Kinetic Damage [Benjamin Merchand] - $2.99

Fighting games on the touch screen are a bit of a niche genre. While there are tons (and I do mean TONS) of fighting game mongers out there, it’s hard to really get the same feeling of playing a console fighter when you have no tactile feedback from your controller. Because of this, most fighting games have been ‘dumbed down’ so that they are easily playable on the touch screen, usually giving us single buttons that can pull off massive combos instead of having to input a series of moves on a flat surface to achieve the same effect. While this option can also be turned off, the touch screen’s lack of any raised surface so that players can tell where their thumbs are, or give players that sense of total control over their character definitely makes it near impossible to get the same type of gameplay experience on the iOS as with an actual controller. Though this is becoming less and less of an issue with more and more Bluetooth controls hitting the market, it’s still a problem that developers of these games have to struggle with and gamers have to adjust to. 

While some brawlers have done a very good job of developing the gameplay around the touch screen (Mutant Fridge Mayhem will always be a very good example of this and more recently, Combo Crew and Best Park In The Universe have done a great job as well), the first fighting game that I’ve personally felt completely comfortable with while using the touch screen and not an iCade is Benjamin Marchand’s Kinetic Damage, an incredibly deep and insanely impressive title, especially considering that it’s all been created by the hands of one man, and when you get into the game you’ll see why development of this amazing title took a whopping 4 years to complete. 

Once you start out, you’ll quickly realize how deep the gameplay actually is. You’ll be able to create your own character, selecting how they look, what clothes they’ll wear as well as what color you want everything to be. Along with these purely cosmetic features you’re also able to choose which fighting style you’ll like to use; Jeet Kun Do, Tai Chi Chuan, Shaolin Kung Fu, Ninjutsu, Krav Maga, Taekwondo, Muay Thai or Break. Each of these styles have different stats for Speed, Strength, Range, Critical Hit, Combo, Health, Recovery, Precision, Endurance and Energy. Yeah, pretty intense already, wouldn’t you say? And we haven’t even gotten into the different modes, combos, or incredibly deep AI yet. 

Once you choose your character and fighting style, you’ll be taken to the main area where you’ll choose your fights. There are 4 options here, Fight Lab, Olympic Resort, Grand Strike Casino and the Dojo. Now, you will need to start off in either the Dojo or Fight Lab as these are the only two areas where you can enter fights without an admission fee. In the Dojo, you’ll be able to hire a partner, which gives you the chance to train another fighter, create an event where you can select the difficulty and type of fighting mode (Tournament - you compete against 7 fighters, Team Spirit - ‘regular fight, where enemies can become friends’, Team Survival, King Of The Hill and a whole lot more [24 different options to be exact]), sparring, where you’ll be able to slowly earn some easy money with no penalties for loosing and the special shop, where you’ll be able to customize and evolve your fighter with the credits that you’ll earn by winning fights, but we’ll come back to that a little later.

The Fight Lab area will give you 3 random battles to enter each with a different gameplay style, like Dance, where your character will loose 5% of their HP if they’re not in a randomized stance that changes every 5 seconds, Weak Spots, where each character stars with 30% of their normal HP, Breath Cutter, where attacks reduce the enemies energy regeneration by 18% for 3 seconds and many, many more. Here, you’ll earn money for a win as well as some enhanced stats for your next fight, like +25% precision, +15% critical, ect. But if you loose, you’ll also get the opposite stats for the next fight, like -25% precision or -15% critical. Each of the 3 fights is also set at a random difficulty level with the winnings directly reflecting the difficulty, which means that you’ll earn more currency for harder fights. In Olympic Resort you’ll also have the option of 3 randomized fights to choose from, also varying in difficulty, but here you’ll have the chance to earn quite a bit of coinage or extra boosts, like a random implant (which we’ll talk about when we bring up the shop). Grand Strike Casino has the potential to earn you loads of currency though, with prizes bringing money multipliers to the table it’s probably the best way to earn loads of cash once you’ve got a decent handle on the game. 

