Puppets are on the loose, and it's up to a lowly amusement park janitor to keep them at bay. Isn't that always the way? NuOxygen's tap-and-slash adventure Monster of Puppets (a clever play on words, if we may say so) follows janitor Charlie on his journey to keep the puppets in each booth at the amusement park from wreaking havoc upon the unsuspecting public-- all because a wayward UFO decided it wanted to make a quick landing. It's clear the game was meant to give Fruit Ninja a run for its money-- but does it ever get off the ground?
Monster of Puppets has all the charms of a great Flash game: plenty of levels, power-ups, and stuff to shoot, mostly of monsters, as the title implies. Every Halloween cliche you can name makes a cameo appearance, rising to the top of the screen carried by ballons and other apparatus: robots, wizards, werewolves, zombies, pumpkins, and even vicious mascots. All of them need a sound beatdown, and it's up to you to administer one.
Frankenstein, meet pharaoh.
While at first Charlie is only equipped with a broom, as you tap through each puppet, sending them hurtling to a swift death, or exploding, he can quickly make his way through the ranks, unlocking and purchasing new armaments at the in-game store. Bazookas, buzz saws, and rockets are at your disposal. You'll spend coin earned in-game throughout your puppet-busting exploits, and it's prudent to snap up what you can, as these puppets can fight back. In fact, that's part of the tagline: "fruit doesn't fight back." Cute.
And these puppets are out for blood. Each game is fast and frantic, increasing in difficulty as you down each malevolent attacker. It quickly becomes addictive, turning into a competition with yourself and other players to see how many puppets you can annihilate and how many points you can rack up via quick-chaining combos. Collecting currency is another miniature battle, and one you'll happily engage in if you want to take out the higher-powered foes in less time.
Ride the lightning.
The carnage is juxtaposed against the cutesy puppets themselves, rendered in 3D against patchwork backgrounds and whimsical locales. The backgrounds certainly aren't up to par with the puppet models, but they lend a bit of a fantastical feel to the already quite silly game. Bold colors and an energetic soundtrack keep things fun and light-- no matter how many puppets you're blowing away.
It's intuitive, simple, and accessible-- all things one would expect out of any app that might fancy itself a competitor for one of the top games in the genre. And given its variety, ease of use, and relatively interesting presentation, Monster of Puppets is a formidable opponent in the same arena. With a little more aesthetic polish and new enemies (maybe a few more weapons, too) it could become a must-own app quite easily. Just make sure you keep it away from actual puppets. You never know how easily they can be swayed into revolting.
Craneballs may not be one of the App Store's best-known indie developers, but ever since we played Blimp and Monorace, two of their finest games, we've been big fans. Other Craneballs fans out there will want to know all about Fish Heroes, a 3D physics puzzler that plays a bit like Angry Birds underwater.
In Fish Heroes, you have to slingshot one type of animal (friendly fish) into another (mean sharks). While this sounds like yet another Angry Birds-like premise, the 3D levels make a huge difference. Like in the game Save Toshi, you can spin around each level to find the best viewpoint.
Instead of a tap-to-shoot mechanic like in Save Toshi, Fish Heroes offers a more tactical approach to the controls. You operate your slingshot by pulling back on an icon in the lower-right. This will bring up an aiming reticule, which you can use to hone in on your shark targets. Let go, and your fish will go flying.
You start off with clownfish, which are just simple projectiles, but later on you'll be able to use heavy whales and inflatable pufferfish to cause mayhem. Inflating the pufferfish is especially fun, because they swell up and knock over nearby blocks, like some kind of biological bomb.
Some of your special attacks mirror those in Angry Birds, like a school of fish that separates into individual fish, or a piranha that boosts forward with a button press. While this shows a slight lack of creativity, the cube-shaped characters are quite cute.
If you thought Angry Birds Space was the height of physics puzzling, Fish Heroes will feel like a surprising 3D evolution. After playing it, we're going to try spinning every puzzle game to get a better view. Fish Heroes will be available on the App Store in June.
Our winners have been selected! Click ahead to see who won game codes, and which iOS our readers use most often.
@pan_jerry: My most used app is Week Calender. With this app, I can arrange my life and work better.
@ninjasan8: It's a tie between Mr. Reader, Pocket and Goodreader. I game a lot, but those apps are used the most.
@agleung: My most used app is iCatcher, because I listen to Slide to Play Podcast every time I am behind the wheels!
@reweblind: Most used app = Alarmed! It's the most robust reminders app ever, and I'm very OC hehehe! :)
@test4rt: I use Reeder for ipad reading articles everyday,it is the best RSS reader in the app store.
@technicat902: My most used app is Groove, because i'm a huge fan of music!!
