Hey, remember Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1? It came out over a year ago, we liked it a lot in our review, and couldn't wait for additional episodes to come. Maybe I got spoiled by Telltale's release schedule, but I was sort of expecting Sega to rapid fire release additional episodes of the game. Well, it turns out we won't be playing the second installment until sometime next year. But, hey, it'll have Tails!
Cool, right? I'm a little worried about the engine change, as that seems like something that's a little strange to do between installments of an episodic game. It sounds cool though.
It's always great to see companies with so much history (like Taito, in this case) bringing some of it to the App store. According to Famitsu [Translated], Taito will be bringing Rayforce to the App Store, and it'll be hitting at some point this winter. (Or, before March 20th, for those of you playing along at home.)
Rayforce is a vertical shooter which I'd guess not many North Americans have much experience with. It originally hit in the early 90's, with a new name for seemingly every region it was released in, you might remember it as Galactic Attack or Gunlock. Or, you might not remember it at all, since outside of Japanese and European arcades it was only ever available as a Sega Saturn game until PC ports started materializing much later.
Simogo's Bumpy Road [$2.99] is radical because it totally embraces the touch screen. On top of being a simple and gorgeous game, the play is stupendously clever. Touch the physics-enabled bit of road and it lifts, taking the playful car with it.
This purity of design might become something of a hallmark for the Swedish company. I've just spent some time with its upcoming title, Beat Sneak Bandit. It's as artful and as delightfully cutesy as Bumpy Road, and it boasts another kind of one-touch control that feels just as satisfying. Color me impressed.
Beat Sneak is a little abstract conceptually. I've started to think about it like this: it is what would happen if Kojima decided to marry 2D Metal Gear Solid to Grove Coaster [$.99], and knock out all of the former series' fat in the process.
In Beat Sneak, you control a bandit (duh) on a 2D plane in tightly constructed, object--filled vertical levels. Your goal is pretty basic: steal a huge clock without security systems or people detecting your presence.
What makes this interesting is the injection of puzzle mechanics and the game's unusual control method. You move lockstep, but only if you tap correctly to the level's beat. If you played Groove Coaster, imagine a scenario in which you were only able to access the next note if you correctly hit the previous one. This is how you move in the world.
Moving is simple, but devilish in practice: in addition to having to keep the beat, you'll need to avoid pitfalls -- sliding doors, strobing searchlights and other kinds of bandit-catching obstacles. In the game's first chapter, a lot of the mainline puzzle solutions can be boiled down to knowing when to wait for an opportunity to open. This is roughly the equivalent of resuming a Rock Band song midway through, so it ain't easy.
Another thing: there are other, smaller clocks in levels. If you're into optionals, you can grab these, too, but they require serious thought. You'll need to observe movement patterns at every turn, evaluate the best way to turn Beat Sneak the Character around, and then get him back to the main prize -- all without being caught.
In my demo session, I played through the entirety of the first chapter in the game and that took around 30 minutes. I failed a lot because I'm no music game master, but I also failed because the optional clocks are flat-out hard to obtain. I also noticed while I was doing all this failing, by the way, that there is a baby mode "skip" option that'll whisk you away into the next level with no penalty. Not even a tutu.
I think the biggest challenge facing Simogo is keeping players feeling the groove and in the moment as they ponder and then experiment with the environment. Music games are odd beasts in general, as the experience tends to snowball into an icky mess if you fumble the timing of a song.
Speaking of that, Beat Sneak's quirky music is fantastic. I also dig how the entire game seems to revolve around the beats and the general offbeat tone. In the trailer, you'll see how the bubbly world bobs and weaves with the music.
I'm overwhelmed by this idea. Conceptually, Beat Sneak is cool, and the execution on the remarkably pure concept seems to be panning out extremely well. We'll get our hands on a final version a little later this quarter when the game hits iOS.
