Category: Mobile Game Releases

So I’ve been trying to dabble in some more mobile games this past week – I downloaded Gears Pop! Just to see what it was like (gacha, but not terrible) and Fallout Shelter again because I remember having fun with it when it first launched. Now I’m testing out Pokemon Masters because we’ll be doing some guide work for it over the next week or two. Interest around Harry Potter: Wizards Unite seems to have died off quite quickly so i’ll be interested to see how long this new pan flashes for.

It’s not been a great week as far as premium games go – all our favourites continue to get plenty of updates, and we decided to look back on games with some excellent expansion content. Hope you enjoyed that.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away…

Out Now

Pokemon Masters (iOS & Android)

We’ve been mentioning this one for a while – now the collect’em-all 3v3 battler is out in the wild. It’s not quite as noble as Pokemon GO – you’re not being incentivised to go out-and-about or anything like that, this is more of your bog-standard ‘gatcha’ game dressed in a Pokemon skin. If you’ve not yet read up on it, this is essentially a game about collecting and levelling up ‘Sync Pairs’ – a pairing of a trainer (pulled from the Pokeverse) and a Pokemon.

The F2P aspects mainly revolve around ‘Scouting’ where you spend gems to try and pull rare combinations to help fight in the game’s story mode. Unlike a lot of gacha games this is wholly a PvE affair, with Co-Op available once you’ve cleared Chapter 10. I’ve been dabbling around with it and it’s not bad as games go – the battles still retain some of the tactical dimensions you get from the main games. Your mileage will vary depending on how much you care about Pokemon and, more specifically, specific iconic characters from the TV Shows.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiXFpUf1fBg?controls=0]

Anyone interested in giving it a go should check out our Beginner’s Guide, plus our guide looking at how to make the most of those early-game scouts.

Other Releases

Not so much this week but we missed a couple of popular indie releases that aren’t exactly in our usual wheelhouse:

• Dead Cells is a popular action/platformer released last year on PC that’s crossed over to iOS. 
• If you remember the interactive visual novel experience Her Story, you might be interested to know that the spiritual sequel, Telling Lies, has also just released onto iOS. 

Upcoming Games

A couple of announcements we didn’t get a chance to write-up yet you might be interested in knowing about:

Nintendo has finally given us a solid release date for Mario Kart Tour, the rumoured Mario Kart mobile game that was announced at the start of 2018. Like most Nintendo experimentations on mobile, it looks like it’s going to be a F2P experience, but you’ll be able to make up your own mind about it come September 25th.

Also, it’s that time of the year again when we have the latest version of Football Manager to look forward to. Football Manager 2020 Mobile and Football Manager 2020 Touch are due to release at the same time as the main PC version of the game in November. No real information as to what the improvements will be over the 2019 version, but I’m sure it won’t be long before we find out.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeZ13UiTdWA?controls=0]

Also don’t forget that Tropico’s Android version will be released next week on September 5th.

Updates

Not much to report in terms of major game updates. The big Star Traders: Frontiers content drop we talked about at the start of the week is now live on mobile, if you were waiting for that.

Plus the Auto Chess games continue to further improve themselves. Dota Underlords, for example did some tweaking last Friday which you can read up on here. We’re going to be running some more Underlords content at the start of next week, so watch out for that.

Sales

Seems Google Play and the Apple App Store hate mobile games this week, as there’s not really anything worth doing a full write-up on. The only two things worth highlighting are:

• All of the Reigns games are on sale on iOS and Android.
• Team17 have discounted their entire mobile catalogue on iOS and Android.

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

By Josh Brown 29 Aug 2019

Even the most long-form mobile game can be viewed as disposable without post-release support. Whether it patches, content drops or genuine ‘expansion’ content, a game that gets ignored by developers is a game that gets ignored by the players.

