It is another busy, busy week on the App Store, with loads of new titles hitting tonight as well as a few notable new releases which already arrived on the store earlier this week.
Kicking things off as a I always do with the freebies, we have Fangs Dash. As the name might suggest, you are a vampire, determined to leave a lasting impression on the members of the Fangs Council so they elect you as their new leader. You make your way across Transylvania using your quickness and lethal fangs to get your fill of the local townsfolk and avoid being staked by deadly vampire hunters. Looks like a fun freebie, perfectly suited for the Halloween season.
And we move from Nosferatu to numbers with a free (for launch) puzzle game called 10. The goal is simple, just make the number 10 by sliding blocks together such that the numbers on them adds up to ten. However, it isn’t as straightforward as it seems, for soon blocks start forming to trap you and keep you from accomplishing your (once simple task). The game has over 136 levels of puzzling fun.
Onto the paid apps…
The team at Ravenous Games is back and playing in the Random Heroes universe once again, however instead of releasing a third platformer, Random Runners is a run-and-gun adventure game. Run, slide and shoot your way through the game’s 48 levels or see how long you can last in the endless mode. Random Runners features all the crazy characters and weapons you’d expect from the Random Heroes franchise, but in a whole new style of gameplay. This is a really appealing new direction for the series, which I always felt lacked the speed of Ravenous Games’ other franchise, League of Evil.
Chillingo is back this week, publishing DreamGate Studios’ iOS release of their mission-based tower defense game Steampunk Tower. Instead of the usual multiple towers found in most games in this genre, players have only a single, larger tower on which they must build and upgrade their weapons to defend against a variety of attackers. Sounds interesting.
Other than perhaps MacGyver, who knew that bubblegum could be such a powerful (and deadly) tool? In Warner Bros’ AdvenChewers you must use your power of chewing gum to rescue your dad before he is “forced to serve an evil General”. Special types of bubble gum allow you to soar high above the sky, zap enemies, clean up goo or just avoid obstacles. Do you have what it takes to be an AdvenChewer?
Lume creators State of Play Games return to the App Store with a beautiful looking new origami-ish puzzle game called KAMI. Players must fold out colored pieces of paper to fill the screen in as few moves as possible. An undoubtedly deceptively challenging game, KAMI is bound to please, challenge and frustrate iOS puzzle lovers.
Ratrod Studio wants to once again put you behind the wheel of a high-performance vehicle to do some drifting. Drift Mania: Street Outlaws is (I believe) the third outing in the studio’s ‘drifting’ game series and features more of the same familiar gameplay, but with improved controls and multiplayer. The graphics look quite nice and this time around the action heads to Japan, the Swiss Alps, Desert Canyons and the steep hills of San Francisco. I have not played either of the previous games in the series, but I am definitely considering kicking the tires on this one tonight.
No strangers to genre mashups, Foursaken Media’s latest game combines elements of action RPGs with monster catching/training/battling to create Monster Adventures, a game which they’ve dubbed Pokémon meets Zelda!. While not really my cup of tea, I’m sure that many of you will find this one pretty appealing.
Trigger Happy comes out guns blazing with Escape from Doom, an eye-catching FPS / Endless Runner set in the pyramids, crypts and deserts of 1920’s Egypt. Recover stolen treasure to upgrade your weapons and unlock perks as you turn attacking mummies into dust with your dual revolvers or other deadly weapons.
Rakoo’s Adventure tells the tale of a dimwitted, lovestruck creature who is on a quest to find his true love, but he needs your help to keep him from harm. It is a single-finger adventure running game with some really nice looking cartoony graphics, a number of unique power-ups, a variety of enemies and even “epic boss battles”.
Type:Rider is an atmospheric puzzle platformer set in the world of typography. Yeah, you read that correctly…SET IN A WORLD OF FONTS! You play as a couple of dots who travel through different worlds, each of which has a different look and feel and is based on a different font. Players can choose between three different control methods with which to move left, right and jump to navigate terrain and avoid (sometimes) deadly obstacles. Kudos to Bulkypix for once again finding a game that is familiar, yet thinks outside the box, however if there are no Helvetica levels I will be very disappointed.
Released earlier this week, EMPIRE: The Deck Building Strategy Game is a rather appealing looking strategy game that combines elements of deck building and 4X strategy games (where players “control an empire and explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate.”). The game was designed by Keith Burgun, creator of 100 Rogues and is apparently quick to learn, but difficult to master. I’ve never actually played a 4X strategy game before as they take far too long to play, but by design, EMPIRE is a much quicker animal. I definitely need to find some time to check this one out! If you’ve already played this, leave a comment below, letting me know what you thought.
Who doesn’t like the circus? In the new ring-based platformer, Ring Run Circus, you get to take on the role of one of three different acrobats (each with unique skills) as they spin around connected rings trying avoid obstacles like flames, lions and more, collecting stars and a key before making their way to the exit. The game features a simple, yet unique control scheme that uses a thumb on each side of your device, allowing you to switch rings, flip between the inside and outside of a ring, jump, slap and more. The circus life isn’t easy and in the time I’ve spent with this game prior to release, I can tell you that some of the levels put up quite a challenge. It is a charming and rather unique style of mobile platformer.
I always like to find at least one new release specifically for the kids and this week I have two. The first is an interactive book app called Living vs Nonliving : Do you know which ones will grow?. Recommended for kids ages 3 to 6, this app has young readers classifying living and nonliving things with a swipe of their little fingers. It not only looks entertaining, but informative and educational as well, encouraging exploration and reasoning skills.
Tin Man Games is hoping to entertain a younger audience with the first in their newest series of Gamebook Adventures geared specifically toward 8 to 12 year-olds. Spellcaster: Forgotten Spell is an is an interactive fantasy novel with all the same great features that adults have come to love about Tin Man Games’ gamebooks over the years, but with a story that is more age appropriate for the target demographic.
Spellcaster: Forgotten Spell takes the young reader into the strange and dangerous world of the fey, a vast population of faerie creatures that inhabit a realm just out of reach of mortals. Readers must decide their fate as they journey through the decaying city of Suidemor on a quest to find the Forgotten Spell, a powerful enchantment cast over the King of the Elder Fey. They must be prepared to test their courage, strength and wit against the myriad of evil foe that await them by casting spells, solving puzzles, collecting valuables, and choosing where to go.
Some of my most vivid childhood reading memories as a kid were with Choose Your Own Adventure books, so I think this is a great move by Tin Man Games. Tin Man’s creative director Neil Rennison feels that Spellcaster: Forgotten Spell, which was illustrated by Tony Hough, is one of their best looking releases yet.
Finally that brings us to a re-release (most likely another expiring licensing deal with Electronic Arts), Dragon’s Lair 30th Anniversary. Updated with new HD graphics and Game Center support, Don Bluth’s animated arcade classic returns to the iPhone. Unfortunately for whatever reason, Digital Leisure has decided against making this new release a universal App so that means if you want it in native resolution on both your iPhone and iPad you’ll STILL have to buy the existing $4.99 iPad release as well.
And that, as Porky Pig would say…is all folks.
In the comments section below, please let us know which of these apps (or others) that you’ll be picking up this week.
 Fangs Dash |
 Random Runners |
 Steampunk Tower |
 |
 AdvenChewers |
 Drift Mania: Street Outlaws |
 Monster Adventures |
 Escape from Doom |
 Rakoo’s Adventure |
 EMPIRE: The Deck Building Strategy Game |
 Living vs Nonliving : Do you know which ones will grow? |
 Ring Run Circus |
 Spellcaster: Forgotten Spell |
 Dragon’s Lair 30th Anniversary |
