Although the summer weather makes it a joy to spend time outside, sometimes you’re still stuck indoors waiting for one thing or another, or looking to unwind after a tough day with an evening of gaming. As usual, we’ve got your back — five fresh titles from the App Store await you after the jump, so hop in and enjoy!
Zombie Ace
Let’s begin with zombies, shall we? Zombie Ace is a thrilling action title from the fellows responsible for DeathSpank, Hothead Games.
You’ll be piloting a plane as one of five zombie aces, and your goal is to collect coins and battle enemies while avoiding obstacles and doing what you can to spread the zombie infection across the USA. Not unlike JetPack Joyride, the game is controlled via a simple touch-to-lift mechanic that keeps you on your toes as you try to be nimble and precise with your movements. Meanwhile, you’ll have to worry about tossing zombies at enemy aircraft to subdue them, and working your way through increasingly tough missions to earn loot for upgrading your plane — remarkably enough, these upgrades are not IAP based at all.
With strong visuals and a straight-forward, challenging gameplay feel, Zombie Ace is a worthy and highly entertaining diversion for zombie lovers.
Price: $0.99
Developer: Hothead Games Inc.
Download: App Store
Extinction Squad
As you would expect from an [adult swim] title, Extinction Squad is irreverent, hilarious, and wildly entertaining.
Working alongside famous scientist Chuck Darwin, you and your fellow animal rescuers traverse the globe saving endangered species from extinction. How? With a trampoline, obviously. They fall from the sky and you must bounce them to safety. The controls are as basic as can be, and the presentation conveys the gleeful humour of the story very effectively.
There are animals to unlock and a “Wild Wheel” to spin for a chance at winning extra bonuses including coins and power-ups, and either one of the two game modes will test your skills. If you love animals and have a sense of humour, you won’t want to miss Extinction Squad.
Price: $0.99
Developer: [adult swim]
Download: App Store
Non Flying Soldiers
When it comes to quality publishing, you can always trust Chillingo to provide a good time. Among their latest releases is Non Flying Soldiers, developed by Blue Shadow Games.
Budgies and other small birds may not seem like the stoutest of warriors, but they’re tough little critters and in this game they’re so adorable that you’re going to want to do your best to get them through each level. The relatively difficult gameplay consists of arranging various environmental elements and objects on each level and then letting the birds loose and making sure as many of them traverse the level within the timeline as possible. You’ll be able to collect coins as you go, which you can then use to play a funny arcade minigame called Space Destructors.
The obstacle course style levels get tricky fast, but they’re incredibly well designed and beautifully displayed, especially on the crisp Retina display. With enough variety and charm to last you for hours, Non Flying Soldiers is a peculiar and endearing little puzzler.
Price: $0.99
Developer: Blue Shadow Games
Download: App Store
Webbies
Bringing a fresh mechanic to the App Store is a rare achievement, but Nano Titans has managed it with their wonderful new game, Webbies, which also manages to be a flat-out brilliant game.
Deep in the woods, a bitter old wizard has stolen all the animals’ food and hung it up on his spider companion’s web. In order to free the food, you’ll have to fling bits around within the web to clump together big chunks that you then toss off to the hungry animals on the sidelines. The web physics are extraordinary, and that is only one of the aspects of the game that has been polished to utter perfection. The animations, the art, the audio — it’s all impeccably done.
Things get more complicated, of course, with you having to first unlock the animals from cages in later levels, and deal with other obstacles, but the learning curve is kind and you may as well set some time aside for this one because you won’t be putting it down any time soon.
Price: $0.99
Developer: Nano Titans Co.
Download: App Store
Boomlings
Boomlings is a recent entry into the well populate match-three genre of games (well, technically it’s match four in this case).
Though it does little to set itself apart from the crowd in terms of individual elements, the game is greater than the sum of its parts. The basic mechanics are extended through interesting power-ups and challenging obstacle blocks including freezing ones and the very cool pipes that transport blocks around the playing field. Though the game is free, you’ll find some IAP available to expedite your progress — mostly very reasonable.
Spending some time with the game reveals its true colours; it shines in subtle details (the way combos work, blobs, etc.) and tweaks that improve upon the tired and familiar core mechanic in ways that make it feel fresh again, and that is a notable achievement.
Price: Free
Developer: Robert Topala
Download: App Store
What Have You Been Playing?
We hope you enjoyed this week’s picks. Don’t forget to go enjoy the sunshine a bit!