TouchArcade.ru

After spending some quality time with a preview version of Int13’s new bullet hell shooter Shogun: Rise of the Renegade [Free] last week, we were eager to get our hands on the final version to see how it all came together. And sure enough, earlier this week Shogun quietly snuck into the App Store.

It was interesting that Int13 was departing from their typical augmented reality based games, like ARDefender [Free], and trying their hand at an established and nuanced genre like arcade-style manic shoot ‘em ups, especially with veteran shmup developer Cave basically cornering the market with their stable of high-quality ports. However, Int13 has surprised me with just how right they got Shogun, and while it might fail to totally impress the more discerning bullet hell enthusiast, fans of shmups in general will find a lot of action and fun brimming from the game.

The very first thing that pops out at you about Shogun are its graphics. The environments are done up in 3D and give off a great feeling of depth as you’re scrolling by in your ship. It’s also Retina Display ready, meaning it’s razor sharp. Enemies are your standard alien-type of spacecrafts, and there are some rather interestingly designed mid-boss and end-boss fights that will give you a run for your money in terms of challenge. On the whole, gameplay in Shogun doesn’t divert too far from your typical bullet-hell shooter formula, but it executes the components of that formula extremely well.

However, Shogun does show some more innovative signs in a couple of areas. One is the method in which you change your weapons. Your ship comes with 3 weapon types: spread shot, laser, and homing. Whenever you lift your finger off the screen, the game slows down bullet-time style and a small menu pops up above your ship that lets you choose from the 3 weapon types, as well as trigger a screen-clearing EMP or choose to add small wingman ships for added firepower. It’s nice that the action slows down to allow you to concentrate on what weapon you need to pick, but you can still take damage in this mode so you’ll still need to stay alert.

The other thing in Shogun that I found very interesting is the system for filling and using your shield meter. You have the ability to scrape bullets that pass you by, which basically means getting your ship extremely close to them without actually getting hit. With each consecutive bullet you scrape, you build a multiplier, and this adds to your shield meter above which can go past the 100% full mark. Every time you fill up your life meter completely, it fills one of the 6 reserve tanks above the meter.

Now, these reserve tanks can be used for various things, like setting off the aforementioned EMP blast or adding one or more sets of the satellite helper ships to your own ship (which VASTLY increases your firepower, I might add). Also, when you do get hit by enemy fire, the game will automatically clear the screen of bullets and shield you for a brief moment while giving you a refilled meter, but it will cost you one of your reserves.

The scraping and usage of reserve tanks aren’t totally new ideas in the shmup world, but they’re done well and add a ton of strategy to how you go about being the most effective in Shogun. It’s in your benefit to scrape as much as possible and always strive to keep your reserves well stocked for particularly challenging sections and boss battles. But, you can’t concentrate too hard on just scraping, as inevitably that will lead you to take damage if you aren’t paying enough attention to killing the enemies as well.

While the graphics are gorgeous and the underlying mechanics are sound, about the only thing I don’t like about Shogun is that it’s pretty short. Featuring just 4 levels to play through, it comes to an end pretty quickly, but it’s a satisfying and challenging ride while it lasts. The pay model is also pretty accommodating, allowing you to download and play through the entire first level for free. The remaining 3 levels are accessible as well, but you can only play them for a brief minute – just long enough to get a taste. Each full level is then unlockable separately for 99¢ each, or $1.99 to unlock them all at once.

As a big fan of Cave’s shooters, I find it hard to really get into most of the other shooters on the App Store. They really did set the bar that high. But Shogun is a game that instantly drew me in with its visuals, and then backed it up with a ton of solid action. It even Universal and has iCade support, to truly complete the arcade experience. As a free download, there’s really no reason not to give Shogun a try for yourself.

