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Last year, one of the more interesting platform puzzlers hit the AppStore; Deo, from the development studio Strapped to a Meteor. Since the release, they’ve been hard at work coming up with another unique and original game for the iOS, and it’s finally hit the AppStore. What is it this time? An endless runner called Mr. Dreamer. If you checked out our preview of the game about a week ago, then you already have a pretty good idea of what the game is. But if you haven’t, here’s the scoop. 

Mr. Dreamer is a score-chasing, endless runner of sorts. On the main menu, you’re shown a strange little guy who’s stuck in an office cubicle with a stuffed animal by his side, pictures of his family on the walls, and the sounds of a keyboard clicking and phones ringing in the background. Looking bored and staring off into space, one you hit the ‘Play’ button, you’re off into a dream world, running up a two sided pathway in a dream world ripe with candy and sweets. 

We’ve all experienced the thrill of endless games on the App Store.  Looking way back at games like Cube Runner, it’s easy to see that we have come a long way. Xperimentalz Games’ newest creation, Don’t Run With A Plasma Sword, boasts some unique features for an endless runner.
The first thing you will notice when you load up DRWPS is its awesome, retro style.  Artwork is very crisp, and the story of the game is told in a “comic-book” fashion.  There is a good sense of humor as well with some funny lines on loading screens.  In terms of music, the soundtrack and the sound effects are a perfect mix of a spooky superhero theme and retro.  The upbeat tunes match perfectly with the genre and create an addicting experience.
One of the most important aspects of platformer style games is the controls. After playing for a while, it’s apparent that Xperimentalz put some good thought into it because they nailed the controls. The left side of the screen is reserved for jumping (top half of screen) and sliding (bottom half), while the right side is reserved for attacks. This layout is perfectly comfortable for me and hasn’t cost me any deaths. (that’s a GOOD thing)

Moving deeper into the game, there are a total of 28 story levels spread across 4 chapters. Levels are randomly generated, meaning enemies, platforms, obstacles and power-ups are different each time. Your goal in each level is to run a certain distance while jumping, stabbing, and sliding your way through anything that gets in your way.  Each chapter features its own boss battle which proved to be pretty challenging. Bosses ranged from giant UFOs to evil robot-stilt-wearing mastermind. Basically, to beat a boss you have to dodge all of his attacks and wait until you have an opening to attack. It sounds simple but timing and reactions are crucial to these levels especially.  There is also an endless level to go along with each of the 4 chapters. These are randomly generated like the story levels, but your goal is to run as far as you can.

Character Upgrades Rock!

DRWPS sports a slick RPG-upgrade system as well. Character upgrades like additional attacks, extra health, and double jumping are available, as well as cosmetic stuff like different colored swords or clothes. There are some IAPs included, but I can’t stress enough that they are completely optional. Don’t shy away when you hear “IAP”. They are simple point packages that speed up the upgrade process. Honestly, if you play the game enough to enjoy it, then there won’t be any need to buy extra points.
To add to the replay value, Xperimentalz has integrated GameCenter and Openfeint Leaderboards and Achievements. There are leaderboards for every level along with a total of 36 achievements.
Xperimentalz Games has created what I believe is a unique breed of endless running game. How often do you get to play a game that isn’t called “Star Wars” where you run around with a light saber? I can assure you that Don’t Run With a Plasma Sword will be worth every penny that it costs. Grab your sword and save the world! Don’t Run With A Plasma Sword will be launching on November 30th for $0.99.

Floria is a new endless floater, and first iOS game, from m42 Studios. In the game, you maneuver a flower through different enemies and objects trying to collect as many items as you can before the summer is over and winter arrives. Collecting the orbs throughout the game will give you points that you can use to unlock different types of flowers that have different abilities and power-ups.

The controls in Floria work well, but are a little jittery. Tilting moves the flower up and down, and rotating your device clockwise moves it forward, while counterclockwise moves it back. These controls do take a bit of getting use to, but once you do, they work well. The graphics look amazing, especially on devices with retina display. The animations in the game are done very well too. The backgrounds seem to come alive as you move through the world, with everything blooming right before your eyes. The movements of the flower, enemies, and growth of the thorns all looks amazing. The music and effects are also soothing, and add quite a bit to the atmosphere of the game.

