In StarTrail, players tilt a ship on a moving track, Audiosurf style, while trying to gather space treasure. Treasure comes in different colors and shapes and by chaining like objects together players extend their combo. The goal is simply to get the highest score possible but there is a surprising amount of different ways to get there. Since there are multiple ways to link treasure, players have to be extra aware of the options available to them. This gets tough too since one misstep means game over. While the touch controls feel jerky and awkward the tilt controls are so smooth that death is usually the player’s fault, not the game.

Other little twists include the hover ability which allows players to jump over treasure for a limited amount of time and avoid the wrong kind while heading towards the right kind. By keeping a consistent combo of either color or shape players can also charge up a move that allows them to gather all kinds of treasure. Even getting that far requires a great deal of effort though. Again, it’s the kind of game that’s easy to learn but hard to master.

Unfortunately, mastering the mechanic is pretty much all there is to StarTrail. There’s only one infinite track, power-ups like shields and hover extenders require way too many thousand-point combo chains to unlock, and neither the 3D sci-fi look nor the music rise above generic competence.

It’s a fun mechanic to master though and anyone who really tries to do it will get a nice taste of that score-driven early arcade culture, a worthy history lesson. StarTrail doesn’t want to take players on some epic quest to save the world. It just wants to make them better StarTrail players.

This deadly game show centers around a goofy contestant named Chuck who grins from ear to ear. He’s eager to play and make his way through each of the mazes without being caught by traps and evil robots so he can collect as many diamonds and tokens as possible.

There are tutorials included to help gamers get acquainted with over 40 sections of a sophisticated maze. The puzzles each have their own themes, objectives and challenges, which combine together to create a pleasant gaming experience. Before getting started, players should explore the controls options to find one that works best for them. There are three movement controls as well as three throw controls. I opted to change the movement controls to path, which proves to work best for the iPad.

In every maze, players collect all the diamonds to open the exit, but not all the diamonds appear on-screen at once. As gamers collect these diamonds, robots and deadly traps try to take Chuck out. It’s essential to fight back and avoid all dangers or Chuck will find himself zapped.

At the end of each level, players can view their stats and see how well they performed. It’s possible to go back and replay levels to get a better time or find all the tokens. Players are then awarded a prize such as a set of stainless steel knives or a luscious red Man in a Maze mug, and they have the chance to spin the big prize wheel by spending their collected tokens.

Man in a Maze starts out easy, but it does get more difficult as players progress. There are new strategies required in every maze, so players may want to spend their coins on essential power-ups. There are in-app purchases for more coins, but I didn’t feel pressured into having to buy them. It’s possible to get plenty of coins in the mazes as well as on the prize wheel.

At its core, Man in a Maze is a family friendly puzzler that’s well designed with smooth controls, humorous graphics and varied gameplay. Aside from adding iCade support, there wasn’t anything that I didn’t like about it. Whether players have a twisted sense of humor, love mazes or can’t get enough game shows packed into their day, it’s definitely a keeper and highly recommendable.

For a city-building sim game, The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle Earth is on par with others in the genre. The object is to build up, expand and defend a Middle Earth city. At the beginning of the game, players are given the option to join sides with the Dwarves or the Elves. Each race has their own different set of buildings and unique items but the gameplay is the same regardless of which side players decide to join. Certain materials like gold, wood, food and stone are collected and used to constructed building and farms. The game is generous with these items and gives players a good amount at the beginning to be able to get their city off to a good start. The game lays out specific quests for players to complete that will help the city thrive. Completing each quest yields rewards of additional food, gold and other important items. All of the buildings require one other important thing: time. Each building and upgrade needs different amounts of time to elapse along with all the other materials to be constructed. This can be frustrating at times for people like me who want constant action. The game moves very slowly and requires more and more time to build and upgrade as it progresses.

This game has a large social aspect to it and encourages players to unite with others and form alliances There is even a chat function built in that allows players to communicate and strategize with the members of their alliance, which is a welcomed feature for those who enjoy social games.

The graphics and sound fit nicely into the world of Middle Earth. The music is soft and unobtrusive but adds a soothing element to the gameplay. I did notice some lag when scrolling in some portions of the game and it can sometimes take a while to load, but other than that I’d say it performs well. For a free-to-play game, The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle Earth is a fair competitor for others like it. It is sure to appeal to fans of this game style and Lord of the Rings fans alike.