But there’s plenty of contention about what this should look like – The Trese Brothers have a long history of supporting their games for free for years after it launches, as Star Traders: Frontiers has proven. Others try to release smaller content drops through paid-for IAPs, some good, some bad. If you look at Ticket to Earth, that released with most of the game missing, and it’s only recently that it’s finally taking a more ‘complete’ shape. ‘Live’ games like Hearthstone rely on expansions and new content as the body relies on blood.

Still, it can still be easy to overlook a game, new content or no, as we move on to the next new thing and mobile’s relentless release cycle continues apace. We’ve decided to look at six games with excellent post-release content you should take note of.

Hearthstone

A feature on game expansions just has to start with the collectible card game, Hearthstone (Does it tho?-ED). The game’s phenomenal popularity may be past its peak but designers Blizzard certainly know a thing or two about keeping their loyal followers hooked.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFA9dYJHzHE?controls=0]

To begin with, Blizzard released an alternating sequence of new card sets and original adventures, with about three sets being published each year. However, since the extra cards available in the adventure expansions took a considerable effort to earn it was noted that they were not having the desired impact on the meta-game. Blizzard changed tack by deciding to limit future expansions to themed card sets. However, they also recognised that many players enjoy the single-player challenges and so they introduced new quests and missions alongside the new card sets.

The League of Explorers is probably the best adventure add-on to date, not only is it an entertaining single-player story but it also contains several ground-breaking cards, including the first ones to feature the discover mechanic. The choice of best card expansions is pretty subjective, I must confess to having not played for a while, but I have a soft spot for Journey to Un’Goro, which has plenty of strong but not too powerful cards and many possibilities for interesting card combos.

Ticket to Earth (Review)

Ticket to Earth is a clever mix of a tile-matching puzzler and turn-based tactical combat. The immaculate presentation and highly addictive battles make this one of my all-time favourites. Upon its initial release, some two and a half years ago, the big issue was the lack of content. Back then, only the first of the promised four episodes were available, which took only a few hours to complete.

The good news is that Robot Circus have kept their promise to release the remaining three episodes at no extra cost. The not so good news is that it seems to be taking them longer to complete than George R.R. Martin’s latest epic. However, although Robot Circus can hardly be accused of rushing the release of the extra content, the wait has been worth it.

The two new episodes that have so far been released are of an equally high standard, with new missions, playable characters and enemies to contend with. Throw in a load of new-fangled powers to learn and a brand-new crafting system and you will quickly realise that Robot Circus have not been resting on their laurels.

Now, we just need the final episode to find out what happens to Rose, Wolf and the rest of the gang.

Ticket to Ride (Review)

Ticket to Ride was one of the first modern board games to make its way over to mobile. In spite of the passing years, it is still a polished and competitive app.

If you have grown tired of expanding your railroad empire across North America then there is an atlas worth of new maps to try out. Enjoy the unique topological challenges of mainland Europe or Asia. Or focus on the challenges of individual countries like Great Britain, Germany or India, each with their unique rule additions, such as advanced technology and stocks and shares.

Other tabletop games that also have a range of interesting additional content include Carcassonne and Ascension, both of which have been covered in more detail in our comprehensive guides.

Warbits may look cute and cuddly but dig a little deeper and you will find a perfectly balanced and challenging turn-based tactical game that can hold its own against Nintendo’s venerable Advance Wars series of games.

A free update added a new challenge mode, with a generous helping of thirty new missions across three categories; skirmish, puzzle and veteran. with the ultra-hard veteran levels only becoming available when you earn a platinum medal in the corresponding skirmish level.

Meteorfall: Journey (Review)

There is no shortage of deck-building card games available, but when Pocket Tactics’ 2019 Game of the Year gets some additional free content it is advisable to sit up and take note.

Meteorfall has received two substantial updates. The first, Necrodude, includes a new hero who has the power to summon the dead. Also included are 25 new cards as well as opportunities to increase the strength of your deck. The Demon update includes a new difficulty level, with progressively more challenging levels and even more cards.

