One of our very favorite platforming games here in the TouchArcade Mothership is Ravenous Games' League of Evil [$1.99/Lite], which was released and reviewed by us this past February. The charming pixel art and kick ass chiptunes created a modern-retro aesthetic that's right up our alley, and the virtual controls are amongst the finest we've ever seen on the iOS platform. The game can be tough as nails sometimes, but in that good "please sir, can I have some more?" kind of way.
One feature that has been requested by players ever since the original release is native iPad support for League of Evil. Today, that wish has come true. The game has been updated to be Universal, and it both looks and plays phenomenally on the larger screen of the iPad. One awesome little detail is that the game works in both landscape and portrait mode on the iPad, and I've found that I'm actually digging the portrait mode the most. It makes me feel like I'm playing a huge Game Boy, which is always a good thing.
Dark Incursion [$1.99] had all the makings of a decent ‘Metroidvania’ title for iOS. Everything from its classically-inspired pixel graphics and music to even its overarching story created a compelling atmosphere for playing. Most importantly, Dark Incursion also did a good job of somewhat emulating the Metroidvania style of gameplay while attempting to improve upon it with its different take on equipment upgrades. However, despite all these positives, Dark Incursion’s horrendous control scheme simply ruins almost all of the fun.
Dark Incursion is a 2D side scrolling adventure game with a touch of platforming mixed into the gameplay. You play as Anya, an underground resistance fighter attempting to infiltrate a secret military laboratory. The game plays exactly like the recent 2D iterations of Castlevania or Metroid. Dark Incursion even preserves the standard ‘find power-up, backtrack to previously inaccessible area’ sort of gameplay (hence the term Metroidvania). Dark Incursion’s similarities don’t end with gameplay, as even the graphics and music are very similar to those spiritual predecessors. Even though Dark Incursion isn’t particularly original when it comes to its presentation, it still does a good job integrating a visual style that has proven to be popular in similar games.
Jelly Defense [$2.99], a tower defense game that absolutely crushes it on the art and production front, is apparently riding a wave of success. Creator Infinite Dreams shot us over a press release this morning noting how it's taken a couple of number one App Store chart spots across the globe, but it also tipped us off on a 'huge' update that hit the other day. The headliner is the game's new "easy" or baby mode, which gives lays off on the casual among us. Courtesy of a few mystery tweaks, Jelly Defense is now also better performing and more balanced.
I'll summon my inner Billy Mays here and mention that's not all -- users can now turn off the sound and music in the game, speed-up the waves instead of just inviting more, and enjoy the wonders of 'improved coin collecting.' Cool!
As I mentioned to Eli earlier today, just looking at Jelly Defense makes me happy. It looks sharp, it nails cute, and it's also a pretty competent tower defense game. I reviewed it this month, by the way, if you're in the market for something like this.
The game series that our commenters love to hate has had another substantial update hit this morning. Angry Birds Seasons [99¢ / HD] went 2.0 today, and the Halloween update marks the start of the 2012 Angry Birds season. (Don't worry, you can still access all the 2011 Seasons content too.) Like most Angry Birds updates, this one comes packed with a bunch of new levels to play through. Unlike most Angry Birds updates, this one includes a brand new bird.
Affectionally dubbed "Orange Bird," this bird massively inflates when you tap the screen. This allows you to do things like launch it and have it fall down a narrow channel in between two nearby pig forts, then tap to have it blow both down as it expands. So far it seems like a slight variant on the black bird, although I've yet to play very many of the new levels to see how the orange bird truly shines.
In addition, that little teaser video that Rovio released when they first started teasing the new bird has exploded into a full-blown animated short:
That was a pretty entertaining four minutes, wasn't it? Rovio has certainly ramped up their quality of their videos, which sort of makes that Angry Birds movie business from a while ago seem not all that far fetched.
By now, pretty much everybody is aware of the utter glut of dual-stick shooters that have arrived in the App Store over the past several years. I’m not saying that it’s necessarily a bad thing, as the formula does lend itself quite well to the touch screen environment. But like any genre, excessive releases can diminish the enthusiasm towards new titles. There are some truly excellent dual-stick shooters out there, and some truly awful ones, and a whole bunch of forgettable titles that fall in-between.
