The iFriday Roundup, No. 14

TOME Studios Gets Citation for Valor in Battle

One of the scariest (and most awesome) things about reviewing iOS games is that you know many critiques in your reviews could become obsolete in a few months, given excellent developer support. Or, in the case of TOME Studios, one week! Our iDevice of choice here at iFanzine is the iPod Touch 4, and by luck of the draw this was the device on which TOME’s debut title, Danger Alliance: Battles, suffered from nasty stability issues. With the October 18 update in place, we can report that the game now successfully loads two or more battles in succession on our iDevices. Not only that, but TOME has also made strides in addressing the slow enemy AI issue. We can only imagine how many late nights were needed to push through this rush update – the second since the game’s release – so if TOME doesn’t deserve an Indie Medal of Honor, we don’t know who does!

Death Rally Gets Deadly Overhaul

When iFanzine editor Ruan Shiels reviewed Remedy Entertainment’s vehicular combat title, Death Rally, he summed it up as “an unmissable addition to iOS’ console quality cannon that’s only likely to get better and better thanks to a torrent of new content promised via frequent updates.” Remedy were recently in touch to let us know that the latest of those updates has hit: online multiplayer! Now you can go toe-to-toe (or should we make that, “tire-to-tire”?) with three other players from around the world on six tracks. A new flame thrower weapon also awaits those who have purchased the first Rewards Booster Pack.

Difficulty Adjustments in Jelly Defense

Are all those enemy jellies going too hard on you? Or maybe the opposition is a little too wobbly? With the latest update in Jelly Defense, players can activate an Easy mode if they’re getting pummeled by crystal-stealing minions, although it seems Infinite Dreams has taken the Devil May Cry route here: the easy mode is unlocked after a certain number of failed attempts. Even more interesting is a new fast forward button, which forces the player to react more quickly once tapped. Since the fast forward button can be switched on and off it essentially allows difficulty adjustment in real time, in the Normal-Hard range at least.

Muffin Knight Gets a Spooktacular Update

In a game where the player character switches classes every five seconds, you know there’s updates a-comin’ in the form of more classes. Angry Mob Games has started the ball rolling in its latest update to Muffin Knight, which adds the PumpKing to the list of possible transformations. Also in honor of the Halloween season are the addition of a Graveyard level and a Dark Lord difficulty mode.

Frogs Give Leap of Approval for Liqua Pop Update

Liqua Pop, which Sean reviewed way back in March, has a real magic to it: it’s utterly accessible to the casual gamer, and yet it’s so utterly cool to watch that it’ll turn the head of many a hardcore iGamer who happens to look upon it. Its one weakness at the time was that it ran out of new content quickly, but the developer has returned with two new gameplay modes! “Time Rush” challenges the player to earn as high a score as possible in 90 seconds, and the survival “Keep-Up” mode has the player popping bubbles as fast as necessary to prevent the game’s amphibian mascot from slipping off his leaf.

Ayopa Games Seeks its M.U.S.E.

Lab Rats Studio dropped by to let us know that they’ve signed on with a publisher, Ayopa Games! Check out Ayopa’s page on M.U.S.E. here, which gives the lowdown on the game quite nicely. Also, as November approaches, don’t forget to check on the studio’s Twitter feed and Facebook page for more info about beta testing opportunities. Judging from those screenshots, third-person shooter fans will not want to miss out!

Touchgameplay Video of the Week

Sanuku’s YouTube channel, Touchgameplay, continues to be a hub for iOS previews. With a flood of quality Action RPGs like Galaxy Pirate Adventure, Mage Gauntlet, and more releasing over the week, you can bet he’s been busy! Given the sheer length of these adventures Sanuku has uploaded multiple 15-minute previews for each title to give fellow iGamers a good feel for what they’re like. Here’s the first of his three-part series for Fara, Pixel and Texel’s debut:

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!