Monthly Archive: December 2011

LOADS of December Updates, Freebies, and Sales!

–=UPDATES=–

What’s New in Version 2.0?
**Game Center
**Minor Improvements

What New in Version 1.1?
**Four exciting new levels to celebrate Autumn and Holidays!
**Two secret new costumes
**Five exciting new achievements
**Fixed leaderboards total score bug
**Numerous minor bugfixes

What’s New in Version 1.1.0?
**More levels! 12 new levels in the spooky Old Town are now available to purchase. Get your parkour on in a whole new area of the city!
**Power Ups! Sometimes a level is just too darn difficult to finish or get the three star score. We know this and added some new items to the store to help with that. The TRAMPOLINE will advance you to the next checkpoint and the SUPER KICKS instantly put you at a 4X score multiplier for as long as you can maintain it. There’s even a combo pack so you can get both. Try it out to kick even more zombie butt!
**We also squashed some bugs and did other enhancements so Zombie Parkour Runner plays better than ever.

What’s New in Version 1.1.0?
**Unlockable Characters
**Unlockable Powerups
**More Levels

What’s New in Version 1.1?

Fixes/Optimizations
**Optimized code which should fix devices experiencing crashing (please note that closing all running apps and restarting your device is recommended)
**AI has been significantly improved across the board
**Improved menu loading speed when finishing race
**Fixed wheel orientation issues
**Fixed double digit lap counter
**Fixed car shadow ground alignment and optimized shadow performance
**Fixed ‘Racing’ car’s Nitro indicator (now reporting correctly)
**Fixed potential fringe case where Career Cash could be lost after crash
**Player name now correctly taken from GameCenter when logged in
**Fixed potential crash on Bluetooth Multiplayer
**Fixed several achievements
**Added achievement notifications for devices running iOS5 or higher
**Now correctly reporting best lap times for AI cars
**Added additional save checks for iCloud support
**Tweaked physics and re-spawn time on bumpy tracks
**Various other UI fixes

New features/content

**Added new 4WD vehicle
**Added ‘Race Again’ option to multiplayer (more additions coming in future updates)
**Paint toggle added to QuickPlay Mode
**Added snow trials for winter tracks
**Added new collision particle effects for iPhone 4S

What’s New in Version 1.2?
**Now supports achievements with GameCenter
–=FREEBIES=–
[CatfishBlues Games]
TTL/Survival
–=Universal
[Eligo Games]
Arcade/Shmup
–=iPhone
[Turborilla]
Side-Scrolling Moto-Racer
–=Universal
[PLAYBEAN]
Arcade-Shmup/Bullet Hell
–=iPhone
[Productions Multimage Inc.]
Slots/RPG
–=Universal
[Demonual Studios]
Endless One-Touch Platformer
–=Universal
[FakePup]
Endless One-Touch Platformer
–=iPhone
[Crescent Moon Games]
Adventure Platformer
–=Universal
[10tons LTD]
Match-3
–=iPhone
[Krivorukoff LLP]
Climbing Racer
–=Universal
[codefreeze]
Arcade Brick Breaker
–=iPhone
[Electronic Arts]
Line-Drawing Puzzler
–=iPhone
[ThumbFire]
Match-3
–=Universal
–=SALES=–
[Kairosoft Co., LTD]
Simulation
–=iPhone
$0.99
[10tons LTD]
Physics-Based Puzzle Platformer
–=Universal
$0.99
[Evelyn Labs]
Tower Defense
–=Universal
$0.99
[Chillingo]
Children-Young Kids/Adventure
–=Universal
$0.99
[BluSped]
Arcade-Shmup
–=iPhone
$0.99


Eve of the Genesis – 8.99 (Kemco)

With Action RPG’s pretty much dominating the Role Playing charts in iTunes for the last couple years, it’s pretty sad seeing most of them going down the drain. There’s just not much more you can do to make an original Action RPG these days. Thankfully, Turn-Based RPGs are making a huge comeback, with help from two big companies, Square Enix, and Kemco, and the latest addition to the old-school influenced turn-based RPG genre, is Kemco’s Eve of the Genesis.

