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‘Psychoban’ Review – Sokoban with an Evil Twist

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Dedalord Games has recently unleashed their crazy puzzle game Pyschoban into the App Store. Psychoban is a Sokoban variant that manages to incorporate a lot of personality and style.

The game opens with in a hospital ward with you under the direction of a mad scientist after having gone through a "procedure". You are walked through the basics of the game. If you've ever played Sokoban, you'll be pretty familiar with the gameplay. The goal is to move blocks to their proper locations. However, you can only push blocks and there has to be a space for you to push from. So if you back a block into a wall, you won't be able to pull it away. So it goes, and your job is to puzzle your way through each level to accomplish each goal. Unlike plain vanilla Sokoban, the game allows you to hop up and down levels, and also allows for stacking of boxes. This keeps things a little more interesting as you make your way through the game's 50 levels.

Game controls are intuitive with a single tap to select the box and a subsequent tap to determine its destination. Your character then automatically goes through the motions of pushing the box. Fortunately, there is a "fast" mode that allows him to run a bit faster, though there still will be times you are just waiting for him to finish.

Here's a video shot by one of our forum readers:

Due to the isometric view, there are sometimes perspective issues that can cause some initial confusion to the level designs, but an issue one you can learn to work around. For good or bad, the game seems to fall a bit on the easy side (at least until the final 10 levels so I'm told). Otherwise, the game is very well done with great artwork and amusing dialog. All this combines to a really great experience.

App Store Link: Psychoban, $2.99

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Written by admin

June 30, 2010 at 18:15

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‘Castle Smasher’ Massive 2.0 Update – More Fun Than You Can Launch A Stone At

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One of our favorite developers, Donut Games, has just released a huge free update to their game Castle Smasher that adds more than ten times the original content. Released over a year ago, Castle Smasher was just the second title from Donut Games to grace the App Store. The concept involves launching stones at a castle in order to slowly demolish it bit by bit, setting the angle and power of your catapult shot before letting it fly. Think Angry Birds with a little Breakout thrown in and you get an idea of the gameplay, although Castle Smasher predates Angry Birds by a long shot. There were 5 different castles to smash, but due to the arcade-like aspect of having to start from the beginning each time you ran out of stones it was difficult to ever see all 5, and the first couple grew tiresome after having to play them over repeatedly. Essentially, it lacked some of the thoughtful design of the later Donut Games.

Now Castle Smasher has been given an update that brings it more in line with what you might expect. Rather than releasing a separate sequel, 50 brand new levels have been added that include the wonderful 3 star achievement system Donut Games is known for. New elements like extra bouncy or flaming stones and additional enemy types lend some variation to the smashing of castles. These 50 levels are incredibly well designed and fun. The original game remains intact, appropriately titled Arcade Play, and there's even a randomly generated Target Practice mode thrown in for good measure.

The Target Practice could easily be its own game, and when I had merely just wanted to check out what it was like, I was surprised to find I had blown almost an hour playing it. Castle Smasher was relatively enjoyable to begin with, but the 2.0 update has pushed it amongst the elite of Donut Games and is highly recommended.

App Store Link: Castle Smasher, $0.99

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Written by admin

June 29, 2010 at 18:15

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‘Battle Bears -1′ Review – Indulge in Your Hatred of Fuzzy Pink Bears

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Battle Bears -1 is the follow-up prequel to last years incredibly popular Battle Bears: Zombies! If you aren't familiar with the first Battle Bears game, you play the role of Oliver the bear, stranded and forced to fight back against near-endless waves of adorable pink bears (called huggables) that want nothing more than to hug the life out of him. An assortment of clever weaponry was at your disposal to battle against this pink menace. The gameplay wasn't bad, but it was the hilariously bizarre storyline and cutscenes that really made the game a hit, which we highlighted in our review.

