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iOS Games: In-App Purchases
Bullio
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
(That’s the Game Center icon. No, I don’t get it either.)
Welcome to the iOS Games Thread! The purpose of this thread is to discuss the newest games for your iOS devices. Speaking of which, let's take a look at those:
iPad
Current Generation 6th (Air 2)
The most expensive and luxurious product in the iOS family, the iPad is basically a big iPad mini. The larger screen means that you might want to look into apps designed to take advantage of that big ol' screen. You can upscale iPod/iPhone apps, and upscaled apps will now use retina assets if they’re available, but you’ll be stuck with the iPhone keyboard and an app that looks like it was designed for the iPhone.
iPad Mini
Current Generation: 3rd (mini 3)
Do you love the iPad, but wish it was just a bit trimmer and cheaper? There’s an iPad for that. The mini (now with Retina display) is a more portable and affordable iPad, while still offering a large-screen alternative to the iPhone and iPod.
iPhone
Current Generation: 7th (6/6 Plus)
If you don’t know what an iPhone is, you are a first world anomaly that must be studied.
iPod Touch
Current Generation: 5th
Though the form factor and style is a bit different, the iPod Touch is still essentially an iPhone without the capability to make phone calls or tell you how to get to the nearest liquor store. As a result, they’re also a bit cheaper and are the least expensive (off contract) entry point into the iOS ecosystem. If it runs on an iPhone 5 it’ll run on an iPod Touch (because the line hasn't been updated for about two years now).
Now that we have introduced the main cast, let's go over some of The Rules.
1. This is for the discussion of games, and games that are available for iOS. I guess an Android player can talk about Angry Birds, but make sure it's playable on iOS devices!
2. Jailbreaking, while not illegal, is outside the scope of this thread.
3. We now have a forum for indie developers to show off their goods! DO NOT POST YOUR GAMES HERE: shoot a PM or email to our admin, Tube, and he will take care of you. Posting a game without permission will get you blacklisted from the forums, and we don't want that!
A Few Things to Keep in Mind
1. We have a new, ever changing list of fellow Arcadians' Game Center profiles. Look us up, or add your own info so we can add you!
2. Touch Arcade
News, reviews, previews, and everything in between. The reviews are no longer so eager to toss out high scores since the hiring of some freelancers. More reviews than news, but nothing gets past their forums. If the front page doesn’t catch something the forums definitely will.
3. Pocket Tactics
Another news and reviews site that seems to be more news oriented than TA (or more selective of their review subjects). You can check two sites per day, yeah?
4. AppShopper
Your wallet's favorite website, this is basically a giant archive of app prices. It doesn't just show you the prices and keep you up-to-date on sales. No, it also gives you a fucking HISTORY of every app's price points (but not it’s associated IAP). A shrewd consumer can learn the ebb and flow of sales and know when to pounce on that app they've been eyeballing. Unsurprisingly, they also have an app.
5. iFunBox
This lets you ignore iTunes for file and app management, and in general does a much better job of managing your devices than iTunes does. This, or a program like it, are essential for things like transferring KOTOR saves and saving app data from an app that deletes saves upon uninstall (looking at you, Magic 2013).
6. You can get new app releases early by making a foreign region iTunes account. This really only works for free apps unless you decide to add legit billing information.
1) Log out of your current iTunes account.
2) If you're on a Mac or PC, change the store region to your desired region. New Zealand seems to get new stuff the earliest, so I'd suggest changing it to that. If you're on an iOS device, find a free app and start the install process.
3) In either case, you'll be prompted to login with an existing account or to create a new one. Choose to create a new one.
4) Go through the registration process, making sure your new desired region was selected for your account. For billing information, make sure you select "none". Use dummy info for the name, address, and e-mail.
5) After you've created the account, complete the verification process outlined in the e-mail you were sent.
6) Log into the new account (assuming you weren't automatically logged in), find the app you want to download, and start downloading.
7) I'd recommend at least starting the app while logged into the new account just to make sure everything's hunky-dory, though this likely isn't necessary. Once you're satisfied everything's in working order, log out of the new account and log back into your main iTunes account. You'll be able to use the app downloaded under the foreign region account just fine while logged into your main account.
