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Check Out 'Shattered Planet', a New Free to Play, Sci-Fi Themed Strategy RPG Posted: 27 Mar 2014 11:46 AM PDT Sliding in under the radar of this week's new releases is Shattered Planet [Free] from Execution Labs and Kitfox Games. It's a strategy RPG set in a sci-fi world, and it's peppered with roguelike elements. Your job is to explore randomly generated planets collecting items and gathering information on the various inhabitants. It's set up like a dungeon crawler in that you'll explore one area, find the teleporter, then get zapped into the next, "deeper" area. You'll gain better rewards the deeper you go. There's also a slight element of permadeath, in that each time you die you'll lose all your items gained during a run and get sent back to the world hub, ready to start over from the beginning. However, there are permanent attribute upgrades you can earn that will slowly build up your overall character level. I've only been playing Shattered Planet for a little while this morning, but I'm really, really liking it so far. I think what I like most about it is that it encourages you to explore. You actually earn "scrap metal" for logging new entries in your journal and discovering new things, and that's what goes towards increasing your character's permanent upgrades. This is an in-game currency that you can't buy with IAP, so I like that it rewards you for actually playing and gives you a sense of progression and purpose with each new run. The second currency, crystals, are earned by exploring deeper and deeper into a planet. This currency you can buy with IAP, but it just goes towards crafting new items and weapons, which already have a sort of "throwaway" feel to them since you'll lose all your items upon death. Basically, there doesn't seem to be any "pay to win" or game-stopping paywalls in the free to play structure of Shattered Planet, which is a good sign. Anyway, I'm talking far too much about a game that you could simply download for free and try yourself. I'm impressed with the pay model implementation, and more importantly, I'm impressed with how much fun Shattered Planet is turning out to be. On the topic of IAP, for the next few days only you can buy a sort of "starter pack" for two bucks which will give you a little bit of every currency, some items and even a pet companion to help you in battle. There's also a crystal tripler if you're looking to earn those crystals at a higher rate. Give Shattered Planet a shot if you like roguelikes, exploring, and cool sci-fi themes, and be sure to see what players are saying about the game in our forums too.

'Dead Trigger 2', 'Oceanhorn', 'Plants vs Zombies 2', and Some Other Big Games Got Some Great Updates Recently Posted: 27 Mar 2014 10:15 AM PDT The App Store moves so fast these days that it's hard to keep track of updates, and iOS 7's stealth background downloading of updates sure doesn't help the situation. Here's some recent updates that you should check out, in case you've got these games hiding somewhere in a forgotten folder on your phone: Dead Trigger 2 [Free] has been updated with a new arena mode, leaderboards and a lot of new content (including a zombie prostitute. Yep, you heard that right!). Part of the fun is that the arena is the endless mode that people were waiting for and they even threw in some traps that you can build and mess around with. It may not change what you think about the game's linear and enclosed environments but it will be a welcome addition to those who were waiting for more content. Oceanhorn [$8.99] has received a small but important update late last week. iCloud has finally been implemented and it will come handy for those who wanted to either sync their games between devices or make some more room on their iDevice while keeping their saves. Joe Danger [$0.99] was also updated with a new daily challenge that will let you earn more coins every day. Using the same mechanic, Duet [$2.99] now features a daily challenge that changes based on the day of the week. At some point today, Plants vs Zombies 2 [Free] is going to receive its biggest content update that was teased back at Gamescon last year. Featuring a new theme, Far Future will take you into the… Future! You'll have eight new plants to play with and ten new zombies will join the fray. Another update to look out for soon is the addition of a new level pack named "Kraken" in Icebreaker [$0.99] that should add a whole new chapter to this amazing game. They even put a teaser for it: Have any of your favorite games seen any cool updates recently? Let us know in the comments.