TouchArcade Rating:

[source]

I was able to stop by Gameloft’s San Francisco offices while at the conference, and chatted with them about some of their recent releases as well as some of the backlash they’ve received over them. First was the issue of how they put advertisements into Hero of Sparta II [$4.99], and after an overwhelming amount of negative feedback they decided to take them out. I think it’s good when a company goes out on a limb to try something, and then can admit they were wrong about it and make things right in the end.

Next we discussed the reception to Dungeon Hunter 3 [Free], which was pretty mixed. The game itself was actually pretty good, but so drastically different from the previous two entries that I think it alienated the established fan base of the series. Had they positioned it as a spinoff rather than a direct sequel, I think the outcome would have been a lot more favorable. Plus, it’s a freemium title, which is the type of thing that will always draw criticism from some folks.

Finally, we talked about their recent release Urban Crime [Free], which was essentially a repackaging of an older Gangstar title into a freemium model. The game has not gone over well with either critics or players, and we didn’t have too many good things to say about it in our review either. The combination of outdated visuals, a rehashed game world that many people had already played to death, and tough freemium restrictions was just a recipe for disaster with Urban Crime.

(Left to right: Hero of Sparta II, Dungeon Hunter 3, and Urban Crime)

So what do these three games all have in common? Well, they’re all examples of Gameloft trying to find out the best way to sell their brands in a turbulent market like the App Store. Honestly, I think putting ads in Hero of Sparta II and making an old game into a freemium game with Urban Crime were just their way of experimenting to see what works, and although neither of those really went over so well with gamers the negative feedback was actually invaluable to Gameloft moving forward. And as for Dungeon Hunter 3, I think they made a good game but just didn’t position it right, which is another lesson learned the hard way.

What I did take away from our meeting is that Gameloft is not going completely freemium with their games from here on out, as some people have been quick to conclude. Part of these experiments is finding the best way to go about selling their future titles, and with nearly all of their development cycles lasting from 10-14 months, it can be hard to keep up with a market that moves as quickly as the App Store. But they assured me that they do have a mixture of the types of premium games that they’ve built their iOS reputation on still coming down the line, as well as titles that take advantage of the freemium model, which seems to be the prevalent model in the App Store as of late.

To wrap up our meeting, they let me get some hands-on time with their upcoming Unreal Engine title, which is still extremely early in development and doesn’t even have a title just yet. I’m sworn to secrecy on most of the nitty gritty details for now, but let me say that I was really impressed with how good the game is shaping up to be, and of course it looks absolutely gorgeous with the Unreal tech under the hood. About all I can say is that it’s a fully 3D real-time action game that will have a full storyline to play through. It will be a paid game, but will have some in-app purchase items. Finally, we should be seeing the game in the second quarter of this year, which should be by this summer.

I’m really hoping to be able to share more on the upcoming Unreal game as it gets closer to release, and after meeting with the representatives of Gameloft in person, it’s easy to see that they’re a passionate bunch who care a lot about putting out products that their customers will enjoy. Their recent missteps really seem like a part of a larger learning experience in a marketplace where traditional rules are pretty much thrown out the window. I’ll look forward to seeing how Gameloft adapts and grows on the App Store this year, and if they’re able to unlock the key to a happy medium between being profitable and keeping their huge stable of fans happy.

[source]

Developer Microids and publisher Anuman Interactive have announced that Barbarian – The Death Sword will be hitting the App Store early next month. Barbarian is a modern remake of the classic Commodore 64 title Barbarian – The Ultimate Warrior, also known in the US as simply Death Sword. Released in 1987, the original Barbarian was a one-on-one fighting game pitting buff and brutal warriors against each other.

Despite the fighting genre being in its infancy, Barbarian was critically acclaimed for its competitive gameplay. However, most of its notoriety outside of the gaming world was garnered by its violent nature where you were able to decapitate your opponent in a shower of blood, as well as the scantily clad models featured on its packaging.

