Pocket Climber [PunchBox Studios] - $0.99/$0.99 [HD]

In our review for Polara, we said that the runner genre is expanding, and becoming more and more interesting. That kind of holds true for most genres, but it feels like the runner genre is at the top of it’s game right now. Now, that doesn’t mean that all of the newer endless releases are innovative and unique. There are still those titles that borrow from well known games and change a few things around, or build on them. Not that this is a bad thing. I, for one, didn’t really care for Temple Run, but some of the Temple Run clones that have been released sense, One Epic Knight for instance, have completely grabbed hold of me. That just so happens to be the case with PunchBox Studio’s latest title, Pocket Climber, as well. Mixing the behind-the-back camera and swiping controls found in Temple Run with the climbing found in GoGo Tap Climber and Jake Escapes was bound to happen eventually. I’m actually surprised it’s taken this long. 

Pocket Climber, like Temple Run type games, has you switching ‘lines’ and following paths of coins while avoiding hazards and getting as far as you can. The only real difference is that Pocket Climber has you doing this vertically instead of horizontally, climbing up an endless tower, avoiding window washers, giant apes, falling platforms, rug beating ladies and office workers that have decided to toss their computer screens and file cabinets out of their windows. Not to mention the sections of the building that are larger than others and large metal window covers that you’ll need to fling yourself over in order to keep climbing. 

Controls are simple, smooth and responsive. Swipe to move left and right, and swipe up to jump up one more floor than you would normally. And the speed of the game, while it does increase as you make your way further up the building, does give you ample time to react. You’re able to view about 6-7 floors above you, allowing for adequate time to make adjustments as to where you want your character to be while you make your way upward. There can be up to 4 different ‘lanes’ which you’ll be able to switch between, though there’s usually only two. Window washers, beams, and other objects move downward, while some rotate around the building, are thrown at you from a floor or two above. 

Like other Temple Run type games, Pocket Climber also contains a shop and IAP system. In the store, you’re able to purchase your typical power-ups, like a magnet, helmet, jumbo coins and a jetpack, with each upgrade either making the power up last for an extended period of time or increasing it’s value. There are also one time use Head Starts giving you the opportunity to start at floor 80 or 200 and one other climber to unlock, Mandy, though she does not have any additional stats or perks. Coins can be bought in packages ranging from $0.99 up to $59.99, all of which, unfortunately, makes Pocket Climber a perfect candidate for a switch to freemium, and judging by all of the recent endless games in the AppStore that have gone freemium after a short period, chances are it’ll happen here as well. 

If you do decide to take the plunge and purchase Pocket Climber, it is a very polished, and entertaining title, and even though it’s only slightly different from the Temple Run genre, it’s a blast to fling your character all over the side of a building, collecting coins and avoiding the various hazards that’ll be thrown your way. For $0.99, it’s worth picking up if you’re an Endless gaming fanatic and, hopefully, PunchBox will do something special for those of you who do decide to pick it up if it ever does go freemium, like toss some extra coins your way. There are two different builds in the AppStore, the iPhone/iPod version and the iPad version, making it $1.99 to have it on both your phone and tablet and separating the GameCenter leaderboards, which is kind of disappointing, and does feel a little like an extra attempt to grab some cash, and although it’s very understandable that PunchBox is just trying to recoup costs, I do think that more coins per IAP purchase would have helped out with that and made players more likely to purchase coins via IAP. With so many Universal games out there to compete with, Pocket Climber might have a hard time finding it’s way onto gamers iDevices. 

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Retrobot [Endeavor Bros + Monkube] - $2.99

Monkube broke into the iOS scene being the first developer to mix an arcade gameplay experience with a story told through comic strips when they released the fantastic title 6th Planet. Since then, the game has received a couple updates, with it’s most recent giving it GameCenter support. Granted, 6th Planet might not have been the first iOS game to incorporate comic strips, nor the last, but it was the first that put a very strong emphasis on the comic segments, and, until last week, was still the only one to do so. Now, along with Endeavor Bros, we’ve finally got another comic strip driven arcade title in the AppStore; Retrobot. 

Retrobot tells the story of a robot who’s teamed up with his creator’s monkey, Toto, after the inventor, Spencer, was kidnapped. In the world of Retrobot, robots are basically everywhere, doing the menial and task driven jobs that humans use to do. Retrobot and Toto spend most of their time playing video games, which comes in handy as the two are trying to rescue Spencer, because they both look at the world as one big video game, and see themselves as heroes on a quest to save their master. 

