![Ravensword: Shadowlands Hits The Mac App Store Ravensword: Shadowlands Hits The Mac App Store](/Featured70.jpg)
Ravensword: Shadowlands Hits The Mac App Store is a story by AppAdvice.com
AppAdvice - iPhone, iPad, iPod, App Reviews + News]]>
Horn [$6.99] creator Phosphor Games is working on a World War Z movie tie-in game, IGN reports on its mobile blog. It's scheduled to hit mobile devices this May 30. Details on this one are few and far between, but the teaser trailer IGN secured does shed some light on what this thing will be packing. Notably, it'll have zombies. Also, helicopters. And human arms. And crowbars. Here's the trailer:
Bad movie tie-in games (and even worse zombie games for that matter) are incredibly common on the App Store, so it's probably very wise to keep your expectations in check on this one. Don't get us wrong, it'd be neat to if Phosphor can pull this off, but it seems like time and money are always short on these sorts of projects especially given the typical scope of mobile games and the relatively low development budgets that App Store price points even allow.
Fingers cautiously optimistically crossed!
[via IGN]
Heads up: Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded isn't hitting at the end of this month, as was planned. Instead, it'll hit towards "the end of June," creator Replay Games confirmed via the game's Kickstarter page. This latest delay comes courtesy of bugs, as is the usual case with these kinds of short-ish postponements.
Here's the skinny, ripped from that update:
Here’s the problem, and thus this un-scehdule Kickstarter update: due to the pure number of bugs found in the PC version alone (the Mac version is being tested now, but not via Steam), we’re having to delay the game, yet again, until the end of June.
I can’t tell you how many phone calls, arguments, and heart breaking conversations I’ve had with my advisors on this. I SERIOUSLY wanted this game out by the end of May because we’ve postponed it more times than Larry’s been rejected. Ok, well, maybe not THAT many, but still... we’ve had some delays.
While a bummer, delays are usually a good thing. Who wants to play a buggy game? For this one in particular, a buggy release could be pretty catastrophic. If bugs keep folks from enjoying this one, there's really no incentive for them to play the next re-make in the series. Plus, there's that whole "re-introducing Larry to people who have never played the original" thing, too.
Eli and I opened up a lot about the movies that made us cry while we gave Trigger City [$0.99] a spin the other afternoon. If you don't know about it, it's a retro-inspired brawler that plays pretty much just like... a retro brawler. In the game, you're tasked with punching and kicking a bunch of bad dudes while eternally moving to the right. Sadly, there's not much more to see here outside of a currency system. Basically, you get cash for beating up folks and then you can use that to buy permanent boosts and new combos.
I'm not a big fan of this. It's pretty clear that a lot of love went into the look and sound and feel, but it fails in delivering a reason for me to feel like I need to keep fighting and moving to the right. It's kinda hollow, in a way.
You can see for yourself in our look, which includes a lot of real talk.
The opening to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rooftop Run [$1.99], an endless runner based on Nickelodeon's reboot of the popular '90s cartoon, is almost as awesome as the game itself. We open on a shot of our four heroes in a half-shell lounging around the sewer den playing video games. A very young and spunky April O'Neil comes bursting into the room, shouting at the love-struck mutant teenagers to turn on the news, which shows alien invaders descending on New York City.
Boggled at the nerve of the alien riffraff, the heroes rush up to the surface, spout a lot of talk about kicking some alien butt--and immediately set off running when the alien ship swoops in from above and gives chase. My heroes.
Humorous as it may be to see those turtle tough guys turn tail, I'm glad they did, because the resulting adventure makes for one of the more creative runners on the App Store. After choosing a turtle, your hero sets off at a dash, leaving you to tap the screen to leap gaps between buildings and ninja-kick Foot soldiers and aliens in your path. As you run, you'll need to collect green orbs to keep the glowing meter at the top of the screen from draining. Should it deplete, the ship beams you up and, one presumes, the crew dines on turtle soup.
The controls are as responsive as they are intuitive, and that's good, since flubbed jumps and getting cold-cocked makes you stumble, giving the alien ship time to gain ground. Jump from the lip of a rooftop, however, and you'll hit the ground running. The same goes for attacking. Tap the screen when your turtle brushes shoulders with a Foot and you'll perform a strike that clobbers the bad guy and boosts you forward. Spiky traps, pits, and enemy soldiers appear in increasing quantities as you run along. Tap without missing a beat and your chosen turtle will vault smoothly along, providing excellent visual feedback.
Those ooze orbs you gulp down along the way do more than increase your speed. Collecting enough orbs to fill your speed meter triggers Turtle Time, a combat mini-game where you tap the screen to put the hurtin' on Foot soldiers. The novelty wears off once you realize you're participating in a glorified quick time event, but it switches up the usual runner formula nicely.
As expertly as plucking all the bells of a target dummy without making a sound, you pick the pocket of every Foot soldier you clobber, earning coins you can use to buy gear, costumes, and weapons. You can also save up thousands upon thousands of coins to unlock extra characters--including the other Ninja Turtles. Yes, after a few rounds running with my homeboy Raphael, I went back to the sewer only to find that Master Splinter had changed the locks. All four turtles are available when the game begins, but the three you left behind cost over 3,000 coins each when you return to the lair.
Even my longest runs only netted around 200 coins, but some of the more expert players in our forums are racking up earnings in the thousands of coins, so your mileage may vary. There's a grind here for sure, but it's not insurmountable by any means. Completing three Turtle Times in a row opens up a boss fight, and KO'ing these heavy hitters earns you tons of coins, but decking out a single turtle with tricked-out gear such as slower energy loss and cyber weapons requires a hefty time investment.
Offering all four Hero Turtles (I just dropped a culture bomb) only to lock away three of them when your back's turned is irritating, but far from a deal breaker. TMNT Rooftop Run makes for a rollicking good time, especially if you enjoy runners but crave a recipe with some spice.
TouchArcade Rating: