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I’ll be the first to admit, when the discussion first started on giving Zach Gage’s SpellTower [ $0.99 ] five stars in our review last year, I distinctly remember raising an eyebrow and saying, “Guys, it’s a word game.” Truth be told, until then I hadn’t spent much time with SpellTower, but once I did… I was hooked. So hooked that this simple looking word game wound up as an honorable mention for our game of the year.

Nissa explains what the game is all about:

SpellTower isn’t bogged down with complicated rules or conditional abilities. The tutorial is only a handful of screens expressing a handful of simple rules. You can make a word as long as it’s in the game’s dictionary and it’s at least three letters long. Words that are five letters or longer clear letters all around them. You can’t make the same word twice, and if a letter has a number on it, it needs to be used in a word of at least that length. Finally, uncommon letters like Z, J, Q and X clear their rows if they’re used in a word.

Those rules will carry you through SpellTower’s four game modes, which change up how the board is presented. Tower mode gives you 150 letters to earn the best score you can. Puzzle mode adds a row to the board each time you make a word, and if any column hits the top your game will end. Extreme Puzzle mode follows the same rules, but requires longer words faster and more often. Rush mode adds new rows over time, putting you on the clock.

A fifth game mode was added in a recent update, introducing local multiplayer. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise, but, spoilers, it’s even more fun than just playing SpellTower by your lonesome. This update has also revitalized my love for this game, and I’ve spent the past week absolutely engrossed in SpellTower.

Since the update landed, SpellTower has been rocketing up the iPad charts, and to attempt to push the game over the edge and take on Angry Birds and Draw Something, its price is being slashed to 99¢. If you’re even vaguely interested in word games, you need to pick up SpellTower. Heck, if your mom has an iPhone, tell her to get SpellTower, I bet she’d love it, and maybe love you a little more in the process for recommending an awesome video game.

Tell her TouchArcade sent you.

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Last week we previewed our upcoming app for TouchArcade. We’ve been anxious to get the app finally released into the hands of our users and have been working toward that goal for many months.

Our original plan had been to launch it on Monday of this week. Unfortunately, our lead web/backend developer was in a terrible accident over the weekend and is in critical condition. We are still hopeful for a full and meaningful recovery. Given the circumstances, we were unable to launch the TouchArcade App as planned.

We are still working hard towards that goal, and another of our developers is familiarizing himself with the code so that we can launch in the near future. Thank you for your patience.

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Growing up as an avid Mac gamer in the 1990s, I was a huge fan of RPGs put out by the folks at Spiderweb Software. Not particularly known for their graphical prowess (even back then), these shareware games of old focused more on exploration, narrative and, most important, freedom. Avernum: Escape From The Pit [$9.99] is the second game from Spiderweb to hit iOS, serving as the pinnacle for these RPG tenets and should be looked at as a gold standard for iOS RPGs.

First, a brief history lesson is in order. Avernum for iPad is a remake of the 1999 Avernum title, which itself was a rewrite of the 1995 Mac shareware title Exile: Escape from the Pit. While each iteration brought visual and combat upgrades, the same open-ended exploration system remained. The same holds true for Avernum for iPad, which receives overhauls in both its visual and character/battle systems.

In Avernum: Escape From the Pit, the Empire rules the surface. Anyone that crosses this oppressive regime is banished to underground region of Avernum, a world unto itself that replaces the sun with luminescent moss and the sky with endless caverns. The world, along with all its inhabitants comes to life in the game’s deep narrative which could easily span its own novel. It’s this world that you’re violently thrown into, and it’s in this world that you are free to do what you wish.

It’s this freedom that makes Avernum such a compelling and enjoyable experience. From the moment you customize your four person party at the onset, you are allowed to do what you wish. Sure, you are presented with some overarching decisions as you spend more time in the world (complete with three separate endings), but like all great RPGs, the true reward is in the journey. Whether you choose to be a willing asset of the struggling makeshift kingdom in Avernum, a lone wanderer trying to make do in the cavernous wild, or an agent of destruction and chaos, all paths are available in this title.