Activision is Closing Blast Furnace, The Studio Behind 'Call of Duty' Mobile Games Posted: 27 Mar 2014 10:00 AM PDT Blast Furnace, Activision's mobile studio that made Pitfall [Free] and Call of Duty: Strike Team [$6.99], a game we thought was quite great in our review, is going to close at the end of the month. That's a huge blow to Activision's effort in mobile gaming that started in 2012 when they said that every Call of Duty game would be handled by that studio. It's also a shame because the Blast Furnace was filled with talented folks from both Team 17 and Rockstar Games. Either Call of Duty wasn't as successful as they'd hoped or they decided that mobile wouldn't be part of their business strategy anymore, focusing instead on console and PC titles. It also could be linked to Vivendi's recent sale of Activision to a group of investors back in 2013. There's lots of speculation to be done regarding the how's and why's of this decision, but at the end of the day, talented developers are potentially out of a job. Let's hope this isn't the last we hear about Activision on mobile and best of luck to all those affected. [via mcvuk.com]

'Cardinal Quest 2' Review - Come On, Rogue! Posted: 27 Mar 2014 09:15 AM PDT It may have a name that calls to mind bright red birds or baseball, but Cardinal Quest [$3.99] is a pretty cool roguelike. Originally released on PC and later ported to iOS in 2012, it basically boils the genre concept down and streamlines it as much as possible. Interestingly, the way the developer went about simplifying it didn't so much remove depth as take the direct responsibility for handling it out of the player's hands. It proved to be a great fit for mobile platforms, and has a good following of fans, including me. Unfortunately for me, when I finally made the jump to newer hardware than my creaky old iPhone 4, I was a bit heartbroken to find that Cardinal Quest didn't work very well anymore thanks to the new dimensions of the screen. I was left waiting for the announced sequel, and after a fairly lengthy soft launch period, Cardinal Quest 2 [Free] is finally here. It could be argued that perhaps the greatest distinguishing trait the first game had was its lean nature. In most respects, it was like many other roguelikes. You moved a character turn-by-turn through a randomized dungeon floor, battling monsters, gaining levels, picking up treasure, and looking for the exit to the next floor. What you encountered along the way was as random as the layouts, so monsters and treasure were wildly different from one playthrough to the next. Naturally, it also had one of the defining elements of the genre: permadeath. If you ran out of health and didn't have any resurrection tricks up your sleeve, well, that's too bad. It's game over, and you may not press start to continue. The challenge and appeal in games of this genre is learning how to make the most of whatever the game happens to provide, and using that gained knowledge to inch ever closer to the goal. This often involves a lot of juggling around of equipment and items in menus to balance between your limited inventory and the possibility of needing alternate gear. Cardinal Quest decided to skip this part, and instead, as you picked up treasure and items, it would equip it if it was better than what you had, sell it if it was worse, or shuffle it off to your inventory if it was questionable, all automatically. Combat and movement were both handled simply by moving your character in one of the four cardinal directions. Oh hey, now I get the name. Anyway, the amount of time spent in menus was considerably cut down compared to many other examples of the genre, and that zippy pace was a great asset for people on the go. Cardinal Quest 2 actually backs things up a bit on the streamlining. If a piece of equipment is worse than what you have, it will still automatically be sold, but everything else will bring up a prompt asking you if you want to equip it or sell it. When picking up items or spells, you choose the slot they go in. This actually doesn't affect the brisk pace of the game all that much, and I personally enjoy having just a little bit more control over some of my character's details. This is basically what Cardinal Quest 2 brings to the table. It's a slightly more complex take on the first game's ideas that still manages to keep its speedy pace and accessible nature. For example, in the first game, leveling up was a hands-off experience. You gained a level, you become stronger. In Cardinal Quest 2, your stats are still done automatically on a level up, but you also are given a point to allocate towards a variety of skills or passive boosts unique to your class. It's a little thing, but it adds further to the customization and, by consequence, variation of each play session. The number of available job classes have increased from three in the first game to six in Cardinal Quest 2. The original jobs of fighter, wizard, and thief make a comeback, and are joined by the paladin, ranger, and pugilist. Each of them has different stats and access to a unique set of skills. Unlike the first game, they are not all available from the start, however. Initially, only the fighter is available to choose, with the other classes unlockable using the game's persistent currency, called morale. The jobs from the first game unlock very quickly, though, with a couple of decent games earning you enough to unlock one of them. The new jobs require twice as much morale to unlock, but even that's not all that bad. That said, if you don't have the patience to earn up the morale to unlock them, you can buy some using IAP. It's really not necessary at all, though. Earning up the currency the normal way means you'll be getting new stuff to try at fairly regular intervals, giving the game a feeling of tangible progress that roguelikes tend to lack. Each of the job classes also has a variety of starting skills and gear to choose from, though like the job classes themselves, each one beyond the first must be unlocked using morale. The final unlocks for each class cost a pretty decent chunk of change, but since your earned morale is based generally on how far you get in a session, by the time you're looking at picking these up, you'll probably be making enough to get them, once again, after a couple of games. That's the extent of the potential IAP pitfalls in the game, leaving us with something almost shockingly generous for a free app. After choosing your class and starting skill and gear, you can also choose your gender and your character's skin color, both of which are nice touches, even if they're not always clearly visible on the little pixelated heroes. As you level up