iPhone Hill

Turn-based strategy games are quite popular on the App Store, beloved due to their addictive and thought-provoking qualities. But every now and again, there comes along a genre-shaking game that just blows me away. Everlands, developed by Hexage.net, is one example.

Everlands’s basic plot revolves around the evil spirits taking control of animals, and the brave plethora of creatures that must come together to stop the evil and cleanse their possessed brethren. While this more juvenile, lighthearted storyline seems out of place in a genre filled with macho heroes, futuristic weaponry and vehicular combat, it blends nicely into the game and serves as a much welcomed change of pace.

In Everlands, you and your opponent take turns placing animals on the hexagonal board. Each animal has a certain amount of life and attack points, but can only attack out of certain sides. After attacking, the animal cannot attack out of that side again for the rest of the match. When an animal loses all life points, it will change alignments, resetting all life points but not attack sides.

Each species has varying amounts of life and attack points, as well as a unique special ability. For example, the intimidating Tiger is able to reduce the attack points of all adjacent enemy animals, while the prickly Hedgehog is able to attack on almost all sides. Everlands is super easy to play, with the bonus of  shorter tutorials, but adds just the right amount of depth to avoid being simplistic and dull.

In order to complete a stage, you must have possession of more than 50% of the board with your creatures. If you are victorious, you unlock another animal to add to your arsenal. While the story mode starts off easy, the difficulty quickly ramps up as you learn to synergize your animal’s abilities and weaknesses together. However, the story mode is rather short, and with the conclusion of the game you are left little replay value. Perhaps in a effort to combat this, Everlands also features a two-player duel mode where you can square off against a friend using the same device.

Everlands is able to simultaneously pay homage to strategy game and casual game principles, making it a blast to play. Everlands is a must-own game if you’re a lover of strategy games, or just have the desire for a great game. Hexage.net builds on a classic hexic strategy game with its own unique quirks and twists, creating a game that shouldn’t be missed.

iTunes Link – Everlands

Developer Link – Hexage.net

LilRacerz , an inaugural app by developers Blast One, is by definition an arcade ‘micro racer’ style game. However, so much energy, polish and life is infused into this game that it transcends its genre, making you forgot you’re playing a top-down 2D racer that only cost two dollars.

The game play revolves around nine different tournament cups for you to win, each consisting of several unique races. At the end of each race you receive gold coins to spruce up your ride and at the conclusion of each cup (if you scored first or second cumulatively) you unlock a brand new car for the new tourney. It’s a simple and effective no-frills formula that kept me hooked right from the start.

Racing itself is made very easy by efficient and simple controls. You have your acceleration and brake pedals, two steering buttons for maneuvering left and right, and the ubiquitous ‘nitro’ key to give a little jolt to the engine. Controls were generally responsive, and I appreciated how the dev ingeniously placed the nitro right above the acceleration pedal, allowing you to activate it without taking your thumb off the acceleration. All the races consists of two to three laps with four AI opponents, usually making for a frenzied jockeying for position that makes this game a whole lot of pulse-pounding entertainment.

One of the major selling points of LilRacerz are the impressive and stylish pixel-art graphics. Blast One did a fantastic job in making sure their game looked nice, and the different sceneries, ranging from a snowy arctic to desert wasteland to rainforest, all looked bright and crisp. The game is 2D, although I tended to forget that because of how nicely the basic physics system was woven into racing and steering and how realistic the graphics are. As an added bonus, you can laugh manically as you chase and run over skittish pedestrians, reducing them to splatters on the track.

Rounding out LilRacerz is the Crystal integration for score and achievement tracking, a ‘quick race’ mode to race on tracks you’ve already unlocked, and a thumping retro-style soundtrack for your listening enjoyment. From the superb gameplay to excellent graphics, LilRacerz is a very welcome addition to the app store, a great casual racing game that I highly recommend. I’m going to be keeping a lookout for more games by Blast One, because LilRacerz is an optimistic sign of great things to come.

iTunes Link – LilRacerz

Version 1.0

Reviewed on iPod Touch 2g 3.1.2

You have to respect the classics.

Retro Paddle is Richard Fennema’s tribute to Pong for the iPhone! Although insanely simplistic in nature, Retro Paddle serves more to remind to the world how far the gaming world has come since Pong’s console release in 1974 (roughly three years before home computers were available to the public). This ridiculously simple concept was something the world had never seen before: at home console gaming! Pong, with sales totaling over $40,000,000 in it’s first year, was a massive hit and the public ate it up. This simple game sparked a series of innovations that led to cartridge based gaming and the decision to port classics like Space Invaders from the arcade to the TV screen.

After the console gaming crash of 83′ and 84′, the general public avoided console gaming until gaming legends Nintendo and Sega hit the scene in the late 80’s with the NES and the SG-1000. From there, it’s all history and the world’s youth would never be the same because of it. In fact, Pong indirectly set in motion – albeit  an extremely indirect set of motions- a line of events that would ultimately lead to the creation of IAR and for that we pay tribute!  It’s just hard to believe that the at home gaming phenomenon came with instructions that said: “Avoid missing ball for high score.”

Retro Paddle has the same basic rules. To win… you must not miss the ball. Simple and to the point. The only difference is that Retro Paddle has some cool new features; you can change the control settings from touch to tilt and adjust the difficulty! Not much in comparison to other games currently in the app store but enough to satisfy the retro gamer. So if you’re a nostalgic gamer like me, then chances are you’d probably enjoy Retro Paddle! You can purchase this game for $.99 in the app store.

iTunes Link – Retro Paddle

Version 1.0

Reviewed on iPhone 3G 3.1.3