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We’ve had our share of great arcade racers on iOS lately and CitiRacing [$0.99] looked to continue that trend. With good locales and solid foundational gameplay, it seemed to be on the right track, too. Unfortunately, missteps in terms of replayability, redundancy and a lack of online multiplayer hold this game back from shifting into a higher gear.

The first thing you’ll notice when you get into a race in CitiRacing is its distinctly urban environments. More importantly, the game does a decent job of making you feel like you’re racing on city streets. Tracks range from downtown streets (complete with parked cars to avoid and skyscrapers that occasionally block your view) to freeway overpasses to even a farmers’ market. CitiRacing isn’t strictly a metropolitan affair either, as some stages also take you to beach towns and snowy suburbia.

Another solid aspect about CitiRacing is the gameplay itself. Races play out somewhat similar to Reckless Racing 2 (to toss out a recent racing game), but with a greater emphasis on drifting. I also enjoyed the physics – vehicles can (and will) flip, roll and barrel out of control if you’re not paying attention. Control-wise, CitiRacing only has one control scheme. I personally had no problem with it, but it would have been nice to have a few more options.

You’ll be racing through these maps via a standard ‘Championship’ cup single-player mode. Each cup has a variety of stages that has racers earning points based on finishing position. Do well and you unlock extra vehicles and the next set of tracks. A single race mode also allows you to replay any map that you’ve unlocked.

Championship mode works well enough, but it’s somewhat barebones. There’s no cash/upgrade system like other similar racers. While each vehicle handles differently, there’s no stat line that actually shows the differences. Also, CitiRacing is extremely easy; most players will easily take the gold on the normal difficulty (’easy’ difficulty is pretty much a joke), with only some challenge on hard mode. All these translate into a game that doesn’t have as much replayability as it should.

Continuing this trend are the tracks themselves. While CitiRacing boasts 45 different tracks in its description, it’s not that simple. In reality, there are 15 different tracks, each with three different orientations (with one of those three taking place in a night setting). Each orientation changes both the camera angles as well as starting positions. Most maps do a good job making each orientation feel different, but it’s still obvious that you’re playing the same map several times.

Visually, CitiRacing’s graphics mostly get the job done. There’s nothing particularly fancy about overhead cartoony visuals but it works well with the overall game. There are a few hiccups, such as the occasional inability to discern between changes in elevation (which can cause your car to lose control if you aren’t paying attention), but overall there’s not much in terms of gameplay detraction. The same goes for the game’s framerate, which runs at a smooth clip with little slowdown.

In addition to its single player offerings, CitiRacing also has local multiplayer via Bluetooth or WiFi. Up to six players can participate in a match (either single races or Championship) and you can substitute CPU drivers for any open spots. Despite some lag and an errant disconnect, I found local multiplayer to be entertaining. However, the lack of an actual internet multiplayer feature will most likely prevent a lot of folks from even checking out this mode.

CitiRacing feels like a game perpetually on the edge of being great. This theme seems to permeate most aspects of the game, from the multiplayer to the tracks and beyond. As it is, I still had an enjoyable time with CitiRacing and would recommend it for racing fans simply because of the locales and core gameplay. However, folks looking for the next racing masterpiece will end up looking elsewhere.

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I’m honestly not even sure what the best way to introduce this New York Times article would be to do it justice. I read a lot (I mean, a lot.) of blogs, newspapers, forums, and everything else that could even be a vaguely relevant source for TouchArcade content, and I’ve never come across such a fantastic retrospective both on the evolution of handheld video games, but also the way “stupid games” like Angry Birds become so integrated into our lives. In fact, I’m reluctant to even sum it up any more than that, so here’s a link and an excerpt to whet your proverbial whistle:

And so a tradition was born: a tradition I am going to call (half descriptively, half out of revenge for all the hours I’ve lost to them) “stupid games.” In the nearly 30 years since Tetris’s invention — and especially over the last five, with the rise of smartphones — Tetris and its offspring (Angry Birds, Bejeweled, Fruit Ninja, etc.) have colonized our pockets and our brains and shifted the entire economic model of the video-game industry. Today we are living, for better and worse, in a world of stupid games. …Read More

If you’ve got friends, family, co-workers, or anyone else who doesn’t get this whole mobile gaming thing, Sam Anderson wrapped the whole phenomenon up in a perfect little package digestible even for people who know nothing about video games. Zach Gage even makes an appearance.

