Hearing about an adventure/music/rpg is enough to pique my interest, and that’s exactly what Arman Bohn‘s Arranger is setting out to be. However, reading over a few of the more descriptive elements has gotten me more than interested. It’s gotten me downright excited, actually.
“The game is an Adventure/RPG that combines elements from classics like The Legend of Zelda, WarioWare and the original Sierra adventure games,” according to the developer. Now if that doesn’t get people’s attention then I suppose there’s no hope for the world. The mini-game laden adventure is looking pretty fantastic in a simple, retro-esque sort of way. Players will be controlling the tiny musician as they attempt to save the world in a less-then-typical fashion. Rather than direct combat or level-grinding, they’ll be gathering a number of musical instruments in order to craft a tune that will avoid whatever this particular catastrophe entails.
Arranger is still a little ways out, being slated for a Summer 2012 release, but it definitely looks like something to keep an eye on. If the trailer below is any indication, it just might be worth the wait. It’s also apparently going to have some great music.
Posted April 4th, 2012 by Rob Rich Our Rating: :: ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
It seems to have popped up out of nowhere, with very little attention on the App Store all things considered, but this is one action rpg that shouldn't be missed.
Even with all the praise the Infinity Blade series has gotten since its introduction, there’s usually one major complaint people have: there’s no freedom of movement. A rather silly gripe seeing as open-world style exploration isn’t the point (plus it would be ridiculously taxing on the hardware with those graphics), but it’s still probably the most common one seen in user reviews and the like. Infinity Blade: Dungeons has no such movement restrictions. It’s also a fairly major departure from the gameplay series fans are used to.
Infinity Blade: Dungeons takes place thousands of years before the events in the first game, with players taking control of a weaponsmith on a quest to forge the legendary sword that’s at the center of it all. At its core, it’s a dungeon crawler. No more tapping from point-to-point and watching cutscenes and no more one-on-one bouts. Enemies can and will swarm and the player character can and will destroy them mightily with plenty of fast-paced combat and AOE (area of effect) strikes. And of course, being a weaponsmith means there will also be crafting. No word yet on what that would entail, specifically, but it’s going to be in there.
Infinity Blade: Dungeons is due out later this year (no specific date or price, naturally). It’s looking like it’ll be available across most iOS platforms, but will look its best on the iPad 2 as expected.
Posted February 29th, 2012 by Rob Rich Our Rating: :: SO PRETTY
Sure Crimsonheart is another contender for "Action RPG that's like most other Action RPGs on the App Store" from a virtual unknown, but it's a surprisingly solid attempt with some really impressive visuals.
2D action RPGs are always a popular genre. People (myself included) love the simplicity of fighting, looting, leveling, upgrading and crafting. BeerDeer wants to offer players more than that, hence the creation of Nyrthos. It’s still every bit all of those things I’ve mentioned, but it adds a new element to the mix: player influence. It’s not something as pedestrian as choosing from a dialog bog and seeing a good or bad event unfold, however.
In Nyrthos, the exploration of the world and availability of new areas is driven by the player base. One example given is that there might be a broken bridge that can be fixed once enough wood is gathered. If enough players decide to commit to the cause, the bridge will be repaired and the area beyond accessible to everyone. Similarly, players can found and manage their own village. They have a great deal of influence on the game world, and thanks to that the possibilities are practically endless.
Nyrthos will be entering open beta in the very near future (Q1, 2012), and anyone interested in taking a look can sign up on the official website. Pricing and release info are still non-existent at this point, which is to be expected, but we’ll do our best to keep everyone up-to-date.
Posted January 10th, 2012 by Rob Rich Our Rating: :: FORWARD MARCH
I'm not entirely sure how to categorize Battle Frontier: The Adventures of Arthur. It's not quite an RPG, strategy or action game. I dunno, does the App Store have a tag for "Awesome?"
Pixel and Texel’s often irreverent take on the action RPG genre, Fara, is now available on iPad. The appropriately-titled Fara HD takes advantage of the iPad’s larger screen by featuring easy-to-access options, maps, and inventory buttons at the bottom, along with weapon switching. A new interface isn’t all that’s new; the iPad version also features new abilities, a new boss, new dungeon, and various new secrets, making this what Andrew Strickland of Pixel and Texel claims is the “definitive edition of Fara.” The iPad screen also helps make the touch screen controls work well, where tapping on the screen causes the protagonist to run to that spot, double tapping attacks, and character and objects can be directly interacted with. As well, the mixture of hand-drawn and pixel art shine on the larger screen. This iPad version is available now for a sale price of $1.99, and it will be regularly $2.99.
When most people see or hear the name Digital Tales, they most likely associate it with Ducati Challenge for iOS. That, or they can click those links to see what I’m talking about because they also might be totally lost at this point. Regardless, there’s going to be a new iPhone/iPad game for folks to think about when their name comes up: Battleloot Adventure.
