iPhone/iTouch app and game thread

[Cragmyre]

Not sure what constitutes a day for EA, but Monopoly is on sale today for .99

[Gratch]

If you like endless runners, be sure to check out Darkness Rush.  It's Jetpack Joyride combined with Castlevania, throw in some RPG elements, and power the whole thing with the Unreal engine.  Lots of fun, once you get past the horrible Engrish and figure out the leveling and equipment mechanics.

[Bullwinkle]

Dominion by Donald X. Vaccarino is up on the app store!!!
 

And it's FREE!

[Ænima]

Donald X. Vaccarino does not endorse this app and explicitly says it violates his rule for fan made versions not to use original art. Their statement that it is officially endorsed is a flat out lie.

http://boardgamegeek.com/article/8292118#8292118

[Bullwinkle]

Donald X. Vaccarino does not endorse this app and explicitly says it violates his rule for fan made versions not to use original art. Their statement that it is officially endorsed is a flat out lie.

http://boardgamegeek.com/article/8292118#8292118

I was just coming in to post that this isn't the official release.  "Flat out lie" may be too strong for what may be more of a grey area (he may have received some level of okay from the publisher - or not), but Donald X has said he doesn't like it, so it's back to waiting for me.

I have to say I was a little surprised at the lack of polish when I booted it up, so when I read about its questionable background, it made sense.

[Enigma]

Great Little War Game is free today.  Also, Flick Soccer.

Puzzle Agent 1 & 2 are 99Cents.

[Misguided]

Great Little War Game is free today.  Also, Flick Soccer.

Puzzle Agent 1 & 2 are 99Cents.

Some other Telltale stuff too. A W&G, a Sam and max, the HD Hectors all on sale.

Picked up the dominion game to check it out because I've never played it, but would be happy to pay for a real release if I like it anywhere near as much as Ascension.

[Misguided]

Huh...not having played it before, the Dominion app seems at least competent. There's no sound. The tutorial is extremely minimal. I figured out what I was doing about halfway through the game I was playing. I had no idea when the game would end. I ended up losing 38-27 (I was hastening the end of the game by buying provinces without knowing I was doing it). Not entirely sure I feel about how the way it works with the ten rotating stacks, but I would certainly be willing to pay for a more polished version.

[Gratch]

Say hello to my new addiction, Triple Town.  An awesome take on match-3, probably my favorite since Dungeon Raid.  It needs a little work (no high score list?), but the core game is remarkably solid.

[wonderpug]

I've heard good things about it but the $7 price tag for the full in-app unlock is ridiculous.  I guess I'll at least try the free portion, though.

[Gratch]

I've heard good things about it but the $7 price tag for the full in-app unlock is ridiculous.  I guess I'll at least try the free portion, though.

They dropped it down to $4 today.  Still high, but seems like it will be worth it.

[Cragmyre]

BANG! for the iPad is on sale today for .99

[rittchard]

Dungeon Crawlers (coming Thursday) looks like it could be fun, supposedly a humorous TBS described as Shining Force meets Diablo:

http://toucharcade.com/tag/dungeon-crawlers/

[Enigma]

Greed Corp HD is .99 today.  Looks good but haven't tried it yet.

[skystride]

BANG! for the iPad is on sale today for .99

Oops I almost bought some other (looks crappy) game called Bang! that comes first on the list when you search for "bang!" in the app store.

[wonderpug]

I had a similar problem.  You want "BANG! the Official Video Game", not "Bang!" which may or may not be an official video game.

[Harkonis]

Finally got to play a game with Kato, was quite fun.  I'm looking forward to playing Bang! with more of you. 

It's a little harder than most iOS since the game won't work in an asynch manner.

[wonderpug]

I did buy BANG! the Official Video Game, but I've only tried one or two matches against the AI.  I'm game for a game if we can get everyone to line up timewise.

[USMC Kato]

I did buy BANG! the Official Video Game, but I've only tried one or two matches against the AI.  I'm game for a game if we can get everyone to line up timewise.

I challenge Wonderpug and Harkonis!!!!

[godhugh]

Finally got to play a game with Kato, was quite fun.  I'm looking forward to playing Bang! with more of you. 

It's a little harder than most iOS since the game won't work in an asynch manner.

I'm looking forward to Bang!ing you as well, Harkonis.

Wait, hold on a second...

[Cragmyre]

BANG! for the iPad is on sale today for .99

Oops I almost bought some other (looks crappy) game called Bang! that comes first on the list when you search for "bang!" in the app store.