Now, Battle Bears -1 takes the storyline a step backwards while taking the gameplay a step forwards, alleviating Oliver from his stationary position and allowing him full mobility in a third-person shooter. Battle Bears -1 succeeds in emulating the formula of it's precursor, offering satisfying – if not groundbreaking – shooting action that is drenched in undeniably appealing visuals, humor, and pop culture references. A couple of minor issues plague this initial version, but whether you are a fan of the first game or are new to the series, Battle Bears -1 is a ride that's well worth taking.

Since this is a prequel, the game's story sets up the events for Battle Bears: Zombies! The Battle Bears crew are on their spaceship Ursa Major transporting a batch of mystical treasures when hundreds of pink bears begin invading the ship. The main campaign that comes loaded with Battle Bears -1 has you again playing Oliver as he traverses through progressively more difficult rooms of huggables, with each room needing to be cleared before moving onto the next. Sadly, there's not the arsenal of awesome weapons we saw in the first game, rather you're limited to the default machine gun, a spread shot, or a rocket launcher. They're still fun to use and pack quite a punch, just don't match the intensity of the Unicorn Crossbow or Swear-a-phone. Huggables come in different sizes, colors, and attack types and there can literally be dozens of them swarming you inside a room at once. The amount of carnage on screen as you hurl rockets at a swarm of brightly colored bears can hardly be described, and the action in Battle Bears -1 is intense.

A dual-stick setup is the default control scheme, with the left stick for moving and the right for aiming and firing. Like just about every dual-stick shooter, the right stick fires continuously while you move, lest you press a small “Safety” button to toggle weapon fire on or off. This can prove slightly frustrating to manage in the heat of battle, and you often end up wasting ammunition just trying to orient your view. An alternate control scheme allows for aiming by dragging on the screen but still suffers from the same auto-firing problem as the first does. You get used to it to a certain extent, and it doesn't ruin the enjoyment of the game, but it's not ideal. A very handy mini-map can easily be pulled down from the top left of the screen and shows you where you're at in relation to the endpoint. The graphics of the ship's interior tend to be repetitive, but the actual floor layouts are varied and well designed. The placement of walls and bottomless pits in the rooms force you to use different strategies dealing with the constantly swarming huggables. Each new room is like it's own unique battle arena, and despite the redundant decoration they are all really fun.

Once you've reached the end of the campaign a frantic boss fight awaits. The boss fights are really imaginative and epic in scale. After the boss is defeated, you're treated to a final cutscene that transitions into the beginning of Battle Bears: Zombies! In addition to the default Oliver campaign a DLC campaign can be purchased for resident Battle Bears tough-guy Riggs for 99¢. Riggs plays a bit differently, being taller and slower than Oliver but more powerful. A different end boss and cutscenes accompany this new campaign, and it's nice that the folks at SkyVu give player's the option of how much game they choose to buy. Additional DLC campaigns are planned for the future, and all the different campaigns will be receiving free content updates. Besides each character's campaign, there's also a mode where you can challenge a previously beaten boss or a survival mode. The survival mode is practically a complete game by itself, offering a slightly different play experience with prize and money drops to add to your final score as you fight through an endless supply of huggable infested rooms.

Even with the complaints I have in the game – odd controls, lack of weapon and environment variety, high level of difficulty – overall I enjoyed Battle Bears -1. The humor is there, and the third-person shooting is actually very satisfying. It just feels very “version 1.0”, mostly because it is. Battle Bears: Zombies! started in a similar fashion, and over time blossomed into a very robust package for an iPhone game. Hopefully, the same will happen to Battle Bears -1 over the coming months, as the foundations are already solidly in place. Feedback is being collected in the game's forum thread and the issues brought up here are already on their way to being addressed.

App Store Link: BATTLE BEARS -1, $0.99

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Written by admin

June 26, 2010 at 6:15

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‘Doodle Jump’ Surpasses 5 Million Downloads

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It's amazing to see the success of Doodle Jump [99¢], especially when you consider the meager beginnings of Lima Sky, which essentially is little more than two brothers building simple games for the iPhone. Igor and Marko Pusenjak announced this afternoon that since its release, the game has been downloaded over 5 million times, which they believe is a first on the App Store.