2) If you're on a Mac or PC, change the store region to your desired region. New Zealand seems to get new stuff the earliest, so I'd suggest changing it to that. If you're on an iOS device, find a free app and start the install process.
3) In either case, you'll be prompted to login with an existing account or to create a new one. Choose to create a new one.
4) Go through the registration process, making sure your new desired region was selected for your account. For billing information, make sure you select "none". Use dummy info for the name, address, and e-mail.
5) After you've created the account, complete the verification process outlined in the e-mail you were sent.
6) Log into the new account (assuming you weren't automatically logged in), find the app you want to download, and start downloading.
7) I'd recommend at least starting the app while logged into the new account just to make sure everything's hunky-dory, though this likely isn't necessary. Once you're satisfied everything's in working order, log out of the new account and log back into your main iTunes account. You'll be able to use the app downloaded under the foreign region account just fine while logged into your main account.
Notable games to be on the watch for this year
Dragon Quest 5-7 (DQ5 coming to Japanese store Dec. 12th, rest unannounced)
Mevius Final Fantasy
Hitman Sniper (sort of like Sniper Elite set in the Hitman universe but without the cool killcam)
Dominion (finally getting a port of the classic card game this year [Maybe? Probably not.].)
Calvino Noir (2D side scrolling heist game set in the 1920s)
Space Hulk: Ascension
Chaos Rings III
The following list of recommendations is only meant to provide some points of entry for various genres, and as such is by no means exhaustive. I’ve tried to include games that are universal, are optimized for retina and widescreen (iPhone 5+) displays, and aren’t freemium IAP fests. Games that are iPad only are marked with a *.
Tower Defense
Plants vs Zombies The original PopCap classic, feature complete and with shiny retina optimization. PvZ2 is also available for free, albeit with some IAP that doesn't really hamper the experience.
Anomaly 2 A sequel to Anomaly Warzone Earth, the first (or at least, the most well known) game to invert the TD formula where the player controls the things being shot at by the towers.
Fieldrunners 2 Another sequel that will feel familiar to fans of the original and TD games in general; there’s just more and new stuff and improvements to the overall experience. The mechanics are traditional in nature, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. There’s a free “lite” version if you want to get a taste to see if this is to your liking.
Kingdom Rush Frontiers (HD*) The sequel to Kingdom Rush, one of the absolute best TD games on iOS. Frontiers adds new everything while fleshing out some of the more lackluster (such as they were) elements of the original. But really, you couldn’t go wrong with either one. Some races can be unlocked through play while others are available only through IAP.
Block Fortress A mix of TD and FPS. The first phase of a round has you in planning mode, where you map out your routes. The second phase thrusts you into FPS mode, where you get to move around and partake in the action by pew pewing dudes. So sort of like Sanctum.
Platformers
Sonic CD (shamelessly stolen from Rorus Raz’s previous OP) Once upon a time a company named SEGA decided to release some Sonic ports to the app store. They were horrible train wrecks that were a shame to the Hedgehog's legacy. One day, a gent by the name of Christian Whitehead flipped off the Heavens and decided he could do better. So he pretty much remade Sonic CD from the goddamn ground-up, with a fancy new engine and shit. Luckily for Whitehead, SEGA was experiencing a period of clarity and working on shit like Colors and Generations. So they just hired the dude to make their Sonic CD remake. I dunno how much of that is true but in a nutshell: Christian Whitehead has made what many are saying is the new gold standard for platformers on iOS. The fact that it's also what many call the greatest Sonic game ever doesn't hurt. DID I MENTION IT ALSO HAS TAILS NOW? CAUSE IT DOES. (Sonic 1 and 2 have since received the same treatment, and CD and Sonic 1 now have controller support.)
Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor An original, puzzle-like platformer. You play as a spider that must trap bugs in its webs in order to open portals to the next level. The puzzle element comes with figuring out how to trap the most bugs using as few webs as possible as quickly as possible to maximize your score. Of course you don’t have to do any of that and simply enjoy it as a soothing, well-designed platformer. Controls are built for touch but can be a bit finicky, but most of the time they’re just fine.