One of the truly excellent ones, and one that has lived a long and happy life on my iPhone since its release, is Aftermath [$1.99] from developer TwoHeads Games. This game has always seemed to kind of fly under the radar, though we did review it when it came out, but it definitely deserves some special recognition for doing several unique things that set it apart from the masses of other dual-stick shooters out there.
The sixteen bit era of gaming was filled with a ridiculous amount of action RPGs. Which of these games of this age is the "best" is a debate that has been raging since before it was even possible to argue about it on the internet, and likely will keep burning on the internet's Matrix-like future successor… Only that argument likely will be a little more interesting as we'll all know Kung Fu, how to fly helicopters, and other things like that. I've always been a Link to the Past man myself, but regardless of what your favorite was, I think we can all agree on one thing: It'd be fantastic to go back and experience those games as they were the first time we played them. Before we knew what was in store for us after exiting the Castle Hyrule sewers, or what was on the other side of the teleporter at the Millennial Fair.
This is where Mage Gauntlet [$1.99] comes in. I think the best way to describe the game is as a dusty old Super Nintendo cartridge you just discovered and didn't even know you had after your parents threatened you into coming back home and cleaning your old video game crap out of the attic before they "clean" it themselves. (And by "clean" of course they mean "throw away.") It's a lot like The Last Rocket [$2.99] in that they take the 16-bit inspiration to such deep levels that it could pass as a SNES game, instead of just utilizing pixel art and chip tunes because it's in style.
Mage Gauntlet focuses on a single-player story mode that puts you in charge of Lexi on a quest to initially prove yourself to a local wizard named Whitebeard. Without spoiling too much of how it all plays out, you're quickly equipped with a magical gauntlet that allows you to command various magical spells. Throughout your adventure you come across a cast of other characters, journals, and notes which progress the story while accomplishing your typical rid-the-world-of-evil quest which manages to strike a great balance between funny, delightfully cliche, and totally classical without ever being overwhelming or trying too hard.
The game is controlled as you'd expect it to be, with a series of buttons as well as an invisible virtual joystick for movement. They work great, and I really like how you can touch basically anywhere on the left side of the screen to move Lexi around. Lexi has a basic melee attack which swings whatever weapon you're equipped with, as well as a dashing attack that's activated by holding the attack button down. You can also momentarily sprint by tapping another button, and while both of these maneuvers feel fairly optional early in the game, as you encounter enemies, you'll need to do much more than mash attack.
The truly unique twist of Mage Gauntlet is the magic system. In the game world you'll come across both magical urns of sorts as well as some enemies which will spew magical energy when destroyed or defeated. You can hold up to four spells at once, and using them is as simple as tapping a button in the top right corner of the screen which pauses the action and brings up a magic sub-menu. You select your spell, target it (if applicable), and the game resumes. The spells you get are random, but can be made less random using equipment (more on that later).
This whole system works fabulously. I love how magic feels rare, which forces you to value having a spell on deck much more than similar games which allow you to just blast away with whatever your favorite or most effective spell is to your heart's content or your mana bar is empty. In addition, since spells are randomized, it's really cool how you're forced to come up with clever solutions to a battle, utilizing a spell that might not be optimal for the situation by any means but still works by mixing up your strategy. One such instance, for example, was when I was getting mobbed by orcs, with a few spell casters. A chain lightning spell would've really helped, but charging through, silencing the casters, and hacking all the orcs down with my sword worked too.
Loot is plentiful in the game, and aside from looking cool also offers various benefits. For example, you can equip trinkets to increase the likelihood of a particular spell (or set of spells) appearing, and if you're really decked out you might even have a complimentary suit of armor that does something like up the critical strike rate of that spell. Swords have all different kinds of effects from doing more damage, to potentially restoring health or even providing a magical spell randomly. Pets provide constant passive bonuses, and of course, it wouldn't be a Rocketcat game without a healthy array of hats to collect.
Taking all this into account, gameplay is what you'd expect out of a typical action RPG with a very basic stat-based level up system, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. A overworld map display serves as a level select screen of sorts, and you make your way through each area until finally fighting the local boss. Each area has several sub-sections that must be progressed through as well. How long it takes you to get through Mage Gauntlet will largely depend on what kind of gamer you are. If you square off against every monster, search for every secret, and leave no area of the map unturned, you can spend a significant amount of time in the game. Alternatively, if you're the kind of person who just powers through things from beginning to end, dashing past monsters, and ignoring secondary pathways, Mage Gauntlet can be completed in only a few hours.
