When it comes to what makes a good game, I usually boil it down to two basic rules: create a gameplay experience that is fun, and extend that experience long enough to make it satisfying. Monster Island [$0.99 / HD] (and Monster Island Begins [Free / HD]), the latest title from Miniclip, does a great job satisfying both tenets in droves. In addition, its colorful artistic flair, solid gameplay, and interesting in-game store ideas make the game one worth exploring.
At its core, Monster Island is a physics-based puzzler that has you tossing ‘minis’ (basically small alien balls) that have a variety of attributes, with the goal being to take out the enemy monster thugs. Minis range from Blui, a mini that explodes only after it stops moving, to Sticky, a mini that sticks to whatever you throw it at (and will subsequently let other minis stick to it) and so on. Each level gives you a predetermined amount (and type) of minis, and your goal is to simply use them and try to take out the baddies in as few throws as possible.
I'd imagine the dudes over at Rocketcat Games are a little tuckered out at the moment. On the same night its glorious action RPG Mage Gauntlet [$1.99] hit worldwide, Rocketcat also dropped a bunch of tweaks and improvements into its "Hook" line-up of games. And you thought you were productive when you managed to clean the house and polish off that proposal.
Here's a run-down of the changes according to the patch notes: Hook Worlds [$.99] now supports flip-screen on retina devices, Super Quick Hook [$2.99] now supports retina display visuals and multi-tasking, and Hook Champ [$2.99] now boasts crisp retina support as well flip-screen, multi-tasking, and better OpenFeint functionality. All three games also have an updated in-game news catalog for your pleasure, too.
We're all pretty big on the Hook games and we're stoked to see that each is boasting a new, more refined look on our fresh devices. Ironically, we're little too engrossed with Mage Gauntlet to put a tremendous amount of time back into Hook, but hey, the game's look nicer. That's neat.
Com2uS is making some pretty solid games these days. I had nothing less than a blast with their FarmVille clone Tiny Farm, and we took a real shine to Inotia 3: Children of Carnia as well. In other words, I trust them to deliver a solid gaming experience, so I really looked forward to sitting down with the cute looking, colorful puzzler Piggy Adventure [99¢/HD].
I don't personally mind whether puzzlers provide me with a backstory or not as I'm old school and liked games the best when all that stood between me and actual playtime was a title screen, but Piggy Adventure does give you a little detail to fill in the gaps before you begin. You are a pig (surprise) named Steezy who shares a cool job with your friends Haden the chick and Moochew the cow -- painting pictures every day to fill the world with beauty. Sure beats getting milked and turning into ham, I suppose. But when an unnamed evil force sweeps all the color out of your universe, you have to go on a puzzle solving quest to collect paint to get things back in proper shape.
EA is hoping to grab some big-time love from new iPhone 4S owners this week. The publisher is throwing a sale in celebration of the new hot-ness’ impending official release, offering up a good portion of its more technically impressive titles on the super cheap. Starting now games like Dead Space or Shift 2 are now just $.99 instead of their usual premium prices. Good deals all-around, and hey, obviously you don’t need a 4S to enjoy them.
Whenever we do these sales we usually tell people to go download Dead Space since it's the best game on the list. This is true yet again, but I will add that Tetris is a mighty fine touch-based title. You won't be writing home about its graphics regardless of your hardware, but it's pretty fun.
Another physics-based puzzler with cute graphics and happy music in the App store, you say? NO WAY! Yes way, if you can wrap your mind around the uniqueness of that concept, then you just might get into Roll in the Hole [99¢/UHD].
You will play the roll of PoPo, a happy-go-lucky fat panda who hoards ice cream. When some jerk gorilla comes along and decides to take his sweets stash, he gets mad (although he doesn't show it) and goes on an adventure to recollect all his lost desserts. For some reason, precision physics also play a role there, even though that makes zero sense in a story context. But I don't play iOS games for the mind-blowing realism, and I'm guessing you don't either.
For fans of classic PC gaming, the name Bounder’s World [99¢ / HD] may sound familiar. Indeed, the tilt-controlled game is an updated version of Bounder, a Commodore 64 game released in 1985 that had you control a tennis ball as it navigated a multitude of levels. The premise remains intact in Bounder’s World, but everything from the 2.5D viewpoint and graphics (and the humanization of the tennis ball) to the accelerometer-based controls are certainly a change. While I can’t affirmatively state that Bounder’s World manages to keep the essence of its spiritual predecessor intact, I can say that it’s certainly a solid tilt-based action title with a few shortcomings.
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.
If you're constantly disappointed by the knockoffs, cash-ins and "me-toos" of the App Store, then Nicolai Troshinsky's Loop Raccord [$2.99] is the game for you. Best described as a game of video editing, it's strikingly original, much like another iOS game Nicolai designed called UFO on Tape [99¢]. On PC, it's been a finalist at the Independent Games Festival and at IndiCade and was featured at the Experimental Gameplay Sessions at GDC. And now it's available on your iPad.
