Category: Mobile Game Releases

By Joe Robinson 26 Mar 2019

Despite GDC 2019 going on the background, it’s been a pretty vibrant time in mobile gaming this week. As someone who stands at the convergence of several different gaming spheres (mobile, war games, PC Strategy etc…), I’m always more open to visionary ideas that further merge several aspects of my life – that’s why Google’s Stadia announcement was so interesting.

I won’t re-hash what I’ve already said – while we wait to see how it ultimately turns out we’ll continue to review excellent games like Tides of Time, or Assembly. Maybe not Pirate Outlaws… Roguelikes seem to be the new ‘hot’ genre at the moment, and this week is no exception.

Meanwhile, In mobile gaming…

Out Now

NecroDancer: AMPLIFIED (iOS Universal)

The original Crypt of the Necrodancer currently stands as one of our favourite roguelike games, so the fact that there’s now a prequel game is very good news indeed. Amplified features brand-new content, as well as all of the original content from the mobile version of Crypt of the Necrodancer, so be mindful if you already own that, there could be some repetition.

The new content features Nocturna, a shape-shifter, with a brand new story and a new zone complete with new levels, boss battles, enemies and rewards. Groove your way through the dungeon, slashing fools to the sick beat.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilP_dT9IoMI?controls=0]

Crossroads Roguelike RPG (iOS & Android)

Speaking of Roguelikes, there’s another one that looks interesting as well. In Crossroads you create a character by choosing its race and class, and then you must go on a quest as an agent of the Adventurer’s Guild. You journey to your mission by revealing cards laid on a grid. Some cards will reveal loot, or spells, or powerful buffs, while others will present challenges. It’s all procedurally generated, and there are 5 different adventures to embark on.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by1hpyiMCrc?controls=0]

A Sea of RPGs

Usually when I come to do this column, especially if I’m not able to get code for things in advance, I simply keep an eye on what’s ‘premium’ as a potential source of new games. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be working as well as of late, as we’re starting to see more games release with a premium price point AS WELL as IAPs. As far this week goes, there’s been a few RPG releases like that, namely off-brand Pokémon-like Evertale (iOS | Android), and JRPG Legend of the Tetrarchs (iOS | Android).

Evertale’s seems more of a token fee, but both game’s IAPs seem to revolve around in-game currency. As we saw recently with Pirates Outlaws, grind can be bad, and it’s made all the more bitter if you have to pay for the privilege.

But then you’ve also got ThirdMiracle (iOS | Android) & Kings Hero 2 (iOS | Android) which have also released this week and don’t appear to be any more than what they are. The former is another JRPG, while the latter is a hex-based tactical RPG in the old-school fantasy façade.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS07x7TfhRk?controls=0]

We’ll try and get to all of these as/when we can, but as always – buyer beware.

Updates

Stardew Valley (iOS & Android) (Review)

This update is just on the recently released android version at the time of writing, but the dev have released a patch that’s fixed a few things.

Star Traders: Frontiers (iOS & Android) (Review)

The gift that keeps on giving, there’s been several updates to the game since we last checked. The main thing you need to know that the upcoming release of deployable fighters and Carrier-class ships has been pushed back till the 2.5 update, and the release of a new Era/Story season has been brought forward. Other than that, the Trese Brothers continue to tweak and adjust their magnum opus.

Sentinels of the Multiverse (iOS & Android) (Review)

A firm favourite amongst PT readers, Sentinels has just received its final expansion along with the 3.0 updates. Season 2 pass holders get it for free, otherwise its available to purchase via IAP. It comes with five new heroes, five new environments, and the final boss battle scenario.

DomiNations (iOS & Android)

One of our favourite RTS games, DomiNations is celebrating its 4^th Anniversary with a brand new content update focusing on space travel. Sally Ride, the first American woman to go into space, has been added as new leader, as well as the Space Shuttle and SETI Wonders. In addition, new events have been added that focus on key milestones surrounding mankind’s journey into space, from Yuri Gagarin, to Apollo 13.

Sales

Sentinels of the Multiverse (iOS & Android) (Review): $1.99

To celebrate the launch of the final expansion, the base game has been discounted to just a couple of dollars. 

Steamworld Heist (iOS Universal) (Review): $4.99

We rather enjoyed this stylish turn-based strategy game, and now you can too as the game is once again down to half price.