Seriously though, take ten minutes out of your day and give it a read.

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Earlier this month we caught wind that Phosphor Games was planning to give the paid version of Dark Meadow [ $5.99 ] a free to play extreme makeover. Our community caught wind, formed up the all too predictable angry mob, and the next day Phosphor decided that the free to play version would come as a separate app instead of updating the existing paid version.

Last night, two things happened. First off, Dark Meadow: The Pact [ Free ] hit the App Store, offering players who never tried the original game a free opportunity to dip their toes into the Dark Meadow universe. Secondly, Dark Meadow was updated to have all the improvements of the free version. This includes Retina Display support for the new iPad and some new content which comprises both new areas and enemies as well as weapons. Getting around in the game is also easier, as they’ve not only added an in-game map, but also the ability to warp around so you don’t have to totally start over when you die.

Regardless, I’d still back up your original Dark Meadow .ipa file before updating in case you ever want to go back, especially if you’re the kind of person who hates shoehorned IAP currency. The way I (and a lot of our community it’d seem) read the original explanation from Phosphor on how they were going to split the free and paid versions was more along the lines of “We’re going to add the tweaks and new content from the free to play version to the existing paid version, leaving all the wacky micro transaction stuff to the free version.”

Unfortunately, what we got is an update which adds all the IAP currencies as well along with a consolation prize of sorts which amounts an ability to toggle the ads off along with some normal coins, sun coins (the IAP currency), along with some consumable health packs and bombs. (Bombs destroy enemies without needing to fight them.)

The IAP currency balancing is also crazy. If you want any of the new items which are purchased with sun coins, even in the paid version, you have three options:

1. Grind for eternity farming up kill streaks to earn sun coins.
2. Buy sun coins via IAP.
3. Complete referral offers like signing up for credit cards and online dating sites among other things.

Weirder yet, the way these referral offers are balanced against the actual IAP makes no sense. For instance, one of the referral offers asks you to buy a PC or Mac game from Big Fish Games for $2.99. This rewards you with as much IAP currency as the $9.99 bundle of sun coins, but you also get a PC/Mac game out of the deal. Normally I’d say this isn’t that big of a problem because you can just try to ignore the IAP items and play the game with what you can get with in-game coins… BUT.

The problem with this line of thinking and Dark Meadow is that character progression in these Infinity Blade-like games hinges on gear unlocks, while both saving up and looking forward to the next weapon you can afford. Yes, it’s entirely optional, but looking at what you can buy with the non-IAP currency from the in-game item shop feels like ordering off the kids menu when compared to the substantial difference in power found in the premium IAP-currency items.

That being said, if you can deal with this proverbial carrot being dangled in front of your face while you play through both the free and paid versions of Dark Meadow, the gameplay is actually legitimately better than it was before. IAP schemes aside, combat feels much more responsive, the ability to warp back to near where you were when you died was sorely needed, and it looks great on the new iPad.

The good news is that the guys from Phosphor are all over the thread on our forums responding to user feedback, and seem genuinely interested in making players happy. That counts for something, although I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed in this trend on the App Store. Dark Meadow was one of the early games powered by the Unreal engine, and it’s sad to see the game go down the same free to play path as everyone else instead of just proudly existing as a premium showpiece title.

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In a universe in which ninja tournaments aren’t just an elaborate excuse to stage a gory multidimensional melee, there’s an adorable little ninja on his way to castle Shimawa on a hill. Hatted and garbed in his finest eentsy weentsy blacks, this little ninja is on his way to the 200th annual ninja tournament. He doesn’t know it until he gets on the stage, but he’s not skilled enough to win, at all.

