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TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Marvel Kapow!
Marvel Kapow is an interesting approach to the licensed game idea. Most superhero games aim to directly control the superhero, letting the player experience being them, but Marvel Kapow is a much more casual, abstract experience, instead simply using the Marvel license and its various heroes to set up a few different minigames across a series of levels. The games vary from Captain America's Brickbreaking shield to Iron Man's repulsor ray blaster and Wolverine's claw slash, but the basic idea is that you're defeating incoming enemies while switching from hero to hero on the bottom of the screen. Scoring has a cool combo feature that enables you to build up a higher score by defeating enemies all in a row, but unfortunately, that's about all the complexity here -- just play the game and try to score as high as you can. The games overall are a little boring, and the only way the title ramps up at all is just to throw multiple games your way at the same time, and then rinse and repeat for what's probably a little too long. Still, it's a fun distraction, and the game's currently on sale, just US 99 cents for the iPhone version and $2.99 for the iPad. I'd recommend you try the free version first, however -- even if you're a huge Marvel fan, this gameplay might be a little too abstract (and to be honest, dull) to even capture your imagination.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Hero Teams
Hero Teams is a turn-based action strategy title for the iPhone, but you will probably recognize what all of that means a little better if I just say it's a lot like Worms. Basically, you put together a team of characters who get placed on a 2D map, and then you can throw, fire, and generally toss a bunch of different weapons at each other, blowing up the environment and your enemies until the best man wins. Unfortunately for Hero Teams, Worms already exists on the App Store, and since both games are just US99 cents, I don't have a lot to recommend this one over that one. But the look of the game is definitely different (it's sort of a hand-drawn thing, slightly above stick-figure level), and the levels are a little bit more close-quarters than Worms' were. The game also offers 50 different levels to play through, and Bluetooth multiplayer as well, so if you're full up on Worms but can't get enough of this type of game, there you go. Neither of these games has stepped up with Game Center integration or online gameplay, unfortunately. It'd be nice to see that added in the future -- a game of turn-based combat like this, sent back and forth with push notifications, would be a lot of fun.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Blobster
I got to see Blobster in action earlier this year at both GDC and E3, and both times it impressed me with its wacky premise and followthrough. It's a platformer, but unlike any you've ever played before. Instead of jumping around, you're instead flinging a little blob of goo around, pushing him through various obstacles, and making him heavier or lighter by combining or removing mass to and from him. There's a number of powerups to find across the game's 40 different levels, and lots of other twists and turns to explore as well. Blobster is a really fun title with some nice innovation, and some really solid platforming action depicted in a way I haven't really seen before. Chillingo's got it priced at a steal right now, just US 99 cents for the iPhone version, and $1.99 for Blobster HD on the iPad. I've been watching for this one since earlier this year, so now that it's finally out, make sure to give it a look yourself.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Reckless Getaway
Reckless Getaway is a fun little arcade/physics stunt racer from Polarbit and Pixelbite that's been climbing the App Store charts recently. The premise is that you're in a getaway chase from a crime, but rather than just escaping, your goal is to cause as much chaos and collect as high as score as possible. There are coins to guide your route, but the real scoring comes in creating major pileups and really finding solid routes through the game's 16 different maps. Things can get crazy, and there's a little bit of track learning involved (there are quite a few dead ends that you'll only figure out when you've played a certain track more than once), but the game is fun to control and the physics are very entertaining. Each level has a star rating to chase after, and Game Center is included for leaderboards and achievements. Polarbit promises more content in the future, and even some new game modes to play with as well, so that'll be exciting to see. But even right now, Reckless Getaway is a fun cops vs. robbers jaunt, available as a universal version for US $2.99 in the App Store right now.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Quest Runner
