Each month, the iOS GAF community hosts a thread for new game releases, rumors and discussion that define the fast-moving world of iOS gaming.
The OP will contain games that released both towards the end of the previous month and games that have released during the current month -- all games which have been highlighted by the GAF community in one way or another. This way you can keep tabs on the best games and at the same time curate an excellent resource to look back on to find games you may have missed.
Also keep an eye out for the GAF iOS Challenges; events where GAF battle it out on the Game Center leaderboards of a chosen game for both fame and fortune (prizes donated by members of our community).
Come face-to-face with vampires in this immersive action RPG. Take a photo or use an existing one to see yourself in action against the vampires, or mix and match facial features, hairstyles, and skin tones to create a character all your own. Connect online to recruit friendly faces to join you on the hunt.
Intuitive controls let you tap to attack and swipe to dodge as you savor the thrills of pulse-pounding vampire battles.
Recruit hunters other players have made as comrades in combat, and fight evil alongside the familiar faces of your friends.
[level cap] It's 30.
And no, but I think gold stakes are really overpowered and only encourage SE to keep abusing IAPs, I basically stuck to iron stakes through the whole game.
By the way here's the thread about Bloodmasque where I wrote most of my impressions, if anyone is still not sure
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=633471
Use 5 different Lums in this beautiful action physics puzzle game. Destroy everything with Cannonball Lum, create spotlights with Light Lum, use Antigravity Lum to make their hideouts fly away, or turn them into glass by using Transparent Lum. Sometimes you just need to turn everything into stone. Stone Lum can handle that.
First game on the App Store with physically realistic realtime 2D soft shadows
5 characters with very different abilities
48 unique levels
Lums is surprisingly good. You have complete control over your "Lums" so the game becomes a physics puzzler, not a fire-and-forget catapult game like Angry Birds. The graphics are quite pleasing and the light mechanic adds another layer of complexity to the puzzle aspect. Unlike Angry Birds, where you can destroy pigs by collapsing debris on them, here you have to be a bit more mindful of your surroundings because fallen debris may actually cover and protect the vampires.
Furthermore your Lums are more varied than the usual AB-esque projectiles. One is for smashing debris, another can fly through glass and becomes a light source when placed on a surface, another reverses gravity, one switches blocks to glass, another to stone.
Build your arsenal with 1000s of gun combos, and specialize each soldier with a combination of perks, tactics, armor, and inventory.
Plan your mission step-by-step: split up your team and assault the map from multiple entrance points, set routes and fields of fire, use cover and outflank your foe.
First impressions are of a game with very high production values. Once I started playing though my opinion dropped. I like the fast paced, simplified Frozen Synapse style of play, but there are a number of issues. The inability to rewatch turns, no clock to time your moves, and the game hasn't completely lost its freemium heritage with plenty of consumable items (grenades, medpacks, lockpicks, ect) and gear that feels disconnected from the actual game.
For $2 it's fairly decent, there's still a lot to like and have fun with here. I checked the TA forums (gasp!) and the developers are quite active there. Maybe changes will come to improve B&C's shortcomings. However, with all the recent TBS games it's hard to recommend B&C over those.
The consumable aspects of Breach & Clear are pretty minimal. You have to buy grenades, med packs, UAVs and such, but they're all reasonably priced. IIRC, frag grenades and flash bangs are about 40 to 60 silver, and med packs are under 100 as well -- I still don't know how rating factors into rewards, but I routinely get about 600 silver per completed mission, so I haven't run into any instances where I am out of cash.
Been playing for the last two days. This is an awesome game. I posted my concerns and comments on other pages (hard to see split group on small screen, certain features and tutorial unclear) but overall this is well worth the 1.99 (and I would have gladly paid the 3.99)
Getting my ass kicked on the harder difficulties, but definitely getting better. A lot of tactical depth in a bite sized package. I especially love the animations, how the unit stacks up at a door, how they change direction to face where you aimed them, how they peek out from behind cover. The touch controls are also very good. I actually prefer this waypoint over FS, because you select a node on the ground rather than having to be super precise
What I want to see added most is a video replay function, so I can watch my plan play out from beginning to end, switch to action camera, zoom in close, etc. Also needs a way to erase entire plan and set a new one.
First impressions:
1. Music skips a bit when navigating menus, which can be a little laggy as well (iPad Mini), sometimes takes a second to register input.
2. Animations are a little janky.
3. Input in game feels tricky, sometimes it won't register the "hold to set waypoint", I would suggest the option of double tapping to set perhaps?
4. Some of the promised features (clothing etc...) are "coming soon", it seems like content was pulled out or held back but if it's a free update that's fine I guess.
Sine Mora is a shoot'em up that provides a unique take on challenge, where time is the ultimate factor. Mixing classic shooter sensibilities with contemporary presentation, this is a gorgeous shoot'em up that offers a Story Mode that weaves an over-the-top tale and an Arcade Mode that provides deep, satisfying gameplay to challenge fans of the genre.
