One of the AppStore’s most addictive, and incredibly awesome puzzle platformers has got to be Shaun Inman’s The Last Rocket. With it’s great retro graphics, simple one-touch tap/swipe/hold controls, and fantastic gameplay filled with style, it’s one iOS game that everyone should own. Fans of the game will be happy to hear that Flip the rocket is back, in an all new game, Flip’s Escape, an endless game that takes place after the events of The Last Rocket. 

One thing I should bring up before we start. Flip’s Escape is not a sequel to The Last Rocket. In fact, aside from having Flip as the main character, it’s nothing like The Last Rocket. Flip’s Escape is more of a mini-game when compared to it’s predecessor, but that doesn’t’ mean it’s not worth checking out. Rather than go the Kickstarter route, Shaun Inman decided to take 3 weeks, and throw together an endless game to appease fans of The Last Rocket, and let them in on what Flip had to go through after the ending of the game. The money made with Flip’s Escape is all going to help fund Shaun’s next game. It is nowhere near as depthy or content rich as The Last Rocket, but is a great idea when you look at the alternative. 

Now with that out of the way; Flip’s Escape. There’s one mode contained in the game, but there’s quite a bit of drive and plenty of ‘one-more-go’ gameplay. Flip moves left and right automatically at the bottom of the screen. Tapping anywhere causes Flip to stop moving. The goal of the game is to avoid hitting asteroids while collecting the stars that orbit said asteroids and get as far away as you can from the blast lingering behind you. 

Collecting the stars that orbit the asteroids fills up your star meter. Once you’ve collected 6 stars, it’s WARP time! While you’re warping, if you tap the screen as quickly as you can, you’ll build up your warp meter, and travel further distances. Flip also collects gems while he’s warping, which you can use to purchase and upgrade items in the shop. 

In the shop, there are two cheap consumable items which you can use to get a little further in your travels; the Nose Cone Drill, which lets you survive 1 asteroid collision and the Star Magnet, which attracts 5 missed stars. These are stackable, and you’re able to take 3 of each into each game with you. What’s great is that if you die and you haven’t used up all of the magnets yet, they are carried over into your next game. Also available in the shop is the Speed Inhibitor, which reduces your maximum speed, and the Speed Booster, which, you guessed it, increases your minimum speed. These have a pretty big effect on your warp distances, as the Speed Inhibitor will cause you to not travel as far while warping, no matter how quickly tap, and result in not collecting as many gems, and the Speed Booster will make you travel further while warping, resulting in more collected gems. You might be asking, ‘Well then why even include the Speed Inhibitor?’ – well, the game can be pretty difficult, and avoiding asteroids can be a challenge, and slower movement helps with that, which could wind up getting you further in the long run. It really depends on how you feel about the difficulty of the game as to which booster you choose to purchase. 

Also included in the shop are Friends. These friends are fairly costly, but totally worth saving up for. The Fare earns you 1 gem for every 10 lightyears traveled, and when you’re traveling upwards of 10,000 lightyears each game, that really adds up! The Trailer is your other available friend, tripling the amount of consumable storage space, letting you carry up to 9 of each consumable item. The last items are the Hulls. These are the most costly, priced at 200 and 300 thousand gems, they are purely cosmetic, but do give gamers something to play for after all the other items and upgrades have been purchased. 

The graphics and animations are, of course, totally reminiscent of The Last Rocket. If you love the whole retro 8-bit throwback look, you’ll love the graphics. The background animations are also top notch, with stars racing by leaving little streams of light behind them when traveling fast, and those streams of light disappearing when you stop Flip, it definitely adds to the whole feel of the game. The music is also just like TLR’s chiptune tracks, completing the whole retro feel that Shaun Inman has become so incredibly great at creating. 

