Welcome to our brand new weekly column. Every Tuesday, we’ll march through the mediocre multiplayers, sift through the sordid sporting titles, and pound through the petty platformers to find the best, most interesting iOS gaming gems. We’re kicking things off with five terrific new releases, and be sure to come back next week and every week to spare yourself the hassle of sifting the App Store’s latest game releases.
Let’s take a look at some solid App Store offerings from this week.
Foosball HD$2.99
Illusion Labs
iPad
Foosball is hard. Really, really hard. Especially when you’re exceptionally bad at it. That’s why we werent surprised when we got smoked (0-5) in our first game. The second game, we put up a little more of a fight, before losing a close 0-5 match.
So everyone’s not a natural foosballer, but what’s cool about Foosball HD is that it actually feels like Foosball instead of some cardboard cutout Pong-ripoff. You have to be careful not to flip your players too far, line up your defenses right, and kick away. You can control all three rows of players at the same time (for practical reasons, there’s only a keeper, defenders, and forwards in FHD). Foosball HD also lets you share the table for a quick match, cooperatively or competitively, if that’s your thing.
Check it out if you like: like flippers, not floppers. And also Air Hockey for iPhone
Castle Warriors or Castle Warriors HDCastle Warriors $1.99 Castle Warriors HD $0.99
Gameresort LLC
iPhone/iPod touch/iPad
In Castle Warriors HD, you’re granted a certain number of recruits each day. You get bonuses based on how many bases you conquer, how many enemies you vanquish, etc, etc. You’ll need to manage troops in dozens of castles, sending groups of soldiers to attack and fortify enemy fortresses. How many you send (with options like “some” and “all”) will determine whether you succeed.
Controls keep it straightforward and frantic. 3D world scrolling is a bit slippery, and sometimes the quick pace means you’ll flip right past the base you were intending to select. But with a little practice, you’ll be the ace of base.
Check it out if you: know what War is good for. And you’re all for Rome: Total War.
Super QuickHook$1.99
Rocketcat Games
iPhone / iPod touch
Probably the most fun we’ve had with an app since our last Peggle outing, Super QuickHook is about as addicting as nicotine-flavored squeeze-its. The race-based platformer has a small mountaineer utilizing a grappling hook and rocket shoes to complete levels as quickly as possible.
Using Feint you can compete against friends (or me--username: imnicandimprettycool) or try to beat the developers’ best scores on each level. A mountain store allows you to continually buy upgrades for your characters that improve your times on each course.
Check it out if you: always wanted a longshot… and a Canabalt replacement.
Robot Unicorn Attack$2.99
[adult swim]
iPhone / iPod touch
The robot unicorn has finally made it’s way to iOS devices, a leap the jumpy unicorn was destined to make after the Adult Swim flash game got more love than Michael Moore at a hotdog eating contest. And why not? The controls are perfectly suited for iPhones and iPod touches and the vibrant colors and Erasure music works in perfect harmony. Even blown up on the iPad, the little unicorn looks dashing. It’s addicting. If anyone beats my high score of 68,000 let me know. I’ll tweet your name or something.
Check it out if you: want to make your friends laugh. Or be a unicorn. Or play Doodle Jump sideways
Zombie Wonderland$0.99
Chillingo Ltd
iPhone / iPod touch
Top down shooters are common fare in the app store. However, Zombie Wonderland is unique in control scheme, and art style. ZW boasts fancy 3-D graphics with visuals so sweet it could give a kitten cavities. It’s the same hectic zombie survival game we’ve seen over and over (zombies want to eat your brains, you must survive the night, blah blah blah) but with a slight twist.
When you kill a zombie in your house, you’ve got to clean up its guts. Grab a mop and swipe back and forth as quickly as possible. The more you play the more locations you unlock. Eventually, you’ll be fighting off swarms of undead on their own turf: the cemetery.
Check it out if you: are aware that the undead’s favorite sauce is Grave-y… and you enjoy the subtleties of Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars.
Edge$2.99
Mobigame
iPhone / iPod touch
If you haven’t heard about Mobigame’s naming drama, look it up. Or click here. Whichever. Either way, Mobigame’s feud is the kind of grassroots revolution gamers love to take part in, chiefly because it’s easy enough to do from the couch. The fact that Mobigame’s Edge is actually a fun game should help persuade even the most apathetic. You guide a little block around what we can only imagine is supposed to be space.
Pictures don’t do the game justice. Many objects in the game flash dozens of different colors every second, and it all looks as clean and crisp as a potato chip made of Clorox. Besides, $2.99 is a small price to pay to support the good guy (we think).
Check it out if you: want to be there and be square… Like Katamari only cubed.
So that’s it for this week. What do you think of the new feature? Love it? Hate it? Got another must-have game that wasn’t mentioned? Sound off in the comments.
Follow this article's author, Nic Vargus, on Twitter.
