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. It’s a pretty busy one this week, with plenty of high profile new games getting their first big updates. The usual suspects are here, too. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself using AppShopper Social (Free), the watchlist in the TouchArcade App (Free), or by participating in the TouchArcade forums, but this weekly summary is here to fill in the things you might have missed. Let’s dig in!
Adventure To Fate : Quest To The Future JRPG, $3.99 Do you need an excuse to play through the latest Adventure to Fate game at least one more time? Well, here you go. The latest update adds the new Arcane Archer class to the game. It has a relatively powerful set of moves that can target multiple enemies and inflict a variety of status ailments. There are a few other tweaks aside from the new job class, but let’s be real, this one is mostly about letting those arrows sing.
Sky Force Reloaded, Free Here’s another battle that’s not over yet. Sky Force Reloaded was already plenty of game for your buck, but the developers have gone and added another new level, bringing the total to 12. This update also adds some extra upgrades for the main cannon, in case you were running out of things to spend stars on. Be wary if you’re playing on devices that don’t support 3D Touch, however, as we’ve heard some reports that this update isn’t working correctly for some.
Minecraft, $6.99 Texture packs seem to be the new hot thing in Minecraft updates, as this new version offers up the Natural Texture Pack IAP for $2.99. It gives the game a slightly more realistic look, smoothing out some of those chunky pixels. To tell the truth, I think Minecraft looks weird without the chunky pixels, but that might just be my nostalgia talking. Mmm, nostalgia. You taste just like Kraft Dinner and ketchup.
Choices That Matter, Free Ahhh! What the heck happened to Moti? Okay, everyone, let’s relax. Our helpful AI assistant appears to have turned into a fierce bear. Let’s read the patch notes. Oh, I see what’s happening here. This app now hosts two completely different stories. The new one is called And Their Souls Were Eaten, and it seems to take place in a steampunk version of 1830s Europe. That’s kind of neat. I’m assuming the normal subscription gives you access to both, and if so, that means Choices could potentially become a sort of interactive fiction platform.
Family Guy The Quest for Stuff, Free Friends, I watched Ted 2 twice back-to-back last night, so let’s just say I’m not feeling particularly charitable towards Seth MacFarlane at the moment. I’m also in the middle of another awful Marvel Avengers Academy event, so I’m also a little annoyed at TinyCo right now, too. So yes, I suppose you can play this Family Guy game and do some pirate-type stuff to tie into Talk Like A Pirate Day. Meet Blackbeard, Captain Hook, Tinkerbell, and others as you set timers with furious abandon just to get at a bit of funny dialogue and a few cute animations.
Overkill 3, Free This popular cover shooter got a pretty big update last week, adding a new area set in a city center. There are six new levels in that area, which should keep players busy for a little while. This update also adds coop multiplayer with 9 new maps, a new helicopter mode, and a few other little improvements and fixes. Five points to the developer for adding so much new stuff, minus ten points for making yet another hopelessly tired reference to Predator with that whole helicopter business. We get it, it’s a great scene. It doesn’t need to be in App Store descriptions until the heat death of our universe.
Disney Crossy Road, Free Boo! Okay, it’s a little early for scares, but all the stores are putting out their Hallowe’en stuff, so why shouldn’t Monsters Inc come to Disney Crossy Road? Collect 12 new figures, 6 secret unlocks, and play weekend challenges to earn special enchanted figures that will help you find pixels in each world. As for me, I’m holding out for the A Bug’s Life update. Any day now, I’m sure.
Ticket to Ride - Train Game, $8.99 If you’ve played the heck out of all the boards in Ticket to Ride and are looking for something new, I’ve got some great news for you. Provided you have $4.99 and no particular issue with parting with that fiver in exchange for some digital content, you can get a new board called Pennsylvania to freshen things up. You’ll have to learn the new Stock Shares system, and as always, it doesn’t hurt to get a friend in on things with you. Along with the new board, there are some new achievements and some bug fixes, as well.
