TouchArcade.ru

Ah. Werewolves. One of the three components in the holy Hollywood trinity of monsters. They ordinarily come in two flavors: loud, ravenous and incapable of anything but wanton violence… or dark-eyed eye candy. The transmogrification-happy lupine of MacGuffin’s Curse [$3.99 / Free ], however, is neither of those.

Indie development studio Brawsome has MacGuffin’s Curse billed as a ‘comedy puzzle-adventure’, an appropriate description if there ever was one. Operating from a top-down perspective, MacGuffin’s Curse is rife with all the switch-flipping, block-moving, barrier-removing goodness that is standard of the genre and the silliness of a Terry Pratchett novel. Here, you play as the charming Lucas MacGuffin, a red-haired thief who dwells in a considerable destitution with his young child and elderly mother. He has something to say about pretty much anything and everyone, a peculiarity that may either have you rolling your eyes within the first ten minutes or chuckling away in appreciation. Take your pick. Either is applicable.

The game opens with Lucas on his latest heist. In order to pay the rent, you’re going to have to retrieve a certain amulet from the extremely lightly-guarded depths of the local museum. As you might have guessed already, one thing leads to another and you eventually find yourself bound to the cursed jewelry and gifted with the ability to transform into a powerful, red-maned werewolf whenever you choose to. No, I don’t know how this really is a curse either.

This, of course, is one of the game’s primary gimmicks. Each of your two forms has a different set of abilities and limitations. As a human, you’re capable of doing delicate things like operating doors and squeezing through windows. As a werewolf, you’ll be able to manhandle safes, blocks, enormous battery packs and dig for buried treasure. Most, if not all, of the puzzles will require you to make use of your dual set of talents.

Speaking of the puzzles, let me reassure those who have played through the lite version of one thing: they do get harder. While the game’s collection of mind-benders don’t really deviate from the standard ‘push this block here, activate that switch there’ formula, there is enough variety in the mix to keep you playing (even if you have to do it in chunks). I’m especially fond of one of the earlier ‘boss’ battles. Instead of doing the standard werewolf act where you charge headlong into your enemies and rip their hearts out, MacGuffin’s Curse will have you maneuvering from room to room as you attempt to close the distance by circumnavigating your enemy’s attempt to stall you.

Though best played by those who enjoy the idea of a combat-free Zelda, MacGuffin’s Curse is still something I would recommend to those who don’t. Well, if you enjoy the whole comedic narrative thing, at any rate. It’s true that MacGuffin’s Curse tries just a little too hard (it doesn’t so much nudge you in the ribs as it does grind them into a paste with its hypothetical elbow) but it does have heart. You see it in the details – in the way the comments change depending on the kind of skin you’re wearing, in the over-the-top characters, in how the game lets you slowly build up a half-decent apartment for Lucas’s family and the details of the setting. There’s a fair amount of side quests for you to indulge in as well, something that helps flesh out the Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere-esque undertones of the world that Brawsome constructed.

The only thing that I didn’t really like about McGuffin’s Curse is, perhaps, the controls. In order to move, you touch a finger on the screen and drag it in the direction you want Lucas to go. In order to push or pull blocks, you’ll have to use two fingers instead. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this and, for the most part, it works out decently well. Nonetheless, because of positioning, you sometimes find your fingertips blocking out vision, a phenomenon that makes me pine a little for a virtual d-pad.

Is MacGuffin’s Curse worth purchasing? Yes. Definitely. It may not extract the ‘Oh, god! This is ingenious!’ sort of reaction with its puzzles, but the relentless humor, intriguing setting, adequately-designed puzzles and faint Tim Burton vibe will make it a delicious addition to anyone’s collection of crate-puzzles.

TouchArcade Rating:

[source]

After suffering a bite from the clone bug back in January 2011 from Capcom’s MaXplosion, everyone was curious if developer Twisted Pixel would layeth the smack down by officially porting their critically acclaimed XBLA platformer ‘Splosion Man to the App Store. The team seemed pretty soured on the idea after the whole MaXplosion thing, and they had their hands full with a sequel to ‘Splosion Man set to hit XBLA that summer. Fans of exploding iOS platformers collectively shed a tear.