Sorry guys, I should have used the complete title - thought the link would help, but I didn't realize there were other bangs out there. :\

[Misguided]

A turn-based fantasy rpg called Dungeon Crawlers came out last night which I can describe best as: if Spengler, Venkman, and Stantz were sitting around a table playing D&D, this might be the result. The interface is a bit quirky, but I'm having fun with it so far.

[Gratch]

A turn-based fantasy rpg called Dungeon Crawlers came out last night which I can describe best as: if Spengler, Venkman, and Stantz were sitting around a table playing D&D, this might be the result. The interface is a bit quirky, but I'm having fun with it so far.

I'm really interested in this one, hoping I can get somewhere with WiFi today so I can try it out on the flight home.

[Qantaga]

Dungeon Crawlers (coming Thursday) looks like it could be fun, supposedly a humorous TBS described as Shining Force meets Diablo:

http://toucharcade.com/tag/dungeon-crawlers/

 
  

A turn-based fantasy rpg called Dungeon Crawlers came out last night which I can describe best as: if Spengler, Venkman, and Stantz were sitting around a table playing D&D, this might be the result. The interface is a bit quirky, but I'm having fun with it so far.

I'm really interested in this one, hoping I can get somewhere with WiFi today so I can try it out on the flight home.

 
I picked it up last night, too.
  
Thanks for the heads-up on this one. I'm only into the third level, but I'm hooked so far.

[rittchard]

Dungeon Crawlers (coming Thursday) looks like it could be fun, supposedly a humorous TBS described as Shining Force meets Diablo:

http://toucharcade.com/tag/dungeon-crawlers/

 
  

A turn-based fantasy rpg called Dungeon Crawlers came out last night which I can describe best as: if Spengler, Venkman, and Stantz were sitting around a table playing D&D, this might be the result. The interface is a bit quirky, but I'm having fun with it so far.

I'm really interested in this one, hoping I can get somewhere with WiFi today so I can try it out on the flight home.

 
I picked it up last night, too.
  
Thanks for the heads-up on this one. I'm only into the third level, but I'm hooked so far.

Definitely a lot of fun, pretty much what I was hoping for.  I'm not sure I like the humorous theme and being locked into these specific characters but the general gameplay seems solid.  I'm hoping the loot drops will get more interesting though; since they are advertising as SF meets Diablo I'd hope for either better loot or customization. 

[Misguided]

Great points, Ritt. The humor definitely falls a bit flat. I like that they are trying to be funny, but it isn't as funny as they think.

I'm not anticipating great loot, but that would be a plus. The basic turn-based framework is solid, though. Can you imagine what people would come up with if they released an editor?

[Gratch]

Definitely a lot of fun, pretty much what I was hoping for.  I'm not sure I like the humorous theme and being locked into these specific characters but the general gameplay seems solid.  I'm hoping the loot drops will get more interesting though; since they are advertising as SF meets Diablo I'd hope for either better loot or customization. 

Spent a couple hours with this on my flight today, and came away pretty unimpressed.  It's great from a technical standpoint...looks good, sounds good, UI works well.  As an SRPG, however, it really falls flat with me for a couple reasons:

1.  There is exactly zero customization of your characters.  You have a set party of three and they gain set abilities at each level.  There's really no decisions to be made in any way.  It combines XP into one pool for the entire party, so there's not even any reason to emphasize the actions of one character over another.  It's basically an "on rails" SRPG, which doesn't appeal to me much.  YMMV.

2.  The characters seem awfully unbalanced.  My melee fighter typically only does 5-10 damage per attack and has to be standing right next to the enemy, while my mage (the only one who has found a +1 weapon so far) typically does 25-30 damage from 5 squares away.  There are also no line of sight restrictions on any ranged attacks, which I thought was kinda strange.

3.  As Rittchard mentioned, there is very little loot so far and what you do come across isn't terribly exciting (i.e. adding a basic +1 to armor or attack).  Maybe it gets better further in, but there isn't much to look forward to in the early levels. 

4.  There's no option to grind battles to gain XP, so it really comes down to figuring out how the devs wanted you to beat a specific encounter.  While there is a little flexibility in how you structure your attack, it kinda feels more like a puzzle game than an RPG.  When they do try to mix up battles, it ends up being more annoying than fun or challenging.  The goblin king that spawned an endless supply of low-level minions was a great example of this.  The objective for that fight wasn't even really clear, as it just sort of...ended once you stepped in the tile in front of the boss.   