The artwork in Retrobot is fantastic, and given to gamers in hi-resolution images with some great detail, and loads of polish throughout both the comic sections and the in-game graphics. It’s definitely a highlight of the game, which is pretty rare to see in a casual arcade title such as this. The music and sound effects are also very well done, helping to add to the arcady feel of the whole gameplay experience. 

Now, the core gameplay is a lot like Kiai Game’s Color Bandits. You’re given a slider for left and right movement, and a half circle to shoot in a 180 degree radius all around you. Early on, there’s only a couple of enemies that you’ll need to face, but as you progress throughout the game, more and more are added, and the difficulty rises quite a bit. 

There are random power-up, shield and health drops from enemies as you make your way through the levels, giving you a fire projectile and a spread shot, as well as EMP pickups that destroy almost every enemy on the screen. The EMP and shield pickups are limited to 3, with the shield icon on the left and the EMP on the right, being able to activate them whenever you wish. The shield protects you from all enemy projectiles, and lets you run into ground robots, destroying most of them. There is one big ground robot that you will not be able to destroy with your shield and, in fact, if it lands on you while jumping, even when your shield is active, you’ll be instantly destroyed. The only down-side to the shield is that you are unable to fire your weapons when it’s active, making it pretty useless until you’re facing bosses later on the game. 

I have come across a couple of issues while playing Retrobot, some of which have been very frustrating. Just about every time I exit the game, I seem to loose progress. With 9 levels shown on the level select screen, it makes it not seem as bad, but with each of those having 2, or sometimes 3 stages within them, the data loss is actually fairly large. I’ve tried exiting the game in multiple areas, mid-level, at the level select screen, by exiting back to the main menu and then exiting, but each time I loose at least 1 level on the map, putting me back about 2-3 stages every time I exit. There have been times when I’ve lost more, going back 2 levels, loosing about 6 stages of progress. This has also happened when restarting a level from within the pause menu, which really makes no sense at all to me. Aside from the data loss, there have also been times when the sound quit completely in the middle of a cut-scene, with the only way to get it back being to pause the game, putting my device in sleep mode, and then starting it back up. 

However, even with these issues, Retrobot is still a game that I’m enjoying quite a bit, which is made even more humorous given the fact that there is GameCenter integration, but no achievements or leaderboards, and that the game isn’t anything unique or original. It’s basically a mix between Color Bandits and 6th Planet with loads of data loss issues. But. Yes, but. Retrobot has that spark, that charm, that keeps me coming back to it, even though I’ve had to replay numerous levels multiple times. I can only image how much more fun I’d be having with it if the issues weren’t there, and it did have true GameCenter support. 

Priced at $0.99 for launch, with the original price set at $2.99, and being Universal, Retrobot is a game that’s still kind of hard to recommend. For $0.99, it’s definitely worth picking up if you’re a fan of Action/Arcade games that you can play from beginning to end, see the credits roll, and delete from your device. Priced at $2.99, I think there’s too many frustrating issues, and with the lack of GameCenter, you might want to wait until there’s an update that deals with the data issues before you think about picking it up, and given the large spaces between updates when it came to 6th Planet, there’s a pretty large possibility that these issues will not be dealt with any time soon, which is a damn shame. Hopefully Monkube, Ape Entertainment and Endeavor Bros can give Retrobot the attention it deserves, and bring out it’s full potential in the near future. 

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Running With Ninjas [Justin Hogie] - $0.99

Shoot-em-ups. They’ve grown in popularity quite a bit since the introduction of the AppStore and iDevice. The touch controls make pin-point accuracy and quick movements that would otherwise be impossible as easy as dragging your thumb across a 3.5 inch glass screen. However, the 3D, 3rd Person/On-Rails shooter genre has been basically left out of this Shmup Revolution, with only a couple of titles available for the platform; Wizard Ops, Denizen, Dark Break, ExZeus, TheMars, Battle 3D 2: Iron Punch, and the more open-world type game, Battle 3D: Robots Sky. These titles have provided iOS gamers with countless Space Harrier type entertainment. But sadly, aside from these titles, there’s not others for fans of the genre to sink their teeth into. One-man, Australia-based Justin Hogie obviously knows this, but has still taken a wild chance with his first original iOS title, and created another game we can all add to that extremely short list; Running With Ninjas. 

