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Flip Riders, Haunted Hallway and Finger Gravity updates!

Flip Riders, the 2D side-scrolling racer from Agimat (developers of Shadow Candy: Sugar Rush), has just gotten it’s first major update, and it’s a doozy! Included in the update; Checkpoints! No more complete restarts when you crash. This has been a fairly common request on the Touch Arcade Forums, so it’s great to see that it’s been included, and should make the game more accessible to casual gamers. There’s also 4 new worlds with 20 new levels, all made for casual and beginning players, making the game even more accessible to casual gamers. A 3rd control option, Left and Right buttons, and a new camera view for when your rider is high up in the air, so that you can see what you’re going to be thrown into when you land. There’s also another major update coming within the next week, so if you don’t have this great game yet, now would be an awesome time to start getting into it.
Haunted Hallway, the endless runner with platformer controls developed by Uncade, has just received it’s first big update, including GameCenter leaderobards for high-score and for distance, more emeralds and rubies, added distance to the results screen, and changed it up with more level variety. Addressing a lot of issues that gamers were talking about, Haunted Hallway is now better than ever. More replay value, more variety, and higher scores give it that extra little oomph that was missing in version 1.0. Make sure you check out the new and improved Haunted Hallway!
Finger Gravity, a gravity based physics puzzler, developed by Wode Mobile, has also just gotten it’s first big update. It includes 21 new mind-bending levels for you to try and make your way through. Hopefully, the added content will help get this game more attention, because it really does deserve it, as it’s one of the few physics puzzlers we here at The App Shack have been able to stick with, and feel that the gameplay and mechanics make it stick out in an AppStore flooded with physics puzzlers. Be sure to snag this one if you don’t have it yet, you won’t regret it.

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November 8, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

Alien Space Retro, Piyo Blocks 2, Leave Devil Alone and The Marbians = FREE!

Alien Space Retro, the follow up game to Alien Space, developed by Owens Rodriguez, has proven to be one spectacular dual-stick space shooter that has earned itself quite a big group of fans. In the game, you’ll need to destroy asteroids and collect the red and blue orbs within to keep your health and ammo fully charged while you take on wave after wave of enemies, and upgrading your ship and weapons. There’s also a survival mode, along with a couple more modes available through IAP. If you’re a fan of dual-stick space shooters, or just great arcade games, Alien Space and Alien Space Retro are two games you should definitely have on your device, and right now, you can have Retro for free, so what are you waiting for? Download this one quick!

Piyo Blocks 2, developed by Big Pixel Studios (Meow Meow Happy Fight, Land-A Panda, Piyo Blocks), is a nice match-3 game with 6 different modes. It recently got a retina update, and is supported by GameCenter, so you can compete for high-scores with your friends and gamers around the world. Piyo Blocks 2 is a match-3 worth checking out, especially for free.

This side-scrolling tower defense game, developed by Orz Games (Battleground, Baby Madness, Dream Up), has some nice graphics, great animations, and action filled gameplay. Fans of TD games should really take some time and check out Leave Devil Alone while it’s free. It could just end up on your top iOS TD games list.


The Marbians is a physics based flick game, developed by Nordisk Film Games, where you’re given one shot to fling your Marbian around the level, collecting orbs, bouncing it off of walls and other objects, and making it to their space ship at the end of the level. Those of you who haven’t had your fill of physics based puzzle type games will probably really enjoy this one. Those of you who have had your fill, and the thought of one more physics based puzzle game kind of makes you sick… well, you might just want to check out The Marbians too, as it might get you back into the genre, seeing that there are some really decent physics puzzlers being added to the AppStore these days. It’s free, so you don’t have anything to loose. Check it out. **note – the HD version is also free.
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November 7, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

Glowfish – 2.99/4.99 (MumboJumbo)

Exploritory Metroidvania-type games are a pretty big rarity in the AppStore, but those that can be found are extremely well made. Glowfish, by MumboJumbo (Luxor, 7 Wonders), is no exception to this. You’ll guide Glowfish through 50+ levels, finding all the little glowing fish you can use as your shield, defeating interesting enemies, exploring the depths for hidden areas, collecting coins, and gaining friends that you can take along with you, lending their abilities.

