Download Alien With A Magnet on iTunes!

This one touch puzzle platformer ramps up the difficulty and will toss you into a world fille dwith more than 45 levels along with a time trial gameplay mode. Loads of opportunities for increasing your score and shaving milliseconds off of your best times along with GameCenter support add loads of replayability to this one. Don't miss it!

Download Whril The Squirrel on iTunes!

Whirl The Squirrel has lost all of his precious THINGS to his 'nenemies. It's up to you to race through 18 wonderfully designed levels in this speed-run, racing platformer. Perfect for fans of Sonic the Hedgehog!

Download Evilot on iTunes!

An interesting Lane-Defense title from Syrenaica Development. Help Count Dolfus defend his treasure against the onslaught of knights and adventurers who are trying to steal it away from him. Only $0.99 in the AppStore!

Download Kinetic Damage on iTunes!

Easily one of the best fighting games on the iOS, Kinetic Damage presents an amount of depth that's rarely seen within the genre. Fans and newcomers alike should jump on this one ASAP!

Download Best Park In The Universe on iTunes!

Check out a brawler specifically designed for the touchscreens from Heavy Boat Games and Cartoon Network! 3 worlds, 15 levels and some intense action staring Mordecai and Rigby from CN's Regular Show! Be sure and grab this great little beat-em-up!

Download Liberation Maiden on iTunes!

From Level-5 and Grasshopper, the action packed mech shooter; Liberation Maiden is now available on the iOS! With improved graphics and controls, this is definitely one to dive in to.

Download Eve of Impact on iTunes!

One of the best Missile Defense games available, with awesome graphics, sweet gameplay, and now it's Universal! Check it out!

Friday, December 21, 2012

Alphadia 2 [Kemco & EXE Create] - $6.99


Well, it’s time once again; Kemco has released yet another top-of-the-pack Turn-Based RPG in the AppStore. Fans of Kemco know that just about every RPG that this studio has published carries with it some fantastic old-school gameplay, rivaled only by a few select developers, and able to hold their own up against the monster that is Final Fantasy. So, what has Kemco brought to the table this time around? How about a sequel to one of their previous games, the EXE-Create developed title; Alphadia 2. 


Alphadia 2, as you surely must have expected, jumps into the world of the original Alphadia, only 200 years after the events in the original. If you’re familiar with the original, you will be running into some familiar faces, as some of the characters from the original were designed clones, they are still around 200 years later. The Schwarzschild Empire is also still playing a roll and the Lightning Guild an even bigger one, and Energi is still a force that drives battles, assassination plots and wars. 
This time around, you’ll be following the story of Leon, a young Energi Guild member, Milfy, a researcher for The Guild who’s also connected to Leon’s past, Enah, who’s from the first Alphadia title, and Guildmistress along with others who will join your party along the way. 


All available members of your unit will always follow along with you, but you are only able to have a party of 4 enter battles. However, since other members follow along, you’re also able to switch out members for others if you so desire. Alphadia 2’s customization is almost exactly like the originals. Each of your characters will have a main element in which they’re proficient in, but you’re also able to level up other elements by equipping your characters with rings which you’re able to attach elements to. Once you equip your character with an elemental ring, they will start learning skills based in that element. Aside from that, Weapons and Armor are the only other items that you’ll have control over, and stats are increased on their own by leveling up your characters. 


If you remember playing through the original Alphadia, one of things that probably stuck out above everything else was the amount of battles you encountered. Thankfully, the grind has been lowered in the sequel, and progression through the story flows a lot quicker because of this. Also, leveling up of characters and skills has also been tweaked so that you’re not required to enter as many battles as you were in the original in order to gain skills and become stronger. However, gaining of currency is something that you might find yourself needing to grind for if you’re interested in always having the strongest gear, though this is by no means necessary in order to play through the game. 


