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!

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Combo Crew [The Game Bakers] - $1.99



One of my favorite iOS games over the last couple years has been one that not many review sites gave much credit. Mainly because of the included IAP, even though it did nothing to harm the actual gameplay and was completely un-intrusive throughout, The Game Bakers action oriented turn-based RPG, Squids and Squids Wild West are two completely stand out titles on the platform and while they didn’t do too well in sales, it’s hard to deny that they set a new standard for many iOS gamers as to what a great RPG on the touch screen should be. 
Since the release of Squids and Squids WW, The Game Bakers have been working on something else completely suited for the touch screen, and while those words usually constitute half-assed gameplay and gimmicky controls there are some rare occasions where ‘from the ground up for the touch screen’ has pushed genres forward, keeping them fresh and incredibly entertaining on a gaming device that’s starting to be taken a little more seriously as a ‘real’ gaming platform as time progresses. Before I go off on a tangent, the name of the game? Combo Crew. A swipe based brawler that’s easy for this reviewer to call ‘one of the best on the platform’.


Combo Crew is a tower based brawler in which you’ll start at the bottom, and have to fight your way to the top in order to take down Mr. Boss. As you progress through the tower, you’ll unlock skills, allowing you to switch out moves to your liking and style of play. The controls are very easy to get use to and actually, are quite a bit more comfortable and natural feeling than any virtual controls I’ve experienced in a brawler. First off, a quick swipe on an enemy will have your character attack them. This also sets them up as your primary target. If you want to change targets, you can either swipe or tap the enemy whom you’d like to focus your attacks on instead of the one that’s currently selected. 
There are some enemies that will block almost every attack you make, this is where your charged attack comes into play. To do this all you need to do is swipe the enemy, but keep your finger down on the screen, letting go after you’ve ‘charged’ your attack, and you’ll knock the enemy, and any enemies who happen to get caught in the crossfire, all the way across the screen. 


The special combo attacks are where it gets kind of tricky in regard to how you want to play, how quickly you want your character to attack, the range of attacks you want them to have and so on. Using two fingers to swipe anywhere on the screen, you can swipe left, right, up or down, giving you the option of pulling off 4 different combo moves. As you complete segments of the tower, you’ll be able to purchase and equip different combos with varying length and strikes, allowing you to pick a combo that starts off with a sweep kick for those pesky blocking characters, ends with an uppercut so that you can get that extra mid-air strike in, or combos with a longer/shorter string of attacks depending on how quickly you want to be able to get our of the action, or how quickly you want to build up your multiplier. 


Counter-attacking is also a big part of Combo Crew. While you’re attacking the enemy, there’s almost always going to be multiple enemies on-screen who are not seeing the business end of your fist or foot, and they will decide to come after you. These characters are always shown with a fairly large exclamation point over their heads. In order to counter their attacks, you’ll need to tap anywhere on the screen when the exclamation point is visible. This queues up a counter move that you’ll pull off as soon as you’re done finishing whatever attacking action you’re in the middle of. Here’s where short combo moves come in handy, as some of the longer combos will leave you open to attack for a longer period of time since you can’t stop a combo once you start it. Miss out on the chance to counter, and you’ll loose your multiplier as well as your super combo meter.


Yes, there is a super combo meter. While you’re off kicking some serious butt, a gauge will charge in the upper left corner right beneath your health bar. Once this is filled up, an icon with a fist on it will appear under the bar. You can either choose to tap it straight away, or wait and see if you can pull off some more moves to charge up the bar for a second or third time, strengthening your combo attacks. Once you do tap the fist icon, the background will go black, and everything will stop. This is where you’re given a chance to totally ruin the day of anyone unlucky enough to get caught on the screen. Once the background disappears, you can place your finger on the screen, and quickly swipe through all of the characters multiple times. After a couple of seconds, your super combo meter will start to drain and you’ll go on a complete rampage until it’s drained, quickly following the path of the line you drew with your finger, giving you the chance to rack up a massive multiplier. 


There are two gameplay modes; King Of The Tower, where you’ll have the chance to fight through 7 levels of the tower, each with 5 stages to try and perfect by snagging the 3 medals: Complete the stage without getting hit, beat the gold medal score and get the top local score. There is also a sort of Endless Mode called Combo Crew Mode. Here, you’ll be able to fight through stages of enemies that become increasingly difficult. In each stage there are multiple waves that you’ll need to fight off, and once you loose all of your health, it’s Game Over. However, you’re also able to get ‘rescued’ by Facebook friends and other gamers through e-mail addresses. This gives you the chance to get saved by another player to keep on fighting in a co-op mode and better your high-score. While I’m not too sure many gamers will like the idea of people working their way up the leaderboards because they have more friends with the game than them, there are a couple of forum threads, and players on The Game Baker’s Facebook page that are handing out their e-mail addresses, so finding someone to help you out isn’t really something that’s hard to do, and since you’re also able to earn currency by completing objectives and beating stages, there’s still a massive amount of drive to play the Combo Crew Mode if you’re going at it solo. 


Starting off the game, you’re given two characters with some pretty different fighting styles. There are also 2 unlockable characters which you can purchase for 20 game pieces each. Game pieces are earned by completing objectives in both gameplay modes. No worries about having to dump another couple of dollars into the game, as it’s completely IAP free, putting everyone at the same playing field from the get go. Each of the characters has 20 available combo moves, giving the game a total of 80 distinct combo moves to try and unlock. On top of this, there’s also boosters that are consumable items that you can purchase in the shop, like a burger that completely refills your health, fries that double your life gauge and completely fill it up, a green chili that fills your super combo gauge and more. There are also permanent upgrades/perks that you can buy as well which will increase your life gauge, add booster slots, increase your damage and more. Needless to say, there’s a lot to unlock in the game. 