The new version of Barbarian looks to be a similar one-on-one fighter, but with visuals that have been crafted in 3D. Check out the promo video below, which features both scantily clad women and violence just like its original inspiration:

One other really cool aspect about Barbarian – The Death Sword that was pointed out in the video is the ability to compete against other players across different platforms. I’m not sure if this extends all the way to the PC and Android platforms, but at the very least you’ll be able to play against your buddies no matter if they’re on a Mac, iPhone or iPad. Another thing I’d like to find out is if this multiplayer is online or just local. But, it shouldn’t be long before we can find out, as Barbarian – The Death Sword is set to launch in the first half of February, and we’ll be checking it out when it hits then.

[source]

Our collective gut says that we’ll be talking a lot about Colaboratory’s Puzzlejuice [$2.99] in 2012. That’s big praise considering it’s January and all, but it has that indescribable feel of a remarkable game. To its credit, it does a great job convincing you that it is, in fact, this good; it has an unparalleled swagger, presence, and charisma that crops up in almost every aspect of the title, including the UI and tutorials. It knows it’s hot.

We’re not sure if it knows how crazy it is, though. Puzzlejuice deftly pairs the block matching of a Tetris to a free-form spelling mechanic like the one used in last year’s stand-out, SpellTower [$1.99]. Basically, you create lines by rotating blocks of varying shapes and smashing them together at the bottom of the screen. Once you make a solid line, the matched blocks magically transform into letters that you then have to spell words with.

When you spell a word, the blocks disappear and allow for more matching action. This is especially vital since blocks are constantly tumbling from the top of the screen Tetris-style and threatening to end your session if they breach the top of the level. The push and pull of the action is beyond frantic, as you’ll need to keep your eye on everything at once. Puzzlejuice also tosses in challenges, like, say, “spell a five-letter word,” to the mix, which pushes your dexterity and mental fortitude to its limits.

There’s a lot of smaller mechanical treats within in the package, too: it has power-ups like bombs and total game freezes; it has color-specific hooks in the blocks that allow you to pop matching colors before side-to-side lines are formed; and it has two kinds of “core” scoring modes, one in which asks you to spell at least five-letter words for the maximum amount of block clearing.

Puzzlejuice keeps you on your heels and fighting against a whirlwind of blocks, colors, letters, and challenges. The franticness of the play is a nice change of general genre pacing, which is a big reason why we’re so behind the game. It’s also a looker, too. Check it out:

If you hate word games with a capital H, we can’t imagine that this will be an exception to your overall distaste. If you do enjoy these kinds of titles, Puzzlejuice is probably something you should check out. We’ll be giving this the official go for review shortly, but obviously our impression so far is, er… pretty good.

[source]

Games like Monkey Quest: Thunderbow [$0.99/HD] disrupt the feel-good media narrative we like to tell about the App Store. It’s a low-risk way to capitalize on experimental games like Sword & Sworcery [$4.99], a place where Andreas Illiger, the one-man dev team behind Tiny Wings [$0.99], can sell thousands of copies. It’s also where a giant corporation like Nickelodeon can sell us an Angry Birds [$0.99] clone to advertise its kid-friendly MMO, Monkey Quest.

It would be easier to find Thunderbow distasteful if it weren’t so radical, born out of the same  mid-90s fever dream that brought us anthropomorphic turtles who were also ninjas. The hero of the game is a nameless monkey who carries a bow-and-arrow. After you beat the 30 available levels — more are, supposedly, coming soon — you can play a few bonus rounds with a girl-monkey who shoots lightning bolts out of her electric guitar-bow. It’s incredible.

My favorite thing about Thunderbow (that name!) is how self-aware and understated it is (those aren’t adjectives people generally use to describe licensed games). Children’s media tends to be overblown and moralistic, full of uplifting melodramas or cautionary tales, but there’s not a word of dialogue or narrative in Thunderbow, only beautifully illustrated storyboards introducing its next enemies.

That same type of restraint carries over to the game design itself. Even the MMO overlay — after completing certain achievements, Monkey Quest players can collect new gear — is unintrusive, and Thunderbow seems fully-realized despite the ancillary tie-in. There are no frills here, just one monkey on a quest to squish scorpions with his thunderbow and physics-enabled exploding carrot-arrows.

