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Zombie Crasher is the new endless running game from KTH, whos previous releases include Wild Frontier, Chroisen, and Crazy Cow. Now, with all the endless runners available in the AppStore, it’s hard to find reasons to buy yet another one. But KTH has done a very good job of creating an awesome endless runner. You have the typical tap to jump, double tap to double jump controls, but throughout the levels you’re also faced with killing zombies, and collecting coins and power-ups. In order to kill the enemies, you need to tap on the screen asyour character runs through the green dot in front of the zombies, and timing is everything.You’re also able to enter fever mode by hitting zombies and filling up the fever bar that’s underneath your health bar. Once you enter fever mode, you get double the points for killing zombies.

The coins that you collect go towards purchases you can make in the store. You’re able to buy health packs and various power-ups that last for about 10 seconds, and then place these power-ups into slots at the bottom of the screen. You can also save up your coins and buy extra slots at the bottom of the screen. If you don’t want to grind through the game in order to do this, you’re able to buy coins with an in app purchase, but it’s not required, and you can get the extra slots if you end up playing the game a lot, or over a long period of time, but the power-ups and health packs are pretty cheap. Some of the power-ups you’ll see while just running through the levels are a hamburger that boosts your fever bar a tad, some health, speed upgrades, and there’s also a couple power-downs that will make it so that you can’t jump as high, or slow down.

At the end of each level, there’s a boss that you’ll need to defeat in order to move on, each having different attacks that you need to dodge in order to win. For instance, with one boss, you need to tap on the burgers that he throws, but not tap on the grenades. Each of the grenades that he throws ends up going back to your character, who hits them back at the boss. Another boss is a dog that you need to grab onto and repeatedly tap the screen in order to attack it, then hold your finger on the screen when it goes nuts and tries to buck you off. The bosses that you face at the end of each level are randomized, so the chances of facing the same boss at the end of the first level twice in a row are pretty slim.

The graphics are top notch, and the gameplay is buttery smooth. Just like their release before Zombie Crasher, Chroisen, it’s a very polished and very professional game. It might not bring anything new to the endless runner genre, but what it does have in it is done very well, and is put together in a way that is very entertaining and professional. I’ll be replaying this over and over and over again trying to get better scores, and maybe saving up to unlock some extra power-up slots. Having OpenFeint leaderboards and achievements is a big plus too, and does help add a lot to the replayability. I’m giving Zombie Crasher 5 out of 5 stars, and recommend it to anyone who’s even the slightest bit into endless runners. It takes almost everything I love in an endless runner, and puts it in a very nice and neat package, wrapped with zombies. It’s got to be one of the best endless runners I’ve had the pleasure of playing. $0.99 is a bargain considering I’ll probably get about 20 hours or more of gameplay out of it.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zombie-crasher/id443346591?mt=8

Robot Bros. is the new puzzle platformer from 108km Studio, a small indie studio founded in 2010. The goal of the game is to get all 3 stars in each of the levels, and then make it to the exit. 4 of the 5 robots all have a different ability, while one has no abilities. One can drop a certain number of ice blocks in a stage, another can throw fireballs to get rid of ice blocks, there’s a robot with a rocket pack, and finally, a robot that can make portals. Throughout the levels, youaregiven chances to change which robot you’re controlling, by hitting the robot icons at the top of the screen, kind of playing like Babylon Twins.
One pretty major gripe I have with Robot Bros is the controls. You can’t drag your finger from the left button to the right button and have your robot change directions, it will just keep moving in the direction you were first going. To change directions, you need to pick up your thumb, and press the arrow. Also, if you try and use a power in the air, which you can’t, but pressing the button will bring your robot to a halt, and make him drop straight down. The jump button is sometimes unresponsive as well. There’s some minor animation gripes too, like the rocket pack robot can change directions in the air, but he’ll fly backwards instead of turning around, and it seems like the fireball robot is the only robot that has a decent ability animation, bringing his arms back, and flinging the ball forward does look pretty cool though.

It would have been nice if all of the robots had as much detail as the fireball robot does. The rocket robot seems to fly up backwards when you first take off if you‘re pressing a directional button, and it takes a second for him to start going in the direction you want him to go after that. There were also a couple of levels in the game where some ice blocks would disappear and end up half way across the level, this also happened with my characters twice while playing. It would also be nice if once you got one of your characters to the end of the level, if the game automatically switched to one of the other characters in the level, instead of making you hit one of the robot icons. These are some issues that should be taken care of pretty quickly if you ask me.
The game is not very challenging. You’re able to zoom out in each of the levels, seeing almost the entire level. The objective pretty much stairs you right in the face after you see the whole level, meaning the only challenge is really just making it through the level while struggling with the controls. It took me about an hour and half to make it through all 36 levels. I really think the developers could have done a lot more with the game, especially considering they have a robot that can make portals! Right there should scream extra challenging. But I couldn’t help but feel let down. The graphics aren’t too bad, but could use some polishing up, and I didn’t experience any lag or crashing. There’s no in-game music, except for little clips after you beat a level, orwhen you die, which kind of bothered me, but I’m a sucker for game music.