In terms of character development, there’re attributes, abilities and traits to customize, each being open to all characters. You really can’t appreciate the sheer amount of options you have as opposed to most other RPGs as a plethora of weapons, armor, abilities and spells supplement the core character stats mentioned above. Fans of the original Avernum series will notice that some of the skills have been streamlined. However, the options have been consolidated for the better, preserving the majority of the customizability while making the game far more accessible.

For those looking for a rundown of Avernum’s gameplay, you need not look any further than our review of Avadon: The Black Fortress, Spiderweb Software’s initial iOS offering that debuted last year. The same isometric, turn-based combat system returns, complete with various difficulties, an auto-save function and a new collection of achievements to earn. As with Avadon, the touch-based control system works well enough, although there are occasions of imprecise tapping, making your characters potentially act in ways you did not mean.

One of the side effects of open-ended gameplay is a shift in exploration and gameplay style. In the world of Avernum, you can and most likely will run into areas that you simply should have not stumbled onto. Enemy fortresses may have hidden rooms (complete with warning signs) featuring overpowered enemies that may wipe your party out. This leads to a lot of saving/reloading as well as a lot of backtracking should you choose to return to previously visited locales to beat that one powerful demon. Fans of streamlined experiences may balk at this gameplay style, but I love the variety as it sets the tone of Avernum as a chaotic world that isn’t as clear-cut as it may appear.

As we mentioned earlier, Spiderweb Software games are homages to classic 90s RPGs in many aspects. That includes the visuals and music, which are simplistic and work just enough to provide ambience. And yet, there were many occasions while playing in which I felt far more attached to the events unfolding than I have while playing any ‘next-gen’ RPG. The amount of effort and care put into the narrative, quests and even level design create an atmosphere that is sorely missed in other titles (assuming you’re willing to lend an able imagination to fill in the gaps).

While Avadon served as a streamlined ‘introductory’ experience to the world of classic RPGs, Avernum (as evidenced above) removes all the handholding in order to create a more open-ended experience. I believe this choice makes Avernum the more fulfilling and satisfying title, as well. The storytelling, customization, and sheer amount of content make this RPG a true powerhouse on iOS. There’s also a certain amount of nostalgic satisfaction as newer gamers are able to experience a world made popular during the Mac shareware golden age. While there will undoubtedly be some who turn away because of the retro look and feel, a truly rewarding experience awaits anyone else willing to dive into the pit.

TouchArcade Rating:

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Crescent Moon Games’ Paper Monsters [ Free ] hit the App Store earlier this year, and we liked it quite a bit in our review. It’s a slick looking platformer that’s highly inspired by the Mario series, and it wouldn’t be that big of a stretch to make some Little Big Planet comparisons. Regardless, it’s a load of fun, and is available for free on the App Store right now.

I dig the boss battles, the auto-running dash mode is cool, and the game has a great overall feel. If you don’t have it already, make sure you snag it during this promotion.

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Being a fan of Diablo-style loot grinds, I was pretty excited to try DevilDark: The Fallen Kingdom [$0.99], Triniti Interactive’s take on the classic dungeon hack and slash. For the most part, DevilDark actually does a good job recreating the experience with nice visuals and a decent amount of weapons and armor. Unfortunately, simplistic gameplay combined with some general miscues hold the title back from stardom.

DevilDark follows the story of a wandering (and clueless) adventurer that sets out on a journey to save the world from being ravaged by an evil demon, who had been unleashed by a power-hungry king years beforehand. You’ll slowly accomplish this by doing a bunch of quests that involve fetching items and taking down hordes of baddies. An occasional boss battle permeates the monotony, but for the most part, DevilDark stays close to its dungeon crawling roots. While I realize that narrative may not be the priority in such a game, I would have liked something more than the intro cutscene and what little I can glean from quest texts.

One of the keys to a successful dungeon hack and slash is a robust inventory. While DevilDark doesn’t provide the limitless customization of say a Diablo, there’s more than enough loot to keep you occupied. Additional features such as bonuses for wearing groups of armor as well as elemental infusion do a great job adding some much-needed customization. The inclusion of a slot machine that has the potential to toss out some high-leveled gear is a nice touch, as well. However, I wasn’t a fan of the fact that some weapons and armor required currency that could only be purchased via IAP. Suffice to say, these special items aren’t required to complete the game – just expect to grind a lot more to pick up the normal currency items.

