions of bases in Prime League. If you manage to pull this off, you’ll earn you and your alliance more points per win, up to a maximum of 300 points. Other than that, it’s bug fixes and optimizations as far as the eye can see.
Subway Surfers, Free The kids from Subway Surfers are on the move again, living the life we can all only dream of these days. The next stop on their un-ending tour is Marrakesh, Morocco. Race through the deserts, spas, and marketplaces, collecting Birthday Cake tokens to earn cool prizes. Salma gets a new outfit, and there’s a Birthday Cake board you can earn. There are lots of prizes to earn, so get cracking if you want to pile them up.
Star Traders: Frontiers, $6.99 Star Traders: Frontiers rarely goes a week without an update of some kind, so it’s really a matter of whether or not I’ve got space to include it in any given article. Today… there is space. This update adds in four new landing zone environments with new art for glacial wilderness, ice world outposts, desert outposts, and Cadar and Steel Song Prime Worlds. The Wing Bomber job has had its skill progression rebuilt to make it a better match for bomber craft. There are several other bits in here, but I’ll let you fire up the game yourself if you want all of that.
Toon Blast, Free Even on a holiday, we don’t take a break from the obligatory free-to-play matching puzzle update. It’s Toon Blast, again. It’s 50 levels, again. The explanation this time in the update notes talks about some kind of magic show that is being put on, though as usual you should not expect that to be reflected in-game at all. Instead, expect another batch of levels on top of the thousands that are already there. Which is fine, and what most players of the game probably want.
Hot Lava, Hot Lava, which is not to be confused with Hot Coffee, is one of two Apple Arcade updates I’m including this week. There’s quite a bit in here, so I’ll just hit on some of the highlights. First, a new community-created map called Sunshine Shore is available. There’s a new Chase course in School as well. Some new control options have been added, and you can now listen to your own music while playing the game. Feel free to check the update notes yourself if you want all of the little details. Pretty solid update all-around.
Sonic Racing, Rolling around at the speed of sound is all well and good, but sometimes a ‘hog just wants to kick up his feet and travel in style. Well, he shouldn’t actually kick up his feet as he needs to work the brake and gas pedals, but you know what I mean. This update brings in the Final Fortress Zone, a new environment that plays host to three new tracks. It also adds a four-player mode, certainly a welcome feature in any racing game but especially ones aimed at family fun. The UI has also seen some big improvements based on player feedback. I have a bit of a fondness for SEGA and this update is worthy, so a coveted UMMSotW award shall be granted to Sonic Racing on this day.
ANOTHER EDEN, Free We’ll bring things to a close today with yet another update to the excellent Another Eden. This one adds in a new character called Myunfa, and Manifestation: Weapon Discovery is available. To go with that, some new weapons have been added for Anabel (Paladin) and Shanie (Arc Knight). Some text fixes and bug smashing has also happened, and I think we can all agree those are good and right things to do. Anyone who says otherwise is clearly a bug and needs to be SMASHED.
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!