Graphically, Alphadia 2 follows the same look as the original, but adds a bit of polish on top of it. It still retains it’s retro feeling throughout, and environments are again maze-like in structure. Though, as mentioned, with the number of random battles that you’ll be thrown into, getting through buildings, castles and dungeons is done at a much quicker pace. 
The menus are fairly different than the original’s, with more polish and easier navigation. The battles are also easier to get through since you’re able to use the d-pad and action button to select actions instead of having to reach up into the screen to tap on the action you want to perform. Along with the Auto battle option, Alphadia 2’s user interface has been restructured to allow for quicker and easier selection throughout the game, which is a great inclusion, and pretty much takes care of what you would expect a sequel to take care of.


Like all other Kemco titles, the translation is near perfect, with only minor grammatical errors here and there, allowing for players to fully understand the story and plot. This also helps players to become fully immersed in the story and characters, who, like previous titles, will grow on you fairly quickly. 
With Alphadia 2 launching at a special price of $2.99 instead of it’s original $6.99, it’s a great RPG to pick up for fans of the genre. If you’ve yet to be exposed to Kemco, Alphadia 2 would be a great jumping off point, and one that you don’t need to know the ins and outs of the previous Alphadia in order to fully enjoy. The only negative thing I can say about Alphadia 2 is that the game is not Universal, which means that iPad owners will have to play in 2X, but with the iPad 3 and 4’s ability to smooth out the graphics of 2X gameplay, this is becoming less and less of an issue. Alphadia 2 is optimized for the widescreen of the iPhone/iPod 5 as well. Kemco has proven, once again, that they are capable of being named along with Square Enix , Quest, Beam and others in the old-school RPG category. 




March On Oz [City State Entertainment] - $3.99


I remember way back in the year 2000 when I encountered the game American McGee's Alice. It was bold and took a fresh point of view at one of literature's most beloved characters/fantasy world. Somehow playing through that game changed the way I look at, or imagine, Wonderland for the rest of my life. Now I feel nostalgic or reminded about those times having to come across March on OZ.


City State Entertainment's first title for the iOS is a game that transports us to their own rendition of the magical land of Oz. Here, you play an unnamed protagonist which you'll create/customize, that is whisked away by a tornado (like Dorothy) into an alternate version of Oz, only to discover that the realm is in dire peril under the invasion of the evil, mechanical looking, gnomes. Being convinced by the good witch Locasta to assemble and lead the Ozian Army of Resistance against the forces of evil, you march on a military campaign through the Yellow Brick Road towards the mystical Emerald city.


This is a strategy game that uses a lane defense system where you place an Ozian unit on a particular lane/area to stop a wave of marching enemies. Pretty much, the gameplay mechanic is quite similar to Plants vs. Zombies but offers more depth and flows at a much faster and exciting pace. In this game you can discover, or learn, battle formations that have a specific function and perk, summon a band of flying monkeys by using a magical golden flute to eliminate opposing units on a lane and have unique/hero like units that you can put on the battlefield once thus setting it apart from PvZ.


Each level of the game has a four star objective system for rating your strategic or gaming skills and 3 different difficulty settings. It also features unlockable content such as mini games, comic strips of the story and an encyclopedia of the different creatures/characters you'll encounter in the world. Giving it a lot of the replayability options which most of us yearn for. Being equipped with an online file saving interface you can also be rest assured that your progression is safe and can be revisited.


The narration of the story is set on a humorous tone with quirky animated characters to discover as you go along the way. With a beautiful BGM/soundtrack and a lush rendered 3D environment, it makes the game feel more alive rather than dull or soulless, thus making me feel engaged and emotionally invested towards the game.


My only critism about March On Oz is the level select section that's not fixed yet as you can only replay the tutorial levels, though the developers already said they are working on a fix that is to be uploaded soon. It's very hard not to love this game as it is very polished and exuberates with much artistry. The game also has a lot of  features we request and yearn for in the mobile gaming world and has no IAP offering what so ever, which is pretty rare nowadays. The developers passion for making the game is felt on every detail or facet you come across as you play on. If you are a fan of Strategy or Tower Defense games be sure to check this title out.




