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Total War Battles: Shogun [ $6.99 ] is not perfect. Anyone who tells you differently is either lying or particularly forgiving in regards to an absence of visual cues. Nonetheless, while Creative Assembly and Sega’s first attempt to bring their award-winning franchise to the iOS platform is one pockmarked with problems, it doesn’t change the fact that this real-time strategy game remains an excellent addition to the App Store.

Set somewhere in late 16th century Japan, Total War Battles opens to a familiar tune: an overcast sky, one army torching another army’s infrastructure to the ground, a father passing on his final instructions to his son. As the earnest heir, it is your responsibility to seek out those who are responsible for the tragedy that befell your clan and to exterminate them with extreme prejudice.

While hardly the most inspired premise out there, the story works well enough as an excuse to visit slow, well thought-out havoc onto opposing factions. Of course, it kind of helps that the game is also lovely to behold. Though not on par with games like Infinity Blade II, Total War Battles: Shogun still boasts of well-animated military men, excellent weather effects, decent voice acting and a suitably epic soundtrack.

Gameplay in Total War Battles: Shogun consists of you first picking one of the campaign-based missions currently available to you or an EXP stage from the world map. Depending on the nature of the level you’ve selected, you can either expect to be called upon to beat down on a number of units, defeats a certain type of enemy or to participate in a round of city planning.

Yes, you heard me. Should you choose to accept the responsibility, you’ll find yourself taking a break from the rampant warfare to work on stuff like figuring out how to jam eight shrines into a less-than-spacious map. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Buildings here come with their own set of requirements and restrictions. For example, shrines will not permit themselves to be constructed next to the vice-den that is your average trading post but will require the proximity of a lumber mill in order to exist. (No, I have no idea why either).

As for the rest of the game, it’s a little more straightforward. In between assembling the correct assortment of unit-producing buildings and ensuring that they remain in serviceable condition (enemies will do their best to burn them down), you’re going to have to send your army at your foes. Simple, right? There’s a small twist. While you’re capable of manipulating their frontal charge, you will not be able to tell your units to move back. Retreat is impossible for them as they apparently subscribe to the laws of Bushido. Additionally, you’re also going to have to take the fact that your battalions are incapable of turning on a dime and the fact that there’s a cooldown associated with your navigation-related commands into consideration.

Needless to say, this isn’t your average hair-trigger, ‘300 actions-per-minute or bust’ sort of RTS. Forethought is mandatory here. To make matters more interesting, you’ll be able to utilize a certain amount of units at a time, something that can spell life or death. If you throw everything you own into a frontal assault, you may find your home base decimated even as you watch on helplessly. Mistakes aren’t easily forgiven here.

There’s a fairly decent variety of units and buildings, by the way, one augmented by a considerable amount of available upgrades. With more than 10 hours of expected game time, gorgeous aesthetics and half-decent voice acting, Total War Battles: Shogun should represent one of the pinnacles of the iOS-based real-time strategy genre, right? Maybe.

As I’ve mentioned early on, Total War Battles: Shogun is not without its flaws. To be fair, they aren’t big flaws but they’re certainly the sort that can niggle. Units don’t come with health bars and buildings will not provide information about their structural integrity in an easy accessible fashion. There is nary a number to be found; you won’t ever get to figure out precisely how much of a defense boost your monks provide. These issues aren’t exactly game changers but if you’re the sort who likes their statistics, you might find yourself bristling at your inability to accurately calculate the likelihood of a win.

As for the multiplayer, I haven’t had the chance to get someone to sit down to poke at it with me. Unsurprisingly, Total War Battles: Shogun only supports 1vs1 same-device multiplayer, something that is generally best played on the iPad as opposed to its more diminutive cousins.

Still, if you’re willing to overlook the aforementioned issues, Total War Battles: Shogun is a refreshing change from the App Store’s barrage of angry avians, physics-based puzzler and match-3 games.

TouchArcade Rating:

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Chillingo’s penchant for publishing dual-stick shooters returns with the release of Lock ‘n’ Load [ $0.99 ], a content-rich title developed by GameLab that hits all the right notes for the genre. While a lot of that content is initially locked away a bit tighter than I’d like, the gameplay, visual-style and presentation make up for that setback, leading to a game well worth checking out for the dual-stick shooter crowd.