That sequel, Ms. Splosion Man, did hit Microsoft’s downloadable game service in July of last year to much critical acclaim much like the first title. However, with that project out of the way, Twisted Pixel could focus more on what kind of options might lie ahead for their franchise. As they’ve just announced today via the awesome trailer below, Ms. Splosion Man is indeed heading to the App Store along with a version for Steam, Games for Windows Live, and Windows Phone 7.

What we know about these upcoming versions of Ms. Splosion Man is that the PC versions will be more or less direct ports with some additional features, but the iOS version “will be a unique experience built specifically for those devices with familiar content but all new features, objectives and gameplay modes” according to the developers. They note that they’re keen on taking full advantage of the iOS hardware and are already planning plenty of post-launch support in the form of updates with new content.

More details on pricing and a specific release date for Ms. Splosion Man will be coming soon, but the release window is slated for summertime. If you’re lucky enough to be at PAX East this week, then a playable iPad version of the game will be on hand for you to check out for yourself.

[source]

Way back in 1984, English teacher-turned-game developer Mike Singleton released a vast and innovative adventure gamed for the ZX Spectrum home computer called The Lords of Midnight. The game was extremely well received and garnered high praise for its gameplay, the expansive world in which it is set, and its use of a clever graphical technique known as “landscaping” to render the scene with pre-scaled sprites. The Lords of Midnight turned out to be Singleton’s most well respected title and is considered by many to be one of the best video games ever created.

Versions of The Lords of Midnight were soon released on a few other (mainly European) platforms of the day, and in 1991 DOS PC versions of the game and its sequel, Doomdark’s Revenge, were released, originally developed as reverse engineered fan conversions by Christopher Wild. (Singleton gave his stamp of approval to Wild’s conversions — see Wild’s 2004 Retro Gamer two-piece article / interview with Singleton.) Not long after, Wild began thinking about doing Windows versions of the games and thus began his work on The Midnight Engine, a system that would allow the Midnight games to run under modern operating systems and, thanks to data abstraction, would also allow new games to be created under the same framework.

At this point, the astute reader has probably figured out that I am not just waxing nostalgic for the simple fun of it. No, I am happy to say that there is reason for my taking a few moments to bring the uninitiated up to speed, here, and that reason is a project that has been underway for over year now to bring The Lords of Midnight to iOS.

In January of 2011, original author Mike Singleton reached out to Christopher Wild, suggesting a collaboration to get his 27 year old classic in the hands of a new audience. Since that time, at a varying pace, the project has been underway.

Wild has been posting progress updates to his blog throughout the year, and indicates that it is definitely the intention of both he and Singleton to do this conversion just right.

Let me firstly assure you that we are not developing a freeform, realtime, 3d game. We are not developing [the less well-received sequel to Doomdark's Revenge] the Citadel. We are not going to f*** it up!

Lords of Midnight is about the landscaping. It’s about those 2d panoramic views. It’s about moving some characters and pressing night and the end of the turn and waiting for the dawn to break to find out what happened.

So, the landscaping stays. Yes it will get an update. Graphically we will try a few things to help us justify bringing a 27 year old game back to the future. If you’ve followed the history of [The Midnight Engine] with the Lords of Midnight and more importantly Doomdark’s Revenge, you’ll have an idea of some of the things that means.

We’re going to make a few changes to the AI. Nothing drastic. This is not about turning Lords of Midnight into the style of RPG/Adventure games that are currently available. The AI in lords of midnight works – it’s a little simplistic, but it’s perfect for the style of game. However, there are a few little things that no longer sit comfortably, and to be fair, probably didn’t when Mike originally coded them. So there will be a couple of tweaks and additions.

The affect of these additions is that the game will not play like it used to. In spirit it will be the same, but don’t expect to be able to fire up the emulators and watch the old spectrum game play exactly like the new one. There will likely be some surprises, but I think everyone will enjoy.

