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[More_Badass]

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.

If you're a developer who wishes to have your game featured, please talk about your game in the thread and if the GAF community at large likes the game then your wish just might be granted. Please note that there's a difference between posting about a game you made and just advertising your game with no further interaction with the community, this thread is not for the latter and such advertising behavior is frowned upon.

Directory
1) Introduction & Recommended Games
2) Recommended Games continued
3) Upcoming Releases, Past Threads & Other Links

Site | Trailer | App Store
Enjoy the next chapter in the award-winning Geometry Wars franchise and enjoy stunning, console-quality graphics as you battle through waves of enemies in this frenetic arcade shooter!

Geometry Wars 3 is so good. Thanks to everyone for the recommendation. I'm shocked how well the touch controls work for this game where good controls are vital

Holy cow that Geometry Wars port is amazing. 60fps all the time, looks absolutely gorgeous (I have it on PC running and ultra and I can't tell the difference), full of content with a bite-sized structure that makes sense for mobile and a small filesize. Control support is perfect too.
All that at that price? It's more than a steal, it's a fricking must buy.

Snagged GW 3 and, yeah, it is freaking awesome. As much as I love radiangames DSS games, the beauty of this baby totally blows my mind. I love the campaign (which I am still struggling to finish on X1) and those brilliantly designed 3-D playing fields just look stunning on an iPad Mini 2.

Geometry Wars 3 on the iPad Air with a controller might just be one of the best things I've ever played on iOS. Wow, I am impressed

Geometry Wars 3 on iOS is pretty damn amazing. Somehow the controls still don't feel as good as Geometry Wars Touched (I think that's what the other one was called) but I'm getting used to it. I think if I can find a semi-decent twin-stick controller that is portable then I'll be in heaven. How in the hell did they fit it all in under 100MB?!

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Site | Trailer | App Store
Carve your way through hundreds of levels as you search for the elusive Yeti. Weave through trees, skid over ice, launch off cliffs and get to know a cast of bizarre locals in this top-down extreme slalom adventure.
All handcrafted for your phone to create the ultimate skiing experience.

1. Skiing Yeti Mountain is INSANE. The controls and "carving snow" sound design are sogood.gif defined. I think I finally have a new iOS title to replace my Absolutely Every Idle Moment phone game, Crossey Road.

I'm really liking Skiing Yeti Mountain - perfect for playing in 2 minute increments. I love how the story (very unobtrusive BTW), and characters match the 80's retro visuals.

Just started Skiing Yeti Mountain today and I love it. Right now, as the sun is coating everything in a warm orange glow outside, I noticed that the game is reaching dusk as well. Is the day night cycle mentioned in the settings real time? Nice if yes.

Skiing Yeti Mountain
Good god, I really found the previews pics hideous and wouldn't have approached it if not for iOS Gaf buzz, but I'm glad I did. Stellar. Impressive how nailed down controls and sounds make the game. Really really pleased by what I played.
Unfortunately, I don't know if it's just me but after a few hours with it I found that the controls just obliterated my thumb muscles. Didn't play it again :-/
Maybe it's the fact that I play on an ipad..

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Site | Trailer | App Store
Nubs' Adventure is an exploratory platformer in which you help Nubs rebuild his house after it was destroyed by the evil Reds. But Nubs is not alone! With him on his journey are his friends: the tiny wisp Ally and a huge worm named Brute.
Explore four different world, each with their own secrets, enemies and traps. Control Nubs, as well as the wisp Ally and the worm Brute. Fight the evil Reds in epic boss fights. Solve puzzles and collect diamonds to rebuild your house in this epic platforming adventure!

Nubs' Adventure is a wonderful game and one that I didn't want to end. The music, art and gameplay are excellent and it's an easy recommendation for platformer/metroidvania fans.

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Site | Trailer | App Store
Sword of Xolan is an action platformer game that includes the juice of pixel art style.
Xolan is a young and brave man who fight for justice no matter what the cost.
Help him on his adventure to stand against darkness and bring back the peace and serenity that once was.

Sword of Xolan is an awesome retro platformer! Nice graphics, good gameplay and great controls. The price of 99 cent is a blast, especially because there are no IAPs!

Sword of Xolan is fantastic, reminds me of Goblin Sword.

Picked up Sword of Xolan today ($0.99 - how can you go wrong) and its really fun. Tongue in cheek dialogue, good music, and really great controls. Being a slightly older gamer I really enjoy the old school pixelated graphics and Zelda style smash the barrels to collect coins too.

