Category: Mobile Game Releases

We liked Ticket to Earth when it first launched in March 2017. In fact, it was one of Matt’s highlights for the whole year. There was only one problem… it wasn’t finished. A four-part  story that only launched with one part, people were understandably nervous that they may not get everything they were promised if they bought into it too early.

It seemed a bit touch and go as well: Episode 2 released five months after launch in August, but Episode 3 didn’t land until December 2018. Now, ten months later and over two years since the original mobile release, Ticket to Earth’s fourth episode has landed as part of the free updated that dropped yesterday. If you’ve never heard of this game before, let’s start out with a trailer:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-R8ZjwIDJc?controls=0]

Ticket to Earth is essentially a turn-based tactical RPG/Puzzle game, with some very innovative mechanics connected to how yo move around the battle-space and what it means. It’s on our list of essential turn-based strategy games on mobile, so that should tell you something.

Now that Episode 4 is out, we’re interested in seeing what Robot Circus does next. We hope whatever it is, it doesn’t take two years to complete. If you end up trying out Episode 4, let us know what you think in the comments!

Ticket to Earth is available on iOS and Android for $3.99/$4.99 respectively.  

Hey, it me – throwing more things at the wall to see what sticks. Reddit’s a great (also: terrifying) platform, and often an interesting source of news and insight into what people are interested in at any given moment. In the past I’ve used it as for a variety of things, but today I thought I’d take that a step further.

While browsing r/iOSGaming I happened to come across a thread talking about child-friendly games on Apple Arcade. As a new parent myself (even though I don’t use iOS specifically) these kinds of things interest me, as my daughter is already showing interest in phones and has some idea of how they work. Introducing her to games is the next logical step.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04i8usL2lF0?controls=0]

But where to start? That’s something I think I’ll tackle further down the line but for any parents out there wondering the same, and since Apple Arcade is currently the new shiny thing, I thought I’d share a distillation of the reddit thread (OP – u/yworker) for your convenience. I’m listing them by post and whether or not anyone concurred – some posters recommended several games in one go.

To clarify, the OP was specifically asking about games for three-year olds, so YMMV on some of these recommendations:

• Sneaky Sasquatch (Seconded)
• Frogger in Toy Town and Painty Mob
• Dodo Peak, Fledgling Heroes
• Cricket Through the Ages
• Assemble with Care (Seconded)

There were some non-Arcade suggestions in that thread as well, but I wanted to try and remain on message. Let me know what you think or whether you have any suggestions of your own – kids are growing up with an unprecedented level of access to technology, and anything we can do to help each other out is appreciated.

By Andrew Smith 08 Oct 2019

Football management games are a bit like former Stoke, West Brom and Middlesbrough coach Tony Pulis. They tend to stick with what they know best and steadfastly refuse to change with the times. Initially, playing it safe can steady a sinking ship and keep the fans happy but eventually, the supporters will be yearning for something a little more innovative and exciting. Saying goodbye to Tony may mean that your team are no longer guaranteed the security of a reliable finish outside the bottom three (Tony has never suffered the indignity of relegation) but at least there is the possibility of witnessing something much more entertaining on the pitch.

As the title suggests, Football Drama shifts the focus of football management away from player databases and financial spreadsheets and towards the personal struggles of characters in a footie soap opera.

You step into the expensive Italian shoes of Rocco Galliano, a pipe-smoking sophisticate with a smart line in Eric Cantona-inspired pseudo-philosophical babble. It may have been seven years since Rocco last took up the managerial mantle, but Boris Aluminovitch, the billionaire owner of struggling Calchester Assembled FC, is desperate for a change of fortune and willing to give Rocco a final shot at the big time. When he isn’t yelling orders from the touchline or schmoozing with the Club Director’s wife, Rocco likes nothing better than to sharpen his intellect by engaging in debate about the human (and feline) condition with his pet cat. Yes, Football Drama is a football game, the likes of which you will not have seen before.