Galaxy Trucker (Review)

Not long to wait until the expansion for Through the Ages is released, but in the meantime why not revisit another of designer Vlaada Chvátil’s classics. Galaxy Trucker is a real bitter-sweet experience. You spend the first half of the game manically grabbing tiles and constructing your spanking new spaceship, only to watch it get blasted to pieces in a brutal journey towards your destination.

One of the many great things about Galaxy Trucker is the brilliantly designed single-player campaign. Alien Technologies adds a further 42 single-player missions, which together with 15 new types of technology tiles really extends the game’s longevity. These new tiles include boosts to weapons and shields and fancy new cabins for paying guests. One unique add-on is the space catapult. This rather sadistic addition allows you to fling cargo or indeed crew members into space to repel asteroids. If that isn’t enough, there are also new aliens to sign-up to your crew. Well worth purchasing for anyone who wants to keep on truckin’.

Honourable Mention: Star Traders Frontiers

Star Traders Frontiers enjoys a near-weekly schedule of minor-content drops. It’s harder to quantify in the same way as we’ve done above as it’s just an endless series of patches – the Trese Brothers have yet to really explore anything remotely resembling a full-on ‘expansion’. But their dedication to supporting their work post-release should not be ignored.

Do you have any recommendations for games that have excellent expansion content? Let us know in the comments below!

By Joe Robinson 27 Aug 2019

By Josh Brown 26 Aug 2019

It may have been GamesCom this week, but mobile gaming could care less about several hundred thousand gamers descending on Cologne to talk about games that aren’t on mobile. While I’ve been away plenty has been happening (although not as much in the premium space, which is a shame), so there’s plenty to catch up on.

Meanwhile, in the world of mobile gaming…

Out Now

There’s not much we’d call ‘stand-out’ on the release schedule this week. People say nice things about Gris, although since it’s an Adventure game it’s not something we’d look at in the first instance so I can’t exactly ‘recommend’ it at this stage – it’s a premium game on mobile though, which is something.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdrvV25zoA8?controls=0]

If you read our review of Void Tyrant but are an Android user, you may be pleased to hear that the game has released a ‘beta’ on Google Play that you can install for free. It’s a bit late to the card game/rogue-like party, but still worth a try if you enjoy those kinds of games.

Also, Gears Pop! Has released on iOS and Android now. This is a free-to-play strategy game in the same vein as Clash Royale, just set in the Gears of War universe. If everyone in the Gears of War universe looked like a Funko Pop. You’ve got to collect the figures, and assemble a Squad, although the mechanics seem kind of intriguing – you play a character to one of two lanes, and they’ll advance until they hit cover. They’ll stay there until they capture the territory and then move on. Different characters then build on this by having different behaviors, abilities etc… and you can also call in things like the Hammer of Dawn to assist you as well.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DWmvdixgKk?controls=0]

Might be worth checking out it, might not be. We’ll get back to you.

For sports fans, Club Soccer Director 2020 is also a new game that was released recently on iOS and Android. Again, being free-to-play it’s not something we’d immediately look at but considering you don’t get many sports games released on mobile I thought it was worth flagging up anyway.

Upcoming Games

There’s actually a fair few upcoming game announcements you might be interested in hearing about, so we’re going to summarize some of them for you here quickly:

Pokemon Masters is due to release next week on iOS and Android come August 29th. Just to refresh your memory, this is a 3v3 battler game that tries to capture more of what the original gameboy games had going for them, instead of being another AR experience like Pokemon GO. You need to collect Trainers and Pokemon and form Sync pairs, then use them to battle other players or the AI in the story mode.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIwGe83JUo8?controls=0]

In other news, Tropico is finally coming to Android in a couple of weeks on September 5th.

And finally, Mi Clos is creating a sequel to the excellent Out There, which was released in 2014. Out There: Oceans of Time won’t be coming until Winter 2020, but it’s certainly coming and we’ve got a teaser trailer to get us hyped.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c43gIRWl6qw?controls=0]

Updates

Raiders of the North Sea (Review)

The 1.2 update is already out for the excellent digital port of Raiders of the North Sea. As well as some AI tweaks, Card readability improvements on phones and faster animations, this patch also adds a much needed Pass and Play mode! Huzzah! You can read the full patch notes here.