7 beautifully crafted, diverse stages
Over 50 different weapon combinations with time manipulating devices
Virtual Joystick and Relative Touch controls.
Game looks and plays great on iPad 3 graphics is incredible.
Game is letter boxed (heavily) with controls on the bottom black bar.
Story is INCOMPRENSIBLE...maybe it's just my poor English (yeah I know spoken text is Hungarian) but I can't understand anything reading the texts...why I'm constantly changing pilot? And aircraft? Am I trying to kill one by one the crew that dropped the bomb? I've no clue. Probably I'm missing something BIG.
Anyway the game is great and FRANTIC, with some of the most crazy bullet patterns I ever saw, not to mention those very über Japanese bosses.
I really like the time mechanic and the 16:9 smaller view, even if I wished to get rid for the normal fire button...and have just the time capsule and the secondary weapon (btw...some secondary weapons are just incredible).
The underwater levels are simply unbelievable with all those mines in the background and softened sounds.
Menu text is super tiny. No iCloud sync is a bummer tough. No GC either.
[More positive impressions, click to view, doesn't fit in OP]
[Disaster Impressions before patched controls] What is this I don't even...
[tweet]https://twitter.com/Tunesmiff/status/356489441616990210[/tweet]
Good news, with Sine Mora patched I am comfortable enough to recommend it to be played.
The game is not perfect yet, but it's way ahead of it's previous state controls-wise, the relative touch just needs a sensitivity adjustment option and we would be golden. Game runs really nicely now and looks better with the update as well. It still is letterboxed on 16:9 screens but that's apparently a design choice so I can live with it. Menu text still tiny (and XBLA leaderboard errors are still present when Facebook connection fails!) but aside from that this game is enjoyable to play now.
Tiny Thief brings back the magic from the point-and-click games of old, charming you with its very own visual style and offbeat sense of humor.
The game throws some seriously mind-boggling puzzles at you, with tons of surprising interactive gameplay elements along the way.
Six big adventures sneak and steal your way through six epic quests, featuring an awesome pirate ship and daring castle siege!
Unexpected surprises explore fully interactive levels and uncover hidden treasures and other surprises at every turn!
Adorable, simply adorable.
It's everything I hoped to be since I saw the first screenshot long ago...way before it got delayed and Rovio picked this title up to be published.
It's 'casual gaming' done right. The characters are so cute and hilarious, they could be part of a Disney Pixar movie hands down, congratulations to the devs.
Everything is so polished. It's a bit on the easy side so far, but I hope it gets a bit more difficult later on and, Rovio style, many additional levels will be published.
Original story set in the Deus Ex universe, with fully explorable stunning environments
The search for the truth spans from mafia hideouts in Moscow to the slums of Panama
Play the way you want; full on action or stealth.
Ok if you are even remotely interested in Deus Ex, I highly recommend The Fall. This is a proper title with great production values for an iOS game. It's not a poor knockoff like Mass Effect Infiltrator.
I played it on the iPad 4. The menu is beautiful, better than HR's menu even. I've had no framerate issues so far. And the game runs at full 2048x1536 with some form of AA implementation. I did not see any jaggies. The models and animation are a step down from HR, but the image quality is beautiful. The game is fully voice acted. The quality of VA varies depending on the actor, but overall it's not bad.
And finally, the controls are surprisingly very responsive. They don't feel floaty at all. And you're not restricted to tiny dual sticks, as you can touch and drag anywhere (left half for movement, right for camera). Alternatively, you can double tap on the ground to move.
Just played the first little bit of Deus Ex on the iPhone 4S. Compared to other "supports the 4S barely" games, this one runs really well on the 4S; smoothly and fully playable. Some of the text is a touch small, but it runs way better than, say, XCOM.
In the events of Mercenaries, set six years after the events of the original RAVENMARK, the world of Eclisse has been scarred irrevocably by the vendetta of Estellions vengeful new ruler, the Scarlet Empress. Players may delve into the worlds rich lore and discover the evolved power struggle between the three warring nations: once-glorious Estellion, the fledgling Varishah, and silent but stern Esotre.
Requires a network connection to play. Also, please note that the game is a constant work in progress. Certain aspects of the game involving multiplayer combat may be rebalanced from time to time to improve the player experience.
Challenge other human players to asynchronous battles, or embark on mercenary contracts to sharpen your skills on your own.
Acquire the services of diverse Brigades of mercenaries, each with their own history and combat styles.
Waiting for impressions.
Developed by GAFer Kiriku!
Turn-based strategy for up to 6 players.
Play both online via Game Center and offline.
Build a mighty empire using over 10 different types of units & buildings.
Battle on over 40 maps of different sizes or build your own maps, play and share them with your friends.
