If you’re all done playing with your Valentine’s Day gifts and are looking to fill your time with new entertainment sources, then you’re in the right spot because we have a fresh batch of games from the App Store to show you this week.
Click through and go digging, kill zombies, hack networks and groove to your music…
Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies
One of the most enjoyable aspects of the popular Call of Duty franchise has been the recent inclusion of a “zombie mode.” This offered some less serious entertainment for you and your friends, and Activision has just brought it over to the iOS realm.
Black Ops Zombies is a fairly direct port of the console game mode, though you’ll obviously find that it’s leaner on the weapons and graphics front. The gameplay remains frantic and fluid though, even when playing with friends. The inclusion of a Voice Chat system is excellent and adds to the sense of teamwork as you fight your way through.
The top-down arcade mode from the console version has also made it into the iOS game, and features leaderboards via Game Center so you can always check yourself against your peers. Updates have already started flowing, adding more weapons, features and stability tweaks. This is a terrific way to take the Call of Duty zombie killing experience with you wherever you go.
Price: $6.99
Developer: Activision Publishing, Inc.
Download: App Store
Diggin’ Dogs
It’s always nice to review pleasant and charming games, which is why Diggin’ Dogs is featured this week. It’s difficult to imagine not walking away from a play session with a smile on your face.
Gameplay involves guiding a trio of adorable puppies as they dig deep into the earth in search of treasure. There are all sorts of hazards to watch out for, and a hilarious variety of powers activated by wearing special hats, that grant the ability to fly, attract coins, survive fire, spray bugs and more. The controls are simple and direct, requiring no fiddling and causing no issues.
As you make your way through the various levels in each of the five themed worlds, you’ll enjoy the sharp, colourful visuals that we’ve come to expect from Chillingo-published titles. This is an example of Chillingo at its finest: publishing a simple, polished, incredibly fun game without resorting to extortionate in-app purchases to squeeze more coins from your pocket. This is a dollar well spent.
Price: $0.99
Developer: Soap Creative
Download: App Store
The Hacker
From the ranks of TRON and the wonderful games from the PC era that fed off the ’80′s hacker craze comes The Hacker — all of that alternate reality, ’80′s hacking goodness wrapped up in a neat little portable package.
The game introduces you as a recently fired employee of Glider Corp. Your dismissal seems to be under questionable motives, and before long you’re in cahoots with a team of like-minded individuals who are working to hack their way into the massive corporation’s worldwide network and get to the truth. The plot is thin but serviceable, getting you from one hacking minigame to the next in a convincing and compelling manner.
It is a convincing little framework, and the various software modules you can access (including basic games that need to be repaired before they can be played) add to the sense of immersion. With the exception of an occasionally awkward english localization, The Hacker sports an authentic presentation with all the right visual and auditory cues you would expect. It’s a treat for the geeks out there, and a nice nostalgic look at the old hacker culture.
Price: $0.99
Developer: Angry Bugs
Download: App Store
Beat Hazard Ultra
Music games are a tricky proposition because they don’t often bring much new to the table. In the case of Beat Hazard Ultra, you’ll find that the ability to play a game shaped by the music in your iTunes library is, while not entirely original, still incredibly addictive.
If you image a cross between an arcade shoot-em-up space game and a music game, you’ll be picturing something like Beat Hazard Ultra in your mind. You control a ship with weaponry that reacts to the music that’s playing. You’re encouraged to use your iTunes library, though internet radio is another option. The enemy behaviour also responds to the music, so you’ll have to make use of the upgrades and weapon powerups to survive.
The game includes three distinct game modes: Survival, Boss Rush and Chill Out to suit your mood. It also features support for co-op play and a simplified control scheme for beginners, so you’ll have no trouble jumping in and learning the ropes. Beat Hazard Ultra is a shiny, satisfying blend of gameplay mechanics that gets old only when your music library does.
Price: $0.99
Developer: Cold Beam Games, Ltd.
Download: App Store
Star Wars: Pit Droids
Although no one waits for movie tie-in games with bated breath, Star Wars: Pit Droids has the distinct advantage of being one of the earliest; initially released as a LucasLearning title for PC and Mac more than ten years ago.
Now on the App Store, this sweet puzzle gem returns in full force to offer a new generation the opportunity to enjoy some classic brain teasing gameplay. Your goal is to help herd the pit droids, as they’re prone to wandering. You’ll need to work with the grid-based levels to send each coloured droid in the right direction using arrow pads.
There’s not a lot of depth to the game, but its simplicity is the key to its appeal. You will find yourself losing long stretches of time without realizing it, and that’s about as positive a recommendation as we can give.
What Have You Been Playing?
Those are our recommendations for this week, but we’re always interested in hearing yours, so please drop us a comment if you’ve come across some awesome games we might have missed!