Touch Arcade

'Surgeon Simulator' Gets iPhone Support, and More Unintentional-yet-Hilarious Mishaps? Posted: 30 Oct 2014 12:35 PM PDT For far too long, Surgeon Simulator [$5.99] fans who have wanted to play the game on the go have had to deal with the tyranny of playing on the iPad, and not on their phones. Well no more must you iPhone owners who want to transplant alien organs while sitting on the bus have to suffer! Bossa Studios has today made Surgeon Simulator universal, adding iPhone support to the previous iPad exclusive app. Certainly, any game going universal is a welcome sight, but given how this game is really based on precise actions, this might be better on bigger screens. Of course, half the fun of the game is because goofy stuff does happen, so maybe the bigger challenge of trying to do precise surgical maneuvers on a smaller screen is a feature, not a problem. After all, it's hardly a serious game since there's alien organ transplants! Plus, the game supports video sharing, so even if you screw up, hey, maybe you can rack up some views and social media hits and become the next PewDiePie. Or, the next Pumpkin Dance:

'Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Generation' for iPad Now Available Worldwide Posted: 30 Oct 2014 11:16 AM PDT It was just about a week ago that Konami soft-launched their Yu-Gi-Oh! card battling game, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Generation [Free (HD)], but already it appears the game has launched worldwide, popping up in the US App Store earlier today. Based on the original, physical Yu-Gi-Oh! card game, Duel Generation features over 6,000 cards, online multiplayer, and special weekly events. Perhaps most importantly, it allows you to play offline against a computer AI and features a single-player campaign, which is a nice feature for those who don't always have internet access. Impressions have been rolling into our forums since the soft-launch last week, and so far they seem mostly positive. Players are praising how well the interface is done in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Generation as well as the ability to play offline. Being a free to play game, there's always the question of how the IAP affects the game. There do appear to be premium cards only available via IAP, but we'll have to see how much they matter in the long-term. Just because someone has a strong card doesn't automatically make them a better player, you know? At any rate, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Generation is free so there's no harm in downloading and checking it out for yourself.

Reminder: You've Got Two Days to Get Your October 'Hearthstone' Card Back Posted: 30 Oct 2014 10:30 AM PDT "DAMN IT," is what I said when I posted this last story and realized I hadn't taken the insignificant amount of time it takes to reach level 20 in Hearthstone [Free (HD)] in September, thus missing out on the pirate card back. I'm in a bit of a Hearthstone lull currently, waiting for the next expansion, but it's still important to get those collectable items in Blizzard games because… reasons? If you don't have the itch, I'm not sure I can explain it. It's the same feeling you get when you miss out on an easy to get time limited title in World of Warcraft proper. So, consider this your warning if you too haven't been playing much Hearthstone lately. The October ranked season rewards a particularly awesome cardback, and getting it takes minimal effort. All you need to do is play ranked games until you hit rank 20. At this level, losing games doesn't result in lost progress so you can really play any jank deck and just slam your head against enough opponents and win. Additionally, per Hearthpwn there's some other cool card backs you can get which just recently got patched in. If you get the collector's edition of the new WoW expansion you get one, and if you attend Blizzcon (or buy a virtual ticket) you'll get one too. Presumably there are other people out there collecting these card backs, hopefully this post causes you to avoid my September frustration.

