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How refreshing it is to play a game with a down-to-earth plot? Even the most grounded of games usually bear their fair share of swords and sorcery or bombastic battles. Super Lemonade Factory [$1.99] goes a different route, telling a simple story from one particular moment in time. Lisolet and Andre are newly married in the days after World War II. Andre is set to take up his father’s lemonade factory, but first he and Lisolet must tour the premises, meeting the workers and learning about the challenges they face.

It might sound a little dry, but the tale accompanies a clever platformer designed to play on the strengths and weaknesses of its stars. Andre is blessed with physical strength and can break through boxes that bar the couple’s path. Lisolet is agile; she can double jump and reach places Andre can’t, often giving him a foot up with a crate from a higher perch. Isn’t it lovely to see a marriage with partners that complement each other so well?

The journey through the factory is surprisingly perilous—you’d think it had been designed as a deathtrap. Often, either Andre or Lisolet will need rescuing right from the start. You’ll have to direct the other across a pit of spikes, perhaps, over floating platforms and around the surprisingly deadly people of the factory. Once one has saved the other, they can travel together—Andre is happy to give Lisolet a piggyback so you needn’t cover the same ground twice. From there it’s usually a hop, skip and a jump to the level’s exit.

A detour may be necessary on the way. Though it seems like the sort of thing aimed at completionists, you’ll want to collect each level’s bottle cap. These are occasionally well hidden and usually hard to reach, but behind them sits half the game’s content. Collect all the caps in a given area and you’ll unlock the hardcore version of that area, where platforms are smaller and faster and spikes are everywhere. Brushing against a spike is deadly, and Andre and Lisolet only have two lives to work with if you can’t find any bags of sugar to replenish them.

Controlling the couple is simple, with on-screen controls for walking, jumping and dashing. These are responsive and rarely get in the way, but they suffer the usual flaw of being a little too easily mis-tapped. You can swap between Andre and Lisolet with a horizontal swipe; a vertical swipe puts Lisolet on Andre’s back.

Lisolet is blessed with one more ability: a way with words. She can speak with any of the factory’s denizens. The foreman, the chef – these workers open up about their hopes and dreams, both for the company and for themselves. A food inspector waxes poetic on the need for cleanliness, and a General blusters about the misfortune that could befall a company that chose not to meet military requests for supplies.

These bits of flavor are woven into the metagame: Game Center achievements are awarded for speaking with all employees, and your progress is marked on the level select screen. But more than that, the dialogue is rather charming. The foreman is a burgeoning Bolshevik who loves to muse on the meaning of labor; Andre will share stories from his past. Much of it hits a bit heavy-handed, but it’s always a pleasant diversion—you’ll also find the occasional pop-culture reference if you’re paying attention.

In the end, the gameplay suffers for its simplicity. The most puzzling levels aren’t more complicated than pushing a couple boxes in the right order before jumping, and there are only so many spikes one can add to a level before it gets silly. If there’s more to be done with the formula, though, we may yet see it done. The developers offer a system for level creation and plan to add the best of the user-created content to the game. On top of 72 already entertaining levels, that sounds pretty good.

And hey, if you haven’t noticed, Super Lemonade Factory is a looker. If you’re into pixel art, you won’t be disappointed—both the style and the animation are fantastic. On top of that the chiptune soundtrack is pretty great, if a tad overly-aggressive for the content.

So while the game isn’t flawless, it’s still an easy recommendation. There are kinks to be worked out, but they don’t detract much from the good stuff: a solid, fun puzzle platformer with great ideas and outstanding presentation. And, frankly, how often do we get to play a game with such a delightfully low-key premise? For that, Super Lemonade Factory most certainly deserves a look. Still, it’s unlikely to push platformer fans, so know that going in. You might not find a challenge, but you’ll find a lot of charm.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Back in 2009, Com2uS released Homerun Battle [Free / Free ], which was known as “Baseball Slugger” at the time. We loved it in our review, as it was among the very first iPhone games that featured really slick and seamless realtime multiplayer. Gameplay in a nutshell amounted to getting thrown into a random match with another real person to compete in a home run derby. It was really hard to put down because you could see what your opponent doing in a little picture-in-picture window in the corner of your screen, which only encouraged you to try harder when you see them blast a ball out of the park.

Com2uS followed up Homerun Battle with the sequel Homerun Battle 2 [$0.99 / Free ]. We had a love/hate relationship with the game in our review. We loved the improvements over the original, but hated the insane IAP implementation which was one of the more blatant pay-to-win schemes we’ve seen on the App Store.

Thankfully, Com2uS has listened to player feedback and went back to the drawing board with the balancing of the game. As an established player, it’s a little hard for me to get a feel for how equipment scales as I’ve already got some pretty great gear on my dude. But, if the IAP model Com2uS used previously scared you off, give the game a try again. I’d be very interested in hearing how people feel the power and unlock curve is now. Also, for a limited time the price of the premium version has been lowered to 99¢.

Aside from balance tweaks, the latest update also adds a bunch of new equipment to work towards and a Hell-themed stadium.