So; is Flip’s Escape worth checking for $0.99? While it is Universal, and supports GameCenter, with leaderboards for Furthest Distance Traveled, Furthest Distance With Upgrades, Furthest Distance Without Upgrades, Furthest Distance Without a Collision and Furthest Distance Without Warping along with 20 pretty hard to snag achievements, all adding the typical endless replay value all endless games have, there will be people that this just doesn’t click with. After The Last Rocket, Shaun Inman set a bar, not only for himself, but for future puzzle platformer developers to come. Flip’s Escape doesn’t come close to hitting that same bar, which will upset some gamers and fans of The Last Rocket. However, if you look at Flip’s Escape as more of a great, unique, original endless game that you got as a special thank you for helping to contribute to Shaun Inman’s next video game project, chances are, you’ll totally enjoy it. The challenge is crazy, and with some insanely high scores on the leaderboards already, the score-chasing has already hit full throttle. Hardcore gamers looking for a hardcore endless distance gameplay experience will eat Flip’s Escape up. It has the ‘just-one-more-time’ hook perfectly done, and lets fans of The Last Rocket in on what happened to Flip after the end of the game. With Flip’s Escape only taking 3 weeks to complete, I’m totally stoked to find out what Shaun’s been working on, and is continuing to work on. I just hope we don’t have to wait too long to find out.  

Earlier in the week, we reviewed a new Chillingo title, Chimpact. In that review, we kind of noted a couple of complaints about previous Chillingo titles, and their lack of updates and support. But recently, I’ve been chatting it up with a couple of developers who have had their games published by the big name company, and it really looks like our complaints might just be a thing of the past. Hopefully. 

Chimpact, Orc: Vengeance, Jelly Jumpers, Catapult King, Eager Beavers, and more are recent releases that have either already received updates, or have updates in the works, which is fantastic news for gamers, and Chillingo. Hoping to add to the revival of this tradition is KIZ Studios, offering up their first iOS title, Critter Escape. 

The first thing that drew me to Critter Escape wasn’t the screen shots, or the game’s description. It wasn’t word of mouth, that it’s a Chillingo publication (meaning that it was most likely going to be a very well made, and nicely polished title), or even the trailer for Critter Escape. Nope, what drew me to the game was the development team. KIZ Studio has a great little section on their Official Website detailing not only their History, but also their studio’s Values. In this section, they list some pretty impressive traits that was what really piqued my interest in Critter Escape. Not only do I have faith that Critter Escape is going to get updates, and be tweaked to become the best possible game KIZ can make it, but they’re a development studio that I have no problems in wanting to support. 

Now, Critter Escape. Critter Escape is a sort of stealth influenced action/arcade adventure title that puts you in control of a cute little creature that kind of looks like a bean with arms, legs, and a face. Of course, completing the look is his spiffy crash test helmet. When you start the game up, you’ll be able to watch a cut-scene showing you how this little critter was captured by a scientific team in order to perform various tests on him. Before you start the first level, you’ll see another cut-scene showing the critter cuddled up in bed, sucking his thumb, and looking incredibly worried about his future. 

Luckily, the scientists forgot to pick up every chemical agent, and you’re able to use these to your advantage. Items that turn you into a huge monster, able to smash your way through guards, speed boosters that let you zip by and away from guards and ghost pick ups, turning you invisible and a superhero pick up that gives you super speed and strength can all be found scattered throughout the world of Critter Escape. While you’re playing, you’re also able to collect, and will earn gems which you can use to purchase these power-ups from the pause menu. When purchased, instead of only taking effect for a short period of time, the pause menu items last the entire level. So if you’re having trouble with a certain level, you’re able to blast through it by purchasing these power-ups. You’re also able to purchase gems through IAP, but these are not required to complete the game, or to unlock any specific levels, as everything can be seen, experienced and completed without the gems. 

Each of the levels fits into different objective categories. They are grouped together, with about 4 levels in each group. These range from not being detected, escaping the level before the timer runs out, knocking out all of the guards, rescuing other critters, escaping without using any special items and more. With 120 levels, there are more than just a couple of these objectives. There are also 10 separate environments, adding to the look, feel and immersion of the gameplay. 

Critter Escape contains two different control schemes. One is a virtual joystick that appears whenever and wherever you set your finger down on the screen, and the other is a line drawing scheme. I have had some issues with the joystick controls, as they’re pretty finicky, and I’ve constantly found myself needing to readjust my thumb on the screen, and if you’re controlling your character, and accidentally touch the screen with another finger, or the side of your hand, the controls stick until you pick your finger up again. The line drawing controls work a lot better, but aren’t really quick enough for the speedy levels, when you’re being chased, or to avoid a lot of the environmental hazards. The controls are nothing game-breaking, but they could use some tweaks, and I wouldn’t say no to a static joystick. 

