Hero Academy, Editor’s Choice winning app here at 148Apps, has updated to its 1.2 version to include various game improvements and additions to the game.

Additions to the game are a new team and playfield. The new team is called “The Tribe,” an aggressive team that can finish off weak opponents and crystals in one short move. Characters in the Tribe include the Warrior (can instantly knock out enemies under 50% health), the Axe Thrower (extra damage to weak enemies), the Witch (explodes fallen enemies), the Shaman (chain healing), and the Chieftain (an AOE fighter with a charge and a pull). A Tribe-themed playfield has also been added with the team.

Hero Academy has also added iPad support and a few tweaks to improve the game, including bigger buttons and a larger gameplay area that will help to improve the precision and speed at which players can play Hero Academy. Players can also now undo single items instead of undoing every single move made in a turn, making quick mistakes a little less frustrating. Adjustments to Council and Dwarves (temporarily on sale) were also made for the sake of balance.

Check out Hero Academy, the download is free.

FREE!

Hero Academy

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-01-10 :: Category: Games

Dungeon Crawlers, a dungeon-exploring RPG with turn-based combat, has released a major update including new enemies and levels.

Dungeon Crawlers released with four chapters to play through and this update releases the fifth and final chapter to conclude the game. This means more ghoul-crushing, skeleton-hacking levels for players to work through.

The game has also gone full HD to support the new iPad. Dynamic lighting has also been added for some of the more recent iOS devices (iPad third gen, the iPad 2, and the iPhone 4s).

The game now has a store that sells upgrades for characters. The store includes items that cast status effects on characters and of course the standard weapons, armor, and potions to help gear those characters to hack their way through the fifth and final chapter. Other minor tweaks and changes to the game were added including balancing to gameplay (always a good sign when developers are worried about balance and fairness), level select options, and bug fixes.

Dungeon Crawlers is a universal app that only costs $0.99.

$0.99

Dungeon Crawlers

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-01-26 :: Category: Games

Don’t quit with the Disc Drivin’! While developer Pixelocity Software works on the upcoming Zombie Track Meat with Fuzzycube Software and Owen Goss (coming to iOS later this year, now available for Google Chrome), they’ve given their venerable turn-based racing game a fresh update. The game has five new ice-based tracks that implement new elements like ice blocks that deteriorate as they are hit, and snowballs that slow discs down. The new levels also introduce the first new visual theme to the game since its release back in late 2010. On the technical end, the game now supports the iPad Retina Display. Grow tired of not having the app badge update when new turns come in? Well, that’s now enabled in this update, which is available now for both iPhone/iPod touch and iPad.

These new tracks and features should help to extend the life of this venerable game, which is one of the few titles that I still play on a regular basis, and have done so ever since the game came out. Plus, Jon Hamm plays it, which automatically means those who play it become classier, funnier, and more handsome by association.

$1.99

Disc Drivin'

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-12-13 :: Category: Games

$2.99

Disc Drivin' HD

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2011-03-18 :: Category: Games

Newly released to the App Store is Tactical Warrior, a turn-based strategy RPG that reminds me of much of my formative years of roleplay gaming.

Offering fast paced turn based action, players get to battle the men and beasts of the land (which land, we don’t know) as they discover new items and level up their characters. 10 different classes of warrior are available, each offering a variety of attacks and different abilities. For the item hoarder, 60 items are available to acquire as well as a similar number of achievements to gain. It’s not surprising then that the single player campaign is so large with over 100 battles on offer here.

For the social gamer, hot seat based multiplayer is on offer too greatly extending the longevity of this title.

Want to know the best thing? Right now Tactical Warrior is available for free download. It’s only for a limited time though so get in there fast.

For further encouragement, check out the gameplay trailer below.

$0.99

Tactical Warrior

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-04-25 :: Category: Games

We at 148apps were very kindly invited to take a look for ourselves at the upcoming turn based strategy game Danger Alliance: Battles. Rather excited at the prospect, we were far from disappointed at what we saw.

Coming from the land of down under (Australia), Danger Alliance: Battles has some strong pedigree in its development studio with its two man team offering backgrounds in both mobile phone and console based development. It shows too with a distinctly professional sheen to everything about the title.

What also becomes immediately apparent is that Danger Alliance: Battles isn’t a gritty game. The general appearance isn’t quite full on cute but it does have a light-hearted vibe to it offering colorful and charming characters that commit to the many actions available. Variation is the key too. Provided before each Skirmish battle is the option to customize a squad. Players can then adjust tactics according to how their playing style is. Classes encompass a sniper, incinerator (flamethrower), grenadier, rocket launcher and commando, hopefully providing enough variety no matter how the player prefers to tackle the situation. They even offer their own quips mid battle.

In this preview build, we were only able to play the Skirmish mode but a single player campaign mode is promised in the future after the initial release of the game. This story is set to echo our own history at first with some subtle differences to ensure this is most certainly fiction.

Back to the Skirmish mode, things are looking pretty solid. Controls are easy to use with the ability to zoom in and out of the battlefield for optimum view. While on the iPad, things appear clearer, the game is far from muddled when viewed on the smaller iPhone screen. The Skirmish mode offers two forms of play with a Strategic Victory and Elimination mode available, as well as three different AI difficulty levels. The AI certainly plays a challenging game too with even the easy mode offering a solid match.

Danger Alliance: Battles is shaping up to be a pretty enjoyable game indeed. Developers Tome Studios promise that a Lite version will co-exist alongside the paid version offering one battlefield rather than a full selection like the full version, ensuring that everyone is able to give the title a shot when it arrives later this month. We’ll be keeping track of this progress as it nears full release.

Lots of genres are a bit over-saturated on the App Store, and card games are no exception. Combination card and fighting games, however, are few and far between. Aware of this deficiency, Hothead Games has seen fit to release Kard Combat this week. For the low low price of nothing.

Granted it’s still more of a card game than a fighter; players choose from a handful of different mages with a few unique cards in their collection, matches involve planning and strategy as opposed to quick reflexes and so on. The fighting aspects have more to do with the brevity of each match and their one-on-one nature. It utilizes a slightly less complex version of the “line of cards” system some are no doubt familiar with, in which each user lines up their cards while any unopposed summons will do direct damage to the opposing player. Naturally, some cards have special effects that can create some interesting strategies.

Players can try out each of the four types of mages (Holy, Death, Machine and Dominator), as well as the Single Duel and multiplayer modes, for free. Full access to a single mage’s campaign will require an in-app purchase of one dollar, while unlocking all four will cost three. And for any players interested in diving straight in to the multiplayer stuff, everything (all cards, etc…) can be unlocked for ten dollars. Bear in mind that the cards can eventually be unlocked through diligent play, and that the ten dollar purchase is only necessary for those who don’t want to “waste time” with the singleplayer campaign.

FREE!

$0.99

Kard Combat ™

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-07-12 :: Category: Games