Now, if you’re familiar with Kemco’s previous iOS releases, Eve of the Genesis is sort of a mixture of Alphadia and Symphony of Eternity. Fantastic story-telling, as well as top-notch translation, completely draws you into the plot, and makes you actually feel, and care for, the characters. The story takes place in the Empire of Gadalia. It’s kind of a matrix type story, with humans battling machines that ruled the empire, but were defeated 2,000 years ago. Now they’re back, and somehow able to travel through space, seemingly appearing anywhere they want to attack. Your characters are on a quest to try and find out how the machines are able to just appear anywhere they want, and eventually find a way to stop them from taking over the empire yet again.
The equip system is pretty basic, giving you 3 slots, one for a weapon, one for armor, and another for one accessory. However, there is a fairly deep skill and orb system that fully makes up for the bland equipping, and then some. Each character is allowed to have 10 different skills from offensive, defensive and healing. These do not increase in skill with your character leveling up, but instead, you will use gems which are collected on your journey, to make your skills stronger. Once you level up an offensive skill with Reinforcing Gems, it will take more and more with each time you level them up. Your defensive skills are leveled up with Diffusing Gems, also requiring more with each level up. There are also elemental skills, which are leveled up with Reinforcing Gems, but can also be changed with Element-changing Gems. This allows for each character to change their element skills based on the types of enemies are in specific areas. You are also able to clone skills, allowing for your character to keep a skill, while still changing it.
There are also orbs which you can use to increase your stats, like evasion, defense, attack, health, sp (magic), agility, and more. These orbs are found scattered throughout the empire, and can also be won in battles, and bought in shops. Once you own one, you can find it in your items section, and immediately use it. As you level up, each of your stats goes up as well, attack, defense, health, ect. On top of this, there are also Ooparts, which once found, offer up various abilities. However, leveling up does not restore health or SP, so if you’re close to death, no matter what, you’ll need to either find an Inn, a blue restoring orb, or use potions to regain your health.
As you explore the empire of Gadalia, you’ll encounter loads of different enemies, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Encounters are mostly random, meaning unlike Symphony of Eternity, you can not tell where enemies are on the map, you will just run into them randomly while walking around. There are a few enemies that you will be able to see before hand, but you will not run into these enemies too often. Completing the game does not require too much grinding, in fact, if you plan on exploring every area of the map, dungeons, forests, deserts, mountains, castles, and buildings, no extra grinding should be required. But if you plan on avoiding a lot areas, you can pretty much expect to need to grind, around towns is the best place, as you can head back to town, and stay in an Inn for 20-50 gold, which completely restores all of your characters.
Right now, Eve of the Genesis is having a launching sale of 67% off, reducing the price from $8.99 to $2.99, but with how amazingly well done Kemco’s turn-based RPGs are, $8.99 is a great deal for this game. Yet again, it brings back memories of playing old-school Final Fantasy titles on the Nintendo, and SNES. The very well written story, as well as the fantastic graphics, great animations, and deep gem/orb system, makes for an adventure game that will totally immerse you, making it hard for you to focus on anything else until you complete it. Kemco has done it again, with another flawless release, and after visiting their website, you’ll hope that their other titles, like End of Aspiration, Machine Knight, Kamen Rider Fourze, and more will all be ported to the iOS.


CheeseMan – 0.99 (Alphanoize Games)

Super Meat Boy has been a pretty big influence on iOS games over the last year or so. Sadly, very few of the titles influenced by SMB really capture the true gameplay and challenge of the original. ChocoRun is actually the only title I can think of that really hit’s the nail on the head. However, the lack of virtual controls puts a lot of people off. Don’t Die and it’s invisible controls didn’t really sit right with gamers, and since virtual buttons were added in the last update, it really shows how funky the physics in the game are. Tobor had the potential to be a decent SMB clone, but sadly, the developers refusing to have any sort of control scheme but tilt put the game straight to the bottom of the SMB clone list. Well now there’s a title that, at first, seems like it might just have the perfect set-up to be the best Super Meat Boy influenced game in the AppStore. Alphanoize Games’ CheeseMan. With its virtual controls, great physics, and some very nice level design, at face value, it stands out quite a bit.

