Phone Games & Apps

[Hendo]

I got Bomber Online, Oli. We'll have to set up a match.

[Oliath]

Ah cooool

I havent checked this thread for a while.

Been playing it quite a bit though. I opted for the touch and drag controls but i cant help thinking a virtual d-pad would be the better choice.

As for the online stuff... ill add you!! What is your user name on it?

Mine is dirtycat79... you can add me from the community menu.

The online stuff ranges from great to really laggy... but it does find games super fast and everything else works so well.

From what i read it went downhill over the latest update so hopefully it should be patched soon.

On a side note... the guys behind arora feint...... they are developing a xbox live style thing for the iphone.

I am hoping that if it gets apple's approval you will be able to send invites and so on to people even when the game application is closed.

If apple want to push the device as a gaming platform they would be stupid to ignore this.

[Hendo]

Just added you.

Downloaded the demos of Puzzle Quest and Katamari the other day. Not tried PQ but Katamari is alright, still looks like it has some technical hurdles to overcome (some lag/slowdown) but the controls seem ok and I'll probably pick it up.

Also, Rolando has been given another price cut - now an astonishing £2.99, which is just crazy for what you're getting. Plus there's gonna be more levels added via free updates, no doubt to advertise the forthcoming sequel.

[Oliath]

The slowdown in Katamari is when you go up a size... i think its to hide the transition basically and i imagine its practically unavoidable on the iphone.

It doesn't really affect the playability so far... or hasn't for me at least.

I choose Aurora Feint II: The Arena over puzzle quest... as it has an online community and you can compete against friends and so on... Although it lacks the story of Puzzle Quest...

Let me know if you get it and how good it is.

Rolando is so good and if anyone hasn't got it yet then do so!!

My bomber online is saying no friends in list.

What is your name on it?

Oh... and cos work sucks i have been buying loads of apps recently :-/ AAaahh.. MUST STOP BUT ITS SO EASY

Recent favourites are:

geoDefense - fantastic tower defence game with a touch of geometry wars in its aesthetics.

Zomieville - A zombie survival game that borrows its style from castle crashers (in the devs own words)... cant get past second level though but its very satisfying to play.

[Oliath]

Annnnnnd i just went and bought puzzle quest.

DAM YOU APP STORE STOP TAKING MY MONEY

[Oliath]

I keep hearing great stuff about Hell's kitchen and i love dinner dash on the iphone so i might have to get this at some point.

Also... hate to break it to you... but you got touch physics.... which is a bad rip off of crayon physics which has now been officially ported to the phone.

I have both and crayon physics is a much more polished game. Both are fun to play though, but i'd reccomend the offical one over the copy.

Fuck me puzzle quest is great :-)

Has anyone got Aurora Feint II: The Arena?

Its similar to puzzle quest but different.... in some ways better??? Not sure... but its a very different game.

Anyway... there is a new update which tightens up the online stuff and adds some tutorials and had a go last night. Its great fun and you can chat with other users

and challenge them... friends lists...... etc etc...

[Hendo]

My bomber online is saying no friends in list.

What is your name on it?

Not surprisingly, it's Hendo. I've got you in there definitely, cos I can see your profile picture of the monkey.

[Oliath]

Yep the stripey monkey is me!!

Agreed with you wiivo... zenbound is stunning.

Not everyones cup of tea though.

The goal is to wrap string round an object as wiivo says.

You get more points for percentage covered but you only have a limited amount of string and the shapes can get quite complex.

What makes this game is the music and the amazing 3D graphics. Well worth a purchase if you like relaxing puzzle games and something different.

Also new in the store today is SWAY... this is a brilliant little game from the guys who made touch grind...a finger skateboarding game.

In Sway you control a little frog who has to swing around the levels.

You control his right hand using the right side of the screen and vice versa for the left.

Movement is a sequence of swinging with one hand.... letting go to jump with the momentum from your swing and then touching with the other hand to grab on again.

Very VERY polished and nicely made and pretty fun to play.

[Hendo]

Gonna check out Diner Dash and Zenbound now, cheers!

[Oliath]

I would actually reccomend the Hell's Kitchen game over Diner Dash Hendo.

Its a bit more involved and having Ramsey shout at you adds to the tension.

