{"id":95552,"date":"2019-06-21T12:27:04","date_gmt":"2019-06-21T12:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pockettactics.com\/articles\/best-new-mobile-games-june-21st-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-06-21T12:27:04","modified_gmt":"2019-06-21T12:27:04","slug":"the-weekender-barbarians-unite-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/06\/21\/the-weekender-barbarians-unite-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"The Weekender: Barbarian’s Unite! Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Up till at least yesterday afternoon I was thinking this was going to be another fairly slow week in terms of new releases, and then everything seemed to happen all at once. It’s been more of a place-holder week in terms of content although it was nice getting an official ‘games like’ Auto Chess<\/em> guide<\/a> out the door – I know a lot of people have been wary of accidentally jumping on a clone. Revisiting our BoardGameGeek mobile list<\/a> was also fun.<\/p>\n

Next week we should have a few more reviews, as well as guide content on some of our newly arrived ‘Games of Interest’, but I will try and maintain a balance of posts for those of you who aren’t interested in AR or the latest fads.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in the world of mobile gaming…<\/p>\n

Out Now<\/h2>\n

DOTA Underlords (Beta) (iOS<\/a> & Android<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

Launching last night, Valve\u2019s official take on the unofficial Auto Chess<\/em> Mod for DOTA 2<\/em> game is, officially, available on iOS and Android. I\u2019ve taken it out for a spin \u2013 it\u2019s\u2026 ok? There’s a bit of a weirdness about it right now; because this is an official interpretation of the mod, and the official Auto Chess app is a whitewashed version of that mod to avoid IP conflicts. It means I feel like I\u2019m in a strange dreamworld where I recognise everything, and yet nothing is actually the same.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly a prettier looking app, although something about the pieces feels a bit lack-lustre in how they move and fight. It\u2019s got some almost game-changing quality of life improvements over the main Auto Chess<\/em> game, such as offline play, switching between PC and mobile, as well as some nice UI goodness that should really become the standard for games like this. I\u2019m not a fan of you not being able to buy pieces and place them on the board \u2013 they have to go to your bench (which makes managing your bench numbers even more important). I\u2019ve got someone looking into this over the weekend so we\u2019ll have a deeper look at it next week.<\/p>\n

\"dota<\/p>\n

Rome: Total War \u2013 Barbarian Invasion (iOS Universal<\/a> & Android<\/a>) (Review<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

Rome: Total War<\/em>\u2019s first expansion, originally released on PC back in 2004, was released onto iPads in April 2017, followed by iPhone only this year in May. Now it\u2019s finally come to Android, so all you freedom fighters out there can enjoy bringing down one or both halves of the Roman Empire with your unwashed hordes. Or try and save Rome and restore it to its past glory (which from what I remember is really, really hard). Feral Interactive have a released a list<\/a> of all the \u2018officially\u2019 supported devices. All of the Google Pixel Phones, Samsung Galaxy S7 and up, the Nokia 8 etc\u2026 so make sure you check to see if your device is supported.<\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PFyZOMcCSfA?controls=0]<\/p>\n

Fox Factory (iOS<\/a> & Android<\/a>) \u2013 Full Review Coming Soon!<\/em><\/h3>\n

As my daughter grows older, I\u2019m going to be more and more alert to what kinds of apps and games are out there that cater to children. And I\u2019m just talking about \u2018games\u2019 \u2013 I do want to try and find some decent educational experiences as well. Me and my wife are basically in agreement about regulating screen-time, but I\u2019m more optimistic about apps power to educate and entertain in the same way children\u2019s books do.<\/p>\n

Fox Factory<\/em> caught me eye this week for exactly this reason \u2013 it\u2019s a colourful puzzle game that\u2019s designed to try and teach programming logic for kids aged 7 and upwards. It has parental controls, no IAPS or advertising, and doesn\u2019t seem to be too geared towards making \u2018success\u2019 too important for the enjoyment of the app. I\u2019ll get someone on this ASAP to do a full review and we\u2019ll see if it lives up to its promises.<\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XbU8125dHwo?controls=0]<\/p>\n

Harry Potter: Wizard\u2019s Unite (iOS<\/a> & Android<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

Launching ahead of time yesterday evening<\/a>, Niantic\u2019s latest foray into location-based AR gameplay is now available to anyone living in the UK and the US<\/strong>, with further roll-outs planned over the coming weeks. If you ever played Pok\u00e9mon GO<\/em> when it first came out, you\u2019ll recognise the basic gameplay loop. By walking around your local area, you\u2019ll find encounters where you can draw on your screen to cast spells, and then key locations in your area will have been turned into either Inns, Greenhouses or Fortresses for you to interact with.<\/p>\n

Niantic have tried to provide a better grounding of stuff to do for Wizard\u2019s Unites initial release \u2013 the spread of locations seems a lot better (Pok\u00e9mon Go<\/em> did not like the Medway towns), and there\u2019s more activities to do at home such as potion brewing and making a wicked selfie. The story is a bit clumsy, if I\u2019m honest, but it\u2019s still got that magical pull of getting you outside to have a bit of fun in news ways. Fair warning \u2013 there are micro-transactions and an energy metre that limits what you can get done in a single session.<\/p>\n

You can buy premium currency and cosmetic items, as well as in-game items that will help speed up some of the various processes in the game. This is purely co-operative for the moment, so it\u2019s not \u2018Pay-to-Win\u2019 but players can buy themselves an advantage. We\u2019ll be looking into this one more over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MyZpNZbuEF8?controls=0]<\/p>\n

And the rest\u2026<\/h3>\n

Other games that caught our eye this week include Olimdal<\/a> <\/em>on iOS,<\/em> a challenging based movement puzzle where everything in the room moves when you do, and Serial Cleaner!<\/em><\/a>, which seems to be a stealth\/puzzle-y based on you being a clean-up guy who needs to go find bodies and clean up rooms without getting caught. It’s not as good as it could be though, by all accounts.<\/p>\n

Updates<\/h2>\n

Stardew Valley (iOS<\/a> and Android<\/a>) (Review<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re a fan of the \u2018Farming & Village Life\u2019 Simulator, you\u2019ll have been treated to three smaller updates over the past week. V1.31 and V1.32 improved support for gamepads and did a round of bug fixes, where as V1.33 fixed a bug with gamepads and chests. Now you can control almost all of the game functions and menus with a controller instead of the touch interface, if that\u2019s more your speed.<\/p>\n

Star Traders: Frontiers (iOS<\/a> and Android<\/a>) (Review<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

I should probably just create a template for this article that has a Star Traders<\/em> entry permanently carved in stone or something. The Trese Brothers have updated Frontiers<\/em> yet again, adding in new talents for the Doctor and the Zealot, as well as tweaking mission\/contract generation and some rules around boarding talents.<\/p>\n

Sales<\/h2>\n

Nothing actually worth shouting about this week, unless you\u2019ve been eyeing up Noch mal<\/em>!\u2019s digital port. It\u2019s a dollar cheaper than it usually is. Otherwise save your money and we\u2019ll see what crops up next week.<\/p>\n

Seen anything else you liked? Played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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