Retro Bowl understands Tecmo Bowl’s enduring appeal – it’s more than pixelated pro football. What matters is how the sport is distilled to its essentials, and the great moments implied through the simplicity. A bobbled catch by 8×8 pixel men doesn’t convey real world thrills, yet slight imagination turns that play into a highlight reel… Continue reading Retro Bowl (iOS)
Decorated with a startling red aesthetic, lo-fi Missile Cards evokes the heart of ’80s cold war paranoia in a clever, mechanical card game of chance. Atari’s icon Missile Command was set in total fear. 2017’s Missile Cards plays in absolute chance. Each move, each tactic, each card play draws a bomb (or “comet”) closer to… Continue reading Missile Cards (iOS)
The tap-tap-tap rhythm of Crazy Taxi Gazillionaire turns its players into the equivalent of a cat playing with a tablet’s virtual aquarium. YouTube provides endless hours of examples. Human paws aren’t as adorable though. As opposed to phony aquariums, Crazy Taxi’s spin-off dishes out phony money. It’s a cycle of tapping and watching dollar bills… Continue reading Crazy Taxi Gazillionaire (iOS)
Clever. Adorable. Passive. Ambient. So many adjectives fit this delightful little gem. Hidden Folks isn’t more than a miniature handheld plaything, like a stress cube on a touch screen. Yet, the special outpouring of personality within the design acts as a signature – the Amsterdam-based dev team playfully speaks through their work. There’s nothing to… Continue reading Hidden Folks (iOS)
Mario’s so vibrant, it’s a wonder how he ended up here in this hackneyed off-shoot. For a character who scaled pyramids, traveled to distant kingdoms, made friends with dinosaurs, turned into paper, and cleaned the worst of the Mushroom Kingdom’s oily gunk, now he’s here in a listless, rudimentary runner. Plain titled Mario Run sums… Continue reading Super Mario Run (iOS)
Clever little genre combo mixes tower defense and item matching. I’d like to consider Gunhouse part of the wonderful Henry Hatsworth universe, if only it were true. Instead, Necrosoft’s original work boasts a pleasant color palette and wild, busy aesthetic, powering this charming outing. Blocks match up, weapons build power, and pop go enemies in… Continue reading Gunhouse (iOS)
Making greater sense than the movie it’s based on, Ghostbusters: Slime City ensnares the joy of busting ghosts as much as it does the business acumen of the Dan Aykroyd-created property. Calls come in, the team goes out. A light gun shooter in touch form, firing off proton streams carries immense satisfaction. A gorgeous visual… Continue reading Ghostbusters: Slime City (iOS)
If anything is notable about Ghostbusters Puzzle Fighter, it’s former secretary Janine suited up and in the busting party. She isn’t draped in a pink jumpsuit (as she was in the cartoon adaptation The Real Ghostbusters), rather part of the team, an equal who wears the traditional tan. Said sight is better than what’s planned… Continue reading Ghostbusters Puzzle Fighter (iOS)
Melancholy and despondent, Westport Independent will not be clingy. Twelve weeks of game time are blitzed through in minutes, hardly time enough to pick up the strands of capitalist conspiracy occurring in the background. A touch of arrogance in the tutorial offers no favors, either too jokey or too serious as Westport Independent claims itself… Continue reading Westport Independent (iOS)
Nickelodeon’s 2010 Ninja Turtles series bridged the heated nostalgia for the late ’80s/early ’90s cartoon and a contemporary animation of these rather asinine-in-concept heroes. Portal Power goes so far as to twist the existence of the Turtles into their cornball late generation toy forms. They don skater gear, knight suits, space suits, samurai; a chunk… Continue reading TMNT: Portal Power (iOS)
