Love is in the air and so is block-busting retro fun thanks to Breakout: Boost‘s Valentine’s Day level pack that’s just been released.
Priced at $0.99, the Valentine’s Day pack adds 50 new romance-themed levels to the existing package, along with candy heart sayings and cute pictures to add that sweet touch. Alongside that is the addition of a Cupid’s Arrow power up. This sets out to make breaking up bricks much quicker. For the competitive gamer, new leaderboards and an original set of achievements continues the romantic theme.
Here at 148apps, we rated Breakout: Boost and Breakout: Boost+ quite highly at launch so this themed pack is bound to extend the fun for fans. After all, what better way to celebrate the time of romance than through this arcade classic? Couples can compete via the leaderboards and singletons can focus on the achievements.
The Valentine’s Day themed pack is available through Breakout: Boost and Breakout: Boost+, priced at $0.99.
Posted January 31st, 2012 by Rob Thomas Our Rating: :: FIGHTING NOSTALGIA
This free retro-inspired offering will bring a smirk to the face of anybody who grew up on the 8 and 16-bit eras. Just make sure you're ready for the grind.
Back in 1981, a slightly bizarre game by the name of DONKEY.BAS was released in order to demonstrate the IBM PC of the time as well as the BASIC programming language used to develop it. Why does a 31 year old game matter so much? It was co-written by Bill Gates. Yes, that Bill Gates. And in an interesting roundabout sort of way, it’s now available on the App Store for $0.99.
DONKEY.BAS is an incredibly simple driving game in which players must control a car as they dodge a series of donkeys in the road. The player can’t accelerate, brake or steer instead they must just tap one finger to dodge the donkey and move to the other lane of the road.
Points are tallied according to how well the donkeys or the car is doing in the game but ultimately that’s about all there is to it. There’s no score limit to define success.
DONKEY.BAS is very simple but important nonetheless, as an example of how far gaming has come over the past 30 years.
DONKEY.BAS is available now for $0.99. It’s an Universal app.
And, for the next 24 hours, if you comment below, you’ll enter to win one of three codes of this historic game.
Posted January 4th, 2012 by Rob Rich Our Rating: :: FLOATING SPACE ROCKS
Hop in a ship to protect the Earth (and other planets in the solar system) from the constant threat of annihilation via asteroids. Easier said than done...
I feel a little under pressure to come up with the most fantastic egg based puns I can possibly imagine. Unfortunately, I’m no puns eggs-pert…ohh, there we are.
That pun out of the way, it pleases me very much to state that Dizzy, the famous egg adventurer of the 1980s, is back and will soon be splatting his way onto an iOS device. On 9th December in fact or Egg-mergence Day as Codemasters have decided to call it.
Dizzy, for the too young/inexperienced to know about, was the hero of many adventure games of old back on the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. I’ll admit it now. Having owned most of the titles, my 7 year old brain never quite managed to complete any of them but they were fantastic fun.
Coming to iOS will be Dizzy: Prince of the Yolkfolk, a remake of the classic 1991 adventure. Plenty of puzzles will need to be solved along with a healthy dash of platforming fun too.
We’ll be sure to have a review of it in time for its release. For now, enjoy the teaser trailer and plethora of screenshots below. It promises to be an egg-cellent time. I’m sorry.
Atari has sent us a rather disturbing email today. A cluster of asteroids are propelling their way towards planet Earth! Uh oh! Fortunately, the ship that saved us all back in 1979 in the original Asteroids has had a few upgrades in the past 30 years and it’s back again.
Coming soon will be free-to-play, dual-stick shooter Asteroids: Gunner. It’ll offer three galaxies to explore with 150 waves of asteroids and aliens to wipe out. Three different spacecrafts will also be available: the Miner, the Bomber and the Dart and plenty of upgrades are on offer. New galaxies and upgrades will be purchaseable with Space Bucks, while leaderboard fans will enjoy the all-important Game Center and Open Feint support.
For now, we’ve just got a selection of screenshots of what’s to come, but I strongly suggest keeping an eye on the Asteroids: Gunner Facebook page as well as here for more information as and when we get 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.
It’s that time of the week again when Chillingo unleashes some new and exciting games at our iOS devices. This time round, it’s the turn of two games previously covered by us, namely Super Crossfire and Little Lost Chick.
Previously an Xbox Live Indie Arcade gem, Super Crossfire offers intense and enjoyable top-down shooting fun. An unique switching mechanic enables players to warp from the bottom to the top of the screen thus avoiding enemy fire as they shoot at the waves of enemies coming at them.
Super Crossfire comes in two varieties: an iPhone version priced at $0.99 and an Universal build for iPad owners priced at $2.99.
Little Lost Chick offers a different kind of experience, providing physics based puzzle fun for both casual and veteran players. Aimed at the whole family, Little Lost Chick focuses on Bruce the baby bird as he tries to make his way home. 100 levels in all provides varied gameplay such as having to cut vines, clear soft ground or bounce around on leaves. The physics engine ensures that everything responds just how the player would expect.
Little Lost Chick is another title available in two forms. A $0.99 version for iPhone users and an Universal build for iPad players priced at $2.99.