And thus little ninja’s failure becomes the premise of another game on mobile platforms that revolves around fruit. And while 8-bit Ninja might roll in one of the most dry and tired design elements in today’s market, it does have something to share: simple fun.

At its core, this is a 2D side-scrolling avoidance game. You’ll control little ninja as he dodges an infinite amount of fruit being fired at him from an upset crowd. The more fruit you dodge, the higher your point value at the end of your session. The game ends when a piece of watermelon, cantaloupe, an orange, or a pineapple hits you as you glide from left to right in the cutesy, though strangely not 8-bit, playing area. I doubt that users will ever receive an emotional rise from any of this, but the action model does a decent job of engaging me. Its immediately accessible and blunt, like an everyday simple pleasure.

If this sounds like something you’ve played before, it is. I asked developer DogByte where the idea for 8-bit Ninja came from, and unsurprisingly, it’s a product of its time. DogByte loves Falling Balls and Fruit Ninja and wanted to construct something that took elements from both, but iterated in important, though non-surface, areas.

And that’s the thing about 8-bit Ninja: it does have some interesting points of design buried within its cutesy art direction and simplistic play. For one, you’ll never walk into the game carrying tools that directly interact with enemy fruit. Little ninja can, however, pick up and utilize random items that spawn on the map. Weaponry, like blades or shurikens, act like timed but stationary turrets of fruit-slicing fury. Picking up these items up is a clear choice, and one that adds a light tactical flair to the game’s action. And then there’s the progression system, which is as sweet as chocolate.

“The game features multiple unlockable characters each with unique special powers to unleash, multiple arenas with unique extras and a lot of power-ups,” DogByte tells us. But that’s selling the progression a little short. As you play, you’ll earn EXP for your character, which seems to ramp up his speed and his special ability, which in the case of little ninja, is a shield. There are two other characters to unlock down the line, each of which boasts different abilities.

Also, you’ll collect two forms of in-game currency: gems and eggs. Gems can be used to level up those randomly spawned items so they last longer and have greater effects as you play. You can also buy a nifty one-use hat that acts as armor. Eggs, on the other hand, can be used to buy new characters with new abilities, new levels, or even gems. These constituent parts all feed into each other harmoniously, and really bolster that best-in-class one-more-play kind of tone, similar to, strangely, Call of Duty’s You’ll spend a senseless amount of time powering up my guy and abilities, all in the name of superior stats. This kind of stuff gets in your head in a satisfying way.

Gems and eggs also feed into the game’s free-to-play model, but this title’s brand of functionality appears to be inoffensive. Instead of annoying or nagging, it treats the user as a premium-level consumer from the get-go. The pre-release build of 8-bit Ninja has never made me feel like I need to dip into my wallet to enjoy the progression system and what it offers. Eggs and gems rain freely, though at the cost of ad support. Ads were off in the build I played.

8-bit Ninja might be simple, and the name might be a hair deceiving considering that this plainly isn’t an 8-bit game, but this is definitely something you’ll want to check out later this April when it hits iOS and Android for the price of free.

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Behold! The kingdom of Kameloot! A great land plagued by literature-loving rats, ruffians, maddened herbivores and stupefyingly high taxes. It is here that Battleloot Adventure [99¢/HD] takes place. In this turn-based strategy/RPG hybrid, you’ll be taking command of a motley crew of mercenaries.

Unlike most titles within the genre, Battleloot Adventure will not have you galloping off to the castle in order to decapitate the state dignitaries. I mean, the local oppression is sort of what keeps you rolling in the dough. While, in theory, your purpose in life is to assist the city you’ve sworn fealty to in its attempt to win the ‘Grand Gossip Notoriety Prize’ , you’re really just in it for the gold.

As you might have guessed already, Battleloot Adventures is not a game that takes itself too seriously. It’s a game plagued with sheep, after all. Black sheep. Red-eyed, rabid-looking sheep. Be-tentacled, flatulent purple sheep. Battleloot Adventure has a sheep for all occasions. Can you honestly imagine something like this being grim and dark?