'Woah Dave!' Review: Ohhhhhhh Yeah! Posted: 30 Oct 2014 10:14 AM PDT Super Crate Box [$1.99] has definitely spawned a few games inspired by it, to say the least, though games cutting too close has been a sensitive subject. But the game owes a lot to the original Mario Bros. in terms of structure, and Woah Dave [$1.99] from Choice Provisions, the former Gaijin Games, manages to take more after Nintendo's original than Vlambeer's modern. And it does a great job at making its own blend of challenging survival and situation management that I quite enjoyed. Players control Dave, who has a problem with creatures hatching from eggs and then just running around like they own the place. So, he must take them out, either by tossing other eggs at them, or using the exploding skulls. In terms of utility, the skulls surpass the eggs because they're all killer, no filler, though don't be holding them or near themn when they explode. The eggs can kill creatures that spawn, so they're useful if no skulls are available. Creatures that fall into the fiery abyss below will come back faster and more powerful – but also worth more coins, which determines score. Essentially, the game becomes about managing the chaos much in the way that Super Crate Box was about. Getting rid of an egg before it hatches, whether by skulling it or throwing it into the abyss, is usually a good idea because enemies are a one-touch kill, though there are three lives at least. Occasionally, there will be a bunch of eggs and no skulls, so managing them, taking care of whatever pops up is important for getting high scores. That, and the item being held blowing up while being held isn't a good thing either. There are indicators for that, at least! It's that strategic aspect to the game that I really quite enjoy. The game ramping up in difficulty as the bottom floor gets consumed by lava, which can be delayed by throwing eggs or skulls into it, makes sure that it's impossible to just kind of do nothing for a while. I recommend for those who have played Super Crate Box and gotten some skill at it, to delete and reinstall the game. It's absurdly easy with only the starting weapons in part because the rocket launcher is rolled more often, and crowd control is a lot easier having, that, a better idea of what is coming, and the fact that the game never actually gets harder. Woah Dave instead cleverly finds a way to keep the premise the same over time as far as skull and egg drops go, with the same performance needed, but making the situation it takes place in more difficult over time, as once that floor turns entirely to lava, enemies will come back as their more powerful forms more often. There's one gameplay mode available until a score of 150 is attained, and that means get ready to hammer down through the main mode again and again until it's unlocked. Generally, making it that long just requires not making stupid mistakes up until the point when the lava disappears, and the UFOs come and destroy platforms, making the situation much more chaotic than it once was. This is definitely a game of "keep your head while all around are losing theirs." And to also quote Rudyard Kipling, "Get good, noob." I do wish that the lava could be managed a bit more than it is now, maybe if tossing eggs or skulls would get more of the floor back than it currently gets. I like what Woah Dave does for touchscreen controls, while there's the default virtual buttons that can be placed anywhere, give the Pro Dave controls a try from the options. This makes the buttons move around while playing, so ideally the move arrows and jump/throw buttons are where they're expected to be based on the last time they were touched, not based on their actual physical position. This system can get a bit screwy at times if moving a finger too far, but it's mostly good. It's just the bad will be killer. There's also MFi gamepad support, which I always approve of, especially in games that are also on systems with physical controls like this Woah Dave is. For those who enjoy arcade-style games, and I'm talking original Mario Bros. style, Woah Dave is a must, it's a great game to sink a lot of time into again and again.

Blizzard Teases 'Hearthstone' Demolisher Plans for BlizzCon? Posted: 30 Oct 2014 08:38 AM PDT Normally I don't put a whole lot of thought in to divining the meaning of the weird iOS press packets that get mailed to me on the reg', but when Blizzard sends you something... Well, that seems noteworthy. When they send you something UPS overnight and that something is quite literally two pieces of paper... That seems even more noteworthy, right? Maybe? Blizzcon is next weekend, and it seems like we're nearing 100% certainty that there will be some kind of cool Hearthstone announcement. I would've said that before UPS came today, but, now I think it's all but guaranteed. Here's what I got- Is a new demolisher going to be featured in the new card set? Is Blizzard sending other plans to other people, teasing out additional cards or things they're going to do? Speculation is the name of the game, at least until next weekend when the doors of Blizzcon open.

'Hatchi 2' Promises to Revitalize and Advance the Virtual Pet Posted: 30 Oct 2014 08:30 AM PDT Back in 2012, Portable Pixels released Hatchi [$0.99] on to the App Store, and it was a great throw back to the the 90's and the days of Tamagotchi, Digimon, and other virtual pets, even boasting the grayscale style that many of the original little virtual pet hardware used. In some ways, it kind of presaged mobile gaming, the idea of having something with you personally that you check on regularly, though the virtual pet has never really taken back off. Well, Portable Pixels is going to take things to a new level with Hatchi 2, coming soon. The game will take the dramatic 1999 leap to full color, first of all. There will be a number of eggs to get a Hatchi from, as it eventually evolves into a bigger and better creature. There will be 25 different Hatchis, with breeding between not just your pets, but also with the Hatchis of friends, which will get you and your friend a baby Hatchi to grow. There will be a number of minigames and customizations for the Hatchis as well. If you want to beta test the game, you can sign up on our forums to give it a shot before release.