You’ll control your Glowfish with a virtual joystick, a shield button, which either brings the fish you’ve collected into a shield circle around you, or lets them trail behind you, letting you access areas joined by a small pathway, along with tapping on the screen to dash in the direction you are facing.
To start off each level, you will not have any fish you can use as a shield, and will need to find a certain amount before you can move on to the next part of the level. Once you have collected a fish or two, you can hit the shield button, and they will start to circle you, giving you a shield you can use to smash into enemies. The more fish you have, the bigger your shield, and the bigger the enemies you can take out. There are some hazards and water life that you will not be able to attack, like bigger crabs, sea urchins and others, these are best left untouched. If you do happen to run into one of them, you will bounce off and loose a couple of fish that you have collected. They can be re-collected, but you will have to chase them down.
The graphics are top notch, and look exceptionally good. The neon type color scheme works very well for the under water atmosphere, and along with the backdrops, everything stands out significantly. The animations are extremely well done, with everything flowing, adding immensely to the underwater feel of the game. Everything on the screen, aside from the rocks, moves and sways back and forth, and every character in the game has their own little quirky movements. Something else I feel like I need to bring up is the level design. It’s incredibly well done. There’s also a very good mix of small, medium, and large levels. The hidden areas are fairly well hidden, but are also pretty easily found with your map, which comes together as you progress in each level, ala Metroid. The music and effects help build on the atmosphere and feeling of it all, bringing the entire package to completion.
Glowfish is $2.99 for the iPhone, and $4.99 for the iPad, and worth every single penny, and then some. It is supported by GameCenter with a highscore leader board and 25 achievements, which, combined with the 4 star ratings available on each level, adds to the replay value a bit, though you probably won’t play through Glowfish more than one time in a row, it is a game that will call you back after a month or two. It certainly is a game that everyone who owns an iDevice should check out, and will easily end up on quite a few top games of 2011 lists.
Glowfish gets a score of 5 out of 5.

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November 5, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

Blue Libra – 0.99/2.99 (Orator Games)

Science Fiction Real Time Strategy. A genre pretty much left untapped within the AppStore, there’s only a few titles that cover the 4X gameplay, but the ones that do are premium priced for a reason; extremely deep, intuitive user interface, hours upon hours of gameplay, endless replayabilty with almost endless results, and very strategic gameplay just to mention some biggies. Luckily for fans of the genre, Orator Games has just released Blue Libra. Not exactly a 4X game, but a mix between 4X and Galcon type gameplay gives hardcore fans of the genre something for quick plays, with more strategy and depth than any Galcon game, and new-comers to the genre something to help them get acquainted with the style. And at $0.99 ($2.99 for the HD/iPad Version), there’s pretty much no reason not to check it out.

You’ll command the last of the Libra class of carriers to avenge the fall of your home world. Your main goal? Make your way across the galaxy back to your home world, destroying anyone who stands in your way. You’ll need to produce different types of ships, and take over planets and space stations, getting rid of the opposing force in each sector, upgrading your ships and main Libra carrier with multiple upgrades available in the shop, so that you can be sure to have the power and ability to take on anything that might be thrown your way. One wrong move, and you could wind up with a loss.
As for the controls, they’re fairly intuitive. Fleets are all produced by your Libra carrier, and any planets or space stations you take over. These fleets are grouped together in a circle, and can be merged by drawing a line, which automatically snaps to a straight line, no matter how wobbly you draw it, between the two. To move a fleet, simply draw a line to the planet or station you wish to move to. You can cut a whole fleet in half by slicing it, ala Fruit Ninja, and the fleet will split in half with each half having, as close to, half of all ships as it can. This does take away a bit from the strategic element, as your groups of ships can not be split up to best serve the situation that they’re going in to, but instead give “my bigger fleet will take over your smaller fleet” gameplay. This isn’t a bad thing, exactly, as there are still times in the game where you will need to decide before hand what ships to produce to best serve the mission, and how many resources to set up building those ships, but being able to decide exactly what type of ships are sent where would have added quite a bit more strategic gameplay and depth to the game. There are obstacles in some of the sectors, like asteroid belts, which slow you down significantly, and these are best gone around if at all possible, to do this, you’ll just need to draw a line around the obstacle, and stop short of where you want to move to so that the line does not snap to a straight shot. The screen automatically pans while you’re making your line, dragging on the screen, which is very handy. You can set the pan speed in the options menu as well.
There are 15 missions leading you back to your home world, and beating a lot of them will take multiple play throughs. The difficulty curve is great, and increases at a pretty steady rate. There is no online support, but with gameplay like Blue Libra’s, there isn’t much need for GameCenter. Being able to share your final tallies, like how many total ships you lost/destroyed, how long it took you to make it back to your home world, and little stats like this would be nice, but is not really considered the end goal by fans of the genre.
Again, at $0.99, there’s very little reason not to grab it, whether you’re a hardcore 4X RTS fan, or even if you’ve never played a Sci-Fi RTS before, it stretches across a wide length of skill levels, and provides simple yet still depthy gameplay. It’s definitely a title worth checking out, and one that you can easily sink hours upon hours into.
Blue Libra gets a score of 4.5 out of 5.

