Category: Mobile Game Releases

By Owen Faraday 31 Jan 2019

The Trese Brothers should be considered a ‘house name’ in mobiles games – for years they’ve been quietly toiling away at their own series of inter-connected RPG and strategy games, from Star Traders Elite, to Turn-based strategy favourite Templar Battleforce. Other than some updates and regular sales they’ve been rather absent from our handheld screens of late, but for one astonishingly good reason: Star Traders: Frontiers.

For those not in the know, Star Traders: Frontiers is an open-world/sandbox style sci-fi RPG where you, as a ‘Star Trader’ and captain of your very own ship, must try to make a living in a hostile and unforgiving universe. It can be considered the spiritual (if not direct) sequel to the original Star Traders RPG released in 2011. You can customise your captain however you want in terms of looks and starting traits/stats which will effect what kind of playstyle to try and follow. There’s also a range of basic ship types to get you going, and more can be unlocked through playing.

Frontiers started life as a PC game (which enjoyed a successful Kickstarter), so this is a port of a title that’s been available on Steam since its Early Access launch in November 2017. The game launched into 1.0 in August last year, and since then has received countless free content updates big and small. It’s a state of affairs that will expand to include the mobile version, which is excellent for the game’s longevity on all platforms.

The sheer diversity within the game is its strongest asset. A key gameplay pillar is naturally trading – there are plenty of basic and lucrative trade goods to found all over the game’s world. Buy low, sell high and there are ratings available to give you an indication on how good the price is (although, don’t take it as bible – some of the lower rated goods can yield better profits if you find the right buyer). Beyond this, there’s variations on the trading game such as smuggling and black market trading and of course you could turn into a pirate and just steal everyone else’s goods. You can also ignore commerce completely and go down a more military-focused route, or even make a living chasing down rumours, exploring dangerous wildlands and fighting alien monstrosities.

Trading alone can quickly become a bit of a sterile experience, however, and doesn’t really achieve anything other than making money. You will start with an initial pool of contacts across a few factions (mainly your ‘home’ faction), which you can approach to ‘quests’ – missions that you vary by the type of contact and the type of mission you go for. Factions are always allying and fighting each other, even engaging in trade bans (which makes honest trading difficult), so the missions you will get asked to do will slot into these contexts. The more influence you gain with a contact the more bonuses they’ll net you, and some will even introduce you to further contacts, expanding your network and allowing you to earn reputation with more factions.

There are some light elements of strategy to this game, although it’s not really a full-blown ‘strategy’ RPG like Fire Emblem. You can engage in both space combat and ground combat – both are static affairs that involve you selecting abilities and actions in turn order, and simply pounding away at each other until one side folds or dies. In ship combat you can mount a wide array of weapons that work better at different distances, and you can even close in to board. You can equip your crew with various guns and melee weapons, with some jobs roles specialising in ground combat. It works well enough, although it reminds me of the Pokémon games at times – you’re walking (flying) around minding your own business and suddenly a trash-tier Pidgey (pirate) jumps you.

Coming to STF on mobile, especially having come from playing the PC version, has been a remarkably seamless transition. I’m impressed with how robust the experience is even playing it on a phone – the UI has been reduced in a way that still leaves the information accessible (more or less) but leaves plenty of real-estate free so you can see your ship and what’s around it as you travel through space.

But it’s easy to look at things through rose-tinted classes because Frontiers is such a good PC port, and a welcome breath of fresh air in the current app marketplaces. As a game it’s not without some faults. Like the original game, Frontiers’ openness can be almost intimidating – you’re not always sure what to do. Trying to learn everything on the fly, naturally, comes with some trial and error.

Another element of the game that’s both a boon and a curse, especially for new players, is how Frontiers’ game world is persistent. The factions are always interacting with each other around you, and major plot elements and the game ‘eras’ will progress whether you’re directly influencing the story or not. You’re quite quickly introduced to two ‘main’ plot threads you can follow from the off, which you can choose to ignore, but eventually they will expire.

This idea of being left behind can actually be quite stressful for someone learning the rope. Getting a quest done in time is one thing but failing a major quest because you’re trying to do everything in time AS WELL as explore and learn how the game works can be frustrating. It sometimes leads you into situations you’re not equipped to handle as well: Unlike other RPGs of this nature, the game doesn’t quite lead you along a progression curve that lets you meet each new ‘escalation’ on equal footing. Whiz through things too quickly and you may end up fighting an opponent you can’t win against. Whether you’re playing with permadeath or not, it can be a jarring set-back.

