Review Rewind: Commander Pixman

There are quite a few platformers that stick around on my device well after I've completed them. Not many get updated with new levels, but Commander Pixman seems to have grown quite a bit since it's original release. If you haven't played it yet, it's in the same vein as League of Evil, except your character has a jetpack which he uses to reach platforms and make his way over gaps, which does take a little bit of messing around before it'll become comfortable. But if you're into speedrun platformers with bite-sized levels, Commander Pixman is a must own. 

**Note: This review was written after playing Version 1.0.0

I’ve said many times before that Metroidvania games are my favorite types of games, but right under it is, of course, platformers. Before playing Super Meat Boy for the first time last year, I hadn’t come across any speed run platform game, and since, only a couple made for the iOS; League Of Evil and Mos Speedrun being the first two, and then the recent release of Stardash added to that little list of mine. Now I have yet another speed run plat former to drive me crazy and go nutzo over. 

Commander Pixman is this new addition, developed by One Minute Games, and is their 2nd release in the AppStore (preceded by Quad Pong). First off, I should say that if you’re expecting another LoE, Mos, or Stardash type game, you will probably be disappointed once you start up Commander Pixman. The physics take a little getting use to, as do the controls, and the main character has a gun. However, once you get use to the controls, thinking of the jump button as more of a jetpack thruster button, the controls and physics come together nicely. If you completely avoid using the gun, you’ll make it harder on yourself to get through the levels, but you’ll be able to get through them quicker once you figure out the right path, which will take you numerous re-tries, which is to be expected in the genre. Though taking your time, and using your gun to destroy all the enemies in a level will earn you a badge for that level.

The graphics are 8-bit retro styled, which in itself has become more modern than old-school over the last couple years, though here, it fits. The difficulty and ‘learn the controls’ feeling you’ll see from the beginning of the game through to the end completely screams old-school inspired. The soundtrack is also done in chip-tune style, and helps add to the overall feeling of the game.

Each of the 80 levels (65 regular levels plus 15 unlockable ones) contains hazards and obstacles for you to jump over, through, or avoid while trying to make it to the end of the level as quick as you can. The faster you make it through each stage, the higher star rank you’ll get at the end, while a perfect run will give you 3 stars. There are 20 different hazards/obstacles, including spikes, laser doors, rotating chainsaw blades, mines, various monsters, moving platforms, disintegrating platforms, sections of the floor that boost your jump, and in the later levels, portals that transfer not only you, but your momentum, and more.

To unlock each of the 15 bonus levels, you’ll need to complete different objectives. To unlock the first bonus level, you’ll need to get reach level 20, and to unlock the second bonus level you need to kill all enemies in level 22 in less than 13 seconds. 

Now, even with it centering around collecting badges and getting the quickest time you can, there is no online leader board or achievement support, which does kind of take away from the drive of getting 3 stars in a level, or getting the best time you can, and collecting all the badges. Also, you can not run off of a platform that has a spike sticking off the 90 degree edge of it without dying. I don’t know why this bothers me so much, but it does. The left and right directional arrows are kind of too far apart as well. But aside from these things, Commander Pixman is a very competent speed run plat former, with controls that work very well once you get use to them, and great physics. There’s also portals with the nice physics attached to them, and that does add a ton to the gameplay. Right now it’s on sale for $0.99, but only for a limited time, after that it’ll be $1.99, and with all the content within the game, even without online support, is well worth the price. There’s also more content promised in future updates, so if you’re a plat former fan, speed run fan, or old-school game fan, Commander Pixman is definitely worth picking up.

**Commander Pixman is still priced at $1.99, but now also has a lite version available for free.

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Wimp: Who Stole My Panties [Flexile Studio] - $0.99/$1.99 [HD]

As many of you know, the platform genre is one of my personal favorites. Has been ever since I first got into gaming. So, it shouldn’t be any surprise that I jump on the opportunity to check out new platformers whenever they hit the AppStore, and a few times, has been completely surprised at how fantastically good some of them are. Well, the newest title to blow me away is easily Flexile Studio’s first foray into the iOS gaming world; Wimp: Who Stole My Panties. Yup, you read that right. Stolen panties. While some might shy away from this one just based on the title, there are some of you out there who still have Miss Claire Garden (which some others shied away from as well, based on it’s cutsey name) on your devices, and know how great a game can be, despite it’s title. 