Graphically, Critter Escape looks great. The character models, objects, and environments all provide a pretty immersive atmosphere, and with the great animations, the atmosphere is only increased. The various enemies and hazards all stand out, even though they graphically fit in perfectly with the environments, which is great, especially when speed running through the stages. The music and sound effects also add quite a bit to this atmosphere, and immersion, making it an extremely polished and well produced game. 

Priced at $0.99, being Universal, including GameCenter integration with 36 great achievements and having iCloud support, even with the control issues, Critter Escape is an incredibly fun and entertaining game. It has the usual polish that most of Chillingo’s publications include, and comes from a fantastic development team. KIZ Studios is definitely one to keep an eye on, especially if they follow through with their values, and make Critter Escape the best it can be. Let’s hope this is a new beginning for Chillingo, because they really do publish some outstanding mobile titles. 

There are so many great games in the AppStore that don’t get nearly enough attention, and are highly underrated. Miss Claire Garden, iDaTank, Space Tripper, Fractal Combat, Magnetic Baby, Up And Up!, Jelly Pops, Light Guardian, Eve of Impact, Awesome Saucer, Cubes Vs. Spheres,  I can go on and on and on and on. It really is a shame that all of these fantastic games get buried under hundreds and thousands of other games that don’t even compare. So is the nature of the AppStore. One such title happens to have been released last month. Developed by Wales Interactive, not really known for anything, they have put out 5 other releases; Kitten Calculator, Jibs Jump, Mrs Sprat Next Doors Cat, World Torch Challenge and Mr Frog the Neighbors Dog, all of which have basically tanked. But Wales Interactive has pushed on, and finally developed one outstanding game. Combombo. 

Combombo is a retro inspired arcade shooting game with some obvious influences from Pang. You’re put in control of a little character named Bombo. No one really knows where he’s from, or why he’s here, but one thing’s certain; he’s addicted to coins. And his top-hat, of course. Controlling Bombo is easy; drag your finger along the screen to move him. That’s it. While he’s moving, he automatically fires purple blobs of goo that turn green orbs red. Once you stop moving, Bombo produces a shield that will protect him from the orbs for a short time. If you get hit by an orb, you loose a life. Now, here’s where it gets incredibly fun – the goal of the game is to turn as many green orbs into red orbs as you can, by automatically shooting them, so that you can bank your points and collect your coins, a lot like Flip Ship’s scoring mechanics. If you get hit before you bank all your points, you’ll loose the points you’ve built up. The more red orbs you have on the screen, the higher your combo, and the more points you’ll receive. 

There are 4 separate gameplay modes in Combombo; Waves Mode, Speed Mode, Timed Mode and Lives Mode. Waves Mode starts out slow, only spitting out one green orb at first. But as you progress through this mode, more and more orbs are added to the mix, and soon, it’s one hectic free-for-all. Speed Mode requires that you bank at least 10 red orbs before you cash in in order to speed up. You start at 1, but for each set of 10 red orbs that you bank, the speed goes up. Timed Mode gives you 90 seconds to bank as many points as you possibly can, while Lives Mode gives you the chance to bank as many points as you can with only one life and one shield. 

Graphically, Combombo is extremely colorful. The environments all contain nice details, but the colors are dulled down a bit to make the incredibly vibrant orbs stand out against it. As you can imagine, this helps quite a bit, especially when the game gets hectic, and you’ve got 20+ orbs flying around in all directions. The animations are well executed, and add to the overall polish of the game, while the sounds and background music complete the picture. 

Originally priced at $0.99, you can pick up Combombo for FREE right now via DailyAppDream.com. Being Universal, it looks, and plays great on the bigger screen as well. However, there is one fairly big downside. There is no GameCenter integration. This means no achievements, and, since no leaderboards are contained within the game, no scoreboards. This does put a fairly big damper on the otherwise fantastic score-chasing drive of the game, and does take away from the long time replay value. Hopefully GameCenter can be added in a future update, but like almost every other title, I can really only see this happening if the game sells well. But with it FREE for the time being, you should definitely take the opportunity to download the game, and write up a review in iTunes, as well as help spread the word about this fantastic title. Otherwise, it’ll just fade away like so many before it. 

