The Easter holiday seems to have slowed down the App Store a bit…however, there were still a number of notable new game releases to entertain us over the holiday weekend.
First we have Doomsday Clicker, a fresh new entry in the popular ‘clicker’ genre. While I don’t fully understand the mass appeal of these fairly mindless games, they feed right into people’s compulsive and obsessive nature. I know I’ve been guilty of getting sucked into one or two of them in the past (Bitcoin Billionaire immediately comes to mind). Highlighted by developer PikPok’s usual offbeat sense of humor, this clicker sees players “Destroying the world for fun and profit.” With a press of a button, you’ve just destroyed the world and now the remaining Doomsday survivors have no choice but to come to you (and your massive, multi-level underground shelter) for safety and security. “Tap the buttons to build your underground shelter, then tap some more to expand it with luxurious rooms and upgrades.” The more people you can hold, the faster the cash will roll in. Destroy any mutant animals who happen to roam the surface land above your bunker for even more cash. Inexplicably addictive, this is a charming little time waster for those who like to watch rolling counters climb higher and higher.
Next up is Total War Battles: KINGDOM, a massive free-to-play tactical combat game from SEGA and The Creative Assembly, creators of the popular and award-winning Total War series for the Mac/PC. In TWB: KINGDOM, players build and expand their kingdoms, train and recruit their armies and command them in real-time battles with other players (including cross-platform play). While not my particular cup of tea, the game looks like a pretty solid, sprawling offering with a nice pedigree.
A fast-paced arcade shooter, Super Arc Light features a unique control mechanic which sees players furiously using combinations of tapping, holding and releasing to rotate their way around a central base and shoot down at waves of oncoming enemies ships. Your ship is always moving, rotating around a central base. and you can tap anywhere on the screen to fire a single shot, holding down your finger longer to lay down a steady stream of bullets. However, every time you stop shooting, your ship switches its direction of rotation. Occasionally special weapon pickups will appear, and you can shoot these to upgrade your weapon. If any enemy reaches the inner circle of your base, it’s game over. The game’s neat rotational mechanic and direction flipping when you stop firing is what really set Super Arc Light apart, giving it a fresh feel and a little bit of a learning curve. If you like retro arcade games, then I think you are going to really enjoy this one.
RareSloth returns to the App Store this week with the sequel to last year’s brilliant puzzle game Furdemption – A Quest For Wings. In the original game royal rabbit was trying to escape Hell, in the sequel, King Rabbit – Find Gold, Rescue Bunnies, King Rabbit is trying to rescue his bunny citizens by navigating puzzle-filled levels. You’ll flip levers, push crates into saws and streams, trigger bombs and even go down the rabbit hole to safely traverse levels and find and collect the golden chests. New puzzle elements are introduced regularly, building up the complexity and fun for subsequent levels. If you liked the original game, then you are going to enjoy King Rabbit as well, as it offers more of the same beloved gameplay of the original (hey, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?). Beautifully illustrated, this is another great, approachable, yet challenging mobile puzzle game that deserves a place on your iDevice.
Next up is The Game – Play … as long as you can!. This is Outline Development’s digital port of Steffen Benndorf’s 2015 Spiel des Jahres Nominee ‘The Game‘. The physical version of The Game can be played either solo or cooperatively with up to five players. This digital version only tackles the solo option, which is completely understandable given that implementing a system for the allowed restricted communication between (in this case, remote) players would be extremely tough to do properly. For the unfamiliar, in The Game you are trying to discard all 98 cards in the deck (numbered from 2 to 99) onto four discard piles in the center of the table. Depending on the variant, you start with a hand of 8 cards and the four common discard piles designate the numerical direction in which cards may be discarded on each individual pile. Two piles start with the number one and cards must be discarded on these in increasing numerical order and two start with the number 100 and cards must be discarded on these piles in decreasing numerical order from whatever number currently appears at the top of the deck. On your turn you must discard at least two cards from your hand onto one or more discard piles and then redraw your hand back up. You also have the option of playing a card which is exactly 10 more than the card on the top of one of the “descending” piles and a card that is exactly 10 less than the one on top of the “ascending” piles. This is a big help in getting you out of sticky situations. There are three difficulty levels (which force you to play more cards each time before you can refresh your hand) as well a couple of variants: The Game on Fire and The Game Lift Up (exclusive to the app) which switch up the gameplay a little, adding new challenges. The Game a solid, really enjoyable and challenging (even at Easy difficulty) solitaire-style game that requires a little luck, planning ahead, agility and cunning, it has a bit of a similar feel to King’s Solitaire (formerly 4 Thrones). Don’t let the lack of the physical game’s player count dissuade you from picking this up, it is well worth a look.
