Latest iOS games
Andrew Hayward looks at this month’s best new releases
This issue we’ve a bunch of exciting iOS game releases. Long-awaited games like snowboarding (well, sandboarding) sequel Alto’s Odyssey and epic role-player Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition were the biggest releases of this past month, but they’re hardly alone on this list. Other games like the heartbreaking Florence, hilarious Run Gun Sports, and super-charming Bring You Home might not have quite the same stature as those aforementioned games, but they’re all well worth a look.
1. Alto’s Odyssey
Price: £4.99 from fave.co/2owqPiy
Even three years after its debut, Alto’s Adventure remains one of our go-to games on iOS and Apple TV, but now the long-awaited Alto’s Odyssey is here to take its place. Like the original, Alto’s Odyssey is a side-scrolling snowboarding game with dazzling sights and a really chill atmosphere, but now the journey takes you to a different kind of destination.
In fact, you’re sandboarding this time around, coasting around some epic dunes as you backflip, grind on bunting lines, and take in some seriously majestic backdrops. It’s not a hugely different experience, but with new elements like wall-riding and hot air balloons, Alto’s Odyssey keeps the familiar whimsy and allure well intact.
2. Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition
Price: Free from fave.co/2owrwZc
Many of the older Final Fantasy games have been ported to iPhone and iPad, but this is something entirely different. Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition is a complete reworking of the most recent console roleplaying adventure, streamlining the quest into a slightly more manageable mobile affair along with a swap to cartoonish graphics. It has the same compelling story and characters as the £60 console game (including the voice acting), but there’s less meandering along the way. Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition’s first chapter is free, with the other nine sold separately or in a discounted bundle within.
3. Florence
Price: £4.99 from fave.co/2F0oXZu
Mobile games are rarely this heartbreaking, but Florence isn’t your average mobile game. It’s an incredibly charming tale of the rise and eventual demise of a relationship, as twenty-something Florence Yeoh meets and falls for a man named Krish. We’d call it ‘short but sweet’, but it’s only sweet at first. Later on, it aches as the excitement of new love gives way to routine, frustration, and acrimony.
Florence feels more like an interactive graphic novel than a particularly active game: you’ll build dialogue bubbles to carry on a conversation, match numbers to push through Florence’s work day, or move items to and from a shelf, for example. There elements are minimal, but they help pull you a little bit deeper into the lovely animation and dreamy soundtrack… right up until the gut-punch of an ending.
4. A Hollow Doorway
Price: Free from fave.co/2EY1isS
Looking for something that’s both mesmerizing and totally free? If so, then be sure to check out A Hollow Doorway. The premise is simple: you’ll rotate a rectangle left or right to fit into the other rectangles falling into view, and have to continue shifting in either direction to avoid a collision.
That’s easy enough, right? It would be, but challenging twists quickly keep things from getting stale. Before long, the approaching doorways come at angles, take on different shapes, or have colourcoded walls – and the game gets a lot faster, too. It feels like a slightly more approachable Super Hexagon, although it’s hardly easy at first, and the back end looks like absolute chaos.
5. Run Gun Sports
Price: Free from fave.co/2CPl0kp
If the Winter Olympics have reignited your competitive fire, then you might want to give Run Gun Sports a look. This is a very different kind of sports game, however. It’s focused on track and field events like leaping hurdles and the high jump, only here, the athlete all have guns for legs, and you’ll shoot to blast yourself through each competition. Yes, it’s a delightfully weird one indeed. You’ll blast up off the ground, spin through the air, and then use well-timed gun-leg blasts to propel yourself over hurdles or between horizontal bars, for example. There’s a funky freemium element around reloading certain weapons, but even so, the wacky concept and amusing twists make Run Gun Sports a very entertaining diversion.
6. Pako 2
Price: £1.99 from fave.co/2CPi2MM
The original Pako was a touchscreen delight, testing your manoeuvring skills as you evaded police cruisers while stuck in a tight parking lot or on a busy highway. Pako 2 keeps the spirit of that compact game, but expands its horizons pretty significantly: now you’re cruising around a large open world, still with police cars hot on your tail.
And that’s not the only change: as you escort criminals to various stops on the map, they’ll automatically blast the other cars to bits with a steady rain of gunfire. The results are frantic and intense, and each run feels unique thanks to the unpredictable behaviour of the police pursuers. It could use some optimization, however: our iPhone X got physically hot and the screen dimmed within five minutes of play.
7. Meteorfall: Journey
Price: £2.99 from fave.co/2CO3KMv
If Reigns got you keen on single-player card games, then here’s something with a similar mechanic but very different results. Meteorfall: Journey also has you swipe cards left or right, but instead of living the (brief) life of a ruler, this role-playing game sends you up against monsters as an adventurer seeking to save the world.
Meteorfall has a strongly Adventure Time-esque look to it, but the approach to combat and deck-building feels unique here. You can grind out battles against the myriad beasts by building the most effective deck, or shrug off conflict and potentially be less experienced for the later, harder skirmishes. In any case, you’ll probably die fairly quickly, but each new attempt builds up your hero and deck over time.