Our primate protagonist accomplishes this by shooting a variety of ammunition — pineapples that explode like cluster bombs, bundle of mosquitoes that splinters into individual kamikaze dive-bombers, etc. — at exploding barrels and supporting structures. It’s all standard stuff for the physics-slingshot genre, but Thunderbow is so refined and enjoyable that it never feels stale.

More specifically, the levels feel smaller and more compact than the ones found in, say, Angry Birds — none of them are larger than one screen. With the smaller scope comes a focus on precision — lining up Monkey’s shots isn’t a matter of swiping as much as it is small, discrete adjustments, complemented by razor-sharp controls.

As a result, player intent is never compromised — you can see exactly what you need to do, and Thunderbow provides the necessary controls to pull it off. The game rewards patience, precision, and attention to detail, and the levels are compact enough that two or three well-placed arrows will bring the whole house of cards down. With top notch visual and aural feedback, the simple act of crushing a screen full of scorpions with boulders can be very satisfying.

The flipside of Thunderbow’s precision is that it skews toward being a little too easy. The tough part is finding the chink in each level’s armor, but the execution of your Rube-Goldbergian air-strike is generally straightforward. The levels were tough enough to give me pause — especially because players must collect bananas (three per level) to unlock content — but I never felt frustrated or stumped. It helps that Thunderbow is relatively short:  I plowed through the game in a few hours, before the mechanics and bright colors lost their luster.

During each level, light butt-rock is pumped through your speakers while a monster truck derby announcer growls catchphrases like, “Unstoppable!” and “Mass Destruction!” This isn’t a criticism as much as it is an example of the game’s aesthetic as a whole. It’s the type of game a nine-year-old on a Surge bender would design, but Thunderbow is vivid, imaginative, and well-executed, even if its conceits are well-established by now. It’s simultaneously childish and childlike, but it’s so pure in its vision that I couldn’t help but enjoy it.

TouchArcade Rating:

[source]

The easiest way to describe 5th Cell’s upcoming Run Roo Run is to call it Canabalt, but with levels. That works. In the game, you control a kangaroo in search of its joey, and the path to finding it involves plenty auto-running and manually hurdling obstacles. To jump, you tap the screen. To run, you tap the screen. It’s as much of a triumph in that style of minimalist design as Canabalt is, and it has similar elements and mechanics.

The “but with levels part” is a pretty big game-defining departure. Run Roo Run’s world has oodles of color and instance-based content. In all, it rocks over 400 levels, all of which are clumped into individual chapters that introduce new mechanics. You’ll bounce on tires, float on fans, play around with a double jump, and avoid retracting spikes as well as the rest of its outback’s hazards, like cactuses, jagged trees and wood, and so forth. The way the game builds on itself, considering it has just a single, super-easy action, is pretty impressive.

Most levels break down like this: on a horizontal plane, you’ll be presented with two or three jumps, all with repercussions for failure. Jump too soon, and you might hit a wall or a jagged rock. Jump too early, and you’ll collide with the obstacle. As you progress, you’ll be jumping to a tire, bouncing off of it at the perfect moment into a double jump that’ll carry you in-between two rocks and to the level’s end point.

Each level is designed to be super breezy. You’ll finish most 3-5 seconds. You’ll then be graded and awarded a medal based on some sort of behind-the-scenes magic, presumably tied to the amount of jumps and time spent.

There’s a level of thoughtfulness, precision, and attention to specific points of design throughout the game. The jumping mechanic has no give — when you jump, you’ve committed; you can’t make adjustments. Since this is the case, consideration of how you’re going to do something is integral, and so is your observation of level structure and your callbacks on how to do stuff.

Being tuned for scrutiny isn’t a problem, by the way. Even though this is a particularly bloated game on an art production level, 5th Cell holds back on filler. Every piece of a level has a purpose, and it’s that purity that helps you understand the hazards.

