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Favorite 4: Crowded Mass Transit Games

Posted by Rob Rich on October 9th, 2012

There are a lot of folks out there who take mass transportation to work on their daily commute. Kicking back and enjoying your favorite iOS game is easy enough when you manage to nab a seat, but that’s not always an option. In situations like this - one hand gripping a railing for balance, the other attempting to awkwardly handle an iPhone - having a game or two with simple one-handed control inputs can be a godsend. Which is exactly why we’re providing you with a list of some of our favorite iOS games that won’t require you to sacrifice your balance for entertainment.

Tower of Fortune
I’m still somewhat in awe of just how cleverly implemented this RPG/slot machine hybrid turned out to be. I’m also very impressed by just how much fun I’ve had with a game that pretty much boils down to the repeated use of a single button. This reliance on one button for most of the “action” (i.e. spinning) turns out to be a major selling point when you factor in situations that only leave you with the use of a single thumb.

Puzzle Craft
People like town building and people like matching puzzles. Throw them together and we have an excellent mash-up of genres with the added benefit of being playable in just about any situation. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been stuck on a crowded train and relied on Puzzle Craft’s gloriously simple interface to kill time. It sure has been a lot, though.

The Last Rocket
Looking for a game that can be enjoyed on a crowded bus but offers up a bit more complexity than simply tapping a single button every now and then? How about a complex and rewarding puzzle-platformer about a sentient missile? The beauty of The Last Rocket’s interface is that it’s all gesture-based (tap, swipe, hold, etc) and can be performed on any part of an iOS device’s screen. Making it perfect for holding on for dear life and playing a game at the same time.

Trigger Knight
Trigger Knight is another game that keeps the interface as simple as possible, thus making it ideal for packed buses and trains. Tapping the screen is all a player has to do in order to play, and it can be tapped anywhere. No buttons and no context sensitive swiping, just tap to activate various items or shops at key moments. Then hope it’s enough to get you to the next “refueling station.”

Flip's Escape Review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Carter Dotson on August 17th, 2012
Our rating: starstarstarstarblankstar :: FLIPPING OUT
Flip's Escape is an endless spinoff of the brilliant 2011 release The Last Rocket that falls just short of being great.
Read The Full Review »

FREEday 7/6/12 - "Keep on Rockin’ in the FREE World”

Posted by Rob Rich on July 6th, 2012

A game about typing to fight off hordes of zombies and another based on one of Kurt Vonnegut’s most well-known novels. That’s it I’m done. Check, please!

Vonneguts & Glory - I find it difficult not to be intrigued by a game based on one of Kurt Vonnegut’s most well known books. But considering the fact that said game has also been created by The Last Rocket creator, Shaun Inman, it’s bound to be more than just a mere curiosity. Although being able to “unstab” and “unshoot” downed enemies is also bound to grab peoples’ attention.

Outwitters - And lookie here, another bizarre game with a pedigree. Seems like the folks behind Tilt to Live decided to branch out into asynchronous turn-based strategy. With three distinct factions and boatloads of personality to boot. And if our own Carter Dotson has anything to say about it, they did a darn fine job of it.

Dungeon Block: Girl Rescues Knight! - So many things have gone topsy-turvy here. A knight saves a distressed damsel, and then gets dragged back into trouble just as the pair is escaping. Then the damsel runs right back into the thick of things to rescue the knight. And it’s all done by way of a bizarre combination of a kind of match-3 style game and Rocks, Paper, Scissors. Personally I think it’s too weird to ignore.

Heroes in Time - Okay, yes, I’ll concede; the App Store isn’t exactly lacking in action RPGs. But what’s wrong with a little free Save the World action? Besides, fans of the SEED series are bound to want to check out this third installment. At no cost, of course.

ZombieWords - First of all; I know it’s another zombie game. Second of all; shut up, I’m going somewhere with this. This isn’t just another zombie game. It’s a zombie game where players have to try and spell as many words as they can, Scrabble-style, in order to load bullets into a gun and fight off the encroaching hordes. I mean come on!

MapleStory Live - Even more MapleStory on the go? Absolutely. This newest installment includes more stories, monsters, characters, mini-games, a customizable UI (huzzah!), and loads of planned updates with even more content. It’s a must-have for fans, naturally, but seeing as it’s free it’s also probably worth a look from series newcomers.