@extreme472000: My most used app is Appsfire, because it's amazing and helps me never miss a deal on a game.
@jasonW2000: Recently I use Tweetbot most. I enjoy tracking new apps by following developers!
@Alzep: My most used app is Pizza VS Skeletons, at least until I get all 3-star achievements!
@nimano45: My favorite app is Chickenbreak, because it's an awesome game!
@Py687: I use MOS Speedrun the most, cause it's such a badass game!
@soccastar001: This may seem like a copout answer but I use the default Facebook app the most, it IS my social life
@the_tatiana: I use Facebook the most, checking my notifications and viewing photos when I'm not in front of my laptop!
Thanks to everyone who entered! Remember, if you didn't win be sure to try again next week.
Reiner Knizia is back at it again, teaming with iOS creators Aidem Media and updating one of his board games, Pipes, to fit into to the City of Secrets universe, like he did previously with Skyline. This is again being done to celebrate the upcoming game City of Secrets 2. This time, however, the results aren’t as good as Skyline, and we’re left with a fairly frustrating and mediocre puzzler.
Your goal in each level is to connect a series of pipe parts branching out from a central source node to each of the outlying pipes on the grid's exterior. Each of the outside pipes have different point values and you want to try to get as many points as possible. The more points you get, the better your star rating, up to a maximum of three stars.
Laying some pipe.
The pipe pieces come in different shapes and sizes and with different connections types (certain connectors will only attach with specific types), and you get more points for connecting the pipes in certain ways. You can rotate the pipe parts before you place them on the grid and a green box tells you valid places to put them, but once you place them, thats it. You don’t get a second chance, as there isn’t an undo button. Placing a part in an invalid square creates a “stopper” which creates problems for putting down more parts and takes away points from your total.
And that’s basically all there is to it. Knizia’s Pipes simply isn’t that much fun. It’s a neat idea (we have very fond memories of games like Pipe Dreams), but this isn’t that game. There isn’t enough variation in what you have to do, there’s an obnoxious level of guesswork involved as you never know what the next piece is going to be, and the levels are all presented in a drab, virtually colorless, uninteresting steampunk design. Add in a droning soundtrack and you have a game that could easily put you to sleep if you’re having an off day.
We really can’t find any compelling reason to recommend this game. There are already games for iOS doing this concept and doing it in better, more interesting ways. Enigmo2 easily comes to mind. Reiner Knizia’s City of Secrets Pipes is a boring, uninteresting slog. For the most ardent Knizia fans only.
A fresh new gameplay video of Infinity Blade: Dungeons has popped up on the interwebs, showing off the full Diablo-ness of the forthcoming title from Epic Games. You may remember Infinity Blade: Dungeons from the announcement at the iPad 3 event in March. The game looks to be shaping up nicely, and we can't wait to try it out. Click ahead for the video.
IGN got some hands-on time with the game, so check out their preview for more details. The game will be available "later this year."
[Via IGN]
Why do you play video games? Maybe you don’t have much of an answer beyond, “Well, they’re games, and they’re there.” It’s a good answer, mind, but mobile game community MocoSpace recently conducted a “Y U Play?” survey that provides a great breakdown of the reasons why we play mobile games. Are games fun? Are they cool? Sure, but one of the biggest reasons we play is seemingly because we're bored.
More than 10,000 game enthusiasts participated in MocoSpace’s poll, which was assembled in April 2012 to discern the reasons why Americans enjoy playing mobile games. 55% of MocoSpace’s active users play mobile games on the network, which numbers over 25 million users in total.
Pet Hotel, one of MocoSpace's popular offerings.
The survey asked its participants, “What is the main reason you play games on your mobile phone?” They were only allowed to select one answer.
The response breakdown looked like this:
34 percent said: “The games are fun.”
32 percent said: “Bored / want to kill time.”
10 percent said: “I like to compete.”
9 percent said: “To meet new people.”
6 percent said: “To try something new.”
3 percent said: “I’m always on the go.”
3 percent said: “To flirt.”
2 percent said: “To connect with my friends.”
Less than 1 percent said: “To connect with my family.”
Bam! Take that, familial ties!
MocoSpace’s data demonstrates that people prefer making new friends with games versus playing with familiar friends and family members. More than that, though, mobile gamers who are still in school admit to fiddling with their games because school bores them. When MocoSpace asked poll respondents to get a little more specific about why they game in school, here’s what came forth:
42 percent said: “Class is boring.”
41 percent said: “Have some down time.”
15 percent said: “Hooked on the game.”
2 percent said: “My classmates play.”
We don’t need no education.
