Looks like we’ve made it through another week! As summer wears on (and the temperature keeps rising) we bring you more excellent games to hide out in the shade with.
Just a reminder, if you’d like your game featured on Game Friday, then don’t hesitate to send us an email and if we like what you’ve got, we’ll happily include it!
Bean's Quest
Bean’s Quest
It’s been a while since we featured a good retro-inspired game, and right on cue, Kumobius recently released their new game, Bean’s Quest, which manages to be a near perfect example of balancing retro stylings with modern gameplay innovations.
Emilio’s not having a good day. His girlfriend has been captured and he himself has been turned into a jumping bean. To make things worse, someone stole his pets too and has littered the world with nasty monsters. The premise is cute but basically invisible, as you’ll mostly just be making your way through level after level of 16-bit pixel perfect goodness. Emilio bounces automatically, so your only task is to control his left/right movement, making for an interesting take on the platforming experience. Each level also features a jump count to aim for. If you can complete the level with only that many jumps, you get a badge — but beware, it’s very challenging!
The levels are vibrantly decorated and there are many subtle production details that combine to form an attractive and pleasing visual experience. The controls and audio are also strong, and the addition of some cool physics-based gameplay elements work wonders. No matter how you look at it, Bean’s Quest is a spectacular game, and with even more levels promised in an update, it seems like it’s only going to get better.
Temple Trouble
Temple Trouble
Breaking away from convention and familiarity, Temple Trouble is a strange but compelling adventure puzzle game depicted from a top-down perspective. Strange, but nicely executed.
As Captain LeFop, you find yourself lost in a jungle. Your only way out is through a series of temples, each one chock full of monsters and fiendish puzzles that make use of familiar dungeon crawling mechanisms like block pushes, pressure switches, bombs, etc. In fact, it almost plays like a portable Zelda game.
The game features a large variety of levels and is very attractively styled, so anyone who’s after a fresh puzzler or a unique adventure game will find something to love in Temple Trouble.
Price: $1.99
Developer: Sticky Studios
Download: App Store
Connectrode
Connectrode
Back to the basics, Connectrode is an exercise is subtlety and finesse. The game’s design is clean and streamlined, which helps emphasize those same traits in the actual gameplay for this puzzler.
The levels in Connectrode are made up of a series of coloured computer chips. The goal is simply to eliminate all the chips from the board, and this is accomplished by connecting them to another like-coloured chip using a series of connector tiles. Tiles cannot pass each other though, so you have to be careful not to block yourself out of a section of the level.
Like all good games, Connectrode has a way of making time disappear, and it’s easy to lose yourself in the gentle challenge. Basic score sharing via Twitter and Facebook is enabled, and there are some combos to strive for if you’re feeling ambitious. Overall, Connectrode nails its target and earns an easy recommendation.
Price: $0.99
Developer: Deep Plaid Games LLC
Download: App Store
Stop The Vom
Stop The Vom
From the far side of normalcy, Stop The Vom emerges as a tricky balance game centered around preventing a bunny rabbit from vomiting. This uncommon premise is the setup for a simple but devilishly engaging game that brings a good balance of challenge and bizarre humour to the table.
After becoming stuck on a swing (by his friend, a cucumber), our hero must keep his balance to avoid becoming nauseous. The problem is, bunnies do not have sea legs. But there’s more to the game than simple tilt-based balancing. Birds will land on your head to try to upset the balance, and there are flying creatures that you must tap in order to lower the time counter for each level. Eventually, you’ll find yourself having to manage multiple rabbits, and that’s when things get really wild.
This is probably what you’d call a black humour game, and while the whole vomiting thing seems pretty disgusting, it’s really more odd and cute than anything else. The odd art style helps reinforce this feel, and if you have attention to spare you will catch some great details in the environments. Stop The Vom is a strange and wonderful little thing with more personality than most games you’re likely to find on the App Store.
Price: $0.99
Developer: Handsome Fellas
Download: App Store
Cut the Zombie
Cut the Zombie
For a humorous diversion, we’ll close with Cut the Zombie this week. This game is about dicing zombies and pumpkins while allowing villagers to pass by unscathed. This is Fruit Ninja: Halloween Edition, basically.
Gameplay is set up in “waves,” and it’s one of those titles that’s dead simple to pick up and play. The slicing is satisfying and sets itself apart a bit by having a variety of zombie and pumpkin types, some of which will require you to hack at them multiple times and then deal with the small pieces they split into, upping the challenge. All the while, you have to make sure to avoid hacking apart any villagers, which can sometimes be difficult given the game’s dark art direction in a few levels.
If you don’t mind an unobtrusive ad at the bottom of the screen, you can grab the free version of this time waster and have some zombie hacking amusement. As the game’s description says, Cut the Zombie is “unique end Very kill, never let you go, and enjoy the evil zombie war brought happiness!” We, um, couldn’t have said it better ourselves!
What Have You Been Playing?
That’s a wrap for this week. Come back next Friday for a new set, and in the meantime don’t be shy about commenting — tell us what you’ve been playing, what you think of these games, and what hidden gems we missed!