So the makers of blatant HoMM clone Palm Heroes 2 have adapted their engine to a blatant King’s Bounty clone called Royal Bounty. Has anyone put much time into their stuff and know if they’re any good in their own right or just trading on nostalgia? I love the idea of HoMM on the go, but on the other hand playing a pale imitation of a favorite might prove too much of a disappointment, as I found recently when realizing that three tables from Epic Pinball had shown up on iPad. But despite the graphics upgrade, the physics and table functionality feel wrong.
Are you talking about Retro Pinball? It has Super Android, Pangea, and Crash and Burn. If so, it is free today. I just played a quick game of Super Android, and I liked it. The ball is very heavy and tough to keep in play, though.
I never played king’s bounty as much as I wanted to, but would give an iPad version a try.
Is there a good website or RSS feed that stays on top of when iPad apps/games are temporarily free or on sale?
I like appshopper, both the website and the app. If you choose to make an account, you can store a wish list and it will send push notifications when an item drops in price. You can also simply look at what is on sale.
Yep Retro Pinball is it. The tables look great, but the physics don’t feel quite right and I think they got rid of the mercy rule to give you another ball when a shot goes straight down the tubes after launching it. Still, at least it was free.
Great Little Wargame HD is currently on sale for $.99, and definitely seems like a bargain after playing the demo.
And Kona’s Crate is also on sale for$.99. It’s reminiscent in a lesser way of Trials orSuper Meat Boy, with a simple but nuanced control scheme and bite sized levels that you’re constantly restarting to get that perfect run. I don’t know if it justifies the $5 normal price, but it’s well worth a buck.
There’s also a sale on the whole Big Fish catalog, if you or someone else who uses the iPad likes hidden object games.
Thanks for the heads up on the sales. I kind of like the super android table. The other two are simply brutal.
Btw, I was just playing a really interesting puzzler called Stone Puzzle. There’s an ad-supported version, and I like it enough I think I’ll buy the regular one. Slick little game where you place stones of different colors and depending on the formation you make, other stones on the board get pushed. The chain reactions are pretty satisfying to watch. It’s not perfect, for instance you can’t take back a move without restarting a level, but it’s a cool concept with lots of levels.
Just watched a vid for Kona’s Crate and it looks really hard. Cool, but hard.
Would be great to see some top 10 lists. Like someone earlier, I recently got an iPad but it’s hard to find the good games in this abundance.
Definitely have a look at the essentials list on the app store as well as the list of former games of the week. There lots of places to find info on great app games. I’m a big fan of toucharcade.com, personally.
Same here. The wish list in the ipad app has turned out to be fan-fucking-tastic for me. I just add everything that looks decent to my wishlist, and I get notified whenever there’s a price change of any sort.
I’ve gotten quite a few steals that way, including some $10 games I ended up getting for 99 cents.
Yeah, the AppStore is really weak on searching and sorting options. Really needs a way to filter up the top rated games in each genre.
And after another hour or two, I’m upgrading my cautious recommendation of Kona’s Crate to an emphatic one.
Death Rally is free today, not sure for how long.
It’s a pretty good game. Even better value when it’s free!
That’s one of my biggest gripes with iTunes, actually, that I can’t access my wish list from my iPad. So I’ve started using the one in the appshopper instead.
On a side note, I’ve just applied for the iTunes affiliate program. I never understood before how clicking a link from appshopper or wherever equated to them earning money. If I’d thought about, I would have realized they had to be, but it never really occurred to me. Not that I mind they are getting a nickel when I buy an app.
UNO just dropped in price to $0.99
Oh, how I remember playing UNO with you all the time when we were kids! :)
Cross Fingers is free right now. It’s a universal puzzle game where you slide pieces around to make shapes – kind of a cross between Rush Hour and Tangrams. Can’t link it easily because I’m on my iPad, but it’s worth a search.
Worms 2: Armageddon is also .99 right now.
Great looking on iPad, too
Ascension: chronicle of the godslayer is out as a universal app. It’s a deck building game that I find a lot of fun. Love the art style. The team nailed the design, and even gave it asynchronous multiplay. Well worth 5 bucks.
Deck Building Game = like Dominion?
That sounds intriguing, especially if asynchronous multiplayer works well for it. Is there a good single-player mode too?