Touch Arcade

If you like RPGs or Zelda-likes well enough to enjoy a pleasant, short meta-commentary, you'll have a good time here. You should also be interested if you're the sort of gamer that likes games that focus on delivering a unique experience rather than pure mechanical achievement. If you're looking for the next role-playing epic, you'll want to steer clear, and if slow-moving main characters drive you nuts, you might want to watch a gameplay video first. It rides hard on the novelty of its gimmick, but when a gimmick is as good as Evoland's, the outcome is still a pretty cool game.

Magazine Mogul serves to at least partially fulfill the wishes of people waiting for a sequel to Kairosoft's first breakout release. It's not as original as some of their recent titles like Kairobotica [$4.99], but the familiarity isn't a bad thing in this case.

If you're sick of games that ask you for cash upfront after every level, you'll want to check out Sneaky Sneaky as soon as possible. It has charm, style, and a great art style that screams franchise material.

Heroes Of Might & Magic 3 is a really good game, one which I highly recommend playing. ...It takes a bit of patience to get over the initial learning curve, but once you do, you'll find it hard to put down.

I think a lot has to be done to make Exiles into a good or great game, but it definitely doesn't seem like it would be impossible to do.But as it is right now? It's a pretty package, but an extreme letdown. ...It's worth a pass unless you're the most die-hard fan of Crescent Moon games.

While it's a little on the short side and there isn't a lot of replay value to it, for the price the iOS version goes for, Yet It Moves is an easy recommendation for anyone who enjoys puzzle platformers. It has a look and sound all its own, and some rock-solid level design that takes full advantage of its main gameplay mechanic.

The game is hardly the lengthiest platformer, and its challenges can be mastered once their surprises wear off, though a couple may give you fits like they did me with trying to catch on to their patterns. But this game is interesting and uncertain, and there's far worse fates for a game to be than that.

All in all, Lamp And Vamp is a surprisingly fun little strategy game that skillfully manages the tricky task of differentiating itself meaningfully from its obvious inspiration. Its light-hearted take on the concept is welcome and refreshing, and the challenge is stiff enough to keep you coming back for more. ...While there's a little more flab on its restless bones than Hoplite, it's easy to love Lamp And Vamp for its sense of humor and its success at achieving that wonderful feeling of vulnerable empowerment.

In the end, I'm not sure who Blood Brothers 2 is really going to resonate with. The dramatic changes in art style and game mechanics are probably going to leave the many fans of the first game scratching their heads, but nothing the game does seems all that likely to pull in anyone else.

I hope someday that TT loses the instructions and builds their video game equivalent of a double-decker sofa, but today isn't that day. Today, it's just another LEGO game.