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We’ve reached a point in Kairosoft’s output where a pattern begins to form. On one side are Game Dev Story [$3.99 / Lite] and Grand Prix Story [$3.99 / Lite], games mostly about teams and what they can achieve. On the other side are five other titles that are more about building the perfect environment, be it mall, town, school, or hot spring. Their newest release, Pocket League Story [$2.99] falls squarely in column A. This time, you’re creating the perfect soccer team, and you won’t need spreadsheets or a love of soccer to enjoy yourself.

I’d go so far as to say that Pocket League Story is the most approachable game Kairosoft has put out on iOS to date. There are a few tricks to min-maxing the game, but if you do exactly what it tells you to do you’ll be fine. For the spreadsheet geeks among us it may be too straightforward, but ultimately this is the perfect game to serve as an introduction to Kairosoft’s catalog, or for anyone who loves their games but gets hung up on lists of combos and other arcana.

As manager of a soccer team, you’re responsible for pretty much everything your team does, right down to the strategies they use on the field. The only thing that’s out of your hands is how they play in the moment, and even there you have some input.

You’re given control over hiring and firing players, arguably the most important part of the game. You might love your starting team, with their bright-eyed eagerness, but they’re terrible. Just atrocious. They’ll get you through the first few games, but your priority is to court better talent. Think Game Dev Story’s talent pool, but vaster and more costly. You can really customize your team down to the last detail.

Building your team is an ongoing process, one you’ll handle alongside training your players. You earn research points both on the field and off, and you can use those to improve your players stats, build up a fan base, and unlock new content. There is a bit of a building sim tucked in as you set up training facilities, but it’s really low key. Most of your time off the field will be spent managing numbers, choosing basic coaching strategies and courting players, sponsors and fans.

On the field, things get a bit weirder. Like Grand Prix Story’s races, Pocket League Story’s matches mostly play themselves. You pick lines and formations in advance, and basic passing technique during the game. You can also fiddle with your strategy at halftime and trigger auras here or there, but your players are mostly on their own.

So you’re left spectating a lot of the time. There’s a huge selection of matches and league tournaments to work through in the eight years you’re given, but they all boil down to the same thing: watch as your players win or lose. Games can take three or four minutes, and Pocket League soccer just isn’t that stimulating a spectator sport after a few hours.

This is a misstep, for sure, because it takes players out of that non-stop, always-something-on-the-go mentality that Game Dev Story so perfected. It’s much easier to put this game down than any of Kairosoft’s other titles – not that that’s necessarily the worst thing for those of us with other things to do.

Whether you’ll enjoy Pocket League Story depends a lot on where you’re coming from. Aside from a few issues some of our forum users with older devices have run into, this is probably the cleanest Kairosoft game yet. The translation is good, the tutorial explanations are clear and nothing’s left to muddling through foreign cultural references. So it’s easy to get into, and lays out all the traditional sim fun in a very manageable way.

But it’s also quite shallow, with neither the complexity of a proper football simulator or the depth of most of Kairosoft’s other games. If the meta-game of keeping spreadsheets and consulting FAQs is your thing, give this one a pass. But if it’s the first Kairosoft title you’re considering or you’re okay with a streamlined experience, I can recommend Pocket League Story wholeheartedly.

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Last month Minecraft developer Mojang let their legions of fans know that they’d be changing the current direction of their mobile version of the game, Minecraft – Pocket Edition [$6.99/Lite], into something more akin to its PC counterpart. You see, Pocket Edition launched in the App Store in mid-November after a brief stint as an Xperia Play exclusive, but was missing a couple of core components that are key to the Minecraft experience – namely mining and crafting – which is why we didn’t exactly love it in our review.

Mojang has again updated their blog with the latest status of what direction the Minecraft – Pocket Edition project is heading. They admit that they mistakenly thought gamers would want something closer to Minecraft Creative while on the go, so that’s sort of how Pocket Edition was designed from the start. Because of that, now that they want to go back and add in things like enemies, survival, and crafting it’s going to take some pretty hefty rejiggering of the entire game.