Hells kitchen not only has you seating and waiting tables, but also managing the kitchen and timing

how you cook stuff.... its great fun.

In love with Puzzle Quest now.... best £4.99 i have ever spent!!

Bit on the expensive side for an iphone game if i am being honest, but its got so much content on it

i think ill be playing it for ages.

MUST STOP BUYING APPS though.

No joke but i think i have an addiction.

I actually woke up in the middle of the night cos the neighbours came home making a racket. I couldnt get back to

sleep... so what do i do....i browse the app store to see what is new and buy a game... DOH!

[Hendo]

I would actually reccomend the Hell's Kitchen game over Diner Dash Hendo.

Its a bit more involved and having Ramsey shout at you adds to the tension.

Hells kitchen not only has you seating and waiting tables, but also managing the kitchen and timing

how you cook stuff.... its great fun.

Bit too late, I bought ZenBound and Diner Dash when I was posting.

However, I really like Diner Dash! I'm sure it's on the DS and it got slated, but it's a very good little game. Maybe people were put off at paying full price for it, but a couple of quid is a good price. Might try the Ramsey one when/if I finish this one.

Enjoyed the brief play I had of ZenBound too, very relaxing cool little experimental game.

Also, buying the game, you get a link within the game to put your email address in and download the soundtrack which I'm doing right now. No doubt a tune of it will end up on a music podcast at some point.

[Hendo]

Been playing more of ZenBound and Diner Dash, got a little stuck on both of them but brilliant stuff. ZenBound is a great example of the more arty, experimental stuff that's possible on the system (beautiful music too) and Diner Dash is a good example of a simplistic game being too expensive at 30 quid on the DS but a couple of quid to download and it's good value.

Worth mentioning that Edge has had a big update, with a load of new levels. They're incorporated into the main game, so my records have been wiped and I had to start from scratch. Not such a big problem as I was stuck on the last but one level due to not getting the hang of balancing your cube hanging onto another object. The update has added another set of controls, with 4 on-screen arrows for movement (virtual d-pad basically) and it makes the precise movements much more possible than before.

Latest new purchase has been WordFu which is ngmoco's latest release. It's on a limited special offer of 59p which I would advise buying for for that price.

You get thrown a load of word blocks (a bit like dice but with letters on each side) and you have 20 seconds to decide if you're keeping them or not. You can shake the device to get a whole load of new letter blocks or flick an individual block to change just that. Then, you go into the game itself and have a limited time (around a minute) to make as many words out of those letters as you can. You can use letters multiple times in a word if you want. When you've spelled out each word you shake the device you enter it. That's pretty much about it. There's highscore tables (offline, sadly), achievements and a WiFi mode (local only, have to be on the same wireless network).

Perfect for times when you've got about 2 minutes spare.

[Oliath]

Coool... i will have to grab the edge update. Thats a great little game.

Word-fu is awesome. So great for pick up and play and VERY addictive. I am currently battling for the top score against my girlfriend which is fun but its a massive shame there are no online leaderboards.... and would be even better if you could input a friends name and see their scores.

[Hendo]

According to ngmoco's Twitter last night, there's an update coming along for WordFu - "Working on update to WordFu to include Topple 2's challenge functionality - asynchronous multiplayer!!! You can play async with anyone who has the game and an email account. Ability to play your own music will be in the update."

Now that will be very cool.

Finished Edge while in work last night, though there are bonus levels that you can only unlock by getting every collectible item in the game. The new control choice of the virtual d-pad is much better/precise than the other 2, but it's great to have that choice.

Also played some more of MazeFinger, went back to Rolando and started from scratch and got a little further in Diner Dash but it's getting quite tough now.

Took your advice, Oli, and bought Sway and the controls haven't quite sunk in yet! I can see what you have to do but my brain isn't getting the hang of it yet.

Also took a random chance in the top 25 and bought iDracula, which is an arena/Horde style twin stick shooter where you shoot monsters......and that's about it. There seems to be levelling up in it but it might take some time to do. Very polished, especially for 59p, and there's apparently an update coming, as well as a sequel.

[Hendo]

More stuff.