Santorini The Board Game (Review)

This other excellent board game port has had two smaller updates this week, mainly look at fixing specific bugs related to specific Gods that you can choose in the game.

Sales

I like it when there’s a good sales week, means there’s an increased likelihood of excellent mobile games getting into the hands of players who need to play them. Here’s what I’ve got for you:

• Beholder 2 – we only reviewed it last week, but Beholder 2 is now available for $5.99. It was $4.99 just after launch, but not sure if it’ll drop back to that price anytime soon.
• Transistor – One of our favourite RPGs, this Action-RPG is available for only a couple of dollars (although it was even cheaper back in February).
• Rebel Inc. – this is more like it. While Rebel Inc was never that expensive to begin with, it’s now half price for anyone who’s yet to partake. This game is available on Android, but the monetisation structure is a little bit different there. Looks like the IAPs are all discounted too, though.
• Cultist Simulator – even though this only released in April, it’s already on sale again for the second time and the cheapest price yet. Sadly, this discount hasn’t been extended to Android.
• Necrodancer: Amplified – the Amplified re-release of Crypt of the Necrodancer is down to $1.99 for the second time since it launched in June.
• Immortal Rogue – Kyle Barrett’s intriguing rogue-like experiment is on sale for, as far as we can tell, the first time ever. It’s down to below half-price, so now might be a good time to jump in. Again, the discount doesn’t extend to android, sadly.
• Kingdom New Lands – this fascinating side-scrolling 2D strategy game is down to half price on both iOS and Android, but it’s not the cheapest price it’s ever been, so beware.

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

Let me start by stating unequivocally that I am a fan of puzzle games and inspired spin-offs. Every great game usually has a cluster of kissing cousins, throw a stone and find one. Bearing this in mind, most mobile gamers remember the recent Hitman– Lara Croft– ‘Go’ series of games, as much for their taut level design as visual polish. Well, Spy Tactics is supposed to be a dead ringer for Hitman Go, and it soullessly succeeds. It’s an incredible value, and has clearly been a labor of love, but it is irredeemably marred by confounding controls and an ultimately derivative design.

Just like in the Go series, each level is presented like a diorama representing a small objective. The spy moves along a series of nodes, silently disarming patrols whilst picking up that eternal McGuffin briefcase. Counting steps and cycles becomes paramount, as does establishing a causal sequence. Take out Guard A to open the door, extending B’s patrol such that my agent can grab the briefcase. So on and so forth, ad nauseum, unfortunately. As far as spatial puzzles go, the format is decent but also rather exhaustible, for each level can usually be solved by splitting it into chunks and simply experimenting with every possible move. To get around this, new levels frequently introduce new mechanics, like snipers or single-use weapons, which Spy Tactics uses to wrinkle what is otherwise a very uniform play experience. This by itself isn’t a fatal setback; Sudoku puzzle books are similarly predictable in progression but still compelling.

Nevertheless the level design feels boilerplate. Yes, it is at times vexing and challenging, but Spy Tactics as a whole lacks that spark, the galvanizing ‘aha’ moments which punctuate what at times can be a tedious and difficult experience. A good puzzle games taunts and leads its player to wider understanding. Spy Tactics does teach rules of thumb and tricks of the trade, but it does so haphazardly and mostly through rote repetition. Good design means intentional traps and breadcrumbs, basically creating what is very much like a mental dialogue with the player. Puzzles functioning like riddles, asking for specific insights to proceed and refusing entry to the unwitting. Well, some puzzles just ask you try again and again, and will give inches of progress as a reward for mute persistence. Spy Tactics is more the latter, asking for minor experiments and variations on the theme. Nothing to totally stump the player, nothing to totally delight them either.

