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This Week In Mobile 3/28/14 - Beaches, Barcodes, Golf and Death
It’s an eclectic mix of featured games this week. One RPG harkens back to classic roguelikes while the other gives you different weapons via barcodes. We have a puzzle game where death is the main mechanic, and a golf game that plays nothing like actual golf. See if anything strikes your fancy.
Sometimes You Die
Developer: Philipp Stollenmayer
Platform: iOS
Price: $1.99
Death is part of the puzzle in this monochromatic, minimalist puzzle game. You control a square block, trying to make it from one end of the screen to the other in levels filled with spikes and spinning blades. The mechanic is that when you die, say on a row of spikes, a copy of your block remains in that space, which becomes a platform to jump on. Naturally, this concept makes for a whole host of puzzle designs which gradually get trickier as the game goes on. The game is both dark in tone and look. Every level has cryptic text in the background with a statement or question on the nature of game design, player motivation, and death.
Flappy Golf
Developer: Noodlecake Studios Inc.
Platform: Android, iOS
Price: Free
A neat, free time waster from the makers of Super Stickman Golf 2 (an excellent game, in my opinion), Flappy Golf takes the levels of Super Stickman Golf 2 and adds a Flappy Bird mechanic to the golf ball. Every tap will result in the ball moving in a small parabola just like in Flappy Bird. You get scored on the number of flaps until the ball reaches the hole, instead of the number of shots it takes. It’s an interesting change of play-style for a golf game, and offers a lot of replay value, given the number of creative levels that were part of the original game Flappy Golf is based on.
Boom Beach
Developer: SuperCell
Platform: iOS
Price: Free
From the makers of the wildly popular Clash of Clans comes Boom Beach, a base-defending strategy game. Boom Beach places you on an island of an archipelago and tasks you with building and upgrading a base and an army, which can be done by acquiring gold and wood over time. With this army you can attack other bases on other islands created by other players seeking more resources, and fortify your base to defend from anyone trying to attack you.
Quest of Dungeons
Developer: David Amador
Platform: iOS (also out on Steam)
Price: $1.99
Sporting one of the most generic names in the history of video games, Quest of Dungeons actually seems like a pretty fleshed-out roguelike. It sports all of the roguelike trappings, such as procedurally generated areas, dungeon exploring, lots of loot, and permadeath.The game has a charming pixel art aesthetic that’s easy on the eyes. Quest of Dungeon lets you choose classes between a Warrior, Wizard, Assassin, or a Shaman, all of which can learn new skills via tomes along the journey. While certainly not the most original game in the world, Quest of Dungeons looks well made.
Barcode Kingdom
Developer: Magic Cube
Platform: iOS
Price: $0.99
Here’s something a little more original. The hook of this game is that any barcode you scan in the real world will materialize into the kingdom of “Barcodia” in the form of units, items, and potions. Players can use these items to fight enemies on a variety of missions. Fighting seems to be turn based and auto resolved. The game purports to have 50 different units, 350 unique weapons to unlock via scanning, and 100 missions.
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