'Star Wars: Galactic Defense' Out Now Worldwide Posted: 30 Oct 2014 07:42 AM PDT Star Wars: Galactic Defense [Free], the free-to-play Star Wars tower defense game published by DeNA, is out now. This lets players command forces on either the light or dark side of the force, getting units and heroes appropriate to each side to use in order to advance through the game. The game bears something of a resemblance to Kingdom Rush [$0.99 / $2.99 (HD)] in its path layouts and the use of three hero units that supplement the towers placed to help repel enemy creeps that invade. Players choosing a side will help them net points for their side of the Force, with the ability to hook into Facebook to exchange resources with friends and to get help. It will be interesting to see how this game turns out, and if it does well – Star Wars: Commander [Free] was a bit shameless in the way it took after Clash of Clans [Free], but hey, who isn't copying that game? And tower defense is a very well-worn genre that's hard to tackle in an original way at this point. But hey, a decent Star Wars tower defense game is not a bad proposition, and if it does well, maybe we'll get some of those suggestions that Shaun Musgrave sarcastically pointed out in his Star Wars: Commander review. Additionally, if you want to read some forum impressions, we've had a thread for the game rolling since the wee hours of the morning when it first hit the App Store.

'NHL 2K' Review - Running Out The Clock Posted: 30 Oct 2014 07:30 AM PDT Let's be frank, video games based on team sports aren't known for revolutions between updates. That reputation was mostly earned by them being among the first types of games to adopt a yearly release schedule. As it turns out, games take a lot of work to make, and if you're committed to meeting a particular date every year, there's only so much you can risk upheaving. Given this long-held tradition in the genre, I almost instinctively wasn't surprised to find that NHL 2K [$7.99] is, shall we say, a modest step forward from the last hockey game 2K released on iOS. Shaking away that initial gut reaction, I then remember that this isn't a yearly update, and it has in fact been over four years since NHL 2K11, and in that context, it's almost embarrassing how little has been done here. If you're looking for a decent hockey game and you don't have NHL 2K11, it's easy enough to recommend NHL 2K. It's competent, and there's honestly little competition even across the entire handheld spectrum. If you do have 2K11, the question of whether it's worth it gets a bit trickier. Everything that was in NHL 2K11 makes a return here. There are tons of gameplay options you can mess around with to fit the rules to your liking, and a variety of modes to dig into. You can play a quick game, run a full season, play an outdoors Winter Classic game, do a shootout, or just mess around in a free skate mode to get the hang of the controls. Speaking of the controls, there are now more options, with the original virtual button setup returning along with poorly-conceived one-finger touch controls and MFi controller support. Obviously, the controller is the best way to go, but I found the virtual buttons to do the job pretty well, too. The touch controls are a great idea in principle, but in practice they're nearly unbearable. The controller support is one of the biggest updates to the game, actually, which I think says something. The other big addition is the "My Career" mode which has you create your own player and use him, and only him, throughout a season. You can choose from any of the positions on the ice except goalkeeper, because goalies are unfeeling robots who have neither mercy nor love in their cold, metallic hearts. Based on the position and play style you choose, your character will be assigned starting stats. Simply choose the team you want to play for and you're off. Of course, since you're a rookie, you're going to be buried on one of the lower lines and will only get to play a few minutes of each game. You can skip through the parts where your guy isn't on the ice at the touch of a button, so that's not as bad as it sounds. When you do take to the ice, you'll want to make the most of things. Every action you perform, good or bad, is going to affect your stats in some way after the game. Generally, you'll move forward, but mistakes will cost you. Once the game is over, all the bonuses are tallied up, you gain experience, and you can even put an extra point into your stats if you did well enough. Keep working hard and you might get moved up to a busier line after a while. I prefer controlling the whole team, but as tacked-on game modes go, "My Career" is pretty fun. It's enjoyable watching your player progress from being