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TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty
The new Captain America movie is scheduled to hit theaters next week and in advance of the film, Disney and Marvel have released a brand new game based on the superhero himself. And the good news is, it's not bad. Movie tie-ins have a history of mediocrity, but Captain America actually tries some new things, not only in terms of being a licensed title, but also in being an iOS action platformer in general. You play as Captain America, of course, and the game plays out like the iOS version of Mirror's Edge from a little while back: 2D platforming action gameplay with 3D graphics. The Cap can throw his shield (duh), slide, and even pull off combo attacks and platform jumping just with a few simple swiping gestures. It's surprisingly deep, and there's a lot to do over 24 different levels (featuring an original story written by a real Marvel writer). Unfortunately, the game is definitely a premium title, so if you have anything less than an iPhone 4, the graphics may not hold up (and there are some iTunes comments to tell the tale on that one). But I've seen this title a few different times during its development, and I'm impressed with how far it's come -- this is a solid title, with plenty of content, that really makes some new connections between the touchscreen and the action platformer genre. Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty isn't based on the movie itself (no spoilers). It is available right now from the App Store as a universal version for US $4.99.
TUAW's Daily iOS App: Piclings
Piclings is an interesting one. It's a platformer, which means you guide a little character named Picazzo around a series of levels, picking up various coins and power-ups. It's cute enough, but the real draw is that Piclings lets you create your own levels by taking a picture with your iPhone's camera or using a picture you've already taken. You can use a level editor to design maps or let the app convert the image automatically, so even if you're not a great designer, any picture you've taken works. It's pretty intriguing. Obviously, it doesn't work perfectly all of the time, but that's kind of the game -- to see just how the app converts a picture that you take. Unfortunately, the controls are kind of hinky (you float around according to a meter rather than jumping like a normal platformer), but navigating is easy enough. There's also no real overall goal. You can earn achievements and collect things in the levels, but there's very little pushing you through the game as a whole. Game Center integration extends the gameplay a bit, and you can even "share" levels by passing your pictures around. Piclings is a good idea, and while it's not quite the best implementation, it's definitely worth a look for US0$.99 as a universal app, especially if you're interested in seeing how the picture levels work.
TUAW's Daily App: Land-a Panda
Land-a Panda has been tearing up the App Store charts lately, and for good reason. It's a fun mix of platformer and physics puzzler that has you catapulting a panda through a series of levels in order to try and get him to his beloved mate. There's even a little Cut the Rope influence here. Your panda gets launched from a seesaw to start the level, and from there, he is fired from cannon to cannon to the other side of the map. Sometimes you have to time your launch just right, other times you can rotate the cannons around to line up your shot, and there are lots of other obstacles and mechanics that pop up later in the game. Land-a Panda is a lot of fun, and there's a ton of content to go through as well. There are 80 levels across a few worlds in the game already, and more content is on the way. It works with the Retina Display on the iPhone, there's full integration with OpenFeint and Game Center, and the whole experience is well-polished and works great. The app's not universal, but at US$0.99 for the iPhone and just a buck more for the iPad (and lite versions for both devices with 16 levels unlocked), it's a great deal that's easily recommended.
Tool-assisted speedrun shows Super Mario 64 beaten in five minutes
A group of five speedrunners has beaten Super Mario 64 with no stars in just five minutes. To do so, they used a whole bag of tricks, including glitches, weird jumping macros, and shortcuts. It's not pretty, but if you have 18274 frames of time to spare, you can see the whole video below.
Nicalis' NightSky coming to Windows on January 6
Nicalis, best known for releasing Daisuke Amaya's Cave Story on the Wii and DSi, has announced that it will be bringing the 2D physics-based platformer NightSky to Windows on January 6. The title, by Sweden's Nifflas, was originally scheduled for release on WiiWare as well. Nicalis says it hasn't "given up on consoles" for the game, but the PC and Mac releases will arrive first. The game looks intriguing -- you can see a short launch trailer after the break. There's no word on price yet (or where you'll be able to get it, other than the official website), but assuming the game arrives as planned, those who want to get their hands on this 2009 IGF finalist will finally be able to do so.
Windows XP partially re-created in LittleBigPlanet 2, ups the stakes for gamer ambitiousness (video)
We've seen an CHIP-8 emulator and even a virtual CPU built inside games, but we've yet to encounter a game recreation of Windows. Thanks to a quartet of industrious LittleBigPlanet 2 beta players, though, we can now finally check that off in our copy of 100 Geeky Projects You Must Witness Before Dying. As the video above shows, major Windows functions they've emulated to date include a working start menu and mouse cursor, multiplayer support for a variety of bloatware games, and even the good ole' blue screen of death. That's pretty impressive stuff from an ambitious platforming title that won't officially ship until mid-January. Needless to say, once the full version arrives, we expect to see a working copy of Lion running stat. You heard us folks -- we're setting the bar that high.
