Some of my most beloved iOS games are the ones that perfectly fill those little gaps of time while I’m standing in line or waiting for a bus. Bitsize Games’ Robo Surf [$0.99] is ideal for that role, with simple one-touch controls and gameplay that fills a few seconds or a few minutes depending on what you need.
At first glance, it looks pretty standard. You control a surfing robot (what else?) traversing a dangerous seascape. You build waves by tapping, pressing and releasing the screen to control your altitude. You keep going until you hit something or crash into the ocean, and then it’s game over. There’s a slight twist—you collect oil barrels scattered across the sky to build up turbo, which you can use to ignite your robot and fly straight through obstacles and the bosses that pop up every 500 meters—but the game is functionally pretty similar to endless runners and other obstacle dodgers. So why can’t I put it down?
Probably because Robo Surf gives me reasons to keep going. I often struggle with high-score plateaus, but that’s not a problem here. You unlock a new checkpoint after each boss encounter, and you can start your game from any of them. If the game were just a high-score fest, this would be pretty pointless—the leaderboards record your total travel distance, not your stopping point—but there’s a lot more to Robo Surf than your top score.
The achievement system, for example, is my favorite thing about the game. Some developers include Game Center achievements like they’re something to mark off a checklist. There often isn’t much thought put into the sort of value they’ll add. Robo Surf brings them to the forefront. Every so often, you’ll be presented with a challenge: surf for 500 meters, maybe, or collect 20 oil barrels in a row. They’re the same achievements you could earn at any point, but it feels a lot more satisfying to meet them this way.
Earn enough achievements, and you’ll unlock new characters to ride the waves with. The friendly box-headed Robo, your starting bot, can be replaced with characters from three indie PC titles, Walkie Tonky, Iji and Blueberry Garden. The upgrades are purely cosmetic, but having them there as a carrot kept me playing to earn achievements, which in turn encouraged me toward more creative and challenging ways to play. By the time I unlocked all the playable characters, I was utterly hooked.
It helps that Robo Surf looks and sounds great, with engaging art and a cheery retro soundtrack underlying the action. There are lots of goodies to look at, between the cartoony birds, bats and bosses, and the backgrounds that change every few hundred meters. And if you need more to do, you can give the speedy 10 Wave mode a shot. This gives you ten touches to try to earn the best possible score, a short-form challenge that’s inspiring some fierce leaderboard competition.
Robo Surf is lighthearted and fun, with enough hooks to turn it from a momentary distraction to one of my new favorites. Our forum users are loving it, too. It’s hard for a game to stand out in such a crowded genre, but this one shines. Be sure to give it a look.
The Paper Monsters looks great, kind of old school game that I used to love. Wow, I need to get an Ipod to play games on!
I really like the look of this Topia game. I can't listen to the sound at work right now, so the video looks kind of basic to me. What is the point of this game?
It seems to be about managing your plants and animals. Looks like it has potential! I loved Populous, and also a wildlife-centric similar game for Amiga, whose name escapes me. (Little-known shareware but it looked great. You could shout “Ni!” to scare the animals for indirect control, and there were blue vs. red animals of every species, with colored ribbons on their tails.)
Meh. Add a weather system and it'll be an insta-buy from me!
Kidding...That looks really awesome!
Pocket RPG and Paper Monsters look fantastic! Will get.
Where is Deadlock? That game should be almost out by now! I've been (not so) patiently waiting for it since its announcement!
its coming soon! we are in the testing now! :) will post a new hands on soon
Wouldn't it be cool in Paper Monsters that if you jump on an enemy, they crumple up into a wad of paper and then you could simply kick them off the screen? That or they unfold? Having them shrink into a puff of smoke works, but doesn't feel right. It might just be me, but I kind of want paper to behave somewhat like paper.
How about the guys a CM fix the bugs in Aralon before they start working on another game.
Three more games that take months to work and have crescent moon games devs calling me a lier about their game not working? Nah i'll save my money.
Well I'm not sure if I ever called anyone a liar about that, but we've had one issue in Aralon that we have not been able to figure out (Uthu's fortress) so we're going to change that area in the game in the next update. Hope that helps your issue.
Argh, forget the animals and make it a medieval village builder/war game!!
We Intend to use the engine for other games. We have a bunch of them lined up already but right now we are spending a little time exploring something that, we think, hasn't quite been done before. If it doesn't work out the game may well evolve into something quite different but Josh and I thrashed this idea out over several months and it's just got weirder the whole time. It's kind of a risk but we both think it's worth investing a little time on.
that would be called Topia: Age of Destruction
Pocket RPG looks fantastic! I can't wait.
What about Ultra Kid!!!
Hello this is knowledge site, there is a link for latest updates in the world you can see our site http://www.latestworld.net (see in all about latest Islam, Latest Mobiles news, reviews,ringtone,wallpapers,theme,free softwares download,poetry and Ghazals,Fashion in the world and many many more for your information and knowledge.
All of these look pretty awesome.