Happy new year! Here at Gamezebo, we recognize the irony that what is supposed to be the most joyous time of year is also the slowest for mobile games. Heck, the App Store actually shuts down for a bit (though …
Happy new year! Here at Gamezebo, we recognize the irony that what is supposed to be the most joyous time of year is also the slowest for mobile games. Heck, the App Store actually shuts down for a bit (though the break was shorter in 2016 than in previous years).
On the plus side, that gave us time to live up to every calendar-flipping cliche. Our batteries are recharged! We’re going to do even bigger and better things in 2017! We’re going to get off our rears, stop playing so many games and hit the gym hard!
Okay, maybe not that last one. We might play more games on the treadmill to meet that resolution halfway. And we’re still going to round up a group of new games every week that we think you should know about. It’s a list of 12 to kick off January, though we cheated a bit too. You’ll see what we mean if you read on.
Any time a new Whitaker Trebella game comes out, it has our attention. We had to investigate this one carefully since it started with a different letter than we were expecting, but after assistance from some friends in Russia, we can say the email we got announcing Remedy Rush is legit. Trebella has whipped up something different here, an adventure/puzzle game where you battle against disease with decidedly unconventional treatments that you control. It’s weird but wonderful, which is just the way we like it.
Truthfully, we almost forgot about this one. Sister Location got a Steam launch last October, then Android users saw it pop up right before Christmas. It’s finally out for iOS now too, and if it follows the track record of other FNAF games, should be blazing up the paid app charts like it was being chased by possessed animatronic animals. The twist this time is that you don’t have to hole up in just one room of the spooky rental company, but the rest of the classic Five Nights at Freddy’s touches are all there. Survive if you can, jump at the jump scares because you must.
Told you we cheated somewhere. This isn’t just one game, nor even a collection, but mobile ports of the first six Mega Man console games for both iOS and Android. Jump into the nostalgia ship and blast off. Or maybe not, because early word is not so good. In fact, one of our own has called them “six kinds of awful” for another outlet. But we do the reviewing in reviews and the informing in pieces like this, so they’re out there now. Make of all this what you will.
I think we can all agree that if they ever decided to make a mobile version of Rocket League, it would be super sweet. My kids would likely lose their minds. In the meantime, we’ve got Turbo League, which is essentially the same premise: teams of three players each play soccer with cars and other vehicles. A few years ago, that premise would have gotten you strange looks. Post-Rocket League, though? Sounds cool, especially if its servers can hold up to live multiplayer.
It’s been mentioned before in this space that point-and-click adventures are usually okay in our book despite the fact that you don’t really point or click when playing them on touchscreens. Happily, Machineboy calls this one point-and-tap, and it’s about a dairy farmer in 1920s Norway who yearns for something more than her life tending to cows — and gets it when an alien ship arrives. It’s like Luke Skywalker’s dreams of the stars, except with more bovines. Also, all of the text and dialogue rhymes! Get this on Lin-Manuel Miranda’s phone, stat.
For starters, you’ve got to love that Escalation Studios doubled down on the premise by adding the ‘3D’ part to this title. Of course being in 3D is going to make you want to push the red button on your console even more. And that’s when the trouble begins. Or fun. Or both. Since your co-worker has gone to use the bathroom, you can’t be sure if anything you’re doing in this puzzler/button-pushing sim is what you’re supposed to be doing. Even if you enjoyed the game before, Escalation promises new mechanics, new endings and more. Color us red, which in this case is the color of intrigue.
A sequel to the original Drop Flip, Seasons presents more physics-based challenges with … wait for it … a seasonal theme. It’s one of those “simple to learn, difficult to master” deals as you try getting a ball into a bucket. New levels will supposedly be released all year long, so it won’t be the same game by the time summer rolls around. That seems far away right now, but this game is as close as the App Store.