a low-rung third- or fourth-liner who plays a couple of minutes in a game to being a star player who's on more than he's off. Since virtually all games will be shorter than those in the regular modes of play, it's a nice mode to chew on when you don't quite have enough time for a full game but still want a bit of hockey action. It's worth pointing out that this mode isn't nearly as fleshed out as its cousin over in NBA 2K15 [$7.99]. There are no contracts to sign or practices to participate in, or anything related to the business end of the sport. Personally, I don't mind it all that much, since the NHL tends to have a bit less of a public focus on that stuff than the NBA, but it would be nice if features were consistent across games with the 2K Sports label. Without that business angle, it's a bit harder to make an argument for playing this mode over just running a proper full season, however. Moving down the list, we've also got a new mini-rink mode. In this mode, you play three-on-three, with a goalkeeper and two other players of your choice, in a compact rink. I suppose this is meant to simulate the great arcade hockey games of the past, but it didn't do a whole lot for me. It certainly led to higher scores in games, because man alive, the goalies in this game are terrible, but that's not exactly a plus in my books. There's also a new multiplayer mode, but don't get too excited. It's just a turn-based shootout mode through Game Center. It's asynchronous, so you take your shot, then your friend takes theirs, and so on. It's an interesting idea, I suppose, but video game shootouts aren't all that fun to begin with, and without manual goalie control, it seems a bit pointless. The other additions are all on the technical side of things. The game supports iCloud saves and larger screen sizes, though there are apparently issues with the iPhone 6, so be careful until an update hits if you're using one. Rosters are now updated live, so that saves you a bit of work if you want to keep your teams up to date. The graphics have been slightly improved, but the game doesn't look a whole lot better than the original in spite of the ridiculous hardware power boost in the intervening years. The crowds especially stand out, looking like something out of a SEGA Saturn hockey game. That said, the game runs smoothly, and if the cost of that is having paper cut-out crowds, that's a compromise I'm willing to make. Like the original, there isn't any commentary here, and the sound design is overall fairly weak, though I've long felt that was an issue with 2K's hockey games even on consoles. There's a certain crispness missing from the sound effects that hurts the authenticity somewhat. As for music, there are a couple of classic organ tunes, along with some dreadful original stuff. Setting aside the discussion of its seeming lack of ambition, it's worth pointing out that NHL 2K is still a really good game of hockey. For whatever reason, hockey games have been few and far between on handheld gaming devices, even the sports-heavy PSP. While NHL 2K isn't any better than the console NHL 2K games of 10 years ago, and in many ways comes up short, it's still the best game of portable hockey around. I'd definitely recommend it to any hockey fan, because even if you bought NHL 2K11, throwing another $7.99 in after four years to get a few new features and ensure continued updates isn't the worst deal. I just wish there was some reason or desire on 2K's end to really go for it and make this series all it could be. Where are the national teams? How about alternate jerseys? Why can't I create players outside of "My Career"? Why is there no proper multiplayer? These aren't things I need to enjoy a hockey game, but the NHL 2K brand built itself on going above and beyond when it came to these things that EA Sports wasn't always paying attention to. It's a bit frustrating to see that, after finally getting a chance to take another go at it, it feels like the bare minimum has been done. It's a good old hockey game, it's the best game on iOS you can name. But the best game I could name is not this good old hockey game. NHL 2K11 was in bad need of a refresh, and NHL 2K does just that, but only barely, and the lack of a year in the title tells me we're going to have to be happy with this one for a while. At the very least, it's a relatively full-featured hockey game with no IAPs or any monetization shenanigans selling for an up-front price. Given the lack of competition, hockey fans looking for a mobile fix have little choice but to skate up for this one, and the core gameplay makes it more than worth your time and money. Still, I'd love to see less second period slacking and more third period hustle from these boys in the future.