DevilDark’s visual engine is another standout feature in the game. The cell-shaded style looks great on Retina-enabled iOS devices. While Retina Display compatibility extends to the new iPad, please note that there’s currently a UI bug that’s been identified and should be fixed relatively soon. It’s also nice that items equipped on your character change his appearance. The music and character design do a decent job reflecting the overall tongue-in-cheek presentation, although the music does get a bit repetitive as you begin playing the same maps continuously.

Speaking of repetition, gameplay is quite simplistic, even for a dungeon hack and slash. There’s little in terms of additional abilities (which are tied to which weapon you wield) beyond simply attacking. In addition, DevilDark has a few quirks that, while hardly significant, still detract from the experience. For example, there are a lot of reused maps and assets which quickly become boring with the amount of grinding you’ll have to do. Navigation is also done via a static overworld map, which feels a bit disjointed.

Another annoyance is the fact that the game doesn’t warn you when you accidentally exit a map (and thus end the mission). Considering the camera angles can occasionally block the ‘world portal’ I had a few instances where I wandered into the exit and lost all of my mission progress. The lack of iCloud support is disappointing as well.

The pacing also feels a bit off. ‘Story-based’ missions seem to drastically jump in difficulty with the completion of each previous objective. While DevilDark offers plenty of optional missions to earn coin and experience in order to prepare for said story missions, I’m not a fan of the sheer amount of grinding necessary.

It seems silly complaining about excessive grinding when the goal of games such as DevilDark are to, well, grind. However, there’s a lot of ways to implement the grind that keep it interesting without messing with the core formula. If DevilDark had a more cohesive story accompanied by randomized maps and a little more complex battle system, it would be at the top of my list on iOS. As it currently stands, the visual engine and sense of progression are enough to merit a recommendation, but there is potential for it to be much more.

TouchArcade Rating:

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The very first post on TouchArcade was over four years ago now, which, for those of you playing along at home, was before the iOS App Store even launched. (Heck, back then it wasn’t even iOS yet, and wouldn’t even be iOS for another two years.) We’ve been hard at work on our own app with the help of Flexibits and Bartelme Design for what seems like forever, and with it being unleashed to the world next week, I figured now was a great time to lay out the features and functionality of the app.

First off, the main screen (seen below and to the left) is what you see when you launch the app. It has a featured story, which usually will be whatever our last review was, or any other story that deserves some kind of special attention. To the right of that is the “Hot Games” list, which is a killer feature of the app. What you’re looking at here is a realtime display of the games that have generated the most interest in our community.

There’s a whole bunch of behind the scenes wizardry taking place to compute this list, utilizing tons of different data points to create a surprisingly accurate display of what the hottest games at the time are. The cool thing about this is that the list is constantly being updated. If you want to know what the most popular games amongst our community are at this exact moment, look no further than the hot games list.

The other views of the app share a similar look, and you’re able to really drill down on reviews for all the games we’ve looked at via a set of drop downs. So, for instance, if you wanted to see reviews of free action games posted in the last month. Totally doable. The “News & Reviews” function gives you a quick glance at all the content on the site. Oh, and if you decide to, you can even get push alerts when we post a new story.

Our forums are (obviously) huge for our community, so we’ve included forum integration in the app. Each thread display also features all the information you’d need about a game at a glance, with ratings from both the actual App Store as well as amongst our own users. You can even assign your own ratings just like you can on your browser. See the little slider with the binoculars? Things with the app get even better.

The watch list, much like the wish list in the AppShopper App [ Free ] is my favorite feature. By flipping the toggle switch seen above, you can add any game, regardless of whether or not it’s released. From there, you can see any stories that have been posted about that specific game. Also, if the push alerts for everything we post is a little too much for you, you can set the app to only send you alerts when articles that pertain directly to your watch list are posted.

So, if we post a preview for a game that interests you, all you’ve got to do is add it to your watch list, and you’ll get alerts for when it’s released, when we post a review, and potentially even if it ever gets updates or a price drop and we cover it.