**This review has been contributed to The App Shack by Alister from the Touch Arcade Forums**

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Raiden Legacy [DotEmu] - $4.99


DotEmu is definitely up there on our list of developers who do an amazing job with porting games to the iOS. R-Type, King of Fighters, The Last Express, Metal Slug 3, Blazing Star, I could pretty much list their entire catalogue when talking about great ports available in the AppStore. Their most recent release is no exception, and this time around they’ve brought another classic to the touch screen with Raiden Legacy. Not only have they ported over this must-own shmup, but DotEmu has also included 3 other Raiden titles in the package; Fighters, Fighters 2 and Fighters Jet. 


For those of you who are not familiar with Radien, now is a great chance to get acquainted. Not only will you be able to see where quite a few other shmups were influenced from, but you’ll be exposed to a hardcore shmup on par difficulty wise with bullet-hell titles from the likes of Cave and Doragon (Sunny Tam), as well as many other titles from non-iOS development studios. It’s always great when games can still hold their own after 20+ years. 
Not only does Raiden feature stages packed full of power-ups, loads of enemies and quick action like just about every other shmup out there, but it also incorporates some great features that help it to stand out, like bullet grazing, quite a few on-screen projectiles (at the time of it’s original release, it was known for having ‘loads’ of bullets, and even today is considered one of the first steps that brought shmups towards the bullet-hell subgenre) and a nice scoring system that includes the bullet grazing along with medals, two ‘secret’ items; the Fairy and Miclus, and end of level bonuses that multiply your remaining bombs by the number of medals you’ve picked up in the stage. There are also other little features that make the gameplay more interesting; various enemy projectiles, some of which can be ‘absorbed’ by your own shots, quick moving ‘grouped’ projectiles reminiscent of bullet curtain shots and a larger-than-the-screen play area that you can use to your advantage, like being able to avoid enemies as enemies that are not on-screen can not shoot at you.


Along with the original Raiden, Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters 2 and Raiden Fighters Jet are also included, all of which feature some of the same great mechanics as the original, including bullet grazing, medals and more. One of the major differences, aside from the graphical improvements, is the addition of numerous ships, each with their own strengths and weaknesses as well as some enhancements to the scoring system, charged shots and ‘slave’ ships that have a direct influence on the medal system. Needless to say, once you learn the ins and outs of each games scoring, they become a lot more difficult, as well as raise up the replay value and general fun factor of the games. 


Each of the 4 titles have the same game options. If you’re familiar with DotEmu’s previous releases, you pretty much know what to expect. You can change the game’s volume level (though you can’t change the sound effects and music volumes separately), turn video filtering off or on allowing for you to experience the games in their original pixilated graphics, or more ‘modern’ smoothed out graphics and switch the aspect ration between ‘original’, which puts a ‘dead zone’ at the bottom of the screen, and ‘full-screen’ which takes up the entire screen. You’re also able to adjust the controls by placing them anywhere on the screen, turn auto-fire on or off and switch between the original arcade ship speeds, adding quite a bit to the strategy and ship selection decisions, and fast touch, allowing for near 1:1 movement and speed. 
Along with the ‘typical’ DotEmu game options, you’re also able to choose between two difficulties for each game, Medium and Hard as well as play through the original Arcade Mode, Mission Mode which lets you play through single levels that you’ve unlocked by playing through Arcade Mode, and Training Mode, which gives you a chance to practice levels with unlimited continues. 