MocoSpace’s poll covers one small corner of the mobile community, but it’s not hard to believe that kids across the developed world are pecking away at their electronics in lieu of listening to their teachers go on about how math is awesome. Educators are at a major crossroads. Do we wrestle away our kids’ electronics and shove their noses back into the textbook, or do we teach them how to use computers and phones as effective research tools? On one hand, kids need discipline and, more than ever, they need to be taught to focus. On the other hand, textbooks are heavy, uninteresting, and often hopelessly outdated. Smartphones, tablets, and PCs have been grafted onto the average kid’s life, and they’re simply not going to budge, no matter how much we try and fight that fact.
Are you a bored student? Or just a bored adult in general? Why do you play mobile games? Take our poll, for science!
Hope you're thirsty, because Feed Me Oil and Feed Me Oil HD are free to download today for iPhone and iPad! We rated this liquified physics puzzler a Must Have in our review, praising its simple gameplay, amazing graphics, and killer soundtrack. Since it won't set you back any money, there's no reason not to give it a try. Feed Me Oil is one of the better (and more bizarre) puzzlers of recent memory.
We receive a ridiculous number of new apps to review every week, and many of them probably aren't worth your time. But we like to pick out five solid examples of creative new indie games that are worth your time, and feature them in our weekly Under The Radar column. Take a chance on one or more of these unique games, and we don't think you'll be disappointed.
With The Bluecoats: North Vs South, you no longer have to wake up at dawn and put on a faded gray uniform to reenact the Civil War. In this strategy game, you play as either the Confederate or Union armies as they march across the United States. Connecting forts by rail will generate money, which you can use to recruit more troops. You can then invade other states, defend forts in a shooting gallery minigame, and help shape American history.
Price: $3.99
The only thing scarier than a wild tiger is a tiger with an internal combustion engine. The vehicles in Carnimalz are part animal, which means they'll roar and purr as you step on the gas. This casual racing game is simple to control-- you just have to slide your finger up and down to avoid obstacles, and press a button for a special move. But what we really like about this game is the graphical presentation, with its excellent cel-shaded animation.
Price: $.99
In Self Aware, your iPhone has been hacked, which really seems like more of an Android thing. This hacker is an evil computer that taunts your puny human abilities with a series of challenges based on your iPhone's pre-loaded apps. For example, you'll have to spell out passwords in the calculator, or solve riddles based on your calendar and contacts. The creepy red overlay makes your iPhone look diseased, but it's a fun twist on the banal ways you normally use your device.
Price: $.99
In Teeny Green, you play as a green blob who has to escape the predatory red and blue blobs. But while you can only move one space at a time to reach your goal, the other blobs can move twice. As a result, you'll have to block their path and think carefully about every move. Things just get more complicated when the blobs start to combine to make superblobs. If you want a cute and thoughtful puzzler, consider Teeny Green.
Price: $.99
A combination of Labyrinth and Air Penguin, Sheep Up! is a beautiful tilt-based game starring a bouncing sheep. Your sheep will bounce on cardboard platforms as it moves higher and higher, but one wrong tilt or mistimed bounce and you'll lose a life. The goal is to reach the top of a stack of boxes. The visuals and controls are nice and simple, but Sheep Up! will definitely test your balancing skills.
Price: $.99
Come get some! The cigar-chomping, alien-stomping badass known as Duke Nukem is now available for your iPhone free of charge. This iOS port of Duke Nukem 3D isn't perfect, but a brand-new update has slightly tweaked the controls.
Duke's one-liners, bloody shootouts, and seedy hangouts may not be as shocking as they were back in 1996, but they're still pretty risque for the App Store. For alien strippers and peep shows, you can't go wrong with the Duke. You can read our original review, and download the game while it's still free, by clicking here.
Mobile games have impacted the video game landscape in countless ways, but here’s the biggest change: digital marketplaces make it possible for games to sell for a few paltry dollars. Admittedly, our newfound ability to download cheap games has made us a little, er, entitled. Tiger Style, the studio behind the iOS game Waking Mars, recently released some statistics that demonstrate how its numbers fluctuated when two of its games went on sale. Said stats provide an interesting look at our iOS buying habits.
“Our strategy was to try and create news and attention by coordinating several newsworthy events simultaneously,” wrote Tiger Style developer and co-founder, Dave Kalina. “Our Waking Mars update had new jetpacks to collect and play with, and enhanced support for the iPad Retina Display.”
Aside from the content update, Waking Mars’s price was dropped from $4.99 to $2.99. In the two week period between April 30 and May 14, revenue earned from Waking Mars doubled to $25,733, up from the $12,946 that was earned in the two weeks prior. Sales of Waking Mars began cooling off by May 15, so Tiger Style ended the promotion.