Quest Runner is a hack-and-slash RPG, though it's probably unlike almost any you've seen before. Rather than exploring an isometric world like many games of this type, Quest Runner is more cartoony and fun. The quests themselves are pretty simple, but the RPG premise is what really makes the game, as you navigate your character around and progress your abilities, weapons and armor up the chain. There's definitely a sense of humor in the characters and dialogue, and as you can see from the screenshot above, there's a certain amount of whimsy in the game's look and feel. There is quite a bit of complexity as you level up (you can even equip pets and you have to feed them to keep them around), and despite the game's look, it can get hard at times. Other than some weird movement controls, however, it never really gets frustrating -- it's all about just playing for fun and hacking your way through quest after quest. Game Center's included for achievements, and the game is out as a universal version (quite honestly, it looks a little better on the iPad, though it's still playable on the iPhone) for US $1.99. There are a few in-game purchases for convenience, but none of them are really needed -- there's plenty of game to play through here already for the price. One note: the game might be a little slow on older iPhone models, though a recent patch has supposedly fixed a lot of issues up. Other than that, enjoy -- Quest Runner is a fun hack-and-slash dash through a well-designed world.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: To-Fu: The Trials of Chi
This is a good one. To-Fu: The Trials of Chi is what's probably best described as a physics platformer, where you play, yes, a little piece of tofu. This To-Fu is much spicier than the actual thing, however -- you tap and drag on him to jump around a series of levels, and his jumps always go basically gravity-free in the same direction, so eventually you're bouncing off of walls, judging angles, and avoiding spikes and other dangers while bouncing from platform to platform. It's actually a pretty big challenge, but that's tempered a little bit by the fact that your basic goal is just getting through the level. There are quite a few collectibles to pick up, but you don't need them on a basic playthrough. Later, you can go back and replay the levels, picking up some of the tougher collectibles. To-Fu is a really solid game -- the presentation is excellent, the controls are precise and innovative, and there's lots of content to go through, along with full Game Center integration. This is also Apple's Game of the Week, and that notice is well-deserved. You can play a trial version for free, or buy the iPhone version for US 99 cents, or the HD iPad version for $1.99.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Kard Combat
Kard Combat is a new universal iOS title from Hothead Games, the folks behind the Penny Arcade videogames, DeathSpank, and the iPhone's Bunny the Zombie Slayer. As you may have guessed from the name, Kard Combat is a Magic The Gathering-style card game, where you use a deck of cards that represent magic spells or creatures and fight them against each other. To be honest, Magic the Gathering isn't really my thing, so I can't compare the two super closely. But Kard Combat offers some innovation, I think, in the way the cards are laid out -- any cards summoned to your side first attack cards laid across from them, and then the health pool of your opponent, so there's some interesting positioning strategy involved. You also oversee a few different types of mana that grow over time or based on certain cards you have out, so that provides a lot of complexity to the gameplay. There's a lot of content to play through as well -- four decks, each with their own single player "Tower" campaigns, and then of course multiplayer gameplay. The game's business model is almost tougher to figure out than the actual strategy -- currently, the title is a free download with five single-player missions unlocked, though an in-app purchase of $2.99 will unlock everything. After that, there are more decks and cards to buy, of course, and more to come. In the end, Kard Combat is an excellent little turn-based title. It's definitely worth a free download, and then if you consume all the content there, you can see if you want to dive in deeper.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Occurro! - The Game of Stellar Combat
Occurro is, I would say, an above average space-based dual stick shooter for the iPhone. It doesn't offer much more than an arcade experience, as you pilot a small ship around the screen with one thumb while shooting in any direction with your second thumb. But Occurro is a particularly well-done version of this genre, with controls feeling really speedy and precise, and a few nice touches such as a double-tap screen-clearing bomb and a shield around your ship for a little extra time to play instead of just a one-hit kill. Occurro actually came out a few years ago, but it's recently been revamped, with new graphics and extras such as multitasking support and Game Center. Plus, as a bonus, developer Acceleroto has dropped the game down to the low, low price of free until further notice. It's definitely worth a grab at that price: Occurro is available in the App Store right now.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Tumblr