Floria is a great ‘how far can you get’ game, with some great scoring, and nice game mechanics. It desperately needs some online leader boards though, as the only replay value you’ll have is for unlocking the additional 3 flowers, and beating your own score. Once you unlock all the flowers, the desire to play the game will drop pretty fast, and it will most likely just end up sitting there on your device waiting for an update that will add more content.

However, the game is very beautifully made, and the gameplay you have will provide you with quite the experience. The graphics are top notch, and the jittery controls really just effect the look, not the gameplay. At $0.99, it is a great buy if you’re into endless or get as far as you can games. M42 Studios has done a great job with their first release, and I’m really looking forward to additions to the game, as well as what they’ll come up with next.

Floria gets a score of 7 out of 10.

Links;

Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/floria/id451928277?mt=8

Website – http://www.m42studios.com/

Spooky Hoofs is a new endless runner from Gamesmold. In it, you guide a stagecoach through woods and marshes collecting orbs for power-ups and avoiding holes, monsters and bosses. The game is semi-level based, in that you will always start in one of 3 randomly generated “first-levels”, but then after the first 3 levels, and after you defeat 3 bosses in a row, you move onto the harder section of the game, seeing enemies and bosses that you will never see within the first 3 levels. The end of each level is sectioned off by a boss battle and then a quick ride past another tavern. Each of the levels is generated based on what power-ups you have, and what kind of enemies there are. For instance, if you’re in a section that doesn’t have a lot of holes, you’ll face more ground enemies. In a section with lots of holes, you’ll face more flying enemies, and in a section where you have the double jump power-up, you’ll face lots of long holes and a pretty decent mixture of both types of enemies. Each of the boss battle sections are scripted, so that the difficulty stays fair and the choreography of the bosses works with the jumps and shots. This intelligent random design makes the game extremely well balanced as you’re progressing through the endless run.

The graphics in Spooky Hoofs are great, and have a similar style to Castlevania, which is awesome, and it‘s given to us in retina display, which makes it even better. The animations for the stagecoach, enemies, and bosses are done extremely well, making the flow of the game, and the gameplay, feel very professional and polished. The scoring is also done very well, separated between distance and a kill score. Each enemy and boss has a different amount of points, which when defeated, are added to your kill score, in the top right corner, under your health, while the distance is shown in meters, and is in the center top part of the screen.

The controls are done very well, as are the physics. You’re given a whip-speed boost button is on the left side, and the jump is on the right. You can use the whip button to whip the horses, also killing any flying enemies that might be above you, and holding it down sends you bursting forward. You can also boost forward while you’re jumping, making jumping over the bigger holes a lot easier. The power-ups in Spooky Hoofs are done very well also. To activate them, you need to collect 3 of the same colored orbs. There’s Blue, Orange and Purple, while Red orbs just need to be collected once, and add to your health. Collecting 3 blue orbs turns your horses into flaming blue invincible beings, giving you 3 chances to run into and through enemies, killing them, and adding to your kill score. Orange orbs give you the ability to shoot projectiles at enemies by hitting the dash-whip button, giving you 9 shots for every 3 orbs you collect, and purple orbs, when 3 are collected, give your horses wings and 9 air jumps, which you’re able to use consistently until you run out, meaning you can stay in the air for 10 full jumps before it’s used up and you fall back down to the ground.

There’s 2 leaderboards supported by GameCenter, one for distance, and one for your kill score, and no achievements. Having no achievements kind of takes away from the replay value, but with the leaderboards, it doesn’t take away too much, as you’ll be trying to get further and further, seeing more and more varied enemies, and increasing both your distance and kill scores. For $0.99, Spooky Hoofs is a great endless runner with awesome graphics, and great power-ups, while the gothic vibe of the game makes it even better. This is one game that will be staying on my iPod for quite some time.

