Okay, normally we don’t cover this kind of game, but when it’s something this hotly anticipated, the arrival of Japan’s most storied gaming company’s flagship character, on iOS for the first time, well, what’re you going to do? I am referring, of course, USAYA’s My Horse Prince, the all time bishonen-faced horse otome game.
Sorry, sorry, just taking the piss. Of course its Super Mario Run that’s smashing our usual laser-like focus on strategy, but it's not just Mario that's a bit odd, as the other games I have for you include a supremely-retro MMORPG, a __game that requires physical cards, a 2D/3D puzzler, a self-proclaimed metroidvania, and a __game about hacking on the “Go.” At the same time, a slew of amazing iOS games got Android releases.
Super Mario Run
So, what does it take to get an automatic runner into our new release post? Well, apparently, it has to be from Nintendo. It also helps that Super Mario Run is not a infinite runner, and is actually a premium game, with one $10 IAP to unlock everything. What really stands out about Super Mario Run is the level design. Unprepossessing but extremely clever level design is what made Mario the plumber he is today, and that same exquisite balance is at the heart of Super Mario Run. The story’s a tired cliche: Bowser kidnapped Princess Peach, again, but one does not play Super Mario games for the plot. The biggest problem I had with this game is that my spouse and our 5-year-old kept grabbing it out of my hands to play it.
Get the theme music stuck in your head all day on iOS.
Cyber Gargoyle
Cyber Gargoyle is a metroidvania. I know this because you start the game all badass, then inevitably lose the tutorial battle and wake up in a ditch without any of the cool stuff. I was really excited about this one, but the controls feel a little sluggish and everything moves at its own fixed speed: there’s no acceleration, no slipping, no dashing or sliding. Those traits, combined with sprawling, unfocused level design reminded me of the PC platforming games of the early 90s, and not in a good way. Perhaps Cyber Gargoyle would have grown on me, but I didn’t want to hang around and find out.
The iOS version of Cyber Gargoyle is pay-up-front, but the Android version lets you try before you buy.
LVL
LVL is a puzzler built on the same basic mechanic as Fez. You rotate a cube in three dimensions, but when you look at a face straight on, it flattens out. The goal is to move Tetris-like pieces on opposite facings until they line up in 2d mode to paint the square a solid color. It’s fun and the 3d/2d transitions are zippy but eye-catching. I’m not sure if this mechanic is robust and variable enough to remain engaging through fifty levels, but I intend to find out.
LVL up on iOS.
Wyvern
Wyvern is a MMORPG that looks more like Ultima 4 than World of Warcraft. The PC version of the game was released in 2001 and went offline in 2011, so this one has a pedigree. It’s also only a couple of bucks for the app, but you can buy “Wyvern Crowns,” a premium currency entirely separate from the usual fantasy metal coins. So far, it seem that they’re more for customization than power, but I’ve barely scratched the surface of this singular game. Character creation has some interesting wrinkles, including an unusual amount of ethnic diversity for human characters, and a wide range of Rakshasas: not the shapeshifters from Hindu myth, but cat-people with advantages related to the species of big cats they resemble. Wyvern does an impressive job of packing an extensive text-parser system into context menus and tabs, but the whole enterprise suffers greatly from the decision to squish the main window into less than a quarter of the screen, making the game world feel small and distant. Tapping on the wrong tiny square's no fun either.
Wyvern has been resurrected on iOS, but at what price?
Hologrid: Monster Battle
Hologrid is an AR tabletop game in the vein of the late, lamented Golem Arcana. If Hologrid looks a bit like the game of Dejarik (“holochess”) in Star Wars: A New Hope, that's because Phil Tippett designed both sets of monsters. I have no idea how it plays, as the app is free but does nothing without the $35 physical game. The game is complete-in-box, despite a confusing reference to card “packs” - it’s not a CCG.
Let the Wookie win, if he can beat that thing with three heads, on iOS and Android.
The Hacker 2.0
I’d been looking forward to the release of The Hacker 2.0, having enjoyed the previous game in the series. Hacker 2.0, however, is more ambitious and less original than it's predecessor. It looks like a pixelated version of Deus Ex Go, and, it plays like it looks. Hacker 2.0 isn't a clone, but it is too much like it's inspirations. There’s nothing new to see here, unless you count the “hacking” puzzles, which are just about matching identical blocks of code. The puzzles in Hacker 2.0 just isn’t as clever as those in Square Enix's Go games, and it's FTP, though there are no timers or paywalls as far as I saw.
If you need more Go, try The Hacker 2.0 (on iOS).
This week, Solitarica, Road Not Taken, Oceanhorn, and The Quest: Islands of Ice and Fire (HD) made their Android debut. Christmas came early for the iPadless this year! In additional The Quest news, Zarista Games’ Dragon Jade expansion for the original iOS version of The Quest (not HD) is out. Dragon Jade draws inspiration from the famous Chinese epic, Journey to the West, unlike the medieval setting of The Quest and Islands of Ice and Fire.
That’s all for this week. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my abominable hybrid of horse and man is in serious need of currying and farrying.
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