Calchester Assembled FC may sound like a struggling Sunday league team, but they are part of the elite ten-team Thiefa League. A typical week at Calchester plays out in pretty much the same way as an episode from the aforementioned soccer soap opera. There are no opportunities to spend your time dabbling in the transfer market or juggling your squad, instead, you spend your time either pacing the touchline or struggling with your personal life through interactive narrative episodes. Sometimes surreal, sometimes satirical, these episodes will have you attempting to keep the press and owner on side whilst also making decisions about corruption, illegal substances and romance.

Don’t get too caught up with your personal life because there are still plenty of football matters to attend to. The first of these is to devise a weekly training programme. Instead of the more orthodox training methods on offer, you may want your squad to indulge in a bit of yoga or instruct them to go out and drink beer. You go into each match with a hand of up to five cards, which act as additional instructions that you can bark out during a match. These will not always trigger successfully but they can give you a significant advantage, allowing the team to concentrate on a particular formation or style of play.

The matches take the form of a series of simple choices between two options. This may be a choice between holding your ground and controlling the play or attempting a risky long pass. Or, you may have to select between marking your opposition or committing yourself to the tackle. The second option tends to put your players under more strain, forcing you to carefully manage your team’s energy levels. After the match, you can offer a handshake to the opposing manager and attend a press conference, before finally justifying your team’s performance.

Presentation is of premier league quality, with artist Daniele Giardini putting in a man of the match performance. The cards are especially eye-catching with their humorous and surreal illustrations. The striking caricatures are also excellent and will be recognisable to anyone with an interest in the game. Even the matches themselves, which are displayed from a simple overhead perspective, have a number of charming touches, such as the way that the stands throb with excitement as the action heats up, with walls of sound and disparaging chants aplenty. Free from the shackles of official licences, silly team names with their respective quirky team badges abound. Common sense may suggest that the hotel lobby piano jazz that languidly accompanies the game should not really work, but it just adds to the game’s off-the-wall atmosphere.

What stops Football Drama from sticking it in the back of the net is the lack of meaningful interaction. Since you have no control over team selection, tactical decision-making revolves around on-field options. Granted, there are loads of stats that your choices must influence but the outcome remains a mystery. Even when I strung together a series of good results it didn’t feel satisfying as I never felt sure how I had achieved my success. Like a striker after a power failure, you will end up feeling like you are left shooting in the dark. The sluggish commentary doesn’t help matters. You will soon be waiting impatiently for the verbose double act to get a move on. Their slow-moving chatter quickly becomes very repetitive, causing the matches to drag. It isn’t helped by the fact that the simple two-choice decisions are not engaging enough to justify the match length.

Can the narrative sections save the day? Well, initial impressions are promising, the developers are trying something different and the story draws you in. Maybe I just made some bad decisions, but my narrative entered a mid-season lull which didn’t perk up again until the end of the season. The press conferences and meetings also fail to maintain interest, with the same options coming up time and time again. Football Drama is a brave effort, but it needs some extra content and variety. As its stands I found myself losing interest before the end of the first long season.

It’s been a great week for mobile gaming all round – lots of premium releases, Apple Arcade, and yeah, some high-profile ‘freemium’ releases that seem to have really taken off as well. We missed out on an update last week so there’s quite a bit to catch up on, but honestly most of it has dropped this week vs. last week.

Out Now

Aeon’s End (iPad & Android) – $8.99

Aeon’s End is a pretty interesting co-op deck-building experience. Up to four ‘Breach Mages’ must band together to defend their home from inter-dimensional horrors hell-bent on its destruction. Like most deck-builders you start off with a basic deck and must improve it with purchases from a central market (Dominion style, not Star Realms).

The order in which you discard cards is important as you don’t shuffle your discard pile when it runs out, and as well as improving you deck you need to improve your mage by unlocking more spell slots. I’ve dabbled around with the physical version and it’s pretty neat, with the challenge coming from the ‘Enemy’ deck as defined by whichever enemy you chose to face, as well as a randomised turn-order each round.