Wild also indicates that certain AI changes will be made to facilitate multi-user gameplay and that it will remain turn-based like the original — not real-time. The picture that he paints of the conversion goals should appeal to those iOS gamers who loved the title in decades past.

The iOS conversion of The Lords of Midnight is being developed under the Marmalade SDK (née Airplay SDK), will run natively on both the iPhone and the iPad, and should make its way to various other platforms, as well. Doomdark’s Revenge will also be brought over, some time after The Lords of Midnight arrives.

The team has just posted a demonstration video, albeit preliminary and somewhat rough, of the game running on iPad hardware.

That a whole new generation of gamers will have easy access to such a rich classic is wonderful news, and rest assured we will keep readers apprised as progress on The Lords of Midnight for iOS marches on.

( Embedded screenshots are from the ZX Spectrum original and graphics in the demo video are placeholder — not final versions. )

[ via Gaming on the Go, thanks @gnomeslair ]

[source]

Call this a curiosity. While we were catching up on GDC stuff, we stumbled across Roccat’s answer to the tired “Is PC Gaming is dead” question. Its answer, as a peripheral maker, is naturally a big fat “No,” but it has added an interesting caveat: PC gaming needs an iOS, Windows Phone 7, or Android companion app.

Allow us to introduce you to Roccat Power-Grid, an app that can sync with your Skype or Teamspeak channels, give you real-time readouts on CPU temperature and hard disc space, allow you to tune game audio on the fly, and lets you create custom macros for your favorite games complete with themed icons.

Roccat plans to give the app away for free, but will support it with fancy keyboards that ship with USB phone docks. Check one out:

Roccat believes millions are going to jump on its companion app, and while our guts have to disagree with that, we do see the appeal. Keyboards that ship with those programmable buttons on the side are often big, expensive, and look silly. Using a smartphone to do those tasks specifically certainly sounds preferable.

We’ll keep our eyes on this. As PC gaming evolves, so does what we do with it. Bringing our phones into the fold seems like a pretty organic development in the scene. If it catches or not, however, remains to be seen.

[via Kotaku]

[source]

Today at GDC 2012 we sat down with the folks from BulkyPix to have a look at a host of new titles they will soon be releasing, both internally developed and those from outside development groups.

The SandBox

The SandBox, which BukyPix co-produced with Pixowl, is a charming little pixellated 2D world-creation game — and, by world, I mean the space inside of a literal sandbox. The player starts out with the four basic elements and combines them in an on-screen sandbox to create vastly more elements — 40 or so — and, with those, worlds limited by the player’s own imagination (and the bounds of the iPhone or iPad screen).

There is both a story mode with ~30 levels (which serve as a kind of tutorial) as well as a free play mode, which is where the real creation can take place. Once a world has been created, it can be shared with others online, through the game. Players who download others’ levels can then have fun, oh, inserting TNT and other nice little items into them and watching the fireworks unfold. New element packs can be purchased with mana, the game’s virtual currency, which can be accumulated with skilled play or purchased for cash through the app.

The SandBox is being discussed in a lengthy thread in our forums and will be released as a freemium universal app in May.

Lightopus

“When the Gloom came, we were unprepared. They took away everything, including our homes and our young ones, the bulbies. They took away our light. Now the time has come to take back what’s ours. Go, Lightopus. You are the last of our kind. Go into the Abyss, save the bulbies and bring back the Light!”

Thus is the story of Lightopus, a game which challenges the player to steer a strange creature through an aquatic abyss on a mission to save the tiny bulbies in the face of an increasingly menacing enemy horde. The visuals and accompanying ambient audio are similarly eerie and deliver an ambience reminiscent of the PS3 title Flow.

Lightopus is expected to go live on Thursday of this week as a universal game at the price of $2.99.

Kung Fu Rabbit

Internally developed at BulkyPix, Kung Fu Rabbit is a cartoonish platformer that puts you and your on-screen rabbit on a quest for carrots. Carrots are the game’s virtual currency, and the more you grab, the more game perks you have access to, such as the ability to skin out the levels to entirely change their look. While carrots can be accumulated by standard play, they can also be purchased in-app for cash.