The Special Shop. Something that I’ve been hoping to see in more fighting games since playing Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero. Kinetic Damage has taken this, like most everything else in the game, to the next level. You’re able to purchase 6 combos ranging in price from 500 to 1,500 credits, 8 different implants which permanently upgrade your speed, strength, vitality, endurance, prevision, energy regeneration, recovery and critical. You’re also able to purchase up to 4 special moves (though you’re given one random special right off the bat for free when you create your character). You can also change your characters look, outfit or fighting style here as well. Needless to say, this is where the majority of your currency will be spent. 

The controls are pretty much what you would expect in a fighting game. A movement joystick on the left side of the screen with 4 buttons on the right, 2 for punches, 2 for kicks. There’s also a special button right next to the movement joystick which, when pressed, changes the punch/kick buttons into special buttons. While Kinetic Damage does incorporate the one touch special moves that other fighter games on the touch screen use, to pull off combos you’ll need to memorize a series of punch/kick inputs. This mix of ‘easy’ and ‘hardcore’ controls works incredibly well within the game. Movements are not needed for combo inputs, however, you will need to time the button taps perfectly in order to pull them off. For this to work as intended, the controls need to be incredibly responsive, and Kinetic Damage nails it.

As for the opponent AI, it’s got to be one of the most impressive systems I’ve ever come across in a fighting game (note, this is not explained in the game, rather it was explained by the developer on the Touch Arcade forums). Enemies and how they fight are determined by 3 different stats; Aggressivity, Reactivity and Analysis. Each character  is crafted from a pool of 6 to 25 personality points which are distributed to their stats using 3 random ‘dice rolls‘. Because of this, the game is able to have multiple behaviors for fighters in the same difficulty and even in the same fighting style. On top of this, the opponents are also able to ‘learn’ mid-fight, able to redistribute their stat points depending on their ‘mind type’ and how you are playing. The end result? There’s between 4,000 and 16,000 different opponents in the game, depending on the difficulty levels that you choose. Impressive, no?

Combine all of this with incredibly precise and responsive controls, top notch animations, smooth gameplay that’s focused more on blocking, timing and skill than button mashing, pinpoint hitbox areas and not one little bit of IAP in sight, and what you’ve got could easily be considered the best fighting game on the iOS and arguably one of the best fighting games on any gaming platform to date. Put an insane price of $2.99 on it, and you’ve got a game that fans of the genre would be crazy to pass up. Scratch that, that all gamers would be crazy to pass up. With Multiplayer on the horizon, Kinetic Damage could replace every single fighting game on your device very soon. I really can not recommend this one enough, but if you’re still weary, there’s a lite version that you can check out which contains 2 of the 8 fighting styles and access to the ‘Match’ gameplay mode where you choose between 2 of the 8 areas that are in the full version, and be given 2 random specials for each fight. It’s a great way to get a feel for the game, and since it’s free to try, there’s no sense in not checking it out if you’re still on the fence. My advice? Skip the lite version and get the full. Now. You will not regret it one little bit.

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Kingdom Rush: Frontiers [Ironhide Game Studio] - $2.99/$4.99 [HD]

Last year the Tower Defense game Kingdom Rush took the iOS strategy gaming world by storm. Fans of the genre couldn’t get enough of it and many consider it the best TD game on the iOS, some even consider it the best on any gaming platform. That’s some insanely high praise right there, especially considering the high number of quality Tower Defense titles that are out there. Now fans of the very well received original can experience the sequel and it’s everything you’d expect a sequel to be. Kingdom Rush Frontiers takes the original’s gameplay and adds quite a bit to it while keeping the basic mechanics and gameplay in-tact.

If you’re not familiar with the original Kingdom Rush, it’s a cartoonish/comic looking hardcore Tower-Defense title that strives to put strategy and player involvement over anything else, unlike most TD titles where it’s basically ‘place your towers and watch the level for the outcome’. You’re given 4 types of towers, Archers, Knights, Mages and Cannons, each of which can eventually be upgraded and turned into a ‘super’ tower; Knights can become Assassins, Archers can create a Crossbow Fort, Cannons can become a DWAARP, a Dwarven supertower that slows all enemies down and the Mage tower can be upgraded to an Archmage tower with charged bolts. Each of these ‘super’ towers also has special abilities which can have devastating effects on the opposition. 

