It’s Turkey Day tomorrow and the App Store sales are in full force, but that didn’t stop developers from pushing out a wealth of new iOS gaming experiences a day early.
There are quite a number of Puzzles & Dragons-style matching games available on the App Store, but none of them have really interested me…until now. Tiny Rebel Games and the BBC have just released a rather entertaining free-to-play title in this vein called Doctor Who: Legacy. You are the Doctor, joining up with many of his past companions, trying to stop the warmongering Sontarians as they travel back through time creating chaos in the Doctor’s previous (television) adventures. It would be-who-ve you to give this one a try. Lots of fan service and no waiting around for recharges.
Other free-to-play offerings include Adventure Town where players get to build their own town and then entice the visiting heroes to fend off monsters and protect the townspeople, Fantasy Kingdom Defense – a tower defense game with daily login rewards and global leaderboards and Jetbee – Ready, set… GO ! a vertical platformer / racing game for one or two players, which stars cute little bees with jetpacks.
As for the paid titles, the first is Icycle: On Thin Ice. Expanded from a free Flash game, this uniquely odd puzzle platformer from the Damp Gnat, developers of the delightful Wonderputt features a a naked man (don’t worry you don’t see any of his bits or bobs) adopting some odd modes of transportation as he attempts to navigate a series of complex and ever-changing, crumpling and growing pathways in a complex and desolate frozen world. I am a fan of the Flash game so I’ll definitely be giving this one a go.
Zynga, released a swipe-controlled skateboarding game called Skateboard Slam. Get some air, pull off tricks and grab some coins to upgrade your skater, then take on your friends in turn-based match-ups.
I’m probably the only guy on the planet that hasn’t seen Anchorman, but the sequel hits theaters next month and Paramount Digital Entertainment offers Ron Burgundy fans an irreverent take on the classic wastebasket paper tossing game with Anchorman 2: Scotchy Scotch Toss, in which you are lobbing ice cubes into Burgandy’s scotch glass. Fans of the series will certainly be picking this one up.
As a fan of point and click adventure games, Headup Games’ The Inner World immediately caught my attention with its unique hand drawn 2D visuals. It promises about 6-8 hours of gameplay, has an extensive help system for struggling adventurers and is currently available at a special launch price of $2.99 for a limited time. There is an entertaining trailer on page two of this post, but it does contain some possible puzzle spoilers.
Big Blue Bubble adds a new dimension to their fun Burn the Rope series with Burn the Rope 3D. Help Wickman start the rope burning and then rotate the 3D puzzle to keep the flame alive and burn as much of the rope as possible. I really enjoyed the previous games in this series, so I’m looking forward to tackling these 70+ new, striking looking levels.
Toca Boca is back with their third outing at the hair salon biz and for the first time, they are letting everyone be the customer. Toca Hair Salon Me uses either an existing photo or one taken from the camera to magically transform you, your child, grandparent, pet or even favorite stuffed animal into a blinking and gesturing fully animated customer. It features even more colors and accessories and all of the great styling tools your child (and let’s face it…you) have come to love. This one will surely get a lot of laughs at the Thanksgiving dinner table. A must buy if you have kids.
Tin Man Games is back with an all-new Gamebook by fantasy artist Gary Chalk. In Gary Chalk’s Gun Dogs, you are a Gun Dog, a soldier assigned impossible missions and tethered by a magical collar which will choke you to death if you disobey your mission orders.” Sounds like we’re in for another thrilling adventure. Also don’t miss out on Tin Man’s HUGE Black Friday sale!
Finally this brings us to Skulls of the Shogun which finally makes its way to iOS. This Advance Warsinspired mash-up of tactical turn-based strategy game and arcade button masher from 17-BIT was met with rave reviews on XBLA and Windows phone for both its beautiful hand-drawn and hand animated graphics as well as its strategical gameplay. Any game where you get to “crush your enemies and eat their skulls” sounds like a winner to me.
Please leave a comment below letting us know what new games you picked up this week and have a great and safe holiday!
Universal
Doctor Who: Legacy
Tiny Rebel Games LLC
Free
Universal
Adventure Town
Supersolid Ltd
Free
Universal
Fantasy Kingdom Defense
Tequila Games Sp. z o.o.
Free
Universal
Jetbee – Ready, set… GO !
Bulkypix
Free
Universal
Icycle: On Thin Ice
Chillingo Ltd
99¢
Universal
Skateboard Slam
Zynga Inc.
99¢
Universal
Anchorman 2: Scotchy Scotch Toss
Paramount Digital Entertainment
99¢
Universal
Burn the Rope 3D
Big Blue Bubble
$2.99
Universal
The Inner World
Headup Games GmbH & Co KG
$2.99
Universal
Toca Hair Salon Me
Toca Boca AB
$2.99
Universal
Gary Chalk’s Gun Dogs
Tin Man Games
$3.99
Universal
Skulls of the Shogun
17-BIT, Inc.
$4.99
Go to the second page of this post to watch the trailers for these games.