Kung Fu Rabbit brings the standard mix of platformer features — the ability to jump off of walls, enemies that can be crush with a jump (Mario style), and substances to avoid (a tarry goo and the like). The game is a universal app that features iCade support and is set to arrive on March 15 for $0.99.

Saving Private Sheep 2

Like its App Store forerunner which we enjoyed, Saving Private Sheep 2 is set to bring a silly / fun play experience to the iOS screen. The game’s challenge is one of trajectory, much like that of Angry Birds.

As it turns out, a wolf has eaten some sheep pals and it’s up to your sheep (and uneaten friends) to aim precisely and toss a (poor, little) hedgehog through various structural arrangements in order to whack the wolf and free the sheep that were recently a meal.

The game features a level creation tool that allows users to create their own set of obstacles to augment the 60 built-in levels and upload them for others to play. The catch, however, is that the player must be able to win their own level before they go online. Levels placed online can be ranked by other users, to create a curated set of challenges.

Aby Escape

In the area of 3D run-and-jumps, BulkyPix demonstrated Aby Escape, a title co-produced with Spanish game studio Pixel Ratio. The game puts you over the shoulder of a purple raccoon that has managed to piss off a bunch of locals who got into hot pursuit of the pesky varmint that is you. In a bid to escape with your hide intact, you must run, jump, duck, dodge, and slide your way to freedom, collecting coins on the way, in a fashion with which Temple Run fans will be quite familiar.

Aby Escape features a story mode with three different settings — a forest park, a city, and Route 66.5 — at 10 levels each, as well as an unlimited running play mode. Little in-game objectives surface during gameplay to mix things up in a manner similar to that of Tiny Wings. The game can be expanded with power-ups and environment enhancements using coins collected or purchased in-app.

Aby Escape will land as a universal freemium title, sometime in May.

Hidden Runaway

Building on the long-running Runaway point-and-click adventure series from Péndulo Studios, Hidden Runaway for iOS, which BulkyPix co-produced with Péndulo, brings a Monkey Island-like mystery to iOS. The game features a hidden object adventure dynamic, wrapped in a thick backstory, peppered with 12 different mini games.

The title will launch for iOS in May and will also be making its way to OS X and Windows PCs.

Yesterday

Another point-and-click adventure from Péndulo, co-produced by BulkyPix is Yesterday. This one is also a Monkey Island sort of game, and places you in the role of a depraved serial killer who must try and piece together just what happened over the last 24 hours. Unsurprisingly, it’s a very dark title, exuding an eerie ambience.

Yesterday, which offers around nine hours of play time, will arrive in the App Store in May and will arrive on the Mac and PC sometime beforehand. Price on this one is undecided as yet.

Gnu Revenge

Developed by Vaze and publishde by BulkyPix, Gnu Revenge is a cartoonish planetary gravity game that drops you into a universe of long-running galactic conflict between the gnus and the crocodiles. You, on the side of the gnus, must fire gnus from orbiting cannons with utmost precision in order to rescue your imprisoned ungulate brethren and knock out your despicable crocodile enemies.

Gnu Revenge is a universal title that will arrive at the end of March at a price of $0.99.

[source]

It’s been over six months since Final Fantasy Tactics [$15.99] hit the iOS scene, and while the port largely survived the move to the iPhone we noted some issues that kept the game back from a universal recommendation. Even worse, the iPad version that we thought was on the horizon disappeared from the radar, leaving the small screen as the only avenue for playing the game for quite some time (iPad 2x mode notwithstanding). Now with Final Fantasy Tactics for iPad [$17.99] here, we can finally see if that half a year waiting period was worth it. While the port certainly improves in a variety of different areas (mainly due to the increased screen space), it’s still far from perfect.

For folks new to Final Fantasy Tactics, I recommend that you read our original review of the iPhone version (along with the recommendation to just check around the internet for the multitude of views on this classic). For everyone else, this is the same War of the Lions version found on the iPhone/iPod touch and Sony PSP (except for the multiplayer in the PSP version). It’s still the same, extremely deep strategy RPG that has kept its appeal even over a decade later.