And the beginnings of this rejiggering will be what’s in the forthcoming update which Mojang plans to have submitted by February 8th. There will be some pretty heavy behind-the-scenes type stuff in the update which will allow for a smoother transition when survival mode is added in the future. Crafting is also coming, but since it requires a pretty extensive interface overhaul, it’s still a ways out. Survival mode will most likely be hitting pretty soon this year, and the update lays the groundwork for that.

But just because this update is filled with a lot of boring technical foundation which you cannot see, there are still a few minor new content additions to look forward to. There will be some “neat looking animals” and some new blocks, as well as doors and fences. That’s right, doors and fences! The best part of this update though is that with the behind-the-scenes grunt work out of the way then new content should be easier to create and updates should start coming much faster going forward.

We’ll definitely be keeping our eye on how Minecraft – Pocket Edition evolves, and while you wait for the update that’s coming next month you can hit up our forums for discussion of the game.

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While looking at the preview pics for Sleepy Jack [$0.99 / HD], I couldn’t help but recall one of my past favorite titles with a motif that revolved around dreams. That game is NiGHTS Into Dreams, of course, and any other gamer who spent long evenings discovering that magical world will surely feel a bit like Sleepy Jack’s developers might have been fans of it.

In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, both games send you into a universe in your dreams and challenge you to navigate it. In Sleepy Jack, you play Jack, a darling boy who is hurtling through a nighttime world at top speed and needs your assistance to proceed. To help him explore worlds of space, desert and the deep sea, you’ll need to arm your trusty pistol and get your dodging skills ready.

Sleepy Jack runs you through each level on rails, so all you’ll need to be responsible for is moving left and right and shooting your weapon. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It can be at first, but as the levels become more complex you may find that it requires some real skill to execute those moves and keep from getting hit. While it’s no bullet hell, it certainly does pose a challenge (but if you find it too much you can always adjust the difficulty – easy, medium and hard are all there).

Each level features both Zs to collect (which keep you asleep), obstacles to avoid and rings to aim for in order to collect bonuses. The button you touch to move left and right requires an extra tap in order to do a move called a “barrel roll,” which leaves you momentarily invincible to enemy fire.

This would ultimately be a very useful move, if it was as accurate as I needed it to be. Unfortunately, I often found myself trying to use it and finding it responded just a millisecond too slowly for me, and I would get hit rather than evading a bullet. Perhaps it simply needs more practice to master the timing, but overall I wish this button were more sensitive.

It is worth noting, on this point, that Sleepy Jack features three different control schemes. The one mentioned above is the Classic one, but there is also one called Slider that allows you to simply swipe at the screen with your finger to move Jack around and swipe a bit wider for the barrel roll. Personally I had more luck with this set of controls than the Classic set, and barrel rolls were easier. A third option is called Accelerometer and allows you to tilt the phone to move Jack and press buttons on the side for rolling.

Each area offers ten levels, with a boss waiting for you at the end. Each of these levels is well designed and beautifully presented – in fact, the entire game has a whimsical and charming look you will enjoy. Even the music is nice, and if you navigate each level successfully, you’ll be treated to a nice little graphic of Jack sleeping peacefully in his bed nestled in dreams.

There’s definitely replay value here, with a star rating for each level and a nice list of achievements to unlock.  It’s also enabled for use with Openfeint and GameCenter, so you can get your share on in those forums if you so desire.

Sleepy Jack was, overall, a sweet gaming experience that I think other shooter fans would enjoy. I loved the change in perspective from average shooters and the Pixar look of the game’s characters and settings. This particular execution of the formula came off as pretty unique, and I caught myself thinking about how I could improve on certain levels after I completed it. Guess I’m going back for more – which is the best compliment any game can hope to hear.