Football Manager 2019 Mobile (iOS & Android): $5.99

FM Mobile is the streamlined version of Football Manager (you could almost call it ‘Lite’) as opposed to the near-direct port that is FM Touch. It’s currently enjoying a small discount, if you’re interested.

Alien: Blackout (iOS & Android) (Review): $2.99

We didn’t like Alien Blackout, but it’s now on sale for the first time since launch, down a couple of bucks. It’s also recently been updated with a new mode called ‘Survive’, which is basically Ironman.

And just before we go, Android users can pick up the original Warhammer Quest for $1, if you’re interested.

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

It’s not often we get to do developer interviews these days, but thanks to the efforts of an interested reader, we’re pleased to be able to share with you a Q&A with Kyle Barrett, solo developer on generation-hopping rogue-like Immortal Rogue (which we recently reviewed). This interview was conducted by Sam Jeffreys, a designer for Feral Interactive who happens to be a fan of PT and now Kyle’s work. Sam is not an official staff writer, but he generously donated his time and his words to bring us this article. (ED)

—————- 

Pocket Tactics: How did you get started in game development?

Kyle Barrett: Well, I think the very first time I made a game I was about 10 and used the Age of Empires 2 scenario editor to make a little RPG for all of my friends to play. From there I started dabbling in GameMaker, the StarCraft editor, Morrowind mods, etc.

For some reason (probably because there was no real game industry where I grew up), I never thought making games could be a career. It wasn’t until I was over halfway through earning a degree in architecture that I had the idea to start sending out game design specs to my favorite companies. Eventually I got my foot in the door at a start-up in the bay area and the rest was history.

Pocket Tactics: Vampires, branching timelines, an elegant one finger control system… What came first, and how did everything fit into place?

Kyle Barrett: It was a combination of a couple separate ideas. One of those original design specs I created to try and get an industry job had this cool (or at least I thought it was cool) matrix that showed how worlds could evolve based on authoritarian factors and technological progress. I always wanted to put that in a game, ideally without a multi-million dollar production budget. I don’t remember where the vampire metaphor came from exactly, but it seemed like a great way to utilize a system with such a long narrative timespan.

The control system comes more from a personal challenge. Since I primarily work in mobile, I like trying to come up with control schemes that can provide dynamic gameplay with minimal touchscreen inputs. While there are pretty decent dual stick control schemes out there, they just don’t feel natural for a platform that doesn’t actually have buttons or joysticks.

Pocket Tactics: How long was the development time?

Kyle Barrett: Three months! I’m kind of proud of that. I knew I had three months where my work obligations weren’t going to be as intense, so I picked a concept I thought I could execute in that time period.

The first month was rapid prototyping and figuring out how the game would work. The second month I spent figuring out the art style and creating assets. The last month was spent importing the assets and polishing. It did take me a fourth month to fully launch the game, but that was because I neglected doing any marketing while I was focused on development.

Pocket Tactics: And what was your dev tool of choice?

Kyle Barrett: I used GameMaker Studio 2. While I mostly use Unity for industry work, GameMaker has always been my go to for rapid iteration and prototyping. It’s come a looong way since the ‘90s, and made a solo project much more feasible.

Pocket Tactics: Immortal Rogue is your second mobile title. What lessons did you learn from Ever Knight?

Kyle Barrett: Pretty much all the stuff that let me make Immortal quickly. How to work with the engine I was using, what animation tools and processes to use, the quirks of publishing on different mobile devices, etc. It probably took me longer to make Ever Knight than Immortal, even though EK is a much simpler game. The best advice I could ever give someone who wants to learn a game development tool is to just try making and publishing a simple project. I learned a ton.

Pocket Tactics: You have a full-time job in the games industry. How do you balance that with being a solo indie dev?

Kyle Barrett: I don’t have kids so that probably helps. But really, I think it’s about creating a habit and setting aside regular time blocks where you can work. For me, a few hours a night and larger chunks on the weekend seemed to work. I had to give up another hobby, but it was totally worth it.

It also helps if your bosses are cool and supportive (which mine totally were). Pro tip: mark down any game you want to make as a ‘previous invention’ when signing a job offer, so you can develop and own that project without making things messy for you or your company.

Pocket Tactics: What are your core design philosophies? What should every one of your projects have?

