App Watch: the best new iPhone and iPad games released this month
Here are the new games that'll keep your tablet or smartphone 'appy this April...
‘APPY DAYS
It’d be an understatement to say that the Apple App Store is a big place – there are thousands of new titles hitting its digital shelves each and every week. It’s an unprecedented situation that often results in great games being overlooked, buried under a mountain of soulless endless runners and tepid Candy Crush clones. With that in mind, we want to shine a spotlight on those games fighting the good fight. Here are this month’s most interesting new releases.
MARVEL STRIKE FORCE
Marvel Strike Force is anything but a cheap Infinity War tie-in. It’s a gloriously polished squad-RPG that’ll have you teaming up your favourite heroes and villains to save the world – or at least take down those who destroyed it. The premise is standard comic book fare, and the real star of the show is the dynamic, five vs five combat system, which is built around succulent multi-hero combo moves and abilities. It makes for some pretty cinematic skirmishes, making Strike Force as much fun to watch as it is to play.
HYPERFORMA
An ancient civilisation blinks out of existence, leaving nothing behind except a mysterious cyber-network. 256 years later, an anonymous explorer sinks into its cold depths to seek out answers, but the network has its own plans for the nameless adventurer, and it doesn’t take kindly to intruders. You’ll need to muster your courage to survive, blasting through eclectic block-breaking encounters and battling dynamic bosses to solve the riddles ahead. Only those with the sharpest reflexes will prevail. Are you in?
OVIVO
Explore a world of illusion and intrigue, where everything appears to be a simple case of black and white. Your mysterious companion, OVO, is a strange being born of those contrasting halves, and as you travel through the metaphysical world of OVIVO, your biggest challenge wont be solving the puzzles within, but rather making sense of what you find in the great beyond.
KINGPIN BOWLING
This is not ‘nam. This is bowling. There are rules. And those rules will have you tossing balls down infinite alleys, dodging all manner of pesky obstacles, and knocking over more pins than you can shake a stick at. Or at least, you’d best hope that’s how it plays out, because these are the State Bowling Championships and the competition is hot. You’re not half bad, mind. But it’s down to you, Munson, McCraken, and The Jesus, and as you’ll probably already know, nobody messes with The Jesus.
MERGE STAR
Most legendary warriors have a mystical power. What could yours be? The ability to hurl fireballs, summon undead armies, or perhaps even command deadly wyverns? Well, not exactly. Your party trick is ‘merging,’ which is basically the art of gaffer taping two items together in the hopes of creating something half-decent. Okay, maybe that’s underselling it slightly, but you get the gist. As the Merge Hero you’ll have to overcome the forces of evil by tinkering with the treasure you find along the way. Need a better weapon? Combine those two wooden swords to create a powerful axe. Need to enlist the help of a bumblebee companion? Mash together those two sentient fluff balls you found under that rock. Yeah, you heard me.
UMIRO
No doubt inspired by Monument Valley, Umiro is a sumptuous isometric puzzler that puts its own spin on the genre by asking players to guide not one, but two colourful entities through its vibrant, minimalist levels. Only by safely escorting Huey and Satura through Umiro’s striking labyrinths and winding landscapes will you be able to restore colour to the world, but the dynamic duo have come down with a case of amnesia, making your job that little bit harder. It’s never straightforward, is it?
CANDLEMAN
Quirky puzzle-platformer Candleman thrusts players into the shoes of a hardy candle and asks them to explore a dark, dangerous world beneath light and shadow. Unfortunately, the sentient waxwork you’ve been asked to help can only burn for ten seconds, so you’ll have to use your light sparingly (and wisely) if you want to escape the murky depths in one piece. Tread carefully and don’t be a hothead – a meltdown would mean the end for your cute companion, and we know you wouldn’t want that.
BONFIRE: FORSAKEN LANDS
Where there’s warmth, you can survive. So gather around your bonfire and start figuring out how to thrive in the snowy wilderness. Be careful though, because the weather isn’t the only thing out to get you. The frozen wastes are filled with strange creatures and unfamiliar civilisations, so you’ll have to think long and hard about how best to spend your valuable recourses if you’re to build a stable community and avoid becoming a human popsicle.