Lock ‘n’ Load puts you in the role of a hockey-mask wearing protagonist taking on an evil magic-wielding girl whose minions trampled his garden bed. As you can imagine, the tone of the game is very tongue-in-cheek and does a great job making fun of itself. While the story obviously takes a backseat to the gameplay, I still enjoyed it more than most other dual-stick shooters, including the twist at the completion of the main campaign. Still, what’s more important is content, and Lock ‘n’ Load certainly has a lot of enemies to throw at you.

You’ll be taking on those hordes of minions with your choice of three weapons (you’ll have to unlock two of them) through mostly standard DSS gameplay. I say mostly because Lock ‘n’ Load does a great job spicing up the gameplay with good plot pacing and a variety of mini games. You’ll do collection quests, first-person carnival shooting – even a Space Invaders-inspired stint. Of course, there’s also a ton of opportunities to simply mow down the mobs. A second, harder difficulty is also available, along with a second unlockable campaign (and challenge missions) that focuses more on gameplay than story.

Visually, Lock ‘n’ Load looks impressive with a wide variety of backdrops and character models. I was particularly impressed with the assortment of environments used across the campaign, each with their own graphical effects. In addition, the game runs at a good frame rate and looked exceptionally nice on my iPhone 4S. Relatedly, I thought Lock ‘n’ Load did a great job with its auditory aspects, with the music setting the mood appropriately and decent voiceovers accompanying the story cutscenes and combat. It did get a little annoying hearing your character repeat the same catchphrases over and over but in general I thought the voiceovers did much more good than harm.

One of my few complaints about Lock ‘n’ Load is the way it handles unlocks with its in-game currency. Every upgrade and unlockable requires cash, which can be randomly dropped by enemies while playing the campaign or purchased en masse via IAP. As is becoming custom, while you can earn a decent amount of cash through a campaign run it won’t be nearly enough to unlock all the content.

Unfortunately, I think the amount of cash dropped in-game should definitely be adjusted. I ran through the entire campaign (with several restarts on some missions) and didn’t even earn nearly enough cash to unlock the first tier of upgrades. When you include all the challenge levels, skins, and second story mode, players will end up having to rerun through completed levels many times before they can earn enough cash to unlock everything.

On top of all that, unlocks don’t appear to transfer between iOS devices (unless you have the all-encompassing ‘premium pass’) meaning that simply spending a few bucks on cash to unlock extras isn’t going to cut it if you want to play on multiple devices. Also worth mentioning is a crash bug that’s affected some users. An update with a fix is already submitted, and in the meantime if this is affecting you turning on Airplane mode should work as a temporary fix.

Even if you have an adverse reaction to IAP, Lock ‘n’ Load still offers a decent amount of content with more that can be eventually unlocked (even if it takes a long time). When you combine that with the excellent visual style and content diversity, Lock ‘n’ Load becomes a highly recommended game. While we’ve had our share of good dual stick shooters, it’s rare to find one as well-rounded and content-rich (even if you have to unlock a lot of it). Gamers remotely interested in dual stick shooters owe it to themselves to check out this title.

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Tentacle Wars HD [ $2.99 (HD)], the new title from FDG Entertainment, is a port of the online Flash game of the same name by Lumarama. It’s a fast-paced iPad strategy game that reminds me a lot of Galcon [$1.99 / Free ], another iOS strategy game from 2008. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s “Galcon with tentacles” …along with superior graphics, ambient music and better sound effects.

Playing Tentacle Wars is like being a general overlooking a battlefield. Although in this case the battlefield exists inside the body of an alien life-form. The battles are between antibodies, spores, pulsars and embryos. Each cell can use DNA energy tentacles to attack each other. If your green antibody cells can turn all the other cells green, you’ve cured the zone. Once you clear all the zones, you’ve saved the alien life-form.

To launch an attack, you swipe a line from your green cell to any other cell in range. The more powerful your cell (as indicated by a number inside it), the further it’s tentacles can extend. You can target a red cell (enemy) to engage in battle, target a neutral grey cell to claim it, or target one of your own cells to transfer energy to where it’s needed.

