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The App Store can be a daunting place. What to try? What to buy? How do you know? Thank goodness the review team at 148Apps is here to save the day. We sort through the chaos and find the apps you're looking for. The ones we love become Editor’s Choice, standing out above the many good apps and games with something just a little bit more to offer. Take a look at what we've been up to this week, and find even more in our Reviews Archive.
Puzzle to the Center of the Earth is a puzzle platformer in the most literal sense. The game has players manipulating platforms with a match-three mechanic, with the ultimate goal of journeying further down toward the center of the earth. With bright visuals, smart mechanics, and a satisfying brand of puzzle-solving, Puzzle to the Center of the Earth is a very worthwhile download. As a spelunker, players can move about caverns by sliding their fingers across the bottom part of the screen. As they approach sets of colored blocks underground, they can then tap and slide to link blocks of the same color together and break them. Breaking blocks allows players to move deeper down in a level, which contains an exit on the bottom of the screen. --Campbell Bird
You play Joe Average as he leaps back and forth between the 70s and the modern day. As before, this is easily achieved thanks to your trusty time machine. It’s a mechanic that changes up what you see in each room or building, and is the kind of thing that means you can’t help but switch between timelines regularly just to see what’s changed. For the most part, this mechanic is used to get past a closed door or two, which means it’s a little underused in terms of its potential, but it’s relatively easy to forgive The Silent Age Episode 2 for its flaws. --Jennifer Allen
Part auto-runner, part side-scrolling shoot-em-up, you control one of many Transformers as they stop the EggBots by taking out their platforms. Instead of flinging birds at your enemies you shoot at them, aiming for weak points in order to vanquish them. It’s simply done, with you tapping to create a reticule. Each level is much the same meaning that Angry Birds Transformers can get a little repetitive, but it’s often fun. At times you can transform in order to duck under obstacles coming your way, which ensures you keep your wits about you. Each level is also pretty brief so it’s an easy game to dip into for a few minutes here or there. --Jennifer Allen
Zero Age‘s visuals and gameplay are both so stunningly well-executed it’s hard to know where to start the praise. Let’s go with the graphics since they’re more immediately striking. The game takes place in a hauntingly atmospheric geometric world filled with vast, cubic vistas. It’s like a minimalist robot city that’s either unfinished or long since abandoned. Guiding the hooded hero through these multi-tiered landscapes while soulful piano music plays would still leave an impression even without the puzzles. Fortunately Zero Age offers some of the most creative and complex 3D puzzles around. Players must get their character to the end of each level. Sometimes that’s as simple as just tapping on the goal, but usually they will have to create a path by manipulating a handful of blocks. Different blocks have markings specifying their rules – some blocks can only move on a horizontal plane, while others are limited to the vertical. However, players can stack cubes on top of each other to move certain blocks in ways they couldn’t before or shield themselves from deadly lasers. Constructing even something as basic as some stairs requires intense levels of spatial thinking. --Jordan Minor
Each level offers up a series of paths for the waves of enemies to follow. The trick here is that these paths can be rotated around, thereby enabling you to redirect where the foes go. This means that you can send the waves down areas that you’ve fortified particularly well, giving you the edge. The catch is that you have to be constantly aware of what’s going on around you. Unlike other Tower Defense games, where you can usually set up a strong layout then watch it unfold, things change fast and you’re never entirely comfortable about your chances of success. This keeps Sleep Attack TD consistently interesting. It’d be business as usual otherwise, with a typical plethora of enemies to withstand and a bevy of towers that are useful in different scenarios. The rotation mechanic really makes a difference though, and ensures that Sleep Attack TD is more appealing. It looks pretty charming too, with a more fluid style than the usual lane defense mechanics we’re used to within the genre. --Jennifer Allen
As readers who follow my posts may know, my son’s favorite subject is math, and he is eager to practice these skills whenever he has a chance. One of his favorite ways is making a bee-line for any app that includes “math” in the title. A new favorite of his is Montessori Math City, which has strengthened his ability not only to count to one thousand, but to be able to build different sums with the use of smaller numbers in a way that is actually quite open-ended. There is also a city area he can build within, providing motivation to continue working with this app. I must admit that when I sat down to review it I was intimidated, because without a Montessori background I felt at a loss to explain the goings-on within this app in the technical terms that one may expect. Although I don’t find the gathering of correct words intuitive to properly explain what this app has to offer, I must remember that my son does find this app utterly intuitive to use. --Amy Solomon
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:
