iPhone games - page 8

Phones beat out consoles and PCs with gamers old and young

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The Elder Scrolls: Blades promises top-tier gaming on iOS.
The quality of iPhone gaming has improved dramatically in recent years. Consider The Elder Scrolls: Blades, for example.
Photo: Bethesda Softworks

More people play games on their phones than on any other type of computer, according to a new survey. And the number is much higher for women.

The survey breaks out where people prefer to play games by age and gender. And there’s a much wider spread of ages than many might guess.

Defend the planet with indie music in Loud on Planet X [Reviews]

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Blast aliens while you dance a little on Planet X.
Blast aliens while you dance a little on Planet X.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

I’ve been smashing aliens with multiple eyes for a good while now, and the fantastic indie-flavored soundtrack of Loud on Planet X has invaded my brain.

A mashup of rhythm games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero with lane-based tower defense games like Plants vs. Zombies, Loud on Planet X will scratch that music game itch, getting you to tap your way to victory while getting to play as your favorite indie band, like Tegan and Sara, CHVRCHES, Lights, Purity Ring, and Little Dragon, just to name a few.

Awesome 360-degree space battle game puts you right in the action [Reviews]

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Stellar Wanderer is a space sim with both action and style.
Stellar Wanderer is a space sim with both action and style.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Stellar Wanderer gets right into the action with space battles from the very first mission, which takes place in the full 360 degrees of your spaceship viewport.

You’ll take to the vastness of interstellar space, populated by huge space stations, rugged traders, and (obviously) hordes of space pirates to complete missions given to you by mysterious individuals and then taking the reward money to upgrade your craft and piloting skills.

There’s a lot of space in space, and you’ll feel every kilometer of it when you drop into Stellar Wanderer on your iPhone or iPad.

Check out the gorgeous launch trailer below.

Kick or Die makes kung-fu fighting look easy [Reviews]

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Kick or Die
This looks so dangerous.
Photo: Boomfire Games

Super-elaborate, open-world games with stats, exploration, or an engrossing storyline are great, but sometimes you just want to put your foot in some ninjas’ faces. And that’s where Kick or Die really delivers.

This mobile title has been out for a couple months, but it’s just received an update that adds some new challenges and bosses. We didn’t play the earlier versions, but the new one is a fast-pased, dead-simple kickstravaganza that will keep your thumbs on their toes, even though that sounds completely stupid and impossible.

The game’s fun, though.

Stack blocks to save the galaxy’s cutest robot in clever Atomi

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Atomi
The day I don't want to help a cute robot is the day I stop living.
Photo: Studio Baikin

If you can look Atomi‘s super-cute robot hero in his single, perfectly round eye and say that you don’t want to help him get home, then you may be a monster. I’m sorry you had to hear it from me.

Atomi needs to gather atoms to repair his busted spaceship, but he has a few things in his way. Specifically, he can’t climb or jump, and some of those things he needs are on very tall platforms. But that’s where you come in. And the time you spend getting the little ‘bot where he needs to be is both fun and charming as it sounds.

5 new iOS games that will destroy your weekend

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Smack your weekend right in the face with these great new iOS games.
Smack your weekend right in the face with these great new iOS games.
Design: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

It’s a new year and a new you, and your iOS device just might be crying out for some new gaming titles to keep you fat and happy while you manage all those resolutions.

Whether you enjoy a deeper role-playing and crafting adventure to keep you tapping well into the evening over a long weekend, a musical adventure that you can create yourself, a Mad- Max-inspired demolition derby, or a quick brain-booster puzzle or two to keep your wits about you, we’ve got the five best on offer right now.

In no particular order, here are the best new iOS games that we’ve culled from a long list on the App Store.

In Rogue Agent, you’ll do more running than spying

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rogue-alert-gameplay - 4
This fun new puzzle game will give you a healthy dose of anxiety.
Photo: Roguebox Studios

You aren’t just any agent. You’re a rogue agent. And you’re trying to escape before the enemy agents find you. That’s the plot behind — you guessed it — Rogue Agent, a thrilling new puzzle game on iOS.

With 52 different worlds, several mini-games and a few power-ups, the spy game makes you constantly try to escape without getting caught. Don’t worry about whether there’s a concrete reason for that because, trust me, you’ll get hooked anyway.

Exploding Kittens iOS game is absolutely claw-some

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Boom goes the kitty.
Boom goes the kitty.
Photo: Exploding Kittens

I’d imagine it’s difficult to bring a beloved tabletop card game to iOS without losing something in the translation, but Exploding Kittens has found the trick.