Favorite Fifty: 148Apps Best Games of 2011: 16 - 25

Posted by Carter Dotson on December 26th, 2011

In what was another fantastic year in the world of iOS apps & games, we are here to bring you the fifty titles that we, the staff of 148Apps, thought were the best of the year. Here are the gaming titles 16 - 25 in our Best Games of 2011:

25. SpellTower: Zach Gage's second iOS release is another smash, as SpellTower proved to be a fun take on the ever-popular word game genre. It comes with some special restrictions to force more creative word usage, and the requirement to make words out of nearby tiles, managing the tile stack as well as trying to form words causes the game to have a deeper dynamic than many word games have.

24. Hard Lines: I did not know it was possible for lines that are only one pixel wide to have character, but these lines shout out constant witticisms while they try to make them crash into each other. A variety of modes are featured throughout this Tron lightcycles and Snake hybrid, along with the ability to compete against friends' high scores. Nothing like a good old high score battle to get the blood pumping, and to develop a little bit of hatred between friends that keeps the relationship strong!

23. Mega Mall Story: Kairosoft put out a ton of their simulation games on iOS this year; any one of them probably deserved to be in this slot, but Mega Mall Story gets the nod by taking elements from tower-building titles, with that signature Kairosoft charm to make it an experience that 148Apps writer Rob Rich is on record as saying that it made him squee. He said he squeed on the inside, but I leave it to our audience to judge the accuracy of the claim themselves.

22. Mission Europa Collector's Edition: iOS games typically shoot for a smaller focus than the other systems do, going for short-term, repeatable experiences. Mission Europa throws that out the window, bringing an original, and expansive first-person shooter with RPG elements to the platform. In the vein of such titles like System Shock (and its more well-known modern spiritual successor BioShock), this iOS original is proud to be big in a small world.

21. Sonic CD - 2 years ago, a Sonic fan named Christian Whitehead pitched Sega on an idea for an iOS port of Sonic CD using a custom engine he designed for bringing retro games to new platforms. Two years later, the results are about as perfect as they could have possibly been, as the game has been redone in perfect fashion, with new tweaks and extras, including the ability to listen to either the American or Japanese soundtrack. It's about as perfect as it could possibly be, and one can only hope that more Sonic games are brought to iOS in similar fashion.

20. The Blocks Cometh: This game really grew on me after a while, once the initial control issues were resolved. The climbing gameplay with action elements really shines through - like Mega Man in the middle of a Tetris stack. The update later in the year adding a new Game Boy-inspired mode, new Arcade and Casual modes, along with a landscape control option helped seal this among one of the best titles of the year.

19. Junk Jack: The most important game of 2011 may be Minecraft; it showed how one indie studio could make a million-seller without any traditional publisher support. Its open-world crafting gameplay was also brought to iOS, but it was alternative interpretations on the platform that may have been stronger overall. Junk Jack brings its own pixel art style to the table with 2D gameplay, but with all the resource harvesting, crafting, and survival intact.

18. Anomaly Warzone Earth: I'm surprised, frankly, that more games like this haven't been made yet, by which I mean tower offense, controlling the invaders among the winding paths and entrenched turrets that are usually the player's job to lay down. The game wisely tweaks the concept enough to let it feel like it has its own strategy and planning that is truly unique to this kind of game. It would be hard to imagine that any other interpretation of tower offense would fare much better.


17. The Last Rocket: Shaun Inman, artist of the number one game in the "Sky is Falling" genre, The Incident, developed this little puzzle-platformer that was downright charming. Controlling an anthropomorphic rocket trying to escape from a factory, the levels were often challenging but required thought to complete properly. The 16-bit-esque design aesthetic only added to the game's charm.

16. Army of Darkness Defense: Here's a dirty little secret: I don't watch a lot of movies. Whenever a friend asks me if I've seen a certain movie, the answer is usually a resounding no. I haven't seen the Evil Dead trilogy at all. That didn't stop me from enjoying this game, which was a castle defense game mixed with side-scrolling action. The simple controls were perfect for mobile, the gameplay laid its hooks into me. I played it for hours on a plane ride in to Chicago, continuing to fight off the Deadite hordes with my boomstick. I was so compelled to write the review for the game that I actually wrote it on my phone while on a commuter train! Is that not motivation?

Come back on Wednesday to see the titles we ranked 15-6.

The Last Rocket Review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Rob Rich on August 23rd, 2011
Our rating: starstarstarstarhalfstar :: EXPLOSIVE FUN
The Last Rocket is a fantastic retro-inspired platformer with oodles of personality and charm.
Read The Full Review »