It’s great to exist in a persistent universe – one that has such a wealth of content to pull the player through, but it can get a bit overwhelming for a newcomer, and the game doesn’t inherently possess many systems to help deal with that. You either adapt, or you end up dying a lot – we recommend if you’re struggling to take a break and go read some gameplay guides and tips videos. Even just a little bit of ‘behind-the-scenes’ knowledge will help smooth over any gameplay wrinkles you’re encountering.

The Trese Brothers have come a long way since their earlier releases, but it’s great to see how their games keep getting better and better. Star Traders: Frontiers is a new pinnacle of not only their own personal work, but also of PC-to-mobile ports in general and an excellent edition to the roster of premium mobile games. If any of Frontiers’ traits appeals to you, then this is absolutely a must buy.

March Madness is almost upon us, and in celebration of this magical time of the year Christopher Dixon has release a tiny little college hoops game designed for casual play. But does it go the distance? The pixel graphics are cute and communicative with a minimum of animation. It would be nice if uniform numbers could have been squeezed into there somewhere, since it’s otherwise necessary to keep track of your players based on hairstyle and skin tone (of which there are an impressive variety!). I loved the rim-shattering NBA Jam-esque dunks. The music is great as well: exciting and never annoying.

I do worry a little that the game will get hit with a cease and desist from some of the more litigious universities, who can be very protective of their colors and names. It appears some changes have been made to avoid this: Duke is called “Durham” on the schedule, but DUK on the scoreboard. Of course, the players’ names are randomly generated, not reflecting actual team rosters. Still though, you’ve got 87 “real” teams in seven conferences, so one of your favorites is bound to be in there.

On the court, after the tip-off, your three players will distribute themselves around the three-point line, and based on your chosen strategy of focusing on twos, threes, or a mix of them both, will shuffle around to try to lose their defender or make a drive on the basket. All you get to do is tap a button to make them shoot, or they’ll hold on until the shot clock runs out. If they catch the rebound, you can try again. Otherwise, you’ll wait for the AI players to run down to your side of the court and do the same. Unfortunately, you don’t get any input into how your squad plays defense. That means you’ll spend half your time watching your opponent pass the ball around until you get your chance to go for the score again.

Players get fatigued over time, especially as they get bumped, blocked, or robbed by the opposition. When a player gets too tired, they are swapped out for your single benchwarmer. That’s a good opportunity to tweak your strategy, encouraging your players to shoot more threes or twos, or a little of both. That’s the only other input you get into the game.

Games only last three minutes, but that’s about a minute too long to play with so little interactivity. In the end, you’re just watching for likely opportunities to make a shot and keeping an eye on the makeup of your team so you can switch strategies if, for example, your three-point star gets swapped out for a dribble driver. If you’re looking for a game that you can engage with regularly every ten seconds or so, this might work for you. From the main menu, you can just pair off any two teams for a quick scrimmage, but the more robust gameplay is found in the coach mode – but even here it is simplified too far.

Coach mode sets up a season including a championship tournament. You have some control over the makeup of your team, but just like on the court, this control is sorely limited. Your team is made up of only four players, which keeps one on the bench at the start of a game.

Player skills are pretty much limited to defense, two-pointers, and threes, and each player also has a star rating. They get better over the years, but you’ll lose your players when they graduate (And hopefully get picked up by the majors! After each game, you can bench your most tired player and try to woo a star high-schooler to your school for the next season. At the end of the season, you get to pick up the players that have the strongest affinity for your school. Over time, you’re building a team with complementary skills, and hopefully one that won’t graduate all at once.

Thus, in just a few paragraphs, I’ve described every possible thing you can do in the game. No secrets remain. What’s there is good: on-court gameplay makes sense and is balanced, and coach mode provides some level of strategy. However, it’s just not enough, unless you’re after something to play with one hand while you are doing something else.

The developer seems to be very active in responding to player feedback and planning future features. I haven’t played his previous micro-sports manager Mini Matchday, an association football game, but that previous effort clearly has a lot more going on than Bit Ballers, including a greater ability to control your team’s makeup and on-field strategy. With time, Bit Ballers may develop into something really interesting. Adding defensive options and more depth to players (like training, for example) would be a great start.

Right now, Bit Ballers is exactly what it says on the box: a tiny college basketball simulator. It doesn’t have enough depth to recommend broadly, but for a basketball fanatic looking for something to play on the subway, it will do well.

If you have ever looked for wargames on your iPad/android device you will know what I mean when I say it’s akin to walking into a swamp to find your wallet. Hundreds upon hundreds of tower defense, sniper and risk clones drown out the truly decent experiences.

