A moment many of us have been eagerly anticipating has finally arrived as Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 [ Free (HD)] has hit the App Store. We were pretty blown away when we went hands-on with Magic 2013 at E3 a couple of weeks back, and were further teased with a set [...]
Cardinal Quest [ 0:600.99 ] is a roguelike that hit the desktop scene last year, and it has most of what roguelikes usually entail. It has the dungeon delving, the random layouts and loot, and, more or less, the permadeath. But consider Cardinal Quest Roguelike 101. There’s no learning curve, next to no inventory management, [...]
It’s been awhile, so in case you forgot: Mikengreg of Solipskier fame is working on a physics-based puzzler-slash-user creation-slash-basketball game called Gasketball. Our impression of what we’ve seen so far is positive — its certainly stylish and the Rube Goldbergian contraptions will probably be a ton of fun to put together. Mikengreg is still hard [...]
Among the random advice I give developers is to attend as many conventions as you possibly can because you never know who you’re going to meet, and here is a phenomenal example of that: At events in San Francisco we typically hold a party at Bin 55, the bar in the lobby of the Marriott. [...]
If we’re reading what we think we’re reading, victims of cloning might have a legal leg to stand on moving forward. According to Sunstein Law, The US District of New Jersey has decided that Mino, a popular Tetris-a-like, is infringing Tetris Holdings’ copyright. If this holds up, it seems possible that other studios will use [...]
Chrono&Cash [ 0:600.99 ] is a game in the tradition of Super Crate Box [ 0:600.99 ], a member of the growing genre of arena platformers. But don’t rush to call it a clone: Chrono&Cash has some very cool new ideas that make the game feel fresh. Orange Pixel has tinkered with the formula that [...]
We’ve been keeping an eye on Mutant Storm [ We’ve been keeping an eye on Mutant Storm [ $2.99 (HD)] ever since we found out that recently-formed Ninth Ninja was charged with porting the Xbox Live Arcade title to the iPad. Fans of dual-stick, fast-paced arcade gameplay will find that Mutant Storm is a great [...]
You’re wandering through a rural town with only a few buildings, and it’s obviously been here for a long time. There’s the weapons shop, the armory, the inn which costs you 19 gold for an evening’s stay, and a quick bath in an oversized washbasin that hasn’t seen a cleaning since last century. A few [...]
One of the many developers we met with at WWDC was Handelabra Studios. The company was also kind enough to be one of our sponsors for the TouchArcade WWDC Party. Handelabra Studios produces a number of different titles for iOS, including one game called Uncle Slam [0:600.99]. But the iOS app they’ve been focusing much [...]
Say I give you two puzzle pieces with shapes on them that look a little like tetriminos. I tell you to turn them into a square of a single color, but there aren’t enough pieces, and they’re in the wrong orientation. And beside all of that, one’s red and one’s blue. That’s the type of [...]
Inferno+ [ Inferno+ [ $2.99 ], like its creator, Radiangames’ Luke Schneider, has a preoccupation with circles. It shows in the orbital whirl of your homing fire around the circular obstacles dotting the map. It’s also on display when rotating your ship down a tight passage, careening to ensure your Pac-Men drones aren’t swallowed by [...]
It’s no secret that out forum community is crazy about NimbleBit games, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Pocket Planes [ Free ] is currently ripping things up. The #TouchArcade flight crew has been #1 basically since the game launched, and absolutely decimated the competition in the previous global event. If [...]
Creator Fabrication Games’ Project 83113 (or Project Belle, if you’re a normal human adult who can read words) is now free for a “limited time.” The sale is in celebration of its featured status on the App Store, so we assume it’ll go back to its regular price of 99¢ whenever the iTunes promotion ends. [...]
Game business crept into the game design of Squids, and the game’s creator The Game Bakers will be the first to tell you that its RPG had an identity crisis. It was difficult without being rewarding, which made the free-to-play elements feel like they were necessary solutions as opposed to merely options. Squids Wild West isn’t [...]