Of course, an iOS shmup isn’t really complete unless you’re able to chase other players high-scores. Raiden Legacy is supported by GameCenter and features 8 Leaderboards; two for each of the 4 titles, split up by difficulty. Along with the 8 Leaderboards there’s also 15 Achievements, most of which will take some pretty slick gaming to unlock. Along with all of this, Raiden Legacy also features iCade compatibility, giving players the opportunity to have an almost exact copy of the original arcade experience. 
There is one minor issue that I’ve run into while playing; starting the game back up after pausing it will give you a black screen for a second. During this second, the game has already started which can result in some very unnecessary deaths. But aside from this, Raiden Legacy is a near perfect port, as you might have expected coming from DotEmu. 


Priced at $4.99 and being Universal, Raiden Legacy is an incredible deal. If you told me years ago that I would be able to own Raiden for a mere 5 quarters, I would have laughed in your face. Shmup fans looking for a hardcore gaming experience up to par with the bullet hell titles available on the iOS would be doing themselves a favor picking this collection up. However, if you’re not very good at shmups, you should keep in mind that the Easy difficulty has been taken out of each of these games, so there just might be more frustration in here than you’re willing to deal with. With that in mind, it should also be said that DotEmu has done an incredible job in the past with adding tweaks and features to games based on customer and gamer feedback, so there is a real possibility that Easy could very well be added to the games in the future, so you just might want to keep an eye on the updates for Raiden Legacy in the future. Personally, I’ve got to put Raiden Legacy in my top 10 favorite iOS games of 2012, and it’s definitely a must-own for shmup lovers. 



Catching Up With Review Rewinds


First off, thank you all for bearing with us over the last month, but you'll be glad to hear that we're on our way back. Starting it all off, here's a list of Review Rewind games that we were unable to post over the last month;


[Rik Schennink]
Universal - $0.99

Eve Of Impact is easily our favorite Missile/Base Defense title on the iOS. It's beautiful and slick graphics help to make the game incredibly immersive and the strategic gameplay having a direct effect on how many humans are saved, how many asteroids you'll need to destroy and how you play the game in general is some of the best we've seen within the genre. Developer Rik Schennink recently updated the game to include Universal support along with some tweaks to the game, like making it so that not every asteroid will collide with Earth, adding another layer of strategy to the gameplay. If you're a fan of high-score chasing endless arcade titles with a fantastic atmosphere, Eve of Impact is definitely one that you should check out. 



[Chocolate Liberation Front/MTV]
Universal - $0.99

Chocolate Liberation Front's atmospheric platformer, Oscura, has been a favorite of mine ever since it was first released. Even though Version 1.0 only featured 7 levels, it has since been updated with another 5 bringing the total up to 12. Granted, that's not many when compared to basically every other platformer out there, buck luckily, those 12 levels are incredibly well done, and offer enough replay value to make the game worth purchasing. Each stage has a possible 4 star ranking based on how quickly you complete the stage, if you can collect all of the light shards in a stage, another for collecting all of the gears and lastly, one for completing the level without dying. Also included in an update was the addition of virtual controls. Sadly, there is no GameCenter integration, which would have been the final feature needed to give the game a 'complete' feeling, but even without it, Oscura is still a platformer that we highly recommend.



[Chris Neveu]
iPhone - $0.99

Miss Claire Garden, developed by Chris Neveu, was my favorite iOS platformer for quite some time. Incredibly reminiscent of Super Mario Brothers 2, with it's pick-up-and-throw-enemies mechanic, it featured some Metroidvania type gameplay and upgrades as well as incredible level design and very responsive controls. Still on my device today, and still in my top 5 favorites in terms of iOS platformers, Miss Claire Garden is a must own for platformer fans. Unfortunately, the game did not sell well, and didn't receive the support it deserved. It's always a shame when an amazing developer goes un-noticed and results in that developer to give up on the AppStore, but you can still find MCG available for purchase. This one is HIGHLY recommended. 