Sword of Xolan is great, I'm loving my time with it. It could have been more than that, though, it feels a bit repetitive and it has the worst thing you can do to me as a fan of pixel art - Flash-game-like rotating sprites :[ It's limited to the Boulder-throwing enemies so far, thankfully, but I hate it so much when a game has good, uniform, cohesive pixel art only to have things like that. I can live with other "out of character" effects like a bit of bloom or somewhat liberal use of color, but not rotating sprites, ew. Still, it doesn't make the game not great and I realize not everyone has such an strong opinion about it. The controls are spot on, it has lots of content and it's a $1 USD "premium" game! One of the best iOS releases in a while. More like this and Goblin Sword, please.

Sword of Xolan... Yeap, it's good. Not the most original game ever, not the most challenge, the music is bad and the sound effects grating, but is it a fantastic homage to classic side-scrolling adventure games? You bet, and I can't put it down.

Just make sure to mute the sound.

Grabbed it this morning too - very good action platformer! Any decent gamer will probably plow through the 30 levels quite fast, but at $0.99 it's still a steal.

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Site | Trailer | App Store
Bring civilization to Sproggiwood, a story-driven, turn-based roguelike set in a humorous world inspired by Finnish mythology. Grow your civilization and plunder procedural dungeons with six unique classes. Outsmart mischievous monsters who work together in unexpected ways. No two dungeon dives are alike.

Impressions soon

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Site | Trailer | App Store
Desktop Dungeons, the award-winning unique puzzle roguelike makes its debut on iOS! Fight your way through randomly generated dungeons, collect spells, items, and loot to defeat the dungeon boss and earn gold to upgrade your Kingdom. Unlock new classes to play as, useful items to discover, capricious gods to worship, and enemies to fight. All in service of the almighty bottom line and saving your Kingdom from peril.

Impressions soon

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Site | Trailer | App Store
The Journal of Professor Zazer is a mini adventure, set in the mysterious world of Jenny LeClue - Detectivù. Join brilliant young detective Jenny LeClue and discover the secrets within!
This is a completely free Playable Teaser - A taste of the atmosphere of Jenny LeClue.

Jenny LeClue - Playable Teaser
Err, no thanks ? I was sold on the art style and premise but the playable teaser was more of a pain than anything. Plot-wise I didn't understand a thing, gameplay is nearly fully reliant on click on anything (not the end of the world, we are in a pnc after all), and the dev conception of a riddle is to throw a ton of stuff to click on until you clicked on everything of note.
Redeeming note is the strange mix of childlike art and pretty dark themes, but if this is a taste of what is to come, you can certainly keep it.

 

[More_Badass]

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Site | Trailer | App Store
One of the most acclaimed adventure games of all time is now back, better than ever.
Something's rotten in the land of the dead, and you're being played for a sucker. Meet Manny Calavera, travel agent at the Department of Death. He sells luxury packages to souls on their four-year journey to eternal rest. But there's trouble in paradise. Help Manny untangle himself from a conspiracy that threatens his very salvation.

I have no self-control.

Bought Grim Fandango. Looks and plays perfectly on my 5S. Sound is perfect, controls are, so far, perfect, visuals look amazing. I cannot believe I am playing my favorite game of all time on my freaking phone!

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Site | Trailer | App Store
Legend of Grimrock is a dungeon crawling role playing game with an oldschool heart but a modern execution. A group of prisoners are sentenced to certain death by exiling them to the secluded Mount Grimrock for vile crimes they may or may not have committed. Unbeknownst to their captors, the mountain is riddled with ancient tunnels, dungeons and tombs built by crumbled civilizations long perished now. If they ever wish to see daylight again and reclaim their freedom the ragtag group of prisoners must form a team and descend through the mountain, level by level.

Have to say that the Legend of Grimrock is a fantastic port. Beautiful, brooding dungeon with those forboding sounds, light puzzles and monsters. The touch controls work perfectly.

Absolute steal for $5. Don't know if that's a launch price but it should be double that.

Oh my god! The iPad-version of Legend of Grimrock is fantastic! In terms of controls and graphics it's so perfect optimized for the iPad. iOS-version > PC-Version, imho.

I do not see enough love about the port of Legend of Grimrock.
Despite not being in a fantasy mood I bought it and yes, the port is stellar and as many have said...it's a really more visceral and intimate experience compared to the PC version (despite lack of real time monster shadows).

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Site | Trailer | App Store
THE day of atonement is nigh. Memory has fallen and the world is broken. Hone your blades, name it, and kiss your beloved good-bye — you are marching into battle. Gather Memory, redeem the Corrupt and vanquish the agents of nightmare from the realm. Find your Boon and reclaim Cadmeia from Kerr the Breaker.

And dudes, you HAVE to check out Ire: Blood Memory. Remarkable game with what, so far, seems to be a very fair F2P system. This should have been premium with optional IAPs. It's short burst gaming but soooo good. Even carries over the "invasion" MP aspect from Dark Souls. The monsters are simply awesome.