During GDC this past March, we checked out a really interesting demo for an upcoming action-RPG from Pixel Hero Games called Spiral. This Unreal Engine powered game looked especially nice even in that early state, carrying with it a more stylized, anime-inspired aesthetic. It played well, too, with a fully gesture-based combat system and controls [...]
So far, we like what we’ve seen from Retro Dreamer. Among other things, the studio is responsible for Sneezies [ [substring:0:600] So far, we like what we’ve seen from Retro Dreamer. Among other things, the studio is responsible for Sneezies [ $0.99 ], an early iOS hit, and Velocispider [ $1.99 ], a delightfully oddball [...]
On this week’s episode of The TouchArcade Show, Eli and Jared join the cast once again to talk about all sorts of stuff. Topics include what we saw and liked at E3 2012, what we want from next-generation hardware, and what we’ve been playing at WWDC 2012. Expect to hear a little bit about games [...]
Project 83113 [ [substring:0:600] Project 83113 [ $0.99 ] (or ‘BELLE,’ if you’re calculator literate) is a fast-paced gem of a platformer. For a moment or two you might take in its pink protagonist and think it’s a little too cute, maybe a little too light. Then she uses her four arms to pull out [...]
The future is an amazing place. Here I am flying back home to Chicago, on the internet, writing about iPhone games and making a silly amount of iPhones buzz in the process. (Hello, TouchArcade app users!) Anyway, a few weeks ago Apple threw their hat into the weird freebie promotion ring. Cut the Rope: Experiments [...]
It’s no secret that we’ve been, on occasion, distracted by a certain action-RPG of late. Heroes Call [ Free ], the latest from Defiant Development (which brought you Ski Safari [ [substring:0:600] It’s no secret that we’ve been, on occasion, distracted by a certain action-RPG of late. Heroes Call [ Free ], the latest from [...]
Just like the living undead that inspire them, zombie-themed iOS games never seem to die as new releases shuffle onto the field every week. Dead City [Free / [substring:0:600] Just like the living undead that inspire them, zombie-themed iOS games never seem to die as new releases shuffle onto the field every week. Dead City [...]
Gaming very rarely provides moments of “authenticity” for me anymore, those simple, hard-to-find times where a switch gets flipped in my mind. I can count on one hand the number of iOS games that have managed to pull off this feat, surprising me with their cleverness, nostalgic value, or just pure, unadulterated joy. At some [...]
realMyst [.99] for iPad — which is now actually called just realMyst — is available on the App Store today as promised, and it’s rocking a .99 price tag. realMyst includes all of the content from the original Myst plus “Rime Age,” and includes a few hip features like save states, auto-saves, and a hint [...]
At WWDC this week we ran into Craneballs Studios who showed us their upcoming title Fish Heroes. These days it seems like I almost instinctively roll my eyes when someone’s game description starts our with “It’s like Angry Birds, but…” BUT! In this case, it’s actually really slick. So, imagine the Angry Birds formula, combined [...]
Temple Run: Brave [99¢], the latest runner from the creators of Temple Run, is now out and available on the App Store for 99¢. In a nutshell, it’s a cool iteration of Temple Run that throws in an archery mechanic, which manages to fit in really well with the game’s running and collecting action. The [...]
More Mega Run content is on the way, Mega Run [Free] creators Get Set Games told us during a meeting this morning at WWDC in San Francisco. Within the next four-to-six weeks, the studio will release a fifth world containing 16 missions, new characters, and even new enemies to avoid. It’ll also have a brand [...]
Pocket Planes [Free] is a tremendous, cohesive game that can appeal to your lizard brain as well as its strategy can stroke the intellectual part. It offers a character-rich and fluid world to explore and become a part of, and its mechanics have a soul. This is a game that does almost everything right; plus, [...]
Even though we’re going crazy meeting developers at WWDC, there’s no stopping the avalanche of games coming this week. Just like last week, the week before, and (most likely) next week, all of these games will be available at 11:00 PM Eastern. There’s some great stuff in this list, so let’s get the party started. [...]