Out Now: 'Run Sackboy! Run!', 'Woah Dave!', 'Twisty Hollow', 'Bumper Tank Battle', 'Vektor', 'Smash Champs' and More Posted: 29 Oct 2014 08:11 PM PDT It's Wednesday, which means new iOS games are just now hitting the US App Store. Earlier today it looked like it might be kind of a weak week, but things have picked up nicely throughout the day. As always all the videos, screen shots, forum links and app blurbs you could ever need are neatly listed below, so check out everything and let us know what games you've got your eye on in the comment section below. Bumper Tank Battle iTunes Description How many tanks can you destroy before you get bumped off?! Bumper tanks are fast, hard to control and have a range of zero feet. What's not to love! How to play: 1) Tap to change directions 2) Bump tanks from behind or the sides 3) Don't get bumped off! Each tank has a danger zone indicator. Tanks will only be destroyed if BUMPED and in the dange zone. Forum Thread: Bumper Tank Battle (By Jared Bailey) Drift 'n' Drive iTunes Description Follow your destiny to become the ultimate racing driver! Drift'n'Drive is a vertically scrolling top-down racing game with lots of challenge and replayability. Progress through the career mode racing challenges, get to the top of leaderboards in time attack mode or challenge your friends to a local split screen multiplayer tournament! Forum Thread: Drift'n'Drive by Kimmo Lahtinen Grey Cubes iTunes Description Bounce and Break! Grey Cubes is a modern variation on the brick-breaker-type game, based on real-time physics and three-dimensional gameplay. The game unites the classic elements of brick-breaker games (such as multiballs, exploding-ball bonuses, etc.) with new gameplay elements, including multi-layer brick patterns and real-life physics impacting on their in-game behaviour. Travel through 60 futuristics levels and break everything ! Forum Thread: Grey Cubes (by Bulkypix) Human Crasher iTunes Description It is the year X.E. 3943 and our planet, Xtane, has fallen into an energy crisis. In order to save our race, we have to leave our planet and search for new energy resources. Our nomadic time in space has started. Luckily for us, before running out of energy, we found a new planet, BlueStar, where there is an excess of organisms, which can be decomposed into energy. Don't waste anything. As an elite pilot, you need to capture as many BlueStar organisms as possible, while watching out for missiles and aircraft. If not, returning to the mother planet will be nothing but a dream. Forum Thread: Human Crasher (by Funny Power) Madow - Sheep Happens iTunes Description Become the best shepherd of all time: Get the bloody sheep safely down the mountain. * A unique mix of fast-paced arcade action, quick reflex one touch controls, and outrageous straight-forward humor!! * Not recommended for pregnant women or people with a pacemaker!! don't be fooled with the soothing music, and calm nature! Forum Thread: Madow | Sheep Happens (by TheRedOne) Meat Factory iTunes Description Meat factory harks back to the old days of the game and watch. Easy to pick up and play, but hard to score big. With cute visuals, simple controls and a retro music, Meat Factory is addictive and nostalgic. Join Fred, the mild mannered meat packer, who has had enough of seeing cute animals turned into pies. It's time for liberation! Save as many animals as you can while frantically avoiding crushers, smashers, giant chainsaws and lasers. The more animals you save, the harder the meat factory will work to stop you. It starts off easy as pie, but soon you'll be playing for high steaks. Forum Thread: Meat Factory (by Steve Cable) Medford Asylum: Paranormal Case iTunes Description Alison Ester, insurance investigator, is responsible for leading the investigation in a dilapidated asylum with a grave and mysterious past. Explore the ruins of the building in search of information. Make your way through the debris. Move forward in the asylum's basements, and discover disturbing locals. Be careful where you put your feet! Go through rooms with collapsed floors, reveal secret messages, decipher clues, and separate the paranormal from the rational. Forum Thread: Medford Asylum: Paranormal Case (Full) (by Microids) MeowMix iTunes Description Match -3, a mixture of classical lovely games: the player controls falling shapes and chooses what pieces want to delete. The action takes place in a colorful cartoon world, the main characters - colorful kittens. One of the key features of the game - #mimimi. The player interacts with the kittens, they meow being touched, hold on foot, sharpening claws and yawn. Forum Thread: MeowMix (By Anix LLC) Monster Flash iTunes Description It's a dark and stormy night... and your only defense against the ghosts and ghouls is your trusty flashlight. Creatures of all kinds surround you, coming from all directions. You can use your flashlight to protect yourself... Just don't turn your back to the things that go bump in the night! In this spooky top-down arcade game, you rotate your character to aim your flashlight at various monsters until they disappear into a puff of smoke. Forum Thread: Monster Flash (by Robomodo) Obslashin' iTunes Description Hack away at endless enemy hordes in Obslashin', the compulsive combat clicker! Slash through bosses, crash through barrels, and