After beating the game, you'll unlock master mode which mixes up the levels, adds some new secret areas, fresh loot, double the enemies, and other variants. Beating the master mode earns you a second ending, and after that you can go back and replay individual levels for a higher rating to unlock in-game pets. An arena mode is planned as well for the game's first update, although details on that are fairly vague currently. Also, since Mage Gauntlet is all pixel art, it scales beautifully on the iPad in 2x mode-- In addition, Rocketcat plans on making the game universal as well.
Rocketcat games has had a fantastic track record for releasing games on the App Store. Their previous three games, Hook Champ [99¢], Super QuickHook [$2.99], and Hook Worlds [99¢] all relied on a very similar hooking and swinging mechanic which made us wonder what else they were capable of. Well, it turns out that they can absolutely nail making an action RPG, and you wouldn't hear me complain at all if they similarly turned Mage Gauntlet into a vaguely derivative trilogy of games.
I feel like people who were around to enjoy the original 16-bit-era action RPGs likely will appreciate Mage Gauntlet the most, but there's plenty here to love even if that doesn't apply to you. Like other Rocketcat titles, Mage Gauntlet is launching at a special price, and early buyers also get a promotional pack of hats (and a pet). If you miss this release window, don't worry, you'll be able to buy those items through in-app purchase. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, there's other IAP items you can buy, but they genuinely feel so optional that there's basically no reason to buy them unless you just want to support Rocketcat further than just buying the game.
So seriously, go download Mage Gauntlet. The time you spent reading this review could've been much better spent playing this incredible game.
Kyotokei: Polarity shooter [$1.99] is a bullet-hell horizontal shoot'em-up which appears to be quite heavily inspired by Ikaruga, which hit the arcades in 2001 and was deployed on the Xbox 360 in 2008. Kyotokei was released on the Wii earlier this year, with two player co-op mode, but this iOS version delivers just the single player mode.
This side-scrolling game has five levels to beat, with three difficulty levels (Easy, Normal or Hard). You're given the traditional three lives to play with, but also receive two credits to avoid the "game-over" message and continue your game a little longer.
The arcade shoot'em-up Crossfire was released for Xbox in July 2010, followed by Crossfire 2 a few months later. Now Radian Games and their publisher, Chillingo, have released Super Crossfire [99¢ / HD] for our iOS devices. This game plays like a colorful version of the classic 1978 game Space Invaders, with one key difference: When a wall of bullets and lazers rains down on you, leaving you boxed in the corner and about to be destroyed ...your spaceship can flee to safety by warping between the top and bottom of the screen.
But warping to the top of the screen doesn't necessarily ensure your safety, as the aliens can shoot upwards too. Some enemies have shields and can only be hit from one side, which necessitates warping up and down to get a clear shot. By collecting the gems dropped by destroyed aliens, you can charge up segments of your super-fire meter, then briefly shoot anything, even if it's shielded.
Aiko Island [$0.99 / HD] is, at first glance, just another physics puzzler in an endless procession. Is there anything we haven't seen from the vast selection of games where you balance one item while poking away at everything beneath it? Apparently, yes. IceFlame's opus may draw inspiration from sources both within its genre and beyond, but it has more than a few surprises left to share.
If you were to create a "best of" mix for physics puzzlers, it would probably end up looking a lot like Aiko Island. There are elements of most of the big names here. Let's not get hung up on calling it a knock-off of this or that, though. Instead, consider this: if I could play just one game in this genre, I'd seriously consider choosing this one.
Everything about Helium Boy [$1.99] seems like it should make for a highly appealing, adorable platforming experience, and I admit I had high hopes for it when I pulled it off the App store. The 3D look reminded me of games from past consoles, but in that fuzzy, fond way that makes you nostalgic to go back and play 'em again. And hey, I like cute stuff. So why wouldn't a game about a boy and his balloons fill all my portable gaming needs?
Helium Boy doesn't bother with too much backstory, which I actually appreciate in a platformer -- I don't care why I'm there. I just want to jump on stuff. All you need to know here is that you're a boy who slightly resembles a frog, and you just so happen to have some balloons and a pump at your disposal. You will be able to use these balloons to float your way through many treacherous levels, and you can also burst them when you need to do some walking. Let's not forget that there are enemies out to get you too, so you'll need to avoid them using the tools you have at your disposal.