Kyle Barrett: That’s a tough one. For a personal project, I get excited if it has three things:

• An enticing player fantasy or story that could stand on its own (like the story of a vampire living through all of history).
• An addictive/novel core gameplay loop that works even in greybox. If I’m not playing the greybox in my free time then it’s probably not fun enough yet.
• Systems that tie the first two elements together in a way that they enrich one another. So it’s sort of like a sandwich: Metaphor on top, core gameplay on the bottom, and systems in the middle.
• Oh, and an art style that’s fun to draw…. So four things.

Pocket Tactics: I love seeing early concepts and prototypes. Is there anything you could share?

Kyle Barrett: The first few weeks went through a ton of changes as I figured out how the gesture controls and visuals would work together. I actually started with Ever Knight sprites. (Oldest to newest from left to right)

Pocket Tactics: Any tips for indie devs on staying the course and keeping focused?

Kyle Barrett: I’m still pretty new to the indie side of things. I think just setting a small, achievable goal and following through is the first step. Also, prioritize! You don’t have to do everything; Find a simple mechanic or idea and build your game around that. Bells and whistles are fine but they don’t make a game fun if the meat isn’t there first.

Pocket Tactics: Why knights?

Kyle Barrett: Because they’re awesome! I was originally thinking the hooded character would be Immortal’s mascot, but I ended up liking how the knight armor looked too much. Also, a shout out to my friend Matt Elser (http://www.elserart.com/) for making the awesome splash art character.

Thanks again to Sam for writing this up for us, and thanks to Kyle for agreeing to be interviewed. 

The digital arm of Portal Games has been very quiet over recent years. In fact, it was way back in 2010 when they released their first and still rather brilliant port of strategy board game Neuroshima Hex. Now Portal Games are back with Tides of Time, a micro-card drafting game that follows in the footsteps of Love Letter. However, this time around instead of a multiplayer game of courtly intrigue and bluffing, we have a two-player empire-building face-off, which plays like a simplified version of 7 Wonders.

With a deck of only eighteen cards to work with, players compete through three ages to develop the most prosperous civilisation. At the start of each era, both players are dealt a hand of five cards. These cards represent the various buildings and monuments that can be constructed. Each card will belong to one of five suits, and most of them will also have a point-scoring objective. Players select a single card and drag it into their play area; there are no resource costs to worry about since all buildings are constructed for free. The players will then exchange hands and from then on, it’s rinse and repeat until neither player has any cards left to play.

The monuments that the players managed to construct are then evaluated. Scoring will usually depend on having the most of a particular suit or require you to collect different sets. The Sky Pillars monument, for instance, belongs to the temple suit but scores points for each pair of cards that belong to the garden and library suits. Whereas the Golden Ziggurat is part of the garden suit but scores points if the player who built it has the majority of monuments that belong to the palace suit. Some buildings have special abilities like The Roof of the World, which doubles the value of the player’s most numerous suit. At the end of the first two eras, players must elect one of their buildings as a relic from the past, which means that it will remain in play until the end of the game. They then choose a second building to remove from the game. Finally, each player will draw two new cards and then the next age will commence. The player with the most points at the end of the third era wins.

The first thing that strikes you about Tides of Time is the wonderful graphics. The large cards are adorned with some beautiful and evocative artwork. This is complemented by some eye-pleasing graphics used to depict the buildings when they are placed into the play area. Another nice touch is the way that at the end of each era the monuments crumble into dust. Trails of lights attempt to help you see at a glance which buildings trigger scoring opportunities. However, I didn’t find this feature especially helpful. A better option is to check the icons along the right hand side of the screen, which record all of the cards that you have played along with their respective suits and scoring potentials.

Tides of Time is a simple game and the interface only has to manage the manipulation of a hand of cards. It does this reasonably successfully, although if you do not drag a card directly upwards to the play area, there is the chance that you will actually place a neighbouring card by mistake. All is not lost though since a simple tap of the undo button will take back your last move. I think there is a problem with the screen formatting, as sometimes you cannot see the full image of the cards when they are close to the edge of the screen without carefully dragging them to a more central position. The game also forces you to play out the last round of each era, although you have no choice other than to play your remaining card, this could have been handled automatically. Options are limited; you can play a quick match against one of three AI opponents or take on a human challenger in hot seat mode. I managed to beat the first two AI opponents on my initial attempt, thankfully, the third one put up more of a challenge. At the moment, there are no online options.