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November 5, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

Acoustic Ruler Pro -0.99 (Florian Student)

Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a ruler in your pocket all the time? Well now you can! With the Acoustic Ruler Pro [0.99] from Florian Student you can measure anything, anywhere! To measure with this app you need an iOS device with a built in mic. Then you need headphones with a mic or without a mic (it doesn’t really matter there). This app is sort of hard to explain in writing. The best way to understand how this app works is to watch the 2 videos that the developer made about the 2 measuring modes. Below are the 2 videos and a quote from the App Store on how the application works.

How it works:
“The app works by clocking the time delay of the emitted sound waves. There are two different operation modes: a single device operation (with headphones) and a dual device mode for measuring the distance *between* two devices. Read below to find out which modes work on your iOS device.”

Single Mode

Dual Mode

As you can see that’s pretty amazing! I feel that the videos were the best way to explain how the application works. This is definitely a must buy! My final rating is 4 out of 5 stars. Most of the time the measurements have seem to be very accurate. You can go download Acoustic Ruler Pro for just $0.99 from Florian Student here.
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November 5, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

Gyro13 FREERIDE and a HUGE Commander Pixman Update!

Gyro13, one of our favorite games of 2011, has just released a lite version with one extremely well designed level. I know, it doesn’t sound like much, but it definitely shows off the graphics, gameplay, physics, controls, and music that can be found in the (now on sale) full version. It also contains two GameCenter leaderboards for the one level, which does add at least a little bit of replay value, seeing how well you stack up against the rest of the world in time and score. If you don’t have the full version yet, and are still wondering whether you should pick it up or not, now you can check out the Freeride version, and come to a final decision.

Commander Pixman, a space based speed run platformer with interesting physics, has just gone through a huge update. The game is now supported by GameCenter with leaderboards and achievements, 45 new levels and 5 new missions, bringing the total levels to 125. The new lite version level pack, First Blood, has been included, the timer now starts after you make your first move (disabled by default), and various fixes and improvements. This update comes right after the release of the FREE version of Commander Pixman, which features a whole level pack. Players who already have the game are in for a treat, and those of you who don’t have it, now would be a great time to get it.
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November 4, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

$$$ -> FREE (Freebie Price Drops!)

Robot’s Sky is one of very few mech games available in the AppStore. Sadly, it has some pretty bad lag, and controls that are almost impossible to get comfortable with. Their update before this last one, they did increase the performance slightly, and told gamers that the controls were “easy” instead of doing anything to change them, but Battle 3D: Robots Sky could turn into a great game so long as the developers don’t stop working on it, and if you have an iPhone 4S or iPad 2, this game will probably run extremely well. So pick it up while it’s free, your future self might end up thanking you.
**edit** thanks to gunxsword on the Touch Arcade Forums, the addition of an “Optimize” button was pointed out, making the game run smooth if checked. With it checked, the controls also become a lot easier to get use to, making fighting with them a thing of the past. This is definitely a mech game to check out and enjoy!

There are tons of Pipe Mania clones in the AppStore, but as usual, none of them come close to the original. Developed in 1989 for the Amiga, and since then ported to almost every gaming system, gaining fans with each generation, it’s been available for the iOS since mid-2009, and is now FREE for the first time. If you’re even remotely interested, now would be the best time to pick it up.

This action RPG could use some tighter controls, but it’s still worth checking out. Take your monster through level after level beating up knights and various other medieval characters while you take revenge on the race that is responsible for your parents death. A nice upgrade system and pretty decently sized maps make the game a bit more interesting. It’s certainly worth checking out.