Loop Raccord is all about motion. In playing, you'll queue short video clips so that the motion of one flows into the other -- a raccord, by the game's terminology. In one clip, a letter might be dropped on the ground. In a clip below, a finger will stroke a hairbrush. It's your job to line those motions up so the finger begins its movement the moment the letter hits the ground, creating a chain reaction of sorts. It's strange and slightly cerebral, but also very compelling.
If there’s one genre that’s prolific on the App Store, it’s mini-game collections. It’s not particularly surprising considering the general appeal for games that can offer small doses of gameplay for gaming on the go. Flick Champions [$0.99 / HD] looks to expand the genre with its own collection of sports themed mini-games. While Flick Champions certainly succeeds at providing some much-needed diversity in its sports mini-games, the fact that a lot of the better games are locked at the onset may irritate potential players.
As its name implies, the mini-games in Flick Champions are all centered on simple flicks and swipes in order to play each of the eight included mini-games. For example, both Tennis and Hockey are played as glorified Pong simulators which have you swipe around the field of play in order to block the ball (or puck) from scoring points on you. Other games, such as Bowling and Basketball actually require precise flicks in order maximize your scores in harder difficulties. Each game also has a variety of options to tinker with, allowing you to customize certain rules and make the gameplay as long (or as short) as you want.
When it comes to actual gameplay, Flick Champions has some fun games, but not all of them are going to be particularly compelling. As mentioned above, Tennis and Hockey are incredibly simplistic and, while fun, aren’t going to win any awards. Soccer is a sort of turn-based magnetic foosball simulator, and can be frustrating since a lot of the game is dependent on missteps from the opposing AI. Bowling and Archery were my most favorite games, as they actually require enough timing and skill that your success is mostly dependent on you and not the AI. The same goes for mini-golf, which features a whole 18-hole course and would be a good casual game on its own if it had more courses.
Another thing Flick Champions does a good job with is its overall presentation. The game has a definite Olympic-style motif which is prevalent in everything from your initial selection of a country to represent to its round-robin tournament ‘Cup’ gameplay mode, which has you playing against other countries for trophies (and experience). Also, the entire game, from the playfields to even the menus has a striking visual appearance (at least on retina devices). Some folks may be turned off by the simplicity of the player models (they look similar to ‘Mii’ avatars), but overall Flick Champions nails its visual style.
My only complaint with Flick Champions is the fact that only half the games are unlocked when you first pick up the title. Even more frustrating, the four that must be unlocked (Bowling, Archery, Mini-golf and Football) are by far the most interesting (and deep) games that are available in Flick Champions. Considering that the primary way of unlocking games is by accumulating experience through playing games, you’re going to see a lot of the first four games (at least a few hours’ worth) before you start unlocking the other titles. Of course, an IAP option exists to unlock all collectibles and games instantly, but it seems a bit odd to have to pay extra to unlock these other games when you’ve already paid for the initial app download. I understand the need to create 'hooks' in order to encourage your player base to return to your game, but it would have been nice to have one or two more games available at the onset.
Overall, if you’re a fan of mini-game collections and you’re looking for a new fix, Flick Champions does a solid job of satisfying that need. There are certainly enough different games (assuming you’ve unlocked them all) for variety, and the available options and collectibles (along with a harsh difficulty on ‘Hard’) means that you’ll have plenty of reasons to return. However, if you don’t care for simplistic gameplay (or if you’re not a fan of sports games), don’t expect Flick Champions to offer anything particularly captivating.
It’s not a holiday weekend, but EA doesn’t need one in order to drum up a sale. Proof: until the end of this very weekend, you can grab a huge assortment of the publisher’s iPad-specific titles for up to 70 percent off their normal value. In the case of games like Tetris this translates to several, several dollars worth of savings, which is always pretty cool. Here’s a big fat old list of everything it’s marking off and the original price point:
If you're in the market for some wholesome family-oriented entertainment, this is definitely your kind of sale considering the amount of board games available on the cheap. Dead Space, though, will continue to be our number one pick whenever EA throws these sales -- it's mad good, guys. Mad good.
Cowboy Guns [$0.99 / Lite / HD / HD Lite] is probably the most generic name for a game that I’ve heard in a while. Thankfully, that faux pas is one of the worst that Chillingo’s latest offering commits. Sure, Cowboy Guns isn’t going to win any awards for innovative gameplay, and the general lack of variety accompanied by an uneven difficulty is somewhat annoying. However, Cowboy Guns does succeed at creating a decent dual-stick shooter supported by a single player story that takes you through the harsh domain of the Wild West.
Gameplay-wise, Cowboy Guns is a classic dual-stick shooter similar to Minigore. In fact, the visuals sort of have a Minigore motif as well, although the muted graphics of Cowboy Guns are not as detailed, regardless of whether you opt for the retina “HD” version or not. The main adventure mode in Cowboy Guns has you playing as “The Kid,” a former gang member turned law man that must take down his former posse when they threaten his town. Okay, the story isn’t going to turn any heads, but it’s nice to see a dual-stick shooter actually try and incorporate a full-fledged story into the game instead of the usual generic prompt accompanied by hours of mindless killing. If a cheesy narrative-based game mode isn’t for you, Cowboy Guns also has a quickplay mode that operates more like the traditional games you find in this genre (although you need to play through at least some of the adventure mode before you can unlock quick play).