So, first off, the major selling point for Alphanoize is the virtual controls. Left and Right buttons, along with a jump button, and the ability to double and wall jump. This is a highlight, as the controls are fairly tight and precise, except for when you’re in the air, and are trying to slow down or change direction, in which case, you’ll probably end up hitting whatever it is you’re trying to avoid. On the ground however, a slight skid is all you’ll need to get use to when changing directions at your characters top speed. For the level design, the controls work well enough to get through the game without any annoying issues, which is a big plus. The controls in other SMB clones are the cause of many un-necessary deaths, which is a huge issue for them. The physics are, surprisingly fairly good. Your cheese character isn’t floaty, or too heavy, which is very important for platformer games, as you might very well know.
You’ll be able to play with one of two different characters, a male and female. Neither having different abilities, or different types of gameplay, just an option to play with two different characters. In CheeseMan, you’re on a quest to save Cheese Land from Professor Mousky. 39 levels plus 3 boss levels (a total of 42 levels) spread across 3 different environments seems like it’s got enough level content. However, each stage only takes about 10-30 seconds to complete, meaning if you know what you’re doing, the game can be completed in about 10 minutes, maybe 20-30 if you’re trying to get a ‘3 cheese ranking’ in all of the levels. There is also one little white-ish orb hidden in every level, only 2 or 3 are semi-challenging to snag, but once you do grab them, if you die, you re-start the level with the orb, you do not need to grab it again.
This wouldn’t be such a bad thing if the levels were challenging. For those of you who are familiar with Super Meat Boy, or probably the best Super Meat Boy clone in the AppStore, ChocoRun, CheeseMan’s levels will provide only a mild challenge when trying to race through them. In other words, if you’ve beaten SMB, or ChocoRun, CheeseMan will be a piece of cake. That’s not to say that the level design is bad. It’s not, not by any stretch of the imagination. However, more hazards and obstacles would have been great to see added to the game.
For $0.99, it is one of the better Super Meat Boy clones in the AppStore. I’d place it right under ChocoRun actually. Though with Don’t Die and Tobor as it’s competitors, that’s not really saying much. I will add that it’s closer to ChocoRun’s quality than to Don’t Die’s, which does count for something. CheeseMan is supported by GameCenter, but does not have any achievements, which is kind of upsetting, as it’s a game that pretty much writes the achievements itself; Complete World 1, Get 3 Cheese Rankings in Every Level, ect. There is a fogged out ‘World 4’ that is supposed to be coming soon in a future update, hopefully the levels will be more challenging. Actually, it would be great to see a difficulty separation for the game, having all of the levels re-worked, adding more hazards and obstacles to each of them, and keeping the original levels as the ‘Normal’ difficulty, and the re-worked levels as a ‘Hard’ difficulty. As it is right now, it doesn’t really feel like a true Super Meat Boy clone in terms of difficulty. But at its current price-point, and with the lack of SMB type games in the AppStore, if you’re a fan of Super Meat Boy, CheeseMan is a game that’s worth picking up. If you’re worried about the difficulty after trying out ChocoRun, and not being able to get through even half the levels, you can quit worrying. CheeseMan is actually one of the easier platformers available for the iOS, but it does show that Alphanoize knows what it takes to make a polished platformer with nice controls, and physics that work. I’m really looking forward to see where they’ll take CheeseMan in the future, and will be keeping my eyes open for potential future releases.


‘Boxcat Review’- Need I Say More?