Created by gaming veterans Elan Lee and Shane Small, and illustrated by internet cartoonist The Oatmeal (Matthew Inman), Exploding Kittens is like Russian Roulette, only with detonating felines. The game is fairly simple, but it has something not many gaming apps include these days: you’ll play with other people in the same room as you.

Even better, the devs have made all the in-app purchases (extra decks, new avatars) free as a launch special over the next four days. You don’t want to miss out on all the extra fun now, do you?

5 new iOS games that are more fun than Black Friday

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5 best ios games

Photo: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

It’s hard to find the best games out there. Every month, there’s a list as long as, well, a really long list of games on iOS that you might like but might actually suck.

Even the sheer volume of the vaunted Editor’s Choice picks can get overwhelming.

That’s why we’re here — to give you a leg up in finding just the right number of the very best new iOS games you can find on the App Store, without all the weeding you’d need to do just to find them on your own.

Here are our five favorite games from the month of November.

Learning to build 20 iOS games will cost you 20 bucks with this lesson bundle [Deals]

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This bundle of four lessons lets you cut your teeth on developing for iOS with 20 different games.
This bundle of four lessons lets you cut your teeth on developing for iOS with 20 different games.

If you think playing games is satisfying, try making them. Actually, try making 20. This bundle of four mobile game-making lessons from StackSkills usually goes for over $2,000. But right now the whole thing is just $20 at Cult of Mac Deals. Receive another 10% off with coupon code EARLY10.

10 October iOS games that will shock you with delight

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10 best ios games October 2015
Spooky month; awesome games.
Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

Every month, the App Store fills up with countless iOS games of varying quality. You want to have something to do on your iPhone or iPad while you’re on the bus or enjoying the quiet solitude of your bathroom. But who has time to figure out which titles are worth your valuable time?

Apparently, we do. So if you’re searching for the best iOS gaming treats from the past month, look no further than Cult of Mac as we find the 10 best that you should be playing right now — no tricks.

Here they are, in no particular order.

Don’t Starve brings hunger game to iPhone

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Those beefalo look pretty worried.
Those beefalo look pretty worried.
Photo: Klei Entertainment

Seriously, try not to starve. That’s the entire point of Klei Entertainment’s runaway hit game Don’t Starve, a test of survival set in a darkly humorous, Edward Gorey-esque world filled with vicious hounds, creeping spiders, herds of stampeding Beefalo and slimy fish men.

Now you can get in on the action on iPhone, as the desktop game just became a universal app called Don’t Starve: Pocket Edition.

Lara Croft Go puts exciting tomb raiding at your fingertips

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Lara Croft Go screenshot
You're about to murder so many snakes, you have no idea.
Screenshot: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

I’m anxiously awaiting Lara Croft’s next outing on consoles this fall with Rise of the Tomb Raider, but in the meantime, developer Square Enix is tiding us over with Lara Croft Go, a miniaturized adventure starring the iconic graverobber and dinosaur fighter. It’s out now for iPhone and iPad (reviewed version), and like its predecessor, Hitman Go, it’s more about strategy than all-out action.

This game diverts slightly from Hitman, however, doing away with the board game/diorama theme and just sticking our hero into an ancient, turn-based ruin. But that doesn’t diminish its charm or fun at all.

Picorama puts a cute face on tricky strategy gaming

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Picorama for iPad
Picorama's cute, but it will also mess you up.
Photo: MicroCosmos

I like strategy games as much as the next person, but they’re all missing something. Like maybe they could use a pink bunny that tickles opposing pieces to death, or a little, blue, tentacled … thing that can distract enemies with its soothing singing voice. And for good measure, maybe they could throw in a green guy who can fire deadly shots out of his head and an orange monster that eats lightning and fireballs.

Picorama has all those things, and it’s as weird, silly and fun as it sounds. But the iOS game’s innocent art and adorable characters belie a title that will quickly test your strategic and problem-solving skills and have you staring at your iPhone or iPad trying to plan your next move.

Angry Birds 2 flings itself onto your screens July 30

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They're back, bigger and angrier than ever.
They're back, bigger and angrier than ever.
Photo: Rovio Entertainment

The disgruntled avians are headed your way yet again in a new game, cleverly titled Angry Birds 2, according to a fairly vague website and trailer from Finnish developer Rovio.

Details are scant, but here’s hoping we see more of the compelling gameplay of the first title in the series — and way less of the karting and endless running of recent releases.

Smartphones blow away traditional handheld gaming devices

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These are looking pretty outdated lately.
These are looking pretty outdated lately.
Photo: Daveynin/FlickrCC

Mobile games — especially those with a multiplayer component — are making more money than traditional handheld games, says a new report by mobile analytics agency, App Annie. The company partnered with the International Data Corporation to show the growth in mobile gaming over the past year, and how it’s skews toward mobile and multiplayer gaming.