Ninja Toss is a game about addiction. It’s addiction that causes Nyam the fat ninja to hurl himself into danger in search of food. It’s addiction that lets him ignore the significant harm he inflicts on his body and it’s addiction that allows players to make this all happen because they’ll be too addicted to the game too care.

The goal in each round of Ninja Toss is to get Nyam as far across the map as possible using a variety of different tools. A timing minigame determines the strength of the initial pull and players can use speed-boosting lightning and fire power ups but success really comes down to luck and proper use of the sentient rice balls running around the map. Whenever Nyam bounces off of one he earns points and is pushed a little further along crowd surfing style. However, special rice balls provide Nyam with special means of transportation like dynamite explosions, bouncing ball chairs, and helicopter bikes. If Nyam hits the ground flat or the occasional spiked enemy though, his momentum stops and it is game over.

On one hand, players may be dissatisfied that so much of the game is watching it play out rather than affecting anything directly. However, that also gives it a sort of addictive, slot machine appeal in that players will want to play just one more round in the hopes that things will turn out better. Also, by using the points earned in each round, players can increase their odds by making certain special rice balls appear more often. Having even that tiny bit of influence creates a positive feedback loop that encourages even more play.

Visually Ninja Toss is nothing but serviceable. Players can unlock more backgrounds but none of them are particularly interesting. The music however is rousing and triumphant. Hearing it constantly is just one more reason why players may not be able to put the game down.

Ninja Toss is what mobile gaming is all about. Its short burst gameplay is so addictive and fun that players will want to experience it again and again.

Forest Moon Games’ latest published title, Gear Jack, from Piwot Games is a prime example of why ideas alone do not make a great app or game: it’s all about the execution.

Players control Jack, a robot who must escape a crumbling space ship. This provides compelling reason for it to run and not stop, because even robots fear death. Jack can jump, roll into a ball, and perform midair maneuvers when the player taps the appropriate button as they pass an icon in the air. Through 29 levels, players have one goal: get Jack to the end safe and sound. Well, there is the secondary goal of collecting all the little icons in the levels to get 3 stars, because style points do count for good ol’ Jack.

Remember Sonic Jump? This game would be a good foundation for how a true Sonic endless runner should be like, with rolling and jumping, and the occasional multi-level path. The upgrade system, which allows players to assign points to different attributes, and then re-assign them as necessary, so if a level feels like it would be easier if the protagonist could jump higher, then points can be shuffled around to do just that. The visual style, which uses a lot of flat colors with only limited details applied where necessary, definitely stands out while playing.

The thing holding Gear Jack back though is that its levels are just too long. They’re still short in an absolute sense, but in the context of the game, where one failure forces the player to have to start all the way back at the beginning, they are far too long. There’s just too many sections that the game makes players repeat again and again in order to beat a level. As well, the floor pads that trigger a giant stomping column from above are both needlessly deceptive (they blend into the floor) and annoying to take on when they keep coming at inopportune moments. It’s easy to forget about them when trying to acquire the muscle memory to beat the other annoying sections of a level. I found myself hitting the home button in frustration all too often. Would some checkpoints have really been a bad thing?

The frustration factor of Gear Jack took this from being a solid auto-running platformer into another game on the scrap heap for me. This is the kind of game that despairs me: it’s a title with such promise, but it gets chucked away by its frustrating level design. It’s a shame.

Road trips can sometimes take unforeseen turns. Like getting the gas pedal stuck and driving out of control through the desert. This scenario seems frightening but Extreme Road Trip 2 turns it into an adventure. Like all endless runner games, the object is to keep going as long as possible. Players take the wheel of the speeding car and use on-screen tilt controls on either side of the screen to tilt the car forwards and backwards. The territory is a bumpy one and there are mounds that will boost the car high into the air. While in the air, the car can do flips when either the left or right button is held down. Points are awarded as more distance is traveled and extra points are awarded for any flips done during the ride. The reckless journey comes to end when players crash or run out of gas. There are gas cans strewn about to refuel so players will need to strategically control the car to be able to gather up as many cans as possible to keep the car moving.

One major difference between Extreme Road Trip 2 and its predecessor is the presence of missions. Three are listed at one time and once one is completed, another comes in to take its place. I like this format of having a few missions to complete at a time because it gives a sense of progress instead of just playing to achieve a better distance score. I also like that the game gives players the chance to get new cars and upgrades by collecting coins during each round. The original game only unlocks new cars via in-app purchases.

The developers have done a good job at keeping this game free yet worthwhile at the same time. Those familiar with the original Extreme Road Trip will find a few welcome differences that definitely make this sequel worth the download. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a new endless runner to kill some time.