In other Com2uS news, they’ve also just released a new free to play game, Magic Tree [ Free ]. When I tried the game it gave me a Frontierville-like vibe, but it comes packed with 3D almost Animal Crossing-ish visuals. Check out the trailer:

So, consider downloading that if it seems interesting. More importantly though, give Homerun Battle 2 another shot. Game balance and IAP was a major point of contention on our forums. If you were one of those people miffed by this game originally, it’s worth a second look now.

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The latest update to Super Crate Box [$1.99] introduces a new kind of crate, developer Vlambeer told us via e-mail this afternoon. Version 1.1, which just hit, adds extremely rare, and random, golden crates. In all, there are just 100 to collect globally. Also, as if that wasn’t Willy Wonka enough for you, a rare golden enemy type is being added, as well. As soon as fans find all of the golden crates, Vlambeer plans to release the next update.

This update will also introduce two more indie characters to unlock: one from Starguard, and the other from Psychosomnium. Bug fixes, tweaks, and prep work for version 1.2 are also expected to drop when this hits. Oh! And the first person to download this will score the world’s very first golden crate. Dibs!

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I’ve made no attempt at hiding my love affair with the Azkend series of puzzle games. The original Azkend [$2.99 / $4.99 (HD)] was (and still is) one of my favorite puzzle games of all time. It had a great difficulty curve, a constant stream of unlockables to keep you interested, and did a fabulous job at dangling the next unlockable in front of you to endlessly keep you playing one more game. Oh, and the chain-forming matching mechanic is pretty sweet too. Not too long ago, Azkend 2 [$2.99 / $3.99 ] hit, and I was ready to shout out my window and tell the world how incredible it was… That is, until I got a little deeper into the game.

As Nissa explains in our review, the sequel features everything we loved about the original Azkend, and provides some great first impressions. Then the difficulty curve ramps up, and the game introduces more types of tiles. It’s at this point that Azkend 2 turns into the best part of any LMFAO song, which, in a puzzle game, is not a good thing. In other words, you’d reach a point where there were just too many types of tiles, leaving no available matches, forcing the game to re-shuffle the tiles. Sometimes you’d even get multiple re-shuffles in a row.

Well, an update hit earlier today which seems to totally fix this. The puzzles are now rebalanced in a way that you’re not hunting for the single match before the board reshuffles. If you were (understandably) holding off on the game after reading our review, it’s safe to pick up now. Or, if you were like me, and just shelved the game after getting frustrated, snag the update and give it another shot.

They’ve made some other tweaks and bug fixes too, including doing some logging to potentially further improve game balancing as well as adjusting the colors of some tiles to make them more distinct. The one down side of this update is that I’m pretty sure that Azkend 2 is now going to completely suck up my free time this evening.

I’m OK with that, I think.

NOTE: Right now I’m only seeing this update for the universal HD version, but it’d make sense that the iPhone-only version should be following very shortly.

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I’ve never really been able to figure out what Square Enix’s deal is with the App Store. They go from releasing full iOS-exclusive titles like Chaos Rings [ $12.99 ] to flat-out weird “games” like Voice Fantasy [ $2.99 ] (among other zany titles). The just-released 774 Deaths [ $0.99 ] seems to come from the same “why does this exist” department as Sliding Heroes [ $0.99 ].

Billed as a “murderously difficult action platformer” 774 Deaths, according to Squeenix, is “certain to chew up and spit out even the world’s best gamers.” The format of the game goes a little something like this- You play a pixelated little dude going through rooms filled with locked doors. To progress through the doors, you need to complete the mini-games that each room has to offer you.

So far, I’ve been given the choice of four games, each with the same basic principle of navigating your guy to the end of the level while avoiding what appear to be blood covered blades. Each “game” has a different control method. There’s an auto-runner style game where you tap the screen to jump, a platformer style game with virtual controls, a vertical falling game controlled via tilting, and a similar tilt controlled top-down maze-style game.

None are particularly interesting, and I really can’t quite decide if the game itself is difficult, or if the controls are just terrible. Either way, you beat two of the games inside the room you’re currently in, the next room unlocks, and you repeat the process. Admittedly, I’m stuck on the third room right now, but there hasn’t been much variation to speak of yet. Per the iTunes description, there are 9 rooms in all.

I’m reluctant to call this a “review,” since, as mentioned, I’ve basically reached a stopping point in the game right now. With that being said, I haven’t really found what I have been able to get through to be that enjoyable, and like way too many things that Square farts out on to the App Store, 774 Deaths just has me wondering why an iOS port of Final Fantasy VI doesn’t exist. I’d buy that at a high price. (And I’d even say that in the same tone of voice as the merchant dude in Resident Evil 4.)

For what it’s worth, people in our forums seem to be enjoying 774 Deaths. So, if you’re a glutton for punishment, give it a shot…?

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I’m a huge fan of rollercoasters. There’s something about the grandiose structures, raw speed and pure adrenaline that just appeal to me. Maybe that’s why I’m such a fan of Madcoaster [$0.99], an endless runner with a rollercoaster twist. Hitting all the major points for the genre, Madcoaster’s interesting premise is enough to put it ahead of other, more generic titles.