The digital adaptation has been handled by Handelabra, of Sentinels of the Multiverse fame, and is currently only available for tablet devices.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-LEiMbxnvI?controls=0]

Yellow & Yangtze (PC)

This is more of a quick FYI to let you know that Dire Wolf Digital have released the next game in their wave of digital board game ports – Reiner Knizia’s acclaimed Yellow & Yangtze. It’s currently only out on Steam Early Access, but Dire Wolf have already stated that an iOS and Android release is due “in the coming weeks”.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAd3LWqrrn4?controls=0]

Dear Esther (iOS) – $4.99

Not really my thing, but I know indie classic Dear Esther is highly respected for its visuals and atmosphere. ‘Walking simulators’ can sometimes be used as a derogatory term, but it pretty much sums up what you’re getting with this game. It’s a short and sweet affair that’s been out for a while, and now it’s finally on iOS

Developers The Chinese Room allegedly want this to be a prequel of sorts for one of their upcoming titles, Little Orpheus, which is due to hit Apple Arcade next year. It requires iOS 9 or later, but it does work on Phones.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NlWiXzanNI?controls=0]

Versus: Unfriendly Frenzy (iOS & Android) – $5.49

Something else we missed from past couple of weeks is a new indie real-time strategy game called Versus: Unfriendly Frenzy, from ZeMind Game Studio. It’s “fast-paced” take on the genre with three factions, outlandish units, head-to-head multiplayer as well as a single-player campaign. We’ll try and take this one for a spin as soon as we can, but here’s a trailer to give you a quick impression.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ny1TNTSIeg?controls=0]

Call of Duty Mobile (iOS & Android) – Free

You already know this it out of course, but just re-stating for the weekend crowd – Activision have finally released their latest mobile adaptation of the insanely popular first-person shooter franchise on mobile.

As much as I hate to admit it, it’s not terrible. The way they’ve adapted the controls means that you won’t be fragging with the kind of precision you see in pro-teams, but there is an art to manipulating the controls. It also rewards careful, forward-thinking players who can predict enemy movement and make sure they’re already waiting with a shot lined up. It’s a bit too run-and-gun for my personal tastes – reminding why I stopped playing the franchise after Modern Warfare 2, but if you’re even a little bit curious I’d suggest checking it out.

Monetisation can be a bit ‘in your face’ when you log-in, otherwise it leaves you alone. It uses a variation of the battle-pass system you see in Auto Chess games, so you still get free stuff and you acquire more guns as you level up through play, but if you buy the battle-pass you simply get more stuff as you rank up. You level up guns by using them, or by using level-up tickets you can acquire. Levelling up guns gets you more attachments, but you can still wreck even with the starting M4, if you’re good enough. The worst thing you have to worry about right now is people using Mouse/Keyboard.

Updates & News

It’s been a bumper week for news from all quarters, some of which we’ve covered ad-hoc (Bad North! Yay!) but the rest we’ll try to summarize here:

• Sensor Tower is reporting that Mario Kart Tour has become Nintendo’s most downloaded mobile title, getting 90 million downloads in its first week. Monetisation hasn’t been as big a success story, as it’s only third place behind Fire Emblem Heroes and Super Mario Run.
• Something we missed out on the other week, but Void Tyrant got a huge 1.1 update that added a bunch of new content and a new class. We weren’t its’ biggest fans, but it’s nice to see this kind of support. You can check out the full patch notes on the iOS store page.
• If you’re a fan of Bastion and didn’t catch the news, the current ‘Version’ on iOS is being delisted and replaced with a new one. This is mainly to do with developer Supergiant taking over the publishing of the game on mobile but if you want to read up on the full story and what it means for current iOS owners, please read this.
• Xenowerks Tactics now has a release date and is available for pre-order on iOS and Android. There’s also a new trailer.

Sales

Holy Potatoes! A Sale!?

All of Daylight Studios Holy Potatoes! games are on sale on iOS, Android too, but they only released A Weapon Shop!? on that platform so it’s not like there’s much choice there.

Beholder 2 (Review) – $3.99

Beholder 2 is on sale for only the second time since launch, and its cheapest price yet. The sale is only on iOS, but there is a free-trial version on Android if you want to give it a go.

Other iOS-only sales include Legends of Andor, Terra Mystica and Card Thief. All really good games available at a pretty decent price.