Spooky Hoofs is getting a score of 9 out of 10.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spooky-hoofs/id455577493?mt=8

Waves: Survivor is an endless type game with platformer controls from Renown Entertainment. In it, it’s your job to help Johnny Calm make it as far as he can while in his little boat, collecting coins, and avoiding, jumping on, or smacking enemies, all the while being chased by a huge shark. You’ll also battle huge waves and crazy water movement, sometimes taking on enough water to sink, and be thrown deep under water where you tilt to control your direction, and quickly tap the swim button in the bottom corner to make it back to the surface, and into your boat to travel further.

The graphics in Waves: Survivor are pretty nice, but not retina supported. The controls are nice and responsive, and work very well with the game, and the physics and overall feel of the game is great. Aside from the weird high jumping, the water physics are very nice, and do add to the atmosphere of the game. The sun and moon rising and setting helps as well. Along with the music, the game comes in a very nice neat little package.

GameCenter is not added, so going for high scores doesn’t really drive the game much. However, there are collectibles that you can get while going through the game, which does help. A big part of the game is trying to not take on a bunch of water while waves crash against your boat, and you jump in and out of the water. Tilting your iPod controls the balance of the boat while in the air in in the water, and being able to control the angle of your boat does help with the amount of water you might get in the boat when you land, and while going up and down on the waves. Getting too much water in your boat, shown by a glass bottle around your health meter, thrown you into a mini-game that really disrupts game-play more than enhances it. But that can also mean there’s even more drive not to take on too much water throughout the game.

All-n-all, Waves: Survivor is a decent endless score game with great physics and graphics that could use some polish. But the gameplay really pushes you on, and will have you coming back to the game over and over again. Hopefully, GameCenter or Openfeint will be added in the future so that going for that high-score will drive the replay value up, and bring more players to the game.

I’m giving Waves: Survivor a score of 3/5.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/waves-survivor/id393190599?mt=8

Fatcat Rush is a new side-scrolling runner game from Tomodomo Oy. It’s his first game in the AppStore, and like many of the previous first publishers I’ve reviewed lately, he shows hardly any signs of being a newcomer to the scene. In the game, you play as Tombo, a cat who lives on the peak of a huge tower. Every week his favorite food is shipped to him by a hot-air balloon. But this week, the balloon carrying his delivery was struck by lightning, flinging his food all throughout the pathways of the tower. With his stomach grumbling, he decides to go after it all, making sure to hurry before the food spoils.

There’s 15 levels in Fatcat Rush, each with different environmental hazards. The level scrolls, and spins around, while you climb up the pathways further up the tower. There’s food littering the paths, and some shortcuts full of extra food hidden along the way, so keeping an eye open for kind of harder to reach paths usually pays off. You’re given 3 hearts for each stage, and crashing into a part of the terrain, or an obsticle will bring you down a peg. There’s different kinds of food all over the place, some giving more points than others, for instance; Whipped Cream Taco’s give you 1 point, while PizzaBurgers give you 10, and Ketchup Lollipops give you 3.

There’s also Health Shakes which give you a heart, but you can never have more than 3 hit points at any given time. Fish are all over the place, in a bright blue circle, and impossible to miss. Each one adds to your speed/score multiplier and boost meter, which gradually decreases over time. Running into objects drops your multiplier as well. This means that the more fish you collect in a level, the higher your multiplier will be, and the bigger your final score will end up being.

The controls in Fatcat Rush are simple, and work very well within the game. You have a button for jumping, and a button for dashing while you’re on the ground, and kicking while you’re in the air. Dashing on the ground helps you break open crates that are hiding food, fish, and shakes, but you need to be careful with your timing, because running into one of these crates causes you to loose a heart. While you’re in the air, pressing the dash button makes you dash kick, this is very useful for long jumping, reaching harder to reach places, shortcuts, and long strands of food only accessible by jump kicking.