The app also has tons of information about all the games on the App Store. Once you get into the actual details page of any game (which is accessible by numerous methods within the app) you’ll see our own review scores as well as the rating from out community, and you’ll be able to jump into any forum thread that pertains to the game. Also, obviously, any associated trailers or screenshots are there along with the iTunes text and anything we’ve posted about the game.

We’ve put a ton of work into the TouchArcade app, and we’re all really proud of what we’re about to release. There’s a number of other little features and settings that you’ll discover as you’re using it, but this is the core functionality of the app. We’ve been using it for months now to discover games to cover on the site, and we’re confident that it’ll become your go to app to find the latest and greatest games the App Store has to offer.

If everything goes as planned, it will be available for free, globally, next week.

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Do you remember the Bullet Time Wars of the early ’00s? Every game had to have it, and not one of them got it right. We lost a lot of good games during that time; lost to the unnecessary addition of a dumb movie gimmick.

But then Max Payne [ $2.99 ] was released, and overnight the war ended. There was no disputing that, finally, a game had gotten bullet time right. That day was almost 11 years ago, and since then the world has changed. Games still implement bullet time, most of them successfully, but they all owe it to Max Payne.

For those of you who somehow missed out on it the first go around, Max Payne is revenge story wrapped in a noir coat that is so thick that the game occasionally comments on how warm it is. It serves as almost a noir for dummies book. Can’t sit through Chinatown? Max Payne will teach you all there is to know about noir.

But, for as silly as the writing occasionally is, it is still a good story. You will run into some truly gut-wrenching moments before you hit the 5 minute mark. But I wouldn’t dare spoil an 11 year old game, so I’ll stop right there. If you want to know more… Well, I assume you know what to do.

There is little sense in reviewing an 11 year old game that won nearly every award it could when it was first released. It’s well established that Max Payne is a fantastic game, but it is also ELEVEN years old. That means it comes with all the baggage that an 11 year old game has earned. So, rather than focusing on Max Payne the game, lets talk about Max Payne the iOS port instead.

This is the absolute best this game has ever looked. On the new iPad, the game sees resolutions and clarity that were pipe dreams when it first came out. Granted, the textures are low resolution, but they still look pretty good rendered on the iPad’s Retina Display. The between level “comic book” sequences are not Retina resolution, but it’s not a great mystery as to why.

I doubt anyone at Remedy envisioned people wanting to play the game at ridiculous resolutions, so it’s likely that they never created super high-resolution assets for anything. But, thanks to how well everything upscales, they still look pretty good. While it didn’t age as well as Grand Theft Auto 3 [ $4.99 ] did visually, it is still a great looking game. Bonus points if you can make it through the whole game without giggling at Max’s facial texture.

Controls are about what you would expect from virtual joysticks. Max feels a bit floaty when he moves, and looking around can be a pain, but the game is still very playable, thanks in part to a pretty competent auto aiming system. I know a lot of folks scoff at the idea of auto-aim, but it really does make the experience more cinematic and fun. When I turned off auto-aim, the results were decidedly less than fun (and often borderline frustrating), but your mileage may vary.

The real problem with the default virtual control layout is that the hit zones for buttons are too close to each other. Because you are aiming at a nondescript part of the screen, rather than a button, you will often find yourself jumping when you want to enter bullet time. A minor problem once or twice, but growing in annoyance significantly over the course of an 8 hour game. Like GTA3, you can move the buttons around on screen in the options, but you never really shake the feeling that this is a game made for a controller (or keyboard and mouse).

(Original E3 2011 trailer for PC version.)

Playing Max Payne to completion takes anywhere from 7 to 10 hours. If you intend to make that journey, please be sure to manage your own save files. Yes, Max Payne offers an auto-save, but I found it to be unreliable at best, and downright abusive at it’s worst. Unfortunately, games ported from PCs seem to bring more quirks than if they were ported from a console. Max Payne is from a time where we didn’t trust the game to save for us, so we took that responsibility upon ourselves. Max Payne for iOS has ported that feature spectacularly, so make sure you adjust your habits accordingly.

