After last weekend’s festivities, you may find yourself with some free time on your hands, seeking entertainment.
We may not have fireworks to offer, but there have been some excellent new game arrivals on the App Store that you should take a look at. Click through and have a look at our favourites for the week!
Order & Chaos Online
Order & Chaos Online
An unusual specimen, Order & Chaos Online is one of the App Store’s relatively few MMORPGs. It’s a genre that actually makes a great deal of sense considering the portability of the platform, but its still comparatively under-represented in the store, especially on a scale like this latest Gameloft offering.
Order & Chaos Online is a surprisingly vast online world depicting the struggle between order and chaos. You and your customized avatar join the fray as either a human, elf, ork, or undead, and are thrust into a world brimming with equipment, quests, guilds and environments. Spending some time with the game quickly reveals the amount of detail put into into its design, and most of it pays off in a smooth gameplay experience. There are some glitches with the interface, but nothing too severe.Considering the obvious qualities, it’s important to point out the game’s one major flaw: pricing. Not only is the initial fee a comparatively hefty $7, but there’s a $1/month subscription fee after a 90-day free trial period. Not only that, but equipment purchases in-game are also handled via real money. It’s unpleasantly exploitative and will hopefully be remedied by Gameloft, who can’t remain deaf to the cries of its many fans. All that being said, it’s still one of the best of its kind and an excellent RPG experience for those with healthy wallets.
Price: $6.99 ($0.99 monthly)
Developer: Gameloft
Download: App Store
Mooniacs
Mooniacs
Mooniacs is a very different sort of game. An action physics puzzler, this is yet another scenario where you’ll find yourself flinging things: in this case, small aliens called Mooniacs that have a desperate need of JujuBees.
The overarching plot has you seeking these trinkets so you can get parts to repair the broken Mooniac ship, but gameplay consists of individual levels where you fling a Mooniac in order to collect as many JujuBees as possible. Collecting the largest one first gives you a boost in points, and as the levels progress you’ll find you must make good use of the game’s physics — bouncing, stretching, etc. — to grab all the JujuBees.
As you can imagine, it’s light-hearted and simple fun. There are some interesting in-game systems for buying JujuBees, collaborating with other players and even unlocking more levels beyond the main 90. Mooniacs is a colourful, easy and friendly game to spend some time with.
Price: $1.99
Developer: Namco Networks America, Inc.
Download: App Store
Amazing Breaker
Amazing Breaker
Bringing something new to the table, Dekovir Inc. brings us Amazing Breaker, a game about strategically demolishing complex and beautiful ice structures.
You have four types of bombs at your disposal to help with this. Each has its own unique attributes and applications, and you’ll quickly find yourself having to be strategic about how you use them because the game is unashamedly challenging. You must score 90% or higher on each level just to pass! It’s a good thing they start easy because you’ll need the practice by the time you get to the later levels.
Amazing Breaker is extraordinarily polished, with exquisite visuals, perfectly suited audio and silky smooth performance. It’s a beautiful and addictive game, and the challenge factor makes it addictive because you’ll keep coming back to try and wipe out those lingering few percents. Very highly recommended!
Price: $0.99
Developer: Dekovir, Inc.
Download: App Store
Luxor 2
Luxor 2
A familiar face, Luxor is one of the most popular puzzle games and it’s enjoyed great success on the App Store in its first version and the sequel, Amun Rising. Now the full version 2 has appeared, bringing with it more marble matching goodness.
For those unfamiliar with the game, Luxor 2 is a matching game of sorts where each level presents you with a line of slowly advancing marbles of different colours. In order to stop them from reaching the end, you must fire marbles into the line to make groups of three or more. These matches are then eliminated from the line, buying you more time to go after the rest. As the pace picks up, the challenge does as well, but Luxor 2 has plenty of fun powerups to help you keep on top of things — and you can always dial down to an easier difficulty level if you’re feeling frustrated.
Luxor 2 is a flexible, accessible and extremely fun continuation of the series, and new players will find it a strong introduction to the concept. The presentation is also clean and shiny, with the levels rendered in attractive 3D. From the bonus rounds, to the difficulty levels, to the achievements and beyond, Luxor 2 is a whole lot of game for your money and will make an excellent addition to any collection.
Price: $2.99
Developer: MumboJumbo
Download: App Store
Color Bandits
Color Bandits
What better way to close off this week’s roundup than with a steampunk shooter? I hope you agree, because Color Bandits is our final selection for today and it’s terrific.
Though it’s a side-scroller in an endless-runner style, Color Bandits allows you to move back and forth across the screen freely while the overall scene slowly shifts around you. It’s a nice scheme and combines well with the touch-based directional shooting controls. Gameplay unfolds without interruptions, with each stage consisting of multiple levels that are more like checkpoints within one large level than distinct sections. This keeps things moving and gets you immersed as you blast baddies, collect powerups and do your best to retrieve the stolen colours in the world.
Perhaps the best part comes in the form of the giant boss battles at the end of each stage. These are a lot of fun, very challenging and put your ability to aim, dodge and make optimal use of the powerup weapons to the test. If you’re tired of the main story, take a break in Survival mode, where you can do your best to survive forever against an endless onslaught of enemies. So there’s a steampunk aesthetic, cool guns, awesome bosses and a survival mode … I think it’s safe to say this one’s a must-have.
Price: $0.99
Developer: Kiai Games
Download: App Store
What Have You Been Playing?
That’s a wrap for now, folks, but come back next week for another set and in the meantime keep sending us tips and leaving us comments!