As it does every year on Talk Like A Pirate Day, Telltale Games has slashed the price of its best and brightest adventure game series, Tales of Monkey Island. For today at least, you can grab every episode in the series on the App Store for a puny $2.99. This is, roughly, a four dollars savings per episode, which equates to a “sweet deal” in our ancient, seaweed covered book.
I’ve got a baby skull-like soft spot for the Monkey Island franchise in general, but I really do think Telltale nailed what made the originals great in Tales. The episodic take is a masterclass in reverence that manages to weave in some new and interesting content and a few hip, memorable characters. If you haven’t tried them yet, you almost have too. Do note, though, that these iPad versions are slower and crappier-looking than their PC and Mac counterparts.
Just as an off-beat side note here, give the Wikipedia entry on Talk Like A Pirate Day a read if you have the time. I can’t tell if its truth or lies, but it’s hilarious.
Megastunt Mayhem [$2.99 / Free] is an interesting beast to play. Sure, the game is chock full of monster trucks, school busses waiting to be smashed, and a hard rock soundtrack to groove to. But, beneath its tough clichéd exterior is a deep gameplay system with a fun stunt system reminiscent of the classic Tony Hawk series. Whether you’re looking for a game that requires timing and precision or just looking to smash stuff, Megastunt Mayhem definitely has something for everybody.
If it’s one thing Megastunt Mayhem does well, it’s style. From the moment you launch the game, its Monster Truck motif is in your face. There are big cars, big vrooms and quite a bit of destruction. The entire game is also visually appealing on both the iPhone 4 as well as the iPad 2 (although it has a MUCH smoother framerate on the iPad 2). I also enjoy the fact that the paid version of Megastunt is a universal app (although it’s important to note that the free version is designed only for the iPhone).
Have you scoped the latest version notes on Street Fighter 4: Volt [$2.99]? We did this morning and were stoked to see what they had to share. On top of 60 new icons, a “Friend Request” button, and a few tweaks, Capcom has added two new (old) pugilists to the action: fan favorite Fei Long and the uber-powerful brat Yun. With these guys included, the roster has expanded to 22 fighters, but let’s be serious, Guile is still the only character that matters.
Oh! And Volt is much cheaper than what it was -- until the end of this month, it’s $2.99 instead of $6.99. You could buy a, uh, liter of frozen yogurt or a really classy hotdog with those savings!
Anyway, it appears as though Capcom Mobile is committed to updating Volt as much as it did the its first proper mobile Street Fighter game, Street Fighter 4 [$4.99]. If this is indeed the case, you’d probably be better off with Volt in the long-term. Here’s our review if you’re interested in learning more about the game.
We’ve previously covered NaturalMotion’s ‘breaker’ series of sports games and have liked the way each title seemed to extract the core gameplay elements of each sport to create a series of enjoyable objective-based missions. NFL Rivals [$2.99], NaturalMotion’s latest title, operates very similarly to its Backbreaker Football series, taking the basics from those games and infusing them with the official NFL license.
For those new to the series, the goal of NFL Rivals is to score as many points as possible by hitting all the objectives, dodging any players coming at you as well as a variety of obstacles, and building up your swagger as much as possible before scoring the touchdown (or in the case of defense, taking down your opponent). Your player is controlled via tilt for directional and acceleration controls, while a few on-screen buttons provide the rest of the controls.
When it comes to what makes a good game, I usually boil it down to two basic rules: create a gameplay experience that is fun, and extend that experience long enough to make it satisfying. Monster Island [$0.99 / HD] (and Monster Island Begins [Free / HD]), the latest title from Miniclip, does a great job satisfying both tenets in droves. In addition, its colorful artistic flair, solid gameplay, and interesting in-game store ideas make the game one worth exploring.
I'd imagine the dudes over at 
EA is hoping to grab some big-time love from new iPhone 4S owners this week. The publisher is throwing a sale in celebration of the new hot-ness’ impending official release, offering up a good portion of its more technically impressive titles on the super cheap. Starting now games like Dead Space or Shift 2 are now just $.99 instead of their usual premium prices. Good deals all-around, and hey, obviously you don’t need a 4S to enjoy them.
If there’s one genre that’s prolific on the App Store, it’s mini-game collections. It’s not particularly surprising considering the general appeal for games that can offer small doses of gameplay for gaming on the go. Flick Champions [$
Cowboy Guns [$
As it does every year on Talk Like A Pirate Day, Telltale Games has slashed the price of its best and brightest adventure game series, Tales of Monkey Island. For today at least, you can grab every episode in the series on the App Store for a puny $2.99. This is, roughly, a four dollars savings per episode, which equates to a “sweet deal” in our ancient, seaweed covered book.
Megastunt Mayhem [$
Have you scoped the latest version notes on Street Fighter 4: Volt [$