Cats are the holy grail of Internet memes. But what if you combined those adorable creatures with a box? That is clearly a question the developers of Boxcat thought about when they created this amazing game.
Your goal in Boxcat is to create as much havoc as you possibly can. You run back and forth across a busy suburban street running into cars and creating mayhem. The only controls you need to worry about are two arrow buttons on the left and right side of your screen. Birds carrying coins come flying from the side of the screen as well and if you catch them you get the coin they were carrying. These coins can have varying effects like giving you more time in the game or making you bigger. If you collect three coins you turn into a HUGE cat that takes up nearly all of the screen.
Included are three game modes called Adventure, Rush Hour and Survival. In Adventure you are given a certain time limit and are asked to see how many stages you can beat. In each stage you are given a certain time limit to hit a certain amount of cars. If you finish before the time limit you receive a little more time on your clock and hit the next stage. The timer carries over from stage to stage so be careful. There are also bosses like a super fast ice cream truck and a ordinary car with guns on the side.  You kill these by charging your quick attack and striking them just as they reach your line of fire.
In Rush Hour mode you are once again given a certain time limit but there are no stages and the cars come at you faster than ever. So basically its your goal to score the most amount of points in the least amount of time. Its fun to rack up a high score in this mode and show off to your friends.
In Survival mode you obviously try to survive as long as you can. There is a leaderboard for this mode as well.
Also implemented into this lovely game is a goal system through which you can earn new skins for your cat. From Godzilla to a Squirrel costume its always fun to see what costume you are going to unlock next. This system serves as a great motivating factor to keep you playing which it certainly made me do!

Overall this is a great cat-themed game that not only has charm but has the addictiveness of catnip. I give this game a 5/5 stars.  Also on a unrelated note iCade support is coming to BoxCat fairly soon.

Universal


Tank Riders – 1.99 (Polarbit)

Polarbit is no stranger to the AppStore, and their games are not lost on iOS gamers either. Fuzzies, Raging Thunder, Armageddon Squadron, and more, have all invaded iDevices, and marked their territory. The next obsession for Polarbit fans is now here; Tank Riders. This 3D tank battle game with both single and multiplayer modes offer up some pretty exciting gameplay.

You’ll guide a tank through 25 campaign levels using one of two control schemes; a virtual joystick for movement, and tapping where you want to shoot, and two virtual joysticks, one for movement, and one for firing projectiles. However, the second control scheme requires that you tap on the joystick every time you want to shoot, which can kind of get frustrating in the heat of battle. There are 3 star rankings for each level, based on score, which does help add to the replay value a bit.
Within the levels, you’ll face off against enemy tanks in wonderfully designed 3D levels. There are wooden crates containing coins and health pick-ups, as well as coins scattered throughout the stages for you to pick up while taking out the enemies, following the path to the end of the level. There are some spots in the level which you can use as short-cuts, and pathways to hidden areas, but these are very hard to find, as no clues are given for where they are, ala Meganoid. It might not appeal to everyone, but it’s great for you gamers who love some exploration. There are also portals in some of the levels, which will transport your tank across water, and high areas, where you wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise. Switches which are activated by driving over them, or shooting at them, open up barricades to other areas as well, and will require some backtracking. You’ll also be able to find weapon and shield pick-ups, including mortars, and missiles, both inflicting way more damage than your standard laser shots, but these weapon pick-ups are not carried over between levels.
As you might have guessed, the graphics and animations are top notch, and a very good example of what Polarbit is capable of. The environments are fairly detailed, and very vibrant, with trees, little ponds, rocks, grassy areas, and fog around the edges which really smoothes everything out and brings it all together. The animations for movement, projectiles, explosions, along with the tracks that are left behind your tank in the ground, and teleporting are all great, and really make the game come alive.
Now, I’d love to get into where most people would like to be spending their time in the game; multiplayer. But after spending roughly a total of an hour and a half in the game room waiting for other players, I was saddened when NOT ONE other person showed up. So I can’t speak for what multiplayer is like, if it has lag, or if players have found cheats yet. I can say that there are 5 different maps to choose from, and they all look great from the small icon pictures of them that are shown, and there are no level systems, so everyone will start out with the same amount of health, defense, and weapons. Aside from that, I hope that sales pick up so that we can actually play multiplayer games.
Priced at $1.99, and being Universal, it’s a great buy. However, with multiplayer suffering, the lack of GameCenter, and only 25 single player levels, there’s not a whole lot of gameplay available at the moment. If sales pick up, I can see multiplayer becoming a big deal, especially if it’s got smooth gameplay. There are a couple of issues, like occasional short time freezing of the game, not triggered by anything specific as far as I can tell, and the sound cutting out for a short time if you get a call and come back to the game in-progress, all of which can be fixed with updates. Tank Riders is still a top notch tank battling game. One that looks and plays great, and is from a very responsive and supportive development group, so you know it’s only going to get better and better with future updates, which does make it fairly easy to recommend. If you’re a fan of the genre, or just action/arcade games in general, you should definitely pick it up, and help spread the word so we can get some multiplayer gaming on.