It's difficult, but old school difficult vs pay to win so far. I've earned quite a bit of gold and you have to progress through the game just to buy certain things so I think the IAPs are truly optional.

For a free download, no reason not to give it a shot.

I gota say this is an amazingly balanced game. I'm an avid fan of the souls game and I must say well done.

Have to agree with the Ire love fest. Really well made game, and immensely satisfying. Got home from work at 1am last night and didn't go to bed until almost 3am @_@

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Site | Trailer | App Store
Prepare to join Knights of Pen & Paper 2 in a turn-based, retro style, pixel-art adventure full of danger, intrigue, and semi-appropriate cultural references!
Players portray both party and game master playing a tabletop RPG, and must assemble both their characters, and the challenges they will face.

Knights of Pen and Paper 2 is excellent so far.

The party customization is so elegantly simple and clean that it motivates me to make the most efficient party as possible. And given how varied all the classes and players are, I kinda feel overwhelmed which is the best type of problem to have.

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Site | Trailer | App Store
The land of Kakhabad is a wilderness - a ruined desert, a tangled forest, cruel mountains and fissures, all guarded by seven fearsome serpents. But you must cross this land if you are to reach Mampang and the Crown of Kings. Rely on your wits or fight your way through - play with honour, or lie, cheat and steal - the choices are all yours.
From the creators of TIME's Game of the Year 2014, "80 Days", comes the third instalment in the acclaimed Steve Jackson's Sorcery! series. An interactive story told through thousands of choices, all of which are remembered, where no two adventures are the same.

I received a review copy of Sorcery 3 and it's SUPER good. I like it more than 80 Days. The Sorcery books remain one of my absolute favorite gaming experiences of the last several years.

I started the series over and in roughly 5 evenings went through Sorcery 1, 2 and 3 back-to-back and it felt incredibly epic with lots of consequence. Choices you made and items you picked up in book 1 create pretty significant story branches in book 3. There is an easily-missable item in book 2 (The Serpent Ring) that deeply changes several significant interactions in book 3, for example.

The big gameplay twist in Sorcery 3 is that Inkle has turned it into an open world. You can go in almost any direction at any time. You're still encouraged to get through the game quickly to prevent just scouring every corner of the world map. Overall this is a design improvement - it feels better than being cut off from large portions of the city of Kahre for example, which always felt stressful. But there is a small downside to it - I needed to find a specific item to complete Sorcery 3, and I didn't know where it was. So I ended up having to tab through lots of redundant text as I criss-crossed the map.

It's a fantastic feeling to pick up more and more magic items and have a lot more flexibility in what spells to cast when, compared to Sorcery 1 when 90% of the spellbook was cut off to you.

The clue system from Sorcery 2 is also back, and feels more important and valuable. The whole point of the game is to hunt down and kill seven serpents, so unlocking a bunch of their locations and weaknesses through smart dialogue choices feels great.

My ranking would be:

Sorcery 3 = Sorcery 2 > 80 Days > Sorcery 1.

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Site | Trailer | App Store
Twenty years after the fall of Earth, the remnants of the Human race are once again faced with extinction. The time has come to justify our existence. A mysterious life form known as the XADA squares off against humanity's last weapon - the War-Mech series III battle suit.
Features: Stunning console-quality graphics, first-class voice acting and Hollywood-grade audio production. Full orchestral scores masterfully mixed by Grammy Award winner and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy engineer, John Kurlander.

Decided to pick up Implosion. Only played the first two missions but I'm impressed so far.

First thing, the controls are solid. You can seamlessly switch between melee and ranged weapons and touch controls is responsive and easy to use. The gameplay has a nice amount of depth. Besides the stats boosts you can equip and the skills you can unlock, the combat itself is satisfying and not simply "mash attack to win". Pulling off heavy attacks require timing and you can dodge enemy attacks with ease. As you level up, you can equip new weapons and augmentations

There's a nice variety of enemies so far, with mini-boss types that I only can imagine will become more prominent later. Each stage has a harder version as well as optional challenges to complete. There's also a separate Expert mode to unlock

Visually the game is great. Animations are fast and fluid, and everything from the menus to the opening cutscene and animated cinematics are polished.

Missions tend to be short, but that lends them better to replaying for new badges. I haven't died yet, but other impressions indicate that the difficulty does pick up.

All in all seems like a game that would feel at home on Vita or Steam. Voice acting, nice visuals, deep combat, and solid controls. The shorter missions seem better suited for mobile, but there's a hefty amount of content and replay value here, so I don't think length will be an issue.

Just have to say that I feel pretty comfortable calling Implosion by far the best action/adventure hack n' slash on iOS. The gameplay just feels so good, massive bosses, varying missions and tons of replayability with badges and higher difficulties. Probably the only thing that could be a bit better is the whole Ark system, which is a bit confusing when you don't know whether something is equipped in a different slot, etc.