Welp, let’s start this thing off right; Wimp: WSMP has very nice controls, which are fully customizable, fantastic physics that actually give weight to every moveable object in the game, some killer level designs, great puzzles which, you can sometimes solve more than one way (which I know a lot of you guys love), an interesting story, engaging gameplay mechanics, beautiful graphics, awesome animations for each and every character and a soundtrack that matches the game’s look and feel perfectly. I really can not come up with one bad thing to say about Wimp. Not at all. 

Wimp tells the story of, you guessed it, Wimp. A cute little blob of a character who’s had his underwear stolen. You’ll need to guide him through 50 levels, spread across 3 worlds, collecting all of his underwear, and rolls of toilet paper, and chasing down the thief who committed this atrocity. So, you head down the toilet, and start on your journey. 

Now, with Wimp being a puzzle platformer, there are, obviously, some puzzles in the game. But, unlike a lot of puzzle platformers in the AppStore, Wimp also contains a LOT of platforming. You will be jumping around like mad, trying to hit jumps just right, and time things perfectly, with the puzzles getting more and more elaborate as you progress throughout the game. Starting off, you’ll be able to use your sticky ability, which can be activated and deactivated via a button. With this, you’re able to stick to almost any surface in the world of Wimp. When you make your way to the second world, you’ll be able to toll onto objects that will give you a fire ability. With this, you’ll be able to tap the ‘sticky’ button, and stop Wimp in mid-air, being able to either jump a second time, or use the left and right buttons to shoot to one side or the other. In the third world, you’ll be given a teleport ability, being able to place a bubble wherever you’d like, and then moving around the level, being able to teleport back to where you left the bubble by pressing the ‘sticky’ button. With these 3 basic abilities, the developers at Flexile have done an amazing job designing some very unique, interesting and challenging levels. 

Not only are you able to use these 3 abilities, but there are also numerous objects throughout the game that you’ll be able to interact with, for instance; Buttons that activate other platforms, stop or start enemy movement and open up pathways. Blocks which you can place on buttons, use to stop enemy movement, push down into acid so to use as a platform, move to reach a pair of underwear or roll of toilet paper and also place on top of enemies to push them down into spikes. There are also Blocks and other objects, like Links, that you’ll have to stick to, and wobble back and forth, in order to knock loose. Along with these there are quite a few other objects, like jets that blow you upward, platforms you can destroy with your fire ability, water that you’ll need to learn how to maneuver in, around and through, assembly line type platforms, hanging links you’ll need to stick to and swing from, machines that spit out blocks and tons more. 

All of these objects that you can interact with have their own set of physics, and actually feel like they have some weight to them. Figuring out how to utilize these aspects of the game will be necessary if you’re going after all 150 rolls of toilet paper that can be found in Wimp’s universe, with 3 in each level that you do not need to collect in order to progress through the world, and a pair of underwear that you'll need to collect in order to unlock the exit. You're also able to pause the game, and skip levels via a Fast Forward button, but can only enter new worlds if you've collected a certain number of toilet paper rolls. 

As I’ve said already, there are sometimes more than one way to get through a puzzle, and usually, you’ll only find that out after you’ve already completed the puzzle a harder way, and moved further on into the level. With this ability to have gamers make the game harder depending on what they think or know they can do is fantastic. The puzzles to get harder and more complex as you progress throughout the game, some requiring multiple actions in order to set up even more actions, and with 50 levels (unfortunately, the third world only has 10 of it’s 20 levels completed) and more on the way, including the last 10 levels in World 3, along with 20 more in World 4, there’s quite a bit of content to play through. 

The graphics in Wimp look amazing. It’s easily one of the best looking platformers, on any gaming platform, that I’ve had the pleasure of playing. Each world has it’s own environmental look and feel, with beautiful, vibrant colors and detailed levels along with great, animated backgrounds. The animations for each character are a huge plus, with Wimp having quite a few that he’ll show you while just standing still like rubbing his eyes, looking sadly down at the ground and kicking his foot, banging on his little bubble enclosure and waving at you, with the enemies turning red and clearly getting mad at you if you get too close to them and laughing at you. 

Along with all of this, Wimp has a great scoring system with each levels final score depending on how many rolls of toilet paper you collect, how quickly you complete the stage and how many times you’re injured/killed. With the scores largely dependent on how quickly you can complete each stage, it leaves the possibility of always being able to better your total score, which is shared via GameCenter on Wimp’s single total score leaderboard. There are also 40 achievements, many of which will take multiple tries in order to unlock. To complete the gaming experience, Wimp contains 2 boss battles, both at the end of Worlds 1 and 2, in which you’ll need to figure out how to injure both bosses 3 times each. 

