zombie-highway-2_892092770_ipad_02.jpgI feel like a bit of a broken record at this point, but this is another absolutely massive week of new iOS app releases with loads of new titles to entertain iOS gamers.

As always, I’ll kick things off with a number of free-to-play titles, the first of which is a sequel to Auxbrain’s 2010 hit game about using zombies as speed bumps on a long stretch of black top, Zombie Highway 2. For this second trip, the game has been “completely overhauled” with new cars, new zombie types, objectives, randomly generated environments and NITRO! So grab your keys, hop in and drive over some zombies.

For a more kid-friendly car adventure, you may want to opt for Gameloft’s latest, Cars: Fast as Lightning. Join Lightning McQueen and Mater and other popular Cars characters for a race across Radiator Springs. You get to customize and explore the town and interact with over 30 buildings. If you have Cars fans in your house you may want to check this one out…just keep an eye on those IAPs.

Next up, Noodlecake is back with a rotational endless climbing game called Tasty Tower: Squishy’s Revenge. Tilt or use touch controls to spin a central tower to rotate randomly placed platforms to allow Squishy to safely bounce between platforms and either reach a particular goal in the level-based story mode or get as high as possible in the endless mode.

yes-chef_798733298_ipad_02.jpgHalfbrick Studios are throwing their apron into the Candy Crush ring with a new food themed match-three game called Yes Chef!. You are a young apprentice named Cherry, with aspirations of becoming the greatest chef in the world. You travel the world in search of delicious recipes to start your own restaurant. While the game is surely polished, at first glance it doesn’t look like there is much new ground being broken here, but I’ll know better once I’ve had a chance to check it out. If you like match-three games then you probably already downloaded this one anyways.

Chillingo has launched a puzzle game that’s a little bit different, called Find The Line. You swipe your finger either left or right to unravel or rewind a piece of string until it properly forms the outline of a recognizable shape. As you progress you will hit puzzles where you must unwind multiple spools (freezing each’s line individually) to form the full picture. It is a neat concept.

Alright…who ordered the satanic sundae? In the newly released, Demonic Desserts you play as Em, a young wizard who must defend herself from hordes of evil dessert-monsters coming toward you across multicolored checkerboard playing area, using just left and right arrow movement arrows, a fire button and a few power-ups. It feels a bit like Space Invaders, but with more strategy. Hitting an enemy will cause all other enemies on the same colored tile to be struck as well. Enemies receive double damage when struck on a tile color similar to their native color. There are both a 24-level story mode as well as an endless survival mode.

Frustrating, fun and inexplicably addictive, Daddy Long Legs could be considered Set Snail’s Halloween version of QWOP, in which you fight to control the unsteady and uncooperative legs of a large spider and get him to walk as far as possible (or at least farther than your friends). You simply tap to switch legs to try to get a good cadence going. Relive your successes and share replays of your cringe-worthy exploits via Everyplay.

tail-drift_779076618_ipad_02.jpgTail Drift is a fun looking Kart-style arcade racing game except instead of karts, you are actually racing in various aircraft along a floating tubular track. The game features 4 different upgradeable planes, two tours with 18 unique events spread across 7 tracks and 3 event types (Classic Race, Time Trial, and Time Extension). It has rather nice looking graphics and is available at a special launch price of 99¢.

XperimentalZ Games, the same people who brought us Don’t Run With a Plasma Sword are back with their first major release in 3 years, a pixel art, arcade boat combat game called Pixel Boat Rush. Utilizing simple one touch controls for accelerating and braking and a couple of others for offense and defense, the gameplay is fast and frenetic as you play through the arcade mode and an extensive career mode which consists of “passing license tests, completing 100 racing events, buying and upgrading up to 50 boats”. There is support for both iCade and MFi controllers as well a time trial mode to compete against ghosts and cloud saves. If you’re looking for a fun mobile retro arcade game, then you should definitely check out Pixel Boat Rush.

SquirrelWarz is a cute new real time strategy / tower defense hybrid in which players take command of a furry squirrel army, gather resources, train squirrel soldiers and build towers. “Developed by a small team of Bay Area artists, SquirrelWarz feels like a handmade game… because it was made by hand! Most of the game’s art was created with watercolors and Sharpies, while the music was created with toy pianos, melodicas, and other toy instruments.” It’s an adorable take on the genre which should appeal to both experienced and RTS newbies alike.

Cobra Mobile takes off in their B-17 and Lancaster bombers on a third tour of duty with iBomber 3. Pilot your aircraft across the Pacific Ocean, Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa for more bomb-dropping, explosive action with both day and night missions as you attempt to obliterate enemy targets while protecting the allies.

i-am-dolphin_903959279_ipad_02.jpgWe leave (most of) destruction behind for a really unique offering, I Am Dolphin, an interactive underwater experience. Control Bandit the Bottlenose Dolphin, Simon the Commerson’s Dolphin, or Zoey the Orca as you glide through the water, leap in to the air for tricks and try to catch some food, but watch out for predators. The game features physics-based and procedurally generated real-time movement with nine unique sharks, each with their own AI for an unpredictable and fresh experience each time you dive in to play. This beautiful looking game seems like the type of thing you will just get yourself lost in for unexpected amounts of time.

The journey to restore light to a dying galaxy comes to iOS this week with the mobile port of the PC action puzzle game Wavefront.
Move through the solar system along a wave of light which can be manipulated in both amplitude and wavelength to adjust your direction. The game has a sort of retro side-scroller appeal to it and a great electronic soundtrack. With over 60 initial levels and free updates already in the works to push that count over 100, there should be quite a bit of game here.

skullduggery_840469989_ipad_02.jpgAfter nearly 2 years, ClutchPlay Games is finally back with Skullduggery!, their Sophomore effort to follow their delightful debut, Little Chomp. Inspired by the Max Fleischer animations of the 1930’s, Skullduggery! is a quirky little game where you play as a disembodied “Semi-Organic Autonomous Skull” who is a collection agent for the Infernal Revenue Service (IRS). “Using the elasticity of your own brain”, you flick yourself around each level collecting coins and repoing. Mechanically, the game offers a similar feel to that of Little Chomp, but with a tongue-in-bony-cheek macabre theme, perfect for getting you in the Halloween spirit.

Immediately eye-catching, Machineers is an episodic construction puzzle game in which you must utilize a variety of tools and bits to attempt to repair broken contraptions. “Help out the townsfolk by repairing their machines: the DJ machine, a coin-operated crane, and a mechanical arcade machine, and many more. After mastering the skills of a true Machineer, get ready for your next challenge: build yourself a vehicle and drive it to River City!” This first episode contains 12 puzzles with an additional four episodes planned as future IAP.

reckless-racing-3_882453590_ipad_01.jpgFinally, that brings us to the latest entry in one of my all-time favorite mobile, top-down racing franchises, Reckless Racing 3. The team at Pixelbite power slides onto the App Store with their most beautiful and vehicle-filled Reckless Racing title yet. It features a career mode with 50 events including the awesome looking new Gymkhana precision stunt driving tasks, drift mode and extra reckless AI drivers. The Arcade mode also offers up loads of challenges and if you want to see how your driving skills compare, you can compete in the online leaderboards. I have no doubt this will be an amazing experience on my iPhone 6 Plus and can’t wait to get my tires dirty.





Go to the second and third pages of this post to watch the trailers for these games.