More fun from Rovio, a bit of futuristic action, zombies, castles, and … cleaning?
Click through for another eclectic roundup of our favourite App Store games from this week!
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Sprinkle Islands
Falling somewhere between Wall-E and Super Mario Sunshine and building upon the first Sprinkle game, Sprinkle Islands is the story of a garbage ship that crash lands on a beautiful utopian world, scattering flaming trash across the pristine landscapes.
Your job, as a tiny firetruck, is to spray away the gunk using a flexible water nozzle. Four areas provide richly detailed settings for the game’s 48 current levels. Each level presents you with a challenging setup of garbage fires and obstacles, and you’ll find the water physics and cute presentation make the task engrossing.
With simple controls and a free version to try out before you buy, Sprinkle Islands is a gorgeous and endearing casual title that deserves a place on your iPhone.
Price: $1.99
Developer: Mediocre AB
Download: App Store
Tiny Thief
Another product of the new Rovio Stars publishing division, Tiny Thief is a stunning title developed by 5 Ants that pushes the bar high into the stratosphere for casual point & click platforming adventure titles on iOS.
It’s difficult to communicate just how incredibly polished this game is. The artwork, animations, controls, music and humour are all tuned to perfection. Tiny Thief also manages to offer a steady stream of surprises and gameplay twists as you make your way through the levels. Your goal is always to pilfer items from the six stages, but the level of creativity on display with possible routes and approaches will keep you returning.
While more environments are definitely needed, the degree of care and craftsmanship that has gone into each one of the launch environments takes time. With any luck, we have many more updates to look forward to, but in the meantime Tiny Thief is a rare gem: nearly flawless, nearly irresistible, and entirely impossible to put down once you’ve started!
Deux Ex: The Fall
Instead of following in the footsteps of XCOM and porting their console title to iOS directly, Square Enix took a different approach with Deus Ex: The Fall, crafting an original adventure dedicated to the platform.
The Fall is a large, ambitious and stunning showcase title that blows fresh air into the sail of iOS as a serious gaming platform. The stealth-and-shooting gameplay fares well via customizable touch controls, and familiar augmentation and hacking diversions break up the pace a bit. It’s never going to feel as good as its console cousins, but Eidos has done a good job of making the controls feel natural. The story, unfortunately, leaves much to be desired in comparison to its predecessors, but it doesn’t overstay its welcome.
What really stands out is how incredible the world of Deus Ex: The Fall looks. The environments are detailed and beautiful, and while the character models look weak in comparison, you’ll be able to take out your frustration by shooting them, so it all works out in the end. For an impressive shooting experience on the go tied to a fascinating sci-fi world, you could do a whole lot worse than Deus Ex: The Fall.
Price: $6.99
Developer: Square Enix
Download: App Store
Cannon Crasha
If you’ve ever played the DS game Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, then you’ll feel right at home in Cannon Crasha. It is a game about giant battles between castles using big cannons and little minions.
While the gameplay itself is wholly entertaining and surprisingly deep, it’s the general aesthetic and sense of humour that kept me coming back to Castle Crasha. The campaign features some giggle-worthy dialogue encountered across four worlds comprising 40 individual levels, but the fun doesn’t stop there as the game offers several additional game modes to explore outside of the story.
With plenty of unlockables, achievements, leaderboards and multiplayer (local only for now), Castle Crasha is packed with charm and hours of entertainment.
Price: $0.99
Developer: GangoGames LLC
Download: App Store
Call of Mini Zombies 2
Last up today is a sequel to one of the most ridiculous and wild games on the App Store. Call of Mini Zombies 2 is a game about big-headed block people shooting big-headed block zombies with big guns.
Though the core has barely changed, some refinements make for much appreciated depth being added to the gameplay. You now have access to secondary weapons, allowing for more interesting combat choices against diverse zombie foes, and a combo system allows you to string together kills to make impressive and devastating assaults on your enemies.
With the same great presentation values you’ve come to expect from Triniti and a whole host of promised updates (daily missions, monthly content expansions, etc.) you’ll find lots to love in Zombies 2. Beware the expensive IAP though!
Price: $0.99
Developer: Triniti Interactive Limited
Download: App Store
What Have You Been Playing?
Go forth and game, friends! Then come back and leave us a comment with your favourites. See you next time!
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