Since its initial release, Doodle Jump has become somewhat of a pop culture phenomenon. It's been mentioned on the show Big Bang Theory, spoofed on the Jimmy Fallon Show, and the doodler himself has even been spotted on stage with Lady Gaga.

Doodle Jump like so many other games built in one or two man teams perfectly embodies the indie spirit of the App Store. It's hard to say what really made Doodle Jump take off like it has, but it's unreal to think that the $99 a year Lima Sky pays for their iPhone SDK license has given them access to their pool of 5 million customers, and even more remarkable to think that this is barely 5% market penetration, per the "over 100 million devices" figure Steve Jobs quoted in his latest keynote address.

The Pusenjak brothers seem to be planning to keep the regular updates coming, with an underwater Doodle Jump theme in the works. After winning an Apple Design Award this year at WWDC, I'm confident that Lima Sky will keep the updates rolling for some time to come. Either way, it's no secret that we love Doodle Jump around here. If you haven't yet, give episode #10 of our podcast a listen, we interviewed Igor regarding the game and his company a few million downloads ago.

App Store Link: Doodle Jump – BE WARNED: Insanely Addictive!, $0.99

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Written by admin

June 26, 2010 at 6:15

‘Lemmings’ Coming Soon to the App Store for Free – Watch its Development Live

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Mobile 1UP announced on our forums that they've "bitten the bullet" and are working on a port of Lemmings for the iPhone and iPod touch. They've got plans to submit it to the App Store for free as soon as the port is complete, and it will even include all 120 levels from the original Lemmings.

If you're curious what goes in to porting a game like this, Mobile 1UP is live blogging the whole process. So far they've covered everything from undoing hacks added to the source to make it run on Palm OS nearly ten years ago to the logic the lemmings use to move, and even fixing some cut and paste bugs. It's an amazingly interesting read, just make sure you scroll all the way down to the bottom and read from the start to follow along.

If this is the first you've heard of Lemmings, the game actually has a remarkable history. It began as a computer game nearly 20 years ago, originally developed by DMA Design which we now know as Rockstar North and published by Psygnosis, now a fully owned subsidiary of Sony. Much like Duke Nukem the game has been licensed a ridiculous amount of times and ported to every platform imaginable.

In the game, players complete a series of levels by guiding the dim-witted lemmings to the exit. It's not that easy though, as getting to the end of the level requires players to assign lemmings certain skills such as a digger that is capable of digging through earth to cut a path for other lemmings, or builders that can build a staircase for lemmings to ascend. The gameplay is so classic that even if you've never played the original Lemmings, you've likely played a similar game inspired by it.

As mentioned, Mobile 1UP will be submitting it to the App Store as soon as the port is released, and you can bet we'll post something on TouchArcade as soon as it gets approved.

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Written by admin

June 25, 2010 at 22:15

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Gaming on an iPhone 4: First Impressions

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After an epic wait this morning, I managed to get my hot little hands on an iPhone 4. After rushing home and loading it up with every game I thought would be worth trying on the device, the results were somewhat predictable. The small handful of games that have been released or updated to with support for the Retina Display are gorgeous, and everything else both loads faster and performs better. If for any reason you were sitting on the fence trying to decide if upgrading to an iPhone 4 (or the presumed 4th generation iPod touch when it's released) is worth it for gaming, it absolutely is.

I know we're kind of beating a dead horse at this point, what with posting high-resolution screenshots of the few games that take advantage of the Retina Display already, but the quality of the screen is truly something you need to see with your own eyes to fully appreciate. I was at the WWDC keynote, heard everything Steve had to say about it first hand, spent the following weeks wondering what it was going to be like, and it still exceeded my expectations. The pixels are so tightly packed on the 3.5" screen that games running at 960×640 look more like screenshot renderings you'd see in some kind of a magazine advertisement than any actual game you've played before.

Being unable to distinguish individual pixels really does make things look like they're just printed on the screen. Flight Control [99¢] is unbelievably crisp, and while better graphics doesn't change the gameplay in the slightest, the difference is even more amazing when I run the game side by side both on my new iPhone 4 and old iPhone 3GS. 3D games like Real Racing [$4.99] look absolutely fantastic, and even run at a great frame rate to boot.