Tumblr is, of course, the blogging platform that's taken off lately, featuring an easy way to quickly post a lot of different kinds of media, as well as share it across friends and networks. Tumblr's iPhone app has been serviceable since it came out, but it hasn't always been the best option for posting to the service. Still, a 2.0 complete rewrite has helped a little bit, so if you're a Tumblr user who wants to post more while mobile, it's worth another look. The new update brings a brand new interface to handling multiple blogs, as well as improvements to posting and the main dashboard. You can now read and reply to messages on the service from right in the app, and if you're new to Tumblr, you can sign up right from the iPhone app, too. The service is free, and so the app is too. Power users will probably still find some issues with the app, which makes sense -- posting blog posts from the iPhone is probably never going to be quite as easy as doing it from a PC. But for those times when you're out and about and want to do a quick Tumblr post, the app should serve you just fine.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Two Worlds II Castle Defense
Two Worlds is an RPG series for consoles that's had a few releases already, but this game for iOS only uses the same setting and assets as those titles. As you can tell from the title itself, it plays very differently from the third-person RPG. It's a castle defense game of a sort, but rather than building towers, you build out your army and forces, tasking your little soldiers with fighting incoming waves of bad guys. The game plays sort of like the very popular Battleheart, though instead of directly controlling your troops, you're only placing them on the field in various spots available. You might put two melee fighters up front, for example, a priest behind them, and then two archers in the back to pump out ranged damage. As you fight, you win gold, and then can spend that gold to build more troops, upgrade the ones you've got, or even cast spells to heal your troops or attack the enemies. The game is simple but really fun, and the polish is actually really impressive. Controls are not explained well, but the icons are clear enough that after a few rounds with the title, you will know what does what. And pitting two powered up soldiers and a hardcore fire mage against a wave of incoming baddies is very rewarding, once you've gotten to that point. A recent upgrade added a few much needed tweaks, including Game Center integration and some various difficulty levels, and it also dropped the price of the game to just US $4.99. And that's not a bad price at all -- it's a little more expensive than most iOS games, but this is a quality experience. There is a lite version, though, if you doubt the price, but for castle defense fans, those who enjoy the Two Worlds series, or just anyone who enjoys a good fantasy-based tower defense game, this one's definitely worth checking out.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Battle Slugs
Battle Slugs is essentially a stylized version of the old Chinese game Go. You start with two different colors of playing pieces which jump around the board in different ways. Jump one space to produce a cloned slug or two spaces to move the slug you're controlling. When you land next to a piece of the opposite color, it changes color. Those are basically the only rules, but like Go, the strategy gets complicated quickly. You want to try and claim space on the board (the one you're playing at least -- there are 25 different levels in the game), but you have to do so carefully, because overextending can make trouble quickly. The game's actually pretty hard -- I had trouble mastering even the first level consistently. Battle Slugs was originally a Flash game, but you can't tell from the presentation on iOS. While the graphics can be somewhat crude, they are colorful, and bring a lot of personality to the title. Loading times are a little long (though that's of course between matches, not during), and the iTunes reviews have some complaints about the game's performance on older phones, so beware of that. But there's a lite version to try out first if you want to make sure you like it, and the full version (which is Game Center enabled as well) is only 99 cents for a universal build anyway. If you like the strategy of Go and don't mind some cartoony characters, Battle Slugs could tease your mind for a while.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Ionocraft Racing
Ionocraft Racing is a racing title for iOS unlike any other -- in both good and bad ways. The good side of it is that you're essentially building your own car in this one. The game's set in a steampunk universe, and the general gameplay loop has you building a car out of various parts (that affect steering, thrust, or the car's armor and mass), and then racing it around a track as fast as you can. Race faster, win medals, get more money ("Cogs" is what the currency is called), and then build a better car. That's fun, but the bad part is that you're really just racing against yourself -- there are no other cars on the track with you. You can still technically race -- the game is Game Center enabled, and there is a certain thrill in trying to grab the best lap on a certain track. But the game is all about how to get the most out of the car you've built, not racing alongside colorful steampunk enemies as you might expect. The game's fun, as long as you realize that it's all about the time trials, not a full racing experience like the vaunted Real Racing series. But the customization for your car is really impressive, and it's fun to see how a car changes after you've tweaked its parts or added new ones. Iconocraft Racing is now available on the App Store for iPhone for US $1.99, or on the iPad in HD for $4.99.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Gravity Guy
