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 fine mix of new and old, big and small, and a few things in between this week. Once again, not a huge number, but I think I’ve picked out some good ones for your consideration. 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!
Death Road to Canada, $14.99 Wow, that was fast. Death Road to Canada, a wildly fictional game about Americans fleeing the burning rubble of their once-proud nation to make a new life in beautiful Canada, has already gotten its first update. Now, normally this would be accompanied by a price increase, as per the way Rocketcat Games rolls, but this is just the first part of the update that was originally planned for two weeks from now. I imagine the price will go up when the rest of it is delivered, so hey, buy in if you’re going to. This update adds the ability to sell weapons for food, some new weapons like the Boot on a Stick, a new rare trader, and a new rare recruit. It’s as good as an excuse as any to hit the road one more time.
Super Mario Run, Free The Stone Soup of updated apps is back once again with another batch of goodies. First up, more playable characters. Yes, they’re just different-colored Yoshis, but if you’re missing a particular color of Toad, they’ll be of use to you. One of them is even available to free players thanks to another addition in this version. Namely, the Bowser Challenges, which when completed allow free players to finally get some closure by unlocking stage 1-4 for play. Having that stage open means free players can finally earn Blue and Green Toads in the Toad Rally, opening up a bunch of new buildings to buy. Other changes include making Rally Tickets easier to earn, some improvements to the UI, and some balance adjustments to make collecting Toads a little easier. That’s at least a three-and-a-half star update, if you ask me!
Pinball Arcade Plus, $0.99 It’s been a little while since we’ve seen a Williams table added to the Pinball Arcade. I suspect it’s mostly because the popular ones that don’t involve an expensive license have already been done. But there are still a fair number of less-famous ones that can be added, and that’s what we’ve got this time around. Swords of Fury is a 1988 table that isn’t terribly remarkable in any particular way. It’s one of the last releases from the company before they went all-in on dot matrix video displays, and it also predates the score inflation that hit soon after its release. Only seven digits in the score table here, so you’re going to have to work if you want to feel like a millionaire. As usual, this table is available as optional IAP.
Rush Rally 2, $0.99 How much more can a game this cheap keep adding, I wonder? Just stop, Brownmonster! The other rally racing games on iOS are already dead! Anyway, this update adds a highly-requested bumper camera, some handling tweaks, a little extra TLC for the graphics of wheels and and dirt, support for Japanese and Chinese languages, the ability to lower resolution for better performance on older devices, and more. Oh, and if you are reading this on the day that this article is posted, you’ll find the game is still on sale for a mere dollar. One. Dollar. What.
Mildly Interesting RTS, Free With A Noble Circle all wrapped up, developer Amir Rajan has moved on to his next title. It’s a minimalistic take on real-time strategy called, appropriately enough, Mildly Interesting RTS. This update to the game fluffs up the tutorial a little bit, moves the starting locations to more aggressive points in each stage, and makes the AI harder, because yeah, it really needed that. Thanks, Amir. This update also adds an IAP expansion called Veteran Content. I’m assuming it is some sort of content for veterans. It costs $1.99 and will likely please you if you have digested all of the free content.
Asphalt Xtreme, Free Oh, wow. Awkward. Eheh, well, when I said all of the other rally racers on iOS were already dead a few paragraphs up, I clearly didn’t mean you, Asphalt! Ha. Ha ha. Oof. Okay look, this game also got an update. It features a new location in the Alps, some new cars such as the legendary Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X and the BMW X6. There are some new events, some new daily missions, and extra content for the career mode. See? Still alive. Daetsni 2 yllaR hsuR yuB. What? I said nothing.
Tomb of the Mask, Free Tomb of the Mask is still plugging away like a champ over here. This new version adds 10 new stages to play through, gives you more notification options, adds a new icon, and does a bevy of bug fixes. It’s a real meat-and-potatoes update, to be sure, but if you’re enjoying the game, there’s not much to complain about with getting some new stages to play.
High Risers, Free I like to imagine the little man in the icon is Aliens and Mad About You star Paul Reiser, and that the title of this game is actually High Reisers. This is all that I’m saying! Um, anyway, if you’re a little more grounded than I am, you probably just want to know what’s in this update. Well, it’s a nature update, so it obviously includes four new animals along with two new appropriately-themed environments. Is one of the animals Murray? Never happen, my friend. That would be leading on my silly imagination, and it would not be appropriate. Now, let’s take each other’s hands, as we jump into the final update.
FINAL FANTASY Record Keeper, Free Guess who’s two years old? Yes, it’s the English version of Final Fantasy Record Keeper! Also, some babies, probably. But are those babies going to give you 50 Mythril for finishing a dungeon commemorating their birthday. No, I didn’t think so. They’re babies. You are expecting too much. But wait, not only is there some free Mythril up for grabs, there’s also a free 11x draw you can take advantage of. The Players’ Choice Relic Draw has Soul Break Relics handpicked by the community via a survey, and the first taste is free, free, free. There are some special events in dungeons, some great login bonuses, and more going on for the next little while, so hop on in. Since it’s the game’s birthday, I think I’m going to give it this week’s coveted Update Mondays Most Spider-Mans of the Week award.
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!