Grabatron – 0.99 (Future Games of London)

There are quite a few games revolving around aliens in the AppStore, but only a few of them offer up some really exciting gameplay that will keep you coming back again and again. Future Games Of London (Hungry Shark Series) has delivered just that. A mission based alien title that puts you in the drivers seat of a UFO, and keeps you coming back over and over, trying to better your previous score, and it has a pretty cool name to go with it; Grabatron.

You’ll be able to control a UFO by tilting your device, and tapping to unleash your claw, which can pick up anything from humans and pigs to tanks and huge boulders. I’m not generally someone who likes tilt controls, but there are a couple of games that just feel completely right with them, and Grabatron happens to be one of them. The world is spread into sections, with big mountains separating them. The thing is, if you fly too high, you’ll have to deal with swarming jets and other aircraft all trying to shoot you down, and they will, without a hitch. To get through the mountains, you’ll need to explore, and find the upgrades that are hidden in the first section. Armor upgrades, and a big claw upgrade, which lets you move the huge boulders blocking the entrance to the middle of the mountain.
While you’re exploring, looking for upgrades, you’ll sometimes come across animals or humans with green arrows above them. If you pick them up, you’ll get some health, as well as start a mission. For instance, if you pick up a cow with a green arrow above it, a mission might start where you’ll need to pick up 8 more cows in a certain amount of time. This is how you earn most of your points. While doing this, you’ll sometimes trigger multipliers, or short time shield power-ups. There are other missions that are triggered when picking up objects that do not have a green arrow above them, like if you pick up a tractor, a mission might start where you’ll need to kill a certain amount of farmers with that tractor before the tractor explodes.
The graphics are fantastic, with even the small humans having quite a bit of detail, as well as the signs, and you could even sit there and count the leaves on a tree if you were so inclined. It’s actually very impressive that the load times are not long at all, and the game runs super smooth with no lag or framerate drops at all. The animations are also great. If you fly close to the ground, dirt will be thrown up in the air, the humans and animals all walking around look great and the explosions are incredibly impressive. There’s also a cut scene at the beginning of the game which shows your UFO flying towards earth, and it looks fantastic.
Priced at $0.99, including GameCenter with a leaderboard and 41 achievements, with tons of missions, and crazy high replay value, Future Games Of London has delivered one of the best action games in the AppStore. Seeing a challenge mode, or maybe even multiplayer, trying to grab objects and toss them at the other player, taking down their UFO, or maybe even co-op play would make Grabatron amazing. Though, I might just be asking for too much there. If you’re looking for a great action/arcade title, and love the idea of exploration mixed with mission based game play, and don’t mind tilt controls, Grabatron is a game you should definitely pick up.


Even MORE platformer Updates, and – you guessed it – more freebies!