The battles are based on a simple premise: The more powerful cell(s) always win, every time. So if your cell has a weaker strength it will slowly be drained until it’s defeated. But, if you attack the same opponent with tentacles from another cell simultaneously, you can defeat it, because your two cells are collectively more powerful. So, as in real war, choosing your targets carefully (but quickly) is important.

Once your tentacle has latched on to another cell, you can either remain connected to slowly drain it or swipe across your tentacle to cut it. Interestingly, it makes a difference where you sever your tentacle. So, if you slice it right in the middle, half the resources return to the attacking cell and the other half do a rapid attack-burst (ie: a 50-50 split). Whereas, if you cut your tentacle right at one end, all the resources in the tentacle will quickly retreat or attack, depending which end you slice.

To add variation, there’s impenetrable barriers within some levels, purple cells with superior intelligence to overcome, and limits for how powerful a single cell can become within each level. Each cell type also has a limit to the number of tentacles it can extend at one. These factors, plus some interesting level designs, encourage you to modify your strategies to suit each level.

The single player campaign (2 worlds, 40 levels total) is entertaining and satisfying, but far too short. By the time you’re settling in, the single player campaign is over. Additional levels are promised – but randomly-generated levels would be better. Lastly, the campaigns are rather anti-climatic once you complete each world, as nothing really happens, except a small note in the corner of the iPad screen confirming a Game Center achievement.

Multiplayer mode offers two-player online action via a random match-up or by challenging a friend, via Game Center. Choose an arena and color, then engage in a microscopic war ….and in my case, get totally owned by superior players. The online play worked flawlessly once started, but it was often unable or slow to complete a random match-up. That isn’t ideal since the single player mode is completed so quickly, but isn’t a problem if you’re playing friends online.

Tentacle Wars blends strategic gameplay with arcade-style swipes and cuts to create a fast-paced strategy game that’s ideally suited for touch screens. The game is similar to Galcon, but has enough innovation to feel fresh and new. Yet, it needs more levels and online players, otherwise the fun feels as if it’s over too quickly. According to our discussion thread, an iPhone/iPod touch version is expected around May or June.

TouchArcade Rating:

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Late last month we mentioned that TouchArcade Game of the Year Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP [$4.99 / $2.99 ] had been nominated for nearly every category it could vaguely fit in at the Canadian Video Game Awards. If you follow the development team on Twitter, this was spoiled over the weekend when the actual award show was held, but here’s what Sworcery took home:

• Best Game on the Go
• Best Downloadable Game
• Best Indie Game
• Best Original Music
• Innovation Award

These awards are selected by a jury, with the exception of Game of the Year which was a public internet vote kind of thing. (Game of the Year was FIFA Soccer 12, by the way.) What makes sweeping this awards show so amazing is that S&S was up against “real” AAA titles like Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Assassin’s Creed Revelations.

If you haven’t played the game yet, you’re running out of reasons. Check out our review for more details. Oh, and if you know someone who might be interested in the game but doesn’t have an iOS device, it was recently released on Steam as well.

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Back when Supermono released EpicWin [$2.99], its to-do list RPG, we spent some time contemplating whether adding game mechanics to productivity apps would really help people be more productive. That’s the question that rests at the heart of all discussions about “gamification”—do carefully tuned game mechanics drive us to perform tasks we might otherwise ignore? Has Farmville claimed so many man-hours because it’s fun, or because it’s designed to feed on impulses that could be better used for good?

Don’t count it as a blow against gamification, but, personally, EpicWin never quite clicked. I found the experience bars and loot rewards intriguing, but the work I had to put into maintaining my tasks outweighed the benefits. More recently I’ve found myself back in the world of gamified productivity with the help of a to-do app that doesn’t look game-like on the surface at all: Realmac Software’s Clear [$1.99]. Beneath all its lovely minimalistic design you’ll find the potential for a compelling game experience. With today’s update, Clear realizes some of that potential—and it brings a few easter eggs for the discerning iOS gamer along for the ride.

Clear launched with a bang, thanks to plenty of well-placed hype. Reviews at the time noted the simplicity of its design asthetic, the elegance of its colors. Those colors were customizable with a few built in theme options. Within a few hours of release, though, buzz started to build around secret unlockable themes people were finding tucked away in the app.

