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. Lots of cool games in the mix today, and at least one very interesting story behind an update. Two if you count the Retro City Rampage update happening because of a physical Wii/Wii U version, I suppose. Although that particular story is only found here in the intro paragraph, so it really is just the one. Hm, let’s move on. 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!
Sonic Forces PvP Racing Battle, Free As is generally the case with updates for Sonic Forces, this latest version brings new characters to the game. What’s interesting about this new set of characters is where they hail from. Rather than giving one of the regular cast members a new costume and calling it a day, we’ve got Tangle the Lemur and Whisper the Wolf from the IDW Sonic the Hedgehog comics. I’m pretty sure this is their video game debut, but they’re quite popular among fans of the comics. Both characters are Rare and feature a number of new powers not seen in the game so far. Aside from the new characters, some adjustments have been made to improve the jump physics.
Jetpack Joyride, Free No, but seriously. This pirate thing. What am I missing here? Argh. Arrr-gh? Well, Jetpack Joyride is joining the other few games doing pirate-themed events in recent weeks, and it has all kinds of booty for those willing to seek it out. Collect Golden Skulls and do your best to unlock Swashbuckling S.A.M., a trident-wielding Greek God, and a Kraken sea monster. Just be careful you don’t end up walking the plank, as I’m pretty sure salt water isn’t good for your jetpack.
Fire Emblem Heroes, Free It’s time for the main monthly update to Fire Emblem Heroes, and as is par for the course of late it’s nothing terribly exciting. An Auto-Dispatch feature has been added to Aether Raids and is apparently available alongside the first season. You can use the feature to take down extremely tough foes, or just to deal with messes you don’t feel like sorting out on your own. That… sounds decidedly un-strategic, but hey. You also get additional limited time Combat Manuals which can be compiled using Divine Codes.
Subway Surfers, Free I don’t know whether to feel sorry for Scotland with this update or not. The Subway Surfers kids head to Edinburgh in this new event, but it seems to be a medieval version of the city. I suppose that’s better than some of the game’s more fantastical takes on modern versions of cities. The new character is Callum, a bit of a punk. Callum’s alternate outfit is apparently patterned after a Changeling, and if you want to round out the full set you can try to get your hands on the new Punk Board. Why are there trains in medieval Scotland? I have no idea!
Homescapes, Free This update is utterly fascinating for me. If you play any games with incentivized ads, you’ve no doubt run into plenty of those sliding pin puzzle set-ups. A lot of games advertise with them in spite of the actual gameplay having nothing resembling such puzzles in the least. Homescapes is one of those games, and many people complained about what was obviously misleading advertising. Rather than stop the ads, Playrix has instead added those sliding pin puzzles as a mini-game in Homescapes, complete with the Family Guy-esque art style. This new update has a lot of the other usual stuff in it, but I thought that story was the most interesting thing about it.
ANOTHER EDEN, Free Ah, trusty and reliable Another Eden. You’ve always got something new going on for me to put in here. The latest update adds a new encounter with Renri (Another Style) along with another Fateful Encounter. You also get the return of an episode from the past, Butterfly’s City and Heaven’s Cradle. It’s accompanied by the new Enjoy Episodes Series Part 2 Fateful Encounter. There’s also a new feature that lets you take part in lectures given by the mayor in Baruoki. That sounds Baru-okay by me, pal.
PUBG MOBILE, Free PUBG Mobile, or as it now apparently titled PUBG Mobile – New Map: Livik, has some exciting new content in its latest version. Can you guess? Can you? Can you guess it? I bet you can’t! It is a new map called Livik, which it curiously describes as ‘exclusive’. Was there any doubt about the game getting the sole rights to a map designed for it? Chemical Plant Zone, SONIC EXCLUSIVE BABY. It’s supposedly a 15-minute map for up to 52 players, with some map-specific weapons and vehicles. The new map is the biggest part of this update, but there are a lot of other tweaks and improvements to go with it. I encourage you to check out the update notes if you want more detail.
Sneaky Sasquatch, Well, let’s have a look at a couple of Apple Arcade titles that updated this week. Seems like a good idea now and then. Here is Sneaky Sasquatch, which saw a bunch of goodies added to the game in its latest version. Like the Town Hall! It’s open now, and that means you can get a taxi license for driving people around, or visit the records room to see your high scores and the leaderboards. There’s a new Daily Challenge board, and an outfit customizer that allows you to create your own disguises. Hop on over to the Ski School to learn how to do spins and flips that you can use in the new skiing events. There’s even some new skiing equipment to make use of! Run races to unlock shoes that will allow you to run faster, or just dig into the new construction projects. There’s plenty here to enjoy, so don’t sneak but run to that update button!
Skate City, Take me down to the Skate City where the grass is green and everyone does three-sixties, taaaaake meeeee hoooome, yeeeaa-aaaaay. As bad as that looks in text, at least your ear drums are intact. The same cannot be said for anyone who goes to karaoke with me when I bust out the GnR. Anyway, Skate City is the other Apple Arcade update we’re checking out this week. The big add? 28 new songs for the soundtrack! Wow. There’s also some new customizable gear in the Skate Shop, and a spiffy new lighting system that should help things be a little easier to make out in night runs. The game also got some general performance improvements, because that is the way things are done around here.
Retro City Rampage DX, $4.99 Retro City Rampage DX gets its DX+ update, and wow is it a whopper. Animated cutscenes! More accessibility options! A smoother camera! Improvements to vehicle spawning and swimming controls! And a whole lot more, friends. Basically most the cool improvements added to the engine for Shakedown Hawaii have been backported here, making for the ultimate Retro City Rampage experience. Don’t like the changes? You can turn them off if that’s your thing. My only beef is that it still doesn’t seem to deal very well with the “notch" on iPhone X family devices. Even so, there is so much good stuff in this free update that I pretty much have to give it the coveted UMMSotW award for this week.
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!
