To mangle a quote from the Midwestern philosopher Nelly, it’s getting hot out there, but keep on all your clothes. See, society demands that to beat the heat, you need to keep at least partially covered up, even during the …
To mangle a quote from the Midwestern philosopher Nelly, it’s getting hot out there, but keep on all your clothes. See, society demands that to beat the heat, you need to keep at least partially covered up, even during the summer.
It’s a bummer, we know. You can always go to the pool if that’s an option. We hear some of you even have one in your own backyard, which is pretty cool.
Or you can just play it our way, crank the AC, worry about the electric bill tomorrow and escape into some new mobile games. This week’s crop includes the return of a beloved animated series, a new game with the words “Final” and “Fantasy” in the title in that order, and rampaging samurai. You’re intrigued and you don’t want to go outside, so read on.
Even though Fry is blissfully unaware that Futurama was canceled a while ago (for good this time, we think), the show has lived on in a number of mobile games. Worlds of Tomorrow seems like it could be the most promising one yet, utilizing the city-building and task-completing elements of the Simpsons and Family Guy games and adding RPG-like battles with retro graphics. We’re suckers for anything to do with this franchise, so we’re certainly going to be giving it a shot.
If the catchy name doesn’t pique your interest, maybe the stylized graphics and simple but challenging one-touch gameplay will. You help Mumbles the monkey swing his way through 45 levels of danger, an effort that the game write-up promises will “test your brain power and reflexes.” You aren’t racing against the clock, so there’s no time pressure, just the very real chance that if you swing the wrong way, Mumbles is going to end up flying into spikes or meeting some other horrifying fate. We said no time pressure, not no pressure, full stop.
There was actually already an app on the App Store named Kalimba! with an exclamation point and everything. This game is not to be confused, as it is actually a platformer with some puzzle elements that has you playing as two totem pole pieces that move at the same time. It’s an interesting twist on a very traditional set-up, one that has already won raves when the game released on other platforms. Exclusive to the iPad is a local co-op mode that “will make or break any friendship.” Challenge accepted!
Take the “oh crap, we need to shoot stuff down before it destroys us” mentality of the arcade classic Missile Command, then turn it into a solo card game with Solitaire leanings but an increasing amount of strategy as you play more. That might not seem like an obvious blueprint for success, but Missile Cards has already succeeded with it on PC, and it should be a natural for mobile devices. No IAPs means you just buy and enjoy, assuming your idea of a good time is being constantly nervous that everything is going to get blown up if you make the wrong decision.
If you’re surprised that they were able to turn Final Fantasy XV into a mobile game, you can keep on feeling that way, because they didn’t. Instead, Square Enix let Epic Action go to town with the IP and make it into a strategy game, and if you guessed that it’s something like Game of War except with Final Fantasy trappings, you’ve got it just about right. Not sure that’s really what many people were asking or hoping for, but plenty of people like Game of War, and it certainly looks pretty, so who are we to judge?
Nearly every week now, there’s a game based on an IP that existed before mobile was a thing. Desperate Housewives, it’s your turn, apparently. While this one appears to have a lot in common with celebrity-focused games where you decorate your house and put new outfits on the characters, it also has a murder mystery element with is quite appropriate for the crew from Wisteria Lane. If there’s still enough of a fandom out there that remembers the show fondly enough to try out a free game based on it, which seems like a safe bet, don’t be surprised if this actually catches on.
Unlike Desperate Housewives, Castle Revenge is actually not based on a former hit ABC TV series, though … nah, never mind. What you’ll find here is a mix of action and strategy as you skirmish with both the evil Lord Grayson (no relation to Dick, as far as we know) in an attempt to get back what is rightfully yours. The big hook here is realistic, physics-based castle destruction, so if you’ve been wondering how it would really work when cannonballs hit castle walls, this is where you’ll find out.
DJ Khaled says “another one” when he’s talking about hit songs, but he could easily apply that to the track record that Glitch Games has with atmospheric adventure/puzzle games. In All That Remains, you wake up after a night you can’t quite remember in a bunker that belongs to your dad, ostensibly for your own protection. Your sister is in a bunker too, as you find out over the two-way radio, but not the same one. Escape the bunker, rescue your sister and piece together everything that’s going on before it’s too late.
You’ve played mobile games with dragons before, probably plenty of them. But have you played any where you merge things to evolve them? Well, possibly, since there’s a match-3 element involved here (though the App Store write-up doesn’t make it all that obvious). But it looks cute, and there are more than a dozen different types of dragons to collect and evolve, so we’re guessing there’s a decent-sized audience for something like this.
A standard Samurai Rampage is one thing, but a Super Samurai Rampage … well, that’s something else. Something you’ll probably learn by playing this high score chaser, where you’re going to be hacking and slashing your way through tons of enemies to restore your honor. Simple swipe controls allow you to unleash the carnage with your katana, and the game promises a sufficient challenge to keep you coming back for more. Because a Super Samural Rampage doesn’t end until the last swing of the sword, you can bet on that.