Swing goes the knight.

Knights of the Round Cable is a game that caught our attention back at E3 this year, and we finally got the chance to get our hands on the final version. The build we played at E3 was very near final, but we only had a few minutes to try it out before we had to move on to the millions of other games at the show. Now, I have had to chance the dig in and get a feel for what the knights and their crazy round cables are all about.

In Knights of the Round Cable, you play as, you guessed it, a knight. All your knight can do is hook on the pegs in the level and swing in a circle. Seems like a knight should be able to just walk around and kill stuff, but that would make the game much less awesome. As you swing around the pegs you collect gems, which build up your score. There are also princess trapped throughout the levels, and freeing them will give you a nice score boost.

Speaking of score, Game Center leader boards are implemented into the game allowing you to compete with your friends and other players from around the world. This helps keep you motivated to play through the game over and over.

You play through the same levels, or castles as they are called in this game, repeatedly. Progression happens by completing a set of three goals provided by the game. If there is a certain goal that does not tickle your fancy, you can spend in-game currency to skip it and have a new goal randomly generated for you. Of course, you are taking a risk if you do this; the new goal could prove more difficult than the previous one.

When you complete a set of goals and level up, you receive a good chunk of money to purchase upgrades and your score multiplier goes up. Obviously, if you are targeting the highest scores in the world, this multiplier is going to be critical.

The game controls quite simply. There are only 2 buttons on the screen, the one on the right causes your knight to hook onto the nearest peg. The one on the left causes him to change his direction of rotation. These simple controls make the game easy to pick up and get a feel for.

Changing your direction is an incredibly important mechanic because it is also how you build up speed if your knight slows down.

The controls feel very natural, and I never once had a problem with them. They were responsive when I needed them to be, and in a game that requires the utmost precision, that is important. Knights of the Round Cable proves that a game does not need a ton of buttons to have an effective control method.

Of course, there are plenty of enemies throughout the levels. As you get to the higher level castles, the number of enemies will increase greatly. This requires you to be alert at all times. Generally, you avoid enemies by releasing from a peg at the right time, or changing your rotation. Once you get to higher level castles, it becomes quite intense.

The difficulty curve is well done. The first couple of levels feel incredibly easy, and it ramps at a comfortable pace.

To help with the more difficult levels, there are plenty of items you can buy with in-game money. You can get new knights with extra skills, hearts, magnets to attract gems and plenty more. If you plan to make it to the higher level castles, many of these are crucial.

Overall, the gameplay mechanics in Knights of the Round Cable are quite good, but like any game of this type, if you don’t absolutely love it, you will probably get sick of playing through the same levels. They do a good job of adding progression, but since this feels geared at the casual market, some gamers might get sick of doing the same thing over and over.

Repetition aside, the game works as intended, and is genuinely fun to play. It’s perfect to pick up and play for short burst or go hard for high scores and spend a good amount of time with it.

Visually, Knights is well made and stylish. I wish there was a little more variety in the look of the different castles, as it can become pretty repetitive after a while. Still, the animations are smooth, and it’s a tight visual package.

Sadly, the soundtrack of the game becomes annoying rather quickly. My first impression was the music was cute, but after playing the game for a long time I had to shut the music off because it is so repetitive. A little more variety in the music would have been nice.

The sound effects in the game are good, but like the music, they become annoying after a while. I guess that’s the difficulty of a game based on going back and getting high scores in the same level. No matter how you make it, some elements are going to become stale after a while.

Overall, Knights of the Round Cable is a great game with some awesome mechanics. I found it incredibly addicting, and I had a blast with it. Some players might find that it gets a little repetitive, but people who enjoyed going for high scores in games like Tiny Wings and Temple Run will absolutely love this game.

Do we really have to kill the goblins when they are so darn cute?

There are so many tower defense games out there, and we have covered dozens here at TouchGen. At times we still miss a gem or two, and I have to be honest that I didn’t jump out of my chair when I first heard about Kingdom Rush. The iPad version was released late in the winter of 2011, and gathered quite a lot of attention: both from critics, and players. When a iPhone version was announced it felt like a great place to start the relationship with Kingdom Rush. Tower defence games are quite perfect for the small screen in my opinion. Giving up screen estate for portability is ok for a certain type of game.