For each of the levels there are 3 different gameplay modes to try and tackle, each also having 3 difficulty levels to choose from. Classic Mode puts you up against the enemies with all of your towers in-tact and the ability to upgrade them to their full potential. You’ll also be able to employ your Hero who can run freely throughout the stage helping you take out baddies whenever needed. This is the main mode, and includes a great storyline along with it. Heroic Mode gives you 1 life (if one enemy breaks through the barrier, you loose) and puts you up against 6 waves of elite enemies while maxing out your towers at a lower level and no hero. The last mode is Iron Mode, putting you through 1 super wave of enemies with 1 life, a set limit to the max level of your towers, no hero and also only gives you 2 towers to work with. With all of this, including Casual, Normal and Veteran difficulties, there’s quite a challenge to be had by gamers of all skill-sets. 

Frontiers contains all of this along with new enemies, new terrains and environments, new heroes, new abilities and new super towers. Like the original, you’ll earn gems alongside hero and upgrade points which can be distributed among your towers and to make your hero an even stronger force to be reckoned with. Gems can be spent in the shop to purchase special items like extra health points, dynamite that can take out a very small grouping of enemies, a frozotov which can freeze a small group of enemies, a super bomb that can wipe out every enemy on the screen, a gold bag which gives you more gold for a stage and a chill wand which freezes all the enemies on the screen for a short period of time. You are able to purchase more gems from the game’s IAP shop, but this is not necessary to complete the game. The game is also not directly pushed towards purchasing these gems even though it might feel that way with the heightened difficulty of the gameplay, each stage can be completed without using any extra items. You can also purchase extra heroes from the shop with prices ranging from $2.99 to $4.99 and even a $6.99 hero. Just like gems, these are not required to complete the game, and you are given 3 free heroes to choose from while playing, but they are there if you’re interested in supporting the developers or just getting a stronger hero to help you through the game. 

While there will be some that are turned off the by inclusion of IAPs I feel that I should say this. There still is a lot of strategy involved. Going through a stage and getting your butt kicked and then changing your strategy and playing through the stage again and again is something that’s still here in KR Frontiers, especially if you’re striving to complete the game on Veteran difficulty with a 3 star rating on each stage and completing the extra modes. There’s a crazy amount of gameplay here for the entry price of $2.99 ($4.99 if you want the HD/iPad only version), and that feeling of completing the game perfectly is still a great reward within itself, especially if you do not drop extra money into the game to make it easier. The only reason you should feel the need to purchase any of the IAPs is to support the developer, to make the game easier (which is a tough one to say here, especially since Casual Difficulty is meant for first-timer TD players) or to experience playing the game in a new light with a new hero, kind of like a modified version (which it basically is when you unlock an IAP hero). So unless you’re totally against IAPs in your video games, it shouldn’t be an issue at all here. 

On top of all of this, there is GameCenter integration with a whopping 72 achievements to try and unlock, and believe me when I say that this will take a while and require some replaying of stages. KR Frontiers has definitely raised the bar for Tower Defense games and is easily one of the best in the genre. Even if you’re not a fan of TD games, this is still one that you should check out, as it might very well make you a fan, or bring you back into the TD gaming scene. I really can’t recommend it enough. 

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9th Dawn [Valorware + Made With Marmalade] - $2.99

It’s kind of surprising that as popular and loved as Ultima is, that there’s not more iOS games influenced by this genre defining old-school RPG. However this does make finding one all the more special. This is something we’ve just recently had the pleasure of experiencing while diving into Valorware’s 9th Dawn, published by Made With Marmalade. And while some players have already completed the game, others are finding out that taking your time and exploring every single nook and cranny within the game is an incredibly rewarding experience. Especially since the world is so vast and is a complete joy to roam around in.

9th Dawn gives you the option of playing with 1 of 3 classes; Knight, Archer or Mage, each having drastically different ways of playing as well as different quests, different NPC interactions and loads of loot for all 3. The knight has heavy armor and strong attacks but is pretty slow and pretty inept when it comes to magic. The archer is great for quick movement and medium range attacks while the mage is pretty week when it comes to defense but can dish out a whole slew of magical spells and abilities and is probably the one character with the most depth when it comes to the customization of spells and stats, as well as the most difficult to complete the game with. 