If you’ve ever felt the urge to master a game, to earn 100% completion on something, you might understand the effect that had on me. At first I only hoped to unlock a theme that was a little different because I wasn’t too fond of the baked in options. Then I had to have them all. The first two were easy—and I’m about to get into details, so stop reading and just grab the update if you want to go in unspoiled— one is unlocked for having Tweetbot [$2.99] installed. Another, Scorched, opens up if you follow any of the app’s creators on Twitter through the app’s menu.

The third is the one that made me realize gamification could work for me. The Socialite theme is unlocked by completing 100 tasks and then posting about it online. As soon as I heard that I starting using Clear obsessively. I added every important deadline, chore and errand and diligently checked them off. By the time I hit 100, I’d formed a habit. Sure, I unlocked the theme I’d been waiting for, but I also found myself more organized for it.

Then there was the letdown: with nothing left to unlock, Clear went back to being a pretty little to-do app that was great to use but not particularly game-like. Today’s update brings a return to that early entertainment with seven new themes to discover.

Three of the themes mirror the original set. There’s a shameless self-promotion option, which rewards you with a theme for gifting Clear when prompted. It’s called “Gifted.” The Path theme is a reward for having Path [Free] installed, just like the theme for using Tweetbot. And then there’s the self-improvement theme: Ultraviolet unlocks when you use the app each day for 7 days straight.

There’s a fundamental rule of any productivity system: you have to actually use it for it to do any good. Ultraviolet could provide that little tick of motivation someone like me would need to keep up the effort that requires, just like achievements might make you play a game longer than you might otherwise intend. There’s also a fourth unlockable theme, Night Owl, that encourages you to be productive after dark, between 12 and 3 a.m.

Now here’s the cool part, the part that reveals Clear’s affinity for games. Today’s update has within it the seeds of three other unlocks. Each one ties into a game: The Heist [$2.99], Temple Run [Free] and Bumpy Road [$2.99]. Those games will need to update before this works (The Heist’s update should come mid-week, and the others are on the way), but once they do we’ll get new themes in Clear for each of those games we have installed.

We’re pretty fond of all three of the games—hit the links to read our reviews—and any of them would be well worth the download with or without the theme. So far, the apps that accompany Clear themes seem hand-picked for quality, and these games are definitely no different. This update also brings in a selection of fixes and features, but the best thing here is using a to-do app that really is all fun and games.

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Near the end of one of the “slowest” weeks we’ve had in recent memory, we casted a pod for mass earhole consumption. If you’re not a fan of our off-topic weeks you might want to avoid this one. But, do note you’ll be missing out on a lot of fun discussion: at the top, we dive into the recently released Xbox Live Arcade indie title Fez and ponder what an iPad port would look like, spit a little bit of game about next-generation consoles, and orally review hot new games like Burger Cat. In our second segment, we discuss anything and everything, but eventually get to your user questions.

It was a weird week, so we’ve got a weird show for you. If you’d like to listen, please do so via those handy-dandy links below. Additionally, you could subscribe to us on Zune or iTunes to get our latest episodes the second they hit the Internet.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-048.mp3, 34.4MB

Here are your show notes:

GAMES

• Trees of Life [$.99]
• MacGuffin’s Curse [$1.99 / Lite]
• Wawa Land [$.99]

JARED’S KITTY KORNER

• Burger Cat [$.99]

FRONT PAGE

• A ‘Battlefield 3‘ Companion App Hits
• Musical Chairs: ‘S&S‘ Hits Steam, Steam title Planned for iOS

Cutlass Cove, $0.99 / Lite – Cutlass Cove by independent developer Cheeky Mammoth is an action-packed pirate game that combines nautical combat with the strategic use of powerful spells and munitions. In Cutlass Cove you control a pirate ship, firing cannons at enemies and using voodoo spells to complete 60 challenging objectives and acquire 20 unique ranks.

Cutlass Cove is an intense pirate skirmish on the high seas where you summon whirlpools, unleash tornado storms, ignite brandy slicks, fire cannonballs imbued with destructive molten force, captain a ghost ship and feed your enemies to the sharks.

Cutlass Cove is a universal app that is available now in the App Store for $0.99.