Disney Epic Mickey review: A brush with greatness
The unlikely creation of Deus Ex designer and industry legend Warren Spector and his imagineers at Junction Point, Disney Epic Mickey is the single most ambitious Wii exclusive outside of Nintendo's own releases. "Epic" is not a misnomer -- from the quality of the art and animation, to the level design, scale and even score of the game, it's clear that massive amounts of resources, both of the creative and financial variety, were lavished on it. There are moments in Epic Mickey that are so good, so polished and so full of charm I would have sworn that I was playing a game Shigeru Miyamoto had a hand in. If only the whole game was like that.%Gallery-76724%
Shift Extended trailer explains the game in plain black-and-white
Here's a brand new trailer for Shift Extended, a black-and-white platformer coming to PSN Minis next month. You could watch the video below to see how the game works, combining an interesting perception-shift mechanic with some clever platforming challenges, or you could just go play the Flash version of the game for yourself. The "extended" version is supposed to have double the content of the Flash game, which means there will be new gameplay mechanics, new levels and even new scoring features. Look for it on PSN sometime in December.
Lemmings-like Spirits for iPad out now
Spirits for iPad, which I saw and played back at Indiecade this year, is out now on the App Store. The game is US$4.99, but as a premium iPad experience, it's worth it. The whole thing is extremely relaxing, and the art style is quite well done. If you enjoy Lemmings-style puzzle gameplay where your goal is to get a set of autonomous creatures to a level exit using their various abilities, you'll really enjoy finding your way through the 40 handmade levels in Spirits. I was told a while back that an iPhone version is coming, but the iPad version was ready to go first, so here it is. Unfortunately, there's still no Game Center achievements or any other extra modes or gameplay, but that's ok. The point of the game is just to sit back and explore the world with these weird spirit creatures, so if you're looking to spend some quality gaming time with the iPad this weekend, Spirits won't let you down.
Sonic Colors review: A bolt from the blue
Believe me, I'm as surprised about this as you are. Sega has shoved its mascot character into so many wretched games over the past dozen or so years that the phrase "good Sonic game" may as well be akin to saying "don't touch that fire; it'll freeze your hand." Yet here I am, trying to make the muscles in my hands type the words, "Sonic ... Colors ... is ... is ... good." Not just good for Sonic, but good good. %Gallery-95227%
Adult Swim's latest Flash game climbs the corporate ladder
Continuing its tradition of putting out quality, humorous browser-based games, Adult Swim recently launched its latest pixelated onus: Corporate Climber. The game's a simple platformer where the player ascends through the ranks of a major, criminally unsafe business by literally ascending through said business' corporate headquarters. Basically, it's like an episode of The Office, only it's way more violent, and way, way less awkward. Check it out over on Adult Swim's game portal -- that is, assuming you can resist the siren call of Robot Unicorn Attack. You're playing it right now, aren't you? You monster.
GDC Online 2010: Moon'd hands-on
On the last day of GDC this week, I heard from developer Anthony LaMantia, who had a new game named Moon'd that he wanted to show me. We met up in the lobby of the Austin Convention Center, and I got to play around for a bit with his game, a platformer with a strange twist. Instead of playing as a cartoony character like Mario or Sonic, you play as a 3D block and use left and right buttons (along with a jump) to "roll" the block around some abstract stages. It's a weird setup, but it works. The controls are a little flighty, but responsive, and the physics allow you to do some interesting things while moving around, like catching the edge of a block on a platform, or pushing a ball underneath you. LaMantia said that the plot involves saving the cow that jumped over the moon, but I didn't see any sign of the cow anywhere except the title screen. The stages involve getting your cube to the end of an area, or collecting a certain number of coins along the way.
iPhone's Pix'n Love Rush hurries to PlayStation Minis
The iOS twitch platformer Pix'n Love Rush is being ported to systems with actual buttons -- namely, the PSP and PS3, for which it's being released as a Mini. The stylish side-scroller, a collaboration between developer Pastagames and the French zine publisher Pix'n Love, combines bite-sized coin-collecting platformer challenges with a variety of eye-catching visual styles, including Virtual Boy and Game Boy color schemes. The game's look is based on the Xbox Live Indie Games release Pixel (the third game in the Arkedo Series), which was a joint effort by Arkedo Studios and Pastagames. Publisher Sanuk Games plans to release the Minis version "soon," though no specific date or price has been announced.