Sales for the second game, Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor didn’t fare quite as well. It was on sale for approximately a week, and after a brief traffic spike that lasted a few days, the game’s sales settled back down to where they were before the promotion.
Overall, Kalina is happy about the results. “All things considered, this effort was successful,” he wrote. “We reached a significant number of new users, (hopefully) increased the perceived value of the product, and pocketed a nice chunk of extra revenue.”
But do sales hurt or hinder iOS games in the long run? “Long term, it’s harder to predict how much these efforts help,” Kalina admits. “I used to fear that sales would serve to cannibalize your potential user base -- how many of the people who just bought Waking Mars at $2.99 would have eventually bought it at $4.99? It’s impossible to know. iOS has definitely taught people that, if they wait just a little bit, practically everything goes on sale.”
Some members of game development’s old guard, particularly Nintendo, has been vocal over the dangers of cheap games. They argue that low-priced apps cheapens game development as an art, and makes it difficult for modern devs to make a living. From what we’ve seen of Tiger Style’s data, that’s not entirely untrue. Kalina stated that the iOS market has taught people that things will go on sale if they wait around, and he’s right.
Even so, Kalina’s analysis ends on a hopeful note: he believes that maintaining a slow burn on the App Store is the secret to success. In other words, instead of freaking out over immediate sales numbers, developers need to find ways to stay relevant in the marketplace over the long term. Sales are one way to keep in the public’s eye, as blog-based promotions and word-of-mouth recommendations will follow.
It’s a tough market, sure, but when has game development ever been easy? Not counting the untamed days of the Atari 2600 when people just ripped off each other’s code, slapped a Mr. T sprite in there somewhere, and called it aday.
[via Gamasutra]
Non Flying Soldiers is a game that puts the lives of several fat, waddling bird soldiers into your hands. Your goal is to keep them safe while they make their run across the battlefield. There are many games like it, but this one is yours. Without your birds, you are useless. Without you, your birds are useless.
Non Flying Soldiers stretches several levels across three campaigns. Each level seems to be modeled after a child’s idea of a standard military obstacle course, complete with cardboard and tiny hazards. It’s a wonder there aren’t any bonus levels wherein ants are forced to run from the killing lens of a magnifying glass poised above.
At the beginning of each level, you’re granted a handful of objects that help your birds maneuver to safety. Yes, your feathered friends are quite dumb, and they’re not capable of sustained flight (hence the game’s title). They’ll run straight into that buzzsaw blade that’s whirling like merry hell if you don’t do something about it first.
I love the smell of wet pigeon in the morning.
Objects at your disposal include sandbag barriers, springboards, speed pads, fans, trampolines, and nets that can catch any birds that do in fact manage to get airborne via long jumps. You can lay down a limited number of objects in each level, and if you’re really clever about placement, you should be able to grab the medals that are scattered around each obstacle course. You can also grab arcade tokens that let you play a simple but fun shooting game at a cabinet located on the Main Menu.
Non Flying Soldiers adds a couple of interesting twists that set it apart from most games that share its gene pool. As you progress, you recruit other bird species that have helpful abilities: pigeons can hit switches and swim through water, and the heavy-set purple birds can perform a roll that smashes barriers. There’s an element of player inactivity as well. As your birds run through their courses, you occasionally need to activate switches or de-activate traps. You need to time your movements well, however: automatically opening gates as soon as you see them is a surefire way to wind up with a fricasseed bird.
Born to Coo.
You’ve played games like Non Flying Soldiers before: an idiot (or idiots) walks in a straight line, and you, as a benevolent god, must guide said idiot to safety. Admittedly, Non Flying Soldiers isn’t super-original, but it’s one of the most polished games in its genre. When you fail at a course, you can pick up and try again with minimal wait time. There are multiple ways to solve each course, and you’re really encouraged to experiment to see what works for you.
Best of all, there’s a hint system for when you get really stuck, so you’re not forced to sit and chew for hours on one level. Hints help you get all your birds to safety, but they don’t show you how to collect all the medals in an area. Moreover, you’re forced to wait between each hint (the countdown increases for each campaign), and that time you spend waiting impacts your final score. You can wait for your hints, or you can wing it; the game leaves the choice entirely up to you.
Aside from its cute protagonists, Non Flying Soldiers isn’t a unique game. But it’s built well, it’s polished, and more importantly, it’s fun. Cry havoc, and let slip the birds of war.
Platform games are all about following a path while avoiding horrible doom along the way, and This Could Hurt delivers all the doom any player could ask for. If you love dodging buzzsaws, flame jets, and bottomless pits, you’ve come to the right game.
You play a young Oakguard Apprentice charged with renewing the Great Oak that protects his village. After some training levels in the local forest, your apprentice goes on an epic quest through a ruined city, over a snow-topped mountain, and deep into a fiery volcano.