If you wanted to be crazy about this, you could probably call Run Roo Run a “masocore” game. Like a Super Meat Boy, or even Run Roo Run’s inspirational material Space is Key, Run Roo Run is all about the thrill of perfectly nailing an increasingly convoluted set of actions in rapid succession. The reward is your accomplishment — the platformer equivalent of a puzzle game’s “a-ha!” moment.

I think the key difference here, though, is that this game doesn’t hate you. Every time you jump, 5th Cell throws an arrow on the floor. This helps you focus on that third jump, as you’ll be able to easily gauge where to jump again on the first two based on the arrow. Additionally, you can buy or earn level-skips and a fancy bullet-time aid that slows the action down. The F2P stuff, by the way, doesn’t interfere with the game.

More importantly, though, it just doesn’t set you up for failure like most of these masocore games do. The action is straightforward; each jump is mightily choreographed, each obstacle plainly displayed. You’ll never be left scratching your head or feverishly thinking about what your iPhone would look like with its gears and guts sprawled gushing from the sides.

Undoubtedly, 5th Cell is going to get some flack because the overall game is tuned to be easier than it could be — the vast majority of its hundreds of levels are these simple, breezy romps. There are “Extreme” offerings, however. After finishing a chapter, you can go back and compete in a series of a dozen or super challenging levels. I don’t mind the casual build to a remarkable level, so the difficulty isn’t a problem for me.

One neat point: 5th Cell is apparently going to get behind Run Roo Run in a big way, as it’ll be uploading 10 new levels a week beyond release. It’s unclear how long it’ll keep this up, or really what base this will serve, but it’s a neat idea.

I think you should check this out. Run Roo Run isn’t the most original game ever, but it takes the best out of a lot of worlds, and then owns that stuff. Its entertaining in big or small chunks, and those challenge levels are a whole new world of hurt. Give it a shot.

TouchArcade Rating:

[source]

As a kid growing up with my NES and Super Nintendo, there weren’t many things that were as bad ass as the Contra series. These action platformers featured tough main characters, tons of sweet weapons, huge boss battles, and bullets flying everywhere – basically everything a 10-year old boy could ever want. Destructopus [99¢] developer Glitchsoft’s latest title Star Marine: Infinite Ammo takes heavy cues from that classic Contra series, as well as similarly strong action games like Rapid Reload and Metal Slug. And so far, it’s looking pretty awesome.

One of the biggest issues that pops up when talking about a game like this on iOS is controls, as the Contra games were brutally difficult back in the day even with physical controls, and they demand a degree of finesse that’s really difficult to achieve with virtual touch screen buttons. Glitchsoft hopes to avoid any control issues by using a clever dual-stick setup which will allow for a range of movement and abilities to the main character while still allowing him to fire in any direction at the same time.

Time will tell whether or not a game in the vein of Contra or Metal Slug can be accurately translated to a touch screen device, and I’m definitely eager to find out. Word on the street is that Star Marine is already approved by Apple and is slated for a launch sometime this month, and you can be sure we’ll check it out then. In the meantime, jump into some Star Marine discussion in our forums.

[source]

After getting together to pick our official best games of 2011, we also had our writers take a look back at the last year and compile lists of their personal favorites along with their reasons why.

Among the many things that changed around here this year at TouchArcade was massively ramping up our writing staff with freelancers from quite literally all over the world. We now have writers in four of the seven continents, checking out games and writing reviews around the clock. Maybe in 2012 we’ll pick up some people to review games in Africa and Asia, but I’m really not sure how we’re going to swing Antarctica.

Our content output is through the roof compared to previous years, which has allowed us to broaden our focus to include games that we normally would have passed on just because of not having the bandwidth to review anything but the absolute best games. I think it’s made TouchArcade a much more varied, and better daily read, along with giving a bunch more games some exposure. 2012 should be even better, as ramping up even further along with releasing the TouchArcade app!