It's just a minor annoyance because the polish, voice acting annd graphics are all fantastic. It's the gameplay though that will keep me coming back. It's about time a developer nailed the genre. There's been a few good hack n slashes but none that come as close to matching console level fun as this one. A nice blend of DMC and God of War type fighting with dungeon crawling, loot and a sci-fi setting to boot.

Would love to see Rayark expand upon the formula here in a Medieval fantasy world someday.it would be an instant purchase.

Also glad to see it's #34 in paid games despite the $10 price tag. It deserves to go even higher and yet again proves premium games can work on iOS. And $10 is still a bargain.

Implosion is really good. Best hack and slash on the Appstore, though that's not saying much.

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Site | Trailer | App Store
Trigonarium is a hardcore twin-stick shooter for fans of challenging arcade gaming.
- Arcade mode with epic bosses to push your skills to the limit
- Challenge modes for intense quick play sessions
- Local 2 player cooperative play available for all modes
- Rock solid 60fps gameplay

Trigonarium is really cool. Tight controls, silky smooth action, and it gets very hectic. Levels changing around you, as enemies spawn in, and your upgraded homing missile streak across the screen. I reached the first boss and promptly died. My main gribe is if you die, you need to start from the beginning again. There's a nice amount of content: arcade mode, single levels, challenges, co-op

I been enjoying Trigonarium and Dragon Hills. The first one is a cool twin stick shooter that is always evolving, changing around you and throwing things at you. Controls well -the boost needs some time getting used to- to move around, different power-ups, NO IAP, and lots of cool touches here and there

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Site (N/A) | Trailer | App Store
Team up as Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, and Steven to stop a powerful Gem weapon in Attack the Light!
Fire off Garnet’s Rocket Gauntlets, summon Holo-Pearl, and put the hurt on your enemies with Purple Puma. All four Gems have unique attacks and upgrades.

I've been playing this a lot lol, I just unlocked the last world. The game is a ton of fun, charming, streamlined, and actually pretty damn challenging. The Harmony mechanic and dialogue choices are perfectly fitting for the kind of show Steven Universe is, and work well within the game. It really is like a Paper Mario/Mario RPG on your smartphone, and the experience can be as long or as bite-sized as you want it to be. Definitely worth the $3.

I'm into the third area and having a great time. Combat is interesting and fun, and the ways they've streamlined the movement for mobile are actually really smart. Lots of nice little touches sprinkled through the experience to add variety, like simple puzzles and conversation choices.

For a couple of bucks you can't go wrong.

Ive been playing this and enjoying it a lot. Near the end of world 3 with worlds 1 and 2 100%d.

If anyone is wondering, the game is very focused on the battles themselves (which are great and play like a Mario RPG), the parts where you're moving around the map are super simplified and the game is broken up into levels. Theres times where Steven has to answer a question and depending on your choice a Gem will receive an exp/health boost (generally the more cautious answer will give Pearl the boost etc).

 

[More_Badass]

A friend of mine has a blog and does daily roundups of iOS releases. http://pixelatedparadise.wordpress.com/

You Must Build A Boat - June 4th

The Ember Conflict - June 4th

Blades of Brim - June 4th

Tiki Taka Soccer - June 4th

rymdkapsel (content update) - June 4th

Rescue: Heroes In Action - June 18th

Spike Dislike 3 - mid June

Nowhere: Lost Memories - mid June

Furdemption - late June

Operation Dracula - late June

Kill The Plumber - late June/early July

har•mo•ny 3 - June

Door Kickers - "sent to Apple for review this week [week of 5/25]", likely June

This War of Mine - "Soon"

More releases to be added soon

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June 8-12 - “Apple’s renowned developer community will come together at WWDC to learn about the future of iOS and OS X”
Rumors, Predictions, and Speculation thread
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This website keeps track of all the controller enabled games. It gets updated regularly.

Here are a few video reviews of iCade supported titles (thanks Alextended!) iCade hardware Blazing Star Shogun: Rise of the Renegade Gridrunner ElectroMaster Enborn-X Midway Arcade Vectrex Regeneration Temple Run

iOS Gaming May 2015 | May the Watch be with you
iOS Gaming April 2015 | April sales bring May backlogs
iOS Gaming March 2015 | Beware the IAPs of March
iOS Gaming February 2015 | Under New Management
iOS Gaming December 2014/January 2015

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Visit the January 2014 thread for links to December 2013 through November 2012 threads!