Subway Surfers, Free The Subway Surfers get another stamp in their passports with this latest version, which sees the crew heading to Iceland. As usual, there are all kinds of supposedly representative things to collect and unlock. In Iceland’s case, that means you’re collecting puffins, unlocking a whale-shaped board, and hopefully scoring the newest surfer, Bjarki, who… carries a sheep under his arm? Look, I’ll level with you all, my bucket of tropes doesn’t go quite deep enough to conjure an image of a stereotypical Icelandic kid, so I’ll assume the sheep thing is legit. It’s not like Subway Surfers would lie to us.
Leap Day, Free Here’s Leap Day‘s first big update, packed full of new stuff to mess around with. The stars of the show? Ten new deadly traps! Yes, good luck with those walls of death lasers, guillotines, swinging logs, and other nefarious machines of doom. But hey, that’s not all! You also get a bunch of new characters and levels, too. I think that’s more than enough for Leap Day to earn the coveted Update Mondays Most Spider-Mans of the Week award, don’t you?
Pinball Breaker - GameClub, Free The latest additions to Pinball Breaker Forever are aimed to address some player requests. First up, there are two new modes. Nightmare makes the game more difficult and adds some new levels. Pinball Classic makes the physics more like a real pinball table. That could not have been easy to put in, but developer XperimentalZ Games is known for its excellent customer care. Hats off to you, XperimentalZ! This update also includes some new cosmetic options for the various parts of the tables, and a few other little fixes under the hood.
Hungry Shark World, Free No. No, no, no. Nein. Non. Nyet. Iie. You do not give a hungry shark a jetpack. That is just a bad idea for so many reasons that I can’t even begin to expound on them here. Just… no. Well, Ubisoft doesn’t care what I think, so now you can take your murderous shark into the freaking air to catch birds and stuff. There are new flying pets to accompany the shark, as well as some cool accessories to, you know, pretty up your flying jetpack shark. This game. This game, friends.
Goat Simulator, $6.99 Coffee Stain continues their quest to create a 100% accurate simulation of a goat’s life with this latest free level update. It’s the time of the year when kids go back to school, and yes, I just made that joke. So, there’s a new school campus level to run around in, complete with prom queens, cheerleaders, and more. Be on the lookout for the usual bevy of secrets and challenges, and of course, there are some new mutators as well. Also included in this update are new menus and an overall improved UI.
hocus., $1.99 The enjoyable optical illusion puzzler hocus. has 15 new levels in its latest update. After you’re done challenging your brain with those, you can check out the new level card system, which makes sharing, saving, and loading your levels easier than ever. Free levels are always a good thing, and the card system is just gravy on top.
Bushido Bear, Free Bears trained in the ancient Japanese art of war. Honestly, this week is all about giving already-dangerous animals powers well beyond their ken. Have we no concern for the results of these villainous experiments? Sigh. Anyway, Bushido Bear has a new stage called Winter Wood that has all kinds of snowy dangers to deal with. To help you with that, there are three new swords to pick up, and the number of quests required to open up new stages has been reduced. There are several other interesting adjustments and fixes in this new version, such as making the Barbearian’s hit box smaller. I just wanted to type ‘Barbearian’.
Micro Machines, Free I thought about typing this entry in such a way as to evoke the Micro Machines Man, but it turns out that would completely break our formatting, so here I am with no pop culture reference to coast by on. This update features a bunch of GI Joe vehicles you can unlock, but from what I hear, it’s quite the monumental task to do so. Is it worth the suffering to get yourself your very own tiny digital H.I.S.S. Tank? I leave that up to you to decide. Don’t be surprised if you end up paying, though. And now you know.
MOBIUS FINAL FANTASY, Free Well, Mobius is definitely going over better than I expected with folks. Provided they keep the content rolling, this game might just hold out over the long haul. This update adds a bunch of new things, including some multiplayer content called Ring of Braves where you team up to tackle legendary Eidolons, some new job classes, an exploration region where you can gather materials and power up, and the first Legends summons. Call in for some support from Tyro, the hero of Record Keeper! Yes, everyone’s favorite legendary Final Fantasy character!
Guild of Dungeoneering, $5.99 Guild of Dungeoneering has sent out the first of its big expansion packs, and as promised, the price went up in step. But look at all you get here: 27 new items, 23 new monsters to fight, 3 new classes for dungeoneers, and most importantly, a whole new region with 21 new quests to complete. There are a ton of bug fixes, as well. Naturally, if you already bought the game before, you get all of this at no additional cost.
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!