Anyway, Eric, Nissa, and Troy were our most active freelance writers in 2012, so I asked them to join the party in compiling lists of their top five games. Check it out:

Eric

Avadon: The Black Fortress HD, $9.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – I’ve been a big fan of Spiderweb Software since the days of playing Exile on my Performa, so I was intrigued when I first heard that they would be releasing a classic style, isometric RPG. Avadon does not disappoint as it not only succeeded in taking me back to the glory days of 1990s-era Mac RPGs but it also made the entire genre accessible to a whole new generation of gamers. All I can say is that after this fulfilling nostalgic experience, I’m hungry for more.

Jetpack Joyride, Free – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Jetpack Joyride has the honor of being the first endless runner to successfully capture me in its grasp for a very long time. Its
presentation, style, and approachable gameplay are top notch making the game appealing to even the most reluctant of gamers. Most importantly, it has that rare quality of making each run feel new and unique – something that so many other similar games try to achieve and fail.

Dungeon Raid, $1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – I’m not the biggest fan of match three games. Yet, out of all the games on my list, Dungeon Raid has probably gotten the most hours played than any other. Maybe it had something to do with the way its RPG elements meshed seamlessly with the standard match three gameplay. Or maybe it was the huge amount of unlockable classes, spells, and equipment making each play through different. Regardless, Dungeon Raid has continued to be my de facto option for quick gaming sessions on the go. If you’re one of the few that haven’t played this by now, hurry up and grab it.

Battleheart, $2.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Battleheart gets a lot of elements right, but in my opinion it’s really all about two things: versatility and multitasking. With so many different classes, equipment, and spells, I spent a lot of time playing this real time strategy action-RPG simply to discover various combinations and styles of play that worked. Add in the fact that the game successfully implemented a control scheme that had you simultaneously control four different characters, each with their own abilities and class roles, and it’s not hard to see why Battleheart is one of the better strategy games of the year.

Mega Mall Story, $3.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – You really can’t go wrong with any Kairosoft game, but Mega Mall Story was by far my favorite release from them this year. Taking a more concrete approach than some of the other ‘Story’ games, Mega Mall had more short and long term goals littered throughout the game while still giving you enough leeway to build mostly anything however you wanted. I also loved the wonderful pacing that the game set; providing countless rewards and incentives to continue playing while making them just rare enough that they continued to be meaningful throughout the playtime. Also, how could you not love building your own tower?

Nissa

Async Corp., $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – This is the one game that can cheer me up in nearly any situation. It has smiling blocks, bright colors, and cheerful music, which is pretty much the perfect recipe for a good mood. Add the constant positive reinforcement you get for being a productive worker and there’s just no way to be down when playing this game – unless you think about what happened to the team who made it. But layoffs aside, Async Corp is by far my favorite matching game. I appreciate the variety of modes it has on offer, but what really gets me is that it’s just so relentlessly cheerful.

Wind-up Knight, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – At some point in the past year or two, I went from hating difficult platformers to craving them. Wind-up Knight is the cream of the crop of that genre. It’s gorgeous, runs smoothly and is unfailingly punishing. But it’s never unfair, and that’s why I love it. That, and the terribly clever storytelling conceit that’s tucked away in its loading screens.

Mighty Fin, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – I’m a huge sucker for endless-whatever games. Runners, climbers, cave fliers, you name it and I can probably name five I adore. Mighty Fin topped the pack this year with something like nineteen endless levels to obsess over, and an equal number of more traditional arcade levels. It also has an adorable protagonist, high production values and dozens of unlockable costumes.The one thing that really makes it stand out from the crowd, though, is that it’s updated regularly and still manages to stay entirely IAP free.