Weary of warfare? How about some Sports management games instead?

So with the latest in swamp draining technology allows us to bring you some of the android and iOS war games that are actually worth looking at:

Vietnam ’65 (Review)

Publisher: Slitherine
Platform: iPad
Price: $9.99

The core mechanics simulate the nature of counter insurgency operational warfare in a plausible and realistic manner. The constant pressure to keep a presence out in the field makes it difficult to scrape together the forces you need for the big sweeps to destroy the core enemy bases without comprising somewhere. The result is a demanding just one more turn experience.

Also consider: Afghanistan ’11, Slitherine’s follow up that looks at the aftermath of the 2001 war.

Panzer Corps (Review)

Publisher: Slitherine
Platform: iPad
Price: $19.99

Panzer Corps has been hailed as the ‘the spiritual successor’ to the Panzer General series. If you don’t know Panzer General it was a wildly successful 1990’s war game. Panzer Corps is light-weight operational level WW2 game play that allows you to play a series of linked scenarios in which your forces will upgrade over time though around 800-unit types. The challenge is taking a specific objective within a time limit whilst retaining your force. Probably not for anyone who is interested in an actual simulation or specific order of battles.

Also Consider:  OpenPanzer, a completely free alternative to Panzer Corps which you can read more about on our ‘free games’ lists for iOS and Android.

Carrier Battles 4 Guadalcanal (Review)

Publisher: Avalon Digital
Platform:  iOS Universal
Price: $6.99

This is an outstanding pacific carrier battles game played out at the operational level. The excellent AI, easy interface and accessibility combined with realism and plausibility makes this game a must if you have a vague interest in naval operations. But most of all I love how this game gets you so quickly to the interesting decision points and the thick of the fighting.

Drive on Moscow (Review)

Publisher: Slitherine
Platform:  iPad
Price: $9.99

This is an operational level, area activation game allowing you to defend or drive or Moscow with realistic units. Battling against time you face a series of agonising decisions in this game, constantly trying to figure out when is a good time to push ahead or fall back to a new line. The outcome is determined by your skill in judging those correct moments. Realistic, tense and accessible, this a most excellent game indeed.

Also Consider: There is another game in Shenendoah’s original ‘lite’ war game series, Battle of the Bulge, which is iOS Universal and well worth checking out.

John Tiller Software

Publisher: John Tiller Software
Platforms:  Android, iPad
Price: Free – $2.99

Modern Campaigns Series

This is a series of four operational level games covering the Arab-Israeli wars, a hypothetical cold war gone hot in Germany in the 80s and Quang Tri offensive in 1972. These games provide detailed order of battle, some good fog of war and a realistic tactical combat element. However, the core system is somewhat dated, the AI isn’t great and the experience doesn’t provide a particularly plausible command simulation if that matters to you. If you don’t like endless drop-down menus then these games aren’t for you, accessibility is not a key strength here.

• Modern Campaigns: Quang Tri ’72 
• Modern Campaigns: Mideast ’67 
• Modern Campaigns: North German Plain ’85 
• Modern Campaigns: Fulda Gap ’85 

John Tiller’s Civil War Battles

There are a ton of civil war battle games on the various stores and most of them are a complete waste of time from a wargame perspective. However, the JTS Civil War Battles series does provide a tactically solid game with a strong order of battle backed up with good combat mechanics.

However, like Modern Campaigns the core system is dated and the overall simulation of the command experience doesn’t feel right. You will be hard pushed to find a better hard core tactical wargame of the ACW out there and with 11 games in the series you will be kept busy. Note, unlike the Modern Campaign games, not every game in this series has been released onto Android:

• Civil War Battles
• The Battle of Antietam
• The Battle of Shiloh
• The Battle of Chancellorsville
• The Battles of the Peninsula
• The Battle of Chickamauga
• Battles in the Ozark
• The Battle of Corinth
• The Petersburg Campaign
• The Battle of Atlanta
• The Battle of Franklin

Also Consider: There are more JTS games on iOS than Android, but in addition to the above JTS has put out some of their Panzer Campaigns and an air warfare and naval warfare game. All are worth checking out, and some are even free!

Alternatively if you want something lighter then look to Hexwar and their series of Civil War: 186X games or their slightly more complex game American Civil War Battles based on the wildly popular Terrible Swift Sword board game Great Battles of the American Civil War.

Conflict Series

Developer: Joni Nuutinen
Platform:  Android
Price: Free to $5.99

The conflict series covers an absolutely huge number of WW2 operational level games that have been put out by this Finnish designer. The main thing about this series is that they are very accessible, time to combat is very quick and its probably the main reason for their success. This is combined with reasonable pricing and a design that makes you want to take just one more turn. On the downside the games don’t look great, they are all pretty similar and the AI can be very poor which without 2 players makes the game long term viability pretty limited.

Nuutinen’s gamelist is a bit too numerous to list here (and it doesn’t appear that he’s on iOS?), so check out this link for the full list of games he’s created. 

Command & Colours: The Great War (Review)

Publisher: HexWar
Platform:  iPad, Android
Price: $9.99

While we weren’t that impressed during our review, the team at HexWar have been putting a lot of work into their digital adaptation since its release. It has some new well themed mechanics that well represent the tactical challenges of the era and to be fair, there’s not a lot of digital WW1 games on mobile around. Since we’ve just come out of the 100th anniversary at the end of the war, this one might be worth reconsidering if it comes up on sale again.

Ancient Battle: Hannibal

Publisher: Hex War
Platform:  iOS Universal
Price: $4.99

It’s hard not to like the Punic Wars with its diverse number of units, colourful characters and wide ranging geography. This game offers different battle scenarios in a traditional hex, you go, I go format linked together by a wider campaign. Whilst their games are pretty standard one thing that HexWar really surpasses in is in its ability to make their games look great and accessible.

This is not only immersive but it allows the player to quickly get to the hard decisions and the crucial turning points that one can agonise over and reflect upon later. The base engine used by HexWar has been used across a number of their games including the early and late medieval and Napoleonic wars. So there are plenty of different era’s here to pick and choose from if you are looking for some serious plate metal on your horse.

Napoleonics: Waterloo

Publisher: DK Simulations (David Kershaw)
Platform:  Android
Price: $1.99

David Kershaw has a traditional mix of mobile wargames that are none too dissimilar to the conflict series but Napoleonics: Waterloo stands out as it takes the mechanics of the Napoleon’s Triumph and Bonaparte at Marango board games and ports them to Android (I couldn’t locate them on the app store -ED). If you are bored of traditional hex war games and want something that better reflects the challenges of a real command and battle using a different kind of mechanic then look no further.

What are your favourite android or iOS war games? Let us know in the comments!

Now, THIS is more like it. 2019 has finally arrived in the world of mobile games, and we’ve got an appropriately packed update to yourself through to the weekend. Not much to highlight in terms of the week’s content, although if you didn’t see the great news coming out of Dire Wolf Digital, read up!

Meanwhile, in mobile games…

Out Now

Alien Blackout (iOS Universal & Android) (Review)

Before you get too excited, we suggest you go read Brittany’s review for this one. Turns out Blackout isn’t that good, despite it’s interesting-on-paper premise. Shame – I think we could have done with a decent premium mobile spin-off title.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDYq5224Se8?controls=0]

Legends of Andor (iOS Universal & Android) – Full review coming!

This one rather came out of nowhere. Based on Michael Menzel & Jörg Ihle’s fantasy adventure board game of the same name, Legends of Andor is a solo-only experience where you must guide a group of heroes through twelve ‘legends’ that will see you exploring more of the world and setting. It’s supposed to sport simple rules, but we’ll try and give you a detailed review ASAP.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xZ-DQcZGsA?controls=0]

Ridiculous Rugby (iOS Universal)

We also spotted iOS-only Ridiculous Rugby, which seems like a wonderfully bonkers take on the English sport (with influences from American Football, not doubt). We’ll add this one to the review list as well, but it’s rare to see a decent sports game emerge (even if it’s not super serious).

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUMGJob2C1o?controls=0]

Partia 3 (iOS Universal & Android) – Full review coming!

Anything premium that references Fire Emblem is probably worth paying attention to, and strategy RPG Partia 3 might just be a wonderful way to end the first month of 2019. It’s a semi-stand alone sequel to 2014’s Partia 2 set hundreds of years after the events of that game. Releases of this nature (especially in the face of FE: Heroes) are rare now, so we’ll definitely be adding it to the list for review.

If you want to know more about it though, there’s no better place than the developer’s rather frank App Store description.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EOAFrO7D1k?controls=0]

Speaking of Fire Emblem, we shouldn’t forget to mention our Lord and Saviour… Langrisser Mobile.

Get Hype

Star Traders: Frontiers (iOS Universal & Android)

The Trese Brothers have released some excellent mobile games over the years, but recently their focus has been on their most recent Star Traders offering, Star Traders Frontiers, which now has been PC only. We’re very excited to be able to say that, come next week, iOS and Android users will also be able to enjoy this excellent evolution of the Star Traders series.