loot everything you can as you delve into the deepest dungeons. Upgrade your arsenal and level-up to make it further than any hero before! Forum Thread: Obslashin' (by Hashbang Games) Run Sackboy! Run! iTunes Description Sackboy, the knitted hero from the multi-award winning LittleBigPlanet™ series on PlayStation® lands into the palm of your hand in this brand new endless platformer! RUN as fast as you can through an ever-changing handcrafted world DASH to ESCAPE the GOO and the clutches of the grumpy Negativitron! Forum Thread: Run Sackboy! Run! (By PlayStation Mobile Inc.) Secret Files Sam Peters iTunes Description When alien DNA is spotted in the genetic code of algae living at a crater site in Ghana, sassy reporter Sam Peters goes after the story of her lifetime. Before she can start her research at Lake Bosumtwi, however, she has to cleave through the wilderness and escape feisty jungle animals by day and demon-like creatures from African folklore by night. And soon she has to ask herself, whether a creditable article on the front page of an esteemed science magazine is really worth risking her life. Forum Thread: Secret Files Sam Peters (by Deep Silver) Smash Champs iTunes Description Rise to the challenge and battle your way to greatness! Take on the role as trainer, prepare for combat and lead your Champs to victory against your friends. The makers of Subway Surfers present an action arcade adventure like no other. Form a team, challenge your opponents and become the greatest trainer of Smash Champs! Forum Thread: Smash Champs (by Kiloo) The Survivor: Rusty Forest iTunes Description Welcome to the world of "The Survivor", hit by unknown virus which has wiped out most of the world's population. You are one of the few that have survived and now you must to fight for your life against what is left of the indigenous population now infected with the disease. In best traditions of survival and horror games, players in "The Survivor" must explore the open world to gather raw materials to build their own weapons, tools, fortifications, shelters, etc. against the dangers of the zombies, infected wildlife and the world itself. Forum Thread: The Survivor: Rusty Forest (by Evgeniy Ershov) Too Many Snakes iTunes Description Help Jessie the mouse escape from bothersome snakes using super-psychic-mouse powers! Can you solve all 75 mind-bending puzzles and help Jessie get back home safely? A literal twist on the classic sliding-blocks puzzle game, Too Many Snakes swaps rigid blocks for flexible snakes that must be pulled and bent out of the way to reveal the exit for Jessie to escape. Collect Gold Stars by solving levels in the fewest moves possible! Forum Thread: Too Many Snakes (by WhaleFood Software) Twisty Hollow iTunes Description A self-appointed mayor is spinning the town of Twisty Hollow out of order with nonsensical rulings. His cryptic instructions range from the culinary – bacon is frowned upon – to the absurd (fashion tips for ghosts!?). Support the citizens of Twisty Hollow by fulfilling their increasingly eccentric needs. Make smart combinations to create new goods; Farmer Bessie + bucket + cow = milk! Twist and match resources to make everything from burgers, to hand knit sweaters, to houses. Just be quick about it – the denizens of the Hollow are an impatient bunch. Forum Thread: Twisty Hollow (by Arkadium) Twitchy Thrones iTunes Description Twitchy Thrones is a fast and fun strategy game with a medieval fantasy setting. Battle your way throughout the violent land of Lefteros! Conquer varied battles rendered in gory and detailed pixel art! Complete challenges such as playing as the enemy, quickly losing a map and much more! Help House Storker bring honor and justice to all the kingdoms! Forum Thread: Twitchy Thrones (by Ricardo Moura) Vektor iTunes Description A highspeed game of endless running and slashing action. In this free-to-play action game, you assume the role of "The Courier". A wet-wired courier, whose mission is to deliver "top secret" data to aid the fight against the corrupt corporate goverment. While streching through the endless highway, you battle against the corporate merceneries, who would not hesitate to use any means necessary to prevent you from delivering the "package". Forum Thread: Vektor 1.0 (by Cagil Bektas) Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf iTunes Description Lead the Sons of Russ into battle and slash your way through hordes of ferocious enemies with Boltgun fire and Chainsword teeth. Write your own saga in the annals of the Space Wolves Chapter as you hunt your sworn enemies – the Chaos Space Marines. Savour the atmosphere, as you play this unique combination of turn-based strategy and collectible card game, where you can turn defeat into victory, where events on the battlefield depend on a wise choice of cards and decisions must be planned meticulously. Forum Thread: Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf - (by HeroCraft Ltd.) Woah Dave! iTunes Description The critically-acclaimed retro-styled arcade neo-classic is here! WOAH DAVE! Help our hero, Dave Lonuts, survive an insane alien invasion and line his pockets with shiny pennies. Hurl alien eggs, skull bombs and explosive WOAH blocks to stay alive and sky rocket yourself to high score fame and fortune. Forum Thread: Woah Dave! (by Choice Provisions) Zombie Catchers iTunes Description Zombie Catchers is an enterprising action adventure game in a world riddled by a zombie invasion! Planet Earth is infested with the undead, but we're in luck: A.J. and Bud, two intergalactic businessmen, have decided to set up shop on our homeworld! Together, they plan to catch all the zombies and make Earth safe once more - while also making a handsome profit… Use an arsenal of gadgets and traps to capture ripe zombies, take them to your secret underground lab, and… profit! Forum Thread: Zombie Catchers (by Two Men and a Dog)