Your hero is courageous, but unimaginative. He only travels by marching down the path in front of him. If he would just go off the path once in a while... climb a hill... breathe some fresh air... avoid the death traps and dive through the exit that is frequently ten feet away from the entrance... well, it wouldn’t be much of a game.
Out for a jog.
Since your apprentice does no such thing, it’s up to you to shepherd him through the levels. You have one control: hold the screen and your apprentice stops. Let go and he moves forward. By timing stops and starts, you can ride moving platforms, dodge boulders, duck swinging cannonballs and even chose alternate paths through hidden areas.
The one-touch control is simple, but there’s enough challenge to keep you engaged throughout the game’s 40 levels. It doesn’t hurt that the world is beautifully realized with a 3-D isometric perspective. The threats are well-placed, so you can always see what’s going on, and it’s fun to follow your apprentice as he stomps over, under, and behind the landscape.
There are also power-ups to get you through the worst obstacles. These are unlocked in the fourth and seventh levels of the first three worlds, and will give your apprentice temporary abilities like invulnerability, extra health, and wings to fly over pits. Each ability is powered by acorns, which are hidden in dangerous areas and accumulated at the end of each level.
Just getting some fresh air.
This is where the game economy gets tricky. You spend acorns each time you use a special ability, whether you pass the level or not. However, you only gather new acorns when you successfully complete a level. It’s easy to get into a deficit situation where you attempt a level several times, spending acorns every time, just to get small fraction of them back.
Chillingo is happy to sell you more acorns, and players determined to explore every hidden area and earn every badge are likely to end up buying them. That said, it’s easy to finish the game using only acorns gathered in normal play. Players who don’t want to pay for more can also run through the first level over and over again. That level is only 20 seconds long, and five minutes of grinding will get you the use of several power-ups. It’s an efficient strategy, but it’s not fun.
Lack of checkpoints is another way the design works against itself. The levels are short, and running one from start to finish is one of the joys of platformers. However, repeating two-thirds of a level over and over because you keep missing one jump near the end is a frustration of the genre. It’s not hard to track failure and restart a struggling player at a halfway point, and there’s no reason a modern game shouldn’t offer that convenience to players.
Despite these flaws, This Could Hurt is fun and accessible. If you like to puzzle over your platformers, you’ll enjoy mastering the game’s timing and delivering your apprentice to the end of the maze.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II takes much of its inspiration from the original Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on Genesis. In both games you play as the speedy blue rodent, and you're accompanied by his trusty buddy Tails. The question is, does the new game tap into the same magic that made Sonic 2 the classic it is today, or does it sputter into mediocrity like many other Sonic games?
Like the first episode in the Sonic 4 series (which sounds bizarre to say), Episode II contains four zones, each made up of three levels and a big boss battle. Much to the game's credit, the zones are all nicely distinct, both in visual style and in the types of obstacles you'll encounter. Oil slicks and dust storms appear in the Oil Desert zone, and you'll have to deal with ski slopes and snow boulders in the White Park zone. As a result, the gameplay stays pretty fresh throughout.
To infinity and beyond!
The levels also sport dynamic environmental obstacles, like wheels you need to spin to open the way forward, or packed snow you need to roll through. Also, one of our complaints about Episode I was a dearth of speedy parts, so we're glad to report that this episode made room for plenty of zipping, zooming fun.
However, controls are often a problem in iOS platformers, and this game is no exception. While last year's port of Sonic CD brought us by far the best Sonic controls on iOS yet, Episode II represents a step backwards for the series. For whatever reason, they've eschewed the nimble Sonic of Sonic CD in favor of a more hefty-feeling hedgehog here. When he's standing still, it takes him a while to get moving. When he's underwater, it's even worse, making those portions of the game a chore to play through. It's like he's an old cranky lawnmower that doesn't want to start.
Once he builds up momentum he's as speedy as ever, but the moment you hit a wall or need to turn around, he's back to being sluggish again. It doesn't help that the D-pad is tiny, making it difficult to hit the intended direction every time. Also, the music in the game is pretty awful. Sonic titles usually have memorable, hummable music, but here it's usually downright annoying.
Loop that loop.
Despite all that, having Tails around opens up some new platforming opportunities for the spiny blue fur-ball. At the tap of a button, Tails can grab hold of Sonic and lift him up, letting you fly to previously unreachable areas. You can also use Tails' dual appendages like a propellor to swim faster, or you can roll into a ball that has enough oomph to break through barriers.
And if you have also Episode I installed on your device, you can unlock an entire bonus zone that lets you play as Metal Sonic. The game does include a multiplayer mode, but unfortunately it's local only, so don't expect to play with a buddy online.
Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode II isn't a bad game by any means, but it's hampered by spotty controls and sluggish physics. For most fans, these issues won't be deal breakers. But after the terrific experience of Sonic CD, we were hoping for more with Episode II.
Mankind is discovering some seriously strange stuff in space these days. From the strange flora and fauna in Waking Mars to the weird aliens living a space-dinosaur's UFO in Mystery of the Japanese Werewolf, there's some odd and scary things out there. Now you can discover ancient alien ruins and otherworldly technology in Gene Effect, the excellent new game from Lightstorm 3D.
In Gene Effect you play as the captain of the mining ship Triton, who is charged with exploring the planet Kratoss to find an errant vessel called the Goliath that went missing earlier while scouting the caverns of the planet. Throughout your explorations of the ancient ruins of the long dead race the Na’Rul, you’ll mine energy resources, discover the secrets of this ancient alien society, discover what happened to the crew of the Goliath, and uncover mysteries that could potentially change the course of humanity.
An intergalactic botanist's dream.
You and your ship are forced to navigate the tight and unstable caverns of the planet, attempt to figure out and activate leftover Na’Rul technology, and circumvent the age old security systems of the aliens, all while dealing with the overly hostile indigenous lifeforms of the planet. Oh, and the fate of humankind and the universe may lie in your hands as well. No pressure though.
You control your ship’s movements with a D-Pad on one side, and actions buttons for your “repulsor” and drone attacks on the other. The repulsor is your main weapon, even though it isn’t really a weapon. It’s a charged blast that radiates from the center of your ship, and you use it to activate switches (which open the ancient gates), blast away rocks that are in your way, and discover hidden areas.
Your ship has a sonar signal that constantly emanates as well, and when it discovers something of interest it will “ping” that area with a blue graphic. T-Drones are your only actual weapon, and they come in very limited supply and take a long time to charge up and fire. While we appreciate that the game is attempting to emulate the feel of controlling what is essentially a slow and clunky space submarine, no one bothered to tell the hostiles this, and the slow controls are ill-suited for some of the quick precision movements that are usually required of you.
An inviting space citadel.
Another problem is that the story, mission briefings, and gameplay explanations are all told in massive blocks of text, sometimes consisting of multiple pages. This wouldn't be so bad if the text wasn’t poorly translated. We would occasionally find ourselves stumbling around the levels or missing things because we didn’t have a clear idea of what we had to do. Each level has different goals and objectives and things to look out for, and sometimes figuring out how to do this can be a little confusing.
The graphics however, are absolutely first rate. The levels are filled with dynamic lighting effects, lense flares, and incredibly detailed, lush, and compelling things to look at. Like a lavish painting from a pulp sci-fi novel, this is honestly one of the most beautiful games we have ever played on iOS. The sound is equally spectacular and well done, immersing you in the dank, solitary and cavernous environment. We highly recommend playing with headphones.
Gene Effect is great. The levels are huge, the story is compelling, the presentation is spectacular, and the gameplay-- while not without problems-- is engaging and fun. Gene Effect is highly recommended for anyone looking for a good sci-fi adventure.
It's Wednesday, which means we get a sneak peek at the biggest iOS games to hit the US App Store tonight at 8pm PST. The main draw tonight is Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 2, but we'll also see a new Adult Swim game, plus new kid-friendly games from Chillingo and Namco. Read on for your Kiwi links and recommended reading.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 2
It's been over a year and a half since Sega brought Sonic 4 to multiple platforms, including iOS. For the second episode, Sonic's got backup in the form of his friend Miles Prower, aka Tails. Together, they can pull of some stylish combos, and you can have another player take control of Tails using Bluetooth. Plus, if you own the original episode, you'll be able to unlock Metal Sonic, too.
Price: $6.99 US
Get ready by reading/watching: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 2 hands-on preview, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 review
Extinction Squad
Know what's hilarious? Mass extinction. Adult Swim's games normally push the boundaries of good taste, with classy titles like Amateur Surgeon and Snoticles. In Extinction Squad, you have to help Chuck Darwin move a trampoline back and forth across the screen, bouncing endangered animals to safety. The game looks funny, if watching cartoon animals get hurt doesn't bother you, but the verdict's not in yet on the gameplay quality.
Price: $.99 US
Get ready by reading/watching: Amateur Surgeon 2 review, Monsters Ate My Condo review
Non Flying Soldiers
In this 3D puzzler from Chillingo, you control a squad of flightless birds who are training for war. You have to guide them through a series of obstacle courses, placing objects in front of them so they don't get hurt. The game's premise is cute, since your soldiers waddle instead of run, but otherwise this seems like a fairly straightforward series of challenges.
