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Daily iPhone App: Motley Blocks is a new line-drawing puzzle game from Square Enix
Motley Blocks is a just-released game from Square Enix, now available on the App Store for $2.99. I first saw this game back at E3 this year, so it's been in development for a while. The polish and performance of the game definitely shows that development time, even if the basic premise of the game is fairly simple. The idea is that you start out with a sculpture built of little voxel blocks, and at the beginning of each level, that sculpture is exploded into a sort of cylindrical lap of the colored cubes. Then, as the circle turns in front of you, you can line-draw your way through similiarly colored blocks, re-placing them in the sculpture, and forming a new 3D picture. It's fun, and honestly a little too frantic, as you can see below -- you need to match all of the blocks to complete a level, and that can actually be pretty tough, even when the game is just starting out. But it's all relatively forgiving, and even as things get complicated, a few tries will usually get you where you need to go. Motley Blocks has over 80 puzzles (as well as the ability to create and play custom games if you register a free account), and for all that content, the full price of $2.99 isn't that much to ask. If you don't want to jump in on that price right away, there's a lite version to try as well.
Daily iPhone App: Seal Force
Seal Force is an interesting app from Tactile Entertainment, makers of Pocket Creatures and the recent Pigs in Trees line-drawing game. It tries to combine two relatively new genres in iOS games: Line-drawing and running. You play as the Seal Force team (they have their own Saturday morning-style intro), who must "run" underwater, in a similar style to Jetpack Joyride. The twist is that you're also line-drawing paths for each member of the team, trying to take out differently colored krill as you move along. The controls are simple, but things get confusing fast. You have to match up the color of your seals with the krill on the right side of the screen. There are also shells to collect and, in a mechanic stolen directly from Jetpack Joyride, you work on three missions at a time, each with its own rewards. Seal Force is interesting but not entirely successful. You can only control one seal at a time, which makes things a slow. It'd be more fun, for example, to send them out on different paths all the time (and there is a powerup to do just that, though it's limited use). But the game is fun enough, and it does have that addictive "I can do better, just one more time" feel that this kind of running game requires. The setting is Seal Force's highlight. It's very cute when the characters call in with their catchphrases every time you send them out, as if this old TV show did really exist once upon a time. The price is right, too. Seal Force is a freemium title, with more shells available as an in-app purchase. Seal Force is available as a universal download right now, so if the mix of genres sounds intriguing, check it out.
GDC 2011: Firemint's Agent Squeek
Australia's Firemint is perhaps one of the most popular developers on the iPhone. Firemint's games, Flight Control, Real Racing and Real Racing 2, can be found in any Apple Store, and likely on most iPhones, too. The company's founder, Rob Murry, and his new acquisition, Infinite Interactive's Steve Faulkner, were in San Francisco last week to show off the third original IP that Firemint is creating for iOS, another line drawing game called Agent Squeek. In Agent Squeek, you control a mouse on the screen by drawing a line for him to follow, and the goal of each level is to collect various cheeses while trying to avoid hungry cats. But while the game starts out easy, the complexity quickly ramps up, and you can do things like psyche cats into chasing you before dodging the other way, or you can even build gadgets from blueprints that you find.
TUAW's Daily App: Bee Patrol
So you like Flight Control a lot, but you've conquered every map and every leaderboard on there already? Then Bee Patrol is exactly what you need. It's a fun line-drawing title that has you controlling bees back and forth between honeycombs and flowers. Unfortunately, it's not quite as polished as Flight Control, but heck, what is? Bee Patrol is still a solid line-drawing game, with nine different levels over three worlds, and two modes to play through. Worker mode is like Flight Control's survival mode, and Queen mode has you collecting as much honey as possible from the flowers available in a certain time period. The game's got both Game Center and OpenFeint integration, and the developers are promising more updates in the future as well. The iPhone version is US$0.99, and the iPad version with upsized graphics is a dollar more. There's a lite version as well, if you want to give the game a try without plunking down a buck. I enjoyed Bee Patrol a lot -- I admit that Flight Control has the flight path subgenre locked down, but if you're looking for a different spin, this one's worth a shot.
TUAW's Daily App: Virus Strike
Virus Strike is an intriguing little puzzle game that presents a mix between Dr. Mario and line-drawing games. The idea is that you have little viruses made of various colors dropping down onto the screen, and you can draw a little path on the screen for them to fall down into. Every once in a while you'll have antibodies show up as well, and your job is to guide those antibodies into a virus of the same color. Grouped viruses will all disappear together, so the overall goal is to group up the various colors, then drop an antibody on them when you're ready. The gameplay starts simple but gets frantic. There's a line in the middle of the screen, and if your viruses ever pile up and you touch an antibody to the wrong color, it's game over. The game's free right now, but that price doesn't come with any extras -- there's no social integration or other game modes to play. Still, if you're just on the hunt for a good puzzler experience, it's worth a download. You can check out Virus Strike on the App Store right now.
TUAW's Daily App: Solipskier
Solipskier is kind of a mix of the growing line drawing genre and the classic Line Rider game. A little headphone wearing skier (at least he wears headphones as long as he can keep them on) travels along a snow ridge that you actually draw with your finger as you play the game; he speeds up or slows down based on the slope that you trace out with your finger. The gameplay is simple to pick up, but it turns out to be pretty deep. You can draw quick ramps to make him jump, or you can draw sliding slopes that really send the guy moving along through all of the gates, tunnels, and jumps that get placed in your path. There's a really great pick-up-and-play vibe to the title, and it's fun enough to keep you coming back again and again. If you don't believe me, give it a shot online right now for free. If you enjoy it enough to spend the money, you can grab a universal version on the App Store for just US $2.99.
TUAW's Daily App: Fare City: Taxi Mania
Fare City: Taxi Mania is an excellent little line drawing game that has you directing taxis around a city, picking up fares and dropping them off as quickly as you can, all while trying to keep cabs from hitting each other. The game's just as addictive as Flight Control, but instead of just guiding planes into home base, you're constantly juggling cabs and fares for as long as you can. And the game has just been updated to version 2.0, adding a new game mode called Crazy Cabs and new in-game tutorial to the already very polished, full-featured title. There's also a free version out to try now, but honestly, with the paid version currently 50% off at just 99 cents, there's really no reason to avoid it. Fare City is a great first title from developer Mike Woods over at Finkly Interactive. We'll have to keep an eye out for what he's up to next.