11 Bit Studios first iOS game, a port of the Tower Offense title Anomaly Warzone Earth, was a HUGE success. Well, soon 11 Bit will be releasing the sequel, Anomaly Korea, boasting a new engaging story, new units, new powers, and more. We finally got our hands on the teaser trailer, after the world was shown at Gamescom, they got around to uploading the video to YouTube so all of us unfortunates that weren’t able to be there could check it out and get just as excited as the live crowds. Welp, here it is;

Beautiful, no? Yeah, we thought so too, which is why we decided to post this even though every other site on the net has already done so. But there’s a reason it’s getting so hyped up. The original Anomaly title received universal acclaim, getting amazing reviews from the mass of review sites around the net, and eventually clinching one of the highest ratings for an iOS game on Metacritic, with a score of 95. The bar has been set, and Anomaly Korea stands to be the only title with the possibility to reach that extremely high bar and go beyond it. So yes, we will, of course, be sharing more information as it spreads across the sites like wildfire. =o)

Shoot-em-ups. They’ve grown in popularity quite a bit since the introduction of the AppStore and iDevice. The touch controls make pin-point accuracy and quick movements that would otherwise be impossible as easy as dragging your thumb across a 3.5 inch glass screen. However, the 3D, 3rd Person/On-Rails shooter genre has been basically left out of this Shmup Revolution, with only a couple of titles available for the platform; Wizard Ops, Denizen, Dark Break, ExZeus, TheMars, Battle 3D 2: Iron Punch, and the more open-world type game, Battle 3D: Robots Sky. These titles have provided iOS gamers with countless Space Harrier type entertainment. But sadly, aside from these titles, there’s not others for fans of the genre to sink their teeth into. One-man, Australia-based Justin Hogie obviously knows this, but has still taken a wild chance with his first original iOS title, and created another game we can all add to that extremely short list; Running With Ninjas. 

Running With Ninjas is an Endless 3rd Person On-Rails Shooter that puts you in control of a ninja running through the jungle and mountains while being attacked by, and attacking, other ninjas who are bound and determined to take you out. RWN contains one gameplay mode which has you defeating as many ninjas as you can before your health completely runs out. When you start out, you’ll only see 2 different enemies; Red and Green. Red enemies will throw Shurikens straight forward and once defeated, add to your special meter; displayed as writing under your health bar. Green enemies do not attack you, instead, once defeated, they will slightly refill your health bar. As you progress through the world, you’ll soon realize that these are not the only types of enemies. Bosses with strange turtle like shields on their backs, purple enemies that throw Shurikens directly at you, yellow enemies that toss bombs and more will all be after your head, and when all of these different types of enemies are on the screen at the same time, things can get a little hairy. 

Once you defeat a boss, a scroll appears. These scrolls, once collected, give your ninja special powers, and this is where the special meter comes into play. After you collect a scroll, a special power is unlocked. To use this special power, you’ll need to draw a shape in the middle of the screen. This does take some getting use to, and I still think that buttons up the sides of the screen, or easier swipe gestures, like just swiping left to right, or up and down would have been a better fit, especially since the gestures are a little hard to remember, and can take more than a second or two to pull off, that is, if you can pull it off correctly. Each special power requires a certain amount of power from your special gauge. Once you have enough power, you can draw a certain symbol on the screen, and POW, enemies are in for some trouble. 

The controls are fairly simple; you’re given a button for jumping, and a button for throwing your own Shuriken. Moving left and right is controlled by tilting your device. Normally, I don’t think I would have checked out a 3rd Person On-Rails Shooter that was tilt controlled, but the controls in Running With Ninjas fit the game extremely well. Also making it feel even better is the great camera control. When you tilt your device, your character moves, but so does the environment. This makes it a lot easier to focus on the gameplay, and not worry so much about where your character is located in the gameplay area. However, if you’re not comfortable with the tilting environment, you can always turn this option off in the settings menu, making the environment stay level as you tilt. I have experienced some issues with the controls, like an occasionally unresponsive jump button, some jitteriness while moving in the air, sometimes resulting in taking damage when I should have avoided a bomb, and some slight sticking of the character while on the edges of the gameplay area. However, these were all occasional, and not game-breaking by any means. 

The graphics are pretty minimal, with very little details in the environments and characters, however, this does help to make the bright enemies stick out like a sore thumb, making it easier to focus on them while running at full speed through the environments. The animations are well done, with nice enemy appearance and death animations, cool looking special powers, and nice running animations also add to the feel and polish of the game. 