Waking Mars Made by the same people that made Spider, this game is at least as fun as its predecessor. Maybe even more so given the Metroidvania-like nature of the gameplay. You play as a lonely astronaut on Mars who has been tasked with the job of cultivating the biological life on the planet all while discovering big red’s mysteries.
Rayman Jungle Run A platformer of the “runner” variety, but actually good. Fantastic, even! There are actual levels to complete, so not an “endless runner”, and those levels can be replayed to improve scores and collect any coins you miss.
The Incident A bit different from your typical platformer, the goal of this is to scale the giant piles of random stuff that keeps trying to fall on your head and kill you. What’s at the top? No idea, but I bet it’s disappointing!
RPG
Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition* / Baldur's Gate II* 2013 was the year of the RPG for iOS, so it’s only appropriate that the macdaddy of PC RPGs kicked off the party (okay, so it was technically released on 12/12, but that’s beside the point). After a rather rocky launch, Beamdog has polished this port up to be on par with what you’d expect BG on an iPad to play like. Some PC mods do work with this, but you’ll have to investigate those avenues for yourself. PC EE saves also work, though I’m unsure about non-EE saves. You get the entire base game, functional cross platform multiplayer, and The Black Pits with the initial buy-in. Two new characters, a voice pack, and a portrait pack are available as IAP. Saves from BG1 can be imported into BG2 just like god always intended.
The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (for iPad*) The original, and arguably best, RPG on the Nintendo DS has been ported to iOS and it’s nearly every bit as awesome as the original. And replayable. Seriously, this is one of the most replayable games ever, let alone of the RPG variety. If you’ve never played this before, you’re really missing out. The dual screen combat system of the DS version has been reworked (hence the Solo Remix moniker) for single screen play and is mostly a good fit here. The visuals are a bit of a mixed bag on the iPad: character sprites have been redrawn for retina displays, but the conversation boxes have some blurriness to them. This is not a universal app: if you want to play it on iPhones and iPads you have to buy both versions, neither of which is inexpensive. So choose wisely (ie. the device you’re most likely to spend the most time playing this on). Oh, and take a cue from the main protagonist, do yourself a huge favor, and play this with headphones on! The superb soundtrack was remixed for this port and sounds fantastic. No one knows what the hell is going on with this game.
Warhammer Quest Top down unforgiving dungeon crawling strategy RPG goodness set in the Warhammer Universe. Gather a party of four and venture forth for loot and blood. There’s a lot of content here by way of IAP expansions and character classes.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic The PC and Xbox classic is now available in all its glory, save for some minor graphical embellishments, for iOS devices. Movement and mouselook have been combined into one 360 degree system that’s sort of hard to explain – dragging up and down moves forward and back, and dragging side to side rotates the camera – but is a scheme that feels nice to me. It is possible to transfer PC saves to the iOS port with some slight file renaming, so if you don’t want to slog through Tanaris again and want to get right into the good stuff you can do so with some save game editor-fu.
Penny Arcade's On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 What, you thought I wouldn’t shill for at least one PA game in this OP? A fine port of Zeboyd’s retro 16-bit RPG. If you’ve ever played an RPG from the SNES era, or Cthulhu Saves the World, then you know how this plays. But it wouldn’t be a PA game if it didn’t send up everything we know and love from that era, now would it? All the DLC from previous versions is included here.
Board Games (aka the unsponsored TableTop shilling section)
Space Hulk* A faithful, perhaps too faithful for some, adaptation of the Warhammer 40K boardgame. You and your squad conduct missions on an absolutely massive space ship full of genestealers that would like you to please not do so. The corridors are claustrophobic, the marines slow, the dice rolls brutal, and you will die, but you’ll likely have fun in the process. More missions are available via IAP expansions, as are skin packs for the marines and genestealers. Also features cross platform multiplayer.
Small World 2* The original app received a huge update that transformed the game from the original Small World into the fully featured SW2. The idea is to grab as much land as possible, which is done while playing as a number of race and class combinations. Instead of me wasting time trying to explain the mechanics, I’ll simply point you towards this excellent episode of TableTop instead. Features support for up to 5 AI/human players with pass and play, real-time and asynchronous online multiplayer over WiFi and Bluetooth, and a video tutorial for the uninitiated.
