We made wine, built pyramids, and fed inmates at this demo!
Update: Added screens!
99Games had three brand new games to show off, along with a slick HD version of an original iPhone title. All four of these games are set to release during this month, and the first three will only be available on the iPad at launch.
Prison Mayhem
This was probably the most straightforward title we saw from 99Games. You play as Pluto, a mafia-born member who’s trying to get out of the family business. You do this by working at a prison – pretty much the opposite of what daddy would want for you.
The gameplay in Prison Mayhem is what you would expect from a time management game. It 
starts off slow as prisoners show up at the prison and require you to assign them to cells. Pretty soon, you’re needing to feed prisoners, supply them with basic amenities, and eventually let them go on good behavior. If you take too long, prisoners have a tendencies to slip through your fingers and escape.
There are 4 different prisons, and 12 different types of prisoners, each with their own unique needs and nuances. One of the features that caught me by surprise is the ability to create your own custom prisons and share them with friends online. You can also upgrade your own prisons with money you earn in-game.
Wine Maker Extraordinaire
Ever dream of becoming a wine maker who travels the world buying, selling, and create fine wines? Me neither, but Wine Maker Extraordinaire looks to provide a deep “tycoon” experience 
that combines the economical aspects of a trade sim with some fun puzzle adventure elements.
You play as Maria Bellaventure, who just inherited her grandfather’s vineyards, along with his recipe for Vino Ultimae – “the worlds most splendid wine!” Unfortunately, due to a family incident, the recipe was ripped up into separate pieces and sent to several wineries all over the world. It’s up to you to travel to several scenic locations in search of fine wine, and the missing recipe.
The biggest draw of Wine Maker Extraordinaire to me was it’s beautiful watercolored art style and locales. The game takes to several scenic locations, all with their own unique music and style. As mentioned, there are several minigames to play, from removing purities from grape buckets to pressing the right combination of grapes. Once you have your wine, you have to find the right seller, and make a profit to purchase new materials. It’s a concept that would normally not have interested me, had it not been presented in such a deep and artistic way.
Empire Builder: Ancient Egypt
I won’t lie, in many respects Empire Builder is a pretty faithful clone of Glu’s Build-a-Lot series. Obviously the setting is different, as everything here takes place in ancient Egypt, with you receiving orders from Pharoahs rather than wealthy land owners, but the idea (and even the 
interface) are pretty damn close. Build-a-Lot was a fun game, and Empire Builder has added a few features to set themselves apart.
One of the features we immediately saw was natural disasters, such as earthquakes, damaging houses. These happened quite a bit, and required more time and resources to repair. In response to some of these events, 99Games added a large number of amulets to the game, each with it’s own unique ability. For instance, one might make materials cheaper to buy, while another may ward aware natural disasters. Since you can only use one of these per game, there’s a level of strategy in choosing the right amulet as you unlock them.
Another different aspect of the game is bargaining for land prices. You have a chance to get a cheaper price if you haggle with the seller, but you also have the chance to lose the deal altogether. Finally, the ability to train a worker from your current pool to permanently perform different tasks is an interesting addition to the game. If you build a farm, you can raise the value by training a current construction worker to be a farmer. While it may follow closely to the Build-a-Lot building sim, there’s certainly plenty to set Empire Builder apart.
Wordsworth HD
We reviewed the iPhone version of Wordsworth a long time ago with favorably mixed feelings. However, both the new iPad version and the iPhone version have had some excellent visual 
upgrades. The gameplay is the same, with some added game modes, but the bread and butter lies in the multiplayer features.
First off, you can play together from the iPad to an iPhone, iPhone to an iPod, or any mixture in-between. The game plays the but, although the iPad version really looks and plays better due to the extra screen real estate. The big sell comes from the online multiplayer, however. 99Games has created an impressive in-house matchmaking system that uses a point system to rank players. If you are a high level player the smashes a noob, you will get very few points, but if the opposite occurs, the noob will get a large amount of points. This encourages players to play people at their own skill level to climb up the leaderboards.
We were impressed with the new coat of polish and features Wordsworth has received. If you’re a wordgame buff, or someone looking for a fun game to play with friends who own iDevices, Wordsworth should be worth (ha) a look when it’s released. There are also future plans to bring the experience to Facebook as well!