After the success of Death Rally, it's hard to believe that Alan Wake developer Remedy Entertainment wouldn't drop another mobile title all over our faces. Turns out that it it's at least open to another go. "Death Rally was our first step in that direction," Remedy creative director Sam Lake told Edge in response to a question about future iOS titles, "and I'm sure that we'll do something else in the future as well."
Just how successful was Death Rally -- a project that also involved Cornfox & Brothers and Mounain Sheep in addition to Remedy -- anyway? As of the date of this interview, the title shipped 1.8 million units. Also, it recouped its development cost in three days, which seems like a really, really good thing to us.
Remedy is currently working on a downloadable version of Alan Wakecalled Alan Wake: American Nightmare. It's expected to release on XBLA and PC next year.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have to get something off my chest: I'm a huge sucker for stop-motion animation, and especially when it involves clay. In fact, one of my all time favorite games is Platypus [$2.99/Lite] not only because it's a solid horizontal shooter but mainly because all of the game's assets were painstakingly modeled out of clay. It just gives the game a look that's unlike anything else that uses pixels, polygons, or other types of visuals.
Coming early next year is a new game that's taking the "made entirely with clay" approach. It's called Clay Jam, and it's being developed by Fat Pebble. The premise sounds pretty simple: you're a small pebble rolling uncontrollably down a hill. You'll want to roll over things that are smaller than you, while avoiding things that are larger than you. As you roll over tiny monsters they get stuck on your pebble, increasing its size and allowing you to roll over even larger objects and creatures, Katamari-style. You can control your pebble's path by drawing trenches into the clay ground, guiding the pebble left or right around objects you're trying to avoid.
You can get a pretty good idea of the kind of gameplay in Clay Jam with the following preview trailer:
You have to admit, while the gameplay itself looks mighty simplistic, it does look pretty darn fun, especially digging trenches in the clay using your finger. Plus, the creatures and objects created out of the clay and the way they're animated look downright awesome. I love the little behind the scenes peek you get on how they make and animate their clay models. According to Fat Pebble, Clay Jam is on schedule for a February release, and I'm really excited to check it out. Look for more on this squishy little title in the coming months.
Most iOS gamers are familiar with Zombie Gunship [99¢], Limbic Software's awesome take on the AC-130 gunship scenes from recent Call of Duty console games. Zombie Gunship quickly rose through the ranks of the App Store's top charts, and was easily one of the nicer surprises from games released this year offering great visuals, frantic shooting, and upgrades galore.
Something I could have never for the life of me expected, however, is that developer Code-Monkeys is currently in the midst of creating a game in the similar vein to Zombie Gunship, except it uses a holiday theme. It's called Santa's Giftship, and it looks totally twisted. Code-Monkeys is not shy at all about their inspiration, and the following trailer gives me that deja vu feeling from when I first laid eyes on the Zombie Gunship trailer:
As you can see, most of the grittier aspects of Zombie Gunship have been replaced by a much more sugary Christmas theme. Your ammunition consists of candy canes and snowballs instead of bullets and bombs. Rather than plowing down the undead hordes, you're plowing down... nutcrackers and elves? It all seems so very wrong, and yet, so very right. Santa's Giftship should be hitting in time for the holidays, which basically means it will need to come out this week if it wants to make it in time for Christmas. We'll take a closer look at Santa's Giftship when it finally hits the App Store.
Our all-seeing eye is fond of artistically gifted games, and Catch the Princess is the latest to be caught in its steely gaze. Imagine, if you will, a side-scrolling puzzle game that tries to capture all the essence of rustic fairy tale imagery, and then pairs that with deliciously crafted Cut The Rope-style play. That's the pitch for Catch the Princess in brief, and we're thinking this is something you'll want to look out for, too.
As you'll see in the reveal trailer, Catch the Princess is dark and gloomy in all the right ways, and appears to have the mechanical might to match its inspired tone and art direction. The game launches next week for the iPhone and iPad and will boast around 60 levels filled with rusty chains, bellows, soft lighting, and princess-saving action. Get your eyeballs on these screens:
In case you wanted to know, this is being crafted by Robots and Pencils, an outfit based in Calgary. If you're big into Minecraft World Explorer [$.99], then you already know these guys. We've been told that we'll be hearing a lot more about this studio in the near future, and provided Catch the Princess rocks, we'll pair some ears with our eye. Somehow.