Le Havre (The Harbor) Become the next titan of (French) shipping industry by building up your manufacturing and shipping resources. Smart resource management is a necessity. There’s a lot to digest here, and you’ll likely have to play a few games to fully grasp the mechanics, but there is a very helpful walkthrough tutorial that will get you started and the payoff is very much worth the investment. Supports up to 5 AI/human players, pass and play, and solitaire modes.
Ticket to Ride* / (Pocket) From the same people responsible for Small World. Build up your score by building up your train routes. I’ll once again let TableTop do the heavy lifting. Pass and play with up to 5 local players or solo play with up to 4 AI, and helpful tutorials to get you up and chugging. More boards are available via IAP.
D&D Lords of Waterdeep A port of the board game from Wizards of the Coast by Playdek, the company responsible for some of the best card games on iOS. You take on the role of a Lord who must recruit adventurers to complete quests while upgrading your buildings within the city of Waterdeep. Yes, TableTop has played this one too. The game originally launched with an AI fond of publicly shaming lowly lords, but has apparently been tweaked to only be passively aggressive (at least on lower difficulties). Supports 2-5 human and AI players, pass and play, asynchronous and real-time online multi, and a tutorial for those uninitiated to the ways of lordly deceit and manipulation.
Card Games
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft* Blizzard's massively successful F2P card game finally landed for iPads in the Spring ensuring you will never, ever stop being an addict. This soul-sucking hellbeast is quick and easy enough to learn the basics of, and before long you'll be in rage-filled tears trying to keep up with the metagame (but in a good way, I guess?). Play modes include a practice mode against a (moronic) AI, a (sorta) story-driven single player campaign mode (Curse of Naxxramas expansion, more to come I'm sure!), ranked multiplayer, "I'm grinding out dailies/curb stomping n00bs/don't feel like potentially losing my rank" casual multi, and arena multi (semi-random draft). iPhone support is coming early 2015. God help us all.
Magic 2013* The cardboard giant on iOS. This is a mobile port of the previous game from the Duels of the Planeswalkers series, which consists of decks prebuilt around themes, though you can unlock new cards for decks through play. Those looking for all of the freedom of deckbuilding that something like the physical counterpart or MTGO provides will not be satisfied, but those looking to get into the game without the massive financial investment or having to deal with the fanbase, are lapsed addicts, or just want a quick pick up and play session without having to track down friends will find plenty of enjoyment here. Full game unlock and additional deck packs are available via IAP. There’s a newer version, Magic 2014, available but it’s apparently a major crash fest and is probably best avoided for the time being.
Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer Quite possibly the best and most addictive card game available on iOS (yes, that includes Hearthstone). Each player starts out with the exact same 10 cards and builds their deck from a shared pool of cards that changes as the game progresses, thus forcing on the fly changes to strategy. A very simple game to learn, yet difficult to master. A tutorial is available, as is asynchronous online multiplayer and local multiplayer with support for up to 4 players. Additional expansions and promo packs are available via IAP.
Penny Arcade: Gamers vs. Evil This is yet another Playdek digital translation of a physical game. If you haven’t noticed yet, Playdek does great work. My understanding is that it plays a bit like a mix of Ascension (yeah) and Dominion (dunno) which, if you’re going to borrow some of your mechanics from some games, are two great choices to crib from (and wtf is our Dominion iOS port?). Offline pass and play and AI modes for 2-4 players, online asynchronous multiplayer, blah blah blah.
Fairway Solitaire (HD*) Some things just go well together, and that list of thing grew a little bit longer when Big Fish Games decided to mush golf with solitaire. The goal is to clear each hole by playing cards one higher or lower than the top card on the deck to eventually clear each course at par or under. You get boku points for stringing together long chains of cards (with super satisfying audio as accompaniment), and if you get stuck in a rut you can play clubs from your bag that serve as combo extenders. Special kudos to the in-game color commentary, which is really funny despite maintaining a PG tone. This is by far the most fun you’ll ever have playing golf.
Sterica on
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Posts
Papa Sangre II A very interesting gaming experience that could really only be delivered through a portable device as the entire game is conveyed solely through sound (so play with headphones!). You are dead, and you are trying to fix that. Seems only fitting, then, that the game is narrated by fiction’s most beloved purveyor of deceased men, Sean Bean! Turn on gyroscope controls, put on some headphones, turn off the lights, close your eyes, and enjoy.
