I’ve beaten every level/difficulty in ElementalMonster TD, it’s a good game but I still prefer Defender Chronicles, by a lot. It’s an even slower burn, but it’s also that much more satisfying.
When you look at a game in the store, check the description to see if there’s a Top In App Purchases link near the top. If so, there’s content available that must be purchased separately (a la Tap Tap Revenge). If not, when you download the game you get everything (a la Pocket God). For minigore you get all the episodes they’ve added via free updates in the base game, but have to pay extra for other things, like a Santa character.
The main problem with the in-game purchases is that some publishers are retroactively applying them to games you’ve already paid for, meaning stuff you had is taken away and must be bought separately if you apply the update that adds the in-game store. For example, California Gold Rush used to come with everything, but then an update was created that took out certain items and forced users to pay another buck to download them as a booster pack. If there’s a game you really like always read the version notes and user comments carefully before updating, or you may end up crippling your game and having to re-buy crap.
Wha!? Holy cow. That would piss me off.
LMN8R
1584
It confused me too, but it’s really quite simple. The “3rd episode” is basically just update 2 / version 3 for this particular game.
It still has all the stuff from the first two “episodes”, but it adds some new weapons, and a new map that you unlock after playing the game for long enough. Or you can get to the new map by instantly buying the 99cent DLC, though it’s not necessary in order to play it.
flyinj
1585
California Gold Rush’s rating plummeted because of this. I’m always nervous I’m going to accidentally tap the CGR icon in my updated apps page and destroy the game.
Adree
1586
If you’re like me and wanted something similar to Miner Dig Deep (Xbox Live Indie Games) when you bought it you should try I Dig It, it’s not nearly as chill as MDD but it’s got a lot of the same basic gameplay elements.
LMN8R
1587
Not only does that update castrate California Gold Rush, but it completely wiped out my saved progress too. Absolutely despicable clusterfuck, no way in hell would I ever buy another one of their games again. Too bad, since it was pretty fun when I played it.
Yes, I was about to say the same thing - though by “similar to Miner Dig Deeep”, I hope you meant to say “similar to Motherload” :-P
I Dig It was a great game that I sunk hours and hours into. It is literally the only iPhone game I’ve ever played just sitting in bed doing nothing else. Every other time I play iPhone games it’s because I’m on a plane, or waiting somewhere, or watching TV in the background. With I Dig It, instead, I just sat there for at least an hour straight playing.
I Dig It: Expeditions is its sequel, and also well worth the purchase. Adds a ton of brand new stuff to the game.
LMN8R
1588
Thinking about it and reading other reviews of California Gold Rush, it made sense that it was a genuine bait-and-switch. I just sent this off to Apple Support:
This is a complaint about an extremely dubious and extremely despicable developer practice.
California Gold Rush was a fun game. However, after it was released for a number of months, the developer decided to add support for in-app purchases.
In-app purchases are something I welcome and have absolutely no problem with. However, the developed pulled a bait-and-switch on every one of the many legitimate paying customers of their game. They REMOVED content from the game that came with it for our original purchases, and made it so that you had to buy that formerly-available content through in-app purchases instead.
On top of that, in order to support this removal of functionality, it erased everyone’s saved games - though that’s not really as much of a legitimate complaint to Apple Support.
If you look at the reviews for this game, you’ll notice that almost every single review of the latest version echoes this exact complaint.
Apple - please do something about this. It’s only a mere $3 I paid for this game, but it makes me weary of purchasing other applications and games from the App Store for fear that this practice will catch on. I certainly will never buy another game made by Digital Chocolate, that’s for sure.
Thank you,
Reed
1589
That’s pretty bad. I’ve got to imagine that Apple will ban that practice any day now.
No doubt it’s quite a complex and involved game, but it’s also brutally hard. I died several times just trying to finish the tutorial! Aside from the seriously limited fuel tank and heat capacity, I’m finding the virtual joystick controls rather imprecise. Mostly annoying, sometimes devastating – when I overshoot a rocket flight and crash against some wall for massive damage.
Editer
1591
I’ve gotten some really fun little games off this so far, including a couple my kid really enjoys. Definitely worth checking out each day!
On another note, I can see what’s new in an update on the App Store app on the iPhone, but I can’t see a way to see the update info in iTunes. Is that possible?
newbrof
1592
there are 172 mobile games entered for this years competition. The majority are iphone/ipod touch games!
and my game, Avoid Hitting Piano, is fighting for the win, yey… but who has time to check out 172 games or lite versions…? let the jury decide!
cheers,
George
Adree
1593
You’d have to go to the app’s page in Itunes, if you can live with it not being up to the second just use AppShopper.com.
Pac-Man Championship Edition is out, downloading now.
Lord knows how it’ll control with a touchscreen, but I guess if it can be great on the 360 d-pad anything’s possible.
Adree
1595
I downloaded the lite version, guess what folks… it’s crap!
The one-star rating was a good clue.
Hot damn, two days after I got it at full price! But it’s a great game, so never mind…
newbrof
1599
yeah, AHP is easy to dismiss and hard to defend… btw. did you get to the end of the lite version?
cheers,
Now that’s what I call effective marketing copy.