and spend some points on skills, it's pretty cool how different each of the jobs starts to feel. For example, the thief gets skills that support skulking around and backstabbing monsters, while the fighter gets skills that allow you to charge headlong into hordes of enemies and come out with your skin intact. You truly have to adapt your playstyle to each class, and even then, depending on which skills you prioritize unlocking, you'll probably play a bit differently. We've already got all of this variety, and I haven't even gotten to the content of the dungeons. Since this is a roguelike, you'll also be earning random spells, equipment, and items as you play, which will further determine the nuances of your playstyle. Throw in the random maps and monsters, three difficulty settings, and the fact this game has three acts to the first game's one, and you've got a game that offers a huge amount of value. Like the first game, you control your character simply by touching the direction you want to go. This sometimes has the unfortunate effect of your finger blocking your character, but since the game is turn-based, it's not terribly detrimental to your enjoyment. One big change is that instead of using the landscape mode, this game is played in portrait mode. Since it's basically a one-handed game, I'm glad to see the developer opted for this style. It's very comfortable to play on my phone, even if I'm standing up on a train or something. Your character's movement speed is a little bit slower than it was in the first game, and while some might see that as a negative, I found it helped cut down on some of the twitchy movement accidents that can occur with this game's unusual control style. The dungeons themselves feel a bit bigger than they were in the first game, but thanks to the map being on-screen at all times, they're easy enough to navigate. The fairly large selection of loot in the first game is naturally expanded upon here, especially with regards to equipment and items. A great roguelike doesn't necessarily have to have great loot, but it sure doesn't hurt. The appearance of the dungeons, and to an extent the whole game, is considerably improved on the original game. It's still using a very pixel-heavy style, and the heroes themselves don't look all that different from before, but an abundance of new level themes and a more cohesive user interface go a long way towards making the overall game feel more professional. Oh, and bonus, the game actually pays attention to the mute button on your device now, so there's no more accidentally waking up loved ones when you want to sneak a quick game after going to bed. Another criticism of the first game addressed here is the lack of leaderboards and especially achievements. There are three leaderboards, each one tracking your best score for each act, and a whole pile of achievements. The achievements include a good mix of progression-based goals and more off-the-wall challenges, like trying to get through the first level as the thief without being spotted once. Best of all, achievements come with a tangible reward in the form of morale points. It's pretty much the best possible scenario, and it's yet another sign that the developers have taken this version of the game a lot more seriously than last time. The only criticism I have in the whole affair is that without any sort of hunger mechanism, there's no real downside to skipping turns. Your skill cooldown is based on turns, so if you're in a safe place, it's easy and consequence-free to tap a few times on your hero to queue up your spells again. You can also use this to lure enemies into advantageous situations. Any roguelike that lets you skip turns will have strategies like these, but they're usually balanced by some sort of mechanic where if you hang around too long in one place, something bad happens. It's not a gamebreaker by any means, and the game is still plenty challenging without it, but it's an odd omission for a game that hits pretty much every other note right. That extremely minor quibble aside, everything comes together into a game that still upholds the ideals of its predeccessor while improving in virtually every way. That first game was already a very good game, and with everything added to Cardinal Quest 2, it would be hard to argue with even if it were priced the same or a bit higher than the first. Yet somehow, this game is free. Given the sheer amount of potential gameplay to be had thanks to so many choices and random elements, it's one of the better deals I've seen in a while. If you like roguelikes, this is an easy decision. If you even like the idea of roguelikes, or enjoy a nice, fast-paced, light RPG experience, you should definitely give this a try. It's pretty much everything you could ask for in a sequel.

Freebie Alert: The Amazing Audio Adventure 'Papa Sangre II' Posted: 27 Mar 2014 07:42 AM PDT The App Store is a place of wonder. You'll find games that you thought couldn't exist and games that you wonder why they exist in the first place. Papa Sangre [$4.99] is based on the amazing concept of a game without graphics. Basically, you use your ears to find your way across dangerous environments all the while using positional audio to detect and avoid enemies. The first installment was a game that we reviewed and every new game in the series has been improving this formula. The Nightjar [$4.99] used the same concept but with Benedict Cumberbatch added as the narrator. And let's face it, anything could use more Cumberbatch. The third one, called Papa Sangre II [Free] casts Sean Bean as a dead fellow. Now you can read that sentence again and laugh all you like but it's one of the in the series yet and it's also free right now. That's right, you can get Sean Bean in your ear right now for the cost of nothing.

Disney Releases Free to Play CCG 'Star Wars: Assault Team' Posted: 27 Mar 2014 07:28 AM PDT Disney released Star Wars: Assault Team [Free], a new card battler that was originally announced earlier this year and that mustn't be confused with Konami's not so great Star Wars Force Collection [Free]. Assault Team features Player vs Player combat, an original story set between episode IV and V and a ton of cards to collect. Here's the launch trailer for it: As a huge Star Wars fan I'll be checking it out but I'm not expecting to be blow away. I'm also wary of the freemium aspects of the game that ruined Konami's attempt. Furthermore, there is a huge contender for best card game ever that is coming out soon and even if it's not set in the same universe, it's going to be a tough market for Assault Team. Look out for more impressions from our community here and may the cards be with you.