Gemini Rue The Wadjet Eye modern retro classic, now in the palm(s) of your hand. You play as two characters, a detective and a test subject, in a Blade Runner-esque world that explores facets of identity. Wadjet Eye has become something of a brand name in retro-esque point and click, and though this is not their first game it is the one that made people start paying attention to them.
DEVICE 6 Text adventure gaming for the modern day, the game is conveyed primarily through the written word. You wake up on a remote island with little memory of how you got there and must analyze clues to progress. If you have any interest at all in typography, you must get this. It’s not very long, but it is very much worthwhile.
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP A game that succeeds or fails (depending on your POV) primarily due to the presentation. The pixel visuals and soundtrack are some of the finest around, but the zen-like writing and dialogue will either charm you or annoy the crap out of you. Adventuring/sworcery is conducted in landscape mode, while switching to portrait mode thrusts you into combat/sword mode. There really isn’t anything quite like it, and it deserves to be played on a mobile device even if you’ve already played the PC version. Another game in which headphones are recommended to the point of being a requirement.
The Walking Dead: Season 2 The sequel to the excellent Telltale game, which is also available. Season pass for the rest of the episodes is $15.
Action
Republique Stealth action adventure done very well. You direct a woman named Hope, who is trapped in a yucky totalitarian country, through the process of sneaking around and hacking into the nation’s oppressive surveillance system. No funky virtual dpads or sticks to deal with here: all controls are done through tapping. The game is episodic: currently only episode one is available, but the season pass for future episodes is available via IAP for $15.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas I don’t really need to say anything about this, do I? Those familiar with the iOS ports of III and VC should know what they’re getting here. The first GTA to support physical controllers as well. If you want your GTA top-down style, do make sure to check out the excellent GTA: Chinatown Wars (recently updated for iOS 7 and retina displays).
Ridiculous Fishing – A Tale of Redemption “Fishing?! Fishing is boring!” Maybe, but we’re not talking about fishing. We’re talking about ridiculous fishing, and ridiculous fishing is more action-packed than every action movie that pansy Austrian guvanator guy was in! First you hook em, then you reel em in, then you MELT THE GUTS OUT OF THEM WITH A MINIGUN! Or power up your fishing line with a god damned TESLA COIL! The next time your boring grandpa tries to school you on the boring merits of boring fly fishing, tell him that real men fish with CHAINSAWS, bitch! (Also, hats.)
Oceanhorn Likely the closest we’re ever going to get to seeing Wind Waker on iOS, Oceanhorn is a rather shameless rip off of the beloved Zelda title. But it’s pretty danged good, so who cares? This also answers the age old question, “What would a Zelda game scored by Nobuo Uematsu sound like?” The devs keep adding new features with free updates, but the next update coming December 11th will introduce a new "ultra-quality" graphics setting for the iPhone 6 line and the iPad Air 2 to make the game look extra pretty (as opposed to just "pretty" graphics for the commoners).
url="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id554223561?mt=8"]Punch Quest[/url] An endless runner that focuses more on punching demonic shitheads in the face than platforming. Combos yield more points, and branching paths let you choose the difficulty of your quest as you play. A wide variety of abilities are available for experimentations in pugilism. There are IAPs available, but the game is incredibly friendly to those that don’t want to spend a penny. However, it would be cool if you did pick up the coin doubler as a means of tipping the devs for making such a spiffy game.
Strategy
XCOM: Enemy Unknown / XCOM: Enemy Within The true XCOM successor has found its way to iOS, and it’s wunderbar! It’s missing some of the atmospheric touches you’ll get from running the game at max visual settings on a PC, but that’s all that’s missing. Enemy Within is the standalone expansion that a lot of people seem to agree is better than EU in pretty much every way. So if you're only going to get one (to which I ask, "why?"), make it EW. Performance is decent if not a bit choppy with slow load times on iPad 3, so tread carefully if you’re on a device older than the iPad 4.
rymdkapsel A mostly zen-like base building RTS with a Tetris-ish visual style. Pretty relaxing game until you start running into waves every 30 seconds and get completely wrecked. You'll be back for more though, and you'll like it.