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Though we generally file match-three titles under the puzzle genre, there isn’t often much that’s puzzling about them. Swap a few gems, watch cascades collapse—all good fun, but not exactly a stimulating mental challenge. Cubis Creatures [$0.99 / Lite] is one of the rare matching games that requires—and rewards—putting on your thinking cap.

Cubis Creatures is based off the popular PC game Cubis. It shares the same fundamentals: an isometric view, a grid of cubes, and loose cubes you shoot into the mix from two of the edges. But Cubis Creatures is entirely its own game, with plenty of great matching and a side of adorable art and cutesy creatures. Not a bad combo, in my books.

If you pick up Cubis Creatures, you’ll get access to four creatures, creatures that must be woken by, err, matching cubes in their mouths. Each one gives you 20 levels to work through, and there are two more critters available for purchase. That’s a hefty chunk of content, but if you manage to burn through it you’ll be happy to know there are also daily score tournaments that are well worth checking out.

Now things get complicated. Cubis Creatures is played on a square grid that has three vertical levels, only the bottom of which you can actively effect. You can slide cubes in from two of the sides, and they’ll continue on until they hit an obstruction. If that obstruction is solid, they’ll stop. If not, they’ll knock it forward a space first. If there happen to be two other cubes of the same color at that location, they’ll match and clear off the screen. If you’re lucky or clever that will set off a chain reaction, a combo (or “cubis”) or more skyrocketing your score.

Each level has two meters: a timer and a cube limit. Hit the latter before the former runs out and you’ll complete the level. But to do things right and claim three stars you’ll need to collect all the star cubes in the level. Suddenly it doesn’t necessarily make sense to make every match, because if you hit the cube limit before collecting all the stars you’ll rake in a lousy score for your efforts. Yeah, that’s right. Strategy time.

There are a lot of ways to manipulate the board, randomly granted as they might be. You can launch bombs that scatter the cubes they don’t blow up. Lasers can take out any single cube, no matter how impenetrable. There are even dual-colored cubes that can (and must) match with both colors before clearing. You’ll need them all, because the level designs get increasingly devilish. Many can be puzzled through, leaving you to pick the right spots to set off the perfect chain reaction. Others require a good dose of brute force.

Cubis Creatures is both smart and fun, making it a worthy successor to the Cubis titles of old. It also fits in nicely amongst its modern peers, with Game Center support, lovely art, and a cheery soundtrack—the whole package when it comes to top-notch presentation. It deserves a look, whether you’re a long-time fan or a first timer. And really, who could say no to such darling creatures?

TouchArcade Rating:

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A long time ago, in July of 2010 to be exact, a little iPhone game by the name of Prisoner 84 [ $2.99 ] from Hidden Games had me sleeping with a nightlight. See, Prisoner 84 is a 3rd person survival horror game, and despite being on the tiny screen of my phone, it managed to pack in one of the most creepy experiences that I’ve had on any platform.

Now, I don’t want to oversell anything here. At face value, Prisoner 84 is a fairly basic, slow-paced 3rd person action game. It can be completed in just a couple of hours (or longer if you really explore), the various puzzles in the game are pretty straightforward, and the graphics aren’t really anything to write home about.

However, don’t let any of that turn you off. Prisoner 84 absolutely nails one aspect of horror games, and arguably the most important one: atmosphere. Footsteps echo in the otherwise dead silent halls of the cellblock setting. Soft murmurs and growls suddenly sound off in the distance. Gruesome scenes of violence hint that there’s something out there responsible and those who came before you weren’t so lucky. It can be downright chilling.

I could go on and on about how much I love the mood of Prisoner 84, but you can just read all about it in our original review. Really, what I’m more interested in talking about is the substantial update that has just hit this nearly two-year old game. Prisoner 84 launched in 2010, and aside from a maintenance and bug fix update that hit shortly after release, it’s been untouched since. That’s why I was completely blown away to see an update waiting for me in iTunes just the other day.

The game is now Universal and runs at Retina resolution on the iPhone 4 models and the new iPad. Also, on iPads and 4th generation devices additional graphical flourishes and more detailed character models have been included. The original release of Prisoner 84 sported some really blocky characters, and post-update things have really been improved.