### The Game Center user list is here: quote to see ###

Rules

• Send Dash Kappei or Tunesmith a PM if you want to be added or taken off the list, following this text formatting: GAF Name = Game Center Name / iOS Device(s)

• When adding someone, add From GAF to the friend request and your NeoGAF name as to easily tell who's who.
• Send Dash Kappei or Tunesmith a PM if you are already on the list but want to update your profile with more info like iOS devices(s) owned, or to just change your existing GC profile.
• We are on the list and, if you are too, it's OK to add us even if we're not best buddies; don't be shy: we enjoy having more GAFers challenging us on the friends leaderboards.
• Don't just wait for others to add you first you should at least add some of the profiles posted above yours if you want to get the ball rolling... It's really up to you. Ideally the last member of the list will be the one to add the profiles above his, and so on and on with each new member. Or maybe just add whoever you like, that's also an option.
• Remember: Your real name will be visible to your GC friends.
• You can add everyone on the list at once; click the second sheet on the iOS Membership list and read the instructions, works on iOS and Macs

### The form to enter yourself to the list is here: quote to see ###

How do I back up my game saves for games that do not support iCloud save games?

iFunBox no longer works on most games post iOS 8.3
Use a file manager program such as i-FunBox (PC/Mac) - It's free and requires no jailbreak. i-FunBox has many different features, but to back up save games you would just want to do the following:

• Click the iFunBox Classic tab
• Connect your iOS device, via WiFi or USB, it should then appear in the Connected Devices list on the left side of the UI.
• Under User Applications, navigate to the game you want to back up save games for.
• Select the Documents and Library folders and copy them one at a time to your PC/Mac - this will copy the folders and all their contents. They contains your save files and settings for the game. Some games only use Documents, some use both.

To restore a backed up save game do the reverse.

• Under User Applications, navigate to the game you want to restore save games for.
• Select the Documents and/or Library folders and choose to copy from PC/Mac.
• Navigate to where you saved the backed up Documents and/or Library folders on your PC/Mac, open them and select all the files within it and open them. This will copy the folder contents back onto your iOS device.
• Restart/fully close the game itself and your saves should be back!

Check that the file structure of the game is retained, e.g. GameName > Documents > files after you're done (no Documents folder within the Documents folder!), otherwise the game will not recognize your restored saves!

How do I hide my Real Name on Game Center?

Your real first and last name (taken from your Apple ID) will be shown to your GC friends. If you value that information and want GAF's leaderboards to show your GAF nickname instead, here's how you do it:

• Go to http://appleid.apple.com and log in with your Apple ID details via "Manage your Apple ID".
• In the "Name, ID and Email Addresses" section, click Edit on the Your Name field at the top.
• Change you First and Last name (you must enter both) to whatever you like (e.g. First Name: Tunesmith, Last Name: GAF)

Done, now that's who you're going to be listed as on your friend's Game Center leaderboards. This will affect Game Center *and* your Apple ID. If it's the same account you use for App Store/iTunes, you will still be able to use it for iTunes/App Store's purchases (you can still buy whatever you want like you could before) *BUT* in the receipt it'll show your nickname or whatever you chose as First Name and Last Name when you changed those fields. The first time you will use the modified account on App Store/iTunes, you will be asked to verify the account by re-entering the 3 digits code of the credit card's CCV security code (if you make your purchases using a credit card).

Should I buy this new high-priced game or wait for a sale?

Maybe! Just be aware that iOS games have a tendency to go on sale frequently and unpredictably, even recent games can be a dollar rather than premium $4-5. Spend your pack of gum money wisely. As a recommendation, set up a RSS feed for the price changes on http://appshopper.com/which will then notify you of any price fluctuations for old and new games alike.

I just got an iPhone/iPad. What are the best games?

In addition to checking out the past month's iOS Gaming threads, visit Why iOS Rocks / iOS Hidden Gems. You're welcome and your wallet will hurt.

For gaming, should I get the iPad Mini 2, or iPad Air?

Both have their pros and cons. The Mini 2 is cheaper and smaller but there is a slight difference between the Air's A7 chip and the mini's A7: the mini's is around 100MHz slower -- 1.3GHz compared to the Air's 1.4GHz. Other than that they're both identical in spec. It's very much a coin toss between if you want a 9.7" or a 7.9" screen.

I'm a new iOS user, what non-gaming apps should I get ASAP?

This thread would be a great place to start. Asking here wouldn't hurt either!

Genuine thanks to our iOS Gaming community for keeping these monthly threads alive!
Special thanks to Tunesmith for his fantastic thread format and month after month of hard work in maintaining these threads

 

[Shaneus]

Another great OT!

Just have 2c to add on Geometry Wars 3... it has FB-only integration. So while it's a great game in general, it relies on that for high score tables. And because of that (or maybe for some other reason) there's no kind of cloud saving/sync, so even though high scores are the same across all devices, progress isn't.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

Awesome OT Badass. I'm really hoping this war of mine gets here soon, I've held out on the steam version for far too long.

