New releases round-up - Cut the Rope: Time Travel, Fish Out Of Water!, Ark of Sinners Advance, and more
This week's new and noteworthy iOS games
Every Thursday, we take time out to look at the week's new and noteworthy iOS games both in words and in video.
This week, the headline games are Halfbrick's colourful fish-flinging casual game Fish Out Of Water! and chrono-bending puzzler Cut the Rope: Time Travel.
There's also a gamebook read by Wil Wheaton; a game that will get PETA all hot and bothered; a gravity-centric platformer; and - oh, boy - a new endless-runner.
Anyway. Let's get to the video. Text, prices, App Store links, and handsome screenshots are down below.
Fish Out Of Water!
By Halfbrick - iPhone, iPad (69p / 99c)
In this latest game from Fruit Ninja creator Halfbrick, you skim fish across the ocean surface like pebbles in the hope of impressing a panel of crabs. Oh, and finishing an endless procession of mini-missions.
The act of throwing those fish is nice and tactile. And picking the different animals - from Finlay the dolphin to Micro the whale - has a slightly strategic feel to it.
Since you don't have much control over the skipping, though, it all feels a bit hands-off after that. As a consequence, it's hard to really improve at the game, and Fish Out Of Water! soon becomes quite repetitive and forgettable.
R.I.P. Rally
By Chillingo - iPhone, iPad (Free)
R.I.P. Rally is your official 'Chillingo-Published Game of the Week'. To be blunt, mind, this is a miserable little game.
It's ostensibly about gunning down great crowds of zombies with your gun-toting stock car, though you'll spend more time wrestling with the controls and tumbling off a cliff than worrying about the undead.
The actual gameplay is monotonous as hell (and I'm not sure why barrelling through a mob of ghouls damages my car as much as it injures the walkers), and then you discover it's packed with in-app purchases and obnoxious adverts.
Trial of the Clone
By Tin Man Games (£2.49 / $3.99) [Also on Android]
Trial of the Clone is a comedy Choose Your Own Adventure story from Zach Weinersmith. You know, the guy who writes Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.
It's a book about high fantasy, science fiction, and poop jokes. There are branching paths, stat-swapping fights, and different weapons. But you got all that in the ol' paperback edition.
This app, made by the digital gamebook gurus over at Tin Man Games, boasts some additional stuff, you see, including a soundtrack, achievements, multiple bookmarks, and narration from Wil Wheaton. Pretty funny, and incredibly well made.
Monkey Boxing
By Drakkar Dev - iPhone, iPad (£1.99 / $2.99)
Monkey Boxing is exactly what it says on the tin. Take two primates; dress them up in shorts and boxing gloves; and throw them in the ring together. Lovely. PETA would go ape over this one.
It's not incredibly deep. You've got a punch button (which you'll want to tap extremely fast) and a block button (which you can use to break combos). There are also little tapping and twirling mini-games during the bout.
The real triumph is the same-device multiplayer - which even works on an iPhone. It's awfully silly, and super simple, but Monkey Boxing can be fun in short bursts.
They Need To Be Fed 2
By Bit Ate Bit - iPhone, iPad (£1.49 / $2.99) [Also on Android]
The original They Need To Be Fed was about gravity. Every platform was essentially a planetoid with its own gravitational tug. Think Super Mario Galaxy in 2D and in bold primary colours.
This sequel is mostly more of the same. You dance around these micro-galaxies, collecting gems before feeding yourself to 'orrible monsters. But there are loads more levels to play, and some fresh ideas dotted around here and there.
Ark of Sinners Advance
By Anima - iPhone, iPad (£1.99 / $2.99)
Ark of Sinners Advance feels a bit like an old skool Castlevania game. You've got undead enemies, tricky platforming sections, and a gothic setting. But this isn't going to dethrone Super Castlevania any time soon.
The controls are a mess, the combat regularly boils down to button bashing, and the game - as far as I've played - seems to consist of an endless string of cage match brawls and uninspiring platforming bits.
This is actually a port of a 2-year-old WiiWare game, which happened to be eviscerated by the critics. It currently has a devastating 32 metascore on Metacritic. Sadly, this is one to miss.
Cut the Rope: Time Travel
By ZeptoLab - iPhone (69p / 99c) - iPad (£1.99 / $2.99) [Also on Android]
You might have thought that after two games [I, II] and about 7 billion levels, ZeptoLab would have run out of ideas for Cut the Rope. But you'd be wrong. Dead wrong.
In Time Travel, Om Nom leaps through time to meet his ancestors, so you'll have to deliver two sweets to two monsters at once. This results in some clever puzzles where one candy can swing into, and shunt, another, for example.
There are oodles of levels, and new mechanics - though, not always relevant to the time period. I'm not sure what the Renaissance has to do with freezing time. But you can never go wrong with more Cut the Rope, I say.
Fist Face Fight
By Nocanwin - iPhone, iPad (Free) [Also on Android]
In Fist Face Fight, you play as a disembodied hand which can zip about the level, indiscriminately punching ninjas and shiny gems.
It's a game about reflexes, and feels a bit like Fruit Ninja as if played in staccato beats or put under a strobe light. It's weird, but the fast pace and short levels make it quite absorbing.
It's a free-to-play game, so expect full-screen adverts and some slightly grindy gameplay as you earn enough coins to proceed.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rooftop Run
By Nickelodeon - iPhone, iPad (£1.49 / $1.99)
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are the latest well-known characters to get their own endless-runner on the App Store. You know the endless-runner drill by now: Donatello and pals automatically run from left to right, and you tap to leap over obstacles.
It also has some combat, but it's quite tricky to pull off. This is because everything - from jumping to blocking to fighting - is based on tapping anywhere on the screen. The game engine often gets confused.
But there are some interesting ideas here, making this game actually one of the more enjoyable runners in recent memory. If you like TMNT, you could do a lot worse.
