Tag: Blimp »

Craneball Studios released Blimp about a year ago. As airship (er, blimp) captain "Zed Pelin," Blimp tasks you with ferrying passengers, collecting war supplies, and bombing enemy tanks and airships. Most notable, perhaps, were the graphics; Blimp is a gorgeous game with a great steampunk vibe.

One nice thing about that lovely art? It translates splendidly to the iPad's larger screen. Blimp HD, a reworked version for iPad, isn't out quite yet, but the enlarged art looks just as great as the iPhone version. Scheduled to be released in August, Blimp HD doesn't bring many new elements, though certain aspects (enemy blimp movements, radar, menus, etc) have been tweaked to better fit the larger screen.

Though Blimp HD won't be a reinvention of the original game, Blimp is still great without any additions. The art and music are both great, and who doesn't enjoy piloting a steampunk-ish blimp? Look for the iPad version in August, and stay tuned via Craneball Studios' blog. In the meantime, the new screenshots for Blimp HD are available in our gallery below.

If you enjoyed the chilled out fun of having a virtual pond on your iPhone screen, just imagine what it’ll be like on the iPad. The app developers with possibly the best company name on the App Store, The Blimp Pilots, have brought their award winning Koi Pond app to the iPad as Koi Pond HD.

Designed to take advantage of the iPad’s larger display and faster processor, Koi Pond HD now includes higher resolution graphics, custom koi and improved sounds. A great new feature adds the ability to customize your pond with the Pond Editor and save multiple themes to switch between as you wish. The Blimp Pilots are currently running a contest where users can submit their pond designs for the chance to see them featured on the App Store (more details here).

We’re glad to see this popular app make a move to the big(ger) screen and look forward to chilling out with the HD version.

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Today is a great day for freebies! Not only is the Appvent Calender featuring Blimp, a great steampunk-themed flying "platformer," but we also have a bonus treat. Elf Command, a simple holiday game, has just been released and is also free. EA, on the other hand, has Mystery Mania discounted to $0.99, but I'd pause before jumping for that one.

Let's start with Blimp. Like I said, it's got a steampunk theme, and as such you play the captain "Zed Pelin," who has his very own airship (er, blimp). The production values are top notch; eye candy and awesome music are both amply present. You have three main tasks: transport passengers, collect war supplies, and bomb enemies including tanks and other blimps. The gameplay is relatively simple but looks rather fun, and you can't beat Blimp for polish. Make sure you grab this one before the day's end, because it's an absolute steal.

Now for EA's Mystery Mania sale. The good news? The game's only $0.99, and it's packed with plenty of puzzles. The bad news? It's not quite up to par with EA's other releases. This "spooky" puzzle adventure was dubbed "slow" when we reviewed it in October:

The complete game consists of 27 spooky rooms full of “crazy conundrums, perilous traps, and intriguing secrets”. I can appreciate what they have tried to do here with the puzzles and solving the mystery, but it just was far too lackluster for me. All the puzzles seem to be at level 1, and when you progress from room to room, they don’t seem to get any harder. Most are so obvious and easily solved that you can, at times, feel like you are just going through the motions.

Still, that's not to say that Mystery Mania isn't worth looking at; $0.99 is a lot better than $3.99, and fans of lighter, simpler puzzles might find themselves happy.

We'll wrap up today with a bonus freebie: Elf Command, a new game from Retro Dreamer, makers of Sneezies and Eyegore's Eye Blast. It's simple, but both addicting and difficult as the game moves on. The screen is split into two halves; each half has a conveyor belt, a robot, and two shipping stations. Pictures flash on the shipping stations' screens, and you have to direct the robots to snatch the right toys from the conveyor belt. For a free holiday game, it's surprisingly fun. Definitely check this one out if you need another little time-waster.