Running With Ninjas is an Endless 3rd Person On-Rails Shooter that puts you in control of a ninja running through the jungle and mountains while being attacked by, and attacking, other ninjas who are bound and determined to take you out. RWN contains one gameplay mode which has you defeating as many ninjas as you can before your health completely runs out. When you start out, you’ll only see 2 different enemies; Red and Green. Red enemies will throw Shurikens straight forward and once defeated, add to your special meter; displayed as writing under your health bar. Green enemies do not attack you, instead, once defeated, they will slightly refill your health bar. As you progress through the world, you’ll soon realize that these are not the only types of enemies. Bosses with strange turtle like shields on their backs, purple enemies that throw Shurikens directly at you, yellow enemies that toss bombs and more will all be after your head, and when all of these different types of enemies are on the screen at the same time, things can get a little hairy. 

Once you defeat a boss, a scroll appears. These scrolls, once collected, give your ninja special powers, and this is where the special meter comes into play. After you collect a scroll, a special power is unlocked. To use this special power, you’ll need to draw a shape in the middle of the screen. This does take some getting use to, and I still think that buttons up the sides of the screen, or easier swipe gestures, like just swiping left to right, or up and down would have been a better fit, especially since the gestures are a little hard to remember, and can take more than a second or two to pull off, that is, if you can pull it off correctly. Each special power requires a certain amount of power from your special gauge. Once you have enough power, you can draw a certain symbol on the screen, and POW, enemies are in for some trouble. 

The controls are fairly simple; you’re given a button for jumping, and a button for throwing your own Shuriken. Moving left and right is controlled by tilting your device. Normally, I don’t think I would have checked out a 3rd Person On-Rails Shooter that was tilt controlled, but the controls in Running With Ninjas fit the game extremely well. Also making it feel even better is the great camera control. When you tilt your device, your character moves, but so does the environment. This makes it a lot easier to focus on the gameplay, and not worry so much about where your character is located in the gameplay area. However, if you’re not comfortable with the tilting environment, you can always turn this option off in the settings menu, making the environment stay level as you tilt. I have experienced some issues with the controls, like an occasionally unresponsive jump button, some jitteriness while moving in the air, sometimes resulting in taking damage when I should have avoided a bomb, and some slight sticking of the character while on the edges of the gameplay area. However, these were all occasional, and not game-breaking by any means. 

The graphics are pretty minimal, with very little details in the environments and characters, however, this does help to make the bright enemies stick out like a sore thumb, making it easier to focus on them while running at full speed through the environments. The animations are well done, with nice enemy appearance and death animations, cool looking special powers, and nice running animations also add to the feel and polish of the game. 

With only one gameplay mode, and some needed tweaks that could make the gameplay a little smoother, not everyone is going to jump on the Running With Ninjas bandwagon. However, if you’re a fan of the genre, and willing to take a chance on a game that has some very solid core gameplay mechanics, for $0.99, you just might be very surprised. In the near future, Justin Hogie has said that GameCenter leaderboards and achievements, as well as possibly another gameplay mode that would revolve around preset challenges and levels, along with some additions to the enemies, stages, and special power scrolls. Hopefully RWN sells well and gets enough attention that these things can be added, because right now, Running With Ninjas shows an extreme amount of promise, and provides some great endless gameplay.

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Kung Pow Granny [Bluefir Media] - $0.99

The dodging arcade genre, basically started by Tilt To Live, has grown quite a bit since the release of the original TTL. Since then, games like Silverfish, Spirit, Tilt To Fly, Mega Bad, Astral, Goo Monsters, FlipShip, Bit Pilot, Hyperlight and more have made a pretty large splash in the iOS gaming world. There’s just something about avoidance that seems to hit multiple gaming nerves in the video game obsessed sections of our brains that keeps us playing over and over again. Well, Bluefir Media is taking a shot at the genre with their new, and first iOS release, Kung Pow Granny.

Kung Pow Granny is basically a Tilt To Live clone. You’ll control an old lady, who happens to know Kung Fu, as she tries to avoid massive waves of Reapers, killing them by running into power-ups that litter the gameplay area. As you take out the Reapers, they drop coins, which you can collect, and spend in the store to purchase and upgrade your various powers. 

Now, I do need to get something off my chest with this release. The Version 1.0.0 build of the game gives players 500,000 free coins. That’s over $20 worth of IAP coins for free. Using the coins, you’re able to unlock every single ability in the shop, as well as fully upgrade it, and still have 100,000 coins left over to purchase 2nd chances. While this seems like a good idea, and nice little bonus for early supporters of the game, it essentially isolates future players from the leaderboards, making them grind for endless hours before getting enough coins up to be able to seriously compete with the early adopters. And starting out without any special help, you’ll be able to earn about 200 coins per game. Getting up to the amount you’ll need to seriously compete; about 400,000 coins, will take you… well… a VERY long time. 