'Rime Berta' Review - All Candy Shell, No Chocolate Filling Posted: 29 Oct 2014 02:37 PM PDT If you loved Final Fantasy Tactics [$13.99 / $15.99 (HD)] but thought it would be better if all of the characters were anime girls, then Japanese indie SRPG Rime Berta [$4.99] may have caught your eye. It's a clear tip of the hat to games like the aforementioned, and in a lot of ways does a very competent job of aping its overall presentation and many of its systems. It's a bit lean on content, which is perhaps understandable given the size of the developer, but its biggest failings are in the fundamentals. It's a serious problem when there are quite a few excellent strategy RPGs on the App Store that, even if nothing else, manage to nail those aspects. In the end, Rime Berta is all dressed up with no place to go. You follow the story of a young girl named Livia, who hails from a village afflicted with a terrible disease. Near the village, a great tower stretches into the sky, and it's said that at the top, there's a treasure that can grant wishes to whoever can claim it. Livia decides to sneak into the tower to try to save her village, and she almost immediately bumps into one of its inhabitants, a puppet girl who says she'll help Livia battle her way to the top. The story in this game is spread very thin, and it's likely the text of this review is more substantial than the game's script. The tower is broken up into floors consisting of a set number of stages, and you'll only get a story sequence at the end of each floor. The story never really goes anywhere as a result, and with a few hours between each meager snippet, you'll probably not be able to muster any care. The game more or less throws you into the first battle without any sort of tutorial, so if you don't know your way around this type of game, you'll want to dig into the menus to find out how to play. If you do know your way around, you'll catch on fast, but the interface is a bit clumsy. It feels like it was designed for a controller, not a touchscreen. For example, you might think you could touch and drag to move the camera around the battlefield, but doing that only changes the angle and direction of the camera. You actually have to tap squares near the edge of the screen, one at a time, to look around the area. This is particularly annoying when you're trying to target a square for movement or spell-casting. I never really got used to this quirk, so it ended up irritating me for the entire game. In each stage, you'll field your team of up to five dolls against a larger group of enemy dolls. Each side takes turns moving all of their characters, and if you've played an SRPG before, you'll be at home here. Like the Tactics games from Square Enix, you play from an isometric viewpoint that can be cinematic but also kind of troublesome when you're trying to select a mostly-obscured square. The maps have varying heights within them, which is where most of the strategy of Rime Berta comes in. Other than the odd rock or tree, the only thing that limits your movement is the height of the terrain, and high ground is naturally best, particularly for ranged attackers. At any rate, the objective is always the same: Wipe out all of the enemies before they do the same to you. Win or lose, your characters will gain some experience and perhaps even some new skills, and if you manage to pull off the victory, one of the enemies might offer to join you and you'll move on to the next stage. The characters come in a variety of job classes, though it can be a little difficult to figure out which archetype they're supposed to represent as they're all represented as things like catgirls and fairies here. You can advance characters to new jobs if you meet certain conditions for each. The key is found in the game's skill system, where each class can learn certain skills and level each skill up individually by using them. Each character can only equip a set number of skills at any given time, so you'll need to make some careful choices about what you need in your small party. I enjoy systems like this, since it allows a great deal of customization from player to player. The problem comes in the job system, and how it's connected to the skill system. Opening new jobs requires you to reach a certain combination of levels on specific skills. You have to go in and check what the conditions are, but until you have the skills, you can't see which ones are needed or what the resulting job will be. The spread of skills is impressive, covering all kinds of situations. As in Tactics, you can set certain skills that will automatically activate in certain situations, but you have more control over them here. Each turn, every character has a set amount of action points, which are consumed