It also looks fantastic in Retina resolution, though there are plenty of low-res textures you’ll run into that remind you you’re playing an older game. Still, from where Prisoner 84 was at originally, the difference is night and day thanks to these improvements. (Trailer is from the old version, FYI).

Rounding out the update is multitasking support, an improved user interface, and various gameplay tweaks – all welcome additions. I love when developers spring new updates on their customers, even if a game is years old, and if you missed out on Prisoner 84 before then now would be a great time to check it out. Just keep in mind that it is very slow-paced, and because it’s an older game it’s not quite as cutting edge visually. But if you can appreciate a moody atmosphere that will creep your pants off, then Prisoner 84 is among the best on the App Store.

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Huge! This afternoon, 2K Games released an iPhone version of Sid Meier’s Pirates [$2.99]. This new-look take on the classic action adventure game first hit iPad last June, well after the Wii version its based on hit retail shelves. Despite its age, it’s still a fabulous game. 2K successfully leveraged what the Pirates brand has always done best and added a few new, fun, and meaningful mechanics and systems on top of that. Our original review is still available on the Interwebs, if you’d like to examine the game more closely.

This appears to be a straight-up port of that version for phones, so don’t expect to see anything new. If this is your second or third time through, we heartily suggest being completely chaotic and evil. The amount of disdain people have for you and the amount of havoc you’ll be able to get away with is totally worth the effort.

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As you may know, the App store is drenched with cutesy looking physics puzzlers that all start to look the same after a while. They may seem like overload, but when it comes to the stark difference between them and a game like Crow [$2.99], they simply make it stand out even more than it already does, like a rainbow standing behind a horseman of the apocalypse. Everyone loves their cute time wasters, but watch out with this one, because you’re about to get a distinctly gothic change of pace.

Right out of the gate, Crow has something to it when it comes to atmosphere. The game’s saturated color palette brought up memories of Cyan’s Myst series, which I will take basically any excuse to mention in conversation, gaming-related or otherwise. Suffice to say I felt comforted the moment I fired up Crow. The adventure title puts you in the role of the black winged bird, gliding soundlessly over the skies of a foreign land. You’ll soon learn that a creature called The Scarecrow poses a threat, and it must be cursed by you in order for you to gain its power. If you can vanquish it, other foes will surely follow.

To accomplish this, you’ll play in two separate gameplay sections. In the first, you’ll fly over a patch of land searching for story points and trinkets (the latter which will earn you skill points to buff up your powers).To control the crow, you use your finger to drag it in the direction you want it to fly in. I was not crazy about the controls as I felt like my finger was in the way of the action more than half the time, but I adjusted to it as I found the world very interesting. Once I had collected enough story points, I had the opportunity to challenge The Scarecrow, which takes you to the game’s second mode.

In these boss fights, you fly around with your foe on rails and choose certain options, such as to scratch it with your claws or to shield yourself. Each foe will react to different types of tactics, but the most interesting part of this battle comes at the end, where the player is given a choice to “curse” or “spare” the opponent. Each choice affects what direction the crow develops in, and he can end up very good or very bad. This will also affect your scores after you finish the game.

Crow also has leaderboards and achievements for you to play with, and you can also unlock Challenge Levels using your current skill set (based on what part of the game you are in). These take you back to the on rails gameplay and have you basically collect stuff and rack up points.

Crow’s good looks have to be shook off a bit before you can reasonably decide whether it is fun — because it is VERY pretty. It also feels like a flying version of Infinity Blade at times. I’d say the attractive atmosphere and music buff down the fact that it could have used more fine tuning. The missions where you collect trinkets feel a little boring, for instance, but I really enjoyed the on-rails fights. With a game that presents such a rich-looking world, it almost felt weird to be merely collecting things in it — I wanted to learn more about it, but I wasn’t really given the opportunity.

I think it’s safe to say Crow is a mixed bag, but is still worth picking up because it so much uniqueness to offer. Because it does look so stellar, you can’t help but wish those little design flaws (like trading a d-pad for your finger being in the middle of the screen at all times) weren’t there. Still, developer Sunside shows that their in-house platform (called Radiance) has guts, and I can’t help but wonder what they’ll do with it from here on out.

TouchArcade Rating:

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