Price: $.99 US
Get ready by reading/watching: Robbery Bob review, Rinth Island review
Bug Assault
Tonight Namco follows up their casual action game Bird Zapper with a bug-themed version. Bug Assault takes place inside the tree where Skippy the squirrel lives, as the birds from Bird Zapper try to invade using swarms of insects. This seems like a typical touchscreen bug-squashing game, but with better graphics than we're used to seeing for this genre.
Price: $.99 US
Get ready by reading/watching: Bird Zapper review, Ant Raid review
Speedway Racers
It's been awhile since we've seen a new Need for Speed or Asphalt game on the App Store, so to keep adrenaline junkies on a steady drip, LockStock Games is releasing Speedway Racers tonight. This looks like a fairly standard arcade-style racer, where it's more about barreling down the road than carefully controlled braking and steering. The graphics aren't as nice as EA or Gameloft's racers, but for the low price, they look more than adequate.
Price: $1.99 US
Get ready by reading/watching: Asphalt 6: Adrenaline review, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit review
It's clear that Wawa Land is trying to provide an equivalent of Mario on iOS, which gives the game some big shoes to fill. Fortunately, there is no lack of spirit in the game’s protagonist, and no lack of potential for the game for the game itself. In its current state, Wawa Land doesn’t fulfill all of its potential, but it makes respectable progress.
The plot of Wawa Land is never formally introduced, but it appears as though a determined cat named Wawa is trying to save a member of the monarchy. To accomplish this familiar goal, Wawa has to jump on enemies, hop over bottomless pits, and leap off of walls, accruing coins along the way. In almost every aspect the game parallels Mario, but it puts a characteristic spin on every parallel, which makes it feel significantly less like a clone.
Jump for joy.
Wawa Land is a platformer with six different worlds, although only two are currently available, which is disappointing. But every good platformer needs replay value, and Wawa Land supplies this through a list of clever achievements accompanied by bonus items in each level.
Also providing replay value is the variety of the levels, which give you clouds to jump through, weird sea creatures to swim around, and a cart to ride through a mine full of safety code violations. The enemies also have an appreciable variety, as do the ways to dispatch them, from underwater bubbles to bombs. Sadly, the combination of bombs with the game’s many narrow passages make explosives almost always end badly.
Tropical paradise.
Our biggest complaints with Wawa Land revolved around technical flaws. The game has slippery physics, which become more apparent as you play on. Little things tripped us up, from Wawa always sliding after landing from a jump to lagging moments that often proved fatal. Also, the ability to jump higher by holding the jump button longer-- which works in many games-- serves to make jumping an unexpectedly awkward experience. These features joined forces to make the game’s challenging parts more frustrating than motivating.
Even so, providing a suitable equivalent to Mario is no easy task, and Wawa Land has solid footing to achieve this goal. If the developer follows through with more chapters and addresses the technical shortcomings, this game could shine through and serve as a staple in any iOS gamer’s library. As is, Wawa Land lacks universal appeal, but it is a good game that provides certain enjoyment for any platforming fan.
Mobile apps may have some trouble attracting a steady stream of dedicated spenders, but let’s face it: the free-to-play formula still works wonders for some studios. Earlier in the month, Gameloft revealed that much of its recent financial success is owed to in-app purchases (IAP) on its mobile freemium content, and earlier today, Gamevil distributed a press release stating that IAP’s are fueling the Korean company’s growth.
Like Gameloft, Gamevil is claiming year-on-year growth for the first quarter of 2012. Specifically, it boasts a 160% annual increase of 16.6 billion KRW (South Korean Won; one won equals approximately $0.86 USD) in sales, a 135% annual increase of 6.2 billion KRW in operating profit, and a 105% increase of 5.2 billion KRW in net profit. Gamevil’s press release about its financial fortunes also noted that the studio has transitioned fully to a free-to-play smartphone game developer and publisher. Now, 91% of its total sales come from IAP’s.
Moreover, Gamevil has found considerable success outside of South Korea. Hit franchises like Zenonia and Cartoon Wars are responsible for the studio’s 437% growth outside of its own borders.
So what’s next for Gamevil? It’s going to take a nap. Seriously though, you can expect another massive publishing push through the rest of 2012, with more than 40 titles to be released by year’s end. 16 games will hit smartphones in Q2 2012: five of these games will be developed internally, and 11 will be published third party titles.
“Publishing third party titles has allowed GAMEVIL to explore a wide variety of genres and has continuously contributed to the financial growth of the company,” stated Gamevil’s Chief Financial Officer, Yong Kuk Lee. “Now that publishing titles on Apple's App Store and Google Play has been gaining momentum this past quarter, we are very pleased to see strong growth throughout global markets."
