Category: Game Releases

It’s November, and Thanksgiving is nearly here. You know what that means… Black Friday! If you’re in the States this might mean turkey, pie, awkward family interactions, and football. But even if you’re not in the US, wherever you live it means lots and lots of mobile game sales.

This list will be updated through-out the week as more Black Friday deals go live – keep checking back!

We see some of the biggest sales this time of year and since they get rolling early so will we. Feast your eyes and devices on this bevy of discounted games… 

60 Seconds! Atomic Adventure (iOS Universal and Android): $.99

Nuclear war is coming and in 60 Seconds! Atomic Adventure your goal is to collect supplies and gather your family before it hits. There’s dark comedy and hard choices, and it’s just a buck for now.

Weapon Shop Fantasy (iOS Universal): $.99

One buck gets you RPG/simulation game Weapon Shop Fantasy where you build and enchant weapons and send adventurers off to defeat monsters with them.

Icewind Dale (iOS Universal and Android): $1.99 on iOS

Classic RPG port Icewind Dale is down to $2 from $10. This is the cheapest it ever gets so it is a great time to pick up a new, old RPG.

Star Traders 4X Empires Elite (iOS Universal and Android): $1.99 on iOS

Turn-based empire-builder Star Traders 4x Empires Elite is down from $5 on iOS (and has a free trial version on Android). It’s worth a look for fans of turn-based strategy.

Crashlands (Review) (iOS Universal and Android): $3.99 on Android

Crashlands might be my favorite mobile game. It’s certainly my favorite explore/craft/survive game on mobile. It’s been recently updated with co-op features, and is also very rarely on sale. $4 is a steal for this one.

Let us know if you spot any more deals, and we’ll update the list!

What is this nonsense? The Weekender on a Thursday? Where’s the manager!? Oh right, that’s me… Due to some annual leave I’m taking over the next two weeks, you’re getting our usual weekly update on a Thursday.

Hope that doesn’t shatter your world views or anything…

What we’re up to

Following up on the Diablo Immortal announcement, we had Nick whip up a critical analysis on what that game needs to do right in order to compete with the already existing (and thriving) action-RPG genre on mobile. It’s not enough to just turn up with the IP, after all.

We also brought you an in-depth look at C&C Rivals’ beta version, ahead of its launch on December 4^th. Only one review this week – Squids Odyssey.

In terms of upcoming projects:

• A new guide on excellent games like Pokemon Go/Ingress Prime.
• Reviews of Royal Adviser & Football Manager 2019.
• Our Black Friday coverage will be continually updated through-out the week.

You’ll also have noticed we’ve been updating our strategy genre ‘Best of Lists’ through-out the week. We’ll probably be updating a few more as well through-out the rest of the month. Tomorrow, we’re kicking off our Black Friday sales coverage, as a few places are already getting a head start on that.

Meanwhile, in the mobile gaming…

Out Now

Only two projects caught our eye this week, and they’re both only on iOS. Sorry Android readers!

Black Paradox (iOS Universal)

Nothing screams science-fiction than time-travel and black holes, and arcade-shooter-roguelite thing Black Paradox is positively belting out its retro sci-fi imagery. You play as a Bounty Hunter who travels around in a space car, which you can upgrade with lots of weapons and power-ups.

You also get to unleash a killer move of the same name, apparently. It’s not our usual fare, but it’s colourful and provides plenty of content at a reasonable price. Pretty sure I played this game on my Commodore 64 as a kid, except you were Santa Claus.

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Endless Archery (iPhone)

Angry Birds may have been one of the early posterchilds for the F2P phenomenon, but it’s core gameplay offering was pretty solid. Throw a bird at a pre-made structure and try to cause as much devastation to get the most points. Endless Archery, while involving neither birds nor structures, feels like it might inspire the same kind of desire to master.

You fire arrows at distant targets by setting the angle and power of each shot, accounting for wind and the procedurally generated terrain. Even in real-life Archery is kind of cool and trying to master your shots in digital form should be no less engaging. It also comes with online leaderboards for never-ending humble brags.

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Updates

Both of this week’s updates actually dropped last week, so apologies for that.

Crashlands (Review) (iOS Universal & Android)

One of our favourite action-RPGs has gotten even better. The update last week added same-screen co-op, where player 2 plays as Juicebox. This works with both players using gamepads or just player 2 using a gamepad, more details on that here. There were a few other minor QoL changes as well.

Templar Battleforce Elite (Review) (iOS Universal & Android)

This was in last week’s Sales update, and from what we can tell it’s still going cheap on iOS if anyone wants to pick it up. The November 8^th update added a bunch of new weapons and changed some existing ones, as well as adjusting spawn rates of Xeno enemies.

