Each month, the iOS GAF community hosts a thread for new game releases, rumors and discussion that define the fast-moving world of iOS gaming.
The OP will contain games that released both towards the end of the previous month and games that have released during the current month.
All the games listed will have been highlighted by the GAF community in one way or another. This way you can keep tabs on the best games and at the same time curate an excellent resource to look back on to find games you may have missed.
Also keep an eye out for the ‘GAF iOS Challenges’; events where GAF battle it out on the Game Center leaderboards of a chosen game for both fame and fortune (prizes donated by members of our community).
Battleheart Legacy is fricking amazing on every level!
I love Mika. I've replayed both Zombieville USA 2 and Battleheart about five times a piece and this game looks to have me doing the same.
Battleheart Legacy is fantastic. Love the art style and comedy. Only thing I wish it had was respecs. There's several classes and combos I want to try out.
Finally got to spend some time with it today, and I'm hooked! The art style, gameplay, and RPG elements all make for an incredible game.
It does seem a little difficult though (level 7 war now) and I'm having trouble completing level 7 quests. I may have to create a new char and try a different build.
Anyone else have suggestions on BH:Legacy's difficulty? Or experiencing the same thing?
Yeah, it's really fantastic....exceeding all my expectations.
I wasn't able to play it as much as I wanted (level 6) but I'm really impressed.
Yeah...I too find it a bit more difficult than expected, which is good.
Even against a weak enemy...standing there waiting for skills to 'refill' brings just death...I find myself constantly on the move...and now the game is really opening up...throwing a great variety of different enemies (magic users!!!!).
There are so many great ideas perfectly implemented .... I really wasn't expecting this.
You can basically build whichever character you want, the 5 potions thing is brilliant, tons of different situations, dialogues can have completely different outcomes....
Oh...and it's really GORGEOUS.
And ultra fun....every session feels like a mini adventure....they managed to achieve free roam while having very compact scenarios.
Can't wait to play it much more during the week end.
Picked up Dragon Quest 8 today.
Device: iPhone 5c
There is an excellent game in there, but the execution is a real mixed bag.
Positives:
+ the UI is really well thought out. I like the improvements to the combat interface.
+ thank God for no Helvetica
+ core DQ experience is there.
Negatives
- really shitty performance. (20ish fps)
- missing graphical effects like the heat shimmer around torches and dynamic character shadows
- some oddness like the aspect ratio of the damage numbers being wrong and objects that pop out prematurely at the edge of the screen
- portrait orientation + low fps makes navigation more difficult than it should be to navigate. For example finding the well in the first town is hard if you don't already know where it is.
The lack of vo and orchestrated soundtrack is a non issue to me. The soundtrack sounds great, and the script is mostly the same (just added dialog for the new control scheme).
Overall: 3/5. An improved framerate would bump it to 4/5. iPad recommended.
I chose to buy it at full price to tell SE that dq is worth investing in, but if you're on the fence pick it up on a sale.
From what I've gathered:
- Sub 30fps framerates even on A7 devices (gets really awful sometimes, and can occasionally mess with menu selection)
- Long loading times (way worse than the Japan PS2 release), especially for battles (which happen 1,000s of times in the game)
- Doesn't have the option to use the (very nice) voice work from the Western release.
- Doesn't have the orchestral music from the western release.
- Only supports portrait mode.
- Crashes quite a bit on older devices (perhaps would have been better to not support them at all)
- Graphics aren't really as good as they could have been
- No controller support (afaik)
- No cloud save support even though it is universal (afaik)
That list probably missing quite a few as well.
Table Tennis Touch is really good, it does some things better than Wii Sport Resorts (and what is worse is due to not having a physical paddle to enjoy the "you're actually there" factor.
I'm a (former) competitive level tt (also "proper" tennis) player and I can vouch for it
in all seriousness, I have fun with it and felt right at home playing it, especially loving topspin plays (besides how they handled ball twists with an "after the fact" left/right swipe)
Also, this game is another example of how poor iOS was designed.
Why the fuck can't I go back to double clicking the home button to bring up the control center instead of having it always at risk of coming up and interrupting/shitting my plays just with an upwards swipe from the bottom of the screen!? I mean, give me a proper freakin' option to choose how to handle it because having to disable in-app control center isn't one.
Good god, Table Tennis Touch is SO good.
Spent some more quality time with Naval Tactics: Captains of the Spanish Main and I must say I'm really loving it.
Very different from same dev previous effort Starbase Orion, this game feels like a miniatures game.
There isn't a proper tutorial and no proper solo campaign (but there are historical missions and scenarios, I bet the dev will add more of them) but after 1-2 games everything will be clear enough to enjoy the simple but deep rules.
Combat is the meat of the game, with very clear victory conditions and tons of options on how to achieve it.
The app is very slick too and the multiplayer part is awesome like the one in StarBase Orion.
Very well done, but I guess people familiar with StarBase Orion do not need any more impressions.
I'm ten levels into Kiwanuka and if there's one thing you can be certain about, it's that this game is very polished. From the menu to the art style to the effects, you can tell Kiwanuka was designed with style in mind
Just check out the cute level select screen and streaks of lightning
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So visually, artistically, Kiwanuka is already great. And thankfully, the gameplay is just as good as the visuals. Essentially you control a wizard and his followers and must rescue your imprisoned acolytes. Figuring out how to navigate the gaps, drops, and other hazards is the hard part; actually managing those feats couldn't be easier. Simply drag the lightning from your staff to guide your group, drag upward to create towers of people and then drag them over so they fall and create bridges and paths. It's simple and intuitive to control and just feels cool thanks to the nice lightning effects. Examining your environment is important, figuring how long your towers must be and what direction they need to swing, and timing as well, since you may have to remove a bridge mid-crossing to drop into another area.
I don't know how many levels there are, but like I said, I'm still early into the game and the level still feels tutorial-esque or at least like these are still the easy levels. I haven't encountered the other colored terrain types yet. So hopefully there's a lot more to come.
With its abstract style, simple responsive controls, interesting mechanics, and overall polish, Kiwanuka made a great first impression and I'm eager to play more and see what kind of challenges the later levels have to offer.
(What more do you need? --Tunes)This Tales game is great.
None yet!
It's freaking gorgeous. Totally worth the price, even though the platforming mechanics aren't anything new. It's fairly difficult and forgiving at the same time (checkpoints are well placed), so you never really get frustrating. The main character is charismatic, the story quite nice (no spoilers, but it's deeper than I had assumed initially). Touch controls are a bit infuriating, but switching to on-screen buttons did the trick for me. Trying to beat the hardcore mode now, but fuck it's difficult >_<

