In Robot Bros, the idea is nice, but it seems like there could have been some more attention to details. Mainly with the controls. But for the companies first platformer game, it does show promise. I’m giving Robot Bros 3 out of 5 stars, with the hopes that some updates can make this a game that controls well, gives it more levels, with more of a challenge, some in-game music, and squashes the bugs. GameCenter or OpenFeint support and some achievements would be a welcome addition as well. If you are a puzzle platformer fan, it’s not too bad of a game to pick up. It did keep my attention throughout most of the game, and it’s only $1.99, and is Universal. There really is a lot of potential here, but it seems that that’s all it has right now.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/robot-bros/id455055887?mt=8

The AppStore is a hub for retro gaming goodness. Gamers in their 20’s and 30’s have been buying their childhood back a couple bucks at a time, and we couldn’t be happier about it. Eggcode’s latest game, Pixel Ghost, is their first addition to the retro platforming genre, and it brings with it some interesting mechanics. Pixel Ghost is not your traditional left and rightplusjump button platformer, instead, you drag the screen, moving the level left and right, while your character bounces off of the floors and ceilings of the stage. This may sound like heresy to NES era gamers, but Eggcode has taken some pretty big risks while putting Pixel Ghost together, and it works out surprisingly well.
The graphics are great, and very well done. Eggcode has decided to put the game inside of a TV screen, inside of your iPod screen, and since the iPod screen isn’t as big as the game’s TV screen, the game pans up and down depending on where your ghost is, to show more of the level. This risk with the graphics has paid off. It really adds to the retro feel of the game, and doesn’t hurt the gameplay at all. There’s also blocks that trail your ghost as it moves through the levels. They don’t do anything, but they look very cool, and I think were a nice addition to the graphics. The controls, swiping left and right to move the level, work surprisingly well, and are actually veryaccurate. They didn’t feel quite right at first, and I’m still hoping that they add some buttons to move the level in a future update, but after playing the game for a while, it does grow on you.

There’s plenty of hazards to keep you on your toes as you move throughout the worlds, trying to make it to the blue X at the end of each level. Spikes, guns, birds, blocks that disappear after you bounce on them once, and holes in the floor and ceiling. But there’s also some power-ups that will help you manage the tougher parts, like invincibility, and additions to your clock to help you grab a higher score. Coins litter the levels, and are also a major part of getting that huge score. Getting them all in each level will drain your clock, and prove to be quite a challenge, but it’s worth it if you’re trying to max out your score on a level. This would be more of a driving force ifGameCenter or OpenFeint were added to the game, but as it stands now, you’ll just be trying to beat your own scores on each of the levels. Hopefully an online leaderboard will be added in the future, but some might see this omission a pretty big oversight on the part of the developers.

Even with what some people might consider bad decisions on the developers side, this game is really surprisingly good. The graphics are, and work out, great, and the controls work out very well. It’s a pretty solid entry to the retro platforming genre, and a game that you won’t want to miss out on if you’re a fan. The soundtrack is also very nice, and adds to the retro feel of the whole game. For $0.99 it’s another buck you’ll be happy you spent trying to buy back your childhood memories. 25 challenging levels spread across 5 worlds will keep you busy for a while, especially if you’re interested in getting every coin in every level. I’m giving it 4 out of 5 stars, and recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a good challenging game.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pixel-ghost/id453031769?mt=8

It’s not too often we see a game come around and show us something new, but with Colorbox’s latest release, Candy Boy, they’ve shown that they have got some very creative minds in the studio. It seems that with each release, this small developing company gets more and more popular. After the releases of Arena Arcade, Dalton-The Awesome, Rooftop Escape, Rip Off, the ever so popular Wave-Against Every Beat, and Twins Candy, I wasn’t surewhat to expect. But this time they’re giving us a mixture of platformer and match-3 gameplay. Candy Boy hits that oh so sweet spot of genre mixing that makes us gamers wonder why something like it has not been made before.
You’ll play as Casper, a boy obsessed with candy who has woken up one day to find out there’s a group of candy hungry worms eating all your precious, mouth watering sweets, and it’s your job to stop them. You start off every screen sized stage with a certain number of candies, and end up using these candies to make groups of 3 or more, create candy towers to climb up on, and take out each of the worms hiding amongst the candies. You’ll also be dodging enemies and trying to get off of some platforms before they break.