Graphically, Combo Crew is just as polished as The Game Bakers previous Squids titles. The animations are top notch and the gameplay is incredibly smooth. However, it is kind of lacking in the environment department. There are different looks for each level of the tower, but they don’t do much to make it feel different. If you’re not really paying attention, it can almost feel like you’re playing in one room over and over again throughout most of the game. As long as I am bringing up one of the very few negative things I can say about Combo Crew, I might as well get this out of the way as well; there is no co-op mode through GameCenter. I know that some gamers will be kind of upset by this, but it’s not a deal breaker at all, though I do hope to see it added somehow in the future.
Outside of that, Combo Crew is priced at a measly $1.99. Since the game does not have one little shred of IAP to be found inside of it, and is Universal and is, without a doubt, one of the best beat-em-up/brawler titles available on the iOS, it’s a game that’s pretty much impossible for us not to recommend. If you’re a fan of the genre, Combo Crew is a must get. And with The Game Bakers working on incorporating even more into the game with updates and taking player feedback very seriously, the future for the game looks incredibly bright. You won’t want to miss out on this one. 




Sunday, May 26, 2013

Best Park In The Universe [Heavy Boat Games + Cartoon Network] - $2.99



One of our favorite beat-em-ups/brawlers here at The App Shack has got to be Grumpyface Studio’s Mutant Fridge Mayhem. Published by Cartoon Network, it contained the gameplay that previous beat-em-ups promised, but couldn’t deliver. This wasn’t too much of a surprise, as Grumpface’s previous releases (Bring Me Sandwiches!, Wispin and Super Mole Escape) are all top notch titles on the platform. But what Mutant Fridge Mayhem did for us was open our eyes to Adult Swim’s fledging gaming brother and since it’s release, we’ve been keeping a close eye on Cartoon Network’s releases. Earlier this week another brawler came out of the Cartoon Network studio and this time it’s developed by Heavy Boat Games (developers of quite a few Cartoon Network games; Ben 10 Hack, Pickle Farmer, Copa Toon Champions, Toxic Targets and many more, most of which can be played on Cartoon Network’s website - they're also the developers of Jumping Finn Turbo, available in the AppStore) and is set in the world of the popular Regular Show titled Best Park In The Universe. 


Mr. Maellard and Benson are called away to a Park Management Conference, leaving Mordecai and Rigby in charge of the park. Benson promises that if the park is clean when they return, everyone will get some days off. On the other hand, if they screw up, they’ll get fired. Deciding to impress Benson, Mordecai and Rigby call together the whole gang to upgrade the park. While they’re starting work, a strange man comes up and says that he has what it takes to turn the park into the best park in the Universe. Deciding to trust him, Mordecai and Rigby make the deal. Once they shake the stranger’s hand, a huge portal appears in the sky and ends up swallowing the entire park. Now it’s up to the two mischievous characters to save their friends, the park, and still show Benson and Mr. Maellard that they know what they’re doing. You’ll face off against aliens, monsters and strange park workers while you tag team between Mordecai and Rigby making your way through 15 stages spread across 3 crazy worlds. 


Similar to the recent release of another brawler, Combo Crew, Best Park In The Universe uses a series of swipe gestures instead of virtual controls. To move your characters, all you do is tap on the screen where you want to move to while attacks are based on swiping gestures that can be done anywhere on the screen. Swiping left has you attack left, while swiping right attacks right. To change characters, all you need to do is tap the character icons in the top left corner of the screen. Each character also has a special attack which can be used once your special meter is filled up, and is triggered by tapping two fingers on the screen at once. 


As you make your way through the game, you’ll gain experience by defeating enemies and picking up items that are scattered throughout the stages. Each time you level up, you’ll be given a point which you can use to upgrade your characters. The upgrades are a great addition and done in a branching tree format. Unlocking these upgrades will either increase your characters hit points, the amount of damage you can take, the amount of damage you dish out and add more attacks, allowing you to swipe up and down in the middle of a combo to pull off special moves. By the time you upgrade your characters completely, you’ll have quite a few different swipe combos at your disposal adding some depth and complexity to the gameplay. 


The first couple of stages are not very big, but as you progress, the levels do start to open up, with multiple paths to explore, and even though there is only one ‘right’ path to each stage’s exit point, it does help add to the variety within each stage. Also adding to the variety are the world’s backdrops. In the first world, you’ll be fighting your way through the park while the second world has you battling it out beneath the park and the third world is a station in space. Graphically, the game looks almost identical to the cartoon, and the animations are incredibly smooth and quick, complimenting the responsive controls. 


Although GameCenter is supported, there’s no scoring system, which means that there’s no leaderboards. However, there are 15 achievements to help to drive the game forward. However, unlike most brawlers the lack of leaderboards and a scoring system does not take anything away from the game. While it could help add to the replay value, that’s not the driving force behind the gameplay, which is actually kind of a refreshing change of pace. You’re not required to beat every single enemy in a level in order to progress, and you don’t have to visit every stages branched areas to complete them. It does add a more casual feeling to the game while the gameplay still provides a nice challenge for those who are willing to try and beat down every enemy and visit every area in a level. But I doubt many of us would complain if leaderboards and a scoring system were added in an update.



Priced at $2.99, it is a bit ‘high’ compared to other iOS titles, but the amount of polish and entertainment value presented in the game definitely justifies the extra buck or two. Not to mention more characters, another world with 5 more levels, endless levels and multiple modes are planned, we’re incredibly excited to see how this game grows with future updates. If you’re a fan of beat-em-ups/brawlers, don’t let the Cartoon Network publication make you overlook Best Park In The Universe. Alongside Mutant Fridge Mayhem and Combo Crew, it’s very quickly become one of our personal favorites on the platform, and we really can not recommend it more.