String the levels together and you have something like a campaign, with an animated introduction to drive the narrative, like the first series of levels, which are ostensibly about ousting a corrupt police chief. The writing here is wonderfully punchy, brimming with do-or-die intensity. It is accompanied by the requisite espionage jazz. The flavor is welcome but nonetheless a little cheesy, especially as divorced as it is from the actual puzzle experience. As set dressing, though, it’s distinctive and shows an imaginative, if deadpan, take on domestic spycraft. Points for flair.

Because so much of puzzle-solving involves minute variations and experimentation, the lack of an undo function is nonsensical. It adds an arbitrary hurdle to the proceedings, especially when a puzzle is some forty-odd moves long to complete successfully but one miscalculates or misclicks at the finish. Some frustration actually builds concentration and engagement, but an excess really kills the buzz. In effect, the lack of an undo function means players must have a razor-sharp memory and foresight since any plan is set in stone from the get-go. It’s an odd limitation.

The controls are accurate but over-sensitive so that it is trivially easy to send your agent in the totally wrong direction. While the board and view can be rotated freely, the movement is tied to swipes along an invisible compass rose, and so even if you rotate the field 180 degrees, the movement stays the same, which is just begging for trouble. Also, the animations on enemies are a bit of a drag on the flow of play. None of these alone is a serious drawback, but taken together they make for a puzzle game that is harder to play than it is to solve, and this imbalance leaves an unpleasant impression. Ideally the controls and interface should be as transparent and smooth as possible, but this sadly isn’t the case here. More’s the pity, for the free rotate does actually show off the clean visual design in a rather nifty way. It’s actually pretty crucial to see past some terrain using rotation, so the fact that it jars with the static movement inputs is just maddening.

Then again, I’m a bit of a glutton for punishment, both from a mobile standpoint (Darkest Dungeon, Cultist Simulator) and a puzzle one (Baba Is You, English Country Tune). So a little pushback is good game philosophy, gets the creative juices flowing in the player. But here Spy Tactics runs into another mismatch: its puzzles are clear-cut and straightforward, if admittedly decent, but the physical act of solving them is the convoluted, protracted, time-consuming, unforgiving part. So the overall effect is a drag. Then there’s the clone issue to mull over. While the thematic dressing is original and piquant, the actual mechanics of Spy Tactics are lifted pretty much copy-paste from Hitman Go, which tiresome at best if not downright problematic.

Spy Tactics does indeed boast 40 levels and its gameplay is just like that other game you might also like, but in an age with a glut of affordable entertainment I would urge a little more discernment. It’s technically well-made and has some points in its favor, but overall does not merit a try unless there’s been a Franchise-Go-sized hole in your life.

I feel a little bit guilty – I went all the way to Cologne and all I came back with this lousy Commandos 2 story. Truth be told there wasn’t as much visibility on what mobile games were going to be at the show as I thought there’d be. Certainly, I didn’t see much that I thought would fit into our core remit pass through, but it’s possible I may have missed something.

Commandos 2 HD coming to iPad though was something I was very keen to to bring back, and the news is both good and bad, as you can guess. Bad news – it’s not looking like we’re going to see the mobile versions until 2020.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb90nBvuwl4?controls=0]

This is based with conversations I had with the developers at the show – their aim is to have the PC, Console and Switch versions ready before the end of the year, but they haven’t even begun testing or prototyping on mobile devices yet. We imagine that won’t happen until the main versions are all-but-done.

The good news is that it’s still shaping up quite nicely – none of the gameplay has been changed, barring any concessions that arise as a result of the upscaling/re-designing of the assets. The commando models, for example, have been completely redone in 3D. The static level art has had to be upscaled, and new explosion/particle effects are still to come. But it’s still the same Commandos – the developer shared an anecdote about how, when he first played Commandos 2 as a teenager it took him an entire day to complete the second tutorial mission.

Granted, a big part of that is that the game doesn’t have much of a tutorial (something that’s definitely getting changed for the HD version), but the key point they were keen to get across is that the genre-defining tactical puzzle mechanics and difficulty won’t be fiddled with.