We've all been in a mind-numbingly tense "Oh, god, Super Crate Box is about to release" state for a bit since hearing about its submission to Apple, and, sadly, we'll have to survive with this burden a wee bit longer. Developer Vlambeer has just announced that Super Crate Box won't appear on the App Store before Christmas as was expected. Instead, it'll launch this January 5th on the platform.
That's not too bad as far as release date pushes go. And besides, it's not like you'll have trouble finding something to bide your time with while you wait. As you've noticed by the look of our page the last couple of days, there are a lot of games, and a lot of new updates, to dig into. Go get'em Cowboy!
I'm certainly not ashamed to admit I'm a fanboy of Big Pixel Studios. They make my favorite match-3 in Piyo Blocks 2 [99¢], they created one of the greatest kitty games of all time with Meow Meow Happy Fight [$2.99/HD], and their wonderful physics puzzler Land-a Panda [99¢/HD] has been a huge success. I adore the unique art style in Big Pixel's games, and they're always bright, colorful, and full of cheer, as well as solid gameplay. So yeah, I'm a fan.
The latest title that Big Pixel has been hard at work on is called Off The Leash, and I've had the good fortune of playing a preview build of the game ahead of its January release. I'm enjoying the heck out of it so far, and to lean on an easy comparison, Off The Leash does for tilt-based avoidance games what Jetpack Joyride [99¢] did for cave flyers. That's to say, it takes the core mechanic of reaction-based tilt gameplay and slathers it in colorful visuals, unlockable items and characters, and meta goals to achieve through continued play.
American Laser Games's so-awful-it-ends-up-being-good FMV shooter, Mad Dog McCree, is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch this December 20, according to caretaker Digital Leisure. This is a port of the original arcade release of the game, so don't expect anything too fancy, however the team is noting that it has converted the game's silly footage for phones and even added an "all new casual mode" for those without hardcore gunslinging skills.
If you're unfamiliar with McCree, take a gander at the footage just below. You play as a gunslinger charged with killing a band of Wild West cutthroats who have kidnapped a hole in the wall town's mayor and his precious daughter. Most of the time, you'll be killing dudes in fairly linear sequences, but there's some hilariously bad reflex-laden one-on-one shootouts. We can't wait to see this one, for sure.
This seemed to slip through the cracks a few weeks ago, but The Pinball Arcade, a project we told you about in October, has released a new video showcasing several of the tables that will be included in their game. The Pinball Arcade is an effort to bring digitized representations of some of the most beloved real life tables to have ever existed to the iOS and many other platforms, all in one tight little package. Developer FarSight studios, well known for their work on the Pinball Hall of Fame series, has partnered with four of the biggest pinball manufacturers in history in order to secure official translations of their pinball games into The Pinball Arcade.
In the following trailer, you can see Tales of the Arabian Nights, Theatre of Magic, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, and Black Hole. It's downright uncanny just how similar these digital versions look and sound to their real life counterparts:
The Pinball Arcade is slated for an "early 2012" release, and should come equipped with all the games shown in the trailer. The plan is to then frequently update the app adding new tables, for years to come, until you have the ultimate pinball collection sitting right in your pocket. I'm eagerly anticipating actually trying out the finished product, so we'll be keeping our eyes out for a solid release date for The Pinball Arcade in the coming months.
Hot off the heels of the announcement of a brand new Command and Conquer at the VGAs, EA has announced... another Command and Conquer game. This one, however, isn't being hailed as the Next Great Thing From BioWare, and more relevant to our interests, is being targeted specifically at mobile, and the flavor of the moment, social.