As an endless runner, Madcoaster doesn’t add too much to the genre in terms of innovation. Your rollercoaster moves from left to right on randomized tracks with the primary goal being to jump over track gaps and avoid the chasms. Meanwhile, you’ll encounter a wide variety of birds and animals sitting on the track that earn you extra points if you hit them. A few standard power-ups (such as a coin magnet, speed-up, and rollercoaster jetpack) are also occasionally placed throughout levels. There are also plenty of coins to collect, but they only add to the score and aren’t collected for anything else.

As you progress, the track layouts get more complicated and the rollercoaster (obviously) speeds up. Eventually, the game will end once you lose all your lives, with the game scoring you based on total distance traveled and total points (with leaderboards for both, respectively).

In addition to the standard score chase, Madcoaster also offers a leveling mechanic based on objectives. As you hit all the level’s goals, your rollercoaster gets a visual overhaul and the raw score multiplier goes up. Being able to permanently raise your score multiplier is an interesting feature, but it does take away some score parity and penalizes score chasers that don’t focus on objectives.

Visuals are cartoony and vibrant, and look great on a retina-iPhone. There’s no retina support yet for the new iPad, but Madcoaster looks fine regardless. While gameplay on both device sizes works well, I did find the iPhone screen to be a bit more cluttered with information than the iPad.

As a rollercoaster-themed endless runner, you’d expect the framerate to be fast and smooth and for the most part Madcoaster doesn’t disappoint. The game does a great job with its sense of speed, especially in the latter portions of a run. I did encounter some minor slowdown on a current generation iPod touch, but for current iPhones and iPads, I encountered no problems.

One area that Madcoaster does well is its colorful and varied backdrops. Every 1000m the rollercoaster enters a cave that serves as a gateway to a new location. Environments include a Halloween-themed twilight grounds, the innards of a volcano, deep within a jungle and even the pyramids of Egypt. Each region also has its own music as well as unique animals and birds, which become important with later objectives.

While the variety goes a way towards addressing the inevitable monotony of some endless runners, not every environment is created equal. Each location has foreground flora and fauna with some actually blocking the bottom rails, making it a bit difficult to time jumps and landings if you’re close to the bottom of the screen. Some may consider it a challenge, while others may find it simply frustrating. Another minor complaint is that some locations are locked behind IAP. However, considering that you can eventually unlock all IAP with a good enough run, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.

As mentioned above, Madcoaster doesn’t stray too far from the endless runner formula, but it does do a good job executing most of the elements we love in the genre. Combine this with the rollercoaster motif and decent visuals and there’s little reason for you not to at least check it out.  Madcoaster may not have the lasting power of a Jetpack Joyride, but there’s still plenty here for an enjoyable ride.

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A new Chillingo puzzle game? You don’t say. Well, if there’s one thing we can expect from Chillingo, it’s a certain level of quality that all of their games exhibit. They may not blow us out of the water, but what they give us is normally a pretty solid product. Light the Flower [$0.99] falls squarely into this category, presenting an interesting puzzler that keeps you thinking, but doesn’t present too much frustration — usually a winning formula for iOS titles.

Most iOS games have fairly simple plots, but Light the Flower is even more pared down than the usual title, which I personally like (reminds me of old school gaming, in fact). Each level consists of a room with a happy flower inside (sometimes more than one).

Your job is to bring the flower back to life by directing a beam of light from a nearby window with your finger and making sure it hits the flower. While you are doing so, you can also aim carefully to make sure that the beam of light also lights up stars that are randomly scattered around the room. The number of stars you are able to capture dictates your score at the end of each level.

In the beginning, things will be simple, but Chillingo gives us plenty more to do as the game progresses. Later levels present colored filters for you to direct your light through, which you will have to match with the color of the flower you are trying to revive. You’ll learn that mirrors you use to direct the light are double sided, so that’s to your advantage. Throwing switches and splitting beams will also become part of your strategy to move forward.

Five “houses” of rooms are available to play, each with a dozen levels hiding inside. That’s a total of sixty levels to play, which should keep you busy for some time. You can unlock the houses as you progress, or if you are feeling impatient and want to see what later levels have to offer, you can skip the effort and unlock them all by paying a $0.99 fee. If Light the Flower was a harder game, I’d say this might be worth it, but I think it’s just challenging enough to keep you playing, but not to the point where it makes you miserable to try to get further.

Light the Flower has a cheerful, cartoon-inspired look, and it does present some replayability  if you want to try to snag all the stars in every level or improve your time. It’s also compatible with Crystal and Game Center, so you have achievements to aim for. I also noticed that there is an extra house with a ‘Coming Soon’ slapped on it, so apparently Chillingo is planning to release another dozen levels later down the line.

Some user reviews mentioned issues with the game crashing, but I never had the problem pop up once. Apparently, if you do, a delete and reinstall will fix it up just fine. Either way, I suspect you’ll be brightening up some poor flower’s day in no time. And people said you didn’t have a green thumb!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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