[Mumbo Jumbo]
iPhone/iPad - $2.99/$2.99 [HD]

Mumbo Jumbo's exploratory side-scrolling adventure title, Glowfish is a must-own. Unfortunately, Mumbo Jumbo had recently thrown in FULL SCREEN ADS to the iPhone version of the game, even if you've previously paid for it. For some reason, the ads are only in the iPhone build and nowhere to be found in the HD/iPad version. They have seemingly disappeared over the last couple of weeks, but because of the addition of the ads, with no mention of them in the update notes, it's become incredibly hard to fully recommend Glowfish to people who don't have it already. Luckily, the game does drop down to $0.99 and sometimes FREE on a pretty regular basis, so if you're willing to wait, it's definitely one to keep an eye on. With 50+ levels, beautiful graphics, a great 4 star rating system and loads of areas to explore, if you're a fan of exploration titles, it's one you should keep an eye on.



[OrangePixel]
Universal - $1.99

OrangePixel is easily one of the best old-school retro platformer developers around in the mobile scene. Their previous releases of Meganoid, Stardash, Super Drill Panic, Chrono&Cash and recently, Meganoid 2, are some of the best platformers available in the AppStore. Their Run'n'Gun Platformer INC is no exception. If you have yet to pick this one up, don't wait any longer. Right now, it's the best Run'n'Gun experience you'll find on the iOS, at least, that is, until their next title, GunSlugs hits the AppStore.



[Uppercut Games]
Universal - $2.99

Uppercut Game's cover based arcade shooter, EPOCH. was one of our favorite games of 2011, and recently, an update adding an Arena Mode along with new missions, new achievements, more leaderboards and more Intercepts to pick up, it's renewed our love of this amazing title. If you have yet to snag this one, don't wait any longer. It's definitely going to be known as an iOS classic if it isn't already, in some gamers minds.



[Witching Hour Studios]
Universal - $9.99

Up until recently, you could have picked up Ravenmark for an incredibly low price; $2.99. Granted, you would have had to pay for a couple of the campaigns, but it was an unbelievable price for what the game offered. Surprisingly, Witching Hour Studios took a daring risk; they raised the price of Ravenmark to $9.99 to better reflect the quality and offer the game in one full package - but also unlocked all of the campaigns for those of us who already owned the title for free. Those of us who had already purchased the campaigns were rewarded with some spiffy benefits to say thanks, and IAPs were removed except for the Tip Jars, which allowed players who didn't have the newest campaigns previously, but now had them unlocked for free to tip the developers as a thank you. Ravenmark is easily my favorite TBS title on the iOS platform. There's nothing that really comes close to the depth and gameplay that it offers. If you're a fan of the genre, Ravenmark is THE benchmark Turn-Based Strategy title that you NEED to own.



[True Axis&PomPom]
Universal - $3.99

Space Tripper was my personal GOTY for 2011, and is still a title that I consider one of my top 3 favorite iOS games ever. PomPom did an outstanding job porting the arcade, arena based shmup over to the touchscreen, but unfortunately, it didn't sell well. At all. On top of players being upset that there were no touch controls in the Version 1.0 build, there was also very little promotion and word-of-mouth for Space Tripper. Since, it has become quite the little hidden gem, along with receiving a relative touch control scheme update, it has 4 difficulties in the original game mode, as well as a SUPER EASY CHEAT mode and other gameplay modes including Score Attack and Challenge Mode. If you've yet to pick this one up, get it now. You won't regret it. 


Thursday, November 15, 2012

Absence...


Alrighty, first off, I'm terribly sorry for not posting this sooner, but I was really hoping it was just a fluke, and then I wasn't sure if I even wanted to share anything about it because the last thing I want to read when looking for video game reviews is someone complaining about health problems, but I've come to the conclusion that I can't just leave all of our wonderful readers out there in the dark any longer. 

At the moment, Cabdog, the only other writer that I have for The App Shack, has a broken finger and has just had surgery. I won't go into everything, but needless to say, he's been out of commission for the last couple of months, and might be for the next couple of following months as well. 