So, what is it? It's called Command and Conquer Tiberium Alliances, and it's "the first MMO and first free-to-play" game in the often off-the-wall real-time strategy series. In the game, users will embark on a quest "for world domination" that will apparently have them squad-ing up with pals in order to form alliances. Real-time stats, news feeds, and "completely interactive and dynamic gameplay" are all being promised. Sounds neat!
That's all pretty vague, and that's a bummer considering this is an otherwise exciting bit of news that fans will definitely want to discuss. Hopefully we'll get our hands on the cross-compatible browser or mobile version soon and give you more concrete stuff.
While you wait, actually, you can sign up to participate in the game's closed beta on its web site. This beta starts on December 15 and rolls until whenever.
If you've been sitting on a massive emergency food supply waiting for the right occasion to open the first gallon sized can of preserved potato chunks, this might be it. With the holiday season almost upon us and the iTunes freeze quickly approaching, it seems like everyone who has a game to release decided to pull the lever today instead of waiting until next week. The iTunes Connect freeze takes place this year from December 22nd all the way through December 29th, so while there won't be any games released that week, we have another potential week of release madness ahead of us.
Regardless, there is absolutely no shortage of games to choose from tonight. If everything goes as it usually does, these games should all be available in the USA at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially much earlier if you're in a region east of North America.
Here's what's on our radar:
Blobster Christmas, 99¢ - Forum Thread - If you've found yourself thinking, "You know, I really liked Blobster but I wish it was more festive," Chillingo totally has your back. We liked the original in our review, and if you did too, give this a spin.
Blockwick, Free - Forum Thread - If sliding puzzles are your cup of tea, Blockwick is the newest kid on the block. (See what I did there?) Anyway, I really dig puzzle games like this which are free with an initial level pack with additional levels available via IAP, so you only ever need to pay if you both enjoy the game and have cleared the free content.
Bloons 2, 99¢ - Forum Thread - The guys from Digital Goldfish are the masters of bringing popular Flash games to iOS, and Bloons 2 is their latest port. You can play it online for free with ads, or spend a buck and have it forever on your iPhone. Not too shabby.
Derby Days, Free - Forum Thread - Another free to play farming game from Com2uS, except the gimmick of this one seems to centralize around breeding and racing horses.
Frontline Commando, Free - Forum Thread - This third person shooter looks like it could be promising, but it all depends on how Glu implemented their free to play model. I hope there are no $500 guns.
Ice Rage, 99¢ - Forum Thread - An ice hockey game from Mountain Sheep, the dudes behind both Minigore and Death Rally with Enviro-Bear as a playable character? Take my money.
Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World, Free / HD - Forum Thread - This adventure game unravels the great Space Age conspiracy. It's also free, with a single $9.99 unlock, assuming you like the taste they give you.
Mad Tracks, Free - Forum Thread - The above video is actually from the Wii version of the game, but judging by screenshots, the iOS version might even look better than that. Hopefully the free to play mechanic is OK.
Monkey Quest: Thunderbow, 99¢ - Forum Thread - This physics-powered game seems to provide a minor variation on Angry Birds style gameplay with monkeys, zombies, scorpions, and mummies. What a mix!
Puppy Panic, 99¢ - Title - An endless runner of sorts featuring a variety of playable puppies? Whatever, I'm in.
Save The Furries!, $2.99 / HD - Forum Thread - 60 levels are included in this physics-based puzzler where Bulky Pix puts you to the task of making sure no harm comes to the Furries. My question is, what have the furries done for me?
Snoticles, 99¢ - Forum Thread - Another physics puzzler! This time from Adult Swim, one of the few outfits on the App Store that you can blindly buy games from knowing they'll be great.
Sonic CD, $1.99 - Forum Thread - I've always considered Sonic CD to be the best of the series, and this port is so good it makes me want to cry. Seriously, so much love went into this that it's incredible, it even features both US and Japanese soundtracks. Download. This. Now.
SubTub, 99¢ - Forum Thread - The iTunes text for this game has left me with practically no clue what you actually do in this game, but I'm always oddly drawn to games with mega-bright art styles like this one.