Tilt to move your little gun wielding hero and tap the screen to shoot, destroying blocks. Groups of same-colored blocks will be destroyed if you shoot one of the blocks. Avoid the fire balls being shot up at you. Your time increases each time you destroy a block, don’t run out of time. Sounds easy enough. This action puzzler will provide quite a bit of interesting hectic gameplay.
Triniti Interactive has been a fairly popular development studio for the last couple of years. Their GameBox apps are some of the most popular among new-comers to the iDevice, giving players 18 to 27 games for the price of one. Over the years they have also made quite a few of their games, covering a vast array of genres, free for a limited time. KungFu Warrior, a side-scrolling beat-em-up, is their latest addition to the limited-free pile. If you’re a fan of the genre, make sure you check this one out.
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November 4, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

Miss Claire Garden – 0.99 (Chris Neveu)

It’s always upsetting when an independent developer’s amazing game doesn’t sell well enough to even recoup the money that was put into the making of the game. Even worse when it’s a solo developer, and their first game, making them think it’s not worth-while to continue making iOS games. The first time I ever really cared about this happening was with an amazing platformer that goes by the name of Miss Claire Garden, developed in 14 months by the amazingly talented Chris Neveu.

Released in January of this year, a lot of people were put off by the speed of movement for the character, Claire. This initially cause a lot of people to look the other way, figuring it wasn’t worth getting. Other gamers have said that the childish name didn’t help either. For me, I held off the first couple of days because the developer, Chris N., said that there were not going to be any updates for the game. But after watching the video up on YouTube, and sleeping on it, I couldn’t stop thinking about the game. Having a Mario 2 like platformer on my iDevice was something I just couldn’t pass up, future updates or not.
Eventually, enough people complained about the slow movement that the game was updated, increasing the speed of Claire, and changing the throwing mechanics for when she picks up enemies and chucks them. Now there was no reason not to get the game. Except that Chris Neveu had said that there were no updates coming, and people saw how slow Claire moved in the original trailer. Gamers didn’t know that the speed had been changed, even after the game was updated, no one felt the need to check to see if it had been. Sadly, the game was forgotten. The few of us who did buy the game were finally getting into it, hitting the midway point of the game, and being blown away. It was now the iOS platformer that all other iOS platformers would be compared to. Miss Claire Garden was considered the #1 platform game in the AppStore by a very select few.
But no matter how much we tried to get other gamers to check out the game, when they watched the trailer, they saw how fast Claire moved, or more appropriately, how slow she moved, and read iTunes reviews from gamers who hadn’t updated their ratings after the game was updated, let’s just say, even with some of our reputations on Touch Arcade as players who really only recommended games that were worth checking out, it was extremely hard to get people to buy Miss Claire Garden.
The graphics, gameplay, music, story, animations, the slight metroidvania type setup of the game, with players needing to grab specific power-ups in levels to go back to previously beaten levels and reach areas that were previously unreachable, the Mario 2 influenced gameplay, being able to pick up enemies, and throw them at other enemies, or carry them across the screen, placing them in a spot that gave you the opportunity to reach an unreachable area, being able to use blocks with the same reach unreachable areas effect, the insanely great level design. Miss Claire Garden went above and beyond the typical iOS platformer gameplay that iPod gamers were use to, and is still considered to be one of the very best platform games by the very few gamers that own the title.
And yet, the game is still a hidden gem, almost a full year after it’s release, the game still only has 9 ratings in the US AppStore, and Chris Neveu still has yet to make back the money that went into making the game. With it being $0.99, having 24 levels, 72 available flowers to collect, 3 in each level, collected by finishing the level, grabbing the (usually) hidden bird, and collecting 50 or more flowers in the level, adding an insanely addictive challenge to the game, and still, with all the platformers released since Miss Claire Garden’s release in mid-January, 2011, in my top 3 favorite iOS platform games, it’s an amazing deal that every fan of old-school, Mario, platform, adventure, or just amazingly great games should check out. A version 1.3 trailer was just uploaded to YouTube last month (and can be viewed below), and Chris Neveu is currently working on another game, though it’s not been said what platform it will be released for, and no info other than Mr. Neveu saying that he’s working on something in his freetime has been given out, but rest assured, after playing Miss Claire Garden, just knowing that Chris Neveu is working on another game will bring a big smile to your face.
Miss Claire Garden gets a score of 10 our of 10, and is HIGHLY recommended.

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November 3, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

Zombie Parkour Runner – 0.99/2.99 (Break Media)

Endless Runner based level games are starting to grab a group of fans. Fatcat Rush, Mirror’s Edge, Run Fox Run, Brain In Jar, Bouncing Penguin, DoDo Fly, 1-Bit Ninja, these titles will usually upset platformer fans because, well, they’re not platformers, and cause endless runner fans to scream “those are not endless runners!”, but whether you love or hate these types of games, you can’t deny that there are gamers that thoroughly enjoy games like these, and that there are more and more of them popping up as more and more gamers get hooked by their gameplay. I, for one, and a big fan of these types of games. Maybe it’s because my favorite genre of games is platformers, and I enjoy endless runners quite a bit. Maybe it’s because they’re perfect for playing while sitting in the bathroom, who knows? Whatever the case may be, a new title has emerged, and is ready to be conquered by gamers everywhere. Zombie Parkour Runner, developed by Break Media, is the newest addition to the endless runner/platformer mesh genre.

You’ll control Kara while she jumps, zips, climbs, swings, wall-runs, and kicks some zombie butt trying to get her stolen cat back. There’s 24 levels of smooth playing parkour running that you’ll control simply by tapping on the screen. A quick tap will give you a short jump, while holding your finger on the screen will give you a long jump, then timely taps on the screen when a white silhouette of your character appears will cause you to do specific parkour tricks and spiffy zombie attacks while running through each level.
The graphics are superb, and the environments full of great looking details and objects. The animations are also very well done, and make the game flow extremely smooth. The tap controls are very responsive, and even though it sounds like just tapping on the screen to do pretty complex moves sounds easy, choosing the right path, along with tapping at the right time can prove to be pretty challenging.
Making it through all 24 levels won’t take a lot of gamers too long, but making it through all 24 levels with a 3 star ranking and grabbing the special item in each level should take more than a little while, as should finding all the hidden areas and unlockable levels. There’s also a GameCenter leaderboard for each level, along with a board for the best score in a level, and 39 achievements, all adding immensely to the high replay-value. It would be nice to see a shop where we could unlock more characters, or different outfits, maybe give all those coins another purpose besides adding to the high-scores of players, and give those gamers out there that are not obsessed with high-scores something to aim for.
If you’re a fan of the genre, Zombie Parkour Runner is a game that’s definitely worth checking out. The addition of the Parkour moves, running on billboards, swinging off of poles, going down ziplines, and more adds quite a bit to the gameplay, as do the different zombies and zombie attacks. Priced at $0.99 for the iPhone version, and $2.99 for the iPad version, it’s a great buy, and a great game that will give you hours upon hours of entertainment.
Zombie Parkour Runner gets a score of 4 out of 5.

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November 2, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

Freebie Alerts!

**Click on the Icons to download**
Monochromania, a new Tower-Defense/action shooter game from Steven Chin, has just gone free, a couple days after it’s release. Having only sold 1 copy, it’s not surprising that Monochromania has been made free for a short period, but it is pretty surprising that it did only sell 1 copy. With it’s slick cartoony graphics, and interesting gameplay, it’s a game that’s definitely worth checking out.
Supersonic HD, by Kuuasema, has gone free to celebrate it’s new game mode, Supersonic Mixtapes, in which you can create your own tracks with music on your iPod. This is one of the better tunnel racers available in the AppStore, and even better, it’s the Universal build that’s gone free, so iPad users rejoice!
MeetingRun!, an interesting platformer game from Epsilon Studios, that earlier this year got it’s “Syntheticvoid” update, which gave it virtual controls (it’s so awesome having a game’s update be named after you…), and made it a lot more playable. If you haven’t check the game out yet, now would be a great time to do so.
Mega Bad, developed by International Game Systems, has just gone free to celebrate the release of their new free-for-launch game, Rodeo King, as well as two new theme packs. If you’re a fan of Tilt-To-Live type games, this one should be right up your ally! And better yet, if you’ve got Rodeo King on your iDevice, you’ll get a special 2,000 coin bonus for Mega Bad!
Soul, a pretty old iOS game, developed by Kydos Studio, recently got a Universal upgrade update, as well as including an auto-save feature. To let everyone know that they’re still in business, Kydos has decided to make Soul free for a limited time. This was one of the very first games I ever got after getting my first iPod Touch back in the day, and even now, it’s one of the best tilting games you can get in the AppStore. It’s creepy atmosphere, great animations, and awesome gameplay will provide an experience worth checking out, again and again.
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November 2, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >