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This Week In Mobile – R-Type 2, Radiohead’s New “Game” and More
There's an eclectic mix of interesting games coming out this week. From classic shoot 'em ups to audiovisual worlds to card games, there's plenty of choices to suit your tastes this week.
R-Type II
Developer: Irem, DotEmu
Platform: iOS, Android
Price: $1.99
This week’s most notable release is a remake of the classic arcade game R-Type II, a side-scrolling shooter known for its punishing but rewarding difficulty. The unique part of the R-Type series is the Force pod, an invincible blob that hovers around your ship at all times. Powering up the Force pod and your lasers is the key to success, though that doesn't guarantee you'll survive. The iPhone and Android ports by necessity have virtual buttons for control. This remake features three difficulty modes, a classic normal mode, an unlimited mode with unlimited continues, and an unlockable insane mode, which I bet lives up to its name given how hard the game is already.
PolyFauna
Developer: Radiohead, Nigel Godrich, Stanley Donwood, Universal Everything
Platform: iOS, Android
Price: Free
The band Radiohead has released a new app for the iPhone, which may or may not be considered a game depending on whether you consider Flower or Proteus games. Either way, it’s pretty trippy and it’s free. PolyFauna is an audiovisual experience that takes the viewer through an evolving world. Every now and again, a red dot will appear, and if you follow it, it will break the screen and a new environment will pop up with new music. The description in the app store says PolyFauna “comes from an interest in early computer life-experiments and the imagined creatures of our subconscious.”
Any Landing
Developer: Strange Flavour
Platform: iOS
Price: Free
This game’s tagline is “Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.” Any Landing tasks you with collecting as many coins and items in the air as possible with a rickety plane, and crash landing as safely as possible. Tilt the screen to move the plane up or down. Along the way greater challenges will arise such as saving kitties and plundering luggage for souvenirs. Any Landing seems like a fun diversion for those looking for that kind of thing.
Adventure Time Card Wars
Developer: Cartoon Network
Platform: iOS
Price: $3.99
Adventure Time has been releasing games in a wide range of genres, but a card game is a first. Card Wars, inspired by the Adventure Time episode of the same name, is a deck-building game. The game tasks you with commanding an army of warriors, including Hukser Knights, Cool Dog, and the Immortal Maize Walker, to defeat the enemy using attacks and spells. Towers can be placed to combine with spells to create more powerful “ultimo attacks.” All in all it looks like a pretty polished release. And who doesn’t want to command a warrior called Cool Dog?
Riot Runners
Developer: Room 8
Platform: iOS
Price: $0.99
Riot Runners is a new endless runner, but stay with me; it comes with a pedigree. It won the Audience Award for Best Game in Show at Indie Prize, and from the looks of it has a killer art style to boot. Riot Runners features a cool black-and-white steampunk aesthetic and numerous saws, gears, and traps to avoid. The game promises “increasing difficulty from easy to bone-breaking.” There are a lot of games in the endless runner genre, but this one looks like it could be great if the gameplay as is slick as the presentation is.
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