rei
2041
I recommend it (again) wholeheartedly. Bought it again for iOS.
XCom is on sale, and it’s still $15 after the discount. Which would be reasonable if it weren’t for the assumptions about prices for iOS games.
Enidigm
2043
I know it’s a Rovio Stars game, but Tiny Thief is one of the best executed iPad games that perfectly fits the format. It’s not hard, and unlike most Rovio games, it is more than willing to hold your hand through the whole thing and seems to want you to finish it. Almost every level has some unique artwork, unlike the Pigs and Birds games that build levels out of parts. A nearly perfect family game.
Bee Leader has that New Shiny Aesthetic of modern tablets that makes PC games seem so last century. Even if it has limited interest over the long term.
Talisman Prologue is sort of fun in a solo pen-and-paper sort of way. There is certainly a lot to do. But the heavy dependence on die-rolls and limited scope of decisions seem to sap its depth compared to more modern gaming systems.
LordGek
2044
I’m right on the edge of purchasing Rymdkapsel, how’s the repaly value? Does it track stats like furthest level or shortest time for clearing all 28 levels? Do the baddies vary their attack patterns from run to run?
It’s not a look that does anything for me. Now get off my lawn.
Currently on sale for a dollar.
Our new creative space is out! If you have kids, or just enjoy fun hopefully it is for you. Its free and you get a lot for free :)
http://play.blocksworld.com/
Tyjenks
2048
My kids are out of town with our iPad visiting little cousins. I am messaging them now. Thanks for the heads up Rod!
JoshL
2049
My daughter will love this. However, I have to ask, and I hate that I have to ask, but… is there any way I can prevent her from going to the community section and seeing the giant penises that the internet seems to spontaneously generate?
Thanks gents. Hope your kids enjoy it! Josh, you should be fine, we curate pretty heavily. That said, as long as she sticks with the featured section (most users do) then she is doubly safe as those are things picked by us.
JoshL
2051
Cool. However, it turns out it requires iOS 6, so you won’t be getting my $0!
Rod – Looks super. Can you tell us what the microtransaction currency is used to buy and what you get (and don’t) for free?
And if so many of the people who would love it hadn’t already played it on another platform. Not that I knock them trying to get the dough for the game that it deserves. I just bet that it gets a ton more bites at $10 from the double dippers.
I’ve been sorting through a few of the games I’ve picked up on sale recently.
Tikal is quite good. It’s a Euro boardgame adaptation, and somewhat abstract. Each turn, you place a new tile which may be empty, a temple, a treasure trove, or a volcano which triggers scoring. Temples generally offer the best point rewards, but other players can muscle in, if they have more workers on the temple it’s theirs until you outnumber them again. Treasures are yours to keep, but don’t offer many points unless you have sets of 2 or 3. You can trade treasures to make sets, and the other player can’t refuse, but you can’t break up a set in a trade. You can sacrifice all of your workers on a temple to guard it permanently, but you can only do this twice, and any competitor is free to move his attacking workers elsewhere. The adaptation is quite well done, and the AI seems competent, though I haven’t played enough to recognize flawed play.
Talisman Prolog is just awful. Not the adaptation, the game. There are barely any choices, it feels like it’s just a series of die rolls, like Candyland with a fantasy skin.
Bang! felt similarly random and pointless, though you have considerably more control over your fate. It feels like a game that might work in a social setting, where it’s all about table talk and accusations of who is who, since it uses hidden roles. The actual mechanics just aren’t that interesting, and for some reason the cards use hard to learn icons instead of text to explain how they work.
Modern Air Power was very much Not For Me. Just not enough information. Cryptic loadout decriptions, I’m not sure what most of the abbreviations mean. The tutorial mission tells me the F-22’s are for air superiority and the F-15’s are for ground strikes, but I don’t know why, since there’s no clue as the capabilities of either one in the game.
Agree about Talisman Prologue (though it’s still fun in a mindless way) and Bang! I also got Café International in the recent price drops which appears to be well regarded, and Tikal as well though I haven’t played either yet.
LordGek
2056
Assuming you are an Xcomster, Gus, does the game track top campaign scores and is difficulty level factored into these scores (or just separate leaderboards per difficulty)?
Talisman is basically a series of dice rolls, yes. But in a multiplayer context I feel it hits the basic RPG hooks (killing shit, looting shit, and abusing your special character powers while you build in strength) enough to be enjoyable. Not that there aren’t better games for those hooks, but it hits 'em nonetheless. Solo, I can’t imagine bothering.
Update: Gave up on Talisman Prologue when I neared the end of the warrior quest line. Once you actually have to hit or avoid specific fields in order to beat the quest, the game changes from braindead fun to brain-melting aggravation.
Tikal is an interesting game. The objective is not so much to excavate temples as occupy them just in time for the scoring round, meaning that easily accessible temples must be guarded, and excavation without guards makes sense only if the temple is well removed from the competition. Need to play more…
Café International in its iOS incarnation, which I understand is a mix of the physical board and card games, is basically a puzzle game but an enjoyable one. Multiplayer seems a little bit pointless as it’s quite random, but the solo version is a nice Solitaire-style puzzler. Fortunately the grating music and voices can be turned off. “Grüß Gott!”
I’ve looked at Café International a number of times, but never picked it up.