Elder Sign: Omens, $3.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – This one goes out to all my fellow tabletop nerds. In its tabletop form, Elder Sign is one of those overly complex card and dice games that I hate to love – they’re just so messy. On iPhone, the experience is streamlined and still tons of fun. I’ve rolled a lot of dice in my time, and Elder Sign makes it a particularly compelling activity. It’s a little bit RPG, a little bit board game, and a whole lot of Elder Gods devouring your face. I hope this is a sign of more great things coming to iOS from Fantasy Flight.

Poker Pals, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – As Words With Friends becomes increasingly bloated, I’ve moved away from it as my asynchronous game of choice. Poker Pals has taken its place. It’s not an incredibly deep game, but it is super accessible, so I can play with just about anyone I know. Seriously, if you’ve somehow managed to avoid learning how to form poker hands, it’s a skill you can pick up in under a minute. The game’s progression system is also pretty cool. But when you get right down to the heart of it, what I really adore about Poker Pals is that it (almost) fulfills my long-standing wish to play Sword & Poker online with friends.That game gave me a serious love of poker puzzling, and Poker Pals brings it right back.

Troy

jAggy Race, $1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – This fantastic game gave me so much pleasure – I know this because I happily re-played the same tracks hundreds of times, searching for the optimum routes. I loved memorizing each crazy track and searching for new gravity-defying jumps, or short-cuts to shave a second off my times. It was especially fun to compete with the skilled TouchArcade forum members, who dominated the jAggy Race leaderboards, because each time someone else achieved a top score, I knew my own strategy needed some adjustments. The blend of fast-paced cart-racing, memorization and strategy made jAggy Race a personal favorite.

Dungeon Raid, $1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Dungeon Raid is one of my favorite games to play on the smaller iPod screen, which is unusual as I generally prefer playing match-3 games on the iPad. Initially I loved it’s simple appearance, the way it’s so responsive to rapid swipes, the excellent sound effects and it’s ability to reverse out of the lines you’re drawing (which is handled better than any other line-drawing game I’ve seen). But mostly, it’s the deepness of the RPG elements which gave it a longer lasting appeal and for that reason it’s staying on my iPod.

Vetica, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – I love innovative games which are relatively unknown, because it gives me a smug satisfaction, as if I’ve discovered something that other people have missed. Vetica is one of my favorite shmups of the year, mostly because it creatively constructs animated enemies using the helevetica font (which I totally dig), but also because it’s also entertaining to play, not just a gimmick. It’s hard enough to be challenging, without being too difficult to complete.

Perfect Cell, $2.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – I’m a sucker for platform games in general, but Perfect Cell was particularly fun because it added a line-drawing mechanic for rapid dashes. I never tired of decapitating multiple guards in a murderous high-speed dash, or taking them down by knocking their legs out. The ability to split in two (or three) for stealth ambushes or for puzzle-solving was a neat feature. Technically it came out at the very end of December 2010, but I’m listing it here because it came out just after our annual round-up last year… and because it’s awesome.

Tiny Wings, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Tiny Wings is a cute and lovable gaming experience that manages to be both soothing and challenging at the same time. I loved the way it was packaged to perfection with a likable soaring bird, unique procedural graphics for the islands, perfect one-touch controls and a totally chilled out sound-track. I usually spot areas for improvement within most games, but Tiny Wings ticked all of my boxes and made me smile each time the bird chirped. It also felt like a special success story because it came from an indie developer (ie: I was willingly caught up in the buzz of popularity it generated).

Yes, I realize we included Dungeon Raid twice in these lists. The game is that good.

[source]

I adore tower defense titles, but they tend to be just a bit samey. More than most genres, they rely on a number of standard elements that are rarely done without. Kingdom Rush [$2.99] isn’t a mold-breaking game. There are towers, yes, and upgrades and creeps. There is a set path, there are levels. Sometimes the creeps fly. Sometimes there are bosses. You really ought to know all this by now.

Despite the familiarity of its formula, though, Kingdom Rush is absolutely fabulous. With good-natured charm, with clarity of purpose, and with a touch of clever design, this game makes a place for itself in its crowded genre. It’s no wonder Ironhide Games Studio’s original Flash version is so very popular (a Flash version you can play right here, minus the premium content included in the iOS port).