One thing that is apparent in these 3D games is that while the output resolution has been increased, the polygon count of the in-game models seems to have remained the same. This can make blocky models stand out even more, and while it wasn't much of an issue in Real Racing, the low-detail players in the recently releasedNCAA Football HD [$7.99] really do stick out like a sore thumb as their little 3D stick legs prance about the field. I expect this to improve over time, as both of these games were likely quick and dirty upscale jobs. 3D games designed from the get go with the iPhone 4 in mind in the future will likely be where the true eye candy is.

Speaking of EA's NCAA Football HD, having yet another platform for developers to target could lead to an even messier App Store. It's too early to really tell how this is going to play out, but currently it seems EA is content splitting their releases in to a normal release for the iPhone 3G, 3GS, and the iPod Touch along with a "HD" release for the iPhone 4, and finally a "for iPad" release for the iPad. This gets even more confusing when you consider how many developers are already labeling things as "HD" for the iPad even though technically speaking neither the iPhone 4 or the iPad are a HD device. Let's all just cross our fingers that developers eventually just settle on single universal releases of their games as I'm sure everyone would rather deal with larger file sizes than potentially purchasing the same game three (or more) times.

Currently the best demonstration of the new gyroscope controls available on the iPhone 4 is ngmoco's Eliminate: Gun Range [99¢]. While the game is just a basic shooting gallery, controlling your aim both by tilting the iPhone 4 as well as moving it about in 3D space is worth 99¢ for the novelty alone. Real Racing also has gyroscope controls but overall they didn't make much of a difference compared to the regular version.

After fiddling around in both games, however, I was really am impressed with just how precise the sensor inside the iPhone is… Although the current implementations feel a tad gimmicky at this point instead of really adding any real benefits to gameplay similar to the iPhone 3GS compass-controlled games. To be fair, we don't believe either Firemint or ngmoco had actual devices in hand to test these games with, and it stands to reason that each implementation will improve once they're able to work outside of the iPhone simulator.

Just like 3D games that fully harness the power of the A4 chip, I expect it will also be a while before developers realize what's possible with the gyroscope. There's definitely some amazing potential waiting to be unleashed here, and maybe not even by using the gyroscope strictly as an input method. For instance, I suspect using gyroscope data could even allow you to play tilt controlled games in a moving vehicle, though haven't gotten confirmation on that possibility.

As far as older games running on the iPhone 4, they load tons faster, so much so that many of my favorite simple games (obligatory Doodle Jump [99¢] plug) have almost no load time at all. Also, unlike the iPad where running games in 2X mode makes most games look blurry or blocky, since the screen size in the iPhone 4 is identical all the old games look just like they did on the previous iPhones. In fact, I'd even go as far as to say they look a little better as often times text is rendered at the higher resolution, and the Retina Display has better color reproduction.

In my initial tests, the battery life on the iPhone 4 seems in line with what Apple has been boasting, and I've both been able to play games and use my phone for other tasks with substantially less drain on my overall battery percentage. None of my tests have been that scientific, but practically everyone with an iPhone 4 is reporting similar battery experiences. A bigger battery obviously means more play time, and who doesn't want that?

Overall the iPhone 4 is most definitely a worthy upgrade for any serious App Store gamer. I'm sure we'll see a similarly specced out iPod touch this fall (or potentially even sooner) that might be worth waiting for if you dislike AT&T, but overall I've been extremely happy with my day of gaming on the iPhone 4.

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Written by admin

June 25, 2010 at 6:15

Hands-On with Ngmoco’s Next First Person Shooter

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temp-image_14_1jpgFrom the same team at ngmoco that brought us the groundbreaking Eliminate Pro, comes their next next first-person shooter. The currently untitled game is set in a present day environment and the action is more heavily grounded in realism than that of its futuristic predecessor. No graphics or artwork has been released yet (embedded image is promotional art for the original Eliminate).