With only one gameplay mode, and some needed tweaks that could make the gameplay a little smoother, not everyone is going to jump on the Running With Ninjas bandwagon. However, if you’re a fan of the genre, and willing to take a chance on a game that has some very solid core gameplay mechanics, for $0.99, you just might be very surprised. In the near future, Justin Hogie has said that GameCenter leaderboards and achievements, as well as possibly another gameplay mode that would revolve around preset challenges and levels, along with some additions to the enemies, stages, and special power scrolls. Hopefully RWN sells well and gets enough attention that these things can be added, because right now, Running With Ninjas shows an extreme amount of promise, and provides some great endless gameplay.

Rayark, developers of the amazing tap-rhythm music title Cytus, has just had the very first live concert dedicated to an iOS title! The event was held at Legacy Taipei in Taiwan 4 days ago, on August 12th. The event had multiple performers showcasing their songs that are included in the game. Naotyu- & Miyu, Yamajet vs. Tom 2, Ani & Vocalists and Cranky x Sta and violinist Teppei Okada, famous for his rendition of the Super Mario Brothers Theme Song, were among the performers that night, playing songs from the game; Les Parfums de L’Amour, Retrospective, the Cytus Main Theme, Hard Landing/Prismatic Lollipops, DRG, Light Up My Love, Cytus Story Album Debut and loads more!

Check out some pictures from the show;

Since chances are most of you don’t live anywhere near Taiwan, Rayark is showing the event Delay-Live on UStream at 18:40 (GMT+08:00) on August 18th!! Here’s some times for those of you around the globe;

United States West Coast: 03:40

United States East Coast: 06:40

United Kingdom: 11:40

Thailand: 17:40

China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan: 18:40

Japan, Korea: 19:40

Australia (Sydney): 20:40

Granted, personally, it’s showing at 6:40 AM, and 4:40 AM back home, this is one show you will NOT want to miss, so set your alarms, watches, iDevices, dogs, chickens, whatever you use to get up in the morning, to go off a little earlier than usual, and you’ll be able to watch the first ever concert for an iOS game! Chances are, if you miss it, it’ll be archived, so you don’t really have to get up that early, or stay up that late in order to see it. =oP

We really hope this helps get Cytus more attention, and sales. It’s definitely our favorite iOS tap-rhythm-music game, and with it’s most recent update that included an awesome story mode and 9 new songs, now is the best time to check out this awesome game. Also, every time the game gets another 100,000 paid downloads, 10 new songs will be added to the game! If Cytus eventually gets 1 million paid downloads, the full 10 chapter Story Mode will be added, and gamers will have an astounding 100 songs to play and master!!! ONE FREAK’N HUNDRED!!! For the insanely low price of $1.99, and NO IAPs to speak of, not only is it our favorite iOS music game, but it’s also one of only a couple that does not include extra music packs only through in-app-purchasing. It has the potential to eventually be the most complete, and content rich iOS music gaming title ever! You don’t wanna skip over it, trust us! 

If  you want to know more about the game, you can check out our 4.5/5 star review written back in June, or check out the Official Rayark Website. You can also watch the trailer below. Then head on over to the AppStore, and pick up this fantastic game! 

Alrighty, well. I woke up today, ready to check out some of the new games that hit the AppStore last night; Random Heroes, Critter Escape, Flip’s Escape… but when I booted up my PC, and started up iTunes, I was pretty damn shocked when I saw all the updates that went live while I was sleeping… check it out!

– PERFECT CELL

[Mobigame] – Universal – FREE

Version 1.2.0

>Optimized for the new iPad Retina display

>Anti Aliasing for all devices (4XMSAA)

>The old icon is back!

– PEBBLE UNIVERSE

[Itatake.com] – Universal – FREE

Version 1.2

>Brand New World! – The Factory is an unfriendly place where the soot-lump monsters have increased in numbers. This is their food storage and hundreds of friendly Pebbles are locked up, waiting to be eaten! But with skill and timing you can help the Pebbles to fight the monsters and take another step closer to freedom!

>New Pebble: Bluster Pebble. VERY Explosive!

– AVENGING SPIRIT

[DotEmu] – Universal – $1.99

Version 1.3

>iPad Version (Now Universal)

– SPELL SWORD

[Everplay] – Universal – FREE

Version 1.1

>A New Arena: Sky Temple

>60 New Missions

>More than 30 new equip items

>New Spell Cards

>New Enemies

>iCloud Support (After uploading your savestate it may take a few minutes until it’s completely synced)

– SCRIBBLENAUTS REMIX

[Warner Bros.] – Universal – $0.99

Version 2.1

>New levels in World Pass: The World Pass has been updated with 10 brand new levels

>Back to school Icon & Playground: John Maxwell in the classroom with the all-new back to school playground!

