Mobile Monday
If you're a fan of strategy games, we've got a real treat for you this Monday. Both KDice Trainer and UniWar tackle the genre from different angles, the former adopting a casual-friendly stance while the latter isn't afraid to get serious with unit management and tactics.
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, Saltone!
KDice Trainer - A single-player version of Ryan Dewsbury's addictive multiplayer classic, KDice, is now available to take with you on your iPhone. Gameplay is like Risk, only with dice instead of army units. Attack adjacent territories as you battle other colors for control over the map. At the end of your turn you get bonus dice based on the largest number of contiguous territories that you control. In other words, the larger your land, the stronger you are. Simple, but highly engaging. KDice was inspired by the single-player game, Dice Wars, by Taro Ito.
UniWar - What if Advance Wars and StarCraft got together and baked a cake? And what if that cake weren't a cake, but a game? UniWar would probably be the result, as this turn-based strategy game plays like a combination of both popular mainstream titles. Buy, build and control your army of units as you fight your opponent for control of the precious bases. Many units have special abilities that betray their low attack/defense scores, so sometimes muscling your way to the end isn't always the best road to victory.
Totomi - A portable version of the Flash game of the same name, Totomi is an animal-filled stacking-based puzzle game. Animals and food all have relationships with each other, which makes stacking a bit more complex. You can pile zebras on top of each other all day long, for example, but as soon as you put a lion in the mix, he'll gobble them right up. Putting a leaf on the zebras is a different matter. It's a unique puzzle experience that's made a smooth transition to the iTunes App Store. A free Totomi Lite version is also available.
Cosmic Nitro - From the creator of Galcon comes a frantic tap-to-shoot arcade game that doubles as an "I'm afraid I'm going to tap my iPod to pieces" simulator. Asteroids, toxic waste, meteors, UFOs and other space debris are hurtling towards the city. Simply tap the screen to blast the baddies, making sure to fry any pieces they throw off as a result of being destroyed. Stay alive as long as you can and earn massive points. Things take a minute or so to warm up, but when you're huddled over the screen, iPhone clutched in two hands tapping with as many fingers as you can manage, you'll see why it's a great game.
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.
I never was able to figure out the "point" of Totomi, it seemed like you could go on endlessly stacking this together and nothing much ever happened.
Yeah, sometimes I feel the same about Totomi! If you don't "end" the stack by dropping an item that makes the animals frightened, you never gain points and won't go up in level.
Prices as of the date/time of this comment:
KDice Trainer..........$0.99 (sale!)UniWar.................$0.99 (sale!)
Totomi.................$0.99
Totomi (lite)...........Free
Cosmic Nitro...........$0.99
Any chance of you posting not only iPhone apps, but also other mobile games for e.g. Symbian-based phones?
Would be greatly appreciated, as is the rest of the great work your putting into this site.
I like Totomi, I think I've had enough of mmorpg, I'm giving myself a break from it so I play mobile games. Oh well, if I sell ffxi gil maybe I can change my phone to a better one.
I've just put KDice on sale for jayisgames readers. Now its only a buck!
Let me know what you want to see in the app (besides multiplayer which is coming!). Also, be sure to leave a review!
Ryan
JIG staff: just to let you guys know, I now call Mondays "Rice and Beans day" because that is all I will eat- so I can put the saved money towards all the awesome new mobile games I read about!
UniWar is the first good strategy game with any depth that I've found for the iPhone. The hexagonal "board" helps to simplify the gameplay, yet each unit has their own set of abilities which helps to add to the depth of the strategy. I'm a big fan of this. It is much better than Warfare Inc, which tried to follow the RTS genre too closely, and as a result has non-accessible gameplay and awkward controls.
Cosmic Nitro surprised me. Tapping falling asteroids didn't sound like too much fun, and this idea definitely has done before (missle command style games). The music, the sound effects, and the graphics really do make this a much more entertaining time. My only problem with this game is that as it began to get more hectic the limit to the speed of tapping it can detect became apparent... frustratingly so. I had to tap on things two or three times because the first wouldn't register because it would be too soon from the last time I tapped.
One really great feature in this game... When you successfully hit an enemy the volume of the background music increases a little which helps to add to the intensity. A subtle effect, but one I thought to be very effective.
Even though I'm not an iPhone owner, I have to applaud Ryan Dewsbury for making KDice for iPhone. That game is easily the best version of Risk, that isn't just a copy of Risk. And I also have to applud that so many of the good Flash games are being ported to iPhone.
Now, a Nintendo DS version of KDice would be applauded by me. Or maybe I should just get an iPhone. Or an emulator.
Woo Hoo, I won, How do I collect?
Uniwar is great fun. I especially like the local multiplayer, there isn't much of that for the ipod touch.
Re: ThemePark
Why do you approve of people are porting Flash games to the iPhone, and then charging for them? The gameplay is nothing new, except now you get to pay for it.
I much prefer new efforts. Games that were actually designed and built for the iPhone, as these are the games that best take advantage of its features (and are actually worth paying for).
Rek, do you not think that these people deserve some monetary appreciation for all the hard work they've actually put into their game, especially when it's actually a good one?
Like I said I don't own an iPhone, so money is not an issue to me, obviously. I like the porting of Flash games, because it adds portability, and since I have a Nintendo DS, I know myself that there's nothing better than to take out your portable whatever, and play a nice little game to kill time when you're sitting in a bus, or waiting for a friend, or anything else really.
I am so happy that KDice finally came out for the iPod touch! That is such a fun game!
@ThemePark
For the same thing they've already released for free? No. I think that they've already decided to give it away, and without adding any new value/innovation I don't appreciate them flooding the market with ports.
If their original game was so good, that should indicate that they have the talent to make a full game for the iPhone which could also be good. Porting and releasing their game for free could provide some very good marketing for a new game tailored for the iPhone. Most flash games just are not fleshed out to the same point, and do not take full advantage of the hardware.
In a perfect world, the app store would be full of good games--not ports, rehashes, and gag apps.
As much as I would like to see non-copied games, there are definitely a few I would think cool to transfer to the UI of the iphone/itouch.
One game I'd really like to see on the iphone would be a version of Settlers of Catan.
UniWar is hands down the greatest game on the iPhone, IMO.
Update