Happy Friday, everyone! Here comes another roundup of our favourite app store games from this week, including some you won’t believe are free. You’ve got a great weekend to look forward to, so let’s get to the toys.
Keep sending us your tips if you’ve got them!
We City
We City
Following in the footsteps of their unbelievably popular We Rule and We Farm, ngmoco has recently put out We City, a very similar affair where instead of micromanaging the lives of individual people or controlling some agriculture, you’re responsible for the development of an entire metropolis.
Over 100 different buildings are available for you to build and new content additions ensure that you’ll never run out of new ways to develop your city. Cities can be redesigned at any time, so that you can remodel and keep things clean and efficient as you grow.
As with their previous games, ngmoco requires you to make use of the plus+ social network to really get the most out of the experience; connecting with others grants you extra money and “zap”, a currency that you can use to buy buildings or make things complete faster. The game is otherwise completely free, though you are able to purchase “zap” from an in-game store if you’re feeling anti-social and in a hurry.
Price: Free
Developer: ngmoco, Inc.
Download: App Store
Beyond Ynth
Beyond Ynth
Beyond Ynth is an unexpected little gem that comes from over a year of development by FDG Entertainment. You control Kribl, a cute bug whose task it is to retrieve a set of dazzling diamonds stolen from the kingdom by the ‘Four Dark Spiders of the Apocalypse’. It’s a cute premise and the extremely polished and colourful hand-drawn visuals take you across several different environments.
The game’s 80 levels offer a lot of variety and a lot of challenge. Though the mechanics of controlling Kribl and interacting with the levels are fairly simple, the game itself is not and you will find yourself stumped by a few of the puzzles. Luckily there’s no penalty for having to retry, and the original music and voice acting are both top-notch and peppy enough to keep you focused without getting annoying.
Beyond Ynth is a pricey little puzzler, but once you begin playing it’s not so difficult to see why. There are few other games that are so balanced, polished, and downright fun and any serious iPhone puzzle fan can definitely afford to skip a Starbucks run for this one.
Price: $3.99
Developer: FDG Entertainment
Download: App Store
Blue Defense: Second Wave
Blue Defense: Second Wave
In this unusual take on the defend-the-castle routine, you control an entire planet and must battle off hordes of invading alien shiny things as they come crashing toward you. Your planet has one cannon that fires constantly and is controlled by the tilt sensors, and a second one that you control by touch. This interesting mechanic allows you to be constantly shooting at two or more targets, or focusing your fire on one. It makes you look pretty funny when you’re playing, but you’ll be far too engrossed to notice.
Blue Defense: Second Wave! is one of the most immediately engaging games in its genre. It has a certain desperate intensity to it that keeps you wanting to save the lives of all the poor folks on your planet (a handy counter up top tells you how many are left alive). The visuals are clean and uncomplicated, allowing for brisk frame rates even when huge numbers of enemies appear on screen.
With two different infinite modes and 200 medals to earn, you’ll never run out of things to do. Blue Defense’s strongest asset is that its gameplay is quite unique and yet not confusing or awkward — you can easily pick it up and play. And you should.
Price: $1.99
Developer: Cat In A Box Games
Download: App Store
Brain Shock
Brain Shock
Brain Shock is an incredibly attractive puzzler with great production values. The object of the game is to touch lines on the grid to activate or deactivate them in order to end up with a given number of squares. Each level will ask you for either 1×1, 2×2, or 3×3 sizes.
The 18 introductory levels get your brain in good shape to tackle the 45 premium levels that you can unlock with a quick $0.99 in-app purchase. Along with the sharp visuals, the sound design also deserves a mention for making your iOS device feel like some sort of advance brain training machine with attractive mechanical servo noises for menu transitions and the like.
There’s nothing like a few free levels to whet your appetite and see if you enjoy the game enough to grab the full version, so give it a shot and see for yourself.
Price: Free ($0.99 in-app purchase for extra levels)
Developer: haha Interactive
Download: App Store
Zammoth
Zammoth
Zammoth is an odd turn-based strategy game that feels like a colourful version of chess on hexagonal tiles. There are 9 different characters, each with their own movement and attack patterns, and 7 different maps.
At the moment it’s a fairly modest offering, but future updates are promised with more maps, characters, and the inclusion of achievements. For the moment, you can play online via the Game Center and Bluetooth to hone your skills against your friends.
If you’re into turn-based strategy then Zammoth is a promising entry into the genre, one that future updates will surely polish further.
Price: $0.99
Developer: MayWe Gamestudio
Download: App Store
What Have You Been Playing?
How have you been spending your week? If you’ve made some cool discoveries then share them with us in the comments or give us a shout directly, we love to hear from you!