– SPIRITS

[Spaces of Play] – iPhone/iPod Touch – $2.99

Version 1.3

>New levels designed by the #1 player; Pyjamads

–The HD Version has also been updated with the new levels! – CHECK IT OUT IN THE APPSTORE!

– ANGRY BIRDS SEASONS

[Rovio Entertainment] – iPhone/iPod Touch – $0.99

Version 2.5.0

>Pencils, apples, backpacks, playgrounds — it’s back to school time! But summer’s not over yet: we’ve got some spectacular surprisees in store! Brighten your day with 20 brand new schoolyard levels, new bonus levels, and a BRAND NEW BIRD!

–The HD Version has also been updated with the new levels and new bird! – CHECK IT OUT IN THE APPSTORE!

– DANGEROUS

[XP] – Universal – $4.99

Version 1.1.0

>New NearbyUI lock icons

>Toggle UI behavior change to enter hide everything mode

>Slider icon tweaks

>Double hit on pad center button to engage all weapons

>Make trackers, markers, and brackets behave properly in hide everything mode

>Give some spacing between missiles, now that they are more likely to launch at the same time with various fire-all-xxx options

>Interface layout changes, including lower right pad of buttons that engages multiple type of modules simultaneously, also autopilot and module radials which can be displayed and dismissed

>Question menu renamed Scanner menu with new access button and position

>Gravity bomb changes

>Gravity bomb and laser now are base ship abilities. Laser is always present but is enhanced by laser modules, Gravity bomb requires at least one module, and is enhanced by additional modules

>Server save

>Expose auto-save slot

>Ability to save to any slot from within game

>Adding many particle based effects

>Various stability fixes

>Fix positioning of interface elements that depend on camera view under certain circumstances

>Upgrade process from old save format that is non-destructive of original save format

>Allow demo version to spend up to 10000 experience

>Icons for player health bars

>Thruster smoke

>Damaged ship smoke

>New planet graphics

>For the player, blur distinction between limit modes and the autopilots they lead to, and related adjustments to camera changes

>Animate NearbyUI lock icon size for time-to-lock and time-to-ecm-expiration

The HD Version of Dangerous has also been released!  – CHECK IT OUT IN THE APPSTORE!

– THE SIMPSONS: TAPPED OUT

[Electronic Arts] – Universal – FREE

Version 2.1.0

>Enhanced HD graphics made for the Retina display of the new iPad

>Multitasking support

>We’ve also made some behind-the-scenes adjustments to increased stability and a few other fixes to improve overall gameplay.

– C.H.A.O.S. HD

[Sky Jet International] – Universal – $1.99

Version 5.0

>New map released: Arctic Ice Canyon with secret russian SHARK class nuclear submarine 

>Resurrection of the old map Hoover Dumb enhanced and optimized for flight skills perfection

>Now say WOW – New Elite rank AIR MARSHAL

>Special new helicopter KA-85 Kestrel for the Elite pilots with future tech * Predator armor

>Incredible enhancement with helicopters cockpits, now they are transparent, you may see your helicopters inside

>security system updated

>Sounds issue fixed and you can check it right now.

>Chinese localization added

– SUPERROPE

[Craneballs Studios] – Universal – FREE

Version 2.0

–This is the biggest update for SuperRope yet! Thank you for your patience.

>iPad support

>30 missions you need to finish with Multiplier as reward

>Multiplier for higher score

>only one currency (coins) – no worries, we’ll transfer your Funky Stars

>in-game store redesigned and simplified

>heroes and stages are unlocked as you progress in the game

>AND spin wheel!

If you don’t have any of these titles, they’re all worth checking out. And with all the titles that are becoming abandonware over time, it’s great seeing so many titles get updated in one night. 

I won’t bore you with the excessively long list of games that were released before the inception of The App Shack. Needless to say; it’s LONG. But there are handful of games that will never leave certain iDevices, and games that we’re reminded of when a developer comes out with another iOS release. One of those games happens to be Grumpyface’s Wispin. Wispin was one of the first FREE games I ever got in the AppStore, back in December of 2010, right after I found out that developers actually had days that they would give their games away for nothing. That’s right, I was a slow learner. But once I found that out, I turned into an AppStore junkie, and Grumpyface’s Wispin had remained and been transferred over to every iDevice I’ve owned, and the release of Super Mole Escape has reignited my love of the game. 