 

[More_Badass]

Awesome OT Badass. I'm really hoping this war of mine gets here soon, I've held out on the steam version for far too long.

Devs are working on the IOS trailer right now, so it's more than likely that it's coming out soon

 

[v1perz53]

Hmm didn't even know there was an iOS gaming thread, guess I should check community more often. Anyway, I suppose this is the thread to ask something I have been wondering about for a while.

What are some recommendations for offline only F2P games that are worth playing? For complicated reasons, my app store account currently has no credit card info attached to it, and I can't add money for at least the next month. So I was looking for a good F2P game to occupy my time. But my main requirement is that it needs to be offline only. I am currently a medical student doing my 3rd year hospital rotations, and I have a ton of 15-20 minute segments of downtime, but there is no service or WiFi in the hospital, so I was looking for a solid game to play during this time.

I personally am not a huge fan of touch screen based controls, but I have enjoyed some iOS games in the past, namely the typical stuff like Angry Birds and Jetpack Joyride. I'm not a snob that thinks mobile gaming is crap, and even things like stamina systems don't really bother me, so I'm open to pretty much anything. Though it does need to be something that can be enjoyed in short segments because I can be called back at any time.

Was enjoying Puzzle and Dragons for a while but I can't maintain the internet connection it requires, so looking for something to take its place.

 

[More_Badass]

Hmm didn't even know there was an iOS gaming thread, guess I should check community more often. Anyway, I suppose this is the thread to ask something I have been wondering about for a while.

What are some recommendations for offline only F2P games that are worth playing? For complicated reasons, my app store account currently has no credit card info attached to it, and I can't add money for at least the next month. So I was looking for a good F2P game to occupy my time. But my main requirement is that it needs to be offline only. I am currently a medical student doing my 3rd year hospital rotations, and I have a ton of 15-20 minute segments of downtime, but there is no service or WiFi in the hospital, so I was looking for a solid game to play during this time.

I personally am not a huge fan of touch screen based controls, but I have enjoyed some iOS games in the past, namely the typical stuff like Angry Birds and Jetpack Joyride. I'm not a snob that thinks mobile gaming is crap, and even things like stamina systems don't really bother me, so I'm open to pretty much anything. Though it does need to be something that can be enjoyed in short segments because I can be called back at any time.

Was enjoying Puzzle and Dragons for a while but I can't maintain the internet connection it requires, so looking for something to take its place.

Lots

I'd recommend:
- Only One
- Membrane
- Skiing Yeti Mountain
- Retry
- Under The Sun
- Fast Finger
- The Quest Keeper
- Crossy Road
- Nobody Said It Was Easy
- TimeCube
- Platform Panic
- Vektor 1.0
- Daddy Long Legs
- Must Go Up

 

[awp69]

Nice work on the OP, More_Badass!

 

[Oynox]

This is easily the best One Finger Death Punch-esque game on mobile

Kung Fury
https://appsto.re/us/gTg36.i

It is indeed. Free of disturbing IAPs and ridiculous amounts of ads. Simply great!

 

[jon bones]

Kung Fury & Skiing are both fantastic, really great pick-up-and-play titles.

 

[More_Badass]

It is indeed. Free of disturbing IAPs and ridiculous amounts of ads. Simply great!

Seriously, it puts the mobile OFDP we got to shame.

Anyway, Rebuild 3 released on PC a few days ago. The mobile version is planned for "July or August"
http://youtu.be/gkO8SVr3c_g

 

[teruterubozu]

Lara Croft was fun for a few rounds. But yeah, typical temple runner. Nothing special.

 

[Aaron D.]

Rescue: Heroes In Action - June 18th

Nice!

I'm going to keep a close eye on this one as I own one of the older Rescue games on Steam and it's pretty ace.

 

[Li Kao]

Good god, quoted two times in the OP, I hope I didn't say something stupid :O

BTW an important addendum to my input on Skiing Yeti Mountain :
- second play session wasn't as painful on the thumb, but I still think the control method is great but inherently "physically flawed".
- considering IAP : the game is very clever in how it handles publicity in normal mode, there is a nice real world / meta vibe to it. That being said, on hard mode the whole thing goes ballistic and if you are one of the masochists who will play these levels, I think the IAP to block ads is a necessity. Basically, when you fail a couple of times you get an ad, which is not terrible in itself. What is terrible is that when it's implemented in a mode where you die several times per minutes. Adding punishment to frustration is not a clever idea in my book. That being said, the dev clearly merit these 2+$

 

[TheLetdown]

I completely adore Desktop Dungeons. So glad that it's coming to iOS, because I always felt that it would be totally at home there.

If only I hadn't relinquished my control of the iPad in my house...

 

[More_Badass]

I completely adore Desktop Dungeons. So glad that it's coming to iOS, because I always felt that it would be totally at home there.