Aside from that fairly big issue, Kung Pow Granny is a pretty solid clone of Tilt To Live. The controls are very tight, and though you’re not offered tilt calibration, you are able to choose between 3 pre-set calibrations. There are also virtual controls included in the game, giving you a joystick on either the left or right side of the screen. Though this does, in effect, cover up portions of the gameplay area, and can result in numerous deaths, it is there as an option. 

You’re able to choose between Normal and Master difficulties. In Normal Mode the rise in difficulty while playing is fairly slow and building up a high-score can take quite a bit of time, while Master Mode throws you right into the action, you really won’t have a chance of playing for any significant amount of time until you unlock more powers, and upgrade them a bit. But the enemy movement and patterns in KPG are very reminiscent of Tilt To Live, adding to the challenge of avoidance and destruction, as well as entertainment of the game. 

Now, with all the other Tilt To Live-esque titles available in the AppStore, if you’re a real fan of the genre, Kung Pow Granny will probably be another game worth adding to your collection. However, if you’re not really obsessed with the genre, you might wind up asking yourself ‘why am I playing this, when I could be playing the original TTL?’. Though, being Universal, and priced at $0.99, it’s worth checking out if you’re interested, but if you don’t catch the game before the first update, you might just wanna pass on it, as a lot of the fun is going to be sucked out of the game, with the leaderboards basically untouchable, and the amount of grinding needed to unlock everything. 

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Bug Hunt 8-Bit [Dom n' Tom] - $0.99

Old-school retro score-chasing arcade games have quite a following, especially in the iOS world. With so many older gamers coming back to the scene, finding out that they can enjoy quick gameplay sessions on their phone, it’s not really a surprise that there’s so many of these games available in the AppStore. Dom n’ Tom’s Bug Hunt 8-Bit is a prime example. 

The main goal of the game is to eat as many bugs as you can, getting the highest score possible. With bugs going back and forth across the screen, and mixed in with bees, which kill your character, it’s simple, quick gaming. Controlling your character is easy, just place your finger on the screen, and drag left and right to move your little frog, and swipe up and down to move his tongue. Once you have plenty of bugs stuck on your frogs tongue, drag it back down so that he can eat them, and get the points. Sadly, this is the only control setup, no virtual buttons for those of you who are comfortable with them.

There are 7 levels, kind of set up like Tetris’s levels. Each progressive level will give you more bunches of bugs, at a faster speed. While you’re playing, your level will increase as you catch more bugs, but you can choose to start at a specific level if you like. The background colors change as you play, but there are no real different environments. 

Unfortunately, this is all the game has to offer. Yes, it’s simple, yes, it has great retro graphics, and yes, it has the potential to become very addictive. But with only one gameplay mode, no power-ups, only 3 different bugs, and the biggest disappointment, no online leader boards, there’s not really much there to pull you back to the game after you play it a couple of times. 

Bug Hunt 8-Bit is great for those little spaces of time when you have a minute or two to waste, and being Universal and priced at $0.99, it’s not bad if that’s what you’re looking for. But if you’re hoping for something that will totally draw you in, and have you coming back to compete for high-scores, it’s lacking. Released last year, and not receiving one update, it’s not looking like that will change, but hopefully more attention is given to this little game with tons of potential so that Dom n’ Tom maybe get the push they need to take advantage of it. 

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Warmongers [Category 5 Games] - $1.99/$3.99

Castle Defense titles have become a great way to grab a few minutes of defense strategy gameplay while on the go, because of the AppStore. They’re great anywhere, appeal to a wide range of players, and hit that strategic nerve a lot of us gamers have without requiring us to play through a 2 hour game, or 45 minute level. While games like Stick and Cartoon Wars pioneered the genre on the iOS, games like Legendary Wars and the Fortune series pushed it more towards the hardcore strategy gamer, and that’s where Category 5 Games most recent title, Warmongers, fits in. 

Warmongers is a single screen, 5 lane defense title, which requires quite a bit of strategy to progress through. While battling it out through hundreds of levels, you’ll be able to collect coins, unlock and upgrade characters, build up powers, and select special ability giving colors for your army. 

Starting off, you’ll need to play through one area, with 3 stages. Each of these stages has 3 separate battles that you’ll need to complete in order to take over the area. Once you battle your way through all 9 stages, each getting progressively harder than the last, the territory is yours. As you make your way through the territories, more and more battles are required to play through before you take the territory over. 