It is really only the special power cards that make Tides of Time anything more than a really simple set collection game. You have the high scoring but risky Maze of the Damned, which requires ownership of a card of each of the five different suits – no easy task, even in the third era when you already have two cards already in play. In contrast, The Eye of The North scores points for each suit that you do not have. The Kings Nest doesn’t score any points directly but does allow the owner to win all ties for suits. Whilst The Molehill scores points for each of your suit majorities as long as they consist of just one single card. Unfortunately, even with these welcome nuances, the game still suffers from a lack of variety.

All eighteen cards are going to show up every time you play, indeed you will end up seeing many of the same ones turning up time and again in the space of a single game. By the second turn of each era you will be aware of all of the cards in play and the game begins to feel more like a test of memory than skill. The drafting can also often feel more like a negative way of putting an end to your opponent’s plans rather than actively improving your own position. This can be especially true when one player is trying to preserve an advantage. It can feel like the second leg of a football match in which the team with the advantage is happy to grind out a dour draw.

As a quick playing micro-game this digital version works much better than Love Letter, whose lifeblood is so dependant upon the social interaction between players. I really like how the game handles the advancement through the different eras. Many buildings fall only to rise again, others persevere as relics and some crumble never to be seen again. Deciding which cards to transform into relics and which ones to destroy creates the most interesting decision points. However, the Tides of Time’s lack of variety means that you soon feel like you have seen all that the game has to offer. There is nothing inherently wrong with Tides of Time, it just feels artificially constrained by its microgame pretentions. This lack of substance, alongside the limited options, results in a game more likely to crumble to dust rather than become a lasting landmark.

By Joe Robinson 20 Mar 2019

It’s hard to openly encourage people to take an idea and re-purpose it. There’s a dangerous grey area where developers don’t do quite enough reinterpretation. You end up with something that’s akin to cloning. There are famous cases of this, especially on mobile marketplaces. Pirates Outlaws clearly has Slay the Spire in mind, and even though it doesn’t copy much more than the basic premise, it could have definitely learned more from that superior game.

As a pirate captain, your goal is to sail the dangerous seas, stopping at islands, coves, and settlements on the way to fight rivals or spend your loot. Each of these locations is a hub for either a fight against creatures of buccaneers, an event to dig for treasure or explore mysterious forest, or a shop to buy relics and heal up. Every stage has a final island, with a boss just waiting to steal everything you just earned.

There are lots of ways to potentially die on your way to that island. It’s a real grind to get there, and it may take a few runs before you even get to the first boss for the first time. But after battling your way up, killing enemies and gaining more abilities and items to get stronger, that first time you do it can feel super rewarding.

But it will be the last time you feel such accomplishment.

Partially because of the combat. It features the deck building methods of Slay the Spire, but it lacks the same sort of depth. The hand size is capped at five cards, and as that isn’t a problem in and of itself, I always felt like I was a draw away from the play I actually wanted. You have to toss your entire hand every turn, so there is no holding on to a card to wait for a potential combo in future turns. Anything you do has to be drawn into. You have a starting deck of around 10 cards, so you draw through it quickly. But since you can’t edit the deck at will, you really have to just deal with your probabilities until you hit a couple of islands and win some more cards. It’s hard to develop any real strategy until mid-way through a stage.

Card interactions aren’t as robust as Pirates Outlaws’ inspiration either. Knowing how to juggle your limited ammo (see: mana) while attempting to make interesting plays can be thought provoking. Most of the time, it’s just doing some quick math and figuring out how to do more damage than you take. When the odd brilliant play comes along, you feel like Jack Sparrow, outwitting his enemies with guile and gusto.

I often found myself just having to accept taking errant damage from early enemies while feeling like I had no agency in the matter. Part of that is just the nature of card games, of course. But the starting deck for the starting class, the Gunner, seems to lack much room for error. There are other classes, but you’ll play dozens of games as the Gunner before you can ever play them. Unless you’re willing to pay for it.

At the end of each run, on top of the experience you gain towards new cards, you get gold and repute. Both of these currencies can be spent on new chapters to play in, card packs to add to your collection, or heroes. But you don’t get nearly enough on runs to ever reasonably unlock even the cheapest secondary hero. It takes several runs to get comfortable with getting past the first stage consistently, but you’ll only bag just under 100 gold after beating the first boss. You’ll need to do that over ten times to unlock the Swordsman.