Worms 3 This is not the first iOS entry of the classic series, but it’s probably the best. If for some reason you’re not familiar with Worms, you have my sympathy. The idea is to shoot, explode, prod, poison, and drown your opponents before they do the same to you. This entry introduces an entirely optional “card” system that provides power-ups, and classes of worms. Features an offline campaign, online asynchronous multiplayer, and even native AirPlay support for super secret move plotting.
Frozen Synapse If you played the PC version at all then you know what you’re getting into here. If not…well, chances are you've never played a turn-based strategy game quite like this before. You assign orders to your squaddies who then carry out those orders in real-time. The key is in the planning, which is meticulous. You control everything from where troops go and which weapons they use to how long they stay at a position and how they move in cover. If you ever wanted to control every minute detail of your squads, and then see how your planning plays out in real-time against an opponent who also did a ton of planning ahead, you’ll absolutely love this. If you’re too skittish or overwhelmed to dive right into the online multiplayer, you can embark on the lengthy 55 mission singleplayer campaign or setup a skirmish. You can also bring over your stats from the PC version if you sign in with your account.
Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim The best way I can think of to describe this game is “casual strategy.” There are RPG and RTS elements here, but neither are very cognitively taxing. This is the perfect game to pick up when you want to play a game with some strategic elements but want don’t want to have to think too hard about them. The tone and visuals are charming and do not take themselves at all seriously. Alternately, this is a great game for introducing those who have never played a strategy game before to the genre. Gameplay revolves around a mix of sending minions out to destroy and loot, keeping some back home for defense, and building up your base.
Puzzle
The Room Two Do you enjoy games that evoke the visual aesthetics of Myst? Do you enjoy being locked in a room and forced to solve gizmo-puzzles? Hell, did you enjoy The Room? Yes? Then you’ll enjoy this. Wait, you haven’t played The Room? Do that first. It was Apple’s 2012 iPad GotY, and for good reason. (Speaking of Myst, it, Riven, and realMyst are available on iOS).
Threes! The hotness in iOS puzzling, Threes! is all about sliding blocks together to create combinations of numbers that are factors of 3. Like so. Often imitated, never surpassed.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective An overlooked Nintendo DS title that was released with little fanfare during an awkward period in the console’s lifespan (when everyone’s eyes were on the soon-to-be-released 3DS) the title has seen something of a new life on iOS. Fitting, given the subject matter. You wake up dead in a landfill, and upon waking watch a young red headed girl get shot by a hitman. Your job? Help her avert her fate. You’ll meet a number of eccentric characters, solve puzzles, and revive the girl who dies more than Captain Jack as you progress along your quest to discover who you were, why you were killed, and who did the deed. First chapter’s free, all others are available via IAP.
SpaceChem* This game will give you a headache. The goal is to create chemical compounds, but secretly this game is about programming. Sure, you could create grand complicated designs to achieve your goal, but that’s wasteful and inefficient. The true difficulty of this game lies in simplifying your designs into powerhouses of systemic efficiency. And give you a huge headache in the process.
Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright Trilogy HD The first three games of the excellent Nintendo DS series. This port is honestly a bit lazy and lacking in polish, it’s not even full screen on an iPad for instance, but if you’ve never played any of the games in the series before and have no other means of playing them then this will do. The games themselves are still fun as hell, even if you can’t yell OBJECTION! anymore. You play an up and coming hotshot attorney that must investigate crime scenes, interview persons of interest, and win the day in the courtroom. The first two cases of the first game are free to play.
Adult Swim Games
Last, but definitely not least, is a special section devoted to ASG. None of their games really have anything to do with their TV programming, but the totally whacked out sense of humor is entirely intact in all of their games. And speaking of those games, they’re some of the weirdest, most trippy, and downright fun games on the platform.
Castle Doombad The newest game from ASG, this is their take on tower defense. It’s also one of the most enjoyable TD games to come along in awhile. It’s up to you, evil hooded skeleton guy, to protect your home from those damned hero types as they scale their way up your horizontal castle of doom(bad) to save their (now your) princess.