It's basically like a medieval take on Advance Wars, ie turn-based strategy. You have a bunch of different units that you can purchase and upgrade with new abilities, and it's multiplayer only for up to 6 players (online too, of course). We've been polishing and testing it a lot these past months and it's awesome to finally be able to release it to the world! There's also a map editor included, so you can create and share your own maps, and the game has full Game Center support, achievements etc.
Swords and Arrows seems fun so far, I've been waiting for an Advance Wars type game to show up on ios for a while now! Good job Kiriku and company, I haven't run across any issues so far.
Swords&Arrows is a damn polished async medieval tbs warfare game.
I'm having a blast playing it. Seriously, it's like a medieval version of Uniwar...combining the same accessibility with a more complex system (like different terrain modifiers and research trees), all in a super slick package with a nice graphical style.
Game is Universal and free with a single 'no ads' unlock (ads are not intrusive tough).
Notable: when on iPad you can play both on portrait and on landscape (like Carcassonne)...something I really appreciate.
Absolutely no IAPs.
Hack&Slash Action RPG with single player and co-op with up to 7 people
Multitude of unique locations, villages, swamps, caves, crypts and more.
It's a full featured hack-n-slash loot game. Singleplayer in 3 acts, cross-platform Multiplayer up to 8 players, P2P hosted w/ text chat.
Controls - free flowing joystick on left side of the screen, along with action buttons on right side.
Quite a bit of options available, UI size, graphics features, zoom levels, etc. Text on the small side but readable on iPhone, iPad is better.
2 classes so far, Witch and Barbarian. Character skills seems deep with 3 spec trees, though one I think is for professions. You can load up your singleplayer character in multiplayer and vice versa.
This feels like a Gameloft game, without the shitty Gameloft game mechanics. No IAPs, no F2P shit, but with Gameloft's graphical capabilities & more features.
From GiantBomb review 5/5 said:
Limbo is a side-scrolling action game featuring a little boy looking for his sister in the big spooky forest. I only know that from reading a descriptive blurb somewhere; beyond the menus, the game itself uses no words (written or spoken) to communicate any sort of story. It doesn't even have real music, just a sublimely rendered ambient soundscape. And it doesn't need any of that stuff. You wake up in the woods, and off you go into an increasingly weird, oppressive, sinister dream world. Your sole occupation is to run left to right and try to avoid all the myriad ways this awful wilderness is trying to kill you, and the game focuses all of its efforts on enabling that single objective.
You won't manage to avoid most of those dangers the first time, because so much of Limbo's action centers on brutally immediate, unforgiving environmental hazards.
http://www.giantbomb.com/reviews/limbo-review/1900-301/
This is a sublime game, I played it through on XBLA myself; a genius puzzle-platformer with a near unprecedented amount of creepy atmosphere. I haven't tested the iOS port yet but hear it is equally great on the platform.
I already knew the game was amazing (I have it on 360) but I'm happy to report controls are simply phenomenal...they set probably a new standard on the device.
I'll see how they will be towards the end, where probably the most precision is required, but so far so good.
Extremely good.
Basically there is an invisible (perfect) joystick on the screen (the whole screen, no matter if left or right), that support multitouch so you can swipe with the other finger to jump (again, no matter where): I just stick my fingers on the bottom part...so I have the whole screen to enjoy.
To interact with objects, just go near them...the little guy will change posture...keep one finger pressed and move...voila'.
Like...if you want to move a crate...just go near...he will extend his arms...the press the screen and move.
Simply fantastic.
Perfect blend of roguelike and brawler
Procedurally generated weapons, levels, and enemies that keep the action fresh until you die from thumb exhaustion
Story mode, Insane Mode, Manic Mode, and Timed Sprint!
Pets - They'll accompany you in battle and save your hide!
It's quirky, brilliant, and very addicting. Just sat pretty much an hour straight with this.
"Bastion-esque" level planes you can fall off the edge from (remember ToeJam & Earl? that sort of thing), combat pets, weapon upgrade drops, persistent character upgrades/skills bought with in-game currency accrued during gameplay. Free with IAPs (said in-game currencies).
Soooo... yeah, just spent like 2 days solid playing Quadropus Rampage.
It's a roguelike action game with unlockable persistent upgrades and perks, and a diablo-style weapon system with rarity tiers and random stats. It kinda reminds me of Binding of Isaac, but definitely unique. Controls are great too.
Here are a few video reviews of iCade supported titles (thanks Alextended!)
iCade hardware
Blazing Star
Shogun: Rise of the Renegade
Gridrunner
ElectroMaster
Enborn-X
Midway Arcade
Vectrex Regeneration
Temple Run
Here is a summary of other iOS game/iOS device related threads!
iOS Apps |OT|
iOS Jailbreak/Unlock |OT|
iOS 6 |OT|
iPhone 5 |OT|
iPad |OT|
iPad Mini |OT|