Starting off, you awake on the continent of Montelorne with no idea how you got there or where to go. Luckily, there’s an NPC right outside of where you wake up and he gives you some basic directions as well as warnings. Then off you go to explore the world, learn about the lay of the land, the empires, the characters, what makes everyone tick, ect. The one thing that wasn’t really explained too well in the beginning was how to interact with objects. When it comes to characters, a hand icon usually appears right above your attack stick which you can tap to talk to them but, as you’ll soon find out, this icon does not always appear. Going into the first shops, you can’t get close enough to the shopkeepers to trigger the hand icon from appearing and here is where you’ll either figure out on your own, or just avoid the shops for now, that you can tap directly on the NPCs to interact with them. The same goes for everything else in the world of 9th Dawn. Tapping on barrels, enemy’s dropped items/silver, buckets, chests, ect, all of these can be tapped on while some of these things, like dropped items and silver, will trigger the hand icon above your attack button, but that’s about it. I wound up dying 4 times before finding out that I could search through barrels for loot and items because of this. 

But once all of that becomes apparent, the gameplay really opens up and 9th Dawn turns into the huge, exciting, exploration RPG beast that it’s meant to be. The controls are flawless, using dual sticks for movement and attacking in 360 degree fashion is a huge plus, giving you great control over what your character does and how he does it. The attacking stick can take a little fiddling around to get comfortable with if you’re using the Mage or Archer, as you’ll need to pull the stick in the opposite direction of your enemy. After getting use to it, it does play very nicely but if you’re still having troubles with it, you can switch this in the options menu so that your character fires in the same direction of your stick movement as well. You can also enable aim assist if you’re still having troubles, which is a nice little addition. There are also options for ‘tablet mode’, ‘large thumb pads’, ‘floating stick’ and you can re-position the sticks as well, which makes the gameplay comfortable on any device no matter how you might hold it. 

This, combined with the depth of customization makes for one hell of a gameplay experience. Leveling up, like most RPGs, is done by defeating enemies. Once you level up, you're awarded 5 stat points which you can distribute how you see fit to either Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence or Wisdom. You'll also unlock more skills and spells as you level up and progress throughout the game. Being able to assign these to hotslots at either the bottom of the screen, or 'fold-out' slots above the attack stick allows for quick integration of skills and items to the heat of the action while in the midst of gameplay. It all really comes together quite nicely with a fluid and easy to navigate user interface. Quests can also be called up from your Quest Log, found in your inventory, which can also be assigned to a quick-slot for easy reference. 

Aside from the slight tutorial issue, 9th Dawn has been a pure joy to play. There’s always a new place to explore and the graphics and gameplay will take you back to the days of playing Ultima while reminding you how much gaming has grown with the super smooth animations, gameplay and huge open world. Priced at $2.99, 9th Dawn is a steal, especially considering how much gameplay you’ll get out of it and how enjoyable your gameplay experience will be. The few issues I might have with the game are extremely easy to overlook when presented with so much greatness. And considering this is only version 1.0.0, there’s plenty of hope that the game will only get better. If you’re a fan of the genre, I really can’t recommend this one enough, and even if you’re not, 9th Dawn might just make you a fan. 

**EDIT**

We did originally state that there was no quest log. Thankfully, PSJ3809 over at TouchArcade clued us in as to where the Questlog could be found. We apologize for any mis-understanding. 

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Scurvy Scallywags [Beep Games] - $0.99

Match-3 RPG’s have gained quite a bit of ground in the AppStore. Games like Puzzle Quest, Puzzle & Dragons, Tower Of Saviors and many more put you in control of adventures or a warrior and have you match tiles to attack, defend, cast spells, ect. While there are plenty of fantasy games within this genre, developers rarely break from this mold. Here’s where Beep Games comes in. Their new title, Scurvy Scallywags, has you playing as a pirate. Not only are you playing as a pirate, but you’re playing as a pirate in an on stage play. Within this, there’s quite a few more branching off that Beep Games has done from the typical ‘tried-n-true’ mechanics that can be found within this fledgling genre. 

Scurvy Scallywags starts off with the director telling you that the house is packed and that the future of the theatre is riding on your performance and the play being a huge hit. From here, you get to pick the look of your character. As you progress throughout the game you’ll unlock more costume pieces, some of which have extra stats to boost your character’s strength. You’ll be able to choose different hats, faces, shirts, shoes and weapons and once you unlock a few of the costume pieces with stats attached the customization becomes something that you’ll be messing with quite a bit. 

