Waiting. The great American philosopher Tom Petty once said that it was the hardest part. But we’re willing to wait when we think it’s worthwhile, just like a whole bunch of people did this week when HBO decided to stick …
Waiting. The great American philosopher Tom Petty once said that it was the hardest part. But we’re willing to wait when we think it’s worthwhile, just like a whole bunch of people did this week when HBO decided to stick the Game of Thrones season 7 premiere date in a block of ice and then melt it out.
While we do have to wait for the release of specific mobile games, the nice thing about the industry in general is that there’s never a week that goes by that something doesn’t come our way. More specifically, a lot of somethings, with new titles hitting the app stores constantly.
Thanks to all you developers out there for that, because waiting really isn’t all that much fun. And with that, let’s see the most promising fare they have for us this week.
Let’s kick this off right with an award-winning game. Mushroom 11 won the IndiePlus contest for 2017 and already enjoyed a successful launch on Steam, so it arrives with as much of a pedigree as its possible for a mobile game to have. The mechanics are pretty interesting, even if the unchecked of fungus is something that could easily be horror fodder in other hands. Very much worth checking out if puzzle games are your bag.
Why hold on for a hero when you can have a whole planet of them instead? My.com jumps into the mobile MOBA (perhaps my favorite mobile-related phrase ever) space with a game it claims has been assembled using feedback and advice from eSports veterans and competitive gamers. It’s got a very interesting visual style, as well as PvE content for people who don’t like being up against live opponents all the time. Can it attract a sizable player base? That’s always the question with games like this.
It’s, um, sometime in the future, and the Green Lung disease is everywhere. Hope is in short supply, but Amy Wellard isn’t giving up. Or at least you shouldn’t let her because there won’t be much of a game if you do. Another game that made a PC debut before coming to mobile, Shardlight already has excellent advance buzz as the kind of adventure game you can really sink some time into. Those are always welcome around these parts.
The supergroup made up of members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden? Awesome! Oh no, wait. That was Temple of the Dog. Anyway, Temple of Spikes looks to have plenty going for it as well as one of those games whose deceptively cute graphics belie its challenging gameplay. Also, you don’t have to be an Indiana Jones-type adventurer to hunt for treasure here as you could also be a knight, cowboy, mummy or several other characters. Just watch out for the spikes. They look sharp.
Now, this looks like old school RPG fare, just the way you like it. Grid-based movement and turn-based combat? Check. Traditional leveling and challenging battles? Double check. Plus it’s got all the modern niceties you’d expect, especially when it comes to graphics, and its app store write-up promises that the story “doesn’t take itself too seriously.” This pushes all of the right buttons for me, but then again, I’ve always been a big RPG fan going back as far as I can remember.
Surprise! And by that, I mean that Kingdom: New Lands showed up on mobile without advance warning, the kind of pleasant surprise we mobile games get from time to time. Â It’s got both side-scrolling adventure game and management elements, both things that can be excellent on their own but don’t often team up together in one title. The price to try it is high, but if you’re in the mood for something different that still has classic undertones, this could be what you seek this week.
A whole arcade you can fit in your pocket is something that 8-year old me would have thought was the greatest thing ever. Or second-greatest, after the Death Star playset I got one Christmas. This game looks just fine too, simulating things like crane machines, pushers and hoop shoots, the kind of stuff you mostly find in arcades these days where video game cabinets used to stand. Young people, just trust me on this.
Faeria bills itself as the card game with a living board, as you can build decks that don’t just bring the pain to your opponents but also rearrange the playing field too. The developers tout the fact that it’s easy to learn but difficult to master, with more than 270 cards and five land types, plenty of solo content and even advance thought put into the esports possibilities. Reviews of the Steam version Positivey Postivie” so far, and I’m always willing to give another card game a try.
Even though I grew up in the arcade era, there aren’t too many games I’d be willing to challenge all comers on and feel like I had a reasonable chance of beating them. But 1942 is one of them, for some reason. A true, honest to goodness port of the arcade original would be amazing, but alas, there is reason to believe that’s not exactly what this is. Still cool to see, and only 99 cents means it doesn’t have to be amazing to be worth a shot.
Looks like some kind of cutesy board game mash-up of some sort and that’s apparently exactly what it is. There’s also a definite city-building element to it and the goal of cultivating the biggest population of bunnies possible. This could just be me, but … don’t bunnies historically take care of that sort of thing on their own? Ahem. Board Kings also has a multiplayer aspect so if you’ve got buddies who like this sort of thing, point them in this direction as well.
Considering all of the games featuring zombies that we’ve seen over the years, you would have thought the zombie apocalypse would be over by now. Either the zombies would have eaten everyone or the usually heavily armed humans would have mowed down all the undead. Since that hasn’t happened, you’re going to have to drive your bus through the world of the first Dead Ahead, which put a somewhat humorous twist on an otherwise grim fate for humanity. Unlock a bunch of different units, items and quests and save as many people as you can, because otherwise, the zombies win.
This is, perhaps, not the best-named new game of this week, considering there are already apps floating around on iOS that have the same name and have nothing to do with this. But this is built around a really cool concept, combining card game mechanics with location-based data in a way that really appears fresh and unique. There are both PvP and PvE modes included, and the art style is definitely eye-catching.
Props to the people at Amused Sloth for coming up with one of the best studio names around. Seriously, that’s just tremendous. As for their game, it involves saving cute pets from getting run over in a busy intersection, something I think we can all agree is a worthy cause. With 39 different characters to unlock, it appears there will be plenty of blocky fun to be had.