Maps will run the usual gamut of jungle, desert, snow, or city, and it will feature 6 player deathmatch or team deathmatch over 3G and WiFi. Rather than focusing on the player unlocking and choosing different weapons for one character to use in the game, the new game will feature a robust lineup of different weapon class specialists. The 'energized suit' mechanic is also giving way to an interesting – although unproven – system where you queue up what type of mission you want to play, and earn credit based on the level of that mission. It's an intriguing idea, and a welcome change from the energy system in Eliminate, but it remains to be seen how this design choice will fare once unleashed on the masses. One thing I can say for certain, however, is that during my time playing the game, the only thing on my mind was the superb FPS gameplay I was experiencing.

Even in this work-in-progress state, the game is shaping up to be a big step above what Eliminate Pro delivered last year. A staggering 76 different soldiers (read classes) are planned for release, featuring specialists in long range, short range, explosives, and more. Each soldier will have individual statistics and bear arms from an assortment of roughly 20 different weapons. Grenades are now a part of the arsenal and can be lobbed with a simple press of an icon. Auto-firing has been refined, and now features two aiming reticules on screen – a large circle in the middle of the screen with a smaller circle in the center of that. When an enemy is in the sight of the larger circle, you weapon will start firing, although with much less precision. Once you've adjusted your aim to have the inner circle directed on the target, the bullets are much more accurate. The outer circle can vary in size, and therefore accuracy, based on what weapon you're using. It's a good compromise that allows for the ease of auto-fire but still demands you be able to aim precisely for best results. Auto-fire can be turned off entirely if you wish, and firing defaults to the familiar 'double-tap to fire' control found in Eliminate.

As mentioned, the queueing of missions replaces the need for energy. You'll choose from an assortment of gametypes to play, all of which have some sort of wait time associated before becoming active. The missions that take longer to activate will net you the most experience, and if you so desire you can use in-app purchasing to buy 'Intel' that makes the missions initiate more quickly. The system sounded incredibly odd to me at first, but made some sense as it sunk in. If you have somewhere to be for a set amount of hours, like a job or school, then you can just queue up a match or two prior to that and look forward to being rewarded with playtime once you've fulfilled your real life obligations. If waiting around or paying to play isn't your thing, there's the option to jump into matches immediately, although with lesser rewards. Much like Eliminate, it seems there's the possibility of exploiting this if you're willing to pay money and upgrade quicker, although I'll reserve final judgment until I've played the finished product.

When you get fragged in a match, you'll have the option of selecting what class to start your next life as. As you level up in the game, more slots and soldier classes become available for you to choose from. The game requires you to be online to play, even in the single player bot mode, so if you're an iPod touch user with limited access to WiFi there won't be much of interest for you in this game. During our 6 player deathmatch with the developers, the game ran silky smooth and I felt right at home from all my experience playing Eliminate Pro. The two games control nearly identical, and the graphics of the modern settings were definitely impressive. Post game screens include a bevy of statistics, and it's incredibly simple to add recent players to your friend list for future matches. Players will be ranked accordingly, but this will likely remain behind the scenes to avert any predisposed notions before heading into a match with a higher ranked player. Possible mission queueing and ranking issues aside, we'll be anxiously awaiting the release of their next FPS sometime this year.

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Written by admin

June 22, 2010 at 18:15

Upcoming ‘TouchPets: Cats’ – One For the Cat Lovers Out There

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Towards the end of last year, developer ngmoco released TouchPets: Dogs onto the App Store. Despite some odd game design choices (mainly needing to constantly feed your dog to be able to even play with it), it was an engaging game and easily the best virtual pet app available in terms of graphics and depth. But one question that everybody always brought up was “what about cats?” Fear not, feline supporters, as TouchPets: Cats is on it's way. We were given a preview demonstration at a recent ngmoco media event, and our impressions were positive.