After you choose your initial clothing items, the play will begin and you’ll face off against the evil pirate captain who has stolen treasure and hid it around the world. Sailing from island to island you’ll start to do battle with enemies on the laid out tiles. Making matches of 3 or more can earn you gold, attack points or other various items which you can also sell once you complete the stage, helping you to earn more and more cash to put towards power-ups and other items. As you make matches, the board will shift depending on which way you swipe the matching piece into place. If you swipe from right to left, the empty spaces will fill in from the far right side of the screen, swipe top to bottom, and pieces will fall from the top and so on. Enemies will randomly appear on the board as you get further into each stage, and it’s up to you to try and match enough sword tiles that you can fight the enemies without taking damage yourself. Each enemy has a number above their character showing their attack strength. With your attack strength shown in the upper part of the screen, as well as your hit points, experience and earned gold. 

Defeating an enemy will give you a special treasure. Collect it and you’re given the chance to spin a wheel which can either get you pieces for your ships or bits of gold. While you’re moving the pieces of the board around, as well as yourself while trying to either move towards enemies or away from them, you’ll be able to collect special items like presents which give you another spin on the wheel, band aids which restore HP, or items which are needed to complete objectives. Point being there’s a whole lot going on, and it’s great having this much depth alongside the story and RPG elements. 

Once you get enough ship pieces, you’re able to build a ship which will give you some extra stats and generally help make life a little easier. Stronger ships are unlocked as you level up. Leveling up also unlocks special abilities which you can use mid-battle, like having an extra fighter to help you take out the enemies, turning all of the most common piece on the board into gold, extra turns that do not effect the movement or attack of the enemy and much, much more. 

If you don’t manage to make it through the game, no worries. Dying does put you back at the beginning, but you’ll keep all of your items, gold, upgrades and clothing, making it easier to get further each time you play. Even after completing the game, each of the game’s island’s produce randomly generated levels giving you pretty much endless replay value. On top of that there’s also a whopping 52 GameCenter achievements to try and unlock. 

With Scurvy Scallywags priced at $0.99, it’s an incredible deal. While the game’s mechanics aren’t incredibly original, there are a lot of them and quite a few do make the game feel very fresh and new. It’s like Beep Games took every Match-3/RPG and meshed all of their mechanics together and wrapped a great story around them, giving the game loads of depth while making it insanely fun. Even if you’re not a fan of the genre, or have lost interest because of all of the ‘clones’ hitting the AppStore over the last year or so, this is one title that might just get you into, or back into, the genre. If you are still a fan of the genre, Scurvy Scallywags is a must own, and easily one of the best within the Match-3/RPG genre. I really can not recommend it enough.

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Warhammer Quest [Rodeo Games] - $4.99

The first quarter of this year’s releases on the iOS was surprisingly strong. Our GOTY contender list grew fairly quickly, and we actually questioned if we were being too lenient with our standards. Fortunately, the waves of forgettable games came in, and made our GOTY picks stand out even more. Over the last couple of months there hasn’t been much to talk about in the iOS gaming world. Hyped up games failed to live up to expectations, and IAP driven paidmium titles seemed to flood the AppStore every Wednesday night. Thankfully, there have been a few titles that have stood out, and a couple of those are definitely strong Game Of The Year material. The most recent addition to our GOTY list should be no surprise, especially considering the team behind it; Rodeo Game’s Warhammer Quest. 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Warhammer Quest, it’s originally a board game set in the Warhammer Universe and is the successor to the HeroQuest and Advanced HeroQuest games. While Quest was originally released in 1995 and while it was, and still is, very popular with multiple magazines helping to build upon the universe and receiving a number of expansions, Warhammer 40,000 is most likely the game that most fans of the series are familiar with. Since it’s been released and re-released with multiple ‘Edition’s (starting in 1987 with the First Edition, and most recently receiving it’s Sixth Edition in 2012), getting various expansions and even spawned it’s own movie, there’s almost no way to avoid WH40K if you’re into the Warhammer Universe. However, WH: Fantasy Battle, where it all started, is where you should look if you’re most interested in most of the background lore for the games. 