We’ve been wanting this one for a while. And now that Republique is on Android, we can breathe a sigh of relief. We can stop giving Camouflaj and Darkwind Media the side eye. And we can taste of the goodness that this title unabashedly brings. The gameplay comes in two modes: Story, which allows players to experience the story and explore environments, and Normal, which is the standard experience. Going the normal route allows one to pick an episode, and we’re off. --Tre Lawrence
At the first sight, this game looks like another simple survival horror, which are quite popular on the mobiles. Surprisingly, Dementia: The Book of the Dead is neither simple, nor a survival horror, in a true sense. It has great and scary atmosphere, but once you understand that the unholy abomination before you can be dealt with by the means of stuffing it with holy bullets, or smashing its abominable face with not-quite-holy lantern, the atmosphere dwindles somewhat. Not to say that it’s in any way a bad game, but the main character’s death is more likely to summon a groan instead of shivers. It’s still a horror, so the enemies always overpower the main character and running away is often a better decision than fighting. In other words, great fun. --Tony Kuzmin
It is nice to see that some pc games are being ported to Android and that the idea behind the game stays intact. Same goes for Five Nights at Freddy’s. If you have played Five Nights at Freddy’s on pc, than you know what you are up for in this Android version of the game. It is a port of the pc version and one that is very well made. Everything from the first version is the same, only now you use the touch screen as an input source, instead of the mouse. Input methods aside, these game is freaky. Very freaky. The first few times it gave me the creeps and my first reaction was to close the game. When that happens, I say: the objective of the developers must’ve been a success by then. --Wesley Akkerman
And finally, this week, Pocket Gamer went hands-on with the latest Pokemon game, found out how to record iOS games with just a lightning cable and a Mac, picked the best gamebooks, and tried the latest SimCity game for mobile. And it's all right here for your perusal.
:: SNEAKY SNEAKY :: Read Review »It's finally happened. Today, Republique has passed the halfway point. Episode 3: Ones & Zeroes is now available.
This latest (and longest) episode has Hope attempting to bring down her captors by exposing the truth, with a little help from the local newspaper's editor-in-chief. The propagandized government (if you could call it that) controlled newspaper. Seems like a bit of a conundrum.
You can get your hands on Republique for $4.99, and you can download the latest episode for $2.99. You could also spend $11.99 for the season pass for episodes 3-5 if you already have episode 2, or $14.99 for the whole season pass (episodes 2-5).
:: SNEAKY SNEAKY :: Read Review »It seems like just yesterday indie development studio Camouflaj successfully Kickstarted their freshmen iOS release, République. Since then, not only has the title successfully released its first two chapters, but yesterday it was elevated to the status of Apple’s “Free App of the Week.”
Now, it is worth noting that the actual free portion of the game only consists of the base download, which includes the first chapter, but it should be a great way to give everyone an initial free taste. Each of the additional chapters will be available for $4.99, or a discounted season pass total of $14.99.
:: SNEAKY SNEAKY :: Read Review »Republique Episode 2: Metamorphosis is now rolling out now for Season Pass holders, and will be available on May 1 for all users. This chapter of the surveillance-themed stealth-adventure game has players controlling protagonist Hope as she seeks out the librarian of her prison in order to help her in her quest to be free.
Not only is there new story content, with a new guard type, and new abilities, but also three puzzles from the creator of Blueprint 3D are in Episode 2. As well, there's improved performance on iPhone 4, iPad mini, and iPad 2, a new 3D map, and the next chapter of the documentary is available. The episode will cost $4.99 as an in-app purchase to unlock, with the Season Pass available for $14.99.
:: SNEAKY SNEAKY :: Read Review »Hot on the heels of a storytelling award from IMGA for its stealth thriller, Republique, Developer Camouflaj is celebrating by temporarily slashing the price of the well-received game down to $2.99 for a limited time.
Camouflaj designer Ryan Payton appreciates the accolades. “We set a high bar for ourselves with the first episode of République, so it feels great to see the public’s positive response, especially in foreign markets. This is a great start for the franchise and our little independent studio,” says Payton. “In the interim between EP1 and EP2, we are lowering the price of Republique for a short period to give more players a chance to experience the pilot episode. We hope they’ll find it as engaging and innovative as so many critics and players already have.”
We had an opportunity to take a look at the Kickstarter-backed project late last year.
République will remain on sale on the App Store until March 27.
Seems like ten is the magic number this year. The International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA) has announced the nominees for their 10th annual awards, and have spread them out across ten different categories. Some nominees and categories include Type:Rider for Best Serious Game, Year Walk and LIMBO for Excellence in Art Design, Papa Sangre II for Excellence in Sound Design, Republique for Excellence in Storytelling, and a whole lot more.
You can find the full list of categories and nominees on the official IMGA website, and the winners will be announced on March 20, 2014.
Image Source: IMGA
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