Tongue Tied!, $1.99 - Forum Thread - One of my favorite things about the App Store is the ridiculous lengths developers need to go to in order to come up with game premises that haven't been done before. A physics games where two dogs have their tongues tied together. That's it, pack it up, I've seen it all.
Trenches II, $1.99 / HD - Forum Thread - The sequel to Trenches is finally here! Trenches was ridiculously popular, and it seems like this is a great sequel.
Toy Shot, 99¢ - Forum Thread - This catapult-style game from Gamevil actually looks sort of neat, I dig the Lego art style.
Venture Towns, $3.99 - Forum Thread - Hey! It's the latest Kairosoft game. Expect some hardcore simulation action, this time managing an entire town.
Wind Up Robots, $1.99 - Forum Thread - 7 unique robots to send into the fray, 12 enemies, and tons of hats you can buy. I like hats.
One of the coolest tactical turn-based games we've ever seen on iOS, Hunters: Episode One[$.99 / HD], is getting a sequel. Rodeo Games, the original creator of Hunters, have revealed with us that it is indeed working on Hunters 2. And guys, it sounds and looks radical.
Hunters 2, which is slated to hit Spring 2012, will build on the same combat that made the first game so popular, but it'll also throw in some notable new systems and weapons. For example, the team is dropping in a new mini-gun that fires blistering bursts of 10 rounds. That's especially hip, we're told, because it'll show off the game's new projectile system, which lets you see every round fired.
New enemies, environments, and mission types will naturally be part of the fresh package, but so will a fleshed out and scripted campaign mode featuring Rodeo's new hero character Caius Black. One of the promotional images we've received notes that he'll be "alone, wounded, and betrayed."
As if that wasn't enough, the game's engine has been scrapped in favor of a new one that'll integrate real-time dynamic lighting and "loads of customization options." Get a taste below:
Speaking of customization, that's something Rodeo is focusing on character-side, too. In Hunters 2, each Hunter will have a talent pool and you'll assign points in specific skill and build trees. Rodeo tells us that this system "really individualizes your Hunters and brings all sorts of new tactics" to the fold.
We'll be getting our hands on Hunters 2 in the coming weeks. If you'd like to try the original game, now is a great time -- both versions are on sale now at $.99 instead of their usual $4.99 and $6.99 price points.
In August of last year, developer Oyatsukai released Final Freeway [99¢], a retro-racer that was lovingly crafted as an homage to the classic arcade game OutRun. We totally enjoyed the game in our review, and were especially impressed with the high framerate and crazy sense of speed in Final Freeway. This past October, the developer announced that a sequel to Final Freeway was in the works, and right now that sequel is going by the working title of Final Freeway 2: Retro.
Oyatsukai released a new gameplay trailer a few weeks back for Final Freeway 2R which shows the slightly new look of the game. While the first Final Freeway seemed like it was going for a more realistic, digitized look, this second entry has more of a cartoonish feel with hand-drawn sprites and bright colors. I think the result is a more accurate take on OutRun, from the video you can see other tiny new touches like your choice of different characters and the ability to actually crash and flip your ride.
Once again, the framerate and sense of speed in this new Final Freeway sequel are just crazy. Despite being so simplistic and a bit short, I still regularly bust out the original Final Freeway for my retro arcade racing fix, so I'm definitely looking forward to a new entry that offers a refined experience. Development seems to be slow but steady, and when the game was announced in October the developer was hopeful that it was about 3 months off from being finished, which would put it at an early 2012 release. Hopefully they are on track for this still, and Oyatsukai has started a campaign at the Kickstarter-like Appbackr in the hopes of crowd funding the cost for the final push towards completion.
We'll keep tabs on Final Freeway 2R and will hopefully see it in the not too distant future, and until then you can join the discussion of the game taking place in our forums.
After the success of 
Our all-seeing eye is fond of artistically gifted games, and 
American Laser Games