During this time, I've developed some severe headaches. I am seeing a Dr., and hope to have all of this sorted out ASAP, but it's been so bad that I can barely stand to be at the computer for more than a couple of minutes. 

But that's why there's been nothing new posted up on the site as of late. I was hoping that it would sort of just blow over, but it hasn't yet. 

I will say that I will do my best to be back with a bang in mid to late December. I am still hoping to have a big promo code giveaway and (hopefully) come back with quite a few reviews. In the meantime, feel free to go through our back catalog of reviews, maybe find out some hidden gems you could have missed out on, or stare at the cute little blue sadface I've posted above, but please don't loose hope or give up on TAS just yet. We'll be back as soon as possible with more reviews of great iOS games, and can't wait for the gaming to come in 2013!! With the new iPad 4, iPhone/iPod 5, and iPad Mini and all of their fantastic new processing powers, it's looking VERY promising, as I'm sure you all know. 

We hope you're having some great fun with the recent new games, and are all enjoying the holiday season as of yet. Be safe, and don't forget to check back in the middle of December to see what's up! =oD

Thanks for sticking this out with us.

--The App Shack Team of Two
--Syntheticvoid & Cabdog

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Dark Gate [Kemco/Hit-Point] - $6.99


Kemco is very easily one of our favorite RPG developers/publishers here at The App Shack. Their previous games; Symphony of Eternity, Alphadia, Eve of the Genesis, Fantasy Chronicle and Grinsia have all received glowing 5 star reviews. So you can imagine our excitement when we got an e-mail earlier in the week letting us know that their newest English translated title had hit the US AppStore; Dark Gate. Not only did it have the potential for fantastic translation, an incredibly immersive storyline, lovable characters and depthy gameplay, but, because it’s from Hit-Point, the studio that brought us Fantasy Chronicle, arguably one of the best classic Turn-Based RPGs available in the AppStore, also had the potential to completely blow us away. 

Now, before we get knee deep in gameplay mechanics; the story. Dark Gate tells the story of Leo, a young man who’s been chosen to lead a group of warriors, from high ranking generals kin down to old drunks, on a mission to find and destroy the Dark Gates, and find out why they‘re popping up, as they’re the cause of the onslaught of monsters appearing throughout the land. 


There is a pretty large cast of characters to be found in Dark Gate, and you‘re able to switch these characters out at the Guild‘s HQ in Polaris, the land‘s centermost city. The story unfolds and expands depending on who you’ve got in your 4 member group. You’re also able to choose, level up, and master over 70 different job classes. Along with the job classes, you’re given equipable perks which allow you to have one job class, but use skills that you’ve learned while leveling up another. In essence, you could be a warrior, but be able to cast ice, wind and fire magic, so long as you’ve leveled up those job classes and have those perks equipped. This makes for an incredibly deep customization system that doesn’t only result in sword wielding magicians. You can also level up jobs for other warrior types, and have a spear warrior that’s proficient with using bows, and large shields, or a healer that’s skilled with hand to hand combat. 


On top of this, there are spell orbs that fill up during battle, with each character able to have 3 orbs full at one time. These orbs are used to cast spells and, if you have more than one orb full and have a character that’s learned two different elemental skills, you can combine these spells in one attack. For instance, if a character has 2 spell orbs filled, and has wind and ice spells active, you can cast an ice attack, and then tap on a wind spell, merging the two, and using up your two spell orbs for one incredibly strong attack. The same applies for warrior skills as well, merging a fire spell with a special sword attack will combine the two and give you an incredibly strong, fire-based elemental sword attack. 

 All of this did throw me for a loop when I first started the game, and if you’re not consistently leveling up job classes, and fleshing out the members of your team, chances are you won’t get very far, and a lot of enemies, even enemies in the beginning of the game, will be able to cause one hit kills and will take no damage. Learning what elemental types the enemies are in each area is essential, and if you’re having problems with a certain monster, you can almost always find something out if you exit the area (which can be done very quickly in the pause menu so long as you‘re not in battle, which is great if you‘re in real trouble) and go back into town, stopping in at bars and civilian houses. 