Sales

We’re not reporting on any sales today as we’ll be kicking off a week-long sales guide to prepare you for Black Friday starting tomorrow. I’ve had a quick look – you’re not missing out on much, other than Icewind Dale being ridiculously cheap on iOS.

There’s not been a lot of Android love this week, but Door Kickers is also having a sale on Google Play, if you haven’t picked that up yet.

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

An unpleasant sludge is corrupting the ocean, but thankfully a team of likeable heroes is ready to spring into action and save the kingdom. Their mission will be fraught with danger but hopefully they can avoid becoming calamari. Squids Odyssey isn’t actually a new game, but an amalgamation of two previous releases. The original Squids was released way back in 2011 and a Wild West themed sequel was released a year later. The game proved popular enough to warrant a release on a range of Nintendo platforms.

These console versions were entitled Squids Odyssey and merged the two previous releases into one continuous adventure, whilst adding some extra content of its own. Now, this latest version has made its way back to mobile devices. This is great because the well-received original games fell by the wayside and will no longer work on modern devices. What isn’t so great is that at the time of writing the App Store doesn’t make it clear that this is not an original game. In respect to past customers, the publishers really should make this more transparent.

Squids Odyssey is a light-hearted turn-based strategy game in which you command a squad of squid. The big difference is that instead of using action points to move your guys around the map, you instead catapult them across the screen. This is achieved by dragging their elastic appendages back with your finger before sending them hurtling across the landscape. This landscape in question is usually full of hazards. Care needs to be taken to avoid spiky sea urchins and to ensure that your squid doesn’t end up plunging off a narrow path into an abyss. The environments are also home to a range of crustacean enemies who will be doing their best to bash you into oblivion.

Moving around the screen costs stamina and you can usually squeeze at least two full powered flings from a squid on each turn. When a little more finesse is required you can reduce the power to ensure accurate positioning. Combat is hugely enjoyable; launch your squid into the melee and watch the mayhem ensue.  Squid ricochet around the environment rebounding from enemies whilst inflicting damage or sending them plummeting to their doom. The physics are solid with just the right level of inertia to ensure that the game doesn’t descend into total chaos. Scattered around each map are bonus bottles that contain numerous helpful consumables. These give various buffs such as stamina boosts or protective spiky shells. Public Health Warning: A squid really has to make sure that it chews its food properly, as their epiglottis runs through the middle of their doughnut-shaped brains.

You can build your party from a range of fifteen different squid, each of which will fall into one of four categories. Scouts can increase their movement and offensive capabilities by employing an extra dash action. Shooters can attack from a distance, whilst troopers have an area attack that can strike multiple enemies. Finally, healers can give a health-restoring hug – I imagine that a hug from a squid is something to remember. Your squid can further improve their abilities by wearing one of a multitude of different hats, or by increasing their overall skill levels. Obtaining hats and level upgrades cost pearls, which can be obtained as you progress through each level. Pearls can also be used to purchase various special items from the shop.

The squid games have always looked great and presentation has further benefited from the extra polish of a console release.  There are some terrific cartoon visuals, cheery music and an engaging comical storyline. It feels like you have stepped into an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, complete with an array of oddball aquatic characters. Apart from Bikini Bottom style levels, your squad will also battle through levels inspired by ancient Greece, imperial Japan and the Wild West. In total there are over ninety levels, with an estimated playtime of fifteen hours and that is even before you consider the expert mode. Perfectionists can also strive for faultless three-star ratings. A star is awarded for completing the level in a set number of turns, another for keeping all party members alive and the final star is hidden somewhere within the environment.

The levels are quite varied, with strong currents and warp gates adding to the challenge. There are even seahorse mounts that you can saddle up and ride into battle. On some levels you will simply be heading for the exit, whilst on others, you will need to survive for a set number of turns. There are also some more arcade-style levels that will have you trying to traverse spiky mazes as quickly as possible. One issue is that the difficulty curve is rather inconsistent.  The first few Wild West levels that actually appear later in the game feel like a return to the initial training levels. As you would expect from a game designed for touchscreen the controls are responsive and smooth. The only problem I had was that triggering special powers sometimes felt unresponsive and on occasion caused the entire game to crash.

Despite the simple premise and cartoony characters, you will find that there is a lot more depth to Squids Odyssey than initial impressions suggest.  Ensuring that your cephalopods are not left isolated, using the environment to your advantage and judging ranges to ensure that you hit with the maximum momentum, all need to be considered. The mix of straightforward tactics and simple arcade gameplay may sound like a bit of a gimmick but the ideas have been implemented really well. These is enough variety to maintain interest and although the challenge will not trouble most players, the game does come with a generous supply of levels without any IAPs in sight.