The bright, cartoony art style certainly enforces the light-hearted atmosphere. Characters are well-drawn and vividly colored albeit often encumbered with slightly overlarge heads, something that may not appeal to those who do not enjoy Japanese anime. In contrast, the watercolor backgrounds look as though they deserve a spot in a children storybook somewhere.

Now, let’s talk about the gameplay. Combat in Battleloot Adventure is wonderfully simple. To attack, you tap on your target. To defend, you tap on yourself. To utilize an item or a skill, you tap on the appropriate icon before tapping on the desired target. Simple, right?

Sort of. Once you dive into it, things start to get complicated. One of the things that you’re going to have to monitor is energy. Almost everything you do (item consumption being the notable exception here) requires expenditure of that precious resource. If you permit a character’s energy to drop below a certain percentage, they’ll be useless up till the point their bar replenishes. And no, you can’t block under these circumstances either, something that will be the cause of despair at least once.

There’s an element of ‘rock, paper, scissors’ to the fights. You see, each entity in the game is associated with one of four classes. Each class, in turn, is represented by a color. Bandits are red, soldiers are blue, healers are green and wizards are flamboyantly purple. As you might have guessed already, certain classes will do well against others. The rogues of the game, for example, do well against soldiers but fare poorly against a wizard’s assault. Needless to say, the ecosystem of colors is something you’ll want to keep in mind if you want to perform effectively in combat.

Skills have been done in a rather interesting fashion here. While most games demand payment in mana or energy, Battleloot Adventure wants payment in stars. Stars are what you acquire when you’ve inflicted sufficient amounts of damage on an enemy. Stars are also essential to some quests and provide bonus gold at the successful completion of a stage. Stars are great. Unfortunately, in order to use a skill, you’re going to have to spend a star. Will it be worth it? That’s entirely up to you.

On top of all that, you’ll also have to take passive abilities, talents, equipment, environmental effects, the fact you can rope your characters together to assist one another in attacks, and quest objectives into consideration. It’s a lot to juggle, but what makes Battleloot Adventure so neat is the fact that it’s not mandatory for you to know exactly what you’re doing. It is exactly as easy or as difficult as you want it to be. You can elect to finish everything in two rounds via a strategic usage of skills and physical prowess or you can work through each enemy slowly. It’s up to you.

One of the things that make me incredibly happy about Battleloot Adventure is the way they’ve handled IAPs in the game. They’ve done an excellent job with it. I think this is the first time I’ve said that about any game’s usage of the freemium model, but it’s true. Instead of ransoming your headgear or demanding money to unlock new quests, Battleloot Adventure will offer you in-game gold for real-life cash, and if you don’t want to, you don’t actually need to buy the gold. Things in Battleloot Adventure do not cost an arm and a leg. At most, they might cost a toe or an unimportant finger. It’s definitely a refreshing change.

That said, with Battleloot Adventure, patience is important. In spite of all the praise I’ve lavished onto it, Battleloot Adventure is one of those games that takes a little warming up. The dialogue isn’t atrocious but it’s certainly not the most impressive in the world. As for the first Act, well, the less said about it the better. I understand wanting to ease the new player into the world but the pacing’s slightly off for Act 1.

Nonetheless, for those willing to persevere, the game opens up when you reach Act II. Suddenly, there are things to do everywhere. There is equipment to unlock. There are feats to complete. With every quest you fulfill, more areas become unlocked. Speaking of equipment, I love the fact that all of the gear that you acquire will be visible on your party members in a wonderful display of attention to detail.

Battleloot Adventure isn’t perfect (I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth but that Witch is broken, guys. Broken. Also, there’s no Universal version. Why, Digital Tales, why?). Nonetheless, it’s still an impressive addition to the App Store and a game that belongs in your library. It’s immersive, it’s expansive (I’ve been playing it for a week), it’s simple, it’s something you can teach to your grandparents and your three-year old niece. As long as you’re OK with some minor quirks, Battleloot Adventure is one that you don’t want to miss.