'Boom Beach' Guide: Beginner Tips and General Strategy Posted: 27 Mar 2014 06:00 AM PDT Supercell's Boom Beach [Free] was just released worldwide today, and to say the tutorial leaves you hanging is putting it lightly. Kanye can't even drop the mic as hard as Supercell does when it comes to explaining to players how to play the game. Maybe it's because they assume people playing Boom Beach are intimately familiar with Clash of Clans [Free], but Supercell really doesn't leave you any bread crumbs for what to do next after the first few minutes of gameplay. It makes sense, as I can see tons of crossover between Clash of Clans players and new Boom Beach players, but I figured I'd write up a quick guide for the other people out there like me who never really had Clash of Clans click for them but are interested in giving Boom Beach a try. So, like Clash of Clans, at its most basic level the gameplay loop of Boom Beach involves building a base to defend your resources while attacking enemy bases, both players and NPCs, to capture resources. As a beginner, the only two resources you'll have access to are gold and wood, and each has a distinctly different function. I feel like in the early game wood is your "main" resource, as it is used for buildings and building upgrades. It feels a little weird to be building military-themed weaponry with wood planks, but, whatever. Gold in early levels is primarily used to recruit troops for fighting, and revealing more of the ocean map to find more islands to conquer. The premium currency is diamonds, which, like most free to play games, are used to speed up timers and fill in any holes with the other currencies you might be missing. To understand how to properly defend your base, it seems easiest to explain how to successfully siege a base and you can apply the reverse logic to your own island. Assuming you've got your radar built and some of the map revealed, you'll want to be looking for the lowest level NPC island you can find. It seems like picking off low level enemies first is the way to go because there's no penalty for spending tons of time going through effortless opponents. Boom Beach doesn't have an energy mechanic, so even though the rewards might be low(er), slow and steady wins the race. As explained in the tutorial, you launch your troops on the enemy beach by tapping wherever you want them to go. Initially, all you have access to is the ability to dispatch troops and the artillery shots from your gunboat. Early battles can be a little frustrating because you don't have any control of your units once they leave the boat, as they'll just aggro on whatever they come across first and mindlessly get picked off by sniper towers while they fire away at barrels or some other non-threatening structure. Stick with it, as the tutorial doesn't even give you any hints that flares are coming for your gunboat, which allow you to mark terrain for your soldiers to walk to or buildings for them to attack. Flares are available once you upgrade your base to level 3. Once you get past that initial frustration, things get a lot better. As you're attacking islands, your priority goal should be keeping as many of your high value units alive as possible. As soon as you get your first heavy gunner you'll realize how much longer they take to replace and how much gold you effectively lose when one of them dies. Comparatively, your riflemen make great cannon fodder as they're both quick and cheap to replace. But, because your heavies are effectively your tank-like soldiers, you'll want to send them in first. The best thing I've found to do is let heavies sponge damage, then shoot a flare if you've bitten off more than you can chew to enemy defenses switch targets to riflemen, then shoot another flare to re-engage. After either a few hours of hammering away at low-level NPC islands or dropping some money on IAP to power-level yourself up, you'll come across some low level human opponents as you continue to reveal areas of the ocean. Scouting, or looking at other islands, is totally free, so what you want to be looking for are players who have, for lack of a better way to put it, built their base stupidly. Look at islands and imagine the path your soldiers can take. In my experience, low-level players really like spreading all of their defenses out instead of focusing them around their headquarters. It has, for instance, been exceedingly common to come across players who have all of their towers spread out along the front line of the beach. This might seem like a good idea at first, as you obviously want to shoot down soldiers storming your beach, but consider as soon as soon as those defenses are breached you're home free. In a situation like this, you can basically just target your troops and artillery on the defenses that would be in your way to attacking their headquarters. It's easy pickings, and seems to happen all the time. When attacking player islands, it's a good idea to focus your artillery fire on whatever the most threatening defense in the enemy base would be. At low levels, mortars are particularly deadly, as you don't often have enough energy or enough flares to go around to avoid the massive splash damage that can take out entire groups of guys. After conquering a few player islands, it should be exceedingly obvious what sorts of layouts are very easy to defeat and what crushes your offenses. At low