I’ve been playing the PC version quite a bit, having also dabbled in Star Traders Elite, and it’s quite good. Provided I can get a hold of some android code in time, I’ll probably handle the review for this myself. Stay tuned!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_gshVJYV7w?controls=0]

Sales

Football Manager 2019 Mobile (iOS Universal & Android): $6.99
Football Manager 2019 Touch (iPad & Android Tablets) (Review): $14.99

Sports Interactive’s 2019 edition of the eternal Football management franchise has gone on sale for the first time, with the discount varying by addition. As a reminder, the ‘Touch’ version is essentially the full PC games ported to tablets (not universal), while the ‘Mobile’ variant is a stripped down version that can work on phones.

Iron Marines (iOS Universal & Android) (Review): $2.99 on iOS

Ironhide’s excellent RTS is reduced by a couple of dollars. Well worth checking out.

Bridge Constructor Portal (iOS Universal & Android) (Review): $1.99 on iOS

This game has only been on sale once before since it launched in December 2017, and now it’s on sale again for a new lower price. Get it while you can!

Mars Power Industries (iOS Universal & Android): $0.99

This sci-fi puzzler has been on our review pile for a while, but we never got around to it. Still, of $0.99 those looking for a new brain teaser my find their answers on the red planet. This is only the second time the game has been discounted since launch.

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

The iconic Alien franchise has, like the Xenomorphs themselves, taken several forms over the years. Whether it’s scared the living daylights out of moviegoers in theaters or forced gamers to keep a fresh pair of underwear handy, it’s a fluid, ever-changing franchise that’s constantly evolving, whether we like it or not. The video games inspired by Alien have consistently grown in quality over the years (except Aliens: Colonial Marines. We don’t talk about that.) and peaked with the fantastic Alien: Isolation.

So imagine Alien fans’ surprise when Alien: Blackout was announced. Murmurs surrounding a sequel to Alien: Isolation bubbled to the surface, and the community was awash with theories on what it could entail – more tense, pulse-pounding encounters with an alien? More gory kills and meaty Alien lore? More importantly, what consoles would it come to? When the hard truth was revealed, and Alien: Blackout was not the bombastic console experience fans were looking for but a mobile installment, fans were understandably miffed. It also doesn’t that, really, it’s just not that good.

Despite the fact that this isn’t the game Alien fans were expecting, it’s still connected to the franchise. In terms of canonicity, it takes place after Isolation and before the Aliens film takes place, though this is a standalone game and shouldn’t be considered a sequel. Heroine Amanda Ripley is back as well, the same character players took on in Isolation. This time, however, she’s taken on more of a “security guy at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza” role.

As Ripley, trapped on a space station teeming with xenomorphs, you send out a warning to other ships in the area to stay away, lest they succumb to razor-sharp teeth and claws of the aliens aboard. Of course, a ship from the infamous Weyland-Yutani Corporation shows up with a four-person team aboard that couldn’t leave well enough alone. When they board, Ripley takes it upon herself to guide them throughout the station to find supplies and complete bite-sized missions in a bid to escape their alien-riddled prison.

On paper, this sounds like an exciting way to explore the Alien series beyond first-person shooters and adventure games. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth. As Ripley, you constantly remain stationary in a makeshift command center with access to a map of the space station’s levels. There are several cameras placed throughout the station that you can swap between at will while you watch and guide the crew NPCs throughout the winding corridors.

You spend most of your time watching the map screen instead of the camera, though, because you can only truly see what paths the crew is taking from there. Ripley can issue orders like “Stop,” “Hide,” or “Sneak” and recall said orders as she sees fit, which is done via simple interface. On smaller phone screens, tapping the correct command can feel like a bit of a challenge, and I routinely had issues closing the command selection screen because of this.

If one character happens to die, you’ve lost them for the entirety of the game. If you’re not careful, Ripley can die, too, which is game over, man, game over. Ripley’s death is usually the easiest to prevent if you’re vigilant enough about swapping from the map back to your command center quickly enough to tap the doors to close them, thus sealing the alien out. But it can happen so often while you feel you’re doing well enough outside the command center that it feels cheap.

Different NPCs are proficient at certain tasks, which you’ll get a handle for early on, so you’ll be encouraged to make decisions on your feet about who’s better suited to search bodies for an ID badge or who’s better at scouting the area for the next step.

