Hold on to your iPhones, because this week has been a terrific one for game releases. We’ve seen some familiar franchises as well as a whole host of newcomers making an appearance, so make sure to visit the App Store and get caught up.
We’ve got our favourites of the lot for you after the jump!
Bug Heroes Quest
Following their wildly successful, genre-blending title, Bug Heroes, Foursaken Media has returned to the franchise with the spin-off: Bug Heroes Quest. If you’ve played the first game (free to play, so grab it!), you’ll be right at home here. The strong visuals and development polish speak for themselves and the story’s clever enough that you’ll be eager to find out more.
The gameplay remains an interesting blend of action RPG elements, and the virtual analog controls are responsive enough that you’ll soon get used to traveling through the stages, and fighting off enemies with a variety of customizable long and short-range weapons. The plot is quite involved, and you’ll find yourself doing much more than just fighting: exploration, conversations and levelling up are all integral to the gameplay.
Perhaps the best part is that Bug Heroes Quest plays well even on older devices, so if you’ve been feeling left out with an older iPhone, you’re in luck! If you’re not convinced, grab the original and then come back to this one later…you’ll want to!
Price: $0.99
Developer: Foursaken Media
Download: App Store
Cut the Rope: Experiments
This one hardly needs introducing. It’s not quite Angry Birds, but it’s not far off. As far as iPhone success stories go, Cut the Rope is a shining example of how it’s done. The follow-up game extends the story a bit with an exploration of just what the cute little critter actually is. This is a setup for some devious experiments set up by a mad scientist.
The experiments are essentially more interesting levels with some new toys thrown in like suction cups and rope launchers that shake things up and offer a bunch of new brain twisting gameplay angles to explore. There are 75 levels spread across three worlds for now, and the immersion is helped by some direct feedback from the good professor, which can be pretty funny.
Everything you could have wanted from a good sequel is here, and there is little doubt that Cut the Rope: Experiments will be one of many offshoots that we see. Keep an eye out for the comic soon!
Price: $0.99
Developer: ZeptoLab UK Limited
Download: App Store
The Marbians
A surprisingly charming newcomer, The Marbians is a physics puzzler starring a group of adorable aliens who behave like marbles. You’ll need to fling them through the levels — collecting moon rocks, hitting switches and grabbing bonuses as you go — before landing them in their spacecraft for departure. The game’s first 6 levels are free to play, and then you can unlock the rest of the 72 with a $1 in-app purchase. Some are upset by this system, but at least this way you get to actually demo the game before paying your dollar.
The presentation is uniformly excellent, with nostalgic retro tunes and a Roswell-era aesthetic bringing a level of consistent charm to the game. It’s hard not to like it, and its challenging enough to keep you busy for a while, so have a look and fling some Marbians.
Price: Free ($0.99 in-app purchase)
Developer: Nordisk Film Games Publishing
Download: App Store
Emberwind
Initially released for Mac and PC, Emberwind is an action RPG featuring goblins, owls, gnomes and all manner of other fantasy folk. You play as Kindle Elderwood and your ultimate goal is to protect the city of Grendale from the gremlin hordes.
The strongest aspects are easily the story and presentation; you’ll find yourself enchanted by the colourful and expressive art style, and the story will take you across a large variety of environments, each filled with secrets and capped by menacing bosses. The weakest link is the control scheme, which features a virtual analog stick and buttons for actions like jumping, attacking and opening doors. This is fine in principle, but movement sometimes feels sluggish, and the action buttons are fairly tiny, making it easy to hit the wrong one or, worse, miss entirely.
That aside, Emberwind is gorgeous and a lot of fun, so if you’re willing to forgive the finicky controls, you’ll have a terrific new game world to explore.
Temple Run
Last up this week is an extremely impressive new running game from Imangi Studios, most famous for Harbor Master. Temple Run brings you deep into the jungle where you’ve just stolen an idol from an ancient temple. With evil looking apes chasing you, you’re going to need to be nimble to escape.
The game is different from other runners in that it’s not quite linear. Gameplay consists of various swiping and tilting maneuvers to follow the path, collect coins, jump over obstacles, slide under others and generally do your best to survive. The difficult is unforgiving so you’ll have to stay focused once the tutorial is over.
The game looks and sounds great, and the fact that it breathes fresh air into a familiar genre makes it very easy to recommend. For adrenaline-pumping action with pick-up-and-play simplicity, look no further.
Price: $0.99
Developer: Imangi Studios, LLC
Download: App Store
What Have You Been Playing?
Looks like it’s going to be another fun weekend for iPhone gaming! Don’t be strangers — talk to us about what you’ve been playing and keep sending us tips for things you’d like to see included.