levels, the best place to put your headquarters on the severe eastern side of your island, as deep in to the north eastern tree line and docks as you can. From there, arrange your defenses in a way that maximizes the amount of tower overlap you have. Instead of lining up your towers, think of them as rings of protection around your headquarters, and be sure to leave space between each of them so you don't afford your opponents the ability to target two of your towers at once with one artillery shot. Check out my current setup, which has worked very well so far: I've got my sniper towers in a way that two of them will be firing on troops at once, and my bigger guns spaced apart enough that enemies won't have any advantage by specifically focusing one tower. You also don't want to try to use your non-defensive buildings to form any kind of wall. Making your support and economy buildings easy to kill just feeds the enemy energy which feeds the artillery cannon of their gunship. It's also a good idea to prioritize upgrades on your vault, as especially while you're leveling up and gaining access to more varied defenses, you're inevitably going to get beaten once in a while. A high level vault is vital in keeping as many of your resources as possible safe. You don't want to be put off your next big upgrade because some punk sieged your island. Overall, you really want to approach everything you do in the game as a potential learning experience. When you come across a clever island, see how their defenses worked and what techniques you can incorporate in to your own island. Additionally, after every attack on your island, be sure to view the replay by going to the ocean map and hitting the menu button on the top right, and tweaking whatever seemed easy for the enemy player to get through or deal with. Boom Beach seems to be a game of iterative refinement. You're not going to win every battle, and you're not going to fend off every attack. If you learn something neat that you can apply in the future, it' worth losing a few resources. Anyway, Boom Beach is a surprisingly deep free to play game that could have guide content written about it for ages. This is merely a very high level overview covering some of the things that confused me that weren't covered in the tutorial. I didn't even touch on what you do with stone, unit upgrades, or anything else. We'll save that for another guide.

Out Now: 'Boom Beach', 'Little Big Adventure', 'Bad Student Driver', 'Sometimes You Die', 'Ravensburger Puzzle' and More Posted: 26 Mar 2014 08:17 PM PDT It's new iOS game release time, and get your iTunes login pressin' finger ready because there's quite a lot of new games tonight, as well as a few that came out earlier in the week and this past weekend. You have classic PC game Little Big Adventure, Supercell's latest Boom Beach, the quirky barcode scanning game Barcode Kingdom, the all-in-one digital puzzle solution Ravensburger Puzzle, and a lot more. Basically, a little something for everyone. Eli streamed many of these on our Twitch channel earlier today, and those clips have been embedded below for your viewing pleasure. Bad Student Driver iTunes Description Are you the best worst student driver? Can you earn your license? Drive your car as far as you can down the road, avoiding the traffic cones and the curb as you veer to the right, then to the left, and back again. Does your car badly need a front-end alignment, or are you just that bad of a driver? We're not sure, but the results are hilarious! Forum Thread: Bad Student Driver (by P1XL) Barcode Kingdom iTunes Description Scan barcodes, Get unique units and items! Build your own kingdom. The world named 'Barcodia' is comprised of the magical power of barcodes. Barcodes in the real world is a magic circle that transmit the magical power from the real world to 'Barcodia'. The barcodes around you will become your army. Summon various units and items, and make the strongest army. Share good barcodes and fight against the monsters with your friends. Forum Thread: Barcode Kingdom (by Magic Cube) Boom Beach iTunes Description Storm the beach and win the day! Boom Beach is a combat strategy game where you fight an epic war against the evil Blackguard. Take your expeditionary force to beautiful paradise islands invaded by the enemy. Fight for every beachhead, free enslaved islanders and explore the uncharted archipelago. The fight becomes a race to harness the ancient powers hidden on the islands. Are you ready for the BOOM? Forum Thread: Boom Beach by Supercell (Clash of Clans\Hay Day) Chaos Fighters iTunes Description Choose from hundreds of unique fighters to battle your way to greatness in Chaos Fighters. Deep customization mechanics allow for endless combinations of fighters, skills, equipment, and pets. Arenas, world PvP tournaments, guilds, mercenaries, pets, astrology, PvE dungeons, and adventuring provide endless entertainment. Join the world of Chaos Fighters today! Forum Thread: Chaos Fighters (by Coco Entertainment International) Clarc iTunes Description CLARC. An actiony puzzle adventure. With drunk robots. CLARC combines complex spatial puzzles with arcade style action elements. As the story unfolds, the nerdy janitor robot Clarc will encounter partying robots, attractive nuclear missiles and intoxicated supercomputers. He sets out to repair his production facility on Mars and fights to rescue his friends from