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Last week, we told you about Glitchsoft’s upcoming Star Marine: Infinite Ammo, a run ‘n gun shooter that looks to capture the magic of classic action platformers like Contra and Metal Slug. A game like Contra demands precision in its controls due to the hectic action on screen, and it’s hard to say whether or not that type of precision can be possible with virtual touch screen controls. Star Marine is hoping it’s found the answer to this problem by taking a dual-stick approach to its control scheme, which is looking pretty good so far.

In our preview last week there were just screenshots for Star Marine, but Glitchsoft has just released a trailer for the game so you can get an idea of what it looks like in action.

From the trailer, a few things stick out at me as looking particularly awesome. It appears there are quite a few weapons to use, including one that looks a lot like the infamous spread gun from Contra. Also, I really like some of the enemies that are absolutely humongous, sometimes filling up the entire screen. Finally, Star Marine incorporates a feature that slows down your descent when you’re falling through the air, giving you a better opportunity to lay waste to the enemies on the screen. I imagine this coupled with the dual-stick controls will allow a game like Star Marine to be quite playable with a touch screen.

Star Marine: Infinite Ammo is scheduled for a release this week, and we’ll be looking to get our hands on the title to see just how well it turned out when it hits the App Store.

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Wizard Ops [$0.99] by Phykentech is an on-rails 3D shooter with lots going for it. The gameplay is fast, controls are simple, and there’s some variety in the weapons and uniqueness in the sound effects. However, these positives can’t make up for the fact that the game is very short with not much room for replayability. Add in some performance issues, and Wizard Ops becomes one of those frustrating games that have potential but fall short.

Wizard Ops has you playing the role of a fire mage once part of an elite group of wizards that served the royalty of the kingdom. After the queen dies in an accident, the king irrationally imprisons the wizards in dungeons throughout the land. When the king’s daughter is subsequently kidnapped, he reluctantly releases you and charges you with freeing your brethren and taking down the enemy forces that hold the princess captive.

As a fire wizard, your weapon arsenal includes a multitude of fire spells that shoot projectiles. In addition, destroying enemies and bosses occasionally yield additional weapons which can then be purchased in the in-game store. While Wizard Ops has a decent selection of weapons (18 in all), a lot of them follow the same ‘fire magic’ motif and don’t offer much difference other than fire rate and projectile spread. Still, there’s enough variety to provide players with different strategies for taking on the opposition.

The most enjoyable part of Wizard Ops is the fast-paced nature of its gameplay. It plays very similarly to the classic Space Harrier series and retains that sense of speed. The entire game is controlled by just simple swipes, with movement, aiming and shooting being linked. While the obvious goal is to take out as many enemies as you can, you’re going to find that a lot of the gameplay involves dodging the large amount of hazards and projectiles being thrown at you. Some of the later levels up the ante and have you dodging and feinting across the entire screen just to stay alive. It’s fast, frenetic and a joy to play if you’re a fan of twitch-based gameplay.

Special mention should be given to the sound effects in Wizard Ops, which were created by Michael Winslow of Police Academy fame. The game’s thread has a neat video showcasing some of the sound recordings and I’d recommend checking it out. From a gaming perspective the sound effects sound like, well, sound effects. There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking about them but I will admit that I did enjoy the nostalgia trip, as Winslow’s style is very much apparent.

Unfortunately, Wizard Ops has a few annoying problems that detract from the overall experience. First, I experienced several crashes that would occur while either pausing the game during a level or while trying to check out the store after completing one. While I don’t find the occasional crash a big deal, there was one instance where I had lost all the progress I made on the last level I completed. Another issue is in regards to the visuals. Since enemies and projectiles appear to be coming right at you, it can be somewhat hard to figure out just how far away the projectiles are from hitting you. However, this is just a byproduct of the sort of 3D shooter that it is, so I can’t fault the game itself too much for that.

