Mobile Monday
The 11th annual Independent Games Festival awards were announced just a few days ago, and you'll be happy to know the Mobile category was filled with excellent iPhone games. Even better, we've already featured most of them on previous Mobile Monday articles! Check out the iTunes IGF Mobile page to see where the spotlight is currently shining.
We're still giving away iTunes gift certificates to cover the cost of every game featured in the current Mobile Monday article. Simply sign-in with a Casual Gameplay account, leave a comment giving feedback about one of the games, then check back the week after to see if you've won. Simple! Congratulations to last week's winner, Coldfrog!
Kyper - From Ian Marsh, creator of Textropolis, comes a speed-based space game where your only goal is to... well... go really fast! Tilt the iPhone left or right to move across the bottom of the screen. Two types of asteroids fly at your ship: ones that make you slow down, and ones that make you speed up. Avoid hitting either at all costs, but the closer you are to the "speed up" asteroids, the more speed you'll gain. See how fast you can go before crashing!
Fieldrunners - Easily one of the best, most polished and well-rounded tower defense games on the iTunes App Store, Fieldrunners drops you in one of three maps and challenges you to destroy oncoming soldiers by placing a few towers in their way. Carve a complex maze to maximize shooting time, and use the cash you earn from victories to upgrade your defenses. A ton of replay value, unlockable maps and modes, and overall great presentation makes this one well worth grabbing.
Drop7 - This simple puzzle game has all the makings of a classic. Blending your traditional Tetris-style block matching with games like sudoku or Blocksum, drop numbered discs to the bottom of the grid by tapping the screen. If a disc's number matches the number of orbs in a row and/or column, that disc vanishes. Setting up chain reactions is simple and very rewarding, and three game modes ensures every casual gamer will find something for him/herself.
Radio Flare - A music-based shooter that recently walked away with the Best Audio award at the 2009 Independent Games Festival Mobile. Control the ship with your left thumb, and connect up to four enemy ships by drawing with your right thumb. Enemies explode into red flares in rhythm with the music. Tons of enemy formations to vanquish, a good few dozen stages and unlockable achievements add a little bit of challenge. A free Lite version is also available.
NOTE: Games listed may not be available outside of North America. Prices are subject to change and are therefore unlisted. Please see the individual game pages for purchasing info.
Prices as of the date/time of this comment:
Kyper...........$0.99Fieldrunners....$2.99
Drop7...........$2.99
Radio Flare.....$0.99
I have been COMPLETELY ADDICTED to Drop7 since I first downloaded it several weeks ago. I can't remember any game on any platform that I've played as much, with the possible exception of PictureLogic on the various Palm devices I had in the first half of this decade.
At the same time I found Drop7, I found a dice-based logic game called Lock-N-Roll, and both of them are excellent. It's so great to find simple pick-up-and-play games that aren't based on the same old tired "match 3" formulas. Hail newness!
kostia, if you like Drop7, you might want to look into Chain Factor. It's a Flash version of that game, made by the same company (although the Flash version came first).
http://www.chainfactor.com/
My only problem with Fieldrunners is that my friends play it for like hours, when we are out, and drain my poor battery. Great game, lots of fun.
Honestly, I feel like Fieldrunners is overrated. Just because it was one of the first TD's does not mean it is the best. Geodefense, along with 7 Cities and iTD make up the best TD's on the platform in my opinion. Drop7, however, is pure genius and I am still trying to learn how to make huge combos.
Ahh, finally a portable Chain Factor! Now I really must get a Touch.
Any plans in the JiG back room to feature some mobile word games? (If I've missed any, please tell me!)
Fieldrunners will be better with updates, it's still in the polishing stages. It's one of the prettier TD games available though.
I simply think that Fieldrunners is amazing. It does need some polishing up but it simply is pretty. It is better than some of the other TD games but maybe not the best.
Field Runners is pretty good. I haven't been able to figure out a good strategy for the fields that have more than one entry point.
The game tends to play out very slowly until you get to round 75 where you earn a fast forward button... I'm not sure why they make you wait until then.
I also don't know why the 2 extra towers aren't unlocked until after you play a full 100 rounds of classic on a new map.
kyper, great game.. reminds of f the swoop racing minigames in KOTOR, but much nicer. keep it up.
Bought Drop7... what an addicting little game! I think I will be playing this game a lot.
Goodbye productivity!
I downloaded fieldrunners a while ago. It is a good defense game, but I got bored with it. It didn't seem like there was much replay value, but it looks like there has been updates since then. I might have to give it another shot.
For those interested, there is a lite version of Radio Flare.
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