by doing pretty much anything. If you have enough left over after completing that character's move, you can choose one of the reaction skills you've set to them. They'll automatically carry out that move during the enemies turn. This allows you to do things like counter melee attacks, provide covering fire for an ally under attack, or even simply guard. Skills have a cap on how many times they can be used in one battle, encouraging you to vary your tactics rather than rely on one game-breaking skill. There's a fair amount of depth here considering the relative brevity of the game. Hilariously, however, this depth ends up exposing the game's single biggest failing. The computer AI is hopelessly stupid. It's not as obvious in the beginning, when options are few and the computer will generally just gang up on whichever character you stick out in the open, but even early on, there are signs of the clown show that follows. Even on hard difficulty, the computer rarely follows anything resembling a strategy. If you withdraw an injured character, the computer will simply focus on whichever meat shield you stick out in their place. It rarely coordinates its units' attacks unless it's immediately obvious, and it's prone to leaving units standing back or pacing back and forth on the other side of the battlefield, which is likely behavior put in to prevent it from being too strong. It's not until advanced jobs and more full skill sets are opened that the computer's true idiocy begins to shine, however. Basically, the computer doesn't seem to want to win. It only wants to hurt you. If that means skewering and killing one of its own units to do minor damage to a character with full HP, so be it. If it means hitting two of its own units with an area attack just to give one of your units a bloody nose, it will. Even when it occasionally stumbles upon a dangerous attack, it may or may not use it again. Give one of its healers so much as a swat in the face and it'll scurry off to heal itself up, even if that makes no sense at all. I've honestly not seen an AI in a strategy game this dense in all of my years playing and reviewing games. Oh, it will sometimes win, particularly when it has an extreme advantage in numbers and a very advantageous starting position on the map, but even then, I guarantee you'll see at least a few Benny Hill-worthy moments on the way. Once you've worked out its initially nonsensical motivations, though, the game becomes laughably easy. The last level is, by comparison, pretty tough, but by then, it's far too little, much too late. The game takes about 15 to 20 hours to finish, and runs about 20 or so stages. The battles run a bit on the long side, with much of that owing to the glacial pace at which the enemy moves during its turn. Seriously, strategy game developers, start considering a fast forward button as a given, please. You'll only ever have five units to move, but the computer often has considerably more, meaning you spend more time watching it play than playing yourself. Now, as I mentioned earlier, you'll often have enemies join you after the fight. It's random who will join, but there aren't really very many types of characters, and since you can only have five active characters, you're going to be left with a lot of spares. To help you clean up, you can fuse characters together to strengthen them, but like many other things in Rime Berta, this part of the game feels very poorly explained and undercooked. Most of your roster is going to be made up of generic, non-speaking characters anyway, so you might as well fuse them away, but you never really need to. Rime Berta has nice music, and the graphics are okay, though I'm not a big fan of its art style. I could see people going either way on that one, however. The stages could use more visual variety, but these are luxuries independent developers can't always afford. The user interface is a bit obtuse, and as I mentioned earlier, it doesn't feel all that comfortable to use on a touch screen. I'm not the biggest fan of tutorials, but this game really needed some kind of explanation in the beginning, however brief. As an example, the game will tell you that you've learned a skill, but it never actually tells you how to set them or even that you need to set them. It's just something you have to figure out based on prior knowledge and poking around. I can't even imagine what it would be like if some poor soul stumbled on this as their first game in the genre. The game does at least have a fun set of Game Center achievements to go for if you've got the inclination to keep on playing. It has its moments, to be sure, particularly when you're exploring the interesting skill system and tackling the few truly difficult situations the game throws at you, but ultimately, Rime Berta just isn't very good at what it's doing. It's slow, dull, and toothless for most of its running time, and there's no dangling carrot to keep you pushing through all that nonsense. The story's barely there, the amount of content is a bit thin, there aren't any truly interesting battle scenarios, and the AI is so inept it might actually defeat itself given enough rope. Rime Berta isn't a terrible game, but it's a pretty poor example of a strategy RPG, and really only merits attention if you've exhausted every other interesting choice.