Seen anything else you liked? Played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!

By Joe Robinson 03 Oct 2019

The first This is The Police tried to replicate the fine line Hollywood has been walking for decades when it comes to its portrayal of the men and women of small town American police forces. It failed, as it lacked any of the subtlety of of high minded critique or clever charisma of a sharp satire. Its’ melodrama, though noir in spirit, was flaccid and rote in practice. It felt filthy all the time, and never for any reason other than ‘because it could.’

This is The Police 2 is better in almost every way than the first. But it’s still weighed down but much of the same issues.

Part of that weight is the returning Jack Boyd. No longer Police Chief of Freeburg, he’s found himself on the run from the federal government thanks to his heavy involvement with his former city being smothered by organized crime. Circumstance gets him arrested by the local police in nearby Sharpwood, and eventually he becomes the right hand man for Sharpwood’s Chief of Police, Lilly Reed.

TITP2 breathlessly breezes past this incredible narrative contrivance to reintroduce us to the dirty cop that can’t help but do dirty things. Conveniently, Sharpwood’s PD is filled to the brim with chaotic cops that are one or two bad shifts away from being criminals themselves. The streets themselves are filled with people who seem to do the most outrageous criminal activity you’d ever heard of in at town like this.

All this is to say that TITP2 still makes no effort to make anything or anyone feel redeemable in this story. Jack is still mostly a trash bag of a human. At no point in the hours of time I spent playing did I want him to succeed. If I could have called the feds on him myself, I would’ve. All of the characters you meet are either obnoxious cops, excited to abuse their authority to bully locals; douchey agents that’ll stop at nothing to impede you; and slimy criminals trying to bleed you dry in exchange for your freedom.

Maybe the one exception to this is Lilly Reed. Even then, she is initially framed as the new female boss attempting to wrangle her out-of-control team. TITP2 almost pretends that she might be the centerpiece in a story about a women’s struggle in an male-dominated career field. And yet, as soon as we meet her and her plight, its bulldozed away by Jack and his bullshit. She’s relegated to nagging nanny status, when she’s included in the story at all.

The story itself is told in well-imagined, lo-fi moving comic book frames. If you’ve seen stills from the recently released Untitled Goose Game, think that kind of abstract art, but with a darker hue. Sometimes, scenes will be fully animated cartoons that are totally fine, if not a little awkward. The scenes that end up in motion never seem like they were providing much more of a particular punctuation to the sequence. It begs the question, why are they there at all?

They look great, but these cutscenes are almost always too long. Many of these exposition dumps have the incredibly arduous writing to thank for their length. Dialogue often goes waaay too long. These character exchanges are clearly inspired by movies like Reservoir Dogs, but completely lack their tact or brevity. They are at least well acted. Even John St. John’s reprisal of Boyd feels more nuanced and refined this time around.

These overlong sequences predictably book end the nitty gritty of TITP2 – deploying officers for daily duties. This was always the most interesting part of the first game, and it remains so here. Knowing what cop is the right one for a particular call is a little easier to discern now that individual officers have statlines that cover more than just this abstract idea of ‘professionalism.’ Officers with high Negotiations should be the ones attempting to talk people out of foolishness, for example. This is a way more reliable way to make sure your officers come home at night.

Another addition to the formula are full on, XCOM style tactical battles. You can assign a squad of officers to assault a location, SWAT Style, when the situation calls for this sort of large scale attention. The same non-lethal and lethal options you have available in the normal mode – through equipment or individual skills – are available here as well. The stats play a dual purpose here – each rank your officer has in a stat will unlock an ability to be used on these maps. Cops with a high enough strength can kick doors in, for instance.

The sort of reward you get from these battles are hit and miss. They can be pretty challenging, and your officers can be killed pretty easily should a shootout happen. Patiently taking targets out quietly usually is the best way to go, but there really is no reason to prioritize non-lethal over lethal, outside of personal preference. The game doesn’t seem to care how you handle suspects, so long as you walk out in one piece.

