Tag: Infinity Blade »

Good news, everyone! Your favorite day of the week has arrived at last -- it's discount roundup day! This fine Wednesday evening we're gathering up the hottest deals on the App Store. We've got action platformers, we've got puzzle games, we've got huge fantasy RPGs -- what more could you ask for? If you're on the look out for a quality game on the cheap, why not check out one of these excellent titles?

It’s Thanksgiving and that means Thanksgiving sales! Now’s a great time to fill out your mobile gaming library with some paid games that have gotten a hefty discount in time for the holidays. You’ll find a lot of different apps participating in the festivities, but we’ve selected a few of the best offers in case you’re in need of some direction.

War of the Lions was originally released on PSP. It’s a good tactics RPG that branches off from the original Final Fantasy Tactics storyline. The game usually goes for $13.99 on the App Store, but right now you can get it for $3.99 for both iPhone and iPad.

This stylish roguelike is on sale for $0.99 until November 28th if you’re looking for something truly punishing this holiday season. The game presents a number of challenge modes if you choose to brave Tallowmere’s dastardly procedurally generated dungeons.

The entire Infinity Blade series is on sale this week for $0.99, giving you three whole games to choose from. Infinity Blade made waves as the first mobile game to run on Unreal Engine 3 and looks absolutely gorgeous as a result. These RPG games feature lots of high fantasy combat, an engaging story, and plenty of epic monsters to defeat.

Originally $3.99, Heroes of Loot 2 is now only $0.99 until November 28. Heroes of Loot 2 is a delightful dungeon crawler with plenty of gear and new levels to unlock. If you’re looking for something light and cheery this Thanksgiving you can’t do better.

Geometry Wars 3 brought the classic, trippy space shooter to mobile and it was an instant success. Now this enhanced edition, Dimensions Evolved adds over 50 fresh levels, a hardcore mode, and controller support. The game is now $2.99, or 70% off its original price.

So far there’s a generous offering of discount games in celebration of Thanksgiving. We’ve got roguelikes, shooters and RPGs, all of them quality games. You’ll have plenty of cheap games to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Which game are you most excited about scooping up? Share in the comments!

What is perhaps the biggest, and certainly the most recent, entry in the Infinity Blade series has just gone on sale. Not a little sale, mind you, but a big one. A really big one. In fact, this is the first time ever that Infinity Blade III has been available for free.

In the new Kingdom Come update for Infinity Blade III, Players will finally be able to confront Lelindre, Mistress of the End, and discover the final fate of the Ark. To celebrate this final chapter, Chair Entertainment is offering the game for 50% off.

Players will now be able to explore the frozen wastes of Nafusaan, home to the dreaded King of Dragons, Dragoor. The update includes 6 new treasure maps, 5 new enemies, more items, and you can unlock the ability to upgrade their gear to level 100. You may also challenge yourself with the new goals and achievements to make you last adventure in the Infinity Blade series legendary.

Pick up Infinity Blade III for $2.99 on the App Store.

ChAIR has unveiled Infinity Blade III: Kingdom Come, the final update for Infinity Blade III. The update will provide a new environment, new enemies (including a new dragon to face off against), and dozens of new items to collect.

Alongside this announcement of the final update, ChAIR has also released a trailer to celebrate four years of Infinity Blade being shown off on the Apple stage, with footage from the update sprinkled throughout.

The 'Kingdom Come' update for Infinity Blade III is set to arrive on September 4, with the game available on the App Store now for $6.99.

The second game in the Infinity Blade series is currently free, so if for some odd reason you still don't own it you've pretty much run out of excuses.

Infinity Blade II follows Siris as he attempts to free The Worker of Secrets and, hopefully, save the world. It also introduced players to two new weapon styles (dual wielding and two-handed), ClashMobs, and a more cohesive plot (see previous).

Really there's no reason not to grab Infinity Blade II now while it's free. I guess not unless you already own it, anyway.