How this will translate to mobile is the question that we’ll have to wait and see. I can’t imagine running the game will be much of an issue – it’ll come down to how they design the UI and touch controls. I have a feeling a virtual joystick might come in handy, and they’ll need to make sure they design an easy-to-use way to navigate the myriad of contextual actions present.

We’ll keep you posted!

Like puzzle games, word apps are synonymous with ‘gaming on the go.’ They are often designed with a life on the move in mind. Any given round of word finding, or letter stacking can last just long enough to span the wait for a morning coffee. This sort of quick convenience has led to a devaluation of word games. We don’t respect them like we should. We are wrong.

Want to check out some non-word puzzle games? We’ve got you covered!

There are some incredible word games available in the palms of our hands, but with the massive crush of content that hits the App Store and Google Play store every day, it’s very difficult to find them. Fret no longer, we’ve curated a list of the must play word games available to mobile platforms, so you don’t have to.

Reader Recommendations

We don’t get a chance to play every game, especially ones released prior to a list’s first creation, but that’s where our readers come in. Here’s a quick summary of some reader recommendations, in case you’re looking to anything beyond what we’ve got below:

• W.E.L.D.E.R.
• WindWord (pictured)
• V Words

TypeShift

Developer: Zach Gage
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: Free with IAP

One of Zach Gage’s unique creations, TypeShift focuses on redesigning the good old crossword puzzle. Columns of letters can be slid back and forth to create a series of words among them on a central row. Every time a letter is used in a word, they turn green. You pass the stage when all of the available letters are turned green. Sounds easy enough, but of course it’s not. Other modes, like Clue Mode, bring it further in line with the traditional crossword.  Either way, a few rounds of it, and you’ll be scratching your head in the best possible way.

Alphabears 2 (Review)

Developer: Spry Fox
Platforms: iOS Universal, Android
Price: Free

Following on from something as a sequel isn’t always an easy experience – it can be quite easy to lose sight of what made the original great in the first place. Alphabears 2 has no such issues however, and is comfortably a better game than its predecessor in almost every way. It has an in-game dictionary, more interaction and play modes and it’s only real draw-back is its monetisation.

It’s definitely fairer than the original game, but even buying the full version doesn’t remove the timers or other freemium-like mechanics. Still, this is an incredibly smart word app that any puzzle aficionado should at least try, if not out-right purchase.

Developer: Fowers Games
Platforms:  iOS Universal, Android
Price: $4.99

This deck-building word game would feel just at home on our list of best card games as it would here, but since Hardback’s central twist is that cards are only playable in a Scrabble-esque system of dictionary-friendly sets, we feel it’s apt to list is here. The sequel to 2016’s Paperback, the key thing to remember about this game is that you can’t play it as ‘just’ a word game.

The beauty of Hardback is that you’re not just out to score long, multi-lettered words, you’re out to play cards that combo well together to acheive high scores. This can be as simple as collecting a great set of cards that just say ‘OFF’, or indeed bagging a great collection for a longer word. The limitations to playing cards as words adds a challenging yet interesting twist to a classic game-type. Main changes over the first iteration include tweaks to Wild Cards, Special Abilities and additional card draw.

Supertype

Developer: Philipp Stollenmayer
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: $1.99

We get accustomed to the sort of word games that have us finding and planted letters to make words. If we’re feeling particularly creative, we find word games that are just complex versions of word finds or crosswords set in some other sort of puzzle motif. In Supertype, words are tools. After typing a word, the letters fall through the obstacle course below, the goal being to find the right letters to roll or slide through the right nooks and crannies in order to burst the target dots below. On harder puzzles, making sure your word has skinny enough letters in the right places is key to shimmying into victory.