That’s the sort of cynicism that This is The Police 2 is drenched in. In one way, the simple addition of this mode feels completely out of place and unnecessary. It’s indicative of maybe an overarching issue in this sequel: adding things that don’t do anything to make the game better, while not really addressing anything that made the first game unbearable. It expands its own mythos, but still refuses to make any salient commentary regarding any of the themes it’s playing in. Like Boyd himself, Weappy’s crime series is hopelessly irredeemable.

Apple Arcade launched with a huge pile of games and very little pre-release hype surrounding the individual titles. It’s obviously a good value if you do a lot of mobile gaming, at only the price of about one premium iOS game per month. But which titles are worth your time?

In addition to these micro-reviews, we’ve already settled on a list of Apple Arcade games we think are pretty great.

It’s hard to know when a hundred games launch at the same time. That’s what this feature is all about. I’ve chosen five random games from Arcade and played them for an hour or so each. If this feature takes off we’ll choose another five, and so on until we run out of games or run out of a willingness to keep living.

The question is, can we dig up any hidden gems before that happens?

What the Golf? (Puzzle) (3-Stars)

This goofy physics based puzzler has its best jokes in the first few minutes of gameplay, and wears its schtick thin at just about the same time it turns into a real game. You can approach it as a silly timekiller or as a serious Angry Birds-style slingshot challenge.

Give it a try for something fun that requires little attention, have a good laugh at the first few levels, and then play as long as it continues to be amusing – if it grabs you, there’s a surprising amount of depth to the gameplay later on.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ehC96ytKNI?controls=0]

Over the Alps (Narrative) (4-Stars)

This choose-your-own-adventure game comes from writer Jon Ingold of 80 Days fame. The story here doesn’t work quite as well, because it is much less flexible. Your character is an English spy in Switzerland at the lead-up to World War II. Your mission is unclear, but you quickly meet several characters with mysterious objectives. Gameplay has you choosing dialogue responses that correspond to certain spy archetypes: aloof, aggressive, debonair, noble, etc.

You also have some control over your route, and your choices determine how close the police get to catching you in each city. The story is interesting enough, with lots of double-crosses and opportunities to make meaningful choices. The mechanics are a little obscure at first, but it’s easy enough to figure out, even though it can feel somewhat arbitrary.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAhLZmHqD34?controls=0]

Stellar Commanders (RTS) (3-Stars)

This is a micro-RTS that is online multiplayer only. In a lot of ways, it’s very similar to Element RTS I reviewed last year. It also takes place on a spherical map with two factions vying for resources. Stellar Commanders has a much more dramatic ending, however, since the planet actually collapses under you about two thirds of the way through. Also, like just about every game these days, it uses a card mechanic, with new cards unlocking after more matches.

Your new units require resources, but also need to be drawn into your hand. This means your strategy has to adapt to both what your opponent is up to and what you have available at the moment. This can be frustrating when the card you need to counter their move just doesn’t come up, but it works well to keep things tense within the super-tight timelines of each match (only a few minutes).

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKsDQNW5wd8?controls=0]

Don’t Bug Me! (Tower Defence) (2-Stars)

This lane-based tower-defence game has a pretty animated aesthetic, but shallow gameplay, at least in the first hour. The game’s main innovation is letting you blast stray mobs yourself in a corridor-shooter minigame. Otherwise, you’re placing basic shooty towers, walls and landmines in preset spots.

It’s easy and glacially paced. I could see the gameplay becoming more challenging later on: Don’t Bug Me requires constant action since your towers quickly decay and you always have to jump into the fray yourself. It’s not a set-it-and-forget-it TD game. For now, though, it takes too long to unlock new towers and enemies and the early levels are quite dull.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xny2tVxlbwU?controls=0]

Speed Demons (Racing) (2/3-Stars)

Nominally a racing game, Speed Demons is actually an arcade driving title in the lineage of Spy Hunter. It’s a good casual choice that can be played one handed in portrait mode, with your thumb simply weaving your car through traffic. There are a wide variety of modes within this basic gameplay–you could be chasing someone, running away, or racing against a timer–but they all amount to either avoiding or hitting certain other cars.

