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Last week, we had the chance to review End Boss’s game, Chicken Rescue (published by Ayopa Games), and, even though it’s a great game for kids, had a couple of negative things to say about it. After we checked, it seemed that a lot of other players felt the same way about quite a few of the issues we brought up. Thankfully, End Boss and Ayopa listened, and have given gamers a much improved Chicken Rescue. Along with adding 20 new levels, they’ve given us a whole new virtual stick for controlling movement. The areas of the rock ramp and cart have been expanded, making it easier to use them and reach extra areas in the levels. More checkpoints in the later levels, a pulsing dash button, a new dashing tutorial, and to top everything off, performance improvements, making the game run smoother all around. We’re very excited to get back into the game, as all of the frame-rate issues, and lag that we came across here and there are gone, and the new joystick is a lot easier to use. This, along with the inclusion of extra checkpoints later on in the game and easier to use ramps should also make the game easier for children. So a big THANK YOU to End Boss and Ayopa for putting this update out so quickly after the release, and facing most of the issues that customers have brought up head on. We know that developers and publishing studios that do this are, these days, a kind of rarity, and nothing that we at The App Shack take for granted. Be sure to check out Chicken Rescue, available in the AppStore. Especially if you’ve got little ones!

Candy Boy

Candy Boy, the puzzle platformer by Colorbox has just gotten another update. This time they’ve improved the controls, and added a new Christmas level pack! The new level pack contains 20 new levels, and you can play it without beating the previous world. So this is a great new addition to the game, for both gamers who have and who have not beaten the full game yet. It’s great when developers get in the Christmas spirit a little early!

Donut Games has been giving away one game every week. Paracute is this weeks free game. One mechanic that really makes Paracute stand out within the Donut Games line-up is the use of teleporters and being able to upgrade your abilities. But like all Donut games, it’s great for kids as well as adults, so be sure you take advantage of this give-away while it lasts.

Marble shooters are fairly abundant in the AppStore, with not many having mechanics that set them apart. Porcupine Puzzle gives you porcupines to match up in groups of 3 or more, with some interesting physics thrown in. The porcupines that you start with already in the gameplay field are kind of like wheels. Once you stick another porcupine to them, they use the momentum of the shot porcupine and start swinging, and the spikes on the porcupines make them able to stick to eachother. So if you take out the middle porcupine, holding them together, the two sides won’t have anything holding them in place, and will start swinging back and forth. It’s better experienced than trying to imagine with some bad description, and the game is only 6.7 MB, and free at the moment. Just take our word for it, it’s definitely worth checking out.

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Snuggle Truck, the popular Owlchemy Labs title where you try and make it to the finish line in your old truck, going over jumps, rocks, and other obstacles, without loosing all of the stuffed animals in the truck bed, has just gone free for the first time since it’s release. They have also recently added a level editor, which you can make your own levels, and share them online within the game with other players, as well as check out other gamer made levels. Players who didn’t buy Snuggle Truck before going free will have to deal with drop down ads after every 3 levels, but they are not intrusive at all, and never show up while your in the middle of a level. If you haven’t gotten Snuggle Truck before now, it’s a great time to do so! Even better, they’ve made the HD version free as well!

RedLynx speed-run platformer, Thousand Heroes, that has a level unlocked every day, and will keep unlocking one level every day, until they reach 1000 levels, has also gone free for the first time since it’s release earlier this year. You’re able to join teams, or make your own, so that you can compete with friends, or you can just compete with all gamers around the world. The game is pretty interesting, and having a game that you know you’ll be able to sink 5-15 minutes into every day for the next 2 or 3 years can be pretty nice. Don’t miss your chance to get this great platformer for free!

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.

Super Bit Dash, developed by FakePup, has just gone free. This endless runner is split up into 2 different modes, each having 2 different difficulties. One mode is sort of level based, putting together 20 random “rooms” to create the run-through, while the other mode is endless. You’ll tap to jump and swipe to dash up, down, left, and right, each dash using a coin, with your character being able to hold 4 dash coins at a time. It’s retro graphics and 8-bit soundtrack add to the game quite a bit, and the whole package proves to be a worthwhile challenge. So don’t miss your change to pick up this great title while it’s 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.

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.

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.

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!