You won’t be surprised if I tell you that Kingdom Rush takes place in a medieval setting. You might also recognize its four basic tower types: arrow towers, magic towers, artillery towers and defense towers. Those don’t seem like much, but there’s a method to that scarcity. After the first few upgrades, you can choose between two specialized towers, and each of those specializations has further upgrades and customizations. That’s where you’ll create the missing classics, like snare and lightning towers.

This is just one of the low-key ways Kingdom Rush presents its surprisingly broad collection of choices. On the micro level, you choose which position to place your tower in, and which way to upgrade it. On the macro level, you can choose difficulty, passive upgrade paths, and a couple bonus game modes per map. The game rarely feels prescriptive. No upgrade is really wrong (though it may be strategically unsound), every mode is rewarding, and your choice of difficulty never punishes you. How refreshing.

While the presentation might be chill, don’t expect that means Kingdom Rush will be an entirely casual experience. For one thing, this game sticks close to its browser-based roots, avoiding five-minute matches tuned for mobile players. Expect each level to take time, up to twenty minutes or more, especially as you approach the end of the main game’s 13 levels.

There were times this left me wishing for a fast-forward button, one of the few missing genre conventions. But those moments were rare, because Kingdom Rush demands players stay on their toes. In addition to the normal tower defense duties – building towers, upgrading them, praying a creep will get hit just once more before it crosses the finish line – players are granted two cooldown-based abilities that can be used freely. One is a meteor strike from the skies that will damage any creeps it hits. The other brings out reinforcements wherever you tap. Aside from positioning your towers well, this is the main way to strategically influence your success.

Whether you’ll find these useful will depend on your play style, but I’ll hazard a suggestion that the game will be quite difficult without them. Well-upgraded, they can easily make or break a challenging level, and most of the levels are really quite challenging. While I very rarely failed a level, earning three stars was nearly always rough. And without all the stars, you won’t be able to unlock all the passive upgrades for your various towers and abilities. It’s a welcome challenge, no matter how thoroughly I’ve been conditioned by iOS games to consider a failure after 20 minutes of playing an unforgivable waste of time.

That’s not to say there are no real issues with Kingdom Rush. There’s no Game Center integration until an upcoming update, so you’ll have to make due with the in-game achievement system for now. There’s also an outstanding save corruption bug (don’t close the game while the new level animation is playing on the map), but that should be resolved just as soon as the current update is approved. The only serious trouble I had was with some rather imprecise tapping.

Most of the game doesn’t require precision, so this is often forgiveable. But when you call down meteors they always hit just a little too far south of your tap. They’re on a long cooldown and are generally only pulled out when badly needed, so this can be frustrating. Worse, the final boss battle includes many sections that require rapid taps, leading to some really inconvenient mistaps, and potentially, mis-upgrades. It’s by no means game breaking, but it’s an annoyance nonetheless.

(Video of Flash version)

Overall, however, Kingdom Rush is a fantastic package. It’s a game that made me take notice, that made a well-trod genre seem a bit fresher and more interesting than it’s been in a while. Its presentation is top notch, too. Most units have vocalizations like “Freedom!” or “Reinforcements!,” and while by all rights this should be annoying, I found it a welcome accompaniment alongside the martial soundtrack. It’s an understated charm that’s found throughout the game, in its art, interface, and imaginative encounters.

If you enjoy tower defense, you absolutely must give Kingdom Rush a try. It doesn’t stray far from anything one might expect from an “epic fantasy” tower defense title, but everything it does, it does with style. You’ll be setting yourself up for hours of awesome, strategic tower defense gaming, so don’t skip this one. And if you’d like a little company on your journey, stop by our discussion thread.

TouchArcade Rating:

[source]

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!

Check out this brief interview with Gamespot and the reveal trailer:

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.

[source]