TouchDown - Issue 9
Published: January 24, 2010
Welcome to another TouchDown, summarising the weeks news in the world of iPhone and iPod Touch gaming.
It’s certainly been a busy week, what with the surprise release of GTA: China Town wars from Rockstar (see our comparison video here), and the official release date and price of Assassin’s Creed 2, for those who didn’t grab it the first time round (you can hear our thoughts on AC2 on our podcast).
iWhat-cha-ma-call-it
Before going though the other news of the past week, I quickly want to bring to your attention to next week’s big news. Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the last few weeks you’ll no doubt have heard about Apple’s event on Wednesday 27. While we won’t be there in person, we know people who will. We’ll be posting live updates to a group Friend Feed along with our O.A.T.S friends, sharing our thoughts and live images on the news as it happens. So be sure to check out http://friendfeed.com/2010-01-apple-event-tablet-os4 on the 27th… it’ll be emotional!
Astro Ranch get’s a date
TAG games have confirmed that Astro Ranch launch date will be 21st Feb.We’ve been playing the Beta, and hope to share more on this Animal Crossing style game soon.
Finally… fantasy!
After giving us a few AppStore releases that are more miss than hit, SquareEnix announced on Twitter that they are bringing Final fantasy 1 and 2 to iPhone and iPod Touch. Judging by the screenshots it’s looks like they will closely follow the recent PSP remakes. No release date yet, only the dreaded TBA… so stay tuned!
Ultimate re-hash
SEGA have announced they are bringing their Ultimate Collection of Genesis/Megadrive games to iPhone. Unlike their standalone releases of Sonic and Golden Axe, the ultimate collection will run like an emulator, allowing you to run the games with-in the one app. Don’t excited and expect to load up your library of illegal roms, as you’ll still have to pay a premium for a limited library of games you no-doubt already own on dusty old cartridges. Come this February using the in-app purchasing, you’ll be able to pick up Sonic (again), Golden-axe (again), Echo the Dolphin and Shining Force. The good news is that the app itself will be free and include Space Harrier 2. Think of it as the Wii’s virtual console on your phone… let’s just hope they follow it up with some more titles.
101 = a ton
Nordcurrent, a European game developer and publisher, announced this week that 101-in-1 Games on January 28 for iPhone and iPod Touch. 101-in-1 Games is a compilation of 101mini-games spanning across numerous genres including arcade action, racing, sports, cooking, shooting, and Sudoku… the price for all these games?….. $2.99.
This harks back to the good old days in the late 80s when you bought a similar bundle for your Spectrum or Atari, only to find that only one two games were just about playable. Lets hope 101-in-1 has the quality as well as the quantity! Here’s some screenies:
Guerrilla Bob vs Mini-Gore
Chillingo are bringing the worlds of two of their games together. Guerrilla Bob will feature our Mini-Gore Hero John Gore. It looks like there’s some history between them too according to Chillingo:
It all started with two best friends. Bob and John Gore have been friends since they were 10, and continued to be best buddies through high school, and then through college. Eventually, Bob decided to enroll in the army, while John Gore chose a life of crime and money. Bob got great achievements and got promotion after promotion, until he got to be a national hero. Jealous of his success, John Gore set him up so that Bob would look like a corrupt soldier. So Bob was kicked out of the army. With nothing left to do, Bob decided to get REVENGE, and became a rebel. From then on, he would go by the name Guerrilla Bob. One day, Bob found that the army had a plan to nuke the place where his old friend John Gore had his troops. He sabotaged the plan, so he’d go in by himself and hunt them down one by one.
Brothers in Arms 2
One of Gameloft’s first premium titles for iPhone, released back in 2008 was Brothers in Arms: Hour of heroes, a port of their DS game. Played in 3rd person view it was a solid action game, where we gave it 3.5 stars. it must have faired pretty well on the Appstore because Gameloft are bringing out the sequel. We’ll be getting hands-on with the game next week, so be sure to look out for that. In the meantime check out the teaser below.
1000 Find ‘Em all
No it’s not a Pokemon clone, though you’d be forgiven for thinking it was from the screenshots. No, 1000 find ‘em all is a GPS treasure hunt game which sees you running around your hometown looking for objects to collect. Check out the introductory video below… looks kinda cool, especially for you more rotund gamers out there who need the exercise!
