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Pocket Gamer weekly wrap-up - App Store turns 5, Deus Ex: The Fall reviewed, complete Tiny Thief walkthroughs

Plants vs Zombies 2 previewed! Mario and Luigi reviewed! Lumia 1020 pawed at!

Pocket Gamer weekly wrap-up - App Store turns 5, Deus Ex: The Fall reviewed, complete Tiny Thief walkthroughs
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This week, the App Store turned five years old.

What was once a tiny digital marketplace filled with overpriced arcade ports is now a staggering video game superstore.

And what better way to celebrate the App Store's quality than the launch of epic console spin-off Deus Ex: The Fall, or charming stealth puzzler Tiny Thief.

Join us as we look back on the last seven days of Pocket Gamer, as we desperately tried to remember what we've been up to this week. Something about zombies, I think?

Big releases

Sci-fi shooter epic Deus Ex: The Fall launched on iOS this week. In our review, we declared it an, "enjoyable and impressive addition to the Deus Ex canon, and proof that major console companies are starting to take the App Store a little more seriously".

Deus Ex The Fall

To help you get started, we put together some handy Deus Ex: The Fall tips and picked out a few recommended augmentations for you to shoot for.

Also out this week - Tiny Thief, a stealth-driven point and click adventure, for iOS and Android. "Tiny Thief is a charming reduction of the point-and-click adventure," we said, in our review, "though its charm and polish cover over some pretty basic trial-and-error gameplay".

We've put together a comprehensive Tiny Thief guide, so you can find three stars on every level. We've done walkthroughs for A Rumbling Stomach, A Corrupt Sheriff, and The Cursed Treasure so far.

The Walking Dead: 400 Days is a new in-app purchase for The Walking Dead, serving as connective tissue between the first two seasons. It's also, "a series of five taut, well-written character-driven vignettes, that provide a perfect reason to reenter the world of The Walking Dead".

On 3DS, we cast our critical eye over Atlus RPG Shin Megami Tensei IV. Matt said, "like a bottle of fine scotch, SMT IV won't be for everyone - but those RPG enthusiasts who can appreciate its subtlety and challenge will cherish it for years to come".

Mario and Luigi Dream Team Bros

Another 3DS RPG is Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. It might not be hardcore as a Shin Megami game, but it's "a welcoming, massive, varied, and superbly executed RPG for all to enjoy". We gave it a Gold Award.

This week also saw the launch of labyrinthine twin-stick shooter Inferno+ on Android, barmy post-apocalyptic Pomeranian sim Tokyo Jungle on PlayStation Mobile, free-to-play turn-based strategy gem Ravenmark: Mercenaries on iOS, and splishy splashy fire-fighter Sprinkle Islands on iOS and Android.

As usual, we've got first impressions of all the new iPhone and iPad games - in both text and video - in our weekly new releases round up. Check that out.

Feature creep

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the App Store, the Pocket Gamer staff picked its top 50 iOS games of the last half decade. You can see what games we loved in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

5 years of the App Store

We also chose five games that defined the first five years of the App Store. "They might not be the finest games you can purchase on the App Store, but these five titles are inarguably influential, and form a picture of the changing landscape of the App Store".

For their part, a number of developers celebrated the event by dropping their games to free. If you're quick, you might still be able to get the likes of Sword & Sworcery, Badland, Angry Birds: Star Wars, Dead Space, and Peggle for nothing.

And we chatted with December Studios about its intriguing upcoming adventure The Color Gray, which will apparently feature no puzzles - only moral decisions and conversations.

Nokia's got a new gizmo - the Windows Phone-powered Lumia 1020 will apparently reinvent zoom with its 41-megapixel PureView tech. We were in the neighbourhood, so we swung by its New York event and got our greasy fingerprints all over it. Sorry.

Plants vs Zombies 2

We also went hands-on with Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time on iOS - PopCap's controversial free-to-play follow up to everyone's favourite tower defence game. How does it play and - more importantly - what do you have to pay for? All the details inside.

News beat

Infinity Blade Dungeons is dead. This promising Diablo-style action RPG, set in the Infinity Blade universe, isn't just on hold. It's completely cancelled. Shame, we've had it on our wish list for months.

Dates! Clandestine puzzle platformer Stealth Inc is coming to Vita on July 24th, early Ouya favourite Knightmare Tower will bounce onto iOS on August 1st, the guys behind Owl Boy will launch Savant on iOS and Android later this month, and PS Mobile RTS Rymdkapsel hits iOS and Android on July 25th.

Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown spent several years slaving away at the Steel Media furnace, finally serving as editor at large of Pocket Gamer before moving on to doing some sort of youtube thing.