One of our primary issues with the iPhone version of Final Fantasy Tactics dealt with an inherent limitation of the device. Specifically, the screen just felt too small for the amount of information displayed. Thankfully, the iPad version rectifies some of those concerns. The text is a lot less blurry (something that had been fixed in an update to the iPhone version since our original review), the added buttons and menus feel more spaced out, and the game just plays more comfortably in long gaming sessions. Unfortunately, the larger screen size also leads to a clearer view of just how pixelated most of the visuals are. However, I doubt most veterans of FFT are going to care about pixelated sprites.

Gameplay slowdown, another nagging issue that detracted from the iPhone experience (and has been somewhat addressed in recent updates) has improved in the iPad port. Strangely enough, not all abilities/spells seem to benefit from the additional quickness. For example, jump into the prologue and you’ll see that Agrias’ Holy Sword abilities (as well as Summoner spells later on) are greatly sped up. However, Squire Fundaments, as well as some black mage spells, still seem to suffer from noticeable slowdown. This inconsistency seems to exist across a variety of abilities, although the slowdown seems to affect far less abilities than previously. It’s important to note that despite the speed improvements, there’s still a disappointing lack of smoothness which continues to detract from the experience.

Gamers holding out hope that Final Fantasy Tactics for iPad features a revamping of controls are in for a disappointment. The touch controls, along with the general interface, continue to be a mixed-bag. The larger screen space of the iPad means things are generally easier to read and navigate, but there are still too many button presses, confirmation windows, and virtual buttons to be considered streamlined. Still, with enough playtime to get used to the controls I found the iPad version to be far preferable than the cramped iPhone/iPod touch screen.

Other elements, like sound quality and music, make the transition to the iPad with little change. MIDI effects still continue to occasionally sound odd, most likely due to the porting process. The music, meanwhile, is still one of the strongest suits of Final Fantasy Tactics, and remains one of my favorite gaming soundtracks to date.

When all is said and done, the iPad port of Final Fantasy Tactics can be summed up in two statements. First, this iPad port, while long overdue, is superior to the iPhone version (primarily due to larger screen) and should be considered the preferred iOS experience (assuming you have an iPad 2). Second, while the iPad version makes improvements, it still doesn’t match the feel of the original PSX version, which has yet to be duplicated on any platform.

For previous fans that haven’t checked Final Fantasy Tactics on iOS yet, your enjoyment will be based on how well you can check your nostalgia and overlook the nuances of porting. For everyone else, it’s safe to say that you should try this classic turn-based RPG any way you can, iOS or otherwise.

TouchArcade Rating:

[source]

I may be dating myself here, but there was a time when I was completely obsessed with Windows Solitaire. I wanted to see every pixel of the game’s window covered in the cards that hopped down at the end of the game, and the obsession lasted just as long as it took to make that happen. Since then, stacking cards onto other cards hasn’t held the same charm. Then I picked up Fairway Solitaire [Free / HD] and now I’d kind of like my life back, please.

It’s not that Fairway Solitaire is particularly challenging—quite the opposite, in fact. It follows Big Fish Games’ usual mandate of making everything as player-friendly as possible. But between the dead simple gameplay and the weirdly compelling golf metaphors, I’m totally engrossed. And reading around online and in our forums, I’m not alone. This game gets its hooks into people more than one might expect from a golf-themed card game.

The game is built around one-card draw solitaire. The field is covered in cards that are stacked in various piles, face up or face down, and one card is drawn from the remaining deck at a time. You can put any card on top of that draw if it’s higher or lower by one. You keep stacking them until you have no cards left within one point on either side, and then you draw your next card.

Golf provides the framework in with the game is played. Each game is a single hole of a golf course. The score for an individual hole doesn’t matter all that much because your real goal is to hit below par for the whole course. The beauty of this system is that when you get to those awful awkward moments when the last few cards on the table just won’t work, you can end your game and move on to the next hole.