Wordgraphy

Developer: Alper Iskender
Platforms: iOS
Price: Free with IAPs

Wordgraphy takes the old trope of unscrambling arrays of letters to make new words and crosses it with some Sudoku elements. Words line the outside of the table, and letters can only be switched with letters in the same position as other letter groups on each side. For example, the second letter in a five letter array at the top of the square board can only be swapped with the second letter of another of the other for arrays lining the other side. The result is a clever word construction gimmick that keeps you guessing and tests the depth of your own vocabulary very quickly.

BAIKOH

Developer: Mum Not Proud
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: Free with IAPs

Take the pressure of a gradually filling space that has to be emptied by you, the intrepid player, a la Tetris. Combine the added bonus stress of each falling piece being a letter that needs to be used to create words as fast as you can. Then sprinkle on top a narrator that has an aggressive ire towards you, and you have all the ingredients for BAIKOH. Falling letters can come with added attributes as well, like frozen ones that will gradually freeze other letters, making them harder to remove. Unlockable badges can help even out the playing field, but this is a hard game meant to push your reflexes and critical thinking skills to the limit and break them on rapid occasion.

Sidewords

Developer: Milkbag Games
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: $2.99

Taking words and making other words out of them is nothing new in the genre, but Sidewords commands a new, brain-bending approach to the concept. On the top and to the left of a grid are two words. The size of those words determines the size of the grid, which each letter creating a row or column. Using the letters of the two words, you must make new words of course. But the twist is that the words you make take up the spots on the grid where those letters intersect. You have to fill the whole grid with words to move on, so using a lot of letters to make a word can take up a lot of real estate in the grid, making it hard to create words with the scraps. Strategy and spatial awareness are key.

Spelltower

Developer: Zach Gage
Platforms:  iOS
Price: $2.99

Before Zach Gage was upending billiards, he was setting the word game world one fire with entries like Spelltower. Take your average Sunday paper word finding puzzle and add that block-crushing Tetris mechanic that we all know and lover. New letters file in from the bottom, and you must find words with adjacent letters to removed them from the ever growing pile. Different game modes alter the many mechanics at play, including a clever multiplayer mode that burdens your opponent with your current tower of words when you score.

Puzzlejuice

Developer: Sirvo LLC
Platforms: iOS
Price: $1.99

A brainchild from Asher Vollmer, of Threes! fame, Puzzlejuice takes the best parts of Boggle and Tetris and slaps them together to make something that is much more challenging than the sum of its parts. Colorful shapes drop into the field like Tetris, and as you form lines or match colors, they turn into letters. To remove the blocks, you must turn those letters into words. There’s a lot going on at once, and as difficulties unlock, and different play modes open up, this becomes one of the most brain-turning games on the App store.

Hall of Fame

This list is a little smaller than others, so we’re not in a place where we need to think about rotation just yet. Still, there are some previous great releases that deserve remembering, even if they’re not going to make it onto the list itself.

What would your list of the best word-puzzle games look like? Let us know in the comments!

I’m still unnecessarily upset over the fact that Gundam Battle: Gunpla Warfare still isn’t available in the UK. I mean, gacha nonsense should all get in the sea, but if I’m actually willing to try one out for the greater good of mankind, the least it could do it be available in my region. Oh well, guess I’ll have to settle for Pokemon Masters instead whenever that comes out.

It’s been another list-heavy week this week, so apologies for that, although we did review Beholder 2 and learn that Company of Heroes is coming to iPad. Also, make sure you catch up on what games are still due to release this year. Next week is GamesCom so I’ll be out in Cologne – it may be I’ll need to do some more placeholder content mid-week but I’ll be able to work as normal by and large so if a review or feature does come in, I’ll still put it up.

Out Now

Orc’s Civil War (iPad) – Full Review In Progress

This game came out of nowhere – I have to tip my hat off to Touch Arcade’s round-up for this one as I’d honestly never heard of it until it was released. The game claims to be “the best” iPad RTS game, and it’s a claim I’m eager to put to the test.