Kingdom Rush is a set path tower defence game that follows along the basic formula of the genre. What sets it apart are the cute art style, the close up interaction with troops and sheer volume of content. Building towers at set locations limits the amount of towers available, and every decision have to be done with care. Finding the optimal way to maximize damage between towers while making sure that the enemy suffers the attack for as long as possible is key. The basic towers expected in a strategy game set in a fantasy medieval theme are there: archers, soldiers, mages and catapults. There are also eight more specialized towers that can change the tide of war depending on how, and when you use them.

The enemy consists of almost any creature you have seen in the lore of Tolkien, Grimm and Shrek. They are really cute up close, and at times it feels sad to kill them. The kingdom is under attack, and Orcs don’t mix too well with the fair damsels within the gates.

At first the lack of a fast forward button bothered me immensely, but that is only a problem during the first easy levels. Once the game gets going there are so many instant powers to use that would be missed if the game ran faster. Hurling fireballs, or bombs for example has to be done with some sense of precision.

Between levels you get to upgrade the tower abilities using stars earned. This gives the game extra depth, and also an incentive to replay levels for getting the three stars on offer.

Kingdom Rush is a fun tower defence rewarding strategy both when setting up the levels, and during the actual defending. The cute presentation is great, and gives further enjoyment. When the game opens up with heroes, and more tower combinations than I can keep track of it turns into one of the most complex tower defence games available. Definitely recommended for the strategy fan.

Shakespeare in space would probably look like this.

First there where the Montagues and the Capulets, and now it is the Parints and Marcabians. Feuds have always been at the forefront of humanity, and now that fact has been seen among the oxes as well. Set in a world where a thumb wasn’t needed to evolve the ox has surpassed humanity in technology. Powered by blue stars of Caprichoso, or red hearts of Garantido you are the first line of offense.

Super Ox Wars is a shoot em´up in the most classic sense of the word. A vertical scroller set in space with bullet hell bonanza. What makes the game special from most other attempts recently is the fact that it is crafted by Jeff Minter, and Llamasoft. The art style, subject matter and overall tongue in check weirdness make it a pleasure to play. Do I get what is going on at all times? Nope, no clue. Do I care that I don’t understand everything? Nope, not at all. All I know is that I am an ox in a spaceship blasting giant eyes, World War II bombers and collecting hearts or stars.

The controls are touch based relative to the position of the ship. Just touch anywhere on the screen, and that becomes the base for the controls until you lift your finger. The ship fires automatically, and all you have to focus on is movement. Not always a simple task when there is a lot going on. At times the controls can feel a bit slow, or rather the ship feels sluggish. But the again you are controlling a craft controlled by an ox. Hello, no thumbs!

There is some colour coded mechanics going on depending on if you are collecting hearts or stars. As far as I can tell both colours hurt the enemies, and it is more a matter of upgrading the weaponry to your personal liking. Stars are fired forwards in a offensive manner while the hearts are more defensive circling the ship, and homing in on enemies. Most of the gameplay revolves around surviving an ever-increasing barrage of enemy fire, obstacles that can’t be destroyed and suicidal ships trying to smash you. It does get really intense, and combined with the Minter presentation it can get immersive.

There are ten levels available, and those ninja players will beat them quite easily making it a high score arcade game. For us slow reaction players(old people) the game is more about just completing a level at a time. You are free to start on any level you have reached, but with limited resources.

Game Center is used for high scores, and achievements. There are quite a few of challenging goals for those who crave completed achievements in life.

The presentation is retro in a special retro style that I don’t really remember from the games of my youth. It is retro-chic with an affinity for oxes, minotaurs and general weirdness. There are quite a few objects in space not supposed to be there. I have played every game Llamasoft have released for iOS, and as such I must say that Super Ox Wars is quite toned down. Goat Up! has a much more psychedelic style not found in Super Ox Wars. So compared to other Minter games it feels a bit simple, but compared to the usual space shoot em´ up shooter it feels really fresh. Actually it is the first shmup I have felt completely in tune with since the awesome Space Invaders – Infinity Gene.

The game is universal, and hence run well on both the iPad, and iPhone. I prefer playing it on the larger screen, but that also means that the retro art looks a bit bloated. I am not sure if there is retina resolution or not, but it certainly doesn’t look like it is.

There is only one real downer in Super Ox Wars, and that is quite a big one for the genre. There is no actual music, and the sound effects alone aren’t enough to convey the action. A thumping soundtrack in tune with the action would have been a real asset. Now I play using my own music as backdrop, and while that works with some old-school metal or wicked dubstep a Rez mechanic would enhance the game significantly.

