Alawar saddles up for a jolly old iOS joust with the puntastic Shake Spears
Knightly competitions
Well known for its casual web/PC titles, US/Russian publisher Alawar has been getting much more serious about mobile and tablet gaming recently.
Indeed, it's just about to launch what it calls its first 'mobile-specific' game.
Called Shake Spears, and developed by Wake Up Studios, it's not about literature, but it is about long pointy objects.
Across the railsGoing back to the days of jousting, you take control of a knight, upgrading his lance, shield and armour, while also dropping virtual treasure on spells to ensure you can beat a series of opponents.
The 2D gameplay is simple as you control the aim of your lance on the righthand side of the screen, and adjusting your shield's position on the left.
Spells are displayed on the bottom of the screen and tapped at the start of a bout to activate. These are split between four themes; knight, mechanic, warlock and alchemist.
Each individual joust continues until someone's health has been reduced to zero, although each location on the map consists of a sequence of bouts that must be safety completed for progression to the next. Thankfully, your health and spells are reset at the beginning of each bout however.
Price is rightThere are 20 locations across four worlds, each with different bosses to overcome, while leaderboards and achievements are supported via OpenFeint and Game Center.
Shake Spears will be released for iPhone, priced 99c, €0.79 or 59p, and for iPad, priced $1.99, €1.59 or £1.19.
There will be free Lite versions available, plus you can buy coins with cash as an in-app purchase if you want to progress quicker. You're also provided with a special code that if you get friends to register will reward you with extra gold, and vice versa.
Shake Spears should hit the App Store on July 14th.