Ezone.com’s platform runner, Diversion, has gone through loads of updates since it’s release. It’s latest one adds even more to the already content full title. Version 1.35 brings new holiday snow themed menus and unlockable daily characters, adds levels 11-20 in World 5, more endless bonus levels, bringing the total up to 35, new characters, bringing the total to more than 600, hammer smack bosses, ice, micro boost pickups, and loads of fixes! If you haven’t picked this one up yet, you really should. Ezone.com has supported it like crazy, adding content pretty much every month. There’s TONS of gameplay, and, yeah, over 600 characters!!
Wicked Games exploratory spy platformer, SpyCorp, has had quite a few updates since it’s release as well. After taking out all of the IAPs to show complaining gamers that they were not needed to complete the game, they got a load of suggestions and feedback. Version 1.2.1 contains added HD textures for iPhone 4, iPhone 4S iPad 2 and 4th gen iPods, a button for the briefing screen to return to the level selection menu, improved some dialogue, level design tweaks and updates, as well as loads of bug fixes like GameCenter leaderboard connections, a bug fix for the operation 2 boss fight, cases where stealth would remain after a moving shadow passed off of the player, and more. Wicked Games is definitely a development group that I have to highly respect, and for $0.99, it’s hard to beat the amount of content you’ll find in SpyCorp. 50 levels, loads of them taking 15-20 minutes to complete. It’s a platformer you will not regret purchasing.
After being removed from the AppStore to fix a major bug that was included in the last update, One Minute Games speedrunner, Commander Pixman, is back, and better than ever! Version 1.2.1 has fixed possible ‘static’ monsters on replays, improved collision detection, improved GameCenter logging, a ‘Skip’ level button has been added, and 10 new levels have been included in the ‘First Blood’ level pack, which is included in the game for free. Commander Pixman is definitely a speedrunner that stands tall on it’s own two feet, respectably holding it’s own against the likes of League Of Evil, Mos Speedrun, Meganoid, and Stardash. If you’d like to try it out for free, the lite version contains the entire level pack, First Blood, go ahead and download it here – Commander Pixman – First Blood
FDG Entertainment’s 3D Motion Puzzler, Blueprint 3D, has just received it’s first update. Version 1.1 includes an all new Christmas level pack, 2 new game modes: Advanced and Pro, a new trophy, new achievements and a new leaderboard, progress is saved in each level, and some minor bug fixes. If you haven’t bought this one yet, you really should. It might not seem like something too great, but once you start playing it, it’s incredibly hard to put down.
–=FREEBIES=–
[Angry Mob Games]
Arena Based Arcade Platformer
-=Universal
[Thunder Game Works]
Strategy
-=iPhone


Updates galore!! Platformer’s paradise!