It seems very much like a passion project made by a single person, and that person may not speak English as their first language. Still, the graphics aren’t too bad all things considered, and it seems to mix elements of RTS and Tower Defence, with some advanced unit behaviour mechanics thrown in there too. We’ll get a review out as soon as we can, since the price point is unusually high. There’s an official website you can check out too.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47Xn47gRs5U?controls=0]

Spy Tactics (iOS & Android) – Full Review in Progress

This is the other game of note this week – while it’s listed as ‘free’ there’s actually an IAP to unlock the full game. Spy Tactics caught my eye as it reminds me of the GO titles that Square made, which were pretty excellent puzzle/tactics games. This one has a spy/cold war aesthetic which some may enjoy, and boasts over 40 levels with multiple routes to completion.

The trailer is from the PC version on Steam, although admittedly it doesn’t serve as the best advertisement. We’ll see what Michael thinks when he’s done with his review.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtIgO7c1JmM?controls=0]

That’s about it as far as interesting new games is concerned. I took the liberty of trying out Warhammer Combat Cards after it released this week. It’s… well, not really sure how to describe it. Utterly harmless, but also very skippable. It’s essentially a collect-em-all battle game using cards. Except they’re not really cards they’re just pictures of really nicely painted Warhammer 40K miniatures with some stats. You can have up to three on the board at once, and you fight it out. Winning battles gets you more cards, and if you get a dupe you can use it to upgrade a card… and the cycle continues. That’s it. That’s all you do.

There may be some tactical depth in terms of building your mini-deck and how different cards synergies together, but to be honest it feels like a subtle plug for the table-top game. Another RPG card battler released this week is Traitor’s Empire Card RPG. The graphics aren’t amazing, but it’s got a lot more to it and so might be more worthy of your time.

Updates & Other Junk

There’s been a few updates worth looking at this week:

Six Ages: Ride like the Wind received its first update since last November. It introduces a new interactive scene, some gameplay tweaks and fixes, and then improves compatibility for specific devices like the iPhone 4, and the large iPads.

Now that there are several major Auto Chess contenders on mobile, we’re finally starting to see some more creative updates and new modes. Chess Rush is the latest game to try something new with a new 4v4 mode called Squad Clash. It’s similar to the already introduced Co-op mode, just with more people. You can send your pieces to other people’s boards to help them out in their fights. Once Squad Clash has had some time to settle in, it will be put into a rotation with co-op mode where they will alternate.

Pokemon Masters’ impending release can be seen on the horizon, and there’s apparently going to be a lot of us that will be jumping on board when the collect-and-battle game gets its global roll-out. Recent news suggests 5 Million of us have pre-registered for the game across iOS and Android. That’s a lot of trainers.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIwGe83JUo8?controls=0]

While we’re sharing trainers, how about looking at some Commandos 2 HD footage? If you’ll remember, we posted up just after E3 about how Kalypso Media are doing remasters of both Commandos 2 and Praetorians, both of which are classic strategy games. While this is mainly a thing for PC audiences, Commandos 2 HD is also coming to iOS and Android. Kalypso recently shared some new gameplay footage (albeit, PC) which I thought you’d all be interested in.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noBRYZGa7_o?controls=0]

Sales

There’s quite a few more sales this week than usual, so let’s run through them. Unless stated otherwise, assume both platforms:

• Lost Portal CCG (iOS Only) is down to $0.99 for the first time this year.
• Pocket City has also had its priced reduced for the first time this year on both platforms, but it has been cheaper.
• Mystic Vale was only released in June, but it’s already been discounted by a couple of dollars on both platforms, probably to coincide with the release of some new DLC.
• Clarusvictoria are doing a sale on their entire catalogue on both iOS and Android. You’ll remember them recently from Egypt: Old Kingdom.
• Cosmic Express has had its price reduced for the first time this year, but it’s been cheaper.
• If there are any Baseball fans out there, R.B.I. Baseball ‘19 is down to $3.99 on iOS and Android.
• Last but certainly not least, Titan Quest HD is also reduced to just below half price.

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