When an alien is near, you’ll be alerted with a red halo around a crew member if danger is imminent. But you can’t always rely on that alone. You need to listen to audio cues and pay attention to where they’re coming from around the ship. For this reason, it’s suggested that you use headphones, since if you’re playing this with your phone’s speakers on, you won’t really interpret the sounds as coming from any specific direction, which makes things especially frustrating.

If you spot the alien or hear it coming, you can try and throw the alien off by tapping parts of the map to open and close doors to lure it away, tell your teammates to hide, hurry up, keep moving, or stop what they’re doing entirely. The alien can strike anywhere and anytime, and this changes with each level since there is no set pattern, which means you’ll have to stay on your toes.

There’s one huge problem with all this, though. Instead of feeling tense or scary in any way, it’s extremely boring. Most of your time is spent watching a map screen and empty corridors, and static screens with the occasional flickering lights. When an alien does show up to claim its human prize, there’s zero impact for the player or the crew. Okay, it ate a member of your crew, but who cares? You can soldier on, and your group doesn’t even comment on the loss. Obviously, they need to do whatever they can to complete their mission, but it’s a bit strange that no one misses a beat or bats an eye that they’ve just lost a teammate.

When it comes down to it, constantly checking cameras and map screens work in games like Five Nights at Freddy‘s because there’s a heightened sense of tension and dread that permeates the entire game. In Alien: Blackout, that’s all gone. Instead, you’re just waiting for people to get to certain areas, nearly drumming your fingers while they travel there. Sometimes, if you’re not quick enough, they can die. Lather, rinse, repeat. You must complete seven levels of this, but there’s just no real drive to do so.

It’s difficult to say that the production values are even here. While the voice work is fine, Ripley’s being a standout, that’s about all that’s up to par. The environments look fine, and the pseudo-3D movement in Ripley’s command posts (which she moves around to different areas) are serviceable. However, the character models are stiff and wooden, and their animations hardly believable at that. Beyond that, the story just isn’t there – this isn’t a tale I want to see play out all the way, no matter how much of a hardcore Alien player I am.

There’s far too little interaction and even less payoff, and it all combines to make Alien: Blackout feel like it should have been a quick, free companion to a game like Alien: Isolation instead of the $4.99 mobile translation that isn’t quite sure what it wants to be. If you’re looking to get your Alien fix, you’d be better off marathoning the films – but you can skip Alien: Covenant. Trust us on this.

Let’s gloss over the promiscuous ruminant themed pun of the title as quickly as possible, same goes for the “Will you sheep with me?” tagline. Pocket Tactics has a bit of a sheep theme this month, which is weird since sheep and strategy make uneasy bedfellows. Indeed, a sheep’s one and only strategy seems to involve following other sheep, which as far as cunning plans go is up there with Baldrick’s finest. However, it is self-evident that the subject provides a rich vein for sheep-based puns and, of course, our woolly friends are easy to depict on screen, being basically just clouds on legs.

Sheeping Around is the age-old story of loyal sheepdog verses cunning fox. Shepherdess Hazel Woof is going about her business grazing her sheep when poacher Alex McCunning appears on the scene and immediately makes plans to steal them away. Both players begin the game with a deck of cards and must compete to claim ownership of the three sheep displayed in the centre of the screen. The first player to claim ownership of two sheep wins the game. To actually take control of a sheep Hazel must play graze cards and when the total reaches four, she can use a whistle card to call that sheep home. Meanwhile, Alex must use lure cards, upon reaching a sum of four he can then play a steal card to nab the unfortunate animal.

Turns are simple; you play a card on one of the remaining sheep and then draw a new card. To add a little more flexibility there are also some additional blue bonus cards and you can play up to three of these each turn. The lucky charm, for instance, allows you to immediately draw two extra cards, whilst the sprint card lets you play an additional action card. Some of these cards will have a direct negative effect on your opponent. The trick bonus card lets you steal a card, whilst petrify will force your opponent to skip a turn.

Initially, it sounds like Sheeping Around is going to be a neat asymmetric card game in which the opposing players get to make use of their own set of differing powers. Disappointingly, it turns out that the cards only differ in name. Whilst Hazel can use a guard card to prevent her opponent from playing a card on a sheep for two turns, Alex can initiate exactly the same effect by using a trap card. Hazel can use an affection card to switch two lure points to graze points, but conversely, Alex can use a sneak card to change two graze points to lure points. It’s a pity that the opposing sides do not offer their own unique powers, as this would have significantly enhanced the game’s replay value.