Aside from just being an awesome name to begin with, it’s looking like a pretty awesome game to boot. Players get to build and manage their own band of fantasy archetypes as they wander throughout “Kameloot” (ha!) and the surrounding countryside. Each adventurer has their own abilities and gain experience individually. Similarly, lots of gear can be found/earned and thrown on them for various bonuses. But while I’m admittedly a sucker for customization options (party, character, skill or otherwise) and I’m really digging the stylish cartoon visuals, I’m really intrigued by the combat system which looks like a hybrid of traditional turn-based RPG trappings and reflex-based arcade action. Tapping characters and enemies to select and attack respectively is relatively standard, but I’m curious to see how the more “twitchy” actions like assists (tap a second character while attacking) and blocking (tap the targeted character during an enemy’s attack) pan out.
There don’t seem to be any specifics regarding price just yet, but Battleloot Adventure is set to release on the App Store in February. It’s a few months off, but I’m certainly looking forward to it.
Hook Champ, Super QuickHook, Hook Worlds. Three games with more than a few similarities. Each one is retro-themed, predominantly features swinging on hooks, contains an absolutely fabulous selection of hats and are loads of fun. And they’re all made by the one and only Rocketcat Games.
It appears that after four games, the developer has decided to try something new. Mage Gauntlet is an action RPG inspired by a number of classic 90′s games in the same genre. Gone are the hooks and rope-swinging antics in favor of a whole lot of “hitting jerks with a sword,” and “blowing them up with spells.” It’s more than a bit of a departure, but I’m fairly certain Rocketcat is up to the task.
Players can enjoy the “festivities” over the course of a 42-level (and humorous) story mode, and then again in another 42-level Master Mode with new secrets and greater enemy numbers. Over the course of these levels, they can find and equip different gear (all of which can effect stats and abilities) and even utilize bonus-granting pets. Oh, and lots and lots of hats. 110 to be exact.
Mage Gauntlet will be hitting the App Store this Thursday, the 20th, at a discounted price of $1.99 (it’ll go up to $2.99 later). Early adopters will get the sale price as well as 8 hats from previous Rocketcat titles and a special Rocketcat pet, so long as they nab it by Sunday night.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted September 23rd, 2011 by Rob Rich Our Rating: :: FANS ONLY
MapleStory has it's share of die-hard fans, but newcomers to the series with the Cygnus Knights Edition might be left wondering what all of the fuss is about.
Infinity Blade has made quite a splash in the iOS community, and it appears Epic is ready to keep the hype going with a couple updates set to make the action RPG even harder to put down. The company has announced details on two different updates for the game, one of which will be available next week.
First up is a new booster pack which will feature five new shields and helmets, as well as a brand new armor set. Also, the game will be raising the level cap to 45, making your fights against the God King and his minions at least a little bit easier. On top of all that, the game will add a brand new foe, the Marrow Fiend, who would love nothing more than to cut off your head and display it in his trophy room of horrors.
The more substantive update is planned to arrive early next year, and it sounds quite impressive indeed. The title update will feature more story and some nasty high-level foes. As Chair boss Donald Mustard puts it, “There will be new areas to go to, the story will be evolving a little more as you see what the God King is really up to, and we’re going to let people go down into the dungeons. For high-level players especially, you’ll start to find some enemies that make the [current] enemies look like nothing.”
Next year’s update will also add the much-discussed multiplayer mode, which we’re very excited about. Unfortunately, Chair isn’t providing any details on what they have planned quite yet, so we’re going to be in the dark about specifics for at least a little while longer.
All this news of awesome free updates makes our hearts sing. Infinity Blade is already a very entertaining game, and the addition of all this new content is only going to make a good thing even better. This is a game whose popularity grows by the day, and with updates like these it doesn’t seem like we’re going to stop talking about it anytime soon. That, of course, is a good thing.
Hearing about an adventure/music/rpg is enough to pique my interest, and that’s exactly what Arman Bohn‘s Arranger is setting out to be. However, reading over a few of the more descriptive elements has gotten me more than interested. It’s gotten me downright excited, actually.
:: BRAIN DEAD FUN
Even with all the praise the Infinity Blade series has gotten since its introduction, there’s usually one major complaint people have: there’s no freedom of movement. A rather silly gripe seeing as open-world style exploration isn’t the point (plus it would be ridiculously taxing on the hardware with those graphics), but it’s still probably the most common one seen in user reviews and the like. 
2D action RPGs are always a popular genre. People (myself included) love the simplicity of fighting, looting, leveling, upgrading and crafting. BeerDeer wants to offer players more than that, hence the creation of 
Pixel and Texel’s often irreverent take on the action RPG genre, Fara, is now available on iPad. The appropriately-titled Fara HD takes advantage of the iPad’s larger screen by featuring easy-to-access options, maps, and inventory buttons at the bottom, along with weapon switching. A new interface isn’t all that’s new; the iPad version also features new abilities, a new boss, new dungeon, and various new secrets, making this what Andrew Strickland of Pixel and Texel claims is the “definitive edition of Fara.” The iPad screen also helps make the touch screen controls work well, where tapping on the screen causes the protagonist to run to that spot, double tapping attacks, and character and objects can be directly interacted with. As well, the mixture of hand-drawn and pixel art shine on the larger screen. This iPad version is available now for a sale price of $1.99, and it will be regularly $2.99.
Buy the Pixel, get the Texel free.
When most people see or hear the name 
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