Now that we’re done with that little history lesson, Warhammer Quest is set in the ‘Old World’, focusing on a group of adventures who have joined together in order to battle demons and monsters with the hopes of becoming famous, highly respected warriors. Throughout the game, you’ll be given quests and objectives to complete, progressing throughout the story while collecting a massive amount of loot and leveling up your characters with a pretty depthy upgrade system. But at it’s core, it’s a Dungeon Crawler that focuses on loot and rare items, branching out into some great RPG and Adventure gameplay. 

If you’re familiar with Rodeo Game’s previous Hunters titles, you should feel right at home with the graphics, animations and UI. The movement has been more streamlined, as you can select movements for your characters before others are finished moving to their selected spots and zooming in/out + maneuvering the camera is a lot tighter, giving you the feeling of having more control over everything. Now aside from the tweaked user interface the first thing that really grabbed my attention when starting Warhammer Quest up was the way that the in-level inventory system is handled. While you’re playing the game in landscape mode, to enter your inventory/equip screen all you need to do is turn your device to portrait mode. Here, you can easily select your characters and change out equipment and items quickly and get back to gameplay in a flash. The whole system is really quite impressive. 

As for the gameplay; You’re given a multitude of side-quests that run alongside your ‘main’ quests that progress the story forward. While making your way through the game, you’ll come across various villages, each having their own quests associated with them. These quests are shown on the map in red while white sections are quests that will move you forward and open up more villages and settlements to visit. Each of the dungeons are split up into areas, with each area having a set number of enemies to defeat. The only way to progress through the dungeon is to clear out one area at a time. Once you complete an area, you’ll be able to collect all of the loot you’ve earned. 

Some dungeons have multiple paths to explore, giving you more chances to earn some awesome loot and equipment which is a great addition to the game. With the amount of depth in the equipment and spell systems as well as the massive amount of loot available and top notch story-telling; it’s very easy to see that an insane amount of work has gone into making Warhammer Quest a true and faithful adaptation of the board game while streamlining it, taking out all of the tedious card and piece management that slows down the physical version. There’s not one negative thing I can say about WHQ, and Rodeo Games has set a new standard, not only for themselves, but for iOS gaming in general. 

With Warhammer Quest being a true ‘console-like’ gameplay experience on the iOS as well as how expensive the Warhammer board games can get, the price tag of $4.99 is incredibly cheap. For those of you who know how pricy the board games can get, you might even feel inclined to purchase a couple of the IAP characters or Gold Packs right off the bat just to show your support to these amazingly talented developers. This is an easy 5 star game; one that each and every iOS gamer should experience, and is also a very strong contender for iOS Game Of The Year. There’s really not much more that I can say about it other than you shouldn’t think twice about picking Warhammer Quest up. Get it. You won’t regret it one little bit.

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Little Luca [Glowingpine Studios] - $0.99

Physics puzzlers are one of a couple of genres that feel right at home on the mobile device’s touch screen. And while most of them have you using the environment to move objects around, there are a couple that take that sort of gameplay mechanic to another level. Games like Bumpy Road, Solipskier, Lazy Raiders, Night Sky and others do this in such a way that, even though some might not consider it incredibly original, they still do manage to feel fresh, unique and new while playing. And that’s where the new title from Glowingpine Studios, Little Luca, fits in. 

While looking out at the stars one night, Luca notices something strange happening. All of a sudden, the stars start falling out of the sky. Now it’s up to you to collect them all and restore the sky to it’s original beauty by collecting the 3 stars in each stage using the environment to maneuver a little ball around. As with most games, the beginning of the game acts as a soft intro to the gameplay mechanics, with only a couple of objects moving when you ‘activate’ them with the game’s simple one touch controls. As you progress further, more elements are added like whales, airstreams, gravity wells and more making the gameplay incredibly interesting as well as challenging. 

In each level there are certain objects that will activate when you touch the screen. Sometimes it’s a circle that will indent, launching the ball when you let go of the screen, other times it’s a platform that will move, knocking the ball into something else, slowing it’s momentum or even completely changing the direction of the ball. Some airstreams will always be active while others will be ‘dead’ until you touch the screen, activating them and some of them will even be rotating, requiring you to tap the screen at the precise moment to send the ball in the direction that it needs to in order to reach the end of level goal. Whales act as a sort of moving circle most of the time, swimming around in the water ready to launch the ball upward when the time is right. All of this put together has allowed the developers to come up with some incredibly inventive level designs, and even better, they’ve very clearly well thought-out level designs. I couldn’t help but be impressed throughout the game with how perfectly each and every level was put together. 