Drop7

Been playing this a shit ton recently. One of the most addictive puzzle games ever, if this was on the DS or PSP it would be raved about but it's on a platform that a lot of people try to ignore.

"Inspired by" a flash game called Chain Factor and I'll lift the description from the Eurogamer review as I'm rubbish at describing puzzle games:

...you drop numbered discs to create stacks, and if the width or height of the stack matches any of the numbers on the discs it's made up of, those discs disappear. It's a thoughtful, well-executed spin on the usual colour- or shape-matching falling-blocks puzzler.....It does take a little while to get your head around, however, so let's do a couple of examples. Say you've got a line of six discs, and a disc with the number "7" appears at the top. By directing it to fall into the remaining gap to create a line of seven, it will immediately disappear - as will any 7s elsewhere in the line. This works horizontally or vertically, so unlike a lot of falling-blocks puzzle games you can actually delete buried discs by reaching the right height or width elsewhere.

There's 3 modes that are pretty much the same thing as each other and no time limit so you can ponder your next move for ages. Costs £2.99 (was originally a 59p introductory price) and is money well spent.

If you know what being "in the zone" with a puzzle game means then you'll love this.

Ancient Frog

An original puzzle game, again with no time limit, where you have to move a frog's legs to get him from the starting position to the end where he can eat a fly. Graphically it's superb and it's only £2.99 so take a look at the video and buy it.

[Oliath]

You made me buy ancient Frog Hendo and i don't regret it ha ha.

Beautiful game and very very very very relaxing to play... but very tough at times too.

iDracula is a great game... one of the best i would say. The update will add lots more but already the game is fantastic.

At first i didn't get the hype but the more you play and learn to survive the better stuff gets. I love the perk system and the weapons are just too damed cool.. especially the massive chain gun.

The dev mentioned that they were considering releasing a £2.99 version that would have a whole story mode based campaign.... and using the current controls and so on i absolutely can't wait for them to do so!!!

What is your survival mode high score??

And rush?

[Hendo]

Sent you my shitty scores through Twitpic. Any tips?

Get Drop7 and we can trade scores on that.

[Oliath]

Well i had real trouble at first with idracula till i changed my play style up a bit.

Basically you gotta use the perks as soon as you get them. Always upgrade your weapon if you can (its a perk) and once you start getting bigger weapons the high scores come more easily as you can really clear out big bunches of vampires from around you.

Also use the ninja one if you get it as it allows you to block enemy attacks to a certain extent... oh yeah i also always grab the telekenisis one too as it drags dropped items towards you.

Other than that its just making sure i get as much ammo as i can after i kill the vampires.

Oh yeah the other good perk is the one that makes them drop more items.

Not too sure i'd like drop 7 to be honest, but then seeing as you have changed your forum avatar to its icon it must be worth something!

[Hendo]

It's a slice of genius. Try the flash version I posted before and see what you think.

Topple 2 is out for a temporary cheap price but it's more than 10 megs so I'll have to wait till I get home to try it.

Will try iDracula again later. Oh, Tap Tap Revenge 2 is out for free and you can download tracks for free (one is a cool remix of Kaiser Chiefs' Never Miss A Beat) and if you like them there's links straight to iTunes.

[Oliath]

It's a slice of genius. Try the flash version I posted before and see what you think.

Topple 2 is out for a temporary cheap price but it's more than 10 megs so I'll have to wait till I get home to try it.

Will try iDracula again later. Oh, Tap Tap Revenge 2 is out for free and you can download tracks for free (one is a cool remix of Kaiser Chiefs' Never Miss A Beat) and if you like them there's links straight to iTunes.

I just didnt get on with tap revenge... despite the fact its free it just doesn't come close to guitar rock tour... it doesn't react if you miss notes.... where as guitar rocktour.... the song will stop playing and dud notes will play... gahhhh maybe ill give it another go as downloading tracks sounds cool.

I got drop 7 cos i got some vouchers for my birthday and planned to spend it on apps :-)

No idea how to play it though so will have to look into it a bit more!!!

I grabbed topple 2 while having a poo earlier today (wifi in range of toilets) and its pretty much topple... but better... mechanics have been improved and gameplay expanded so very pleased.

ANYTHING from ngmoco i pretty much buy on sight... absolutely love them...