2014 has been a pretty fantastic ride so far, with so many great games having come out already for our iPads and iPhones. Just check out our Top 50 best indie iOS games of 2014 so far to get a taste of what a crazy year it's been for iOS quality. And there is so much more to come.
Q4 and 2015 have so much indie goodness in store that we thought we'd do a quick roundup of five of the many excellent titles on our radar. PAX AUS is coming up and many of the titles below feature in our latest mammoth episode, complete with in depth articles and interviews with the makers of these great looking games. The best part is, for a limited time you can grab this bumper edition of Grab It for Free right here!
Grab It will have staff boots on the ground at the PAX AUS event, so watch this space for stories direct from the show.
Read on for a glimpse into the near-future of iOS.
One of my most anticipated games of the year has to be the indie gem, Gunscape.
One of the big draw cards of the upcoming PAX AUS in Melbourne, Australia, is the Indie Showcase. Chosen by a panel of grizzled industry veterans, the Showcase highlights a select few titles as the most outstanding from the Australian and New Zealand indie scene. One of those games that made the cut – and which will be playable at PAX AUS – is Gunscape by Blowfish Studios.
A rather succinct (albeit crude) way to describe Gunscape would be a love letter to the entire FPS genre. At its core Gunscape plays out like a classic arena-style shoot-em-up – such as Quake III Arena – including typical game modes such as Team Deathmatch, Free-For-All and CTF (Capture The Fish.) But Gunscape is so much more, with Blowfish Studios preferring to label its game a “FPS Construction Kit.” Indeed, Blowfish Studios is putting a massive focus on the community with creating, editing and sharing player developed maps integral to the experience. Friends can even jump in and help out the build via co-op, a la Minecraft.
Intrigued? Well, let us whet your appetite some more. Ahead of PAX AUS, we had the opportunity to catch up with co-founder of Blowfish Studios, Ben Lee, to chat about the origins of Gunscape. We've run a massive feature in Episode 8 of Grab It, featuring a tonne of assets, music, information and more about the making of this game. Here is a snippet of what Lee told us in reference to his inspirations:
“We’ve managed to bring in some core experiences from all these [classic FPS] games into Gunscape. We have the simple, yet fun, core FPS gameplay from Quake. This is essential as no matter what kind of map a player creates, the experience of playing it as an FPS remains fun and competitive. Unreal Tournament 2K3 really started expanding on the different types of multiplayer gameplay in the FPS genre and this is something we’re also bringing in to Gunscape. There are at least eight different multiplayer game modes and we’ll continue to add more with each additional in-game theme. In fact, the big news we’re announcing at PAX AUS is a theme inspired by Bungie’s Marathon games.
Finally, GoldenEye had some memorable game modes too, but the obvious aspect we are capturing here is the splitscreen console gameplay – not that it's limited to gaming consoles only. With the advent of Steam Machines a whole new player base will be happy to play some local multiplayer. Gaming PCs should also be well equipped to handle up to nine player split screen in Gunscape on a nice 4K display!”
This is just scratching the surface of what we can expect from Gunscape. For the rest of our massive in-depth making of feature and world exclusive interview with Lee on Gunscape, be sure to pick up the PAX AUS Indie Game Guide. For a limited time only, the app is absolutely free. So go on, grab it here!
There is no denying Uppercut Games' upcoming Submerged has visual appeal. That much was clearly evident from the early screenshots we posted back in June.
Today, however, we've seen movement and life brought to those previously static landscapes, in the way of the official trailer. The video does a wonderful job of implying a lot but only showing a little. In fact, throughout the development cycle thus far, Uppercut has so far succeeded admirably in walking that fine line of drip-feeding enough information through its development blogs to keep us interested, but not too much, so as to retain a sense of mystery and anticipation.
Accompanied by sombre piano and strings, we see what I assume to be our main characters drift to shore through an destroyed city. The tiny exposed rowboat, and towering imposition of the half-submerged buildings emphasise their vulnerability. The female of the pair climbs out of the boat and onto shore, carrying a small boy in a clearly weakened state. The look on her face is one of desperation. It's a beautiful sequence.
The little we know of the story and setting fleshes out what we see in the video. Players will be exploring and adventuring through this decaying city in an effort to save their brother's life, with supplies at a minimum.
With one carrying or leading the other through these ancient ruined buildings, there are definitely echoes of legendary PlayStation title Ico in Submerged, although the actual gameplay mechanics are yet to be revealed, so we won't speculate too much.