With all of this depth in skills and job classes, it is pretty surprising that each of the 4 areas you’ll be making your way through all have the same set of quests; Defeat X number of a specific enemy, take lunch to the soldier, deliver this weapon to a soldier, collect X number of coins, destroy the dark gate, ect. This is really my only complaint. I will say that a deeper help section would have been great, but it’s not required, and the quest variety is really the only aspect of the game that seems to be lacking. 

The graphics and animations are all very familiar, and there’s a good reason why. Dark Gate was developed by Hit-Point, the developers who also created Fantasy Chronicle. The extremely polished and old-school graphics have been carried over to Dark Gate while still having their own flavor and look. Each area is designed very well, with winding pathways, dead ends and semi-hidden areas all with the classic top-down viewpoint. Towns, on the other hand, are set up horizontally, like a side-scroller, with the Inn to the far left, followed by the towns Guild, Weapon+Armor shop, Potion shop, bar, Guild leader’s home and then two civilian homes. Moving throughout the town is done by tapping on the building you want to move to, and then tapping again once you reach it. It does take a little time to get comfortable with and there are some times you’ll want to exit the town, which is right next to the Inn, and instead, be asked if you want to stay at the Inn, but it does help to distinguish the game apart from Fantasy Chronicle even more. 


Like Kemco’s other releases, you are able to have these touch to move controls in areas/dungeons as well, but can also select to use virtual controls if you’re more familiar with that set-up. The touch to move controls do a very good job of pathfinding, and avoiding objects within the world, which is essential for making the control scheme comfortable.
The dialogue is, as you would expect if you’re familiar with Kemco’s previous releases, very well done, with only minor grammatical errors throughout the game. The words are also never cut off, or wrapped around to another line, so understanding what’s going on is never a problem. I know that this may sound trivial, but after you’ve played RPG after RPG with words that are cut in half, or wrapped around to another line or dialogue bar, you really do notice when it’s done right, and have a hard time taking it for granted. 



Now, there is a new addition to Dark Gate, something that’s never been added to a Kemco game in the past, and that I was actually very surprised to see. IAPs. That’s right, premium currency, known as Dark Gate Points. There is a premium shop in Polaris that lets you purchase and spend these points for premium items like increased experience gain, increase job point gain, gold gain, heightened item drop percentage, movement speed increase, hard difficulty, and more, including quite a few premium weapons and armor items. Dark Gate Points can not be earned in-game, so the only way to get these is to shell out some extra cash. The items in the premium shop are priced reasonably when compared to how many DGP you get should you decide to purchase any (400 for $0.99, 1250 for $2.99, 2100 for $4.99, 4500 for $9.99), but none of them are required to progress through the game. With the IAPs, it seems that Kemco has gone ahead and lowered the original pricing for Dark Gate as well. Instead of being priced at $8.99 like their other titles, Dark Gate’s original price will be set at $6.99.


You can pick up Dark Gate now for $0.99, as it’s on sale for launch. Unfortunately, like all Kemco titles, it’s not Universal, so if you’re a graphics fanatic, you might be disappointed, but when it comes to old-school influenced RPGs, graphics aren’t really too important. Dark Gate is easily the deepest Kemco title released to date, and if you’re looking for an RPG with an incredible amount of customization and variety with perks and skills, Dark Gate should be right up your ally. There is a pretty steep learning curve, and if you don’t go into the game knowing that constantly upgrading jobs and switching perks are critical in progressing, you’ll have a hard road ahead of you, and might even become frustrated enough to quit the game. But if you’re ready for a challenge, and willing to take the time to learn, experiment and are not opposed to teaching your sword master how to cast fire spells, it’s well worth the purchase, effort and time, giving you one of the deepest RPG games available for the iOS. 