the intruding spaceship M.O.T.H.E.R. who threatens to disarm the factory. CLARC's grid-based gameplay, challenging puzzles and tight controls will give you the retro feel of your first console. Forum Thread: CLARC (by Matthias Titze) DJ Max Technika Q iTunes Description Get your groove on in the latest addition to the DJMAX series. The HIT arcade and console rhythm action game, TECHNIKA, has now arrived on mobile devices! In this edition, you can enjoy not only the songs from the DJMAX series but also play exclusive songs featured only in TECHNIKA! Forum Thread: DJMAX TECHNIKA Q (by NEOWIZ Internet Corp.) Dungeon Marauders iTunes Description Dungeon Marauders is a Dungeon Delving Digital Card Game that allows you to build your dungeon from the ground up and delve into the worlds created by other users. Capture Monsters in The Wilds to customize your creation, then build your deck by earning gear and experience to shore up your hero's arsenal and skill set. Forum Thread: Dungeon Marauders (by SPQR Soft LLC) Firework Apprentice iTunes Description Dive into the fantastic world of floating islands and help young Firework Apprentice get to the Emperor's Palace for the annual firework contest. Solve puzzles, help encountered characters, run for your life, collect Moon Powder, interact with environment, upgrade you fireworks and many more! And all this with the fireworks! Firework Apprentice is a 3D adventure puzzle game set in fantastic world of floating islands with destructible environment. Each island has new, unique challenge for Apprentice, that can be accomplished using his fireworks (there are no repetitive stages). But in order to build his rockets, Apprentice must collect "Moon Powder" - a secret ingredient of all his fireworks! Forum Thread: Firework Apprentice (by Lukasz Przekwas) Flappy Golf iTunes Description Flap your way to the hole with this unique spin on our famous golf game! Using the now famous "flap" mechanic you must get to the hole in the fewest flaps as possible. Featuring the courses from Super Stickman Golf 2®, Flappy Golf is a fun little project we put together for the Flappy Jam game jam. Can you get gold stars on all the holes? Forum Thread: Flappy Golf (by Noodlecake Studios Inc) Flashout 2 iTunes Description FLASHOUT 2, the sequel to the highly-acclaimed anti-gravity racer FLASHOUT 3D is finally here! Get into one of many ultra-fast ships and use your arsenal of rockets, guns, bonuses and upgrades to fight your way to victory! FLASHOUT 2 offers a fresh and addicting racing experience featuring a redesigned and enhanced Career Mode with story elements, massive improvements in matter of steering, physics, opponent's AI, and other gameplay elements, an Online Multiplayer Mode and introduces completely new and exciting game modes, such as Destruction, Elimination and Versus! FLASHOUT 2 also features high-end console-quality graphics, some of the best and most accessible controls to allow you to focus on pure action, amazing licensed electronic music and game controllers support! Additionally the game offers a unique interactive equalizer, that analyzes in-game music and accordingly determines, in real-time, what the visual effects look like! Forum Thread: Flashout 2 - (by Jujubee) Folt iTunes Description Flip tiles and match colors to move your way through more than 125 challenging levels in this beautiful, minimalist puzzle game. Forum Thread: Folt (by Nonverbal) Game of Thrones Ascent iTunes Description The award-winning game based on HBO's Game of Thrones has come to the iPad! See what 2,500,000 players are already raving about! Build your noble house, embark on quests and rise in power in the Strategy RPG based on the hit HBO series Game of Thrones and George R.R. Martin's novels A Song of Ice and Fire! Forum Thread: Game of Thrones Ascent (by Kongregate) GooHoo iTunes Description Robots have taken over the planet! GooHoo, a tiny super-weapon is humanity's only hope in the war against the giant killer robots. Play Goohoo and travel across the city climbing inside the giant robots. Once inside, Goohoo's world is all machines, cogs and clockwork. You can change the way the inner cogs move, reflect lasers with mirrors, shut down systems, drain the bots' vital fluids and then find the detonators to blow them up, but remember to get out before you get hit by the blast! Part platform game, part puzzler, all adventure! Forum Thread: GooHoo (by Evil Twin Artworks) Infocus Extreme Bike iTunes Description INFOCUS Extreme Bike is an arcade first person mountain bike downhill videogame, with challenging circuits full of speed inspired by real competitions and locations like Chile, Mexico and Bolivia. You must descend and maneuver your bike at full speed trying to avoid obstacles using the device's gyroscope to achieve the best time you can. Forum Thread: INFOCUS Extreme Bike (by Juan Moisés Moris Tejo) Kickball Champion of the World iTunes Description Kickball Champion of the World is the newest thing in addictive arcade gameplay! *Original hand drawn animation. *Unique addictive gameplay. *High Scores. *Explosions. *Original OST You should buy it off me. Forum Thread: Kickball Champion of the World! - (Murry Lancashire) King of Shmups iTunes Description Become a pro mobile gamer. compete in online tournament with Skillz. enter skillz tournament now! "King of Shmups" is an arcade top down space shoot'em up. Kill incoming