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If you’ve played many physics puzzle games (or classic point-and-click adventures, for that matter), then you’re undoubtedly familiar with pixel hunting. It’s when you know there’s a solution right in front of your nose that you could find if you just locate the exact pixel the developers expect you to find. That’s not quite the case in Pebble Universe [$0.99]—there are a few pixels that will work at any given moment. But they’re moving. And so are you. Feel like tearing your hair out yet?

Don’t get me wrong, here. Pixel hunting reeks of fake difficulty, but the timing you’ll need to perfect in Pebble Universe is very, very real. In any given level you’ll need to launch two pebbles, pebbles that may move at different speeds, down increasingly complex paths so that they smash into each other at the perfect moment. That moment is the one that sees them right beneath the (potentially mobile) soot monsters whose death will do maximum damage. This task gets pretty hard, and it’s worth knowing that up front. Are you the type to patiently wait for your moment, or are you the sort to throw things against the wall? An honest answer will tell you whether or not you’re likely to enjoy this game.

I have to give Itatake real credit here. The studio has created a physics puzzle game that doesn’t play like everything else on the market. You might pick up a new skill in Pebble Universe, the skill of timing two objects moving at different speeds down different paths at a glance. That’s something worth adding to your gaming toolbox, you know?

It doesn’t hurt that the game also happens to be stupidly cute. The pebbles are tiny, vulnerable, and look as dumb as, well, rocks. They squeak, babble and celebrate every success. The Sootlump monsters are nearly as cute, scared for their lives as they are. Stupidly violent might be another way to describe Pebble Universe. You smash two critters against each other until they explode, at which point their shrapnel shears other critters to bits. As they gib their eyeballs and horns can chain into other monsters. Yep. Eyeballs everywhere.

If you’re particularly skilled at blowing things up you can earn a couple awards per level. It’s not quite the three star system we know so well, but it’s not far off. You get one award for reaching a certain score, usually based on how many pebbles you have left when you kill the level’s royal monster. The second award is for destroying all the other monsters before you commit regicide.

You will, of course, run into all manner of complex challenges along your path through the game’s two worlds. The level layouts get quite complicated, so you’ll often need to roll one pebble down, over and around a few obstacles before knocking it into its partner. Add to that a few interactive elements like fans, geysers and bouncy sponges and you’re just asking for trouble. You have a few tools of your own as well—slow pebbles, fast pebbles, sniper pebbles and splitter pebbles, mostly. They’re pre-selected per level, though, so they’re part of the puzzle more than its solution.

There are 50 levels to work your way through and 6 bonus levels to unlock, so you won’t easily run out of game to play. It sounds as though Itatake has more to come, too. For more of a challenge, work your way up the leaderboards for each world. For less of a challenge, pay a buck to unlock all the levels so you don’t have to.

It can be hard to get excited for another physics puzzler, but Pebble Universe does a good job of freshening the genre up. If super careful timing sounds good to you, then you’re probably going to like this game. The folks on our forums certainly do. And really, what’s not to like about throwing rocks at things until their eyes burst out, right? Now there’s a selling point.

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I’m always on the lookout for the quirky, offbeat kinds of titles that seem to only be possible in a place like the App Store. When I caught wind of the trailer for the upcoming game Arranger from composer and new developer Arman Bohn, my quirkiness meter shot into the red.

Arranger is an adventure RPG in spirit, but without most of the usual tropes of the genre. Rather than rely on tired classes like mages, rogues, or warriors, you play as a musical arranger embarking on a journey to search out new instruments for your collection.

As it so happens, these instruments are also “instrumental” (yeah, I went there) in helping the good people who inhabit Musica, the game’s world. In this particular adventure, you’re not saving the world with a sword, you’re saving it with a saxophone. I like where this is going.

Arranger is described as one part Legend of Zelda, one part Warioware, and one part old school Sierra adventure game. Combat takes a back seat to 25 different mini-games as you collect a total of 16 instruments across 9 different regions.

It certainly sounds intriguing, and I’m digging the ultra retro-inspired look and general wacky nature in the trailer for Arranger. Not to mention the tunes are awesome. I’ll be curious to see how it all comes together when Arranger launches sometime this summer.