The biggest disappointment I have with Wizard Ops is just how short it is. The entire game encompasses six normal missions, a tutorial level, and a final mission which doubles as a general ‘survival’ mode. Each mission can be beaten in about 3 – 4 minutes, meaning that from a content perspective there isn’t much there. Sure, there’s three difficulties (with hard being incredibly tough), and there’s some replayability in regards to collecting coins and trying all the difference weapons, but it just didn’t seem enough to me.

It’s probably because I greatly enjoyed the core gameplay of Wizard Ops that I’m bitter about the lack of content. I want to see more missions, more enemies, and more weapons. Even the overall story just seems to come to a sudden standstill after playing the few levels that the game offers. I want to recommend Wizard Ops for its gameplay, but I can’t ignore the severe lack of content. I’m certain that the developers will be adding more missions and will hopefully flesh out the complete narrative. Nevertheless, folks looking to try it out now may not get the complete experience hoped for.

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Hot off the presses of CES comes two new products from ION: A redesigned version of the iCade that drops the surrounding cabinet, as well as a mobile version for the iPhone and iPod touch. Check it out:

ION has yet to release pricing or more specific release dates than “2012″ for the redesigned iCade, but the iCade Mobile will hit in Q2 for $100. Hopefully we’ll get some hands-on time at CES this week.

Update: Engadget, as noted by MacRumors, has updated their post on the new iCades with hands-on video of the handheld iPhone version, dubbed the iCade Mobile. Also, it looks like the pricing for iCade Mobile was incorrect, and the unit should be launching at $79.99 rather than $100.

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Also noticed at the ION booth at CES is a new product called the iCade Jr. The iCade Jr. is similar to the original iCade for the iPad but is a much smaller version that will fit iPhone and iPod touch devices. It retains the faux arcade cabinet design of the original and features 4 buttons on the front deck as well as 4 buttons on the rear panel, as well as a pass-through for charging while in use.

The iCade Jr. unit on display was non-functional, but ION is shooting to have the new unit available this Spring for $49. More photos can be seen at the original Engadget posting.

[via Engadget and MacRumors]

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Hot off the presses of CES comes two new products from ION: A redesigned version of the iCade that drops the surrounding cabinet, as well as a mobile version for the iPhone and iPod touch. Check it out:

ION has yet to release pricing or more specific release dates than “2012″ for the redesigned iCade, but the iCade Mobile will hit in Q2 for $100. Hopefully we’ll get some hands-on time at CES this week.

[via Engadget]

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Lots of folks out there became new iOS gamers over the holidays, and one of my personal App Store favorites that may not be on their radars just got iCade support in an update. Madgarden’s excellent Saucelifter! Heavy Disc [App Store] is a Choplifter clone that started life on the PC and landed on the iPhone in early 2009. Since then, it has seen numerous updates, getting iPad support as as universal app and receiving various gameplay tweaks here and there.

Gameplay involves piloting your flying saucer to various Earth-based prison barracks, blasting open the doors, picking up your captive crewmates, and dropping them off at the transporter where they’re beamed safely back to your alien world.  This is made challenging by evil Earth forces, including tanks, laser turrets, fighter jets, and flying attack drones.

There are a lot of nice touches to the title. The stylized, vector-based 2D graphics lend the game clean, future-retro visuals, with a day-into-night changing skyline that adds nice variation to the scene. A letter-box effect alters the aspect of the play area to provide early warning of incoming enemies. It’s extremely well done.

On the iCade, the leftmost six buttons control fire / autofire in the three relevant directions — left, down, and right. I greatly enjoy Saucelifter! via tilt-control, but I have to say that gameplay on the iCade more closely delivers the kind of fun I remember having in front of Gorlin’s helicopter classic, hour after hour, back in 1984. Other iOS controller accessories that feature iCade emulation, such as the iControlPad, should also work fine with Saucelifter.

Those not sold on Saucelifter! should at least have a look at the Lite version [link].

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