Monsters Ate My Condo Jenga meets Japanese monster culture viewed through a haze of LSD and ADHD. Feed monsters condos to keep them from wrecking your pretty tower while matching and building combos of like-colored boxes for huge points. A F2P sequel, Super Monsters Ate My Condo!, is also available but only has a two minute attack mode for play (though it has a lot more power ups and slightly fleshed out gameplay).
Giant Boulder of Death You are a giant boulder. Of death. And yodels.
Velocirapture Rapture thy green dino-disciples to the high heavens with thy mighty hand! Smite the red heathens to the tyranno-hell they deserve!
Major Mayhem Possibly the best rail shooter on iOS. Shoot baddies and their pathetic attempts to kill you before they actually somehow manage to kill you. Or blow them up with grenades and quadzookas. Mayhem doesn’t discriminate!
Thread Recommendations
A special section for games recommended by the thread, for the thread (and others too, I guess). Please post an app store link along with your recommendation, otherwise it won't be posted here.
Pandemic* iOS port of the co-op board game. Play by yourself or play with up to 4 friends locally.
Forbidden Island* Cooperative game of strategy and courage as you and up to three other adventurers attempt to capture the four ancient treasures hidden on a sinking island. 1-4 local players.
Order & Chaos Online Probably the closest thing to WoW on iOS. Has a ton of IAPs, but is apparently very playable without them.
Enviro-Bear I don't even know.
Hoplite Hex based roguelike puzzle game.
Don't Look Back
Calculords Math deckbuilding + minion/ability deckbuilding + feeling dumb + the good kind of F2P/IAP structure = new addictive fun
Monument Valley Low-key, Escher-like puzzle game with a visual style reminiscent of FEZ.
I haven't played the Vita version, but I think it's supposed to be just like the console one, right? iOS is quite a bit different. I liked it and feel it controlled well (I think I had an easier time flying here than on consoles), but it comes up short in other ways, while still having its own perks-- such as playable Ryo in the transforming SEGA arcade cabinet.
It's good on its own merits, especially as iOS versions go, but Ryo aside, I'd probably argue that the console version has it beat on content.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
- I'd move Oceanhorn out of "Action" and into RPG. I'd also recommend adding Order & Chaos Online to RPG describing it as a World of Warcraft clone (and a good one at that). The IAPs are purely optional in it.
- Maybe also add a section called "Timer-based games"? And include games like The Simpson Tapped Out, Clash of Clans, Tribez, and My Singing Monsters
- For board games i recommend Forbidden Island
Watch my music videos
I'm a big fan of Pocket Tactics. A bit more willing to use the full spectrum of scores than TouchArcade, which gives anything that isn't absolute crap at least 3.5 stars, usually 4 stars.
I'd also add Pandemic to the board games section.
And for anyone who skips over the OPs - Threes. Buy it. It's fantastic.
3DS FC: 0817-3759-2788
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
Oceanhorn is under action because Zelda games are considered action/adventure games, and what I've seen of the game from reviews and videos doesn't stray from that franchise's formula.
Timer games were intentionally left out, as I implied in the OP. People are absolutely free to discuss them in the thread, but I'm not adding them to the OP.
Sure, I can add PT. I wasn't aware of it, but after a cursory glance it looks like a pretty decent place.
And yes, definitely buy Threes. Especially while it's still holding a launch sale for, appropriately enough, 33% off. Such a delightful, quirky little game that actually requires almost zero math skills.
I actually had Pandemic in the OP until I realized Lords of Waterdeep was a board game and not a card game. I know the physical version is co-op, but I haven't played the iOS port yet so I don't know how enjoyable playing by yourself is. I wanted games in there that people could safely pick up and enjoy solo. So that's why it lost it it's spot.
I'm going to limit the genre entries to 5 each, but I'll add a section for thread recommendations. If you guys could post little blurbs and store links for the apps when you make the recommendations that would be super helpful.
My current list of games that I am hoping to spend some iBux on:
Out There
Warhammer 40k Space Wolf
Battleheart Legacy
Faster Than Light
Hearthstone
Chainsaw Warrior
Warhammer Quest iAP
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Just heard about this today, checked it out, and have to agree.
It's ever so slightly reminiscent of Triple Town, but more interesting.
I threw a few bucks at them after I'd had a few great Space Team get togethers. None of the IAP's are necessary, and the cat is my favorite, but they are all amazing.