You also get different vehicles that handle somewhat differently, and a number of tracks with minor variations. As a casual game, it didn’t grab me, but it might be worth checking out if an arcade racer appeals to you.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9KUOPcKgxQ?controls=0]

So far, the Arcade games I’ve played have been universally polished and pretty fun, so if the game is in a genre that appeals to you, you’ll probably like it. You aren’t likely to run into any true duds. Arcade still seems best for people who like a lot of different kinds of games and play and switch titles frequently, without minding if the games are the best of the best. We’ll keep spinning that wheel, though!

Mario Kart Tour raced onto mobile on last week and is bringing a new twist to the beloved kart racing series. With tons of different characters, courses, and karts to unlock, there is plenty of content in the game to keep players entertained for hours. Like most games these days, there is even a set of timed Mario Kart Tour challenges that players can complete to earn extra Grand Stars. 

Below is a list of all of the Mario Kart Tour Challenges that are currently in the game. Additionally, in parentheses next to each challenge is the number of stars earned for completing the objective. 

• Land 3 hits with Red Shells (1)
• Land 10 hits with Bananas (1)
• Do 100 Jump Boosts (1)
• Get 1st place 3 times in a row in races 100cc or above (2)
• Activate Frenzy mode 5 times (2)
• Collect 30 coins in a single race (2)
• Land 3 hits with Green Shells in a single race using a driver wearing a shell (2)
• Take out 3 pipes (2)
• Earn a score of 6,000 or higher using a driver with a mustache (2)

Some of these Mario Kart Tour challenges are self-explanatory, while others are a little bit confusing. If you continue reading, you’ll find some tips to help you complete some of the more difficult objectives in the Tour Challenges 1 set.

Mario Kart Tour Challenges | How to Jump Boost 

While it may sound like you have to do something special, performing a Jump Boost in Mario Kart Tour is actually pretty simple. The truth is, all you need to do is play the game and Jump Boosts will be completed naturally.

Almost every time a player goes airborne, a Jump Boost will be performed. This means any ramps, logs, sewer tops, or other obstacle that will send a player into the air will likely result in a Jump Boost. You’ll know that you have performed a Jump Boost because your player will do some type of trick in the air and when they hit the ground, you will get a short speed boost.

Mario Kart Tour Challenges | How to Activate Frenzy Mode

Players can activate Frenzy Mode by getting three of the same items from an Item Box. During Frenzy mode, you’ll be able to use the item that you obtained as many times as you want by tapping the screen repeatedly. Even better, once you have activated Frenzy Mode, you’ll be invincible during the Frenzy. 

Unfortunately, the only thing you can do to have a chance at activating Frenzy Mode in Mario Kart Tour is to choose a racer that favors a specific course. You can find out a driver’s favorite courses by going into the settings and selecting Drivers. From there, you can hold your finger down a specific driver to see which courses they favor. 

When you’re looking through a Drivers preferences, look for the section that says, “Get three items per Item Box.” Racing on any of these courses with that specific driver will give you a chance at activating Frenzy Mode. 

Mario Kart Tour Challenges | How to Take Out Pipes

Perhaps one of the most confusing Mario Kart Tour challenges will require players to know how to take out pipes. This is referring to the green pipes that appear on some courses, which often end up slowing players down.

Turns out, there is a way to destroy these green pipes, which will be required to complete the Tour Challenges 1 set. There are a couple of different items that can be used to take out pipes, like a Bowser Shell or the Mega Mushroom. If you want the Bowser Shell and don’t have Bowser unlocked, you’ll need some Rubies to try to unlock him from the prize pipe.

However, we prefer the Mega Mushroom, simply because it seem easier to get than a Bowser Shell. We also suggest racing on Mario Circuit 1, as there are tons of green pipes in the course. In our experience, it’s easier to get the Mega Mushroom when you are in 6th-8th place. If you’re serious about completing this Mario Kart Tour challenge, slow down a bit and let everyone else get in front of you, and odds are you’ll find yourself with a Mega Mushroom, which you can use to take out the green pipes.

We’ll try to keep this guide updated as the game matures. If you have any other tips or questions, let us know in the comments!