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Swordigo [$1.99] shouldn’t be as refreshing as it is. We were playing through better hack and slash adventures twenty years ago. But the genre has stumbled en route to the App Store, and we’ve been left waiting for a classic of the mobile era. Swordigo might just be the one.

Touch Foo is building a reputation for impressive games. Soosiz [$1.99 / HD], the studio’s first release won our hearts with a combination of novel design and great controls. Swordigo has all the things you’d expect from a good hack-n-slash: boss battles, sword combat, spell slinging, character upgrades and a ton of exploration. We’ve seen it all before. So why is it so utterly satisfying?

Scarcity is part of the reason. But Touch Foo has done more than create a game in an under-represented niche. It’s done an outstanding job of building it in the process.

From the controls to the upgrade mechanics, nearly everything in Swordigo works better than you might expect. On-screen directional controls are so often awkward, but they’re flawless here. In the eight hours I spent with the game I only bungled one or two jumps with my hand out of place, a better than reasonable margin of error. And that eight hours of content? That’s just for the main game. If you’re inclined to hunt down every last treasure chest (and earn the related Game Center achievement), expect to put in more time.

The art might be a problem for some. I’ve never been comfortable with Touch Foo’s style. The critters and character design in Soosiz grated on me, and the transition to 2.5D hasn’t helped. The environments are decent if repetitive, but it would be generous to say the character models have the detail of a Playmobil figure. You might be inclined to skip the game because of that. Don’t. The hero looks better as the game goes on, and you won’t notice the look when you’re knee deep in rock-solid gameplay.

You also shouldn’t look to this game for an original story—Swordigo goes well beyond nodding to Link and his crew. I’m not saying that like it’s a bad thing—it’s a charming homage, and it’s also unobtrusive. Touch Foo clearly spent its time elsewhere, designing an impressive platforming experience and a fun set of customizable upgrades. Some of the latter can be bought with the not-rupees dropped by enemies and unsuspecting bushes. Others are found tucked away in secret treasure chests.

Early on, there isn’t much to do. You’ll have a sword and a jump button and can only do so much with the combination. But your toolbox expands as the game’s four spells are introduced. Three can be used against enemies, and all four let you interact with the environment in new ways. You can shoot switches with your magic bolts or blow up hidden walls with bombs. Boss fights take advantage of those abilities, and there are unique challenges in nearly every new area. Because of this, Swordigo stays novel for its entire length, never relying on familiar tactics for long.

If a challenge can be defeated using spells or objects from the environment, the game plays beautifully. Sword combat, on the other hand, is a bit stiff. Your attacks run in a pattern, and you’ll often need an overhead swing at just the moment you slash forward. Enemies seem designed to exploit that weakness in the most frustrating ways, firing just over your sword’s reach or swooping down and hitting you in the face. Thankfully death is rarely a problem—falling takes you back to the last ledge with a sliver of health lost, while anything more permanent drops you at the most recent checkpoint. You can also teleport between checkpoints, so it’s trivial to take a trip back to town to shop or heal.

So while there are frustrations and a handful of small bugs, they’re blips in a solid eight hours of entertainment. Whether it ends up as a hidden gem or a genuine hit, Swordigo will have earned its place in any number of hearts. Touch Foo may be treading familiar ground, but it does so with great skill. If you’re up for a good old fashioned adventure, this is where you want to be. You might also want to be in our forums—it’s dangerous to go alone.

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Finnish studio Futuremark Games Studio has a new owner: Rovio Mobile, the creators of Angry Birds. In an announcement today, Rovio announced the acquisition of FGS, but it didn’t disclose what the studio will be doing for its new owner. It also didn’t talk about what it paid, though that’s pretty standard.

This is an interesting buy on a couple of levels. Futuremark was once a two-studio company. One was a 3D benchmarking studio, the other made passable games like, say, Unstoppable Gorg [$4.99 / Free]. Rovio has acquired the latter as opposed to the former, and its allowing the main arm retain all of its game studios’ known IP. Futuremark will be able to make sequels, then.