Graphically the game is a throwback to the days of retro gaming while still adding the sort of ‘modern retro’ graphics that iOS gamers have come to enjoy. It isn’t so retro that the pixels don’t have character and becoming attached to the little white ball is not hard to do. Throughout the 90 levels there are 3 different worlds, each with their own distinctive environments and while the graphics are inherently minimal because of the retro graphics used, they are also done incredibly well, adding a lot to the vibe throughout the game. 

On top of the challenge of collecting each of the 3 stars in every stage, there is also a nice scoring system that’s based on how many stars you collect and how quickly you do it. This is emphasized with GameCenter’s 4 leaderboards; one for your Total Score and a board for each individual world. And while there are no achievements, this adds to the drive of scoring better, and collecting every star while flying perfectly through each and every level. 

Priced at $0.99, being completely IAP free and not having one little negative thing that I can say about the game, it’s very easy to recommend Little Luca. It’s very clear that a lot of love, effort and time has gone into this incredibly polished physics puzzler. It also brings that ‘something special’ to the table, making it stand out in the sea of physics puzzlers that have infested the AppStore over the last couple of years. More levels are planned in the future, and I sincerely hope that the game sells well enough to make that possible, as finding a game like this, especially within it’s genre, is an insanely rare occurrence. 

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Combo Crew [The Game Bakers] - $1.99

One of my favorite iOS games over the last couple years has been one that not many review sites gave much credit. Mainly because of the included IAP, even though it did nothing to harm the actual gameplay and was completely un-intrusive throughout, The Game Bakers action oriented turn-based RPG, Squids and Squids Wild West are two completely stand out titles on the platform and while they didn’t do too well in sales, it’s hard to deny that they set a new standard for many iOS gamers as to what a great RPG on the touch screen should be. 

Since the release of Squids and Squids WW, The Game Bakers have been working on something else completely suited for the touch screen, and while those words usually constitute half-assed gameplay and gimmicky controls there are some rare occasions where ‘from the ground up for the touch screen’ has pushed genres forward, keeping them fresh and incredibly entertaining on a gaming device that’s starting to be taken a little more seriously as a ‘real’ gaming platform as time progresses. Before I go off on a tangent, the name of the game? Combo Crew. A swipe based brawler that’s easy for this reviewer to call ‘one of the best on the platform’.

Combo Crew is a tower based brawler in which you’ll start at the bottom, and have to fight your way to the top in order to take down Mr. Boss. As you progress through the tower, you’ll unlock skills, allowing you to switch out moves to your liking and style of play. The controls are very easy to get use to and actually, are quite a bit more comfortable and natural feeling than any virtual controls I’ve experienced in a brawler. First off, a quick swipe on an enemy will have your character attack them. This also sets them up as your primary target. If you want to change targets, you can either swipe or tap the enemy whom you’d like to focus your attacks on instead of the one that’s currently selected. 

There are some enemies that will block almost every attack you make, this is where your charged attack comes into play. To do this all you need to do is swipe the enemy, but keep your finger down on the screen, letting go after you’ve ‘charged’ your attack, and you’ll knock the enemy, and any enemies who happen to get caught in the crossfire, all the way across the screen. 

The special combo attacks are where it gets kind of tricky in regard to how you want to play, how quickly you want your character to attack, the range of attacks you want them to have and so on. Using two fingers to swipe anywhere on the screen, you can swipe left, right, up or down, giving you the option of pulling off 4 different combo moves. As you complete segments of the tower, you’ll be able to purchase and equip different combos with varying length and strikes, allowing you to pick a combo that starts off with a sweep kick for those pesky blocking characters, ends with an uppercut so that you can get that extra mid-air strike in, or combos with a longer/shorter string of attacks depending on how quickly you want to be able to get our of the action, or how quickly you want to build up your multiplier. 