Winning a match earns both experience points and gold coins. Coins can be spent at the market place to buy new cards, which will increase the overall power of your deck. You begin with fifty basic cards, and can never increase or decrease this number. This means that in order to add new cards you will have to remove old ones, remembering to ensure that you maintain your deck’s overall balance. New cards will unlock as your experience level increases, but most of these new cards tend to be variations on a similar theme, being just more powerful versions of the basic cards. For example, when you reach level 43 you unlock a guard/trap card that increases the duration from two to four turns. When you unlock a new card you can add the first copy for free, further copies will cost you coins. Need more coins? Well, extra supplies can be brought for real-world cash, a feature that is sure to irk many gamers, especially in a paid app. Sure, you still have to earn experience points to unlock new cards by actually playing, but the option to throw extra money at the game to improve your deck creates an uneven playing field.

The sole focus of Sheeping Around is to battle your way to the top of the online leader board. Games are played out in real time; you have three minutes to complete your first turn and one minute thirty seconds for future turns. Currently, the matching system is patchy. Sometimes it works fine, whilst at others, a prospective opponent will unmatch you before a contest begins. It is especially frustrating to end up waiting for an entire three minutes for your opponent to complete their turn, only to be told that you have been disconnected. If all of these hitches prove too frustrating then you can also challenge a friend to an online game. The biggest omission is that there is no option to take part in a solo game or a two-player pass-and-play duel. With the online issues, the lack of any offline options is particularly telling and limits the game’s appeal.

Sheeping Around certainly looks the part, with its polished presentation and tidy interface. Graphics are colourful and distinctive, even if the anthropomorphic adversaries lean more toward the creepy rather than the cute. The cards are nicely animated and have a variety of neat sound effects. Games are short and snappy, taking only five to ten minutes to complete. Unfortunately, they are also too shallow to warrant playing over and over again. The decision-making process is neither immersive nor involved. The whole experience feels very one-dimensional and rapidly devolves into a dull game of tug-of-war, without much in the way of surprise or any real scope for clever card play.

With its stylish cartoon graphics and easy to grasp rules, Sheeping Around might serve as a good introduction to deckbuilding card games for casual players. However, for the rest of us the gameplay is too predictable and soon becomes a more effective cure for insomnia than counting sheep.

A lot of people choose Android for the freedom to customize their mobile experience, with many more unique tricks, themes and features available for Google’s platform than Apple’s walled garden. However, for gaming it seems the ubiquity of iDevices has led to Android becoming a second son to developers, with android ports coming late if at all (Fortnite‘s brief exclusivity notwithstanding.) But there’s good news. The same anything-goes attitude that leads to a panoply of unique apps for Android also leads to unusual and exciting mobile games – you just have to look a little harder to find them.

If you’re running low on funds, there’s plenty of great free games on Android as well.

Don’t forget that Android apps can be distributed outside of official Google channels! One great place to find new and exciting .apk files is itch.io, a repository for indie games, experiments, and early-access titles. A lot of interesting games in early-access have also been ported to Android as they undergo development, with many feature-complete and just getting polished up. A lot of great web games have also made their way over to Android.

So here are some of the best android-exclusive games that you won’t find on iOS:

RPGs

Red Rogue (Link)

Red Rogue is a roguelike platformer with a traditional twist: it can be played turn-based, where monsters only move when you do. What’s more, Red Rogue lives up to its title with a grim grayscale palate that is livened only by splashes of red blood. Please enjoy kicking the heads of defeated enemies into other monsters and eating their beating hearts for health. Try it on the web for free, then pick it up on the Play store for a song.

Caves (Link)

Caves is a more traditional Roguelike streamlined for mobile in the Pixel Dungeons style. But don’t let its simple appearance fool you. Caves is a brutally difficult dungeon crawl with the freedom to dig your own passages through the earth. The game is ad-supported with a single IAP to remove the ads.

Grue the Monster (Link)

If you can tempt adventurers into the ‘pitch dark’ then they will likely be eaten by you, the Grue, in this fun reversal of normal RPG roles. Since Grues are allergic to light, this roguish game becomes more of a puzzler as you try to get the dumb adventurers to get too close to the dark patches on the map.

Undervault (Link)

Undervault breaks down the roguelike formula by reducing movement to room-to-room. Your character moves left to right and up and down through individual rooms of the map, including kitchens, bedrooms, and shops, using keys, switches and skills to unlock doors. Hunger and fatigue add some survival elements, but a random spinner and room cards let you put some control on what room shows up next. A challenging and unique take on dungeon-crawling.

