An interesting selection for you this week, just in time to help stuff some virtual stockings!
Last week we saw iOS gaming take a quantum leap forward when we suddenly found ourselves playing a game powered by the Unreal3 engine on our smartphones, but it wasn’t the only great title to emerge recently…
Spirits
Spirits
Here’s to you, Lemmings fans! Spirits is a relatively fresh game from Spaces of Play that takes the concept of indirect control and pathfinding and polishes it into a charismatic little gem.
Each level consists of a series of obstacles that your walking mushroom/jellyfish “spirits” must navigate in order to reach the ending swirl. Unlike many other games, you don’t directly control the little guys though. Instead, you tap the spirits as they approach an obstacle and ask them to perform an action like growing into a platform, or blowing air so that their companions behind them can safely overcome the obstruction.
The mood is peaceful and the artwork and animations are very well produced, which in combination with the pleasant ambient soundtrack makes this an excellent title for getting some relaxation in.
Price: $2.99
Developer: Spaces of Play
Download: App Store
Infinity Blade
Infinity Blade
Okay, enough stalling: here’s Infinity Blade. I can’t possibly avoid mentioning this game and the only reason I haven’t highlighted it before was because I wanted to spend some time with it. For those who’ve managed to stay unaware of the news, Infinity Blade is the game follow-up to Epic Games’ previous proof-of-concept title Epic Citadel. Its big claim to fame is that it manages to run the Unreal3 engine on your iPhone. Which is ridiculous.
First of all, be prepared for a wow moment when you first see this thing running on your phone. We’ve come a long way since cellphone snake games. This high fidelity visual system comes at the expense of performance on lower-end devices, so be aware that if you’re running anything older than a 3GS you’re probably going to be looking at a slideshow. In terms of gameplay, Infinity Blade is actually quite boring if I’m being honest — it’s little more than an on-rails action RPG where you move from battle to battle via short cutscenes — but it’s just so impressive looking that it’s hard to fault it.
The question is whether or not it’s cool enough to merit its steep price tag, and that will be up to you to decide. If you want the most technically and visually impressive gaming experience on the iOS though, then you’re looking at it.
Price: $5.99
Developer: Chair Entertainment Group (Epic Games)
Download: App Store
Biofrenzy
Biofrenzy
Well, we’re back to zombies. Biofrenzy is a side-scroller, and an excellent one at that.
An interesting difference in this title is that you’re very close to the action — the sprites are large and vibrantly detailed, so you really get a sense of being right up close to the action. There are 20 weapons that you can collect as you shoot zombies for money, and a couple of interesting special abilities including bullet time will help get you out of sticky situations.
The Game Center support and adjustable difficulty levels are good additions, so while it may not be the most innovative title out there, it’s not a forgettable entry in the genre and anyone who’s into side-scrolling shooters will find a lot of entertainment value wrapped up in a good presentation.
Price: $0.99
Developer: ZOZO Game Studio
Download: App Store
Gravity Guy
Gravity Guy
Gravity Guy follows in the footsteps of GravBot in the sense that its main mechanic is giving you control over the direction of gravity.
Instead of a puzzle game though, Gravity Guy is a side-scrolling runner. Once again, you only indirectly control Gravity Guy — he keeps running and your only job is to tap the screen to flip gravity when necessary to keep him from bashing into blocks, falling off platforms, or getting caught by the agents that are constantly chasing him. The game is paced well so you ease into the difficulty, and once things pick up and get harder, you’ll find yourself quite challenged despite only having one task to perform.
Retina-ready graphics and Game Center achievements and leaderboards make Gravity Guy an easy title to return to whenever you need some fun.
Price: $0.99
Developer: Miniclip.com
Download: App Store
Adventure Bay
Adventure Bay
It’s always nice to end on a freebie, so let’s have a look at ngmoco’s latest offering in its series of free-ish (supported by in-game purchases) title, Adventure Bay.
Similar to its “we…” series of games, Adventure Bay puts you in charge of creating and managing something — in this case a tropical pirate island. The usual level of graphical and musical quality is on display here, with the kind of presentation that makes it hard to resist getting all the new in-game goodies just so you can marvel at the colourful and brilliant sprite design. Quests have also returned, though you are now able to explore a bit more freely by following treasure maps with your crew in search of buried treasure.
It’s a formulaic title, but the formula keeps getting more and more polished. This is easily the finest iteration yet, and fans of any of the previous similar titles will find themselves right at home.
Price: Free
Developer: ngmoco, Inc.
Download: App Store
What Have You Been Playing?
Folks gearing up for Christmas will no doubt also be playing the new holiday version of Cut The Rope, but there are enough Christmas roundups floating around that it seemed unnecessary to join the bandwagon. Besides, AppStorm caters to all crowds — grinches included!
Seriously though, if you’ve got some awesome Christmassy games you’ve been playing for the holidays, drop them into the comments for the rest of us!