The most important new change here is the ability to play with your kitty whenever you like. Gone are the days of needing to feed your pet to get a few minutes of play time. In place of the food mechanic from TouchPets: Dogs is catnip. Having your cat all hopped up on catnip allows him or her to perform actions that will advance you in the game. For instance, coins will collect amongst the furniture of your house over time. Feed kitty some catnip and they will run around collecting all the coins for you. These coins can go towards unlocking new toys, clothing, and furniture items for your house. That's right, there's now multiple rooms in your house that can be customized with different furniture and decorations. There's no more backyard to play in (after all, cats are usually considered more indoorsy), but with multiple rooms and many different items to adorn them out with, this shouldn't be a problem.

Also gone is the forced daily leveling of certain skills. This time around, your cat will actually tell you via a thought bubble what kind of activity it's in the mood to do. You won't be able to teach them any tricks either, but these qualities actually fall in line with the independent nature of cats – they typically march to their own tune. The fantastical careers from TouchPets: Dogs will also not be making an appearance this time, so if you were hoping to have your kitty perform emergency open-heart surgery you may be out of luck. Instead you'll have tiered in-house goals to accomplish and items to earn, and once you complete one tier you unlock a new one in a similar progression to the careers from the last game. The social aspect is ever-present in TouchPets: Cats, and instead of merely inviting a friends pet over to your house to play you can actually visit their entire house for yourself (and vice versa). You'll be able to own multiple cats as well, and a variety of different species are planned for the release.

TouchPets: Cats seems to be coming along nicely, although it's still fairly early in the development process. Some aspects to the game may be changed before it's final incarnation is available. The graphics look very similar to what was in TouchPets: Dogs, and the animations and expressions of the cats are really endearing. It'll be hard not to get attached to these little virtual pets. Best of all, if you just feel like spending time with your cat, there's nothing preventing you from doing so. Goals and coins can be earned at an accelerated rate if you choose to purchase DLC catnip, but it's not a requirement in playing. If you were a fan of the first game, but couldn't help but wish you were playing with a cat instead, keep your eye out for TouchPets: Cats most likely coming before the end of this year.

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Written by admin

June 22, 2010 at 18:15

‘Super QuickHook’ Review – The Spiritual Successor to Hook Champ (Now With Blast Processing)

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Back in the prepubescent days of console gaming, the leap from the 8-bit to the 16-bit generation was monumental. More colors, scrolling backgrounds, gimmicks such as Mode 7 and Blast Processing… and twice as many bits. What were bits? I didn't know, I was just a kid, but it didn't matter. I now had twice as many of them, and they made my video games look better and do things that I could have never imagined. Since those days, I've been just as devout a gamer as I was back then, but have yet to ever really feel that same magic of entering into the 16-bit generation. Little did I know that nearly two decades later I would capture that feeling again with Super QuickHook. The followup to developer Rocketcat's inaugural game Hook Champ, Super QuickHook takes everything great about the first game and expands upon it in every way. If you were a fan of Hook Champ already, then you most likely instantly purchased this game. But if you were like some people who never quite got into it, Super QuickHook makes some smart changes that may just win you over this time around.

Hook Champ was said to be inspired by 8-bit graphics, and Super QuickHook takes it a step further and adopts a beautiful 16-bit style. But it truly is merely “inspired by”, as the game produces graphics that would have never been possible on the 16-bit machines of the 90's. It looks simply stunning in motion. There's so much life in the little details of this game that even if you aren't a fan of 8 or 16-bit graphics you'll find it hard not to be impressed with Super QuickHook. It's bright and colorful, and the levels are nicely varied. Small touches like a flock of birds scattering from a tree as you pass by, or objects on the ground getting kicked up as you trot over them contribute to make the game come to life. The characters are all interesting and well designed, with no shortage of hats to adorn upon them. There's even a couple of extra playable characters you can unlock, with more coming down the line via updates. The music is also superb, fitting with the retro style of the game, and thankfully there's much more variety in music and sound effects than there was in Hook Champ.