In fact, a cleared table will land you well under par. Not only does this make successful games particularly rewarding, it also keeps you from getting bogged down in losses. Just pick up your clubs, dust yourself off and move on to the next hole. You’ll even it out in the end.

Speaking of clubs, they play a vital role in Fairway Solitaire. You can find them as you play or buy them with Golf Bucks, and they can be used as cards for cheating. Whenever you’re in a tight spot with few cards left in your deck, you can pull out a relevant club and build off that instead. Again, this design cuts down on frustration and adds a teensy bit of strategy thanks to the relative scarcity of Golf Bucks and the long cooldown on each club.

Not that they’re all that scarce. You earn Golf Bucks for everything you do. They come from achievements, from finishing holes, from really good shots. They also come from in-app purchases, if you’re so inclined. You can use them to buy clubs or gear that gives you other advantages, like letting you see how many cards are left in the deck or clearing away a few hazards at the start of each hole.

Fairway Solitaire starts with one course pack, which contains six courses and about twenty-four holes total. If you choose to pay a dollar to unlock the rest of the courses, there are ten course packs that open up as you progress and one that can be unlocked with Golf Bucks. The differences between holes lie in the card layouts, the hazards present (which generally must be cleared by finding a hidden card or sacrificing a card from your deck), and the number of cards you need to get through to make par. Since most of the holes have their card selections randomly assigned, you can pretty much play forever.

Quirks abound, like realistically banal golf banter (which can be turned off) and overarching story about an angry gopher. The latter only comes up when you draw a wild card, which will throw you into a random gopher-related situation. Some give you clubs or take away your cards, and some are silly little minigames that award you with Golf Bucks.

Some of the other quirks of the game are less pleasant.The HD version doesn’t include Game Center, while the standard version is about double the file size. Multitasking drops off unusually quickly and without it you’ll be sent back to the start of the hole. And prepared to be inundated with ads for other Big Fish Games titles whenever you load Fairway Solitaire up fresh.

Those annoyances aside, this is the new solitaire title to beat in my books. What it lacks in difficulty it makes up for in sheer mindless entertainment, which is arguably what solitaire does best. If you want to push for a bigger challenge you can always go for three stars on each course, but success ultimately comes down to luck of the draw. Instead, I’d recommend enjoying Fairway Solitaire as the never-ending meditative experience that it is. Let other games be challenging. For this one, compelling and fun might just be good enough.

TouchArcade Rating:

[source]

The Corpse Party series of video games have been loitering around my “I really should play these some day” game list since I first heard about them a few years ago. The games have some crazy roots behind them, as the first title was made in RPG Maker, a point and click game studio that was responsible for countless terrible ultra-indie RPG games. My personal favorite of these RPG Maker games was Chef Boyardee’s Barkley, Shut Up & Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa. (Yes, that’s a real game, watch the trailer. No really, watch it.) Anyway, Corpse Party has had two different remakes since then, the most recent of which landed as a downloadable title for the PSP in late 2010. A sequel arrived around a year later, and there have even been two manga adaptations. One was even published by Square Enix.

If this is the first time you’ve heard of Corpse Party, Joystiq’s JC Fletcher put together an awesome description of what the game is all about. In essence, it’s your typical 16 bit JRPG that jumps the rails in a big way. You quickly find yourself in a nightmare dimension where no one can see each other, doors don’t work, windows are blocked by human hair, and evidence of countless child murders are everywhere. (Making you wonder how this is getting by the App Store approval department, eh?) There’s a cast of characters who are subjected to the torture of this environment, and you sit by and watch what unfolds.

What interested me about this crazy game is that there’s tons of “bad endings,” like a Choose Your Own Adventure book. I’ve always really liked games that divert from a linear roller coaster ride to letting you screw up, and then showing you the consequences. The PSP version is even constructed with selectable chapters to allow you to go back and explore all these different outcomes.

According to Andriasang, Corpse Party will be hitting the Japanese App Store this week for ¥2,200 which in US App Store pricing would be $29.99. No word yet on a localized English release, but I figure if the game will be available for iOS devices with Japanese text, an English adaptation can’t be that far off, since presumably the translation already exists from the PSP game.

