Tactical Solidier is a really great turn based strategy game that basically does everything right. You take command of a small group of soldiers that are trying to figure out why their base is being overtaken by zombies. You start off with a single character and as you explore the base other soldiers will join your group. The controls, graphics, and sounds are all perfect. Also, did I mention this is a universal application?
The game uses an AP system for turns that works great and the enemy encounters are something that I looked forward to each time. You will find weapons, ammo, keys, med kits, grenades, and more by searching dead bodies. The boss fights are particularly fun and challenging. You earn experience points by defeating enemies and earn skill points each time you finish a level. You can use these skill points on 8 different skills on anyone in your group.
The game tells the story bit-by-bit using comic book type cut scenes that really fit nicely into the theme and art style of this game. The description says there is 7+ hours of gameplay and I believe it as I’m only about 1/2 through the game. This is a great game and one of the better that I have played in some time. I would highly recommend this game as it is a lot of fun and bang for your buck.
Minute Commander really brings me back to the days of playing Battleship, but even better since I can see the enemy! The game is about naval strategy where two teams battle each other and the last man standing is the winner. You can play against the computer or against your friends via play-n-pass.
Turns within the game consist of 1 minute blocks where you can do as much as you can in a single minute. You must move your ships around and also attack the enemy ships. There are also upgrades that you can pickup as you are navigating your ships around.
There are two modes while a vessle is selected: move and attack. During the move mode you simply touch on the screen in the direction that you want to move the ship. You can easily see where your fleet is located and also the enemy fleet with the radar. The attack mode is much more interesting as you select which weapon you want to fire, choose the direction, and adjust the aim vertically in order to hit your enemy. The air strike that is sent from an aircraft carrier is really awesome and very effective!
The graphics and sound are all top notch. I think this game is great right now and the planned updates sound really awesome: tutorial & nuclear torpedo (we can’t wait to see the torpedo). You should really give Minute Commander a try if you enjoy a good strategy game!
The guys at id Software have now raised the bar on what users can expect out of 3D models and animation with their new game Rage for the iOS. The iOS game is a preview of what we will see in the full PC/console version of Rage that will be released in 2011. In the iOS version you are a contestant on a game show where you are fighting mutants with the goal of getting to the end of the level without dying and collecting as much money as possible along the way.
The game comes in two versions: standard and HD. They are basically the same, while the HD version includes hi-res textures. If you own an iPhone 4, iPod touch 4th gen, or an iPad then you should spring for the HD version. Either way they are both universal applications so you will be able to enjoy the experience on any of your iOS devices.
The game consists of 3 “episodes” where you battle mutants, collect cash, and try to survive. This is a rail shooter so your field of movement is limited, but this game is still a lot of fun. There are two different control schemes: tilt and touch. The iPhone version defaults to to the tilt configuration and the iPad version defaults to the touch configuration. I played through the game on both the iPhone and iPad and found that the default control configurations work best for each of those devices, since the iPhone is really two small to use their touch interface and you will find yourself constantly accidentally hitting the pause button.
The game is a shooting gallery type game where you are moved to a station where mutants spawn and you have to kill all of the mutants on the screen before you can progress to the next station. While moving between stations or at a station you will have the opportunity to shoot bullseye targets and collect health, ammunition, and cash power-ups along the way.
The game itself is fairly fun, but where it shines is during the in-game scenes where the host is talking before you begin an episode. That 3D model and his animation are absolutely fantastic! Those are the best graphics and animation that I have seen in any iOS game so far. You can beat the game in 15-20 minutes, so hopefully an update will be released soon with additional episodes to keep things interesting. If you are a fan of other id Software titles, then you should go give Rage a try and get a sneak preview into the world of Rage.
I played this game while out on a business trip a week or two ago; it had me hooked from the first second. The menu is fairly straight forward. Only four options of Start, Challenge, Options and High Scores. There is an About button at the bottom right.
The game is easy to pick up and start playing. There is no learning curve unless you truly are terrible at puzzles. You tilt the iPad or iPhone to control the speed and direction of the astronaut while moving along the board. Just like in Labyrinth with the floating board.
You guide the astronaut through the maze trying not to slow down and getting sucked into a black hole. Once you reach a certain point it is hands down flight for life. Try solving a maze on the fly while being aware of the tiles that are about to be sucked into the black hole. I only know of two items to help you survive, and that is the boots and jet pack. The boots will clear out an area of maze for you to just rush forward, for a short distance, without worrying about the maze. The jet pack is my favorite. If you can get a hold of one of those, do it. The jet pack will propel you for a long distance giving you a slight lead on the chaos trying to swallow you. I do have to warn you about the jet pack. If you see it make sure you have at least an exit strategy should the tiles catch up to you before you are able to pull an Indiana Jones maneuver for it.
The game is very fun to play. The graphics and animations are top notch, and brings a real enjoyment to the game.
Pig Rush is a fun twist on the distance running game that is family friendly and fun to play! The game is Charlotte’s Web meets Canabalt with a little volunteer firefighting action.