These other characters are diverse enough in passive skills, decks, and other metrics that being able to pick and choose between them at will would really help diversify what often feels like limited tactical gameplay. The struggle it takes to stack the necessary amount of gold to buy them – and in some cases, the repute to use them – is such that it discourages the want to stick with the game for the sake of experimentation. 

Or you can drop a real world dollar or two for an instant infusion of in-game gold and buy it outright. It’s hard to not feel just a little insulted by how blatantly this game is compelling you to participate in its IAP scheme. All that said, the game is only a one US dollar, and the biggest gold pack will set you back five. You’d have to buy two of them in order to have enough gold to have access to every hero you can spend it on and still won’t be able to unlock them all, as one can only be purchased with real money (another five dollars). You have to love the grind to get a lot out of Pirates Outlaws, because I don’t see any reason to pay $16 dollars for this game when the one it’s riffing on is just a few dollars more on Steam.

It’s a crying shame too, because it looks great. The animations and card effects are weak, but the bold colors of the environments and characters pop. The enemy designs are evocative and interesting, even if they are also just sort of static. The menus are well laid out and easy to read. The cheese in the trap at least looks delicious.

But I can only recommend Pirates Outlaws if you really want to pour a lot of time into it. It’s wickedly unbalanced both in combat and economically, and only the strong willed can survive to see it plunder. The learning curve is relatively low, but moments of true progress seem to only come so few and far between. Caving in and spending more money on the game just to speed up that process is just salty icing on a sour cake.

You know something is ‘serious business’ when Activision wakes up and decides to get involved. With the release of games like Fortnite and ARK last year, console-like FPS experiences on mobile are getting more and more mainstream attention.

The fact that Activision announced Call of Duty: Mobile last night at Unity’s GDC Keynote speech is more proof that this is an up-and-coming genre, at least amongst the Free-to-Play crowd. As far as we’re concerned here at Pocket Tactics, I’ve long held the belief that these kinds of games offer way forward in trying to escape the more cynical free-to-play trappings, but so far the results have been mixed.

Of course, it also depends if you like Shooters in general. Before now it’s not been a ‘big’ genre and in many ways it still isn’t, what with Fortnite pretty much dominating the show at the moment. I used to play Call of Duty when I was younger but I later switched to Battlefield, and more recently, Rainbow Six: Siege. Still, one can see the appeal of a real attempt to bring this franchise to mobile devices in the same way Fortnite did.

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

The trailer doesn’t giveaway much – most of it is actually from the third-person perspective, which isn’t helpful, but it seems to be using in-engine footage (and you see some first-person stuff here and there). It looks pretty decent, all things considered. Activision have partnered with Tencent for the project, and the game is built in Unity, if that matters to you.

Looking at what’s been said, Call of Duty: Mobile is probably going to be a kind of ‘greatest hits’ amalgamation of maps, weapons, abilities etc… from all the COD games, and the free-to-play nature means that there’s probably going to be a longer progression path to unlocking a lot of these features (compared to the premium games, anyway). Real-world currency unlocks are likely, or at least, in-game currency will be available for purchase. Call of Duty has always been a robust franchise when it comes to the PvP experience so, provided they don’t get carried away perhaps it won’t fall down the ‘Pay-to-Win’ trap door that befalls others.

No word on a release date but pre-registration is available for both iOS and Android users on the official website. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one for the moment and we’ll let you know if we hear anything else.

In space, no-one can hear you puzzle. They can’t hear you scream, either, as you draw up a new hand of cards, only to find the critical command you need to execute isn’t among them. Nor can they hear you swear as your latest run ends in ignominious failure. Again.

This is Assembly, a new digital adaptation of a card game from independent publisher Wren Games. The original could be played co-op or solo but on mobile you’ll only get the latter option. Good job there’s still plenty in this cunning puzzle game to entertain you.

The premise is that you’re on a malfunctioning satellite and need to use its glitchy systems to assemble an escape craft. In practice, it means you’re looking at a ring of twelve room cards. To win, you’ll need to get the matching module token in each room and lock it into place. The catch – of course, there’s a catch – is that when you deploy a module you get a random one and it’s placed in a random room.