Fingers crossed, anyway.

[Famitsu via Andriasang via Joystiq]

[source]

Zombie Wonderland 2: Outta Time! [99¢] has everything a good zombie game needs: guns, girls, guts, green goo and a generous amount of cleaning equipment. Oh, come on. Don’t raise that eyebrow at me. You know it’s true. Every good shoot-out tends to leave an inevitable mess and Zombie Wonderland 2, unlike so many of its peers, is not afraid to acknowledge it.

Here, in this goofy little defense/time-management/real-time strategy title, you’ll have the dubious pleasure of playing as the redneck stereotype Chuck. Being the responsible Zombie Cleaner (and someone totally oblivious to the idea of job security) that he is, Chuck will stop at nothing to rid the world of the cannibalistic undead.

As you might have guessed, this isn’t a particularly easy task. You’re going to have to do everything from bringing a vegetarian vampire his lactose-rich treat to protecting pet goldfish in Medieval Japan.

Silly, eh? If that description hasn’t scared you off just yet, this might spell the beginning of a wonderful friendship. Much like the story itself, Zombie Wonderland 2 is a fair bit of mindless fun, the kind that can easily rob you of a few hours of your time. If what you want is a simple, silly hybrid of the aforementioned genres, stop reading and go download it already.

However, if you’re an Apple App Store connoisseur, this may be where you sit down and ponder the direction of your dollar a bit more. Like a serving of fast food, Zombie Wonderland 2 is both satisfying and unfulfilling all at the same time.

Gameplay here is relatively straightforward. Each stage consists of you being told to defend a certain item from zombies for a number of nights. Of course, as a Zombie Cleaner, you’re also going to have to do your best to ensure that there is no unnecessary gunk on the floors at the end of the night, something easier said than done.

To accomplish this, you’re going to have to make use of your trusty shotgun ‘Betsy’, cleaning implements, turrets, wooden planks, unusual bullets and a peculiar assortment of limited-use weapons. Controls are exceedingly simple. To attack a zombie, you touch it with a finger. To board up a window, you tap it with a finger. To summon your infant Death Worm, you – you get the picture.

Sadly, though, it isn’t quite as exciting as it sounds. Your nightly escapades will mostly consist of you boarding up windows and playing ‘whack-a-mole’ with the festering onslaught. Regardless of how many you purchase, you’ll only get access to one turret at a time. One. Uno. Satu.

To make things even worse, your turrets are about as impervious to zombie attacks as cookies are to the Cookie Monster. More often than not, you’ll find yourself attempting to fix it while corralling flaming cadavers. It’s the same with the limited-use weapons and the various bullet types. Sure, you might have a dozen but you’ll ever get to use one variety at a time.

All said and done, however, Zombie Wonderland 2 is still an enjoyable piece of work. The over-the-top silliness and the bright, colorful graphics feel reminiscent of an old Saturday morning cartoon. The game’s just difficult enough to make it challenging and simple enough to engage in without requiring too much of a forethought.

TouchArcade Rating:

[source]

In an attempt to convince people that Internet Explorer 9 paired with Windows 7 is a good thing, Microsoft and Zepto Labs are offering a free HTML5 version of Cut the Rope with special features exclusive to the browser and OS. You don’t need either, though, to experience what is essentially the mobile Cut the Rope experience at the game’s web site — Chrome, Firefox, or Safari all work fine.

As TechRadar explains, the point of this is to show off the pinning component between the OS and IE9. When you pin the web site, you’ll be given a set of special levels. Isn’t it nice when things work together like friends?

Of course, we know Om Nom best from our times spent with it on the phone. After a few minutes of this web version, we’re thinking that touch is still the ultimate way to play. On the other hand, teaming up with Microsoft increases awareness, which isn’t a bad thing if that also increases the chances of new iOS follow-ups.

If you haven’t yet played Cut The Rope, give this free version a try. If you like it (which you likely will) strongly consider downloading the real iOS versions of the game.

[source]