Happy Easter, everyone! Depending on where you live in the world, you may got an extra-long weekend this week (apologies if you don’t!) — thereby giving you a bit more time to check out the week’s top apps.
So what to pick? Check out our selection of the week’s most important apps and app updates below. You won’t regret it!
Back in 2015, Square Enix Montreal released Tomb Raider GO, an audacious attempt to reimagine the Lara Croft franchise by turning it into a fun, turn-based isometric puzzle game.
By all rights, it totally shouldn’t have worked, but it did — and the results were excellent. Now the game has been given an overhaul with new levels, courtesy of the Mirror of Spirits update.
Check out the trailer below.
The excellent empire-building and battling sim Total War: Warhammer is coming to Mac later this month.
Taking the turn-based strategy and real-time battles formula behind games like Total War: Rome II and adding a fantasy element, this is one of the best Warhammer games I’ve ever played. Check out its trailer below.
The only thing better than a great iOS game is a great free iOS game, and thanks to a new special offer, space flight simulator Hyperburner now fits the bill.
Launched in June last year, Hyperburner is a futuristic sci-fi jet simulator that’s bound to please any fans of Wing Commander or the classic WipeOut series, with its fast-paced, responsive, obstacle avoidance gameplay. And if dodging obstacles is your thing, now you can dodge paying for it, too!
Ellen DeGeneres is in the illustrious company of Kim Kardashian as one of a small number of celebrities-turned-“developers” who have successfully launched their own apps.
Having previously launched the smash hit Heads Up!, Ellen’s now back with a new iOS game based on a segment from her TV show. Called Hot Hands, it’s a game which flashes up images of celebrities, and then asks players to say their name as quickly as possible.
And thanks to some nifty voice recognition tech, it actually looks pretty good fun!
There are plenty of gorgeous puzzle games available on iOS, but GalacticThumb’s new entry Cuzzle is well worth adding to your collection.
It’s an isometric puzzler game, heavily inspired by Sokoban, the 1981 transport puzzle game in which the player has to push crates around a warehouse to get them into different locations. However, onto this formula GalacticThumb has added collapsing floors, switches, and some beautifully minimalist graphics.
Check out the trailer below.
A perfectly-pitched mash-up of randomly-generated zombie survival RPG, actioner, and text-based interactive fiction game, Death Road to Canada is one of the year’s greatest iOS games — and according to its creators, it’s about to get even better.
There’s just one day left in March which means a cornucopia of horrible tech “pranks” are about to be unleashed on the internet. Google is getting its gags out early and this year, the company’s April Fools’ Day prank is actually a lot of fun.
Google Maps added a new feature for users this morning on both iOS, Android and the web that allows users to turn city streets into a giant game of Ms. Pac-Man.
Somehow it’s the weekend again already, and to help you celebrate we’ve combed through the week’s best apps to help you sort the wheat from the chaff.
Whether it’s a great retro-style zombie game or a superb productivity app gone free you’re looking for, we’re confident we’ve got what you’re hankering after!
Check out our list below.
I’ll admit it: I was a massive Power Rangers nerd back in the day, which is why I’m tentatively excited to see the new blockbuster reboot, and very happy to see a new game in the franchise arrive on iOS.
Called Power Rangers: Legacy Wars, it’s a real-time mobile fighting game, which should please fans of the series by incorporating a wide range of locations and characters not just from the new movie, but the years of TV shows as well.
Check out the trailer below.
Haven’t played Super Mario Run since the first few weeks after its release? Nintendo is hoping to lure you back, as well as recruiting fresh players, with the 2.0 upgrade of its endless runner game.
The update beings new playable characters, new courses in Toad Rally, new buildings, greater ease of play, and assorted other changes and improvements.
Ever wished for a retro-styled zombie survival game built around a road trip in the Great White North? If so, you’ll almost certainly be excited to hear that the excellent Death Road to Canada has just landed on iOS. If you haven’t had such an oddly-specific dream, you’ll want to download this game anyway. Trust us, this is great stuff!
Check out the trailer below.
