iPhone Game Friday: New Releases: "
Welcome back to Game Friday!
This week brought us some truly fantastic games and we’re very eager to show them to you. Everything from blockbuster action to retro platforming lies after the jump, so click through and have a look. You know you want to.
BackStab
BackStab
As is always the case with larger-scale adventures on any platform, it’s difficult to do them critical justice in a couple of paragraphs, but it’s room enough to give an overview. In the case of BackStab, Gameloft’s latest outing, the conclusion is clearly that they’re getting very good at making extremely impressive, console-like games that fit in the palm of your hand.
Fighting for revenge as a wronged officer of the Royal Navy, you take control of Henry Blake and make your way through an impressive story spanning across four cities and vast swathes of jungle, beach and volcano environments in a well realized virtual Caribbean. There’s a good blend of combat and platforming, most of which controls impeccably, and you’ll likely be reminded of a historical Uncharted or Tomb Raider as you play. The combat system is worth mentioning because there is a fairly robust combo mechanism that you can use to string together awesome moves. Or, if you’re the quiet type, stealth kills are also satisfying.
While it goes without saying that the visuals are impressive, it’s worth giving a nod to the audio as well, where the voice work really shines (too bad the models don’t move their mouths, though). So long as you’ve got a relatively recent iOS device and love adventure, BackStab is a no-brainer.
Price: $6.99
Developer: Gameloft
Download: App Store
Tiny Tower
Tiny Tower
Making a strong entry into the “freemium” world, Tiny Tower offers the chance to build a tower and develop the businesses that open up inside.
Earning money lets you build new floors and attract various “bitizens” to open up shop in your tower or live there. There’s a good deal of customizability in terms of the look of your tower’s floors, the order they appear in and the way that the inhabitants appear, so what could have been a dull game of stacking fast-food joints turns out to be a brilliantly polished, engaging and addictive skyscraper simulator. This is Game Dev Story meets SimCity on your iPhone.
There is some solid social integration as well via GameCenter, and within the game you’ll find an amusing virtual social network called “BitBook” wherein you can monitor the social moods of your tower’s inhabitants. From its vibrantly colourful 8-bit graphics to its smooth and straight-forward gameplay, Tiny Tower is pixel perfect and well worth playing.
Price: Free
Developer: NimbleBit
Download: App Store
Continuity 2: The Continuation
Continuity 2: The Continuation
Having won last year’s Best Student Game award, the developers of the first Continuity (which was a web game) decided it was time to up the ante and bring their amazingly clever game concept to the next level. The result is Continuity 2: The Continuation, and fans of the original will be thrilled to hear that it’s everything they could have hoped for — and it’s on their iPhone!
Continuity’s major claim to fame is a unique puzzle mechanic that’s both mind-bending and deceptively simplistic. Each level is made up of several tiles, and your goal in each level is to slide the tiles around so that your character can pick up a key and unlock the door at the end. This becomes increasingly more difficult as the number of tiles and the complexity of their arrangement increases.
There’s a lot to keep you busy in here, including 50 brand new levels, and given the success of their first game, there’s little doubt that we’ll be seeing more level packs and other updates for Continuity 2 in the near future. We can’t wait!
Price: $0.99
Developer: Ragtime Games LLC
Download: App Store
1-bit Ninja
1-bit Ninja
In what must be one of the most interesting mash-ups of gameplay styles and visual aesthetics in recent memory, 1-bit Ninja brings together Mario-style platforming, endless running games, 8-bit graphics and a fully 3D perspective system with unlockable perspectives (including the very cool anaglyph mode).
While it sounds like it could be cluttered, the game is the essence of elegant simplicity. The controls are well-thought-out and designed for touch, so you can stop worrying about fiddly controls and focus on overcoming the game’s seriously unforgiving difficulty level. And make no mistake, this game is hard and proud of it. There’s also no going backward (without using a spring) so it sets itself apart from the standard platformer with a sense of linearity.
There are currently four worlds to traverse and a bunch of cute secrets to find if you’re the pixel peeping type. One fun feature is the replay mode, where you can save your best runs and then re-watch them from the main menu. With more levels on the way, 1-bit Ninja is an easy recommendation for fans of challenging and extremely polished platformers that bring something new to an old formula.
Price: $1.99
Developer: kode80 LLC
Download: App Store
Monster Soup
Monster Soup
Last and certainly not least is Monster Soup, a colourful new title from the great Kieffer Bros., who brought us such iOS classics as Aqueduct. Their newest offering is an adorable story about the Soup System and its resident monsters, who are having some trouble with the evil Plubert.
Plubert is threatening to freeze the monsters and your job is to save them by drawing lines to connect like-coloured monsters in each level. The longer the chain, the more points you get and the more power-ups you can call upon. The game is very accessible and its charming presentation means that it’s easy to get hooked. The fact that you can use a two finger upward swipe to speed up gameplay makes it perfect for more hardcore gamers too, who are looking for a faster pace.
As one expects from the Kieffer Bros., the visuals are polished and run smoothly even on older devices, and the attention to detail is very clear. The monsters may be a bit small for those with larger fingers to successfully maneuver around, but it’s not a significant issue since the controls are very responsive and forgiving. Go save some monsters!
Price: $0.99
Developer: Kieffer Bros.
Download: App Store
What Have You Been Playing?
If you can peel yourself away from these gems, then toss us a comment and let us know what else you’ve been playing in case we missed any winners!
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