It’s another jam-packed night of new iOS releases, starting with the iconic PAC-MAN, who returns to the App Store in a very different way. PAC-MAN DASH! is a free-to-play mission-based, nearly endless runner that has everyone’s favorite yellow three-quarter circle trading in his Pac-Pellets for cookies (though they look the same) as he runs and just along liner pathways chasing after and eating ghost monsters. An obvious tie-in to the new animated Disney XD series, this freebie may offer some short-lived fun for endless runner fans but may be to much of a departure to satisfy die-hard PAC-MAN fans.
Ninja Kiwi’s Bloons TD franchise is back with a totally new entry called Bloons TD Battles. Challenge your friend or random opponents as you try strike a winning balance between attacks and maintaining a strong defense. Now players can go head-to-head by controlling “bloons directly and sending them charging past their opponent’s defenses”.
This week, Bulkypix offers up a free-to-play runner / rhythm game called SongRush, which uses your own iTunes library. Obstacles that you must jump over or slide under are created in rhythm to your selected song’s melody. Weekly tournaments and uniquely generated levels makes this looks like it should have a fair amount of replay potential.
Once you see that Nuclear Outrun’s eclectic arsenal of weaponry includes a Shark Gun, Teddy Bearzooka, Book of Rapture and Squid Launcher and more, you just know that this apocalyptic shooting game from Gamenauts is bound to be a pretty crazy experience. And that’s just the start of the absurdity, since in this enhanced port of the 2012 Flash game (of the same name) you’ll be trying to rescue and collect Pirates, Mimes, and Hipsters as you “mow down hordes of zombies”. Sounds like a bloody good time to me!
Speaking of bloody…Triniti Interactive is back with Call of Mini™ Infinity, a free 3D third-person shooter which appears to have a Halo-like vibe, but with the same ‘Call of Mini’ aesthetics.
Now onto the paid titles…
I love the smell of bacon in the morning! In Chillingo’s latest publishing effort, Kamikaze Pigs these hams are headed off to war and you’ll being doing some pig poppin’ as you fire an army of pigs flying onto the screen with a single tap in an explosive fury of fire and potential pork products.
Breach & Clear is a game that I got a very brief bit of hands-on time with at PAX East earlier this year. Originally planned as a free-to-play game, the developers, realized that it just didn’t fit that model and decided to make it a pay and own game which is on sale at launch for $1.99 (50% off). It is a tactical strategy game in which you must lead your Special Ops team through a series of complex and dangerous missions. The game appears to have a decent amount of depth allowing you to choose from the US Army Rangers, US Navy Seals and even Canada’s JTF2, with each of your squad members having a special set of learned skills and abilities which can be leveled up over time to form your own well-oiled mercenary machine. At just $1.99, I’ll definitely be picking this one up myself tonight to check out. Plus as an added bonus, anyone who purchases the game before the first update will unlock an exclusive Day One Gold M4!
Lets go retro…
Futuridium EP is an 80’s-style 3D space shooter from Mixedbag. I’m told that the game is a reimagined version of a rather tough C64 game (I never owned this system) called Uridium, which was originally released in 1986. A raw test of your reflexes, Futuridium EP features no special power ups and no bonuses, just you, your ship, its single laser weapon and the ability to spin 180 degrees whenever you need to. Oh yeah, and there is no speed control, like a bus with Keanu at the wheel this ride doesn’t slow down. Retro gamers will certainly want to try this one out.
In a similar vein, tonight DotEmu re-releases their iOS port of the arcade classic R.TYPE, which is well reagarded as one of the most difficult and unforgiving horizontal shooters of the coin-op era. When I reviewed DotEmu’s previous R-Type iPhone app way back in 2010, it was excellent. Six months ago, DotEmu’s publishing agreement with EA Mobile ended and now the game returns to the App Store as a self-published app with loads of improvements such as Universal support, improved touch controls, customizable buttons, Game Center, iPhone 5 and iPad support and more. So even if you already own the previous EA release, there is a lot to entice you to pick up this one as well.
And the final ‘retro’ title I wanted to mention is one that I’ve been waiting eagerly for, and that is Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded. Despite being only 11 years old when the original Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards was released (sorry Mom if you are reading this…high-five Dad if you are) Leisure Suit Larry (and the rest of the Sierra Online catalog) were my absolute favorite computer games growing up. Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded is an updated and expanded version of the original adventure by the game’s original creator, Al Lowe. It has been years since I’ve played the game, so I really don’t remember much of the storyline and I’m eager to revisit this entertaining forbidden fruit from my youth. It was originally expected to be released at a price of $9.99, but the game made an unannounced surprise launch earlier today at the price of only $4.99.
Before I mention a few other notable titles that launched earlier this week, there is one last new release hitting tonight that I think is worth mentioning and that is Sky Gamblers: Cold War. While I still have yet to play a Sky Gamblers game (not really my cup of tea), I know that Atypical Games’ franchise is quite popular. This newest title in the aerial combat series, once again features some rather stunning looking console-quality visuals and a large variety of both single and multiplayer modes to keep you entertained. I have no doubt this one will fair well on the charts this week.
A few recent releases you may have missed…
A couple of titles that launched earlier this week that are certainly worth a mention are Bamba Toys, Zombies!!! ®, and Sine Mora.
Bamba Toys is the latest app in Mezmedia’ ‘Bamba’ series of apps for kids. Joining popular titles like Bamba Burger and Bamba Ice-Cream, the recently released Bamba Toys lets children design and interact with their own toy figure. From the parts to the packaging, they can make their own pirate, cowboy, princess or more. The app is currently 99¢, but all of the other paid Bamba titles are $1.99 so this may be a special launch price.
Babaroga have adapted the hit board game Zombies!!! into a digital version for iOS. You “must use a combination of wits and brawn to be the first to the heliport and certain escape” from the approaching horde of zombies. Up to 4 other (local) human or AI players can play together”. Zombies!!! and a board game…what’s not to love, I’ve been hearing some good early buzz on this one and our own Josiah Cochran beta tested this one so if you didn’t pick it up for free from the Canadian App Store pre-launch, then you can buy it now for $4.99.
Finally, we have Sine Mora, a side-scrolling 3D airplane shooter that first made its debut on XBLA in March 2012 and Steam, PSN and PS Vita in November of the same year. Now on iOS, Digital Reality Software appear to have done a really nice job adapting the game for the iOS platforms. I haven’t dug into this one too much yet, but what I have had a chance to play thus far, has been quite nice and the graphics are really gorgeous!
And that’ll do it for tonight. Please leave a comment below if there are any titles that we missed or if you want to let us know which of these titles you will be picking or won’t be picking up tonight when the links below go live at 11pm EST tonight.
 PAC-MAN DASH! |
 Bloons TD Battles |
 Call of Mini™ Infinity |
 Kamikaze Pigs |
 Futuridium EP |
 Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded |
 Sky Gamblers: Cold War |
Released Earlier This Week
 Zombies!!! ® |
 Sine Mora |