enemies before the time runs out and multiply scores with combo & chains gained from each successful kills. Forum Thread: King of Shmups (by Illogical) Land Phil iTunes Description Goofy and endearing, Land Phil is frantic downhill dash that combines endless and racing mechanics to create a unique experience that offers fast and furious gameplay. Keep Phil upright by braking and landing instead of speeding up and jumping! Collecting prize after prize while staying ahead of the onslaught of impending boulders makes for a very challenging and highly addictive game with plenty of replay value. Forum Thread: Land Phil (by Bulkhead Studios) Little Big Adventure iTunes Description Originally released on PC in 1994, Little Big Adventure (also known as 'Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure') is an action-adventure RPG designed by Frédérick Raynal. 20 years later, a new version of this entertaining video game hit is being released, specially adapted for mobile phones. You play as Twinsen, a young hero living on Citadel Island on a world under the heel of the dictator Dr. FunFrock. You've been having strange dreams in which your planet is about to be destroyed. These dreams don't make Dr. FunFrock particularly happy, and he locks you away in an insane asylum. As Twinsen, you'll need to escape from your cell and discover your incredible destiny as a descendant of a long line of magicians in charge of protecting your planet's secret! Forum Thread: Little Big Adventure - (by DotEmu) Loco Motors iTunes Description Think outside the box and create hundreds of wacky vehicles to take on Loco Motors' unique stunt challenges. Dash through the most physics-defying tracks you've ever seen and share your achievements with your friends online! So, go ahead! Unleash your creative genius and show off your crazy stunts and vehicle designs! Play Loco Motors now and have a blast defying physics... on wheels! Forum Thread: Loco Motors (By Minority Media) Maya The Bee: The Ant's Quest iTunes Description The ant queen has been infected by a strange virus. Time is running out, we have to act as quickly as possible or the anthill will languish. The queen needs your services: bring back all the necessary fruits to prepare her healing potion. In Maya The Bee: Ants Quest you control different kinds of ants: the soldiers, the workers and the conveyors, each one of them having their own functions. Recruit new ants, beware the wasps and solve the many challenges standing in your way. Forum Thread: Maya The Bee: The Ant's Quest - (by Bulkypix) Nerdy Workout iTunes Description Earn as many reps as you can before your arms get eaten by monsters. FEATURES: - Challenging gameplay gradually ratchets up the difficulty - Over 30 ranks from "limp noodle" to "beefy" & beyond - Earn trophies to commemorate your longest run - Share your high scores worldwide on the Game Center Leaderboard - No limit to the number of reps you can earn (or is there?) Forum Thread: Nerdy Workout (by Joseph Rothenberg) Pigs With Problems iTunes Description It all started with the classic story about the three little piggies, but things get messed up when the third house gets blown away... Use a variety of action packed finger-twisting gestures to HIT, PUNCH and THROW the big bad Wolf's evil helpers out of the way and help piggies escape. Forum Thread: Pigs With Problems (by Wham Bam) Pot of Legend iTunes Description Earn money by breaking the pot as an RPG game. Players looks for pots and break it automatically. The gauge is charged faster by tapping the screen. Pot appears when the gauge is full. Let's collect coins from broken pots by tapping them. Pot of legend appears when you earn Gold 1,000,000,000,000! Forum Thread: Pot of Legend (by Orca) Pyro Pursuit iTunes Description Play as a fearless firefighter, making your way up a burning building. With the help of a firetruck armed with a ladder-firing cannon (obviously), you need to avoid flaming obstacles, jump from building ledge to ledge, and save a few personal items (and elephants) along the way. Timing is everything with simple one-touch controls to fire the cannon and advance up the building. Complete missions to earn rewards to help you along the way. Upgrade your firefighter to get to higher levels. Compete with friends on the Game Center leaderboards! Forum Thread: Pyro Pursuit - (by Smugbit Studios) Quest of Dungeons iTunes Description Quest of Dungeons is a turn based dungeon crawler game. An evil Dark Lord has stolen all the light, so your mission is to enter his lair and defeat him. By playing as either a Warrior, a Wizard, a Assassin or a Shaman you have to traverse dungeons, defeat enemies and loot everything you can in order to survive. The entire game is procedural so you won't find items/enemies in the same place each time you play. Forum Thread: Quest of Dungeons (by David Amador) Ravensburger Puzzle iTunes Description The best puzzle app for the iPad - of course from Ravensburger. A huge selection of motifs, intuitive controls, original Ravensburger quality, beginner-friendly tutorials. For over 100 years, Ravensburger has been known as the European market leader for its high-quality puzzles. Starting immediately, we are uniting the traditions and experiences from the classical world of puzzles with the advantages and opportunities of the digital world on the iPad (iPad 2 and up). Never before has it been so easy to follow