There are two different versions of Wimp: Who Stole My Panties; the Universal version and the HD build, which has some outstanding graphics for the iPad2 and 3. Unfortunately, at the moment the HD build is not Universal. But, the Flexile is going to update the HD build so that gamers with an iPhone 5 or 4S will not have to purchase both versions (unless you’re dying to play the game RIGHT NOW). With the Universal version priced at $0.99, and the HD build $1.99, they’re both fantastic deals. After purchasing the Universal version, and making it through the first 10 levels of World 1, I wound up buying the HD version as well, simply because I felt that $0.99 wasn’t enough for the game. Now, knowing that the HD version will also play on iPhones in the near future, I’m psyched to check out the enhanced graphics on an iPhone 5 when I get one early next year (when my contract is up). For Flexile Studio’s first iOS title, they’ve made a huge splash with Wimp. Flexile is also very responsive on the game’s Touch Arcade thread and on their Twitter and Facebook pages, which is fantastic. I’m having a blast playing through each level and then going back trying to better my scores. It’s definitely a title that all platform fans need to check out, and even gamers who don’t feel that the iDevice is capable of comfortably running platformers should check this one out. Wimp is, in itself, a prime example that the touch screen is very capable of comfortably running a platform game. I can’t wait to see what Flexile adds in World 4, and truly hope that Wimp sells well, and gets all of the attention that it deserves so that we can see more titles come out of the studio. Even though Wimp isn’t complete at this moment, and that’s usually something I have a hard time getting over, it’d be even harder not recommending that every iOS gamer check it out.

**Thanks to Echoseven on TA for pointing out that there are 3 rolls of toilet paper in each stage, and one pair of underwear. Sorry for the mix-up.

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The Last Express [DotEmu] - $4.99

The AppStore is full of ports, and with all the older retro gamers that have gotten back into gaming because of the iDevice, it’s considered fantastic by many. Being able to play Final Fantasy or War of the Lions, Blazing Star and ESPGaluda, Metal Slug and Myst all on one device that fits in your pocket is something gamers have been dreaming about for quite some time. It’s also given old-school gamers a chance to check out newer games that they wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise, like Bastion, Eufloria, Splice and others. But it’s always great seeing an old(er) classic hit the AppStore, in this case, The Last Express. Originally released back in 1997, The Last Express, created by Jordan Mechner (who’s also the creator of Prince of Persia) has been hailed by many as one of the greatest Adventure games ever developed. Being called ‘thrilling’ and ‘exquisite’ by Newsweek and listed in the book ‘1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die’, it’s received quite a bit of praise and dozens of awards. 

Now, what exactly makes The Last Express so amazing? Well, alongside the story, there’s roughly 35 different endings to the game, with about 30 being ‘bad’ endings, about 4 being ‘good’ and only one being considered the ‘proper’ ending. Within the game there are about 30+ characters, all designed with their own AI and concerns, all of which changes depending on how and when you interact with them. The Last Express also takes place in real time. Kind of. It’s real time x6, with some parts where you’ll need to rush to get somewhere, and others where you’ll need to kill time before being able to talk to a certain character. 

If you’ve never played The Last Express before, chances are you’re going to run into a ‘bad’ ending a lot more than once. Figuring out what to do and what not to do, where to go, who to talk to, what to collect and who to show what items to along the way. This could be considered a horrible thing, resulting in players needing to play through the game numerous times before reaching an end that they can handle, if it weren’t for the ability to go back in time. You’re able to exit to the menu, at any time, in which case you’ll be able to turn the clock back, and sometimes forward, just in case you’ve missed something, or wound up doing something you weren’t suppose to do. 

Taking place right before the start of World War 1, July 24, 1914, the main character that you’ll be playing as, Robert Cath, who’s just boarded the Orient Express train after receiving an urgent summons from your old friend, Tyler Whitney. After boarding, you find Tyler dead in his room. With Robert already being hunted by police for being a suspect in another murder. From here, you need to figure out what to do, who killed your friend, how not to get caught and who you can and can not trust, if anyone. 

The gameplay is designed around a 3D environment in which you’re able to move around by tapping arrows on the screen, and interact with objects by tapping icons that appear over certain objects. Talking to people can be done by tapping on dialogue bubbles that appear on the character as you get near them. The graphics are very well done in an Art Nouveau styling (which was very popular in 1914), with cut-scenes moving like you do in-game, one frame at a time. The Last Express is considered by many a work of art, and they aren’t wrong in the slightest. To put the game together, Jordan Mechner hired actors to act out every action done by every character within the game. These actions were photographed and digitized. Hand picked frames were then selected and de-colorized, with a computer then creating line drawings of the photos which were then colored by hand. 40,000 frames in total are included in The Last Express. After 5 years of work, the game was completed.

