After basically ignoring iOS gaming since the AppStore first appeared, the idea that iPad games might be a good way to pass the wait for nextgen, meant that the topic needed a bit of research. Although familiar with Cut The Rope, Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Plant vs Zombies and Infinity Blade etc. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of iPad titles that caught my eye.
I’ve always liked Tower Defense games and have Field Runners already, so picked up Kingdom Rush first. I’ve been pretty much addicted ever since. A perfect start to iPad gaming domination!
Here is my current AppShopper wishlist in no particular order, price drops will probably trigger the next purchase.
Danger Alliance: Battles – It looks like a good TBS
Land Air Sea Warfare HD – Big fan of Total Annihilation, this looked like the closest RTS to that on iOS
MotoHeroz HD – looks like fun
Epoch – The auto shoot, dodge mechanic reminds me of something else, can’t think what.
Tiny Wings – looks like fun
Incoboto – Reviews and recommendations
Aquaria – Is this a bit like a metrovania title?
EDGE Extended – Reminds me of Spindizzy
Perfect Cell – Strangely this reminds me of Abe’s Odyssey
Anomaly Warzone Earth HD – Tower Defense in reverse, looked good in Youtube clips
Infinity Blade II – Is it any good?
There were a few other titles that I’m still a bit undecided about
SuperBros: Sword and Sorcery – This got raves and awards, but on Youtube it just looks so dull?!
Galaxy on Fire 2 HD – Gameplay looks solid (Fan of Elite, Colony Wars, etc), but characters, story and dialogue, etc is painful to go through on Youtube. Also why do the space station interiors look so uninspired?
ShadowGun – Hmm, graphics over gameplay, Epoch edged this out comparing Youtube clips.
Hunters 2 – I’m edging more toward Danger Alliance; this didn’t look to have enough variety.
I see the original version of Paradroid is available, what we need is an update with shinier ships and droids.
I was also looking for something like Shadowfire by Beyond Software. This was the first TBS I ever played, would be good it if got an iOS refresh.
None of the current Populous clones seemed particularly competent.
Edit* The other game clone I was looking for was something like Carnage Heart form PSOne.
Oh, courtesy of my kids, I already have these to look forward to…
Age of Zombies
Jetpac Joyride
Minecraft
NOVA
Dungeon Hunters 2
Doodle Jump
NinJump
Pocket God
This is a FANTASTIC List. It looks like we have may similar tastes. I'd also recommend adding:
Ghost Trick
Eufloria HD OR Galcon Fusion
Time Geeks HD
Battleheart
Pocket RPG
Spider HD (Spider: Secret of Bryce Manor)
Osmos HD
Regarding your "on the fence titles":
Galaxy on Fire 2 HD and ShadowGun both look GORGEOUS on the iPAD, but ShadowGun is a very VERY shallow experience that controls remarkably well, but the AI is horrific. IMO, it's a much better 'controlling' 3rd person cover based shooter than Mass Effect: Infiltrator, but an ultimately unsatisfying experience.
Galaxy on Fire 2 HD is pretty much an arcade shooter. If that's your thing, then you really can't go wrong. It's probably in the top 5 best-looking games on iOS. However, if you're looking for something a little deeper, I'd recommend
DANGEROUS, another space-flight sim with considerably more depth. People are comparing it to Freelancer. Currently, the game doesn't work properly with the iPAD 3, but an update is coming.
Speaking of upcoming updates,
THE BARD's TALE is a fantastic RPG that doesn't play at all on the iPAD 3, but again, the update is on the way. In the meanwhile, I"m having a BLAST with
POCKET RPG.
Lasty, if you're looking for good fun TBS games, try:
Hero Academy
Highborn HD
Civ Rev
Great Little War Game
Regarding POPULOUS CLONES....keep an eye out for
TOPIA from Crescent Moon Games.
Oh...almost forgot...
Minecraft is far from great on iOS. If you dig exploration, try
Junk Jack and/or
iDigit HD. Junk Jack currently doesn't have an iPAD version, but they're working on it...