AppAdvice Game Of The Week For May 31, 2012
Every week, our staff will handpick a game from the past seven days that we believe is a must-download for your iPhone or iPad. These games will always be from a wide variety of genres, but they are chosen because our own staff members love it and can’t quite put it down. So here are this week’s picks! Enjoy, and happy gaming!
Subway Surfers
It’s endless runner meets 3-D train tracks in our game pick this week! In Subway Surfers, you’ll be playing as a graffiti artist named Jake, who is vandalizing a train. Soon enough, a policeman and his dog catches him, and Jake must make a daring escape on the train tracks! The gameplay here is similar to Temple Run and Jetpack Joyride.
The graphics are extremely polished and look great on your iPhone and iPad. Another great thing about them is that they just pop with personality.
As you escape, you’ll encounter obstacles while collecting coins and power-ups. Coins can be used to purchase other power-ups and upgrades — such as coin magnets, bouncy boots, or hoverboards — in the shop, or even four other characters. The great thing about buying new characters in this game, though, is the fact that each character will have something unique about them, making the game a bit different. So there is definitely a reason to get different characters, unlike other games, where they were all the same. You can even purchase a “Mystery Box,” which contains a random item from the shop; it’s a gamble, but you could get something really good for less than what it’s worth.
To keep things fresh, every game will be randomized. There is also a mission system, similar to that found in Jetpack Joyride. There will be three goals at once for you to try and complete. A Daily Challenge awaits you as well, where you must collect all the letters of a word on the track — doing so will get you a free Mystery Box. Plenty of incentive there, right?
This is definitely a game that will make you want to brag about your score, and there are plenty of options for doing just that. It’s a competitive game, but still remains very fun at the same time.
So what are you waiting for? Hit the train tracks and make your great escape!
Check out our original review here.
Honorable Mention
Air Mail
If you’re looking for a flight adventure, or just like flying planes, then Air Mail is for you.
You will take the role of Scoop, who is the youngest pilot, and savior, of the island of Domeeka. You’ll be handed various missions to complete, or you can just explore the land freely from the air.
One of the best things about this title is the great-looking graphics. It all looks great on your Retina iPhones, and for those that have the new iPad, there are enhancements to the game that make it even better on the latest tablet.
As stated earlier, there are 26 missions in the game (over seven chapters). Each chapter takes place in a new area, so there is plenty of scenery to gaze at. For each mission, you will perform tasks, such as dousing flames, disarming warships, or maybe you will be delivering some mail. No matter what the case, there’s always something to do.
Controls are highly customizable in the game, with three options: tilt, touch, and advanced. The touch controls will give you two sticks, one for movement and one for speed. Advanced will have a speed slider on the bottom, and two sliders on the side for movement — it’s a tricky configuration that will definitely take some time to get used to.
There are three game modes available as well, so things don’t get stale: Mission Mode, Express Delivery, and Explore Mode. Mission is the basic story mode, Express Delivery is like a job board, and Explore Mode allows players to explore at their own pace.
If you’re a perfectionist, there are plenty of achievements to earn. Some of them will take you a long time to earn, since you will have to find all of the certain items in such a vast world, such as scrolls or golden monkey statues. However, collecting them all and earning the achievement will also get you cool pain jobs for your plane, so it’s really worth the time and effort.
Air Mail is great for gamers of all kinds and ages, and it looks great.
Check out our original review here.