GameCenter has been added to the iOS version, with 15 achievements added which will take most gamers quite a bit of gameplay in order to unlock. Priced at $4.99, and being Universal, this iOS version of The Last Express is a must own for anyone even slightly interested in experiencing one of the best Adventure/Thriller games ever created. DotEmu, the studio who has handled the ports of R-Type, Metal Slug 3, King Of Fighters, Blazing Star and others, has done a fantastic job with the user interface, and keeping the gameplay true to the original on the touch screen. The menus are great, and easy to navigate, and really, the whole gameplay experience is just fantastic. The art style, background music, multiple endings and large cast of characters all make The Last Express a game that you will never forget. 

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Review Rewind: FlipShip

The Tilt To Live type genre has grown, but not as much as I really thought it would, especially considering how crazy developers get with cloning whenever a new idea strikes it rich. But ByteSize game's FlipShip has always been a favorite of mine, with it's great dodging gameplay and shmup type mechanics along with it's 6 difficulties and GameCenter integration, I doubt it'll ever come off of my device. If you're a fan of the TTL genre, FlipShip is definitely one TTL influenced title that you need to own. 

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

With Apple bringing gamers a device that can utilize tilting controls, developers have pretty much been able to invent new genres of games based around that device function. Tilt To Live is one of these types of games, making gamers tilt their iPods to maneuver their triangle through dots/enemies on the screen, using power-ups to defeat them. Since then, there’s been quite a few games that have built on this type of gameplay, and created a whole “Tilt To Live” genre of games for the iOS. The newest addition to the TTL genre is FlipShip, by ByteSize Games, which is their first iOS release. And what a great first release it is. 

Expanding on the Tilt To Live idea, you’ll maneuver one of three types of ships around your screen, dodging two different colors of enemy ships, shooting, and using power-ups to take as many of them out as you can. Here’s the catch; to shoot an enemy, your ship must be the same color as that enemy, and to change colors, you simply tap the screen. Also, the longer you stay one color, the bigger your combo gets, and the more points you get per destroyed ship - but that combo score is banked, and only added to your total score once you change the color of your ship again. This can lead to the loss of millions of points if you’re not careful, but also gives gamers a very nice risk/reward gameplay mechanic.

The controls for FlipShip are, like you’d hope for in a game like this, very nice and tight, making weaving in-between groups of enemies doable, if you’re careful. One tap on the screen changes the color of your ship, and resets your combo score, saving the score you’ve built up, and tapping on the icon in the lower right corner (this can also be changed to go into the left corner) will activate your special ability, which is different with each ship. There are quite a few calibration options, but by default, the game will automatically calibrate at the beginning of every game, and every time you resume the game from the pause menu. You can also adjust the sensitivity of the vertical and horizontal tilting aspects.

The graphics are retro/vector styled, and really feel quite nice. There is more detail than most vector styled iOS games within the different ships and enemies. The backgrounds are all pretty much the same, but each time you play, the background and enemies will all be different colors. There’s red, blue, green and yellow, and each time you play, two of these colors are chosen. The music is your typical pumping electronica music, but, like most games, it fits in very well with the action.

Now, with the power-ups, they are all the same for each of the 3 ships, there’s two types of bombs, once regular, and one electrical. The regular bomb blows up everything within it’s radius, and can cause a chain reaction, but generally not a big one. The electrical bomb shocks everything in it’s radius, and jumps from ship to ship if they’re close enough, so you could, in theory, clear out an entire screen of enemies if you time running into this electrical bomb just right. The clock power-up slows down all the enemies on the screen for a short period of time, making it easier to escape large groups of enemies that are the opposite color of your ship, helping you build your combo score even higher. There’s also a power up that boosts your ship in the tilted direction, flying through, and destroying, any ships in it’s way, a seeker bomb, which sends out 6 different missiles, seeking out any enemies on the screen. Then, of course, there’s a shield power-up, and a power-up that refills your ability icon.