5.  I agree that most of the humor either feels very forced (Roy, Peyter, and Aegor...really?) or falls completely flat. 

Maybe I'm just too picky about my SRPG's, but I'm just really not feeling this one.  It reminds me a lot of Grotesque Tactics, which I really disliked as well.  There's simply far better SRPG options, even on iPhone/iPad...I'd much rather just play FF Tactics instead.

[Misguided]

I kind of like the puzzle feel to the combat, but can certainly understand where it would put others off. For instance, I really liked the goblin king fight (though I agree it ended abruptly).

I see this as more of a tbs game with rpg elements than an actual rpg, but again I do agree that if it DID have that it would be incredible.

Once more, I really wish they would release. An editor for this and turn the community lose on it.

[Bullwinkle]

Apparently, Ghost Trick is coming to iOS tonight.  It's one of my favorite DS games from last year, so give it a try if you haven't played it.

[wonderpug]

Just iPad? Or the wee ones, too?

[Bullwinkle]

Just iPad? Or the wee ones, too?

Looks to be Universal.

Also, the first two chapters are free.

[Cragmyre]

The people that created Ascension for the iOS have come out with their next game Food Fight iOS

[Harkonis]

The people that created Ascension for the iOS have come out with their next game Food Fight iOS

I will likely grab every game they release. 

[Harkonis]

tried out Food Fight, it's quite fun.  Very high production values just like Ascension and ease of use is about the same.  Liking the draft mode feature as well.

[godhugh]

I picked Food Fight up as well. Only played through the tutorial but it definitely seems fun.

[Misguided]

tried out Food Fight, it's quite fun.  Very high production values just like Ascension and ease of use is about the same.  Liking the draft mode feature as well.

The app is well done, but don't think I'm crazy about the game itself. I really wish that you could choose the order you play your 5 troops. As it is, if you have no instants, there is literally nothing to do but watch. Frankly, I find it dull. Those are issues with the game design, though, not the app itself. I have minor quibbles with the app, but overall it is well done and I trust Playdk to improve it. I would certainly recommend this to anyone that is a fan of the physical game.

[Bullwinkle]

tried out Food Fight, it's quite fun.  Very high production values just like Ascension and ease of use is about the same.  Liking the draft mode feature as well.

The app is well done, but don't think I'm crazy about the game itself. I really wish that you could choose the order you play your 5 troops. As it is, if you have no instants, there is literally nothing to do but watch. Frankly, I find it dull. Those are issues with the game design, though, not the app itself. I have minor quibbles with the app, but overall it is well done and I trust Playdk to improve it. I would certainly recommend this to anyone that is a fan of the physical game.

I had no instants my first game and kind of lost interest in the app immediately.  It was also a little overwhelming reading all of the special abilities of all my cards and figuring out what to do.  Not complicated, mind you, just more to go through than I was interested in doing with a lame hand, basically.   Especially for a game that's essentially just War.

I came off of the tutorial kind of excited to play, though, so it was a blow to find my interest tank so quickly.

I'll give it another shot down the road.  It is nicely produced, and I do enjoy Ascension on the iPad, so I hold hope that I'll still be able to get into the rhythm of it.

[Harkonis]

Between drafting your army and cards that interact with your hand i had plenty to do even without instants.  Game is fast paced and simple, i like that.

[Misguided]

Between drafting your army and cards that interact with your hand i had plenty to do even without instants.  Game is fast paced and simple, i like that.

I meant in terms of playing the hand itself. Yeah, choosing the best 5 troops part is fine. It is what comes after that bugs me. Also, the way the campaign works doesn't entice me. Why do I have to assign a card to a specific deck? It would be so much better if you could collect cards and assemble them into decks later. Oh well, good app, just not for me.

On a different note Grand Prix Story is on sale for a buck, and I adore it.

[Gratch]

Been playing a lot of Baseball Superstars 2012 while sitting on beaches this week, and while I love the game, their freemium pricing model is waaaaaay out of whack.  You can buy "G Points" (the game's currency) using an in-game store, but they are ridiculously expensive.  You also get a miniscule amount of them for for in-game actions (i.e. 5 per home run.  Keep in mind the game's minimum restoration item costs 400), so trying to simply grind for them isn't really that feasible.

If they cut their IAP costs by around 50% to make them "impulse" purchases, my guess is that they'd rake it in.  As it is now, while I absolutely adore the gameplay, I won't be spending much more time with it, as it would be a neverending - and absurdly expensive - $$ sink.