Xbox Live's 'Game Feast' serves up Super Meat Boy on Oct. 20
Team Meat's manic and mercilessly tenderized hero, Super Meat Boy, is set to make his debut on Xbox Live Arcade on October 20. The developer announced the date via Twitter, and indicated that the well-done platformer would be part of "Game Feast," a new promotion from Microsoft Game Studios that should be detailed later today. With Super Meat Boy making up the main course, Game Feast might just be burger, better and more badass than the recently concluded Summer of Arcade. See the full poster after the break.
DSiWare's Furo Jump: Guilty Gear Gaiden claims the 'weirdest Guilty Gear game' prize
Okay, so it was pretty odd when Guilty Gear 2: Overture turned out not to be a 2D fighter, but a 3D action game with strategy elements. That was nothing compared to Furo Jump!!: Guilty Gear Gaiden!? for DSiWare. Furo Jump (literally Bath Jump) stars Chimaki, a hidden character from Guilty Gear 2, in a quest to visit a hot spring for relief from back pain. To get to his dream bath, Chimaki must spin on a bar of soap and whip a towel at pink elephants. Sounds totally like Guilty Gear to us, right? Furo Jump will make its splash on Japanese DSiWare September 1 for 500 DSi Points. Head past the break for the trailer with the world's most annoying narration. You can also play a Furo Jump Flash minigame here.
Halfbrick follows up Fruit Ninja with Monster Dash chaser
Australian dev Halbrick Studios is running with the success of its iOS produce-slicing action game Fruit Ninja, releasing its latest game for the platform, Monster Dash, on the App Store late last night after introducing the world to it last week. Similar to Semi Secret Software's hit Canabalt, the title features similar "run for as long as possible while avoiding pits and walls" gameplay, with the addition of enemies and weapons. As its name suggests, the game's bad guys are mummies, vampires, zombies and the like, and weapons range from a shotgun to the clever (and deadly) machinegun jetpack, which propels you skyward while raining bullets on baddies below. We've been having a lot of fun with this polished $0.99 release. Hit the App Store link below to see more.
DSiWare's Reflection out August 16 under new title 'Divergent Shift'
The Konami-published DSiWare platformer Reflection, which sends players through two different, mirror-imaged worlds simultaneously (one on each screen), will be released on the North American DSi Shop this Monday, August 16, according to a tweet from developer Intrinsic Games.
D3 putting Yogi Bear game in our pic-a-nic baskets
If you haven't heard about this, we hate to be the ones to have to tell you: there's a live-action/CG Yogi Bear movie on the way, starring Dan Aykroyd as Yogi and Justin Timberlake as Boo Boo. Why are we burdening you with this information? Because D3 Publisher announced a video game based on it, also starring Dan Aykroyd. Yogi Bear: The Video Game for Wii and DS, coinciding with the movie's holiday release, puts players in the collar and tie of Yogi Bear as he attempts to save Jellystone Park from being shut down. As you navigate through the park you'll be expected, of course, to steal pic-a-nic baskets without drawing the ranger's attention. D3, a company owned by Namco Bandai, secured an agreement with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for the license to this game, which Monkey Bar Games is developing. A lot of companies are working together to make sure you have this Yogi Bear game.
Joyswag: Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
Since we've already reviewed Castlevania: Harmony of Despair -- check it out! -- there won't be an XBLA in Brief preview this week. In its place is this giveaway, in which five entrants will receive a code. To enter: Leave a comment telling us your favorite Castlevania game ever. You must be 13 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec). Limit 1 entry per person. This entry period ends at 6:00PM ET, Thursday, August 5th. At that time, we'll randomly select five grand prize winners to each receive a download code for Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (ARV $15). [Code requires an Xbox Live account to redeem.] For a list of complete rules, click here. What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy, click here.
And Yet It Moves to WiiWare August 23
This week, Nintendo leaked the release date for Broken Rules' world-rotating WiiWare platformer And Yet It Moves before changing it back to "TBD." Today, Broken Rules sent out a press release confirming that the stylish game will be available on the Wii Shop in North America on August 23 for 1,000 Wii Points. And Yet It Moves, already available on PC, is a side-view platformer that forces players to periodically rotate the view by 90 degrees, turning walls into floors. If you haven't seen it -- and want to be unexpectedly charmed by Wii control demonstrations -- check out the trailer after the break. Actually, even if you've already played the PC version, you should watch this trailer. It looks like a lot of work went into it. %Gallery-98837%
