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NCSoft's iOS Gem Keeper goes free for now
Perhaps our recommendation of NCSoft's Gem Keeper last year piqued your interest -- but your interest didn't reach a 99-cent level of piquedness. Luckily, thanks to a Free App a Day partnership, you can now download the iOS tower defense title for free!
2011 Holiday Buyers Guide: iOS
You'll forgive us, but we're banking on the concept of Aunt Eileen stuffing your stocking with iTunes gift cards rather than, say, a Zune Marketplace one. Perhaps that depends on if you've been naughty or nice? We're not quite sure how this holiday stuff works, but we're trying our best here. Anyway, below the break we've compiled another year's worth of great games on both iPhone and iPad platforms that we hope you'll love as well. Even if you don't get those gift cards, these games should still be affordable -- even after buying all those presents. Good luck with the relatives!
Black Friday app sales: Dragon Fantasy, Gem Keeper, lots more
Hope you had a great holiday yesterday! As expected, the App Sales are continuing through the weekend, and in addition to what we've already spotlighted, here are a few more. Steam is continuing its daily sales on all kinds of titles, Mac and PC alike, but Flight Control HD is the standout for iOS fans today. Space Ship Ion has gone free. Rolocule's games are all on sale, including Flick Tennis: College Wars for just a buck. The 7th Guest is just $1.99. Retro arcade game StarDash is down to 99 cents today. Dark Nebula: Episode One is available for free. 8-bit RPG throwback Dragon Fantasy is only 99 cents -- that's the lowest I've seen it, which makes this a must-grab for old-school NES fans. The very popular astronomy app Star Walk is a dollar off right now, down to $1.99 on iPhone and $3.99 on iPad. iSequence HD is down to just $2.99 from $15. Algoriddim's djay app for iPad is $9.99, half off. In my opinion, Gem Keeper is the best tower defense game on the App Store, and it's only 99 cents. I would say this is another must-get today. Worms Crazy Golf is 99 cents on iPhone and $2.99 on iPad. Disney is having a 99 cent sale, with many of their apps on sale for just a buck, including the iPad version of Split/Second. MumboJumbo also has a 99 cent sale on, including Luxor and some other great puzzle games. GTA Chinatown Wars is down to $2.99. Whew! The App Sales will all continue through the weekend, so we'll likely have even more posts with dropped prices in them to come. Next week on Cyber Monday there will be yet another round of deals, but you can expect the sales waves to continue through the holidays until all those new iPhones and iPads get unwrapped. Stay tuned!
Daily iPhone App: Gem Keeper
Gem Keeper is a relatively new game from developer NCSoft, which usually makes Korean MMO titles for the PC. The company has released a couple of apps for iOS, but this is the first full game made for North American audiences -- and it's a good one. It's a pretty basic tower defense title, but the polish and complexity on this one really makes it shine, even among the many offerings in the genre. As you can see from the screenshot, the look is great -- it's bright and colorful, and very easy to tell just what's happening on screen and where you need to step up your defenses. The game's balance is very good as well. I would say that it's a little tougher than a lot of tower defense games, but only because not only do foes have to reach your stash of gems and steal them, but they have to wander back out as well, which means that the stakes are upped twice as high as games where you're just trying to prevent an invasion. Gem Keeper also offers multiple places for waves to come through, which adds a little more strategy to how you set things up, and extra units like moveable towers and bombs mix things up even more. The game's currency flows fast and easy, especially in the lower levels of difficulty, so you always feel powerful, even when you're being flooded by invaders. There is plenty of content to play through -- there are over 30 levels with three difficulty variants each, and a recent update added an endless mode which you can compete in on Game Center leaderboards as well. Gem Keeper is a great game -- it's on the App Store as a universal version right now for $2.99. Here's hoping we see some more quality titles like this from NCSoft in the future.
