It's that time of the week again and we here at AppSpy are busy busy busy trying to delve in to the pile of games that were recently released, so lets not keep everyone waiting and jump straight in to the Friday News Wrap-Up for the 23rd of March, 2012.
Bethesda Softworks Hiring for iOS
We can dump this news in to the rumor pile, but Zenimax, the parent company for Skyrim developer Bethesda has posted a job opportunity for someone with experience in the iOS development field. Considering the company has had rumors regarding an iOS product that dates way back to 2009 and their only real outing has been the official Skyrim map pack, it's hard to know if this is something to take seriously. With any luck we'll see something more official in the future.
Supernauts - Little Minecraft Planet?
Recently developer Grand Cru revealed their plans with regards to The Supernauts, a superhero based social title with Minecraft-like elements. Before you start raging out on forums though, the screenshots speak for themselves - this isn't just some lazy clone. Players will have an opportunity to build up their planet-orbiting base of operations, flying down to Earth to save people from the effects of global warming. Interestingly the game is slated to be free-to-play and will include mobile, tablet, browsers and Facebook. Check their site for more details.
DotEmu confirms Little Big Adventure and The Last Express
Adventure games have had a sort of revival on the iOS platform thanks to their generally simplistic controls that revolve around clicking (or in the case of touch devices, tapping) the screen. So it's great news to hear about Little Big Adventure (Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure) and The Last Express receiving iOS ports thanks to DotEmu later in the year. Classic PC gamers are bound to love this news and adventure gamers in particular may love or loath the opportunity to play the non-linear Last Express just one more time. More news when it drops.
MIB3 Tapped By Gameloft
Aside from already stating that each of their games will feature In App Purchases, developer / publisher Gameloft have picked up the mobile licence for summer blockbuster Men In Black 3. Given the relatively weak showing of their free titles this year, it's worrying to also hear that this game will also be free-to-play. Still, the game is slated to feature interation with 'faithfully inspired' characters from the MiB universe and access to special equipment such as the Noisy Cricket. The Men in Black 3 game is slated to appear around the same time as the movie's release on the 25th of May.
Mini-review - Hunger Games: Girl on Fire (Lions Gate Films) FREE Univ.
As mentioned when we originally announced the Hunger Games game for iOS, I have to admit my complete ignorance of the teen novel and its recent movie adaption. Still, a fun game is a fun game and when so many well-known game developers come together to collaborate the end result is bound to be polished if nothing else. Quite simply, the game is an endless runner featuring Katniss as she explores the lands beyond District 12 only to be hunted down by Tracker Jackers. With controls as simple as swiping to change what level you're running on and tapping to kill Jackers, the game becomes a test of your skill at avoiding their deadly projectiles. Featuring gorgeous visuals, a solid soundtrack and challenging enemy patterns, the game is an absolute steal for absolutely zero financial investment. If you're sick of the genre this may give you at least a moment of fun, but fans of endless titles will get a serious kick out of this game, whether or not their fans of the novel that inspired it.
Game of the Week - MotoHeroz (RedLyx / Ubisoft) $0.99
Retroactive GotW - Draw Something (OMGPOP) $0.99 / FREE Univ.
Once again I find myself in the position of needing to award two games of the week. While I will always give preference to games that are timely in their release, I also have to give credit to a game that took us far too long to jump on board for. As such this week's major award goes to MotoHeroz by RedLynx - the developer has a serious knack for getting players to push themselves beyond their limits to reach ever-higher on the leaderboards; MotoHeroz is no exception and a complete treat for fans of time-trial racers. Secondly, a retroactive award goes to Draw Something - its simplicity is its key to success, and sharing quirky images with friends has never been so much fun.
That's all for this week's Friday Wrap-Up - we always love to hear back from our fans, so feel free to drop a comment below and if you'd like to keep track of our future news, reviews and updates, subscribe to our channel, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook. Have a great weekend!
Additional Links:
Zenimax Job Listing - https://jobs.zenimax.com/requisitions/view/221
Supernauts - https://www.supernauts.com/
KaThogh's LBA Speedrun series - https://www.youtube.com/user/KaThogh
The Last Express Gameplay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXdnv063TAg
MotoHeroz - https://www.appspy.com/motoheroz-review
Hunger Games Girl on Fire - https://www.appspy.com/hunger-games-girl-on-fire-review
Draw Something - https://www.appspy.com/draw-something-by-omgpop-review