Infinity Blade III has received still one more massive content update (they're up to what, like 3 now?). This one is called "Blade Masters" and features - you guessed it - a couple of nasty new Deathless to deal with.

The Collector is a connoisseur of weapons who travels the world in search of the best. If you can defeat him you'll earn a rare weapon, but fail and he'll take yours from you! Ryth (from the second game) also makes a return and has something of an axe to grind. No pun intended.

In addition to the new baddies, Solar Trans weapons (kind of like lightsabers that are powerd by the sun) are also making a comeback, and now you can explore an entirely new path through the stronghold at Larioth using Isa. Of course there are even more goodies in this update, but I don't want to spoil everything, do I? On top of all that, they've also reduced the price for a limited time.

You can download Infinity Blade III now for $2.99, with the Blade Masters update available for free to those who already own the game.

A lot has changed since Infinity Blade III first came out. In only a few short months a fair amount of content has been added to Siris and Isa's rather bleak world, including the ability to replay beaten stages (finally). Now the duo have even more to worry about with the Ausar Rising add-on releasing today.

The new update is available for free, and adds quite a few extras fans are sure to enjoy (see below for a full list). In addition, Infinity Blade III is now on sale for a limited time for 50% off, which rounds out to just $2.99. Not much of a reason to wait any longer, is there?

INFINITY BLADE III: Ausar Rising
- Play through 3 new quests: Siris and Isa come face to face with the ultimate embodiment of evil – a soulless Ausar the Vile!
- Travel to where it all began – the Dark Citadel (the original Infinity Blade I castle), Siris’ home in Drem’s Maw, and the legendary Plains of Koroth.
- Battle 9 new enemies, including a ferocious new Dragon.
- New Mode: THE ARENA – How long can you survive in the Arena? Do you claim your prize now, or risk it for ever increasing rewards?
- New Hardcore Mode: DEATHLESS QUESTS – The ultimate way for the ultimate Infinity Blade gamer to play the game!
- Trade tips and secrets with your friends via the all-new in-game chat feature.
- Over 60 new items for both Isa and Siris, including weapons, shields, helmets, magic rings, and armor to collect, master, and sell.
- Unlock 8 new Skills: Remove equipped Gems for free, double Chips earned in Battle Challenges, cast super boosted Magic, and more!
- New Goals, Potions, and Gems.
- New Holiday Helmets for Isa and Siris.
- A number of additional balancing tweaks, bug fixes, and gameplay enhancements.
- Optimized for the new iPad Air, iPad Mini with Retina display, and iPhone 5s: featuring full screen anti-aliasing, bloom, full screen vignettes, distortion, high resolution shadows, and environmental reflections.

The original Infinity Blade is now available to download on the App Store for free this week only as it celebrates Black Friday. In our review that was written so long ago, Chris Nitz said, "Is Infinity Blade worth your money? Damn right it is. Despite the control flaws and the repeating levels, there is a world of good fun here."

New iPhone? New apps? You Need Our Know-How!

Each week brings with it a wealth of new apps, but, we'll admit, some weeks are just more exciting than others. Such is the case with this week, with its iPhone 5s and 5c announcements coupled with the long-awaited release of iOS 7. Be sure to catch up on our continuous coverage by checking in at our iOS 7 hub. And if you want more app reviews than you can shake a stick at, be sure to hit our Reviews Archive.

Diptic PDQ

Conveniently fitting into the iOS 7 aesthetic that we’re all growing to quite like, Diptic PDQ lives up to its name by being a Pretty Dang Quick photo collage creation app. It’ll prove immensely useful to those who want to create a collage out of their photos and don’t have much time to do so. Distinctly speedy to use, Diptic PDQ dispenses with any bells and whistles that really aren’t needed; immediately requesting the photos that the user wants to import (as well as offering options to take images directly through the iOS device’s camera). Users are then able to drag and drop the photos into their respective places on the layout. There are 35 layouts in all, and each are the kind of template that one would actually use rather than the kind that are too wacky to be practical. --Jennifer Allen