Deity Quest (Link)

This PC port has a bit of Pokémon DNA since it features a minor god who recruits a team of monsters to fight its battles. In this version, you set your monsters into formation and let them duke it out in real-time 6 vs 6 battles while you watch from above and unleash the occasional lightning strike. It’s got a cute 16-bit style and some pretty decent length.

Strategy games

SFD (Link)

SFD brings a tactical layer to the roguish formula, putting not a single adventurer in the dungeon but a whole squad. With its cool 16-bit graphics it’s like if Final Fantasy  Tactics got mixed in with your Nethack. Or maybe fantasy XCOM on ironman mode. Plus, you can use environmental damage to take out your opponents!

Hyperspace Delivery Service (Link) (Itch.io)

This is a homage to early 90s space adventure sims, mashing up trading, management, space shooter and even primitive 2.5-D FPS gameplay. It’s chock full of weirdo aliens rendered in garish purples, oranges, and blues. This gem is totally fun even in early access, and the price gets you both the desktop and Android versions.

MiniRTS (Link) (Itch.io)

If you’ve ever wanted to play StarCraft using only the mini-map, this is the game for you. Mini RTS shrinks basic RTS gameplay down to single pixels. It’s designed to play in only a few minutes but has a surprisingly challenging AI.

Halfling Tycoon (Link)(Itch.io)

Halfling Tycoon is a basic management game where you build up a fantasy village and earn enough to fight the monsters out of new territory. It’s surprisingly well-featured for what started as a web flash game. This one is available with ads on Android or in a pay-what-you-want scheme, with a $1 minimum, for all platforms, including Android.

Wicked Lair (Link)

This tower defense title was fairly well received on release, but it appears its iOS version has fallen victim to the Appocalypse. The game is a basic two-dimensional tower defense game with a fun Dungeon Keeper-esque theme. Not a game for serious tacticians, but a fun diversion. It’s a free download with a single IAP for the whole game.

One more thing…

Additionally, Android is notorious for letting you install emulators that provide the engine behind your legally acquired collection of vintage console ROMs. RetroArch is the most full-featured, but arcane, whereas Robert Broglia’s inexpensive paid iterations are the most polished.

Don’t forget ScummVM, which can play a surprisingly large number of classic adventure games, including those you can buy or receive gratis from GOG.com, like Beneath a Steel Sky.

What are your favourite Android exclusive games? Let us know in the comments!

By Joe Robinson 21 Jan 2019

It’s bee a varied, albeit low-key week this week. We decided to check in with Fortnite, as we haven’t talked about it in a while, and we’ve updated our guide to staying competitive on mobile. We also updated a few of our guides, as well as review some games we missed out on.

We’re on track with reviews of newer titles now though, with several already in the pipeline for the day of release.

Meanwhile, in mobile gaming…

Out Now

Sheeping Around (iOS Universal) – Full review coming soon!

This one caught our eye – a multiplayer strategy card game (with deck-building, no less) where one person is the Thief and one person is the Shepard – you’re both fighting for ‘control’ over three Sheep. You must play cards that allow for various abilities, such as luring, trapping and so forth. We haven’t had a chance to take for a spin ourselves, but I’ve already got someone working on a review.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foc6lUr2xRk?controls=0]

Two other games caught our eye, but we won’t write them up fully as we haven’t played them either and there’s no plans for review right now. Bit ballers (iOS) looks like a Kairosoft game about basketball, except not made by Kairosoft, and Lootbox RPG (iOS) is a cheap and cheerful dungeon crawler devoid of any kind of online functionality – buy once, play forever. Or at least, until you get bored. Maybe we will review this one after all.

Also, we mustn’t forget the global launch of NetEase’s UNO. I mean, I was super excited to give this a try myself but then I read TouchArcade’s write up and… yeah. No.

New Pre-Orders

The Escapists 2: Pocket Breakout (iOS Universal & Android)

Team17 did a pretty good job when they brought sandbox/simulation game The Escapists to mobile back in 2017. Now they’re looking to do the same again with The Escapists 2. It’s due out on January 31^st, but you can pre-order now on both the app store (for $6.99) and Google Play via pre-registration. We’ll try and have our review ready as soon as we can.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM0Sh1APiqs?controls=0]

Sales

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem like there’s anything really worth mentioning this week, although if you spot something do let us know in the comments. If you want a peak behind the curtain, we actually get a lot of our sales info (on iOS at least) from this website, if you want to have a look for yourself. Just make sure you’ve set it to ‘Games’, and then ‘Last 72 (or 24) Hours.

That’s all for this week, enjoy your weekends!