Uppercut's history on iOS has so far been a successful one, with Snowjinks and its sci-fi series EPOCH bringing intuitive controls to cover-based shooting on touchscreens. So at the end of the trailer when we see "Coming early 2015 for PC, Console and Mobile" we feel pretty safe in assuming this means iOS, but we'll do our best to confirm this.
The release of this trailer is doing a great job of keeping Submerged very high on our list of games to watch out for in 2015, watch this space for more info as it comes to hand.
Update: We reached out to Uppercut Games and just heard word that yes, Submerged is definitely coming to both iOS and Android. Happy Days!
Have you collected every Episode? - Episode 1 - Includes The Making of République (*free sample issue*) - Episode 2 - Includes The Making of Oceanhorn - Episode 3 - Includes The Making of Monument Valley - Episode 4 - Includes The Making of Last Inua - Episode 5 - Includes The Making of World of Tanks Blitz - Grab It Episodes 2-5 Bundle - Episode 6 - Includes The Making of Magic 2015 - Duels of the Planeswalkers - Episode 7 - Includes The Making of Tiny Troopers Alliance and Midnight Star - Episode 8 - the PAX AUS edition - Grab It Presents Nihilumbra - Classics Collection
The upcoming Bumper Tank Battle is certainly no World of Tanks Blitz, forgoing graphic realism for his signature cubed art style. It does however look like it might be able to offer up a fun diversion in between bouts of its bigger cousin's slow-rolling strategising.
The key seems to be in the title, as instead of shooting each other, the point seems to be to crash into the enemy's tanks bumper-car style. Hit the trailer below for a brief taste of what's in store.
Speaking of all things tanks, and in particular World of Tanks Blitz, check out our making-of cover feature in Grab It Episode #5 for a massive behind the scenes look at how Wargaming.net stormed onto iOS, complete with world exclusive developer interviews.
For its latest release, Donut Games has gone back more than thirty years in time for inspiration.
Gamers in their thirties and forties will remember Combat, a cartridge that came packaged in the box with the Atari 2600 console. Combat was an absolute treasure trove containing tonnes of minigames that pitted two players against one another in competition. I remember my sister and I losing countless hours to it after school when we probably should have been doing homework.
Donut Games' Micro Battles seems to be a direct attempt to tap into that rich vein of fun that can only be had by two people gaming together in the same room, on the same screen.
There are four games in Micro Battles - a cowboy shootout, plane battle, axe throwing, and a mini football game. Each game simply has a blue button on the left and a red button on the right, with each player timing their attacks and the winner being the first to score five.
By the end of half a dozen games of the cowboy shootout and axe throwing - with my opponent being my wife - we were laughing and yelling hysterically and loudly. The great thing about these four games is that whilst there is some skill involved in timing your attacks, there is also an element of chance which helps even up the odds. For example, in the cowboy game, your bullet may hit one of many cacti placed between you and your opponent, which sends it careening and ricocheting off in unpredictable angles, so much so that it might actually come back to hit you. With luck being a third invisible player, it makes for some great comebacks and stops you from wanting to quit if you are against the wall at 4-1 down.
If you own an iPad or an iPhone, and have an actual real life, warm blooded friend with opposable thumbs, you can jump into the action right now and try out Micro Battles for free. Each day will see one of the four games selected at random, and you can play an unlimited amount of times, with no timers and no ads. For an in-app-purchase, you can then unlock all four games to be playable at your leisure. Simple.
Micro Battles is a step back towards Donut Games' usual stomping ground of casual gaming. Its previous title - Traps 'n Gemstones - saw the developer dip its toes very successfully in harder core gaming waters with a fully fledged 2D platformer. We gave it the full review treatment in Grab It Episode #7.
Have you collected every Episode? - Episode 1 - Includes The Making of République (*free sample issue*) - Episode 2 - Includes The Making of Oceanhorn - Episode 3 - Includes The Making of Monument Valley - Episode 4 - Includes The Making of Last Inua - Episode 5 - Includes The Making of World of Tanks Blitz - Grab It Episodes 2-5 Bundle - Episode 6 - Includes The Making of Magic 2015 - Duels of the Planeswalkers - Episode 7 - Includes The Making of Tiny Troopers Alliance and Midnight Star - Episode 8 - the PAX AUS edition - Grab It Presents Nihilumbra - Classics Collection
For some time now, I’ve been following with great interest the debut project from indie developer Mad Fellows called SineWave (previously known as Salvage.) If you haven’t heard much about it, SineWave is a rhythm-based tunnel shooter in which you fly forwards through a 3D world in a little spacecraft – dodging obstacles and shooting other drones – all to the beat of heavy bass warbling soundtracks. If you've played games like Record Run or Guitar Hero Mobile, the concept will feel immediately familiar. But even more awesome.