Isaac Newton’s gravity
Wait, don’t fall asleep… it’s not a science lesson! It’s an interesting looking physics puzzler from Namco… out now for £3.99. It features 50 levels of gravity based puzzles, as well as new downloadable levels, and a level editor for creating new levels to share with friends.
or
If you would like to save yourself a few dollars or pounds, how about trying out the similarly style puzzle game called Rafter. For $0.99 you get similar gameplay only this time you sketch the objects into the game
Riddim Ribbon coming Feb 8th
The long awaited rhythm-come-racing game is coming on February 8th, say Tapulous on their blog. Not only that but the game will feature music from the Black Eyed Peas.
Check out the new video below
Dawn of the Dead
Bytemark have unleashed Zombies onto your iPhone and iPod Touch with the release of their top down shooter based on the official movie license. “We are thrilled to bring this hit movie to life as we challenge gamers of all levels to defeat the undead and survive by any means necessary, ” says Bytemark CEO, Jon Wals
Game Features:
• Play as one of three characters, each with different attributes; the nurse, the police officer, or the salesman.
• Discover new, more powerful weapons as you make your way through the mall.
• Survive by any means necessary: find and use a variety of guns or get up close and personal with a baseball bat, golf club, axe and more.
• Visuals created from fully rendered 3D models establish an unmatched sense of realism and immersion.
• Two ways to play: Play through Story mode or test your skills in a variety of intense un-lockable Challenges.
• Multiple levels of difficulty offer a challenge for any level iPhone gamer.
• 5 unique levels that take you from the parking lot to the terrifying underbelly of the Crossroads Mall.
If you’ve played iDracula or Mini-Gore, then it’s much of the same. However the 2D presentation isn’t as visually appealing as either of those two. Check out the footage of the game in action below
Broken Sword
Fans of point-and-click adventures will no doubt geek out at the news that Broken Sowrd is coimg to iPhone and iPod Touch. It will be released on the 25th and will include new features created only for iPhone and iPod Touch players. You can check out more info here.
finally….
we like to bring you attention to the smaller games out there. As well as the premium games from the bigger studios, the AppStore plays host to some truly great games from indie developers and they need love too… so here are three that caught our attention.
Tilt to live
We love the look of the artstyle for this one. Tilt to Live sees you tilting to avoid constantly spawning enemies. You can also whittling away their numbers with 8 different weapon pickups. Running over a weapon orb will unleash an ice blast, cluster missiles, nuke, or even activate a spinning spike shield.
Project Void
A stylish looking twist on Tetris, where the goal is to use Tetris-styled pieces to cover randomly generated game boards. Along the way to the finish line you’ll encounter various obstacles and powerups. There are two game modes to experience - a more casual, friendly mode, and a hardcore timed mode for you crazies out there. Out now for $1.99.
Buster Red
This top down hand drawn shoot-em up sees you mashing your way though waves of enemies with level progression from easy to bullet hell extreme! Out now for $0.99.
Well, that’s it for another week… remember to check back for the latest reviews and news. keep it TouchGen!
Review disclosure: Any games reviewed on this page may have been provided to us by the developer for the purposes of this review. Note: the resulting review score is never impeded by this fact, all opinions are that of the TouchGen reviewer and not the developer. This is in keeping with our O.A.T.S oath. Read more about O.A.T.S here
4 Comments on "TouchDown - Issue 9"
legend.inc on Mon, 25th Jan 2010 2:52 am
Really excited for Riddim Ribbon and Brothers in Arms 2.
Tim on Mon, 25th Jan 2010 9:23 am
That Dawn of the Dead game is crap. Disappointing too, as I’m such a huge fan of the films.
But the Final Fantasy news has me so excited. My nipples could cut glass right now.
Casse on Mon, 25th Jan 2010 12:35 pm
Who’s Joe Gore??
The character in Minigore is called JOHN Gore
Nigel Wood, UK on Mon, 25th Jan 2010 12:47 pm
That’s what I thought too, but that is what the Chillingo PR rep gave me