The PC version of Unstoppable Gorg.

In a press release, Rovio says that this is all just a part of its “rapid expansion in entertainment, publishing, animation, and retail.” Rovio plans to “continue to focus on seeking out the world’s best talent to join its team.”

Futuremark, by the way, will continue with benchmarks. In a statement we received, Futuremark says that it will churn out a new version of 3DMark this year that will “allow a direct comparison of gaming performance across” various OSes and form factors. That sounds… fun.

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When Hunters: Episode One hit the scene almost a year ago, we were impressed with its solid gameplay and daily mission structure. With Hunters 2 [$4.99], Rodeo Games looks to expand on the success of the original with additional content while attempting to address some of the shortfalls of the original. While Hunters 2 has its share of nagging problems, there are more than enough improvements to the core gameplay to make this sequel worthwhile.

As expected, gameplay in Hunters 2 is comparable to its predecessor. Players still deploy and guide hunters through a variety of environments (complete with fog of war), taking out opposing forces in furtherance of hitting mission objectives (which typically involve defending an objective, reaching a marker or just taking out all forces). Both the leveling and equipment systems return, offering a variety of different ways to upgrade your hunters. Also making a return is the daily mission hub, offering new contracts with different maps and objectives every day. At this point, Hunters 2 offers more of a ‘tried-and-true’ approach to turn-based strategy, leaving little to error or imagination.

While the gameplay is mostly similar, Hunters 2 does add a few new elements to the mix. In addition to fighting against other hunters, the game introduces a new alien race that has its own attack style. The aliens play a role in the new campaign mode, which finally offers a story experience to the Hunters world.  Hunters 2 also combines the previous Health/Armor system into simply Armor, streamlining weapon damage. A new crafting system also allows players to customize a wide variety of weapons (at a premium price). Permadeath also makes its debut, offering genre fans the opportunity for a more hardcore experience. Finally, the sequel overhauls the talent system, providing a great deal more customization for individual hunters.

This new upgrade system is at the heart of the Hunter 2 changes. Hunters are assigned two of six possible talent trees, which provide perks ranging from additional benefits while guarding to increased weapon damage and armor protection. Players can hire new hunters with different talent trees, although only a limited amount of hunters are available to hire at any one time (hunters for hire cycle every few hours with the rest of the in-game shop).

Level design has also improved in Hunters 2, with a bit more variety in environment and size. However, I still noticed that some of the tile sets appear to be recycled from the first Hunters. Visuals are also well done, with fast, fluid animations (although I think retina support for the new iPad would have been a nice addition). However, I did encounter a strange lighting bug that would completely wash out the environment colors and make the game very bright.

One feature that is sorely missing in Hunters 2 is the inclusion of iCloud support. Considering the amount of investment you can have with building up your team in terms of loot and stats, I really would have liked the ability to move saves between different iOS devices. This is especially true since Hunters 2 plays great on both iPad and iPhone.

Despite its inclusion of a story-driven campaign, plot is still somewhat lacking in Hunters 2. The number of set missions is incredibly small and the tale being told lacks any kind of narrative punch to serve as motivation for continuing the campaign. Granted, some gamers will undoubtedly not care about a story, but I just found it a little disappointing.

Still, despite my above complaints, Hunters 2 continues to do a great job preserving the core gameplay mechanics of Episode One. The leveling system and large variety of weapons keep me coming back  to play missions simply to earn more gold and experience to refine my hunters. Also, the loot system and daily mission structure do a great job promoting replayability. As mentioned above, there’s nothing new or particularly innovative, but it’s still implemented well.

It goes without saying that fans of Hunters: Episode One will have a great time with Hunters 2. The tweaks to the leveling and upgrade systems do a great job streamlining gameplay while the inclusion of an actual campaign and additional difficulty options are welcome additions. While the incremental upgrades probably won’t win over gamers that weren’t fans of the original, Hunters 2 still offers a compelling turn-based strategy experience.

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