Touch Arcade

It’s a no-brainer purchase if you’ve liked any of Brough’s previous games, of course. But if that’s you, then you’ve probably already bought it, haven’t you? If, however, you bounced off one of his games before for any reason other than the art, you might want to give this one a glance. There’s a concerted effort here to try to reach out to a slightly different set of tastes, and if you give it a chance to get its claws into you, you may end up finding this to be the gateway to a brighter, Broughier world. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

On the whole, it is a delightfully well-made game that is far, far too kind to its players. If it had an asking price instead of an optional in-app purchase, it would be worth it; as it is, it’s a steal. Think I’m wrong? Go download it, play it for a few days, then come tell me. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

There are countless visual novels devoted to dating a bunch of very busty women, but few that turn that trope onto its head; Dream Daddy does that through objectifying men. Not in a mean way, or even an overly-sexual way – instead, Dream Daddy makes virtual dating wholesome and punny. It shows the importance of community and friendship, especially for a single parent. It’s not so much about the dating as it is exploring new interests through new people. I’m so appreciative of the experience.

Regardless of my personal struggles with stealth gameplay, Worse Than Death is an incredible experience of love, life, and the past that haunts Holly. She’s the type of heroine you cheer for whenever she succeeds, and that you truly feel bad for when something goes wrong. The simple gameplay enhances the narrative by not overpowering it, and the use of auditory cues really is amazing. Simply put, Worse Than Death more than lives up to my expectations for it, and I already look forward to my next playthrough.

Minit is a game perfectly suited to mobile platforms and portables in general with its literal minute long gameplay segments. You can always get in a run or two while waiting for someone in a cafe or on the bus. While I am disappointed with the lack of full controller support and how some aspects have not transitioned well to touch controls, Minit is still a must play title. It is such a brilliant concept that takes a gameplay style that works well but keeps things super fresh at all times. If you’ve not played Minit on any other platform yet, the iOS version is absolutely worth the asking price. Do yourself a favour and get the soundtrack as well.

All in all, Ordia is a hell of a game. It’s absolutely gorgeous, the animations are buttery smooth, and the sound effects and haptic feedback are incredibly satisfying. So satisfying, in fact, that if you aren’t actively paying attention, you don’t even notice them. It sounds counterintuitive, but you don’t want your sound effects to shout too loudly or they’ll become distracting. Apple was right––it’s a great game, and well worth the time invested.

This is the kind of game I was desperately searching for when World of Warcraft started to grow stale for me in the mid-2000s. Knowing it’s playable on something that fits in my pocket makes me feel old yet thankful. The only thing that managed to tear me away from Dawn of Isles was my emulator crashing on a load screen after 6 hours of flawless gameplay. That has to mean something for a mobile game.

Then again, almost perfect ain’t that shabby. There’s a very good chance you’re not looking for another zombie game for your phone or tablet, now or perhaps ever. But Infectonator 3: Apocalypse is good enough for you to cast aside your many preconceived notions and give it a shot, because trying to end humanity is actually a lot more fun than you might think.

Overall, you absolutely need to play this game if you’re a fan of platformers and enjoy premium experiences on mobile. Playdigious did a lovely job with the port and it is perfect if you have an MFi controller. If you don’t, the touch screen controls are definitely not a fantastic way to play this because of how it controls in general. If you want to play this on touch, make sure to spend some time customising the controls through button sizes and positions because it doesn’t feel great on the iPhone 7 to me and is much better with touch on iPad.

Rome: Total War is beyond worth the asking price on its own and is a fantastic introduction to Creative Assembly’s excellent series. If you’ve played it earlier on PC and are wondering how the game translates to iOS, the collection is a no brainer purchase. This is exactly the kind of game I want to see more of on iOS. Thinking of this release as just a port is a disservice to how much it has been improved visually and functionally for touchscreens.