Angry Birds Star Wars II

There once was a man named George Lucas who decided he wasn’t prosperous enough. In search of never-ending wealth, he released three new films in his storied Star Wars franchise. After eventually completing his quest for riches and fortune, Lucas licensed out the rights for his films to Rovio, the brains behind the Angry Birds franchise. And thus a glorious gaming baby was born in the form of Angry Birds Star Wars II. Can this entry make just as big of a splash as the first installment, or have the days of Force-wielding fowl long since passed? Marketing professionals go an entire lifetime dreaming of working with a single brand that even remotely has the clout of a singular Star Wars or Angry Birds. Melding these two juggernauts together is a cross-promotional fantasy that has probably sold an iOS game or two… million. Taking a whack at the more recent trilogy is the aim of the sequel and this time around Rovio has ambitions of pulling out all of the stops. --Blake Grundman

Marvin

Previously quite the hit for iPad-owning reading fans, Marvin has made its way to the iPhone ably demonstrating just what a great eBook reader the device can be. For those who enjoy reading on the move, Marvin should be a firm choice for a while to come. The app is immediately simple to use. Relying upon DRM-free EPUB books, it comes with a selection of great classics such as “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” “Crime and Punishment,” and many more. Importing others is just as simple, done via iTunes, Dropbox, or a Calibre plugin. Tutorials for doing such things are located via Safari rather than built into the app, but fortunately it’s all quite straightforward. --Jennifer Allen

Double Dragon

Double Dragon celebrated its 25th anniversary with an updated iPhone version, but has it managed to hold on to everything that has made it such a legendary franchise in the process? I was happy to see that the classic visuals, 80′s soundtrack, and damsel-in-distress story were all still present and cheesier than ever before. In terms of the game screen, the amount of buttons is deceptively simple. Although there may only be one directional button and four attack buttons there is an impressive array of moves available as laid out in the command list. Uppercuts, flying knees, head-butts, and special attacks all go towards keeping gameplay varied and particularly challenging to master (especially when it comes to initiating juggling). Let’s not forget the infamous weapons either. Barrels, whips, and steel pipes are all available to pick up and wield against the never-ending parade of thugs. --Lee Hamlet

Other 148Apps Network Sites

If you are looking for the best reviews of Android apps, just head right over to AndroidRundown. Here are just some of the reviews served up this week:

AndroidRundown

Monster Match

A lot of games find it hard to stick to one ‘type’ nowadays. It seems that every game is of type X though has Y components. It’s not enough to find one solid game mechanic, it seems the trick is to mix several together. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I’m happy to say that Monster Match‘s attempt at mixing Pokemon and Connect 4 has worked a charm. The premise, as with most good games, is simple. You have a board which is full of coloured gems. You need to swipe at these gems connecting 2 or more of the same color. The more you connect, the better. Better how? Let me explain. --Matt Parker

Quad Drawer

The past few renditions of the Android devices have had a lot more memory to store apps. The problem is, we can add more stuff to the phone because we have more space, so we do. When we have a hundred or more apps on our devices, it can take some time to find the right app to open. Quad Drawer is a great solution for most people to help find apps faster. After it’s downloaded, Quad Drawer will run a check to find all of the apps on the device. Once it does, finding an app is super easy. The apps are found by simply typing in the name of the application. While this may sound pretty simple, the majority of phones and other Android devices out there do not have a feature like this. --Trevor Dobrygoski

Infectonator Hot Chase

Infectonator Hot Chase has a tough legacy to follow. The original Infectonator was an insane stew with zombies, tactics, humor and originality. This game only has zombies. Being worse than Infectonator still counts as a praise, although I’d much rather have original gameplay extended. But oh, well, maybe we’ll see that later. Infectonator Hot Chase is still fun, though. If you played Dead Ahead, then it’s easy to understand the concept of this game: it’s the same as Dead Ahead, but the heroes are zombies, not the survivals. The main zombie is running constantly to the right, just as the still-surviving humans do. He is also steering automatically to the bottom of the road, while pressing at the screen makes him strafe to the top. The player’s task is to “catch” the humans as the main zombie runs past them, and infect them. The freshly-infected start running alongside the main zombie, and help infect more people, or pick up gold and power-ups. The zombie slows and loses health over time, both of which can be replenished by eating people, or picking power-ups. When the main zombie dies, the gold he picked up is added to the bank, and can be spent to upgrade himself, or special mutations that temporarily imbue him with new powers. --Tony Kuzmin

