smash-bandits_602403667_ipad_01Welcome to Wednesday…

Well, there are certainly a lot of free-to-play iOS games headed our way tonight. In fact, over half of our featured apps are FREE, starting with Hutch’s Smash Cops follow-up, Smash Bandits. This time the tables are tuned and you are the criminal, trying to rack up TV fans as you leave a wake of destruction (and hopefully the police cruisers) as you smash and destroy everything in your way.

Think you have a good memory? In The Impossible Line, Chillingo challenges players to draw a line on a chalkboard, reaching the goal while avoiding all of the obstacles on the screen. Sounds easy enough, until you factor in the fact that the obstacles become invisible as soon as your finger touches the screen. Do you remember where to go?

Next up is an interesting looking and very different type of massively multiplayer online game called Indie Pixel from a developer who is no stranger to online multiplayer mobile games, On5. You are a pixel and your task is to form shapes. As only a single pixel, you must work together with other pixels to make more complex shapes. However, your only means of interaction with other pixels is by moving around and winking…can you find a way to work silently together?

One Other Game, the studio that brought us the cyberpunk card game Cell Warfare returns with a new free-to-play combat strategy game set in a world where “heroes from Heaven, Hell, and the Mortal realms collide” called Battle Realms. Speaking of strategy, Cybernate is back with a third installment of their action-strategy ControlCraft franchise with 48 new levels of the same familiar and challenging gameplay.

time-tinkers_634703122_ipad_01It is a big release week for Cybernate as they also have a steampunk fantasy card game called Time Tinkers which launches tonight as well. Up to 4 (local) players compete to control time and shift the passage of time in their favor. According to the app description it is easy to learn…I’m always a sucker for these types of quick pick up and play card games, so I’ll definitely be checking this one out tonight.

And the final freebie is iCrave Studios’ colorful puzzle game Neon Connect in which players must “strategically place, rotate and align the multicolored relays to connect the neon flows from start to end”.

Now for the paid apps…

asphalt-8-airborne_610391947_ipad_03Quite possibly the most anticipated title of the night is the latest entry in Gameloft’s long-running Asphalt game series. As the name suggests, Asphalt 8: Airborne takes the franchise to new heights with ‘high-speed aerial stunts’, a new physics engine and 47 licensed cars (80% of which are new to the series). Take to the streets of Venice and barrel roll your Lamborghini in a 360 degree jump (never thought I’d write that sentence) when the checkered flag drops tonight at the bargain price of just 99¢. You can check out the trailer on the second page of this post for a taste of Asphalt 8: Airborne’s jaw-dropping visuals.

I have never seen an episode of Ben 10 (I’m not the target demo), but I know it’s a popular animated series. Tonight Cartoon Network releases a collectible card game based on the series called Ben 10 Slammers. The game (which is on sale for 50% off at launch) features a number of the aliens from the cartoon series, each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Players must collect and upgrade their aliens and utilize special power-ups to blast their way through the solo campaign and become the Galactic Champion, or defeat their friends in online duels.

dr.-pandas-airport_678861146_ipad_02Odds are that any parents with little ones that use an iOS device have probably heard of Dr. Panda. TribePlay is back with Dr. Panda’s Airport, another mini-game collection which puts your child in charge of their very own airport, from sorting luggage and stamping passports to helping passengers find their gates and even landing the planes. My girls would LOVE this one! If you have slightly older kids, Grammar Girl wants to help them learn their parts of speech. Her new app Grammar Pop HD will help your child recognize and categorize nouns, verbs, gerunds and even participles while playing a fun matching game.

anno-domini_545931472_ipad_01And last but not least is a new board game app from Ravensburger Digital which may (or may not) ONLY be available in s German language edition. It’s tough to tell what Anno Domini is all about since both the app description and the text on all of the screenshots is in German, but according to this entry at Boardgame Geek, in Anno Domini, players are given cards with a description of a historical event on one side and the year it happened on the other.

Then players take turns putting their cards on the table, trying to put ALL of the events in chronological order. Players can challenge each other if they don’t think the order is correct and there is a bluffing element. Sounds both fun and educational so I’ve reached out to the folks at Ravensburger to see if an English translation is included in the app, but at the moment, they are busy attending gamescom,, so unless you speak/read German, I’d suggest holding off on this one…for now at least.

Remember the links below do not go active for the US until 11pm EST tonight.




Go to the second page of this post to watch the trailers for these games.