I'll be honest - I'm not a huge fan of platforming games on touch-screens. I find that the controls are never tight enough to feel truly at my beck and call, and the usual giant "buttons" plastered across the bottom of the screen take up far too much space - space that could be better used for, you know, the actual game.
When I'm inevitably a millionaire from all the video game journalism money that I'm raking in, I'm going to find the world's best architect and ask him or her to build an M. C. Escher house for me to live in, with stairways that double back on themselves, and impossible waterfalls for me to dive off of.
Mr. Runner 2: The Masks is an upcoming action game from the newly launched development studio Zing Games. It's loosely based on the first Mr. Runner mobile game, but the graphical improvements between the two are so drastic that the difference could roughly be compared to the monumental change between Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario World.
You've got to feel bad for the janitors in video games. I know I wouldn't want to be the one to mop up the slimy warehouse floors after Spunk and Moxie have made their way through. Spunk and Moxie is an unforgiving platform and running hybrid game that moves at a lightning-fast pace, and puts your every reflex to the ultimate oozy test. It's funny; I always thought ooze was supposed to be slow!
Evil scientists are forever fiddling with secret formulas and tinctures, but they rarely get the first batch right. So what happens to the slop that gets rejected? Pouring it down the toilet is a popular option, but only until the authorities start getting reports about fish suddenly evolving optic lasers. Long-term storage is another option, but it doesn't come without its risks—hence the plot driving Spunk and Moxie for iOS.
2012 was the year that one-touch running games really came into their element, with numerous developers really pushing the boat out, exploring new and fiendish elements that made previous runners look shallow and empty in comparison. The question is, what do running games need to do to take it just that little bit further and make 2013 the year of the mobile runner? Rock Runners definitely has a keen eye for what the genre requires, especially when it comes to controls and presentation, but it doesn't particularly innovate or provide anything we haven't already seen.
Wizarding can be a rather precarious occupation. The perils associated with being a magic user are nothing short of terrifying when you think about it -- gnarly beasts after you, other wizards challenging you to wizard-offs, all that good stuff. But what were to happen if you lost everything that actually marked you as a wizard -- namely, your powers. Poor Arlo of Arlo's Adventure has fallen victim to just that, and it's up to you to help him make things right.
TV-like electronic beings shouldn't be so adorable. Cordy 2, from SilverTree Media, is a platformer starring a cute little robotic hero named Cordy who's just trying to rescue all his friends. They've been stolen away by the evil Boogaloo and his goons, and waiting between Cordy and his gang are treacherous teleporters, unlockable areas, and puzzles. Cordy's got his work cut out for him, but you'll have a blast with him in this colorful little game bursting with personality.