Best new games of the week: King of Thieves and Radical
Every week, our staff will handpick a game from the past two weeks that we believe is a must-have 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 put it down. So here are this week’s picks! Enjoy, and happy gaming!
King of Thieves
Can you outwit your opponents and steal their loot? Find out in our Game of the Week.
In the mood for a stealthy platformer game from the guys behind Cut the Rope? Then you will enjoy our Game of the Week, King of Thieves from ZeptoLab.
This beautiful game features a charming art style that is reminiscent of the development studio’s iconic physics-based puzzle game. The character you play is a blob that automatically moves forward and is on a quest to become the King of Thieves. The dungeons are cleverly laid out with traps and obstacles, with an enticing treasure awaiting you at the end before you reach the exit. To make things more interesting, the player-versus-player aspect adds interesting twists. There is a quirky soundtrack to go with the action.
King of Thieves is a level-based auto-running platformer where players navigate complex dungeon layouts to get the loot before making an escape. There’s a lot of lock-picking involved too, as you have to break in to each dungeon first (this is also the game’s energy system). Once you’re in, your character moves forward automatically, but you can change direction by jumping off of walls. Controlling your jumps are simple, as all you have to do is tap the screen, but it’s all about the timing, especially as you get to later levels. The treasure chest at the end can contain gold coins and gems that you can use to strengthen totems in your various home dungeons.
There are three stars to earn on each level, and the number earned depends on your performance — the more times you die, the less stars you get. You’ll also get more lock picks after each stage, and you can freely choose between the single-player levels or get a random player to steal from, if you can navigate their dungeon layout, anyway.
We’ve been enjoying King of Thieves a lot since it came out last week, and if you’re a fan of strategic platformer games with a dash of multiplayer, then you will want to check this one out. You can get King of Thieves on the App Store as a universal download for free. Just be warned about the freemium elements.
For more information on King of Thieves, check out my original review.
Honorable Mention Radical
You’ll have to be fast to avoid the walls in our Radical Honorable Mention this week.
Remember the guys behind the Mikey Shorts series of speed-running platformer games? Of course you do. But this time they’re back with something different, and it’s one we can’t stop playing — Radical.
In this minimalistic but completely retro twitch reflex game (think of a vertical Super Hexagon), players control a triangular ship as it flies through a vertical labyrinth of walls. The objective is simple: get as far as you can by flying through the gaps in the walls. Sometimes there is an opening off to the side — fly through it to quickly reach the other side of the screen. If you hit a wall, then it’s game over! Your score is determined by the number of gates that you manage to fly through.
The game has a basic gameplay concept, but it’s challenging enough to keep you coming back for more as you attempt to beat your own high score. The longer your run is, the faster the game gets, so the difficulty ramps up rapidly. It’s also a visual treat, with beautiful color combinations (a few exceptions here) that are randomly generated with each new game.
We’ve been getting a kick out of Radical over the past few days, and it’s a definite keeper if you like quick pick-up-and-play games that test your reflexes and coordination. You can get Radical on the App Store as a universal download for free.
If you haven’t already seen the amazing trailer for the game, make sure to check it out in our original post.