If only I hadn't relinquished my control of the iPad in my house...

It's already out
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id979917622?mt=8

 

[Wthermans]

Looking good. Glad to have the new thread.

Still addicted to Vainglory. Been playing a lot of NBA Jam and Skiing Yeti Mountain too.

 

[spoon!]

Geometry wars not having icloud sync is a real bummer :/

 

[ParityBit]

It is official. I still suck at Geometry Wars so it does not matter on the platform. That was my last best hope for a reason.

 

[Li Kao]

Geometry wars not having icloud sync is a real bummer :/

I just got back into iOS after a few months of not caring, but from my uneducated view : now that players can't even jump through hoops to backup their saves (ifunbox and the like), iCloud support should be mandatory to be released on the store.
Such a nice feeling when I had to restore earlier this month and lost countless hours of gameplay...

 

[heringer]

Nobody biting the bullet for Chaos Rings 3? C'mon guys, it's just $20.

 

[infiniteloop]

Looking forward to next week.

Wonder what gaming related announcements there will be.

hyped for new Apple TV.

 

[Andy C83]

Nubs' Adventure is a wonderful game and one that I didn't want to end. The music, art and gameplay are excellent and it's an easy recommendation for platformer/metroidvania fans.

 

[More_Badass]

Looking forward to next week.

Wonder what gaming related announcements there will be.

hyped for new Apple TV.

Considering Apple's comments regarding their frustration towards the community's mindset on paying for games, the inclusion of a "Pay Once and Play" section, and features like videos on the App Store, I wonder if there will be any major announcements regarding the gaming side of the App Store

Nubs' Adventure is a wonderful game and one that I didn't want to end. The music, art and gameplay are excellent and it's an easy recommendation for platformer/metroidvania fans.

Thanks for the comment, added to the OP

 

[Benedict]

Nubs' Adventure is a wonderful game and one that I didn't want to end. The music, art and gameplay are excellent and it's an easy recommendation for platformer/metroidvania fans.

So it's easy?

 

[More_Badass]

So it's easy?

Check it out. A sizeable chunk of the game is available for free before needing to purchase an unlock. I'd say the difficult is moderate. Challenging without being unfair or frustrating. The atmosphere is lovely though

 

[Double D]

Anyone play MMX Racing (1-touch Monster truck racing game)? I got into it a couple weeks ago and the multiplayer stuff has me hooked. They basically run seasons that last about a week at a time and you climb up the ladder via points earned from racing other people's times. Then at the end of each season awards are handed out for whatever percent you end up in.

The gameplay basically tiny wings, except you press accelerate as soon as you hit the ground instead of holding it to 'dip'. Not much to it but I find myself trying to creep up the leaderboard whenever I've got free time. Also as a F2P game I'm able to work it to where I haven't spent a dime and I find that kind of enjoyable to be able to accomplish.

 

[chris121580]

Great OP! Sounds like some good games are coming out this month too

 

[infiniteloop]

Nubs' Adventure now has controller support https://appsto.re/i6LM7Gh

 

[infiniteloop]

i think someone mentioned this in the previous thread, but Apple are editorially curating lists of games in the app store instead of using the automatically generated lists:

http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/01/ap...on-with-increased-focus-on-editorial-content/

 

[Shaneus]

Geometry wars not having icloud sync is a real bummer :/

According to the reviews, it apparently does. But under the iCloud settings on my phone, there's no toggle for it at all. Shitting me, because I can't play on my phone on short train trips when my preferred device at home is the iPad.

 

[teruterubozu]

It is official. I still suck at Geometry Wars so it does not matter on the platform. That was my last best hope for a reason.

I know what you mean
I love Geometry Wars but I suck at it.

 

[infiniteloop]

Playing Space Marshalls are really enjoying it. Any other good tactical top down shooters on iOS?

 

[More_Badass]

Playing Space Marshalls are really enjoying it. Any other good tactical top down shooters on iOS?

Call of Duty Strike Team combines tactical strategy with FPS, and Door Kickers will be real time with pause. But that's about it. Most are either turn based tactical or arcadey dual-stick

 

[More_Badass]

Hey infiniteloop, you're in luck. Pixelbite announced their next game Xenowerk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N8d5D7zqvo

 

[infiniteloop]

Hey infiniteloop, you're in luck. Pixelbite announced their next game Xenowerk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N8d5D7zqvo

Nice! Thanks.

 

[More_Badass]

Looks like Bethesda will be making mobile games too

Action > Android
Action > Apple iOS
Action > Mobile Phone / Tablet

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1055893

 

[infiniteloop]

Looks like Bethesda will be making mobile games too

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1055893

nice!