The graphics are great. Smooth and professional, and the environments are very colorful and vibrant. The user interface is great, very clear, and easy to navigate, as well as the HUD during gameplay. You have your 3 hearts in the top left corner, your level progress in the middle, and then your score. Underneath your score is your speed multiplier, and boost meter, going down the right side of the screen, then your jump button on the bottom left, and dash/kick button on the bottom right, with the pause button in-between the two. The physics are great, not too floaty, and never feeling weighed down, coupled with the speed and flow of the game, it plays wonderfully. The music and effects also fit in the game nicely, and add to the atmosphere and overall feel of the game.

There are no leaderboards for Fatcat Rush, which is a shame, because there’s great scoring mechanics, and it would add a whole lot to the replayability of the game. There are however, in-game achievements, 15 to be exact, along with 4 different outfits you can unlock, including one that makes you look like Mario. This does help add to drive the game, and help with the replayability, but once you get them all unlocked, you might loose a lot of the drive you once had to play. The game is very well done, very cute, and really is a blast to play. Great level design, and wonderful controls and physics, along with great scoring does make it a game that you will want to play through completely. But it does need a little more to make you want to keep it on your device for any extended period of time, an endless or survival mode would go a very long way. It is a very well made game, and the way it’s going now, will end up being one of my favorite runners, especially if the developers end up adding another mode, and online leaderboards. For $1.99, it’s a great deal, and definitely a game you should pick up if you’re a fan of the genre, or cats.

Fatcat Rush gets 4 out of 5 stars from me.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fatcat-rush/id457251993?mt=8

Zombie Crasher is the new endless running game from KTH, whos previous releases include Wild Frontier, Chroisen, and Crazy Cow. Now, with all the endless runners available in the AppStore, it’s hard to find reasons to buy yet another one. But KTH has done a very good job of creating an awesome endless runner. You have the typical tap to jump, double tap to double jump controls, but throughout the levels you’re also faced with killing zombies, and collecting coins and power-ups. In order to kill the enemies, you need to tap on the screen asyour character runs through the green dot in front of the zombies, and timing is everything.You’re also able to enter fever mode by hitting zombies and filling up the fever bar that’s underneath your health bar. Once you enter fever mode, you get double the points for killing zombies.

The coins that you collect go towards purchases you can make in the store. You’re able to buy health packs and various power-ups that last for about 10 seconds, and then place these power-ups into slots at the bottom of the screen. You can also save up your coins and buy extra slots at the bottom of the screen. If you don’t want to grind through the game in order to do this, you’re able to buy coins with an in app purchase, but it’s not required, and you can get the extra slots if you end up playing the game a lot, or over a long period of time, but the power-ups and health packs are pretty cheap. Some of the power-ups you’ll see while just running through the levels are a hamburger that boosts your fever bar a tad, some health, speed upgrades, and there’s also a couple power-downs that will make it so that you can’t jump as high, or slow down.

At the end of each level, there’s a boss that you’ll need to defeat in order to move on, each having different attacks that you need to dodge in order to win. For instance, with one boss, you need to tap on the burgers that he throws, but not tap on the grenades. Each of the grenades that he throws ends up going back to your character, who hits them back at the boss. Another boss is a dog that you need to grab onto and repeatedly tap the screen in order to attack it, then hold your finger on the screen when it goes nuts and tries to buck you off. The bosses that you face at the end of each level are randomized, so the chances of facing the same boss at the end of the first level twice in a row are pretty slim.

The graphics are top notch, and the gameplay is buttery smooth. Just like their release before Zombie Crasher, Chroisen, it’s a very polished and very professional game. It might not bring anything new to the endless runner genre, but what it does have in it is done very well, and is put together in a way that is very entertaining and professional. I’ll be replaying this over and over and over again trying to get better scores, and maybe saving up to unlock some extra power-up slots. Having OpenFeint leaderboards and achievements is a big plus too, and does help add a lot to the replayability. I’m giving Zombie Crasher 5 out of 5 stars, and recommend it to anyone who’s even the slightest bit into endless runners. It takes almost everything I love in an endless runner, and puts it in a very nice and neat package, wrapped with zombies. It’s got to be one of the best endless runners I’ve had the pleasure of playing. $0.99 is a bargain considering I’ll probably get about 20 hours or more of gameplay out of it.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zombie-crasher/id443346591?mt=8