Saturday, October 20, 2012

Review Rewind: Bring Me Sandwiches!!


It's not too often that I'll play through a game on my iDevice, and then right away, go back and play through it again. But the charm, polish and downright crazy entertainment value of Grumpyface Studio's Bring Me Sandwiches!! has given me hours upon hours of gameplay. Not only have I 100% completed the game, but I've done it multiple times, and it's still on my device and opened on a regular basis one year after it's release. If you're a fan of wacky games or awesome platformers, Bring Me Sandwiches!! is a MUST OWN. 

**Note: This review was written after playing Version 1.0.1



A lot of gamers have been wondering, when will Adult Swim put out games that aren’t mere flash games ported to the iOS? Well, wait no longer. With their release of Monsters Ate My Condo, developed by PikPok, Adult Swim Games has shown that they’re willing to support developers who have an insanely good idea packed on top of insanely weird gameplay, and with the recent release of Bring Me Sandwiches!!, developed by Grumpyface (who also made a favorite of mine, Wispin), they have started their trend of weird, but crazy good games that seem to hit every single one of our brain’s addiction centers. 


The game Bring Me Sandwiches!! is a plat former that puts you in control of Jimmy Nugget, an ordinary fast food employee. It’s your job to create sandwiches that an invading alien race is craving, and in return, they’ve promised not to destroy Earth. You’ll need to carry around a piece of bread, and run over objects, in turn, making the sandwich. Once you have made the sandwich 100% full, you need to find one of the various aliens floating around the levels, and give it to him. Each level has an objective at the beginning, sometimes you’ll need to find a cat and put it on the sandwich, other times, 6 chickens, or 4 sandwiches. In the case of multiple sandwiches, each time you take a 100% or more complete sandwich to an alien, they will give you another piece of bread, and you can then pick up bigger items than the last one, generally ending up with you picking up small buildings and people and placing them on the bread, making it a sort of feel like a plat forming version of Katamari. There are also 3 different “golden bread”, like stars, to try and get in each level. One for score, one for time, and one for completing the level without getting hit a certain amount of times.


There are 4 different environments, each with 6 to 8 different levels. You’ll travel from the US to Mexico, Italy, and Japan, each time having different objects in the levels, different enemies, as well as, of course, different looking environments. The graphics and animations are done amazingly well, with almost everything in each level being animated, and the graphics almost fitting perfectly as an extension of the crazy Monsters Ate My Condo. The music also just tops it off, completing the crazy cartoon world experience.


Now, controls. Controls are always a huge part of plat formers, as are physics, and Bring Me Sandwiches!! is no exception. Amazingly enough, there are 3 different control options, and the virtual buttons that are one of those options is not the tightest, most fluid feeling control scheme. For once, an invisible slider on the left side, and jump tapping on the right is incredibly accurate and tight, and leaves the bottom parts of the screen open and un-cluttered. There are also tilt controls, but there’s not many who favor those in plat formers, though if you are one of the few, they are tighter and more accurate than most. Combined with the perfect physics of the Bring Me Sandwiches world, the game comes together to create an amazingly smooth, perfectly fun plat former, that doesn’t require you to think about the controls at all while playing. 


Grumpyface has shown that they know exactly what it takes to reach gamers addictive habits, exploiting them in a way we here at The App Shack can’t help but love. Following the new $0.99 trend with Adult Swim games, the amount of content, and crazy gameplay makes it a must-buy for fans of any iOS genre. GameCenter is included, giving us 13 different leader boards, one for combined score, one for combined time in each of the environments, as well as overall, and a total sandwich ingredients board, along with 22 crazy achievements to try and snag, adding tons of replay value. This is one game you don’t want to miss, as it’s one of the best plat formers available for the iOS. It’s also looking like the beginning of a trend we don’t want Adult Swim to stop; Crazy games that are insanely fun to play for the low-low price of one dollar. How could we ask for more?