And finally, this week Pocket Gamer reviews Infinity Blade III and Angry Birds Star Wars II, charts the history of Grand Theft Auto on handhelds, goes hands-on with Pokemon X & Y, investigates FIFA 14's in-app purchases, and celebrates iOS 7's best and hidden features. Check out the Pocket Gamer Weekly Wrap-Up for all of this and more.

Over one million apps have made their way onto the App Store during its five years of existence. A million. That's a pretty miraculous number when you think about it. However it's not the amount of apps we have to pick from that I find so fascinating, but rather just how much things have changed since 2008. Pickings were comparatively slim at first, and many developers were just starting to dip a toe in the waters of Apple's new smartphone.

On top of that, the technology itself has changed tremendously in a relatively small amount of time. It makes me wonder if anyone from 2008 would even recognize current iOS devices, and by extension the App Store. Would a newer Apple initiate have any idea what they were looking at if they somehow managed to take a trip to five years ago? I think it warrants a look at how the hardware, the App Store, and the apps contained within it have evolved.

2008 - The Beginning of the Beginning

The App Store's first year was a rough but promising one. The iPhone 3G rolled out to coincide with Apple’s new software venue and the original iPhone was still viable. The iPod touch was also present and accounted for, while the second generation appeared closer to the end of the year. Even at this point many developers were eager to push these early iOS devices to their limits, to make them more than just a phone or an .mp3 player with a fancy screen.

Handy apps like Pandora Radio, Last.FM, Facebook, and Yelp were to be expected, but that didn't make them any less impressive to have on a handheld platform. Others such as the intuitive personal organizer Evernote, the eerily accurate song-identifying app Shazam, eWallet’s convenient and secure account password management, and MLB At Bat with its extensive baseball coverage further capitalized on the particulars of the hardware and its general portability. Of course there were also some pretty unnecessary options out there, too. Flashlight kind of served a purpose but was also fairly pointless. It wasn't as bad as stuff like More Cowbell!, though.

At the same time, the games available on the App Store were beginning to show people that "mobile" didn't have to equal "mediocre." Sure there were a few simple ports of the odd classic such as Ms. PAC-MAN, Vay, and Scrabble, but there were also some impressive iOS renditions of popular console games like Super Monkey Ball coming out. Potential mobile gamers also had a few really special titles such as Galcon and Fieldrunners to tide them over. When all was said and done there were over 7,500 apps on the App Store by the end of the year, with more being added every day.

2009 - Moving Right Along

The following year saw even more impressive releases as Apple's digital marketplace began to expand. The second generation of iPod Touch was the bright and shiny new toy at the time, but it was followed shortly by the iPhone 3GS in June while the latest and greatest third generation Touch closed out the year in September. It all meant better processors, better CPUs, more advanced operating systems, and so on. All stuff that developers needed to acclimate to, but also stuff that meant they could push their boundaries even further. There was no loss of steam when it came to content, either: the App Store finished off 2009 with well over 100,000 apps available.

Many of the basic smartphone necessities were covered, but there was room for so much more. Especially while the technology was improving. Plenty of people used their iPhones as phones, sure, but with the addition of Skype they were able to enjoy the added functionality of instant messaging and voice chat without cutting into their data plans (so long as a wifi connection was present). Big companies were really starting to take notice as well. That same year Starbucks and many other big businesses threw their virtual hats into the ring with their own apps designed to make life a little bit easier for their iOS-using customers. Practicality was also becoming an even bigger focus. The Kindle app gave iOS users a practical e-reading option, and Dropbox was there being Dropbox. By which I mean "an awesome and super-convenient way to transfer files between multiple platforms." And this same level of refinement could be seen creeping into the games as well.