Chocolate Liberation Front’s amazingly atmospheric platformer, published (surprisingly) by MTV Networks, Oscura, has just received a highly anticipated content update. It includes the 5 levels that were locked out of Version 1.0, which are, simply put, amazingly well put together. The new objects and level designs expand quite a bit on the first half of the game, and if you thought that what was included in Version 1.0 was great, just wait until you see what has been added. On top of the new levels, the controls have been improved, making it easier to change direction while in the air, as well as the addition of virtual controls! Fans of the game will end up loving it even more. If you’re a platformer fan, and do not have Oscura yet, GET IT! It’s one of the most, if not THE MOST, atmospheric platformers available in the AppStore.
Studi Yomi’s tilt controlled platformer, Tero, has also just gotten an awesome update that gamers have been waiting for for quite some time. This 1.1 Version of Tero features, you guessed it, virtual controls. No more tilting and swiping to control Tero, now you can run through this fabulous game with virtual buttons, and it is fabulous. Players who have bought the game before now might not have played through enough levels to actually see how great this platformer is, but in an AppStore being overrun with speedrunners and small leveled platformers, Tero definitely stands out, having quite a bit of exploration involved, and all in a beautifully crafted world. If you don’t have this one yet, now would be the perfect time to get it.
OrangePixel’s first real iOS platformer, Meganoid, has gone through quite a few updates in the past, but none quite as monumental as this 1.6.0 Version. The game is now complete with the last of the 300 total levels added! Those of you who have been waiting for the end of the game now have it, and oh, how sweet it is! On top of finalizing the game, OrangePixel has added a “skip” option, a new intro screen, awesome scanline graphics mode (optional) which totally brings the retro visuals to full old TV circle, a huge MEGANOID achievement for 100% completing the game, improved menu screens, an added percentage-completed counter, a fixed bug in level 30, device-rotation, and some bug fixes with music and sound, essentially finalizing everything in the game that needed to be fixed and completed. It’s a wonderful day for Meganoid fans, but I can’t help but feel a little sad knowing that the adventure is finally over.
Lost Pixel’s retro-platformer, Frogatto, is another in the list of platformer updates tonight, and it’s another huge one! This 1.2 Version includes a complete redo of attack logic; Frogatto is now free to walk around while he attacks, and in general is much more responsive, as well as having a much more forgiving tongue-grabbing mechanic. A complete rewrite of damage handling has been done making it much more consistant, and eliminated some bugs where damage wouldn’t get dealt. Tilesets have been reworked, enhancements to dungeon wall graphics, more readable fonts, loads of graphical tweaks, maps are now strewn with spittable props within easy reach, almost all of the dialogue has been rewrote, collectible items like coins and hearts and be collected by touching them with Frogatto’s tongue, an entire redraw of the world map, new monsters, bats now behave differently, and loads of bug fixes. If all of that is not a good enough reason to re-install one of the best platformers on the iOS, I don’t know what is.
Our last update isn’t a very big one, but the changes that have been done have added a ton to the gameplay. Uncade’s endless platform runner, Haunted Hallway, has just gone through quite a change. Version 1.2 brings about 24 all new challenge levels, with badges for collecting 3 diamonds, all the coins, and beating the levels time-limit. A whole new main menu, GameCenter achievements, a new Icon, graphical enhancements, and bug fixing. Uncade’s support of Haunted Hallway, giving players pretty much everything they’ve asked for, is incredible. It’s work like this that deserves loads of support from iOS gamers.
In fact, every single game on here has had quite a bit of support from it’s developers, and The App Shack would like to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to all of them for sticking with it in a store that’s so full of unresponsive publishers and devs, paid games going free and getting iAds, and everything else that’s happening to games in the AppStore when they don’t sell like the developers think they should. It’s developers like this that make the AppStore such an amazing place, and we want them to know that we do not take their work for granted, by any means. Again, THANK YOU!! Now go support these guys! You know you want to. =oD


Swingworm – 2.99 (10tons Ltd.)

10tons Ltd. is definitely not new to the AppStore. Their first iOS release, Rope Raider, showing up in the AppStore on November 4, 2009, was, even then, a prime example of what 10tons could do with the platform. Since then, 15 more releases have followed, each time, gaining more of a following, though it’s fairly safe to say that Sparkle the Game has been their most successful endeavor, it’s very clear that they know exactly what it takes to create a top notch game, appealing to both casual and hardcore gamers. Their latest release, Swingworm, is yet again, another prime example of that.