There’s quite a bit of old-school platforming to do in Candy Boy, which means there’s virtual controls and the games physics to try and get use to as well. Colorbox has done a pretty decent job giving us responsive and tight controls, though not as tight as League of Evil, or Mos Speedrun, but more like the controls in Elemental Rage or Castle of Magic. The physics are really nice as well, and don’t make the game feel weighed down or floaty at all. Moving platforms are decently sized, and collision detection is great, so you won’t be standing on air or falling through platforms. You might have slight problems using the candies as a climbing tool, and some of the thinner platforms in the mid and later levels, but it’s nothing you won’t get use to after doing it a couple of times. There’s also 3 coins in each stage you can try and grab if you’reup for more of a challenge, and grabbing every one in each stage will unlock worlds faster, as they’re opened up when you collect a certain number of them. All of this makes for some pretty neat level design, and challenging moments in the game.

The graphics are very polished, very cute, and the animations are great. The music and fx also fit this cute world very well, and can be turned off in the main menu if you don’t care for game music. With over 100 levels spread across 4 different worlds, Candy Boy should offer plenty of gameplay to keep even hardcore gamers busy for a while, especially with the GameCenter leaderboards, one for each world, and the 13 achievements they’ve given us to try and unlock. And as with every other release from Colorbox that I own, I know Candy Boy will end up staying on my iPod for a very long time. It’s getting 5 out of 5 stars from me, and you can nab it in the AppStore for the very low price of $0.99.

SqueezeBastard is a new action-puzzle game from the relatively young studio of Kxh Games (Zombie Revenge, Doodle Rush, Mini Rocket). You play as a girl who needs to save herkidnapped pet from monsters that have taken it hoping for a ransom. But what-do-ya-know, you’re broke! Now it’s your job to squish monsters by pushing blocks at them in order to save your cute little pet from the hungry monsters who are dying to eat it.

The controls in SqueezeBastard are relatively nice and minimal. You’re given an invisible floating joystick, and a push button. It is kind of hard to navigate through some of the puzzles, because they’re set-up diagonally, so you might find yourself fighting to get into the right spot at times, which can seem like a pretty big down-fall when you’re weaving your way through the block maze filled with monsters. But once you get the hang of it, it seems like less of a chore, and more of a pretty decent game design. Having the board set diagonally gives the game an extra bit of challenge, especially when lining up your monster killing shots.

The graphics are really good, though the game is not retina supported at the moment, so their true beauty doesn’t stick out like it should. There isn’t a lot of diversity throughout the world of SqueezeBastard, only moving from the forest to the castle, but while moving from stage to stage, you’ll be confronted with different game mechanics that will open up new moves and ways to play. The first additions you’ll see are tiles that move blocks in certain directions for you. Once you push a block onto them, they shoot the block in the direction of the arrows moving on it. This comes in handy for hitting monsters that are around corners that you’re sometimes not able to squish any other way. You should be careful with these though, because sometimes they can shoot a block right back at you. Boxes of explosives are also mixed in with the blocks, and can blow up a nice section of blocks and monsters around it just by pushing them into an edge.

There’s also portals that not only let you through, but also the blocks. Looking to see if a monster is in the right spot next to a portal, you can kill them from the other side of the level. Things like this really add to the game a lot, and make you plan out your attacks more tactfully. Enemies that can break through blocks are also thrown into the mix, and staying out of their way until you can line up a good shot really does add to the challenge.

The scoring could use some more work, as you’re not given any combo bonuses at all. It would be nice to see the developers add some sort of combo for hitting two or more monsters with one block, or killing a certain number of enemies back to back in a short period of time. You do, however, get a bigger score for collecting the jewels that pop up around the stages once you defeat all the monsters in that level. Racing to get them all before the level ends can be pretty challenging. There’s also a treasure chest in each level, figuring out how to open it also adds to the challenge, and quest for a great score. Though all of this kind of seems pointless withoutGameCenter or OpenFeint leaderboards. Achievements would also have been a great addition to this game, and would drive the need to play, and re-playability quite a bit as you are also able to replay previously beaten levels by selecting them at the map screen.

The music and FX fit the cute graphics and gameplay, and the game does play very smoothly. For a puzzle game, it doesn’t really bring any new mechanics to the genre, but what it does have is done very well. You can tell that a lot of time, effort and thought has gone into the making of SqueezeBastard. For $0.99 it’s not a bad or regrettable purchase at all. However, with retina display, and online ranking not put into the game, I’m going to give it 4 out of 5 stars. There’s not a lot of room for improvement within the game, but it’s missing that drive to play it, and re-playability. If they are added in the future, this could very well be a 4.5 or 5 star game. Still worth getting if you’re looking for a good new puzzle game with quite a bit of action to waste away the end of summer with.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/squeezebastard/id454921319?mt=8