Gravity Guy is a fun one. It doesn't really do anything we haven't seen before -- the basic idea is a running-style game where you simply tap the screen to switch gravity (very similar to the terrific indie game VVVVVV). You can play it right now online as a Flash game, and you only need to get into it for a second before you see the whole premise. But what's really sent this one to the top of the App Store charts is all the extras and bonus modes that come with it. Not only is there a full story mode to play through, there are also practice and endless modes to play, and even a local or online multiplayer mode. There are Game Center leaderboards and achievements, and both the graphics and music look and sound terrific. So yes, this is just a Flash game port (and a simple one at that), but it's a Flash game port done very right. Plus, as of this writing, Gravity Guy is on sale today for the low price of absolutely free. Grab it and check it out if it seems like your thing.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: 1-bit Ninja
Lots of games on the iPhone skew more casual, both because the touchscreen doesn't exactly make for precise controls all the time, and also because a lot of developers are aiming for the iPhone's much wider audience than most gaming platforms. But 1-bit Ninja is obstinately the exception to this -- it's unapologetically retro and decidedly hardcore. The nearest reference is Super Mario Bros, but not Super Mario Galaxy or the more recent 3D interations. Nope, this one goes back to Super Mario Land on the GameBoy, when Mario could only move forward, and had to make some spectacularly timed jumps to explore the land and fully discover its secrets. 1-bit Ninja isn't just a 2D platformer -- it does have a really wild 3D angle (accessed by swiping the top of the screen) that will show off some new heights or extra secrets to find. But especially early on, that mode's somewhat underused, with most of the gameplay sticking with the 2D realm. Still, with over 20 levels to play, challenges to beat (too bad Game Center isn't included -- seems like it should have been), and lots and lots of secrets to find, along with a great stylistic design and some cool chiptunes to play with, 1-bit Ninja is an excellent title. It's available for US $1.99 in the App Store right now.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Legacy: Mystery Mansion
It's been a while since we've covered a solid match-three game in this space, and Legacy: Mystery Mansion is exactly that. It's similar to Puzzle Quest in that it puts an overarching storyline in the form of a match-three puzzle title, but it's a little tougher than the more casual entries in the genre, putting a hard time limit on each of 25 stages and taking you through recovering missing antiques in a haunted mansion. I was a big fan of Call of Atlantis' match-three mayhem, and Legacy seems very much in that vein, if just a little more difficult. At any rate, it seems like an excellent match-three puzzler, and at US 99 cents, the price is just right. It'd be nice to have Game Center integration for leaderboards and achievements, but a free zen mode will have to do for now. Legacy: Mystery Mansion is well worth a try for fans of this very traditional puzzle genre.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Dragon's Lair 2: Time Warp
This one is, of course, the sequel to the Don Bluth classic, Dragon's Lair, now presented on the small iOS screen in all of its (let's be honest, somewhat aged) glory. Dragon's Lair 2 is subtitled Time Warp, and sends Dirk the Daring off through time in the hopes of saving the fair Princess Daphne. Just like the first title, originally made popular on Laserdisc, this one offers branching paths that make up a pretty compelling adventure game, and just like the first iteration of the series on iOS, moves are made by pressing various virtual buttons on the screen. If you played the first Dragon's Lair and didn't get into it (like a fine wine, it does require a little appreciation for the age it was created in), you probably won't find much here to keep your interest. But if you look back on the Dragon's Lair series with fondness and have been waiting for the sequel to drop, well, here you go. Dragon's Lair 2: Time Warp is now available on the App Store for US$2.99.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Haunted Manor: Lord of Mirrors
We've posted about Big Fish Games before. It's a casual gaming company that has produced a ton of titles for the PC already, and it's in the process of both bringing those over to iOS and creating an original library of titles for Apple's mobile devices. This weekend, Big Fish is having a sale on the App Store, with nearly all of its titles dropping down to just 99 cents on the iPhone and US$1.99 on the iPad. So now's the time to pick any of these up if you haven't yet. If you're not sure which one to get, Haunted Manor is a good choice. Like a lot of the games, it's sort of a puzzle/adventure title, using casual interactions like hidden item and mix and match puzzles to move through a very well-rendered environment. The game's never too tough, but if you get stuck, there's a forgiving hint system to help push you along. Game Center integration is a nice bonus as well. If you haven't heard of these games or haven't wanted to jump in and try them just yet, here's your chance.