Super Ox Wars is another quality title from the team that goes where no man, but only llamas dare to thread: Llamasoft. The action, controls and subject matter are all present. What it lacks is not being extreme enough in the way out there department, and a proper soundtrack. Still it is a breath of fresh air for a genre that hasn’t evolved much since Midway 1942, and Ikaruga.

Heroes need time

It’s a universal truth of videogames that RPG’s cannot throw the player into the action without explaining the full history of absolutely everything in the game including characters, backdrops, and incidental animals that serve no other purpose than to scurry as you walk past them in the inevitable forest, either through a 700 page instruction manual or introductory cut-scenes that last four hours. That may be the longest sentence I’ve ever written, and I’m not going to change it.

Heroes In Time takes the latter approach by forcing you to sit through a lengthy intro which is so long that at one point I found myself wondering if this actuallywas the game. Thankfully it isn’t, and I’d like to skip over it, but because I’m duty bound by the laws of good reviewing to provide you with a semblance of the story, I’ll reverse engineer an explanation.

You play as Mikhael, also known as Wolf-Boy (this will make sense in a minute), Mikhael has been taken under the wing of Carl, who is the brother of Ceasar. Ceasar is distrustful of Mikhael ever since they found him wandering in a forest acting like a wolf ten years ago. Fair enough.

They were on a hunting trip with their father, The King, who had ten years previously decreed that one of his newly born twin boys must die on the advice on a royal aide named Pela. Apparently twins are a bad omen for Royalty.  That’s also two sets of ten year gaps before the game has even started if you’re counting.

He decides which son to kill, and sends out another aide called Pelcheps to do so, but she has a change of heart and tries to flee with the boy. Pela and her guards catch up with them and force them to the edge of a cliff. Pelcheps has no other choice but to jump to have a chance of saving the boy, to which Pela responds ‘Damn, that bastard’. Quite.

This is a 16-bit quest-em-up that will immediately take you back to the classic Zelda titles where characters appeared on-screen as head-bobbing sprites and completing one game task opens up 34 more. Once you’re allowed to control Mikhael, your first task is to choose your class. If this ever happened in real life, I’d select ‘Royalty’ and be done, but here you have Knight, Warrior, Archer and Wizard, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Once you accept a class, you can’t change it.

And then it’s off to the quests which are lengthy, multi-parted like Will.I.am’s hair and full of variation to keep you interested. Kill 14 elves, then take their helmets to a prince who gives you gems in exchange. Take these gems to the castle on the hill to the King who lost some from his crown while bathing in a tub of wine. But wait! Here come a group of robot goblins who’d like you to help them travel into 2213 to kidnap the President of the United States and…I think I may have gone off track slightly, but you get the point.

You certainly won’t get bored as the game sends you here and there to complete this and that while doing the accepted RPG thang of collecting mountains of items to combine and equip. The controls are a standard virtual D-Pad setup, which is customisable, but can at times confuse as their translucent appearance leads to you looking down at exactly where your fingers are pressing. It also took me a while to figure out how to access Mikhael’s inventory as its not immediately apparent. And because I’m in a particularly mischievous mood at the moment, I’m not going to tell you how to do it.*

Where combat is concerned, it’s a real-time affair, so when you load up an arrow to kill a T-Rex, you’re actually loading up an arrow to kill a T-Rex. Cool. Each class makes use of different weapons and messing around with all the combinations knowing you’re in full control of decapitating an armed guard adds an extra satisfying element to gameplay.

There are two graphical options which apparently affect the way it plays – Advanced makes the maps larger and clearer, and Standard zooms the camera in and makes gameplay smoother. I say apparently because the game seemed to run fine whichever I chose. This isn’t a 56GB powerhouse, so I don’t think it’s taxing the iPhone’s processors too much.

In any case, its a good looking title-not particularly sharp, especially when zoomed in-but the large, colourful sprites and varied environments give it the classic 90′s RPG feel you know and love, and remember fondly and then realise it’s not quite as great as you remember, but is cool all the same.

The soundtrack is one of those nostalgic scores that makes you wish for a sound test and does a good job with creating an appropriate atmosphere at times of drama or victory. Some of the tunes can get annoying when the loop restarts from the beginning as you re-enter an area you’ve just been in. If you’re playing a mission that involves hopping back and forth between locations, it might get a little irritating. Alternatively, you can make the game a lot harder for yourself just not going backward. You see, there’s an answer for every videogame problem.

We’re not going to get Zelda on iOS anytime soon, so this is somewhere near being the next best thing. Just make sure to book an appointment at the barber before sitting down to the introduction. By the time it’s over, you’ll need it.