GAMES OF THE WEEK - The best 5 new games for iOS and Android - August 15th
Hello again,
It's another week and that means that it's time for another Games Of The Week article. As ever it's been a week full of releases, and while we've lacked the sudden triple-A drops of the last few weeks there's been a veritable swarm of new releases. We've had bullet hells, breakout-platformers and RPGs, and we've managed to whittle the crowd down to the fantastic five which we present here for you.
If you're looking to check through some of our previous selections you can do that at our Games of The Week Hub, it's a great way to find games to fill out that empty storage space on your phone. Or, if you like your news in bitesize chunks, delivered straight to your palm then maybe follow us on Twitter.
So, without further delay, click on that big blue button below and head on through to find out our five picks of the weeks - there are some real gems in there this week.
1
Witcheye
If you've been waiting for a game where you slide a witch's eye around the screen using swiping mechanics, and then use that eye to tactfully best your foes in a fusion of modern mobile input and classic Breakout-style rebounding then, surprisingly, there's now a game for you. It's Witcheye, We're here to talk about Witcheye.
Witcheye is the latest game to be published by Devolver for mobile (although, notably, Gris is making the jump next week) and it's a delightful idea which is perfect for touchscreens. It's rare that larger publishers take a gamble on games with mobiile-first inputs, but I'm really glad that this is something which came to be. We've been playing through Witcheye since we grabbed a preview build last week, and it's been a fantastic ride so far.
Perhaps my favourite part about the game is the well-designed boss fights. New enemy mechanics are gradually introduced as the game progresses, but no matter how effective you become against the grunts, the bosses remain a nail-bitingly tough challenge.
We'll have our review of Witcheye live soon, but if you can't wait for that then you can find it on both the App Store and Google Play.
2
Mystic Vale - Mana Storm
It's been a couple of months since we last wrote about Nomad Games' adaptation of Alderac Entertainment Group's CCG Mystic Vale. As a matter of fact, it was when the core release launched back in June.
Mystic Vale uses a system which AEG call the 'Card Crafting System'. The game, which revolves around bringing the titular vale back to life, has you evolve your deck by combining card elements to strengthen your round-starting draw. What this looks like is that each card in your deck features components, but can be added to with advancements purchased through the rounds. It certainyl sounds tricky in practice, but the physical version uses a smart, pocket system to manage it painlessly - and the digital version is, well, digital, so it's even more seamless.
The Mana Storm expansion adds 48 new advancements, 18 vale cards, 8 leader cards and 8 amulets to the game. Among the new advancements are 'Eclipse' tokens which work like normal advancements, but can be covered by other advancements. Leaders are also new and tweak the way that mana generation works by putting some of the onus on the (upgradeable) heroes and their abilities.
We're going to have a proper peek at Mystic Vale: Mana Storm over the weekend, so keep your eyes peeled for an article early next week.
You can find Mystic Vale on both the App Store and Play Store
3
FNAF 6
We recieved a mysterious email from Clickteam earlier in the week, reportedly the anamatronic-nightmare management title Five Nights at Freddy's 6: Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator had released onto iOS and Android with little-to-no warning.
FNaF6:FFPS, which looks like somebody fell asleep while typing on their keyboard, is a clever twist on the series. It starts players off in charge of a smaller pizza outlet which can grow to be an empire, however the series' staple horror elements start popping up before long.
You can find FNaF6:FFPZ on the App Store and Google Play
4
Bullet Hell Monday Black
Let's stop for a second and talk about Bullet Hell Monday Black. It's the tweaked version of hyper shmup Bullet Hell Monday, and if you don't know what that is then you're probably in for a surprise when you click on its trailer below.
Yep. It's an extremely hyperactive, beyond-bright vertical shooter complete with an explosive, drum-filled soundtrack. But, the thing is, Bullet Hell Monday Black is more than just that hard to understand glitch-artwork. It's a robust shooter utterly overdecorated in every visual and audio element possible. It's reminiscent of when developers used to max out the storage of Mega Drive/Genesis carts through idle animation - the overly prescribed details is utterly surplus, but there it is.
The Black edition adds new special weapons, new difficulty settings, replay functions and a lot more. So, even if you grabbed the original there's something great to be found.
You can find the, frankly hypnotic, Bullet Hell Monday Black on both App Store and Google Play.
5
Traitors Empire
Aside from the strangely absent apostrophe, Traitors Empire has a lot to offer in the RPG space. It's a turn-based RPG but with each character having their own (card-based) abilities. It's not that which has kept me interested in the game, however, no, it's most definitey the extremly approachable UI design. Each unit's health and, when selected, movement and damage radiuses are displayed in an easy to understand manner.
But, beyond my strange obsession with concise UIs, what else does Traitors Empire have to offer? Well, for a start there's a decent crafting system, but perhaps most importantly there's a very robust selection of PVP modes for you to test out your strategies against other players around the globe.
Traitors Empire is available now on the App Store and Google Play.