Gameplay-wise, the same general concept from Hook Champ is carried over to Super QuickHook. You'll swing your character from left to right using a grappling hook, collecting coins along the way to spend in the game's shop on upgraded equipment and fabulous hats. While it seems mostly the same on the surface, two very important changes have been made to cater the game to a more casual audience. First and foremost, there is nothing chasing you through the levels (at least in the story mode) that forces you to either keep moving or suffer instant death. You're free to explore the levels at will and take as much time as you need to complete them. The other big change is the addition of checkpoints throughout the levels, so if you have a fatal mishap you don't have to start all the way over from the beginning as long as you've crossed one of these checkpoints.

These were the two biggest complaints from people that didn't end up liking Hook Champ, and it's great to see them rectified here. But it thankfully doesn't dilute the experience for the hardcore players either, since your final score for each level is based on time and coins collected. There's still plenty of incentive to find the perfect line through the level in order to net every coin, or figure out a new trick that can shave off a fraction of a second from your time. Another complaint you'd hear about Hook Champ was the brutal difficulty of some of the later levels, requiring pinpoint accuracy with the grappling hook to complete. Well, those type of levels are still here but are infinitely more tolerable thanks to the changes made. There's also reason to go back and replay each level, as you'll earn medals based on collecting all the coins, beating a developer's score, and finding the secrets stashed in each one.

And then there's Avalanche Mode. In addition to the 18 freestanding levels that are included, Avalanche Mode is an endless high score level that's randomly generated from over 60 different smaller set pieces each time you play. Unlike the normal levels, you have the constant threat of the avalanche chasing you as you go, much like the ghost from Hook Champ. You can also collect coins in this mode, making it a nice way to earn some extra cash for the shop. Avalanche Mode could easily sell as a completely separate game by itself, and has just as much depth and replayability as similar high score games like Canabalt or Robot Unicorn Attack. Rocketcat has also hinted that a second, harder Avalanche mode will be added to the game in the coming weeks. This mode will likely get the most play time from gamers, as it offers near-infinite replay value.

I haven't been this impressed with the evolution of a game of this nature since the original Metroid spawned the phenomenally brilliant Super Metroid. It won't alienate previous fans with the changes it's made, as it still retains the great feel of Hook Champ, but also intelligently caters to casual and hardcore gamers, offering the best of both worlds. The graphics are gorgeous, and despite the retro inspiration Super QuickHook is visually impressive even by today's standards. It offers so much content and such high production values, it's as near-perfect as any iPhone game I've played thus far, and is bound to be an even greater cult-classic than even Hook Champ was. It's a shining example of how a sequel should be done, and will live a long happy life on my device forever.

App Store Link: Super QuickHook, $1.99

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Written by admin

June 17, 2010 at 10:15

‘Galcon Fusion’ for iPad On Sale – 75% Off for a Week

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iOS developer Phil Hassey is running an 75%-off sale on Galcon Fusion [App Store], the iPad take on his popular fast-paced space strategy game, Galcon [App Store], winner of the IGF Mobile 2009 Innovation in Mobile Game Design award. Normally $7.99, the game is available for just $1.99 for the next seven days. The sale coincides with a gameplay contest the developer is currently running to see who is first to achieve the Grand Admiral rank in the game's multiplayer mode. (The winner takes home a Galcon t-shirt and a piece of original artwork hand-drawn by Hassey himself.)

Galcon begins with a galactic playfield filled with planets of varying size.  The green planets belong to the player, neutral planets are grey, and planets of any other color belong to the enemy.  The goal is to take over all the planets.

The size of the planet indicates the production rate of the planet.  A number appears on each planet indicating how many ships exist on that planet–for neutral and enemy planets, this is the number of ships that must be defeated in order to take control of a particular planet.  The player clicks on one or more green planets and then drags to a target planet in order to set ships in motion to invade said planet.

Galcon Fusion takes full advantage of the iPad's large display to deliver really a deeper play experience than is possible on the iPhone. And, like the original Galcon, Galcon Fusion provides a truly excellent, real-time strategy game experience. Since it's initial release, Galcon Fusion received a 1.1 update that enabled multiplayer action, doubled the framerate, and improved the overall graphics and lighting effects.

App Store Link: Galcon Fusion, $1.99 (iPad Only)

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Written by admin

June 16, 2010 at 22:15

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