TUAW's Daily App: Tiny Tower
I actually played Tiny Tower for the first time back at GDC this year -- the guys at NimbleBit kindly showed me an early version of it while they were in the middle of designing the game. The title itself is now out and finished on the App Store, and after having played it for about a week already (thanks to a press preview), I can say it's an amazing title that's made even better by the fact that it's completely free to install and play. It's very much like the old SimTower game in that you create and run a tower filled with little characters called Bitizens. You can build residential floors to move Bitizens into, and then you can put them to work on other floors that fill out certain categories, like retail floors and services and recreation areas. You can assign three Bitizens to work on a certain floor, and then you pay money to stock goods in those stores and sell them to various visitors. In addition to the time-based management side of the game, there are a few games to play, like getting Bitizens to the right floor in a working elevator or playing find-the-Bitizen. These games are more integrated into the overall game than, say, the pond was in NimbleBit's Pocket Frogs, but I'm still a little disappointed that they don't have too much of an effect. You can make a few bucks at a time, and there are VIPs that show up every once in a while, but the floors you deliver people to don't seem to really have a direct effect. Nevertheless, it's fun building up your tower, and while the push notifications (if you keep them on) threaten to get annoying after a while, the amount of detail and care put into the art and strategy is excellent. There are even little extras, like a "BitBook" social network page and a fun screen to compare your friends' towers via Game Center. Tiny Tower is yet another great title from NimbleBit. It's a freemium download (and like Pocket Frogs, you can buy "convenience currency" with an in-app purchase, but I haven't needed it yet) that's available right now.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Twirdie
Twirdie is an interesting game that's got one of the most fascinating premises I've ever heard, but it unfortunately gets bogged down in an implementation that's quite a bit less than fun. The basic idea (which you may have heard before -- the game's already been around the Web once) is that you're playing golf, and you use Twitter search results to hit the ball. The more times a word you punch into the game has been mentioned live on Twitter in the past 60 seconds, the farther your ball goes. The idea is interesting, and it works (though I was playing on a Wi-Fi connection -- I assume 3G or even Edge Twitter searches would be much slower). But the problem is that it's not actually fun. You don't line up an angle or anything to actually "play" the golf course; it's all about just getting distance. And not only is the distance random, based on your search, but if you go too short or too far, you just plain lose the shot. In other words, the backend "live" functionality is neat, but the game attached to it is sadly disappointing. If you want to see the app in action (and maybe you're better at guessing Twitter results than I am), it's only US 99 cents on the App Store right now. Here's hoping that some other developers pick up on using this "live data" from Twitter or elsewhere, and we get a more substantial game out of it.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Diversion
Diversion may not look like much, but it makes up for any shortage in graphical quality (yes, the characters do look that goofy) with a solid bunch of gameplay that's surprisingly fun despite the simple premise. The pitch here is "a platformer on rails," so you play as a 3D character who's always running forward through a world, and it's just up to you to jump at the right times. Again, that sounds simple, but it's surprisingly interesting with lots of strange jumps to make and figure out across over 100 levels. There's also an amazing amount of content to unlock -- there are over 150 different characters to play with and plenty of secrets to find across the game's 3D worlds. Normally I'd say it's unfortunate that there's no Game Center involved, but in this case, it's not really needed as the challenge is simply just passing the levels rather than racing through them. Diversion does an excellent job of providing just that, and especially at its current price of just US 99 cents.