In order to win a battle, you need to get enough of your characters over to the enemies side. At the top of the screen is a gauge, starting with each side locked at the middle. Once you get a character over to the enemies side, your gauge takes over a little bit of the enemies gauge. If they get a character over to your side, the gauge moves back. To win the battle, you need to completely own the enemies gauge. Sometimes it can take less than a minute, others, it’s an all out epic battle, going back and forth, with each side almost winning multiple times. It all depends on what characters you send out, when you send them out, what power ups you use and when, and when you use your special color ability. With each character you send out costing mana, and only 200 mana available to you at any given time, it’s usually a struggle the whole battle.

In the shop, you’re able to upgrade your characters, powers and colors. With each character, you can upgrade their level, which increases their defense, speed, and attack, or increase their attack and defense separately. You’re also able to purchase Bloodlust abilities, which are special attacks that can be used when your bloodlust gauge is filled. 

There are IAPs in the shop, and with no levels being able to be replayed for extra coinage, and the pretty high cost of upgrades and character unlocks, and the difficulty brought on by only having 200 mana available to you at any given time throughout the game (with characters mana costs being between 35 and 45) it can feel like the game is pushing you towards purchasing extra coins quite a bit. This is a shame, because everything else within the game is top-notch. Unfortunately, this push to purchase extra consumable IAPs after the original purchase of the game can be a real deal breaker for many gamers.

Right now, Warmongers is having a 50% off launching sale, and the iPhone version is priced at $0.99, with the HD version priced at $1.99. Considering it’s pushed towards purchasing extra coins through IAP, having a $1.99 and $3.99 title, and not being universal, it’s a hard game to recommend. But if you’re looking for a game that pushes you towards making certain upgrades without any experimentation, and loads of challenge, and high difficulty, then Warmongers is a strategy game you’ll most likely fall in love with. 

Download iPhone/SD Version

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Buster Spirits [Iskandar Inc.] - $1.99

Every time a new shmup hits the AppStore, I get extremely excited, especially when it’s from a well known developer. Iskandar, developer of Bit-1, Brutal Fantasy, Cut Him Up, and the ever popular shmup, Buster Red, has just released a follow-up to Buster Red called Buster Spirits. This time around, Iskandar has created a shmup more directed towards fans of the genre than another casual shooter. 

The first thing that stands out about Buster Spirits are the new graphics. Even though they’re retro-inspired, and look old-school, they’re a huge change from Buster Red, which had a more cartoony look to it. But aside from the graphics, like most sequels, Buster Spirits is a lot like it’s predecessor. The game is level based, containing 20 separate stages spread across 4 different worlds, and having 4 huge boss battles. There are also tons of enemies with randomized power-up drops, but in Buster Spirits, the enemies also drop coins, which you’ll need to collect to build up your score. 

Now, unlike Buster Red, Buster Spirits contains a new scoring mechanic which definitely adds to the hardcore feeling of the game. Grazing. Just mentioning the word gets shmup fans charged up. Buster Spirits gives you bonus firepower for grazing bullets and enemies, which can result in clearing out screens after screens full of enemies in a flash, and adds a ton to the difficulty, as well as the fun, factors. 

Unfortunately, it’s not all great. There is no main menu, and no options for the game. Considering the controls are more like a Minter game (think Gridrunner) and there’s no option for 1:1 relative touch controls, it’s a pain to get into. Constantly re-adjusting your finger, and under/overcompensating for the extra space your ship will move while trying to dodge huge amounts of bullets of enemies gets very frustrating, very fast. This is kind of a shock, because Buster Red’s controls are fantastic 1:1 relative touch, so it’s strange that this was left out of the sequel. 

Also, there’s only one Mode in the game, whereas Buster Red has a Boss Rush Mode, and an Elite Mode. This doesn’t really take away from the replay value, because there’s always a high replay value when it comes to shmups, and GameCenter leaderboards, but it does take away from the feeling of a complete game. Almost every shmup in the AppStore either has Arcade and iPhone Modes, Boss Rush Modes, Practice Modes, or more, and not having this included in Buster Spirits does make it seem kind of incomplete. 

There’s also no difficulty settings, and only one ship to choose from, which, when it comes to shoot-em-ups, is a very big deal. Considering almost all of these things were included in Buster Red, I can’t help but wonder why they were left out of it’s sequel. But priced at $1.99, and being Universal, if you’re a shmup fanatic, it’s hard to pass up another Buster title. Unfortunately, you might not be too pleased with the product. Hopefully Iskandar Inc. adds to the game in future updates, but as it is now, it’s a hard recommendation, even with some great Buster titles under their belt. 

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