Gamevil’s stable of smartphone games provides an interesting mix of casual and traditional fare. Zenonia is a particularly compelling series for fans of The Legend of Zelda and/or Ragnarok Online. Do you have any favorites?
You can get a lot of mileage out of simple stick man figures-- from fighting and platformer games to flying. In the case of Wingsuit Stickman, flying through a variety of surprisingly dangerous landscapes is par for the course. This is a sharp-looking and easy-to-play accelerometer game, with plenty of challenge.
Despite the simplistic nature of the graphics, Wingsuit Stickman looks great. The little fella is excellently animated and responsive, and the landscapes have just enough detail to provide a lively obstacle course for flying fun. The grid-paper background works for the overall atmosphere as well, and the game even supports Retina displays for a higher resolution boost.
Playing Wingsuit is simple enough-- rotate your device right or left to make the stickman veer in that direction. Tapping the screen causes him to brake, which is necessary for some of the tricky turns. The controls work well, but there are situations where accelerometer controls aren’t always desirable. So, an option to use something more traditional would have been a welcome extra feature.
Who needs a cable car when you have a wingsuit?
Hazards abound in the game. Poor Stickman must brave volcanoes, air trolleys, planes, crazed birds, and other disasters waiting to happen across such locations as the Alps and Rockies. The ragdoll physics are hilariously sadistic, though the stickman nature of the character certainly tones down any possible violence.
Initially, the game forced players to earn all three stars before progressing to the next level, but the developer listened to feedback quickly and patched it so that anyone can get through at least the first ten levels without all stars. Even with this change, the game is still plenty challenging, but with only 20 levels, it tends to go by pretty fast.
The developer is already gearing up to add more levels for free, however, so this complaint probably won’t last for long. Still for only a buck, Wingsuit Stickman is a lot of clever fun, with levels full of goofy danger and challenge.
Sega has just announced that Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 will hit iPhone and iPad this Thursday, May 17, and will cost $6.99. What can we say other than, "Well, it's about time?" But if you just can't wait two long, grueling days, you can buy it today on Steam and the Playstation Network, or tomorrow for Xbox Live Arcade-- but those versions will set you back $15.
If you're not familiar with the Sonic 4 games, they're throwbacks to the 2D glory days of the blue racer, but with all the improvements modern gamers expect. The first episode came out back in 2010, and we enjoyed it well enough in our review. However, Episode 2 promises to be a more polished game, with Tails accompanying you on the adventure, bringing a host of tag-team moves with him.
For a deluge of more information on Sonic 4 Episode 2, check out our hands-on preview.
Ka-Bloom is a stylish, attractive puzzler by BBC Worldwide. It's a brightly-colored, slick app that one certainly wouldn't assume is being given away for free, and actually does a great job of setting itself apart from the pack.
Floret, your avatar throughout Ka-Bloom, is a type of interstellar seed. To make Floret grow ever larger, you need to arrange neon gems and special coins via three chain-links at a time. Blue gems must be consumed entirely to advance to the next level, so when you're given time before the timer starts to arrange them as you see fit, it's a good idea to strategically place gems so the blue ones are snapped up last.
"I eat flowers! So when I barf, it's flowers, too!"
Collecting all the blue gems with Floret is actually the least of your worries, though. Multicolored gems amplify Floret's reach, others shrink the area of effectiveness, and others give Floret a bigger area in which to maneuver. You needn't be concerned only with expertly manipulating gems before the level actually starts, though some allow you time during levels to chain gem combos while the game is actually in motion. Sometimes you'll be required to jump straight in with zero planning, and must chain together combos on the fly. That's when things really heat up.
Ka-Bloom can become downright humdrum at certain intervals once you've gotten used to its deceptively simple play style, but serves up a fast-paced challenge that puzzle lovers feeling a little jaded by current offerings should enjoy. Touch control is sensitive and quite responsive, and chaining together gems feels natural. The repetitive looping sample in the background can grate on the nerves, but is easily alleviated by playing with the sound off and listening to your own music.
Come on. Eat some flowers. Don't be so closed-minded.
The three-star rating system that seems to be all the rage these days returns, giving players a goal to shoot for--improving times and scores for a better rating each time. It's easy to achieve a three-star rating if you pay close attention and continue improving over time, but realtime chaining can prove difficult at the onset, which is a demanding challenge puzzle fans should eat up.
Ka-Bloom is a full-featured and entertaining app, especially for the low price of free, and has plenty to keep you engaged on the commute to work or that dreadful wait at the dentist's office. It's impressive for free, and definitely an interesting puzzler if you're looking for something new to try. Just don't expect it to last too long.
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