So many of the App Store's most notable games and franchises came out around this time. It was almost a mobile rennaisence of a sort. This was the year Real Racing first blew mobile gamers' minds, even causing some of them to question the legitimacy of in-game video footage until they were able to see the finished product for themselves. Zenonia was just a fledgling action RPG at the time, and while a lot of people liked it I doubt they knew just how many sequels it would spawn. The same goes for Pocket God, although with updates rather than multiple releases. Flight Control began to eat away at peoples' free time, Angry Birds and Doodle Jump hit it big (like, super big), and Myst and The Sims 3 further displayed the potential for major releases on mobile platforms. Oh, and Canabalt almost single-handedly invented and popularized a genre.

While games may not be the largest percentage of apps in the App Store (non-games lead the way overwhelmingly), they are the most popular single category, with over 151,000 active games in the App Store as of this month, according to 148Apps.biz.

One could argue, and indeed I will, that games are the most transformative type of app in the App Store, bringing a quality of play to iOS devices previously impossible to achieve. As 148Apps staffers have been heard to proclaim, there are over 1.2 billion thumbs waiting to play games on these crafty little devices.

Of course, there have been landmark games since the App Store went live in 2008, titles that create, extend, and improve on the current state of the art. Here then, are the top 20 of those games, as chosen by your App Experts at 148Apps.

Doodle Jump - This one started the jumping game craze, inspiring a host of clones and imitators along the way.
Angry Birds - Need we say more? The grumpy avians have taken over the public consciousness.
Tiny Wings - Not just another bird game, Tiny Wings showed us how one mechanic, brilliantly executed, could take an unknown designer to untold heights.

Candy Crush Saga - Good heavens we still get a lot of invites for this casual, money-printing game.
Clash of Clans - Say what you will about free to play, but this game has gotten it right.
Tiny Tower - Nimblebit hit the jackpot here with a smart combination of tower building and free to play retro gaming.

Temple Run - If anyone deserved to have a huge hit, it's the folks at Imangi Studios, who have been pushing the boundaries of quality gaming from the beginning. This one created the 3D endless runner genre at a breakneck speed!
Puzzles & Dragons - Another free to play darling, this one gets all the elements right to keep players entertained and paying.
Where's My Water? - Disney's breakout hit, with a new IP (intellectual property) and a fiendishly addictive mechanic.

Pocket God - 47 updates later, still going strong and keeping kids of all ages entertained and laughing.
Minecraft Pocket Edition - The surprise PC hit the iPhone like a ton of cube-shaped bricks, letting crafters and miners of all stripe build and explore on the go.
Words with Friends - Scrabble with people you know. What's not to like? This one started the "with friends" genre with a bang.
Draw Something - Super successful, super quick, leading Zynga to buy the developer for a landmark price.

Infinity Blade - This game set the bar high for utter gorgeousness and a fighting mechanic that still sees itself in current games on the App Store, some two and a half years later.
Canabalt - Heard of the endless runner genre? Canabalt started it all with a one-touch game that exploded onto the scene in 2009 and has remained in the collective imagination ever since.
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP - This one proves again and again that the indie spirit can be captured and distributed via mobile, with a game that may never have gotten noticed on the bigger consoles.
Galaxy on Fire 2 - This space exploration and dogfighting game set the standard for utter gorgeousness, as well as finding a way to build a space sim on a tiny mobile device.

Spaceteam - Don't forget to flush the four-stroke plucker! Wait, what? Play this game with a few of your (drinking) friends, and you'll see what multiplayer party games *should* be like.
Real Racing - Still the gold standard for racing games on a mobile platform, the original game hit the starting line in 2011, with sequels upping the ante on visuals, controls, and profitability.
Super Hexagon - If you hate yourself, play this brutally difficult yet strangely compelling arcade game and thank indie developer Terry Cavanaugh in the morning.