Elite Systems has built up quite a reputation for their iOS conversions of 8-bit classic games such as Skool Daze, Chuckie Egg, Jack the Nipper, Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy with the ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection offering a great nostalgic experience.
More memorable titles from days gone by are set to be released soon with another 9 titles from three different countries of origin added to the roster. Originally stemming from North America comes action adventure title Black Magic, supply and demand orientated multiplayer game M.U.L.E and RPG Alternate Reality: The City. From Germany comes shooter Enforcer, soccer management sim Bundesliga Manager and R-Type clone Denaris. Finally, from UK studios, is sci-fi side scrolling shoot em up Uridium, puzzle shooter Paradroid and my personal favorite ninja based platformer First Samurai.
All these retro delights will be available soon with auto save functionality and iDaptive Controls, meaning there will be user-definable controls to make things even simpler for gamers.
We’ll be sure to keep track of the development of these titles. Why not check out ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection in the mean time?
Holmade Games, creators of Hurdle Turtle and preservers of all things retro, have recently unleashed their newest creation on the App Store. Pixel Whirled is an arcade shooter in which players have to constantly flip back and forth between the ninja and pirate sides of the screen while shooting down encroaching waves of enemies. Isn’t it nice when two mortal enemies can put aside their differences in the name of self-preservation?
Pixel Whirled has received a few new additions in its transition from an Xbox Live Indie Game to iOS. Mostly the expected Game Center Achievements and touch controls, but it looks as though a few “super cool” power-ups have also been thrown in. This is all in addition to the retro arcade goodness already contained within, of course.
If Pixel Whirled sounds interesting (and really, why wouldn’t it?), why not do a quick search for it on the App Store? It’s available right now for the low cost of one dollar.
As a gamer of 20 odd years, it excites me to see the release of a reimagining of a timeless classic. That’s one of the reasons why my iPhone houses Arkanoid and Space Invaders: Infinity Gene – some titles just don’t get old.
While Frogger is quite a classic, it has aged just a bit in recent years. So the prospect of it being revitalised is very cool indeed, which is fortunate as this is exactly what’s happened with Frogger Decades.
Graphics and animations have been brought up to date in time for Frogger‘s 30th birthday and there’s even a hint of a storyline. Frogger comes back home to find a map to his birthday party pinned on his front door, and thus starts a wild and wacky adventure to make it to the party on time. Five different environments are available with the memorable frog having to jump, hop, swing and dodge his way around obstacles.
It’s the same classic gameplay that made players fall in love with Frogger the first time, just spruced up with a modern paintbrush to enthral once more.
Frogger Decades is out now priced at $1.99. Oh and it’s an universal app which will keep iPhone and iPad owners happy!
This week at 148Apps, Tweetbot was on a roll, a new storybook app joined the fold, and - oops - apps broke the Super Bowl. There's more to read, so get to it!
Love is in the air and so is block-busting retro fun thanks to Breakout: Boost‘s Valentine’s Day level pack that’s just been released.
:: NEEDS A BOOST
Back in 1981, a slightly bizarre game by the name of DONKEY.BAS was released in order to demonstrate the IBM PC of the time as well as the BASIC programming language used to develop it. Why does a 31 year old game matter so much? It was co-written by Bill Gates. Yes, that Bill Gates. And in an interesting roundabout sort of way, it’s now available on the App Store for $0.99.
I feel a little under pressure to come up with the most fantastic egg based puns I can possibly imagine. Unfortunately, I’m no puns eggs-pert…ohh, there we are. 
Atari has sent us a rather disturbing email today. A cluster of asteroids are propelling their way towards planet Earth! Uh oh! Fortunately, the ship that saved us all back in 1979 in the original Asteroids has had a few upgrades in the past 30 years and it’s back again.
Previously an Xbox Live Indie Arcade gem, Super Crossfire offers intense and enjoyable top-down shooting fun. An unique switching mechanic enables players to warp from the bottom to the top of the screen thus avoiding enemy fire as they shoot at the waves of enemies coming at them.
Little Lost Chick offers a different kind of experience, providing physics based puzzle fun for both casual and veteran players. Aimed at the whole family, Little Lost Chick focuses on Bruce the baby bird as he tries to make his way home. 100 levels in all provides varied gameplay such as having to cut vines, clear soft ground or bounce around on leaves. The physics engine ensures that everything responds just how the player would expect.
More memorable titles from days gone by are set to be released soon with another 9 titles from three different countries of origin added to the roster. Originally stemming from North America comes action adventure title Black Magic, supply and demand orientated multiplayer game M.U.L.E and RPG Alternate Reality: The City. From Germany comes shooter Enforcer, soccer management sim Bundesliga Manager and R-Type clone Denaris. Finally, from UK studios, is sci-fi side scrolling shoot em up Uridium, puzzle shooter Paradroid and my personal favorite ninja based platformer First Samurai.
While Frogger is quite a classic, it has aged just a bit in recent years. So the prospect of it being revitalised is very cool indeed, which is fortunate as this is exactly what’s happened with Frogger Decades.
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