I’ll be the first to admit that I was super stoked about Max Payne coming to iOS. It was a game I loved on the PC 11 years ago, and I wanted to see how rose the colored glasses were. The answer is, surprisingly, not that rose. While it looks old, and has virtual joysticks, Max Payne is every bit the great game it was 11 years ago. I wish Rockstar had put more love into the port, but for costing me 1/25th of the original game, I’ll cut them some budgetary slack.

Now if I could just get rid of these war flashbacks, I’d be in business.

TouchArcade Rating:

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Shaun Inman’s The Last Rocket [ $2.99 ] is a game that you can tell is going to be special inside of about 30 seconds of playing it. We absolutely loved it in our review, and with the various tweaks and fixes the game has seen since release (including Retina iPad support), it’s an even greater effortless recommendation. Gameplay in a nutshell consists of piloting a rocket through 64 rooms filled with all sorts of obstacles. It sounds simple, and it is, but the best part about The Last Rocket is that it doesn’t just use chip tunes and pixel art for the sake of having a “retro” feel. Instead, the entire game, from top to bottom, is just as much at home on the screen of your iPhone as it would’ve been on your NES in the mid-80’s.

The eBook is available direct from Shaun Inman’s site for $9.99. It’s a DRM-free iBooks-friendly ePub which features an exhaustive account of the game’s development including notes, drawings, screenshots, and much, much more. Fair warning though, the eBook is chock full of spoilers, so make sure you’ve played the game first. If you’re the kind of person who loves behind the scenes looks at game development, this isn’t something you should miss.

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It’s not easy to make a unique platformer. You either have to be trusty with your design skills and make a game look out of this world and startlingly unique, or you have to have some sort of wizard when it comes to your level design skills. Luckily, the people behind Gunman Clive [$1.99] have a little of both, and it makes for one of the best platformers I’ve played for years, on iOS or any other platformer.

Gunman Clive comes out of the gate shooting with an incredible look, which has a hand-drawn feel and makes you feel as if you are playing a game on the page of a tea-stained sketchbook. As Gunman Clive, you play the rough-and-tough Western hero on a mission to save the mayor’s daughter from wild bandits. Not that any of that matters, because as soon as you get an eyeful of this game you’ll drool a bit and forget any of the storyline in favor of sucking up the pretty graphics with your face.

Controls are pretty simple in Gunman Clive — a directional pad on your bottom left and a shoot and jump button set on your right. I wasn’t nuts about the floaty directional pad at first — it felt like my thumb was spending too much time in the middle of the screen — but eventually I adjusted. It’s handy to know you can jump into the menu and change the size of the d-pad or choose to make it static. For me, these small changes made the game much easier to play.

If you have ever played a classic platformer from the NES era, especially Mega Man, you will feel the echoes of them in this game. I giggled the first time I got a weapon drop too — it was a spread gun. If you people are trying to make me relive all those fine old days spent perfecting my Contra runs, it’s working.

You can also expect excellent level design here, which goes far beyond the basic jumps of most iOS games these days. Physics also come into play, but in a unique way that leaves most of those physics-based titles out there in the dust. And later in the game, you get to ride an actual rocket. Quite the contrast to the good old “Oh, an ice stage… a fire stage … a forest stage” boredom that so many of us are sick of. You won’t be bored with these levels as Gunman Clive keeps it fresh throughout.

One thing you might find, however, is that you may experience some frustration while playing Gunman Clive. That is because it actually is quite challenging. The level bosses in particular will take you some time to get used to. They have that bombastic feel that you don’t get often enough as well — I feel like I’ve played against too many end level bosses these days that don’t feel dynamic at all.

These bosses are hulking mammoths ten times your size, which I personally like. As far as challenge goes, though, I found myself wishing that the checkpoints would come a bit sooner after playing through several particularly difficult parts over and over. Or perhaps, an easy mode? Maybe I’m just out of shape from my NES days.

If you love platformers, you have to pick this beauty up. It really is a standout in all categories. The only possible turn off I can see is the difficulty, but maybe that’s just a fine excuse to bone up on your skills. Get that itchy trigger finger ready and come out of the gate with guns blazing, and you should do just fine.

TouchArcade Rating:

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