The iFriday Roundup, No. 8

What Has the Eye of Jojopet Seen This Week?

It’s been awhile since we last checked in to see what LeeRoy was up to during the week, and once again he’s proven that he has quite the good eye for games that are both cool and free! Check out Sucker Punch Mech Gunner, Star Legends, Destructopus: Total Rampage, and Dino Cap 2 HD, which are all still free as this article goes to print. And be sure to keep an eye on Jojopet TV for a continuous stream of freebies!

Big Hunters: Episode I Sale

If you’re like us and on pins and needles waiting for more Turn-Based Strategy games to hit the App Store, don’t forget that Rodeo Games has had a good handle on the genre for awhile now. Their sci-fi mercenary themed Hunters: Episode I, which Sean enjoyed quite a bit last March, is currently going for $0.99. That’s a 75% off sale, and quite an opportunity for starved genre fans!

Explosive Undead Sale Continues

We have a feeling the timer’s about to expire on this one, so if Minesweeper with zombies sounds cool, be sure to pick up Zombie Minesweeper while it’s still 75% off! Sean had a fantastically enjoyable time with Frogtoss Games’ previously unimaginable and deliciously devilish hybrid, and that was considering it at full price.

Magic Defenders Earns Plural Title in Latest Update

Clueless Ideas wasn’t kidding when they stopped in to let us know they were serious about updates to Magic Defenders! Sean wondered why the title had an “s” on it when he reviewed the release version, but the mystery has been put to rest by an update that adds an entirely new player character! This comes in addition to the new map we reported on in our last iFriday Roundup. We spent quality time with the new kid on the block, and the all-new spells that come with this additional defender give Castle Defense fans some nice replay value to look forward to!

This Diversion Gets Ever More Delightful!

The Edis Brothers’ Diversion impressed in the greatest possible way from day one, but the developers weren’t satisfied with stopping there! An early summer update added boss battles and lasers – lasers, people! – to the game’s exceedingly excellent level design. Now they’ve added a brand new world to break in players’ running shoes that much more, among a slew of other goodies.

Bobby: Space Adventure Gets Game Balance Update

One of the defining features of Bobby: Space Adventure is its out-of-this world approach to difficulty in a genre that’s traditionally been pretty lax in that regard. Nooskewl has cut casual players some slack in the game’s first update by lowering the performance threshold needed to access new levels. Given the nature of Bobby‘s level design, this is an excellent solution for making the title more accessible while maintaining its draw for gamers who seek especially challenging action and physics puzzlers!

Sequel Celebration Serves Up Some More Soy

HotGen’s To-Fu: The Trials of Chi has already been mentioned twice in our iFriday Roundups on account of level expansions, and now it appears once more! That’s right, this one is now absolutely bursting at the seams with 140 levels, and lets players listen to their own iTunes tracks to boot. Needless to say, we like! This latest update happens to coincide with the release of the sequel, so it appears fans can look forward to plenty more soy flinging!

Oh, By the Way…

Eeep, we were so focused on the fact that The Secret of Chateau de Moreau has a big sale going that we forgot to mention Four Thirty Three released a Lite version too! If you’re still on the fence even after reading this week’s review, this is a great opportunity to see what all the fuss is about without the risk. Give it a few minutes if you’re an RPG, visual novel, or casual adventure game fan and we think you’re liable to be hooked!

Now, This is What We Call a Foxy Date!

Just when you thought iOS couldn’t possibly handle any more running games, it appears there’s something of a renaissance happening in the genre. The first title in a string of games to make players reconsider the genre may very well be Run Fox Run, which has received the green light and a solid release date of September 15! In his hands-on impressions, iFanzine editor Ruan Shiels reported shades of Super Mario Bros. and a level-based story mode in addition to the traditional endless mode, so suffice it to say this is one we’re looking forward to!

Super Bit Dash Explained

If there’s any game that can compete with Fantastic Knight for the number of silly puns iFanzine will apply to it, it could be Fakepup’s Super Bit Dash, currently in the shop for finishing touches before its own App Store submission. Fakepup just updated its blog with an explanation of the game modes that will be available upon release, and hints at a major update already! This is yet another 2D running game we can’t wait to play more fully. In the meantime you can check out our hands-on impressions and developer interview if you missed them the first time around!

Golden Johnny 5 Grooves to a New Tune

We’re keeping a close eye on The Adventures of Retrobot, a collaboration from Monkube and Endeavor Bros. that promises to tie side-scrolling shoot ’em up action to the kind of high quality comic book storytelling we saw in 6th Planet. The developers have remained tight-lipped since last July’s exciting press release, but that’s not to say they’ve been silent — here’s an entry on their Kickstarter page with a sample of its soundtrack!

Why Am I Feeling Hungry?

Just-Eat, creators of Belly & Brain – which Ruan reviewed last November – were in touch to let us know that they’ve returned from the kitchen with a fresh game. This time around the free app is Food Chain, an action puzzle game of the matching variety that boasts Online Multiplayer in addition to a story mode. Let’s end this iFriday Roundup by rolling that beautiful bean (and fish, and pork, etc.) footage!

Are you an iOS videogame developer or publisher with a cool update, video, or other news that you want to get out to the masses? iFanzine probably has an eye on you already, but don’t hesitate to get in touch via our Twitter feed or Contact page. We want to fill our iFriday Roundups with all your beautiful stuff!