Set in the year is 1949, the adventure game, Flight of the Amazon Queen: 20th Anniversary Edition puts players in the shoes of Joe King, a pilot for hire whose latest job involves flying movie starlet named Faye Russell, into the Amazon jungle for a photo shoot. However, things don’t go quite as planned and through a series of unfortunate events, the pair end up stranded in the heart of the Amazon jungle, rescuing a kidnapped princess, exploring a dangerous temple, facing Amazonian warriors, and going head to head with a powerful mad scientist intent on taking over the world. This is not the first time this fully voice-acted, classic point and click adventure game has found itself on iOS, as it made a brief appearance ion the iPhone in 2009 during the very early days of the App Store. It wa subsequently removed, but now it’s back with a proper, 20th anniversary release complete with a totally new and improved modern touch-based control system including hotspots, new icons and animations, new high-resolution graphics, save game system, bonus materials and more. For those who want the look and feel of the original game, there is an optional retro settings choice allowing you to “play with original graphics and even the original controls (mouse pointer)”. I love point and click adventures, but somehow missed this game when it was originally released in 1995, so I’m excited to discover it now, especially since its been given this special treatment on iOS.
You might be thinking…why is PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX on this list, didn’t that come out a while ago. Well it did, but this week, BANDAI NAMCO added support for the 4th gen Apple TV at no additional cost to existing owners of the game. Now you have the option of playing this fantastic, ghost-chaining take on an arcade classic on your larger TV screen. Play either by swiping on the Siri remote or get more of an arcade feel with any MFi gamepad. If you haven’t PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX yet, you need to check this one out, and if you already own it, fire up your Apple TV and have some fun on the big screen.
Spring has sprung and that means it is almost baseball season again. That brings us to the final notable new release of the week, Out of the Park Developments’ annual release of MLB Manager. The fully licensed 2016 edition of this award-winning baseball simulation franchise features an updated roster and uses the same realistic simulation engine found in the Out of the Park Baseball series for Mac and PC. “Each MLB team in the game features its actual 40-man projected 2016 Opening Day roster and the player ratings are based on the ZiPS player projection system created by analyst Dan Szymborski”. Do you have what it takes to lead your team to victory? Manage your team by negotiating contracts, signing free agents, trading existing players, drafting new ones and even promoting promising hopefuls from the minors. When it comes time to hit the field, you’ll be able to set lineups, depth charts, pitching staff and more. You call the shots from the dugout and watch the games unfold.
Test your skills in one of three different game modes:
- Major League Baseball Game where you choose your favorite MLB team and play out the entire 2016 season (and beyond if you’d like)
- Fictional Game where the app creates one of four fictional baseball worlds and populates it with fresh players and clubs and you select a team and “build a dynasty from scratch”.
- Historical MLB Game Select from either the 1919, 1939, or the 2012 MLB Season and play it out to see if history repeats itself…again. Want a different year? There are 115 other seasons are available as in app purchases, either indvidually or in money-saving bundles.
This is a rather in-depth simulation with loads of stats and decision-making for baseball fanatics to really sink their teeth into.
And that’ll do it for this week, I hope everyone has a nice holiday weekend.
Don’t forget to check out all of the App Store sales that are currently running as well.
 Doomsday Clicker |
 King Rabbit – Find Gold, Rescue Bunnies |
 The Game – Play … as long as you can! |
 Flight of the Amazon Queen: 20th Anniversary Edition |
 PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX |
 MLB Manager 2016 |
