After too much faffing about due to sickness I'm rearing and ready to go so lets skip the nonsense and dive right in to the Friday News Wrap-Up for the 18th of May, 2012.
Republique - Reaches Kickstarter Goal!
With the last few months being an absolute minefield of developers trying to self-fund projects, it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. In the least there's no harm in putting money down on something you think you'll enjoy and Republique is just such a project. Despite the limited demonstration of what's on offer in the game's unique adventure-esque title, it's clear this isn't your ordinary throw-away Arcade title and definitely something the iOS platform deserves. After a last minute series of donations, the Kickstarter has managed to just squeak over its budget and hopefully we'll see more from Camouflaj and Logan in the future.
Q Entertainment - New Rhythm-action Game For iOS 'Soon'.
If you keep track of Twitter and in particular those high up in the gaming industry, you're bound to end up with a tidbit or two about their upcoming projects, even if you have to read between the lines. Thankfully there's nothing obtuse about a producer from Q Entertainment (the company behind Lumines, Rez and Child of Eden) saying 'Hey, guys. A brand-new rhythm-action-music-shooting game is hitting iOS *SOON*'. Now we play the waiting game to hear more about this project.
God of Blades - 'Physics-driven' Side-scrolling Combat 'Coming Soon'.
Speaking of Kickstarter projects, White Whale Games previously managed to get their project off the ground thanks to those interested in God of Blades' interesting take on combat for the iOS platform. Instead of simply tapping a button to activate a prerendered attack to score a predetermined amount of damage, your damage is calculated based on how your sword hits your enemy, with weapons being able to clash and shatter. It definitely has my interest so I'll be keeping my eye on it for the future.
Fist of Awesome - Jack Lumber vs. Mind Controlled Animals.
If you haven't seen our review of Hard Lines by Spilt Milk Studios, take a moment to familiarize yourself with it first. Now that you're back, imagine a side-scrolling fighter with the same sort of irreverent humor and style. That's what you can expect from Fist of Awesome by Nicoll Hunt, the developer behind Hard Lines. For more info, check out the link to the trailer below.
Mini-Review: Tower of Fortune (Game Stew) $0.99
If there's one inevitable fact a gamer has to face up to when playing a dungeon-crawling RPG, it's that they'll eventually have to deal with the dreaded 'RNG' monster. For those not familiar with it, 'RNG' stands for 'Random Number Generator' and refers to the luck required to survive some encounters; to get certain items to drop; and so on. Tower of Fortune by Game Stew is bold in its use of a slot-machine system to determine how an encounter plays out, stripping away the need to roam dungeons and placing you in direct combat with random enemies on each tier of the tower. The 'luck' isn't entirely out of your hands though as money earned from previous attempts remains in your pocket, giving you the option to purchase items for better survivability and gambling on better stats when you level up. The game's retro LCD style of presentation is almost quaint, especially when paired with the decidedly more modern sound effects and music tracks that punctuate various events. For some, the open use of random outcomes may be a turn off, but much like a slot-machine it's a hard game to put down once you've mastered its secrets. A real treat if you enjoy simple distractions.
Pick of the week: LostWinds2: Winter of the Melodias (Frontier Development) $3.99 Univ.
Whenever a sequel rolls by you can only but hope that it has aspired to be better than what came before and in the case of LostWinds, there was a lot of room for improvement. LostWinds2 goes a long way in picking up the slack, placing players in a gorgeously rendered world with easy-to-use controls perfectly suited to the touch-screen interface. New features such as the ability to change the weather plays in to its Metroid-vania style of gameplay to a tee, making it a great grab for those after a fun little platformer.
It's finally the weekend and while I'd like to say I have spare time to play Diablo 3, I'd be lying - thankfully the kind server-gods at Blizzard have kept me in the loop by making sure there's plenty of downtime; it may suck for everyone else, but at least I don't feel so far behind. Hopefully things get better and we'll have more news, reviews and features for you, so don't forget to subscribe and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Have a great weekend!
Additional Links:
LostWinds2: Winter of the Melodias Review - https://www.appspy.com/lostwinds2-winter-melodias-review
Tower of Fortune Review - https://www.appspy.com/tower-of-fortune-review
Republique Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emt01IYhQ-Q
Republique Kickstarter page - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/486250632/republique-by-camouflaj-logan
Child of Eden Gameplay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O0FlbiJ8HI
Q Entertainment 'reveal' Tweet - https://twitter.com/jamesmielke/status/201938043668672512
Fist of Awesome Teaser - https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6R0SVh2xq_c
God of Blades Trailer 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UMSuCWgIars