At WWDC in San Francisco this afternoon, we caught our first actual in-game glimpse of MechWarrior: Tactical Command. In a nutshell, Tactical Command is a real-time tactical game that has you controlling up to four mechs in scripted 3D missions. It’ll launch with 21 missions total later this summer, with multiplayer and additional single-player content [...]
One of the most promising games I’ve seen here at WWDC so far this week is iMech Online from new studio Mobula Games. You may remember that iMech was previously released on the App Store way back in 2009, and was noteworthy for offering up to 8 player combat online. That original version has since [...]
Rusty Moyher of Wild Rooster, creator of one of my very favorite cat-based games Box Cat [ 0:600.99 ], stopped by to see us at WWDC and show off his upcoming new multiplayer arcade shooter Deep Space Duel as well as his recently released iPad party game Bloop. Deep Space Duel is a top-down shooter [...]
At WWDC in San Francisco this week, we sat down with SiuYui Games’ to see a near-final build of its upcoming simulation / strategy title, Pocket Minions. In a nutshell, it’s a medieval-themed tower building game that has you executing on the standard goal: the creation of an insanely profitable, multi-tiered tower. What sets Minions [...]
I’m not always a fan of comparing games as “something meets something”, but in the case of the just released Quizboard [ Free ] from Planeto I can’t really think of a better descriptor than it’s like Words With Friends meets Trivial Pursuit. Asynchronous multiplayer games seem to be the best fit for most mobile [...]
We’re at WWDC this week, and if you follow us on Twitter (@hodapp, @JaredTA, @nicholsonb, @blakespot, and @arnoldkim!) it’s likely already obvious to you that we enjoy the WWDC party scene… Potentially too much. Well, tonight we’re hosting our own party. Everyone is invited, and historically we have had some pretty incredible crowds of game [...]
Looking back to our GDC coverage, we got a look at Be-Rad Entertainment’s licensed puzzler WarGames. In the preview, we get into what the WarGames movie is all about, so check that out if you aren’t privy. WarGames the game is a clever spin on the Dungeon Raid [ Looking back to our GDC coverage, [...]
At WWDC in San Francisco this afternoon, Capital J Media showed us its upcoming update to Battle Fleet, and gave us a sneak peek at its next project, which looks to be a sort of deliciously weird marriage of Monopoly to sci-fi space strategy. The update to Battle Fleet [.99], which is do within the [...]
In a genre as cluttered as the endless runner, it’s becoming increasingly important that studios innovate. Onkaworks’ 2D runner Canyon Rush has some rather derivative elements, but it’s plane-switching hook might give it some separation from the pack. We saw a live demo of the game at WWDC this afternoon, and got a chance to [...]
Graveck’s endless, side-scrolling jumper Jump Dewds missed its original April launch date, but it is still happening. At WWDC this afternoon, a representative from the studio showed us a new near-final build, and unveiled its new release date: June 18. So, what happened- Graveck wanted to do a couple of extra polish passes, and it [...]
Not to be lost amongst the craziness that has ensued with the ending of E3 last week – with a hectic travel schedule, a major California freeway being shut down for an entire day, and preparing for WWDC in San Francisco this week – I was able to spend some time with a demo version [...]
Tiny Tim Games’ upcoming RPG Random Battles is an RPG without the fluff — you’ll level up, fight monsters, and enjoy a journey, but you won’t find any villages or be forced to listen to a godawful story or crawl through endless and uninspired dungeons. Random is a mobile title designed for gamers on the [...]
The interesting theme of WWDC this week is games that are coming soon. And, by soon, I mean soon. I got to take a quick look at it at WWDC and the mechanic is actually pretty cool. Check out the trailer: In a nutshell, you’re running your net through the ocean to pick up gold [...]
Making games is hard, but the life of some independent games creators isn’t all roses and rainbows, either. That’s one of the lessons we’re taking from Indie Game: The Movie, which has finally seen a release across a number of digital outlets. Functionally, it’s a look into the lives of three developers as they debut, [...]
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