Poor console makers; they hardly knew what hit them. While they still have life in them, and the games tend to be deeper and of a higher quality, it seems as if most gamers would rather just play on the device they already have with them; their iPhone or iPad.

Party Hard: a retro, stealth game about stabbing your neighbors

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Party Hard
Prepare for a fun night out of stabbing.
Gif: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

We’ve all had terrible neighbors who throw loud parties that last all night, even on Mondays. Party Hard, an upcoming game for iOS, is about bringing those annoying gatherings to a halt. With a knife.

Developer Pinokl Games has released a new trailer for its “third-person urban conflict simulator” ahead of the Electronics Entertainment Expo trade show next week, and you can check it out below.

Battle over the Empire’s ragged remains in Star Wars: Uprising

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Star Wars Uprising
You just can't make a Star Wars game without putting Hoth in there.
Photo: Kabam

An upcoming mobile game will throw players into the struggle immediately following the death of the Emperor in Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars: Uprising, which is due out later this year for iOS and Android, is a real-time strategy game that picks up after the destruction of the second Death Star at the end of the third film as the decapitated Empire struggles to maintain control over the galaxy.

Check out the announcement trailer below.

4 amazing speedruns that put your gaming accomplishments to shame

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You don't have to look like this to be really good at video games. Luckily.
You don't have to look like this to be really good at video games. Luckily.
Photo: South Park

If you’re a gamer, odds are you have a perfect run, high score or really impressive combo that you list among the highlights of your “career.” Personally, I TKO’d Mike Tyson in Punch-Out!! when I was 10 or 12, and I did it when everyone else was out of the room. But I swear it happened, you guys.

Unless you have enough free time and determination to play one thing until you can beat it with your monitor turned off and your keyboard flipped around, however, your greatest moments can’t hope to compete with the four amazing speedruns shown in the videos below. These players have left “good” far behind them, passing through “really good,” across “crazy good” and over “suspiciously good” to enter a realm of pure skill in which merely beating a game is considered “a start.”

These people play a bunch of difficult titles pretty well, is what I’m getting at.

Game devs keep it casual as they jump from console to mobile

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Bad Dinos is the fourth casual mobile game from the veteran development company.
Bad Dinos is the fourth mobile game from veteran development company Insomniac Games.
Photo: Insomniac Games

Console game developers are trying to break into mobile, and they’re using casual genres to break into the scene.

For instance, when gamers hear about Insomniac Games, they might think of classic platform games like Ratchet and Clank, first-person shooters like Resistance: Fall of Man or next-gen console title Sunset Overdrive. What those hypothetical gamers might not think of is a match-three or endless runner iPhone game. But game makers can’t afford to ignore the mobile scene these days and Insomniac is no different, as evidenced by the company’s new tower-defense game, Bad Dinos.

“It’s obviously a huge market,” Brian Hastings, chief creative officer at Insomniac Games, told Cult of Mac, “and we’re seeing an entire generation of players who are getting into mobile first, before anything else.”

You Must Build a Boat to survive this killer indie game

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You've got to build this boat.
You've got to build this boat.
Photo: EightyEight Games

Luca Redwood, the main powerhouse indie developer behind EightyEight Games, has taken the last three years of his life to make a sequel to critical darling match-three game, 10000000.

Sadly, it’s not named 10000001, but rather You Must Build a Boat. In it, you actually do need to build a large, ark-like boat with all sorts of rooms and defenses and such, and you outfit your boat by running dungeons and matching items to kill baddies and get past obstacles in them.

Sound weird? It is, but it’s also going to be stupidly addictive. If it’s half as engaging as 10000000, you’ll be playing this on your Mac, iOS device, or Linux box long into the wee hours of the morning.

Check it out.

Vainglory’s biggest update yet brings character skins to the MOBA-fest

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Six new hero skins are here! Photo: Super Evil Megacorp
Six new hero skins are here! Photo: Super Evil Megacorp

If you’re like us, you’ve been playing the crap out of the amazingly addictive online arena game, Vainglory, since it came out for the iPad and iPhone, ganking enemies from the safety of the bushes, releasing the Kraken, and pushing down the lane to smash the opposing team’s base crystal to win the game.

While the development team at Super Evil Megacorp has released updates in the past, they’ve just dropped the most major update yet: the introduction of a character skin system to customize the look of your heroes as they dash across the map, wreaking havoc and crushing the enemy team.

There are six new heroes with two tiers of customization out in the update today, with a ton more to come.

Here’s how it’s going to work.