As for the abilities; they are different for each ship. There is a slow, average, and fast ship, each also having different firing attributes. The slow ship, called the “Steinway”, fires long projectiles out of a narrow section of the front of the ship, and it’s special ability is sending out 4 drones, 2 of each color. These drones don’t last long, but they can clear out quite a large group of enemies if used right. The average ship, called “Deadeye” shoots a short projectile out of a wide area of the front of the ship, and it’s special ability is called “Starburst”, which sends out a burst of colorless material in 8 directions, destroying everything in it’s path. The 3rd ship is the fast ship, and it’s called the “Preacher”. It’s able to shot in all directions, but it only shoots enemies that are close to it. It’s special ability is being able to change every ship on screen into the current color of the ship, making it pretty easy to build up a huge combo pretty quickly.

There is only one mode within FlipShip, but you are given 6 different difficulties; Very Easy, Easy, Medium, Hard, Very Hard and Insane. All of the different difficulties are on the same difficulty scale, but starting on the harder difficulties starts the game off harder, stays harder, and increases the difficulty quicker. Each different difficulty effects the enemy spawning rate, their speed, what enemy patterns you will see, and how difficult those patterns will be. So really, if you start a game on Very Easy, and you’re good enough, you can make it to the Insane difficulty gameplay. It will just take you longer than if you start out on any difficulty above Very Easy. Insane difficulty throws you right into the hardest difficulty the game will be. This growth of difficulty makes the game accessible to all gamers, and also gives hardcore gamers quite the challenge. However, making it so that less power-ups were present in harder difficulties, and the players abilities charged slower the harder you started the game off at, would be a nice addition to really separate the difficulty modes a bit more. It would also be great to see more gameplay modes in the future. There’s also the feeling that one death is enough to re-start the whole game. If you’re playing, and rack up a score of 1 million points with your first life, and end up loosing it before changing colors and banking that score, it really makes more sense to restart the game than to play through your last 2 lives. Some gamers might also find that 6 difficulties is just too many, especially when they’re all basically the same. There are also some color combinations that don’t mix together too well. For instance, Green and Yellow are a little too much alike, and do not have much contrast. However, Red and Blue, or Blue and Yellow, go together very well, and being able to choose these colors would be great, and would also be a good idea for our color-blind gamers out there. 

But FlipShip, as it is now, with GameCenter support, leader boards for each of the difficulties, 50 achievements, 3 ships, accessibility to casual and hardcore gamers, and an exceedingly well done addictive risk/reward combo scoring system, $1.99 for the game is a great price, made even better because right now it‘s on sale for $0.99. It’s got tons of style, and some very intense action. ByteSize Games have proven that the Tilt To Live genre is still alive and thriving, and can still be expanded on. If you’re a fan of the genre, want a challenge, or are a high-score monger, like myself, FlipShip is a no-brainer must buy. I’m definitely looking forward to future updates, and seeing what ByteSize brings to the table with future games.

**Note - FlipShip is now priced at $0.99.

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Drag It [Miniclip] - $0.99

One genre that me and my wife wind up playing, while passing our iPod back and forth is slingshot/wire flicking platformers. Games like WireWay, Spoing, Chimpact and Twang The Fox seem to keep us entertained for hours on end. But one of our favorites in the genre, Drag It, by MysPuppy Game Studio, has been redone, and republished by Miniclip, with a new skin, new features and new gameplay elements. With Drag It already having quite a few of it’s own nifty mechanics, I was a little hesitant to see what all this Miniclip version had changed, but I was definitely interested in checking it out. 

Drag It is very similar to games like WireWay and Spoing in that it has you using wire-like platforms to slingshot the character throughout the level while trying to pick up all of the stars before hitting the exit. However, Drag It introduces different mechanics for each different colored platform, for instance; the platforms that you’ll start out with can be pulled back to fling your little character in whatever direction you’d like (other than behind the platform, there’s no shooting backwards here) and as you progress throughout the first set of levels you’ll be exposed to certain platforms that you’ll need to move out of the way, pull down, ect, in order to move on through the levels, as well as others which you’ll need to attach to hooks in order to keep them in place, whole platforms which move as one and platforms which you can go up through from the bottom, and then use to flick your character. Each different platform has it’s own color, so getting use to what does what, and knowing what a specific platform does right when you see it will definitely help you get through the stages quicker, which will effect your score. As you progress throughout the game, you'll encounter more objects that do various things like rotate, send you flying in a specific direction, pinball like objects that bounce you off of them, and more.

Now, this is all pretty much the exact same thing as the previously released Drag It. Even the level designs are the same, along with star and enemy placement. The only difference you’ll really notice is that instead of having the character be a goofy little pinkish red ball with black blob enemies, you’re now a little bird with penguin enemies. There have been some changes to the menus, but aside from that, this new version of Drag It is exactly like the old one. 