After a big indie game promotion over the past week, Apple has given titles from independent developers their very own spot in the App Store. And it’s about time, too!
The new section will make it easier for shoppers to find new titles from smaller studios, while developers will benefit from greater coverage. It won’t be quite as easy for the latest releases to be drowned out by bigger titles from gaming giants.
The popularity of iMessage apps is already starting to diminish, less than a year after their debut.
iMessage apps have been the hottest new feature on iPhones since iOS 10 introduced them last year. But new data from analytics firm Sensor Tower shows that excitement for the new apps is already starting to fade among developers.
Apple’s decision to drop support for 32-bit apps in iOS 11 later this year could kill about 187,000 apps, based on a new report that shows some old apps have been slow to catch up.
Analytics firm Sensor Tower estimates about 8% of all apps on the App Store will become obsolete. That small percentage may sound insignificant, but old games might be impacted the most.
Nintendo’s long-awaited Switch gaming console packs an surprisingly cool feature: You can use its unique Joy-Con controllers to play games on your Mac.
From a great update for an already fantastic iPhone keyboard to a couple of tremendous iOS games that’ll keep you busy on the subway to work, we’ve sifted through this week’s most exciting apps to bring you the ones you absolutely need to download now.
Check out our picks below. Trust us, this is the way you want to spend Sunday!
In news that makes us feel pretty darn ancient, this month marks 21 years since the first Pokémon game launched in Japan — and Pokémon GO is getting in on the action!
As part of the #PokemonDay celebrations, starting February 26 at 1PM PST and running through the next day, Pokémon GO players will be able to hunt and capture a wild Pikachu adored with “festive party hat.”
In other words, you’d better carve out some free time if you really want to catch ’em all!
Today marks the 88th birthday of professor Thomas Kurtz, who invented the BASIC programming language with his colleague John Kemeny.
To mark the occasion, the iOS and Apple Watch port of DONKEY.APP, a game originally programmed in BASIC by none other than Bill Gates, has been made temporarily available for free by its developers.
What better way to celebrate Kurtz’s birthday than by playing the modern port of a clunky old 1981 driving game?
When it comes to buying apps, iPhone users aren’t afraid to bust out their wallets for good software.
Spending on iOS apps increased during 2016, according to the latest data from app analytics firm SensorTower which claims the average iPhone user spends $27 a year just on games.
What better way is there to spend a lazy Sunday than by catching up on the best apps you missed over the past week? Fortunately, Cult of Mac has done the leg work for you in selecting what we think are the most important new apps or app updates to arrive over the past seven days.
Check out our picks below. And then get downloading!
Catching all the Pokémon in the world is about to get a lot more challenging.
The makers of the popular game Pokémon GO revealed that 80 new creatures will be added this week, along with gender-specific variations and an all-new way to evolve your Pokémon.
Slasher movies and Apple were two of my favorite cultural entities to come out of the 1970s and 80s, which is why I’m so happy to see Slayaway Camp — a loving ode to the former — arrive in the App Store.
Previously available on PC via Steam, the game is a sliding puzzle game which owes more than a passing nod to the heyday of Friday the 13th, The Prowler, Prom Night and other legendary teen slashers.
Check out the suitably retro trailer below:
To achieve maximum success, iOS game developers need an idea that’s both reassuringly familiar and strikingly new. That’s exactly what Stagehand delivers: The new platform game employs a clever twist on the popular endless-runner genre, with a sprinkle of ’90s classic Lemmings thrown in for good measure.
“Stagehand is a game that looks like a side-scrolling platformer, but instead of controlling the character, you move the stage,” developer Matt Comi told Cult of Mac. “We call it a ‘reverse platformer.’ The protagonist, Frank, runs and jumps all by himself. It’s the player’s job to make sure he doesn’t run into walls.”
It’s the weekend, which means that it’s time to ditch all the chores you had planned and instead sit down and try out some of the week’s most significant new apps.
From a tremendous “reverse platformer” to a nifty attempt at revolutionizing your magazines-reading experience, here are the apps and app updates that intrigued us this week.