One of the things which excites me the most about SineWave is that it’s in incredibly experienced hands. Mad Fellows is comprised of ex-Guitar Hero and DJ Hero veterans (and all-round nice guys) Paul Norris and Dan Horbury. So you can rest assured these guys have the chops to make a pretty decent music game. To my delicious anticipation, I recently got some hands on time with the game before its impending release.
It’s not hard to be attracted to Rival Games’ upcoming crime noir The Detail. Its comic book flair is layered with the atmosphere of a Sin City or even a Seven, while its promised mix of action, mystery, adventure and RPG mechanics can’t help but intrigue. The game is on its way to PC and mobiles, and we caught up with Jukka Laakso, CEO of the Finish studio, JD Sorvari, lead writer, and Timo Naskali, lead programmer, to find out more as the team put the final touches on the game’s first episode.
Stop what you're doing and watch the trailer embedded below. Done? I don't know about you, but this gets me pretty excited for Dead Mage's upcoming Children of Morta.
Judging from what we see in the video, the developer looks to be sticking with the sword-swinging ninja genre of its previous hit Shadow Blade, but moving it away from action platforming and towards a top-down, story-driven action RPG.
And how about that beautiful pixel art? This is pixel art with the emphasis on art, as opposed to pixel art purely as a vehicle for retro nostalgia, which is a pleasant change. Combined with the epic soundtrack and subdued colour palette, the trailer conjures a great sense of haunting gravitas.
There is no confirmation as to which platforms Children of Morta is aiming to release on as yet, apart from the game's website containing a Windows, Apple and Linux symbol. But this could of course mean Mac or iOS. At Grab It Magazine we're obviously hoping for an iOS release, and with the success of Shadow Blade this would seem reasonably likely, but we'll spill the beans as soon as we know more.
For now, all is speculation as we try to decode more clues from that trailer. It's a nice trailer, I think I'll watch it again.
Writer: Garry Balogh
Shadow Blade - which you can grab here - was one of our featured reviews (and interviews) in Grab It Episode 2, which you can grab right here.
In a blog post today Radiangames explained that after failing to meet its September target for releasing Inferno 2, we could always just consider October 2 to be September 32 and still call it a win. Whilst adding the developer's caveat of "no guarantee" for meeting the October 2 date, it looks pretty likely we'll have our hands on the sequel around then.
Starting life as an Xbox Live title, the award-winning dual-stick shooter found its way to iOS in the form of Inferno+. With RPG elements courtesy of a ship upgrade system, and in what is becoming Radiangames' signature, a neon coloured visual style, Inferno+ is a blast.
Double the shooting goodness of Inferno+, the sequel promises 80 levels of smooth eye-melting action. Check out the trailer below for a taste of what to expect, and start practicing now by grabbing the original right here.
We also highly recommend you check out Radiangames' titles in general as the company is very good at what it does, mixing those gorgeous visuals with tight controls in shooters such as Super Crossfighter, JoyJoy, Fireball SE, Ballistic SE, and its racer Fluid SE.
Super Crossfighter was one of our showcased games in the recently released Episode 7 of Grab It, too.
Writer: Garry Balogh
Spoiler Alert - The trailer below contains all of level 29 of Inferno 2, so look away if you'd rather not have that "aah" moment spoiled after you beat level 28.
Micro Machines V3 on the PlayStation One has to be one of my all-time favourite games from that great console's catalogue. Racing toy cars through high-concept fantasy environments viewed from the top down is also a great fit for the iPad.
Developer Polarbit seems to agree. Check out the gorgeous environments shown off in this teaser trailer for the upcoming third entry in its Reckless Racing series, aptly titled Reckless Racing 3. It's looking absolutely stunning, and power-sliding your way around the nuclear reactor setting depicted above should be an awful lot of fun.
Other routes include a harbour, quarry, golf course and a vineyard, all with destructible obstacles. We're pretty excited to take this one for a spin, or a drift, or both. Check out the trailer, and grab the previous game in the series below to get in on the fun now.
PS If you like racing games, you should check out our exclusive interview with Real Racing developer Firemonkeys in Episode 5 of Grab It.