Deploying modules is one of the commands you can issue each turn. A hand of three command cards you hold, drawn from a small deck, limits your choices of actions. You draw up after playing a command card but it’s a bitter bonus as cycling the command decks is also the game’s timer. Run through it three times and you’re dead. Other commands at your disposal involve moving those randomly-placed modules around. The simplest one swaps the position of any two. The others all rotate the ring of room cards either left, right or in the direction of your choice. 

The random placement of modules and of drawn commands is the key that makes this simplistic setup blossom into a strategy/puzzle game. It sets up a fascinating tension. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and deploy a module where it needs to be, or where you can easily move or swap it. More often you’ll have more work to do to get it where it needs to be. The question is: how much randomness are you willing to risk?

For example, you want to push out modules if you’ve got the right cards for it. But on each reshuffle of the command deck, all the room blueprint cards swap around randomly. So there’s no point in moving them round close to when the timer expires. But the same command card that adds modules to the game also locks them in place. So push your luck too much and you won’t have the commands needed to benefit from any luck you might happen to attract.

Instead, it’s all about keeping a balance while praying to the RNG gods to give you a break. You’ll need to assess the card deck, timer, and module position and decide whether it’s worth swapping or moving cards around. You also have other choices at your disposal for emergencies. You can discard your whole hand to choose any command. And you’re also given a role, a one-off special power. Noah the Systems Engineer, for example, can lock three modules instead of the usual one.

Wren Games is a small studio who built this app themselves and it shows in the presentation. It’s functional but effective. There are a couple of annoying interface niggles, like having to dismiss the tutorial boxes every game. Sometimes the game allows you to select, but not carry out, illegal plays. The worst is the rotation dialog box whose unhelpful arrows make it look like rooms are rotating when in fact it’s modules that rotate. These are minor irritations but compounded by a lack of an undo button. Such frustrations are quite minor, though, when each game only takes around five minutes. 

Despite this, Assembly does a surprising job of launching you into deep space. The ice-cold orchestral soundtrack and starfield background help a lot. But the theme meshes well with the straightforward mechanics. That makes it a tasty choice for bite-sized puzzling. Much of the joy comes from figuring out strategies to reliably beat the game, of course. Once you get there a choice of difficulty levels and the random factors provides decent replay value. It’s got all the pieces needed to assemble a satisfying conundrum to set yourself.

It’s been an interesting week as far as looking into the future goes – between potential Pokemon Go successor Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, and this morning’s news that a big PC mod is being ported to mobile, I’m hoping the free-to-play space will get its act together and give us some half-decent experiences for a change.

Until and if that happens though, we’ve got you covered with reviews of premium games like Card Crusade and Heroes of Flatlandia. Board games especially are getting better and better, with more on the way. We’ve already got reviews of Assembly and Tides of Time waiting to drop next week, but that’s just scratching the surface of what 2019’s got in store.

Meanwhile, in mobile gaming…

Out Now

Stardew Valley (iOS & Android) (Review)

Probably the biggest highlight of the week is the news that Stardew Valley has now finally hit Android. Make sure you check out our review for our full thoughts on the game, but just in case you’ve not heard of this before it’s a game where you spend your time either tending your farm or exploring a dungeon for crafting materials (for the farm). There’s some relationship building thrown in there for good measure as well. The mobile version specifically now enjoys some platform-suitable improvements which the android version is getting from the off. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHUqhYslji4?controls=0]

Battle Fleet: Ground Assault (iOS Universal) – Full review coming soon!

Mythical City Games return with another entry in their turn-based strategy/war game series Battle Fleet with a land-war focused entry, Battle Fleet: Ground Assault. Owen was rather luke-warm on the previous entry, 2014’s Battle Fleet 2, and Wargamer.com’s Bill Gray reviewed this latest entry on PC last year. He was a bit on the lukewarm side as well but then this is a heavily abstracted experience – it only features tanks, for starters, and is definitely more on the ‘arcade’ end of the war/strategy spectrum. Still, it does some interesting things with hidden movement and range finding, and I always thought it seemed more suited for mobile audiences.

The iOS version is priced at an incredibly premium $9.99, so we’ll try and get you a full review as soon as we can to see if this one measures up to the rest of the genre, but for the curious here’s a gameplay trailer:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poMVUBQ6bO4?controls=0]

Cartoon Network Arcade (iPhone)

Cartoon Network has put out some decent enough mobile titles, all things considered. Last year’s Teen Titans GO! Figure was especially engaging, and once again shows what you can do with a popular IP if you’re not just out to make a quick buck.

