Considering how little time is left if you haven’t, here’s hoping you have your Halloween costume and plans all squared away. The time of year when everyone, old and young, enjoys dressing up in costume (no, not Comic-Con, though that’s …
Considering how little time is left if you haven’t, here’s hoping you have your Halloween costume and plans all squared away. The time of year when everyone, old and young, enjoys dressing up in costume (no, not Comic-Con, though that’s a good guess) and participates in the communal rotting of teeth is almost upon us.
Alas, something else is already here, and that’s another batch of new mobile games. The onslaught of new choices for your phone or tablet waits for no calendar date besides Thursday, and even that isn’t always the case for the rebels that enjoy hitting the app stores whenever they feel like it.
All you can do is buckle down and prepare. And by prepare, I mean reading our list of 12 new mobile games you should play this week, because while the good stuff can come from anywhere, we have a hunch the best of it will come from this group of titles right here.
Most of the top racing games for mobile are part of existing franchises, some of which started life on console. Not so for Gear.Club, which throws its hat into the ring offering many of the same features you’d expect from one of the current leaders of the pack. We’re talking a variety of real life performance machines, numerous ways to tune your cars for more speed, events and championships that have you racing against other players, and more. Could we have another challenger for the title of top mobile racing game? We just might.
The current zombie revival has lasted a lot longer than we thought it would (thanks Robert Kirkman!). It’s almost getting to the point where you start to wonder if people really think that’s how the world will end, and while we’re skeptical on that front, it might not hurt to bone up on your zombie apocalypse skills just in case. Gameloft is helping with Zombie Anarchy, a build and battle game that has you trying to fend off both other players and the undead. Better find some friends and band together.
Almost like The Who knew this would be the case decades ago, pinball isn’t dead in the 21st Century. It’s just taken new forms, some of which are on mobile. PinOut takes the mechanics of pinball and melds them with the ongoing action of an arcade game and the design aesthetic of Tron, apparently. Its App Store write-up promises “a continuous journey through this mysterious canyon of pulsating lights and throbbing retro wave beats.” So like playing pinball in the club, maybe? Can’t say we’ve ever tried that, but this still looks like fun.
![screen696x696[1]](https://www.gamezebo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/screen696x6961-9-2.jpeg "screen696x696[1]")
Yikes. We say that because as scary as previous Lifeline games have been, this one looks like it might take the cake. You take on the role of Wynn, a woman who has woken up alone inside a scientific facility with no memory except the feeling that she needs to escape. She can only do so with your help, but as you might expect, there are things that might not want her to, and the game gives you a heart rate monitor to let you know if your decisions are helping and hurting. Sounds like a great one to download for Halloween.
Let’s do even more scares, shall we? In The Last Door, those chills come in decidedly low-res fashion, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less effective, and people have been waiting on the second chapter of this point-and-click adventure for a while. You’ll journey back to Victorian England, this time focused on the psychologist to the first season’s protagonist. Four new episodes should keep you occupied for a while, and if you ever find that Last Door, please let us know what’s on the other side: unless it’s something unspeakably horrible.
Not sure what this game is all about? 18: Dream World is an import from Japan making its North American debut on Android (with an iOS version supposedly to follow). It’s the latest in puzzle/RPG hybrids, with match-3 mechanics teaming up with a heavy emphasis on narrative and a cast of what is said to be hundreds of characters. Publisher Game Samba has an Attack on Titan game on the way at some point too, but this definitely looks worth checking out in the meantime.
Looking not unlike a lost Zelda adventure that would have lived on your original Game Boy (yes kids, the one that was in black and white), The Lost Shield is a blend of brick breaking and adventure that gives one the impression that the best way to be a video game hero is to break stuff. Lego games have always backed that up. Battle/smash your way through more than 50 stages, defeating six bosses and marveling at what some of our games looked and sounded like back in the day.
Agent A has been out on iOS for some time, even making Apple’s Best of 2015 list. Now it’s on Android as well. For the unfamiliar, it’s a spy-themed puzzle game where you become the titular Agent A and try to stop the nefarious Ruby La Rouge by any means necessary. And yes, those means involve collecting items and solving puzzles, with things you learn on previous screens sometimes quite useful later on. Plus it’s got a great 60s vibe, so eat your heart out Austin Powers.
In what’s shaping up to be a great week for puzzle gamers, Totem Forge is yet another option. While the match-3 mechanics might be familiar, this game changes up the usual formula with procedurally generated levels to ensure that it’s never quite the same experience. You’ll have to evolve your Totems to help while also staying alert for evil Golems that stand in your way. The developers at Exaltrix claim Totem Forge is equally suited for short or long play sessions, so expect that this one might suck you in.
Have you ever wanted to be Dexter Morgan? And no worries, we’re not reporting you to anyone based on how you answer that question. While the Showtime series has been done for a while, he lives on in mobile games, including this one that gives you a first-person experience and tests your ability with knives and blades of all kind. Plus you’ll recognize the voice work of James Remar as Dexter’s father, Harry, with a free update due in December to add Michael C. Hall’s voice as well. So, uh, get slicing, we guess.
We’ve mentioned before that we’re fans of games that offer truth in titling. Oh…Sir actually is an insult simulator, where you choose words and phrases to verbally assault your opponent in the finest British fashion. It wouldn’t be much fun if you couldn’t hurl barbs at real people, so you can do just that to real life friends (it even has local multiplayer) or folks you don’t even know. Six different playable characters, each with their own weaknesses and insecurities, and multiple locations in which to verbally throw down should mean hours of insults. And fun.
Sometimes a monster just needs a little snack, and if said snack turns out to be a kid, so be it. Halloween just happens to be a time when there are plenty of kids out wandering the street, turning it into something of a movable feast. Anyway, Mmmonster is a puzzle game where you control a deceptively cute monster trying to “eat the kid, don’t get caught.” You’ve got only your wits and candy to help you, but once you’re full, you can unlock new monsters. Happy snacking!