Edit: Would it be a good idea to add a Roguelike heading to the guide above? I know it's already pretty exhaustive (great job BTW), but that's one genre I always feel I have to do some scratching around in to find the goods.
I really don't want to get into devoting entire sections of the OP to subgenres, especially niche ones. It's why I didn't do separate sections for things like shmups, JRPGs, or point and click adventures. The OP is only meant to give people an idea of what's available in broad strokes. If there were any really killer roguelikes available I would have given one a nod in the RPG section, but most of the ones from the old OP hadn't been updated in forever and none of the games in the list seemed worthy of bumping off any of the games I included (maybe 100 Rogues, but, eh). If anyone has any specific recommendations I'll certainly add them to the thread recs, but I'm not going to put any effort into making a separate section for them.
It's Canabalt for people who hate themselves.
It reminds me of Super Hexagon, in a way. It's extremely simple to play. Sessions don't last more than a few seconds, so they're really quick, and it's genuinely difficult. It tests your reflexes. When you screw up, you know exactly how you screwed up and instantly go "ah shit" seemingly before the game spits out the "you suck" screen with your score.
Apparently it really got some momentum when PewDiePie streamed it.
Also I just got an iPad so if people could suggest iPad only games that'd be cool. If people could suggest board games that normally cost $50-100 dollars that I can play on the iPad for like $5 that'd be cool too.
I think maybe they recently released an iPhone version, so maybe you've played it, but if not: The Room. So good.
The usual board games are all there -- Catan, Ticket to Ride, Small World, Carcassonne. Even Monopoly plays great since it keep track of everything for you and makes gameplay go faster.
Also check out: http://ipadboardgames.org
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When I boot up the game, it takes me to my game in progress, if I have one, or it takes me to a board displaying all the multiples of 3 I've unlocked so far.
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Hmm, I get that too now that I've switched off "Conserve Battery". I guess maybe that was preventing the game from marking the tutorial as complete, I think I enabled it during my first game.
Agricola and Le Havre are both expensive games that are great on ipad. Every day I play Small World and Lords of Waterdeep. They are very good and pretty easy to get online games going. Anybody else play these?
In other news, I've been absorbed by Warhammer Quest since it was on sale for a buck. Good buy, that!
"You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should."
The Room and its sequel were both excellent. Really great use of the platform.
Steam: adamjnet
i played other RPGs like Ravensword and Shadow Sun but they never really did it for me the same way Aralon did.
YAY!
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Apparently it's freemium...
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The blocks you can dig out look to be roughly 40% instant (well, like 4 seconds), 40% take 4 hours, and 20% take 24 hours. The 24 hour blocks are only the ones along the outside perimeter, so if you just feel like avoiding that ring of stubborn blocks, you could built a perfectly awesome dungeon without ever having to dig one out.
Raiding and defending are both pretty fun, and result in loot, so that's fun. So, yeah, definitely not the nightmare machine some folks are making it out to be, although I understand if they feel it violates the DK legacy. I guess I'm glad I have no knowledge of the series to get me down on this.
just seen on pocket tactics:
give 2 me
It did lead to the creation of Flappy Bert, at least.
Just in case you need to introduce any children to the concept of digital masochism.
You need to add the times together for say, digging a 3x3 room (which can take the better part of a week later). Additionally, costs of things you need to get better creatures, rooms and similar escalate rapidly. A while ago before they patched the game and I don't know if it's still like this, you needed only 120,000 stone for a level 4 (or maybe level 3, can't quite remember) dungeon heart. Then they put in an update and increased the stone from what I quoted to 600,000. Not only does that require you to get a significantly higher amount of stone, but it requires you to dig out and link more area to store the stone (because you have limited storage). This drastically starts to increase the time required to do certain tasks and hence some of the complaints. In fact they have patched the game numerous times and every time it's been to increase the amount of work required to earn something, usually dramatically so.
So yeah, I get the total disappointment for fans of the series, but it feels a lot more fun to me than the Tiny _____ games, as far as the relatively shitty F2P stuff goes. We'll see if it's still even remotely playable without spending money after another day or two.
WOW!
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Apparently it's freemium... please don't suck...
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