The graphics bright and fun. All of the platforms are 3D, while the other objects are 2D billboards that actually look really good mixed together. You tap the screen towards the bottom for a small jump or towards the top for a large jump. The pig can double jump one time before touching the ground again, which comes in very handy. There are little bees that mark other players scores, but you can eat these bees for extra points. Watch out for the camp fires and if you can get a fire hat it will make you fireproof for one fire collision. There is also a giant pig power up that makes you, well, a giant pig! As you go further into the world the platforms will actually move up/down to really make things challenging for our little pig friend.
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This is a fun pickup and play game that really is clean and fun to play. These self challenging games are very popular in the App Store and Pig Rush is a nice addition.
Edge is one of those unique and rare games that does everything right! Mobigame has had legal issues with the name last year and this app has been in and out of the App Store as a result. With the legal issues finally resolved, Edge is here to stay!
This game is Qbert meets Labyrinth and we are talking about 110% awesome! You move a cube around the various 48 levels trying to find the exit point. Along the way you collect prisms to increase your speed and once you collect all of the prisms from levels 1-43 you will unlock levels 44-46. The level designs are incredible and there is a lot of interaction with switches and moving platforms. Each level has a really unique feel and become very challenging.
There is a really cool gameplay element called edge time and you use this by partially turning and holding in mid-turn while grasping on moving blocks. The use of edge time is required to complete some of the levels and also doubles as removing time from your overall time. The other interesting gameplay element is where you can move onto a special switch that will shrink your cube. This allows you to move to different areas that you could not otherwise fit into and also climb walls.
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The UI design is phenomenal and there are 18 unique music tracks that really fit Edge. The orientation and controls are completely customizable, so this game will play well for everyone. Edge is well worth the price and is in my opinion one of the top 10 best games in the App Store!
Footballz! is a casual football, or soccer for us in the US, arcade game where you collect yellow balls and try to avoid the white balls. The objective is simple: collect all of the yellow balls while avoiding the white balls. There are 4 different locations (grass, clay, wet grass, and sand) and 4 different types of bonus items.
This game is actually a fairly good casual game that is a lot of fun. As you collect yellow balls additional white balls are added to the field. You can collect random bonus balls, but be careful as not all of the bonuses are helpful! You will loose life if you get hit by a white ball, but you can always increase your life by collecting hearts that appear randomly.
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You can choose from 6 different characters and the different locations seem to affect the players ability to move smoothly and keep things challenging. There are OpenFeint achievements and leaderboards. This is a fun casual game and the graphics are really nice. I think the game might do well to add some additional game modes like a goalie mode. Give the lite version a try today!
Fruit Ninja is one of those must have games that is entirely too addictive for your own good! The goal of the game is to slash as many fruits in half as possible and to beat your best high score. This is simply one of the best casual games out for the iPhone!
There are two game modes currently: classic and zen mode. The goal in classic mode is to slash as many fruits as possible without slashing any bombs or allowing 3 fruits to drop off of the screen untouched. Zen mode is a more relaxing mode that does not have any bombs, untouched fruits that drop off of the screen do nothing, and you have two minutes to slash as much fruit as possible. You can gain extra points by slashing 3+ fruits to ear special bonus points and then there is a random critical strike that gives you an extra 10 points!
There are OpenFeint achievements and leaderboards to keep you challenged. The in-game achievement notifications are by far the best looking customized notifications that I have seen in any OpenFeint game. The developers are Halfbrick Studios really made sure that everything about this game was perfect.
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This is a very polished game that is really a blast to play. When I first saw this game released I thought to myself that this would be a flop, but playing it completely changed my mind and it is well worth giving a try!
The creators of Edge have created a very interesting and unique puzzle game that is very well polished. Cross Fingers is a game where you create a tangram out of several smaller shapes. You move the shapes around by simply dragging to the desired location. There are sometimes fixed and movable obstacles in your way that make moving the shapes into place much more challenging. The puzzles are broken into 4 difficulties: easy, normal, hard, and pro. I found the puzzles to start getting more challenging once you reach the hard levels.
The game includes 120 levels and then you can also unlock an arcade mode where you really have to think quickly as more and more shapes are added to the board and you have to solve a tangram to remove shapes from the board. The normal game mode has a very relaxing feeling while the arcade mode is for those that really want to keep their brain in motion! The artwork and sound fit the game very well and Cross Fingers is a typical Mobigame that is very well polished.
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There is a ton of reply value in Cross Fingers and this app is top quality! There is not much that would make this game better, so I would recommend checking it and all of the other Mobigames out.
Newton’s Dice 3D by Mark Hessburg is a dice app that also offers two different dice games. The graphics are beautiful with a 3D environment that fits very well with this type of game. You can either choose to use this app in place of physical dice or play one of the two games that it offers: Dice 10000 and Shut the Box. You role the dice by shaking the iDevice and then they will be thrown out of a cup onto the table.
I am a little old school, so I am not sure that I would ever use an app to replace physical dice, but the two included dice games were a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the 10,000 game mode and thought the scoring and AI were well done. There is also a mode that will allow you to play with up to 4 other players locally (i.e. pass-n-play). This game might benefit from adding a wager aspect to keep things interesting, or an online mode that would let you play against your friends in a Words With Friends manner. Very nice dice game worth checking out and it is currently 80% off.