In the game, you’ll guide a worm named Swingy through an amazing 95 levels by grabbing either the front or back end of the worm, and swinging it from platform to platform, collecting the Rubbaberries that are scattered throughout the stages. Once you’ve collected all of the berries in a level, an elevator will activate, and take you to the next level. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. In order to reach most areas, you’ll need to figure out how to use the momentum of the worm while swinging so that either his head or end will attach to the leaves, which are pretty spread out, and it can sometimes pose a small challenge getting from one to the next. Each of the levels has a possible 3 star ranking, adding quite a bit of replay value to the game. To get a perfect 3 stars, you will need to complete the levels as fast as you can. There is a time limit bar shown in the top left corner, each time it fills up, a star is removed from your ranking. Once you complete the level, you’re shown the total time it took you to complete the level, and what time you’ll need to get the next best star ranking, which is very nice. I really wish all star ranking based on time games did this.
The graphics and animations done for Swingworm are top notch. The game is split in to Episodes, with the first having 10 levels, then Episodes 2-4 having 15, and 5-6 having 20, each Episode has a different environment, which also introduces new obsticles, objects, and hazards you can use, manipulate, or need to avoid. For instance, some levels have ice blocks you’ll need to swing into to break, others will have logs that rotate, which you’ll need to swing around on, gaining momentum to reach other platforms. All of the graphics are done in a cute cartoony way, reminiscent of Joining Hands, with the backgrounds filling in the holes of the levels perfectly, and the story breaks between the episodes, with Swingy talking to Big Bug helping round everything out. The animations for Swingy’s, enemies, and other character’s movement, objects breaking, Swingy attaching to objects, and collecting Rubbaberries is all very well done, allowing for the gameplay to flow very well, and come together in a near perfect harmony. To top it off, the cute and bouncy soundtrack, fitting the game to a ’T’ completes the atmosphere.
With GameCenter leaderboards for total Episode times on each of the 6 Episodes, and 14 achievements, the replayabilty is extremely high, and the drive to better your time is constantly looking you in the face. It’s arguable that Swingworm is 10tons best release since Sparkle the Game, bringing all of their knowledge of what it takes to make a top notch mix of casual and hardcore gameplay fit perfectly into an action puzzler. $2.99 is a great price for this Universal build, especially with the insane replay value, and incredible amount of content. Swingworm ends up being a game that’s extremely easy to recommend for gamers of all ages.


Silvester Adventure – 0.99 (Sim Chia Tek)

Puzzle platformers for the iOS are getting more and more interesting as time goes on. Cordy, Max and the Magic Marker, Cavorite, The Last Rocket, and more are very fine examples of puzzle platformers that offer pretty original gameplay. Sim Chia Tek’s new release, Silvester Adventure is the newest addition to this list of great games, giving you control over your character and his shadow, while trying to figure out how to make it through the game’s 31 levels.

As with other platformers, the controls are a big part of the game, but also, with other puzzle platformers, the controls do not need to be as precise or tight as action platformers controls need to be. But here, even though you’ll only start out with your left and right buttons, along with an action button, they work very well within the game. You’re also able to move the shadow world around by swiping anywhere on the screen. Once you get further into the game, you’ll be able to shrink and grow your shadow with buttons along the bottom of the screen. Another big part of platformers is the physics, and again, with puzzle platformers, the requirements are not as strict, but in Silvester Adventure, the physics are great, and make the gameplay feel comfortable and fluid.
In Silvester Adventure, you’ll need to guide your character while keeping an eye on your characters shadow. There are two parts to each level; the characters section, and the shadow section, which is almost always different from the main level, having different platforms, different switches, and different pathways. Your shadow will also need to stay within a certain distance from your character, or else you’ll need to start the level over. So keeping your shadow close to your character also becomes a mechanic of the game, and something that you’ll need to focus on consistently while trying to solve these puzzles. This is also where being able to swipe on the screen to move the shadow world around really comes in handy. You’ll be able to see the shadow world better, and maybe even see something you weren’t able to see before. The ability to shrink and grow your shadow comes along a little later, but once it does, it really opens up the gameplay, really showing off some fantastic level design and great puzzles that will keep you thinking about how to keep your shadow in the distance circle while making it through each of the levels obstacle areas.
The level design is extremely well done, which is always a great thing for a puzzle platformer. A lot of the levels are fairly short, but the puzzle elements, and the addition of the shadow world really expand the levels quite a bit. The level design and placement of the puzzles is something I was impressed with time and time again while playing through Silvester Adventure.
Being $0.99, even without GameCenter, virtually no replayabilty, and not having an HD version, it’s hard not to recommend Silvester Adventure to fans of the genre. It’ll provide quite a bit of gameplay that’s both challenging and entertaining. Sim Chia Tek has definitely created a puzzler that’ll keep you hooked until you complete it, and most likely will keep you on the look out for future releases from this developer.