Now, just like Bring Me Sandwiches!! and Super Mole Escape, Wispin is a little wacky. Granted, it’s not as totally off the wall as BMS!!, but Grumpyface’s humble roots are definitely showcased within it. Wispin contains 3 separate environments each in 2 different gameplay modes; Standard, which starts you out with 3 lives, and Intense, which starts you out with 1, and further into the hectic, Standard gameplay. 

Containing two control methods, there are two different ways to play the game, and I absolutely love when controls offer up a totally new gameplay experience. When using the tilt control method, Wispin plays a little like Tilt To Live, with color control, and using the virtual joystick plays more like a dual-stick arcade title. 

The main goal is to change the color of Wispin with the color wheel, to match up your color with the enemy’s color, and then smash into them, effectively destroying them. There are 3 different colors you can turn Wispin into; Red, Green and Blue. However, not all enemies follow this set of 3 colors all the time. Occasionally, they will turn purple, yellow, orange, and more, making you avoid them until they turn back into one of the 3 basic colors you can match up with. Wave after wave, Wispin is an endless game, with you trying to survive as long as you can. 

The scoring system helps add to the fantastic gameplay, with perfect rounds and multipliers/combos, reaching for both is essential in scoring big. At the end of each wave, if you did not get injured by one of the evil Bloopers, you’ll get a ‘Perfect Wave’ bonus, and this bonus score increases with each consecutive perfect wave you manage to get. Multipliers and combos are based on a gauge. Once you destroy a Blooper, the gauge is filled, and starts quickly running down. To keep a combo going, you’ll need to destroy another Blooper before the gauge empties again. This gauge can also be filled up to the point where you’ll spin wildly around, bouncing off of everything in a ‘controlled’ sort of chaos that lets you destroy all Bloopers of all colors. 

Along with the spinning power-up, there are items which you’re able to pick up as you make your way through each wave. Cheese that draws Bloopers of a certain color into one area, bombs that take out one color of Bloopers, arrows that you can fling at Bloopers and a special tap power-up, which, once activated, turns Wispin into a blob, disappearing from the gameplay area, and lets you tap on each of the Bloopers, destroying them. The items do stack up when you collect like items, but if you pick up a cheese item when holding arrows, the arrows will be replaced. 

The graphics and animations in Wispin are fantastic. Cartoon-esque environments and character models, which are great by the way, and great explosion/death animations all runs extremely smooth, even on 1st Generation iPod Touch devices. The music and sound effects are great as well, adding to the arcade sound and feel of the whole game. 

Although it could use another gameplay mode and more enemies. Maybe a couple more power-ups, with Wispin priced at $1.99, and $2.99 for the HD build (which has bigger gameplay areas, and re-sized virtual controls), and GameCenter support with 14 separate leaderboards, including boards for highest score in both Standard and Intense Modes on each of the 3 different environments, highest wave reached in each environment, longest survival time in each environment, highest combo and total Bloopers destroyed, as well as 21 hard to snag achievements, there’s endless replay value, and several different ways to play when score-chasing. Since Wispin’s release, Grumpyface has created two more extremely wild and fun titles, both of them getting 5 star ratings in our reviews, but it’s great coming back to Wispin, to see where it all started. It’s a game that was amazing when it was released, and still holds up extremely well a couple years later. I’d definitely recommend it to all iOS gamers, casual and hardcore, and consider it a classic iOS game. 

Sleepwalker’s Journey is the story of Moonboy, a young boy who’s just been blown out of bed by a huge ‘Lunar Sneeze’. Sleepwalking through his dreams, it’s up to you to move, rotate, shift, start and stop objects and platforms so that Moonboy can avoid all of the dreamworld’s crazy hazards, and make it back to his bed. With numerous environmental puzzles, Sleepwalker’s Journey looks to be one of the most interesting puzzle platformers we’ll see this year. 

Take a peak below at the trailer, and start to get excited for the second 11 Bit Studio’s game to hit the AppStore. If it’s even half as polished as Anomaly Warzone Earth, we’ll all be in for a real treat. Sleepwalker’s Journey is coming to iOS and Android soon. We’ll be sure and share the news as it becomes available to us. =o)