"Free-to-play > Apple iOS"

noooo

 

[Rodney McKay]

Are there any bluetooth controllers that work for both iOS AND Android? I have an Android phone and an iPad Mini, and I'd like to get one controller that works for both since they're pretty expensive. I can't root my Note 4 since it's the AT&T model and hasn't been cracked yet, sadly.

I suppose I could just jailbreak my iPad Mini and use my PS4 controller on that and buy an Android only bluetooth controller if there's no other option, but it would be nice to have one controller that works on both.

Looks like Bethesda will be making mobile games too

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1055893

I would seriously love a port of Morrowind on my iPad.

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

I would seriously love a port of Morrowind on my iPad.

but they already sell ebooks on iOS.

That pricing on GrimFan, makes me question waiting for it to get cheap on PC.

 

[heringer]

Seriously, nobody tried Chaos Rings 3? For shame guys.

 

[awp69]

Seriously, nobody tried Chaos Rings 3? For shame guys.

Heard it was kind of buggy at the moment, but it doesn't matter, my plate is way too full at the moment. I also still haven't played CR2 or Omega. Too little time, too many games. It's one for the wishIist for now.

 

[killercow]

This War of Mine from 11bitstudios is out on iPad and Android Tablets this july:
http://t.co/pDl2Bfh5P4

 

[heringer]

Heard it was kind of buggy at the moment, but it doesn't matter, my plate is way too full at the moment. I also still haven't played CR2 or Omega. Too little time, too many games. It's one for the wishIist for now.

Got the game on my Android phone. It's a very nice jump from Chaos Rings 2. Only two hours in, but so far it feels like Grandia with Phantasy Star (modern) and a dash of SMT (collecting, evolving and fusion of cards that give you stats and abilities). There's also a separate battle mode, which is a coliseum that gives you rewards and experience points, which you retain in the story mode. I'm quite enjoying the battle system too. There's no longer the risk x reward system of pair attacks, but the game still encourages you to match attacks with two or three party members. It's a deeper system overall, from my brief impressions. Pretty fast and dynamic too, I like it.

Nothing groundbreaking in the genre, but it feels like a B tier PS2 JRPG, which is great for $20. I've read that the game is over 30 hours long, so it offers more content than it's predecessors too.

Also, framerate is much more fluid, for people bothered by that in the previous games.

Are people boycotting SE or something? I thought Chaos Rings was a big deal. The game is not even in the OP, lol.

 

[TheLetdown]

There's a Kickstarter going on for an expansion of sorts to Auro.

They're looking to literally expand the game from what I feel is more of a puzzler to a more fully realized roguelike(-like) structure.

I like the base game a lot, from ease of control to its killer art style, but the one thing I feel is lacking is the draw to keep going back to it. This will definitely fix that.

 

[More_Badass]

Got the game on my Android phone. It's a very nice jump from Chaos Rings 2. Only two hours in, but so far it feels like Grandia with Phantasy Star (modern) and a dash of SMT (collecting, evolving and fusion of cards that give you stats and abilities). There's also a separate battle mode, which is a coliseum that gives you rewards and experience points, which you retain in the story mode. I'm quite enjoying the battle system too. There's no longer the risk x reward system of pair attacks, but the game still encourages you to match attacks with two or three party members. It's a deeper system overall, from my brief impressions. Pretty fast and dynamic too, I like it.

Nothing groundbreaking in the genre, but it feels like a B tier PS2 JRPG, which is great for $20. I've read that the game is over 30 hours long, so it offers more content than it's predecessors too.

Also, framerate is much more fluid, for people bothered by that in the previous games.

Are people boycotting SE or something? I thought Chaos Rings was a big deal. The game is not even in the OP, lol.

Actually I forgot about it. I'll add it tomorrow

 

[awp69]

Fans of 10000000, the sequel, "You Must Build a Boat", is finally out today. Looking forward to it!

 

[PittaGAF]

This War of Mine from 11bitstudios is out on iPad and Android Tablets this july:
http://t.co/pDl2Bfh5P4

For a brief but very intense moment I thought it was out TOMORROW.
I can't wait....that trailer alone (and the follow up) is SO POWERFUL and moving...

I'll already know I'll cry like a baby playing that game.

 

[More_Badass]

For a brief but very intense moment I thought it was out TOMORROW.
I can't wait....that trailer alone (and the follow up) is SO POWERFUL and moving...

I'll already know I'll cry like a baby playing that game.

Same here. "War of Mine is out on iPad..."
!!!
"...in July"
Oh

But yeah, played the game for PC and it's the only other game besides Shadow of Morder that I've played that envokes emotions towards dealing with enemies. In SoM, it's that sense of rivalry and satisfaction of finally taking down a long-time foe.

In War of Mine, you feel bad for doing some of the things you have to do. But you must and you will, to save your own group