Counter-attacking is also a big part of Combo Crew. While you’re attacking the enemy, there’s almost always going to be multiple enemies on-screen who are not seeing the business end of your fist or foot, and they will decide to come after you. These characters are always shown with a fairly large exclamation point over their heads. In order to counter their attacks, you’ll need to tap anywhere on the screen when the exclamation point is visible. This queues up a counter move that you’ll pull off as soon as you’re done finishing whatever attacking action you’re in the middle of. Here’s where short combo moves come in handy, as some of the longer combos will leave you open to attack for a longer period of time since you can’t stop a combo once you start it. Miss out on the chance to counter, and you’ll loose your multiplier as well as your super combo meter.

Yes, there is a super combo meter. While you’re off kicking some serious butt, a gauge will charge in the upper left corner right beneath your health bar. Once this is filled up, an icon with a fist on it will appear under the bar. You can either choose to tap it straight away, or wait and see if you can pull off some more moves to charge up the bar for a second or third time, strengthening your combo attacks. Once you do tap the fist icon, the background will go black, and everything will stop. This is where you’re given a chance to totally ruin the day of anyone unlucky enough to get caught on the screen. Once the background disappears, you can place your finger on the screen, and quickly swipe through all of the characters multiple times. After a couple of seconds, your super combo meter will start to drain and you’ll go on a complete rampage until it’s drained, quickly following the path of the line you drew with your finger, giving you the chance to rack up a massive multiplier. 

There are two gameplay modes; King Of The Tower, where you’ll have the chance to fight through 7 levels of the tower, each with 5 stages to try and perfect by snagging the 3 medals: Complete the stage without getting hit, beat the gold medal score and get the top local score. There is also a sort of Endless Mode called Combo Crew Mode. Here, you’ll be able to fight through stages of enemies that become increasingly difficult. In each stage there are multiple waves that you’ll need to fight off, and once you loose all of your health, it’s Game Over. However, you’re also able to get ‘rescued’ by Facebook friends and other gamers through e-mail addresses. This gives you the chance to get saved by another player to keep on fighting in a co-op mode and better your high-score. While I’m not too sure many gamers will like the idea of people working their way up the leaderboards because they have more friends with the game than them, there are a couple of forum threads, and players on The Game Baker’s Facebook page that are handing out their e-mail addresses, so finding someone to help you out isn’t really something that’s hard to do, and since you’re also able to earn currency by completing objectives and beating stages, there’s still a massive amount of drive to play the Combo Crew Mode if you’re going at it solo. 

Starting off the game, you’re given two characters with some pretty different fighting styles. There are also 2 unlockable characters which you can purchase for 20 game pieces each. Game pieces are earned by completing objectives in both gameplay modes. No worries about having to dump another couple of dollars into the game, as it’s completely IAP free, putting everyone at the same playing field from the get go. Each of the characters has 20 available combo moves, giving the game a total of 80 distinct combo moves to try and unlock. On top of this, there’s also boosters that are consumable items that you can purchase in the shop, like a burger that completely refills your health, fries that double your life gauge and completely fill it up, a green chili that fills your super combo gauge and more. There are also permanent upgrades/perks that you can buy as well which will increase your life gauge, add booster slots, increase your damage and more. Needless to say, there’s a lot to unlock in the game. 

Graphically, Combo Crew is just as polished as The Game Bakers previous Squids titles. The animations are top notch and the gameplay is incredibly smooth. However, it is kind of lacking in the environment department. There are different looks for each level of the tower, but they don’t do much to make it feel different. If you’re not really paying attention, it can almost feel like you’re playing in one room over and over again throughout most of the game. As long as I am bringing up one of the very few negative things I can say about Combo Crew, I might as well get this out of the way as well; there is no co-op mode through GameCenter. I know that some gamers will be kind of upset by this, but it’s not a deal breaker at all, though I do hope to see it added somehow in the future.

Outside of that, Combo Crew is priced at a measly $1.99. Since the game does not have one little shred of IAP to be found inside of it, and is Universal and is, without a doubt, one of the best beat-em-up/brawler titles available on the iOS, it’s a game that’s pretty much impossible for us not to recommend. If you’re a fan of the genre, Combo Crew is a must get. And with The Game Bakers working on incorporating even more into the game with updates and taking player feedback very seriously, the future for the game looks incredibly bright. You won’t want to miss out on this one. 

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