One thing that the original was desperately needing was GameCenter support. Thankfully, it’s been added in this Miniclip version, which adds a fairly decent amount of replay value to the game. There are no achievements, but the total score leaderboard for your cumulative score throughout the game is enough to push players to go back and try to collect more stars, not get injured, and better their times. And, as with almost all games that have time’s effecting scores, chances are there’s always going to be the possibility to go back and up your score, even if just by a couple points. 

While we’re on the subject of scoring, the scoring system seems fairly simple, but I haven’t been able to break every little detail down. I know there’s not many of you out there that really care this much about scoring systems, but I know you guys are out there, so I’ve done my best to break it down. Getting all of the stars in each level will, of course, give you a great score, but will not always result in a 3 stars. If you get hurt by running into one of the penguins in a stage, you’ll only get 2 stars no matter how quickly you complete it, or if you collect every star. Getting hurt will also drop your score by about 1,000 points, so it’s very important to try and avoid enemies at all costs, even if it means you’ll miss out on a star. In order to get 3 stars, you’ll need to collect all of the stars in a stage, and not touch an enemy. Time has the least amount of effect on your scores, giving or taking away 36 points for each second. As far as I can tell, stars are worth about 460 points. 

IAP is included in the game, but only if you’d like to unlock all of the levels, which can be done by playing through the game, and for a skip pack, which gives you 5 skips that you can use to skip through levels you’re having a hard time with, and you’ll start the game off with 2 available to you. Basically, the IAP is there if you’d like to support Miniclip by giving them a couple more bucks. 

The graphics are the same as the original, with environmental changes every 10 levels. They’re smooth, and well done, but while polished, they aren’t really anything spectacular. However, it’s not the graphics that really make the game great, it’s the level designs. As you progress through the game, you’ll come across some very interesting stages, and an increased challenge that’s definitely worth experiencing. The way that all of the objects and platforms are put together is just fantastic. 

Priced at $0.99, Drag It is definitely worth picking up, especially if you’re a fan of the flicking platform genre. Unfortunately, Drag It, like the original version, is not Universal, and there is no HD build, meaning that if you’ve got an iPad, you’ll be forced to play in 2X mode. The addition of GameCenter does make it worth picking up, even if you’ve still got the previous version on your device or available to you, as it adds a ton of replay value, and drive to score better or go back and get 3 stars in each level. Miniclip is also great when it comes to updates and fixing issues, and hopefully, like most of their other releases, an HD build will be available in the near future. 

**NOTE: There is no trailer up for the Miniclip version of Drag It, but here is the trailer for the original version, released by MysPuppy.

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5 DotEmu Games Hit $0.99 In Celebration Of The Last Express!

In celebration of the release of The Last Express, DotEmu has cut 5 of their iOS ports down to $0.99 for a limited time! If you're a fan of old-school retro games, you can definitely count on DotEmu to do a fantastic job of porting them over. Having done the ports for R-Type, Metal Slug 3, Blazing Star and the King Of Fighters games, among others, their definitely one of our favorite development studios in the AppStore today. Here's the games that are on sale ATM;

- ROD LAND: A FAIRY TALE -

- 64TH STREET: A DETECTIVE STORY -

- EARTH DEFENSE FORCE -

- AVENGING SPIRIT -

- P-47 - THE PHANTOM FIGHTER -

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Ikaruga Meets Auto Running; Polara - To Be Released October 11

Canadian based Hope This Works Games is bringing their polarity based runner, Polara, to the iOS and Android on October 11th. With Polara introducing a color changing mechanic, much like the one used in Treasure's amazing SHMUP, Ikaruga, we're very interested to see how it plays out in-game. Right now, they've shared a couple of screen shots and teaser trailer, which you can view below. The screens don't really do the video justice, so really, check it out! It looks like Polara includes some shmup action of it's own, with lasers and projectiles colored red and blue will be moving all over the screen and fired in your general direction. The animations look fantastic, and the graphics and environment has a sort of cyberpunk feel, which, as some of you know, I'm a total sucker for. 

Polara is set to include story-driven level progression with 50 stages, a tap to switch colors control scheme, color activated launch pads, gravity waves and hex bombs, bosses, and much more!

We're incredibly psyched about Polara, and can't wait til it hits the AppStore. You can be sure that we'll be giving the game a proper review after it's release, and we get deep into the gameplay. Until then, we'll all have to settle for watching the teaser. 

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