your passion for puzzles. Whether at home or while traveling, the mobility of the tablet allows you to always have your personal puzzle collection on hand anywhere, anytime. Forum Thread: Ravensburger Puzzle - (by Ravensburger) Red Bull Racers iTunes Description Get ready for wild races, reckless overtakings and tons of action in the next generation of Slot Racing! Forum Thread: Red Bull Racers (by Red Bull) Sometimes You Die iTunes Description In a game, you die. And imply that it has no effect on you. You feel invincible in the realm behind the screen. This one is different. In this game, you have to die. Forum Thread: Sometimes You Die (by Phillip Stollenmeyer) Tiny Space Adventure iTunes Description Live a great adventure with this point-and-click game that combines simplicity and logic ... Can you manage to pass each level without being trapped? Try and you'll know You'll face puzzles of increasing difficulty, but also many surprises in each level ... it's up to you to discover them... Ready to live an intergalactic adventure? Let's go!!! Forum Thread: Tiny Space Adventure - (by Alexandre Minard) zRacer iTunes Description Race at insane speeds through randomized techno pumping levels Pick up speed and health boosts along the way and go faster than your friends! >>>>>>>>GOTTA GO FAST>>>>>>>> Forum Thread: zRacer (by Robert Johnson) 0-Snake iTunes Description Ultimate arcade challenge with innovative controls and minimalist design - that's what 0-SNAKE is about. Most important rule: one touch is enough for 0-SNAKE. Improve yourself and beat the world record. Forum Thread: 0-SNAKE [Extreme] (by Evil Indie Games)

'Deadlings' Review - Help The Grim Reaper Make Some Friends Posted: 26 Mar 2014 02:49 PM PDT Combining some super addictive and challenging physics puzzling with four classes of the cutest zombies, Artifex Mundi's Deadlings [$1.99] is a joy to play. In a similar fashion to Lemmings, you, as the player, must navigate each of the zombie babies around and across the most death-defying traps in an attempt to "train" your minions. The gameplay is divided into two modes of play, with strategic planning and successful timing taking the forefront. Generous enough to give you the time to plan your course of action before you start each level, your goal is to make your way around the deadly maze, avoiding all the hazards it throws in your path. Lethal spinning saw wheels, murderous spikes, and alien spiders are just a few of the obstacles set in place to hold back the zombies from reaching safety. You'll start initially with one class of zombie, learning the ropes as you go along. Don't let your guard down though, as the difficulty spikes fairly quickly. The first few levels or so are tailored to getting you to grips with the game and teaching you the various features throughout the levels. There's a three star system based on how well you do, which calculates the time you took versus - and this is the most important factor in your final score - the amount of brains you pick up along the way. As you advance, you'll also accumulate skulls, which essentially are used as a currency of sorts to regenerate zombies, eliminate traps or skip levels. We'll get to more on that later though. As noted previously, the modes of play involve strategic planning in which you can zoom in and out, alter parts of the maze, and more, before tapping right into the arcade style action in which you'll implement your skills and carry through your ideas as best you can, with some clever in-game improvisation along the way. A great breath of fresh air though is the ability to switch modes, zoom out and see where you are headed or what you might be doing wrong. Each class of zombie is blessed with a different skill necessary to clear the level, whether it be flying, crawling, bouncing, running, or jumping, and each also has a number of special achievements you can obtain as you advance, which is an added bonus if you're into that sort of thing. As the levels get more tricky, you'll probably find yourself switching from one class of zombie to another as different traps rear their ugly heads, but a little extra planning and you'll be laughing. That said, if you're not careful, and this is where Deadlings really can catch you out, there's a possibility of running out of skulls and hitting a wall where you can't progress without spending some more real cash. Yes, it's rather cheeky of Artifex Mundi, considering the initial price of the game, but you can expect to at least hash out an hour or two of gameplay before you hit that wall. IAP are priced at various tiers, with skulls costing from $0.99 for a pack of 25, and a fresh pack of deadlings setting you back the same. You can also spend money on power-ups, or just go all out and buy a bundle with a combination of the lot from as little as $3.99. For the casual gamer, this can be a bit of a stretch, considering the fact that when you buy a game initially, you don't want to have to splash out more if you don't have to. Fortunately, you'll probably get in a good couple of hours and clear a large number of levels before you hit this point, but it's inevitable in most cases to say the least. That all said, Deadlings is challenging, entertaining, and oodles of fun. Accompanied by a great soundtrack and some fine looking graphics, you'll really be missing out on this humor-filled action-packed delight if you don't pick it up.