The Cartoon Network Arcade isn’t a game per se, but an app that features a collection of mini-games based around popular IP, and there’s an collectables aspect to it as well. There’s also supposed to be some interactivity features with regards to getting unlocks while watching a show at the same time. The app is free so it doesn’t cost you anything to explore if for yourself, but we felt it was worth a mention given how well CN treats mobile gaming at the moment.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7JLT6rZ8Y0?controls=0]

Updates & Pre-Orders

Holy Potatoes! A Spy Story!? (iOS Universal)

Daylight Studios have entertained many a mobile gamer with their charming blend of deep, action-filled games and potatoes. It’s been over a year since Holy Potatoes! We’re in Space!?, and now the developer has released a new title on PC – Holy Potatoes! A Spy Story!?

Desktop warriors aren’t the only ones who get to enjoy this new spudtastic experience however – the game will be coming to iOS on March 28^th. Pre-Orders are available now, if you want to spend the $4.99 on it now, otherwise the game (and our review), will drop at the end of the month. Not sure if it’ll be coming to Android, so far only Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop!? Has crossed that divide.

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

Fortnite (iOS & Android)

Those still keeping up with the mobile version of Fortnite might be interested in the changes that have come in the recent 8.10 patch. As well as adding in a new vehicle (The Baller, which looks like… well, a ball), vending machines and a new map marker, this update has also change the competition pool.

Now, mobile and Switch users are lumped in together, instead of Switch users competing against their console brethren. I’m not so sure this is doing mobile users any favours – reports suggest the Switch and mobile versions are basically the same, but I would have thought the Switch interface was closer to a controller than it was a mobile touch device. Time will tell, I guess, but if you suddenly start winning/losing more, this may be why.

Sales

Lots of sales on either one app store or the other this week, which is a shame, but let’s round up what we have:

Codito Development (All items $0.99)

These guys are having their own catalogue sale on iOS at the moment, and you can get the following games for just a buck:

Meanwhile, there are two games we spotted going cheap on Android (but not their iOS counterpart) that you may be interested in:

Strike Team Hydra (Review): $0.99

Hydra was Wave Light’s most recent game prior to the release of Shieldwall Chronicles, which we enjoyed. It’s the developer’s usual tactical RPG flair, but with more sci-fi. 

Planescape Torment (Review): $5.99

Not sure why Beamdog chose to discount this game specifically, but there you go – half price on Android. Did you know they’re working on a digital adaptation of the Axis & Allies table-top wargame?

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

If you play the popular MOBA Dota 2 on PC, you may or may not have heard of a mod that’s sweeping through the community called Dota Auto Chess. It’s got nothing to do with actual Chess, other than featuring the board, but it still requires some long-term strategic thinking that’s proving very compelling (if the tens of thousands of players and the 6 Million+ subscribers are any indication).

The interesting thing is, a lot of the action is automated. The player has to assemble a squad of four heroes taken from the Dota 2 roster (their abilities have been changed for the most part), but the actual ‘battling’ is automated. There’s an added tactical dimension in terms of how you position your heroes, but victory (or defeat) resides mainly in your strategic decision making skills. What heroes do you buy? Do you invest in multiple copies of a single hero or try and go for an even board? What synergies can you capitalise on?

It’s one of those things that has to be seen to be fully appreciated, so we’ve embedded the first video in a series done by YouTuber Quill18, who we know from his Paradox coverage. He’s less shouty than most and hopefully you can get a rough impression of the game.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFN5_H4iisw]

We’ve also talked about Auto Chess over on our sister website via an in-depth tips guide, if you’re curious to know more about the current meta. As a concept, this mod could be well suited for the mobile audience given its relatively light interaction needs, paired with an incredibly high skill ceiling in terms of strategic and tactical gameplay. The mobile version is going to strip out the Dota IP (which mainly comes from using the heroes) so that developer Drodo Studio can own it outright.

According to VentureBeat, It’s available for pre-registration in China, but nowhere else. It’s supposed to be coming to iOS and Android, but we don’t know anything in terms of territories or a release schedule.

We’ll keep you updated as we find out more.