Anthill: Tactical Trail Defense [$1.99] from Image & Form is a clever and innovative game which let's you control an ant colony, which is being attacked by various predatory insects. It's a real-time strategy game about insect warfare. You act like a general, overlooking a creepy-crawly battlefield and dictating the strategy for the colony's survival by gathering food, engaging in combat, and collecting artifacts.
You start by drawing a straight or curved line with your finger, which originates from your ant-hill. This represents a pheromone trail for ants to follow. Once you've finished drawing a line, you specify if the new route will be used by workers, soldiers or spitter ants.
I know what you've been thinking all this time, "Fruit Ninja [99¢] sure is awesome, but it'd be so much better with some kind of movie tie-in and/or cats." Well, thankfully, the powers that be decided that it was high time for an unholy union between Halfbrick and DreamWorks to bring us Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots. The good news is, as easy as it is to groan at movie tie-ins, it seems that this is actually done pretty well and extends the existing Fruit Ninja game instead of just adding the Puss in Boots logo. Aside from new blades and backgrounds to unlock, the new magic bean-powered Desperado Mode takes the existing Fruit Ninja formula with a four-tier challenge with all new slicing games.
Check out the trailer to get a look at the new modes:
Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots will be available on October 20th for 99¢ on the iPhone or $1.99 on the iPad. The movie itself will be in theaters on October 28th.
Anomaly Warzone Earth [$1.99] just became an even crazier-good proposition for iPad 2 owners: 11 Bit Studios has just released an update for both versions of the already fantastic-looking game, adding in an extra layer or two of graphical awesome specifically for the platform. New blur and glow effects, as well as enhanced shadowing, contrast, saturation, and much more dynamic environmental touches have been added in addition to bug fixes and Universal support.
Outside of the new iPad 2 eye candy -- and to be clear, the game still looks great post-update -- 11 Bit has added that new Squad Assault Rearmed map and also fixed that pesky Commander Trials issue that has plagued the game since release. Oh! And Facebook posting is now better.
As if that wasn't enough Anomaly news for your eyeholes, we've got some sale details to spill: the game is currently available at $1.99 for a limited time. We can’t be friends anymore if you don’t buy it at this price (since it’s so good and all).
Arcade Jumper [$1.99] by Black Hive Media is a retro side-scrolling platform game which feels like the old classic Mario. There's enemies to either shoot or jump on their heads, and the main character wears a red cap with red and blue clothes. Yup, that certainly sounds very Mario-esque, but fortunately there's plenty of innovation in this game too.
It's the 1980's and Eddy's brother Jimmy has been sucked into an arcade machine by 'Ghosty', the naughty child-abducting spirit with a friendly-sounding name. To save Jimmy, you need to complete 10 zones, each with three stages (30 stages in total).
Stages are completed by finding warp-tokens, then returning to the start of the stage to insert the token into the glowing arcade cabinet and warping to the next stage. There's a timer which counts down, so you need to keep moving. At the end of each zone (3 stages) you're confronted by the floating kidnapper, Ghostly, who must be chased down and then shot or jumped on before time runs out to complete the zone.
A few weeks back, we brought you the news that SEGA was bringing arcade title Brick People [$1.99 / HD] both across the ocean and onto the small screen. Before arriving on iOS devices, the brick-folk were limited to arcade cabinets in Japan. You'd gather up physical bricks to place against the screen, and tiny dudes would climb up and over them to collect fruit. I'm sorry I've never had a chance to try it out -- it sounds like great fun.
Some of that fun may have been lost in translation when the game moved to iOS. The physical bricks and arcade constraints seem like they would have made the single-player content much more engaging than it is in its current state. It's much better if you can go head to head, but with only Bluetooth connectivity and, in the HD version, single-device multiplayer, you may be hard pressed to find an opponent.
One of our very favorite platforming games here in the TouchArcade Mothership is Ravenous Games' League of Evil [$1.99/Lite], which was released and reviewed by us this past February. The charming pixel art and kick ass chiptunes created a modern-retro aesthetic that's right up our alley, and the virtual controls are amongst the finest we've ever seen on the iOS platform. The game can be tough as nails sometimes, but in that good "please sir, can I have some more?" kind of way.
Jelly Defense [$
The game series that our commenters love to hate has had another substantial update hit this morning. Angry Birds Seasons [
I know what you've been thinking all this time, "Fruit Ninja [
Anomaly Warzone Earth
