For those who have missed out, Crap of Defense is a tower-defense title with a unique aesthetic style. Despite its misleading title, the game has garnered a hefty amount of critical acclaim and is far from its developer’s description of “worst game ever.” A trailer/brilliant marketing video is viewable below — as well as the new press release.

[Buy from App Store.]

Press Release:

2nd June 2010, Lublin – Polish developer and publisher iFun4all announced timely price drop of their extremely acclaimed and successful Crap of Defense game from iPhone to honour Independence Day.

All trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

[Source: GamesPress]

All players will start out as low-level cadets who will rise up the ranks — earning experience points and medals — by participating in team deathmatch games. Up to ten players will fight in two-to-five player teams through five different levels. At launch, Archetype will include six weapon types including “rapid-fire guns, devastating missile launchers, brutal melee axe and two distinct grenade types including a “split-strike” grenade that splits in two every time it bounces, dealing even wider damage.” Utilizing dual-stick controls, Archetype attempts to bring the same FPS experience that consoles have provided and handhelds have been lacking in.

The game will be playable over 3G, Wi-Fi, or even Edge. We’ll keep you posted as more details are released.

Press Release:

Full-featured FPS Delivers New Breed of Mobile Mayhem for Just £1.79

MunkyFun is an independent entertainment software company located in the heart of downtown San Francisco. MunkyFun is headed by CEO Nick Pavis, former Director of Game Technology at LucasArts. The core team has worked together extensively for several years, most notably while employed at LucasArts on the hit game, “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed”. Collectively, the MunkyFun team has worked on over 60 notable game titles and is experienced across all major platforms; PS3, X360, Wii, PC, PSP, and iPhone. For more information, visit munkyfun.com.

[Source: GamesPress. Picture Credits: PocketGamer]

The theme is also spreading over to weapons utilized within the game. Land mines will display the opposing team’s flag, “but will explode in a torrent of the home team’s colors when trod upon.” Some new weapons are also available with the update, such as the referee whistle and gigantic signal horn (I’m not sure if that means “vuvuzela” but that should definitely be added in ASAP).

“Zombies have traditionally been known for their propensity to say ‘BRAAAAAAIIINNSS,’ but with our latest update to ZombieSmash!, we’re adding ‘GOOOAAAALLL’ to their vocabulary. With the update, we’re catering to the true dreams of all football fans worldwide – to smash and destroy their most hated rival teams with powerful weaponry.”

- Dr. Matthias Höchsmann, co-founder of Gamedoctors

ZombieSmash is still available on the App Store for only $0.99. The full list of features can be found below in addition to other information about the game.

[Buy from App Store.]

Press Release:

Free Update Celebrates the Sport of Football By Letting iPhone Owners Everywhere Smash Zombie Versions of Their Least Favorite Football Nations – On Sale for $.99!

The update features:

• Soccer teams from 5 different nations: USA, England, Germany, France, Australia
• Football themed backgrounds and weaponry
• 5 all-new powerful specials
• 16 bonus nights
• 8 additional bonus nights exclusively designed to max out the limit of 3GS devices.

“Zombies have traditionally been known for their propensity to say ‘BRAAAAAAIIINNSS,’ but with our latest update to ZombieSmash!, we’re adding ‘GOOOAAAALLL’ to their vocabulary,” said Dr. Matthias Höchsmann, co-founder of Gamedoctors. “With the update, we’re catering to the true dreams of all football fans worldwide – to smash and destroy their most hated rival teams with powerful weaponry.”

About Gamedoctors
Gamedoctors is an independent game development studio based in Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock, Germany. Founded in 2009 by Matthias and Thomas Höchsmann, the company aims to develop games for the iPhone and iPod Touch platform that are imaginative, entertaining and hilarious.

[Source: GamesPress]

HellKid: Hook & Jump is currently available for free on the App Store but time is running out quickly! JustNine has promised more updates in the future. We’ll keep you guys updated about what’s to come.

[Get it from the App Store.]

Press Release:

HellKid Full Version Will Be Available for Free For a Limited Time

The latest version of HellKid is available from the App Store here:
http://itunes.apple.com/app/id350273868?mt=8

Developer Website:
http://justnine.net/STUDIOUFO/

[Source: GamesPress]

Utilizing the original update plan the studio came up with for Hook Champ, RocketCat is also looking to supply in a similar way for Super QuickHook. With OpenFeint integration, players can connect with over 26 million others and work towards achievements, but even more excitingly so: two-player ghost races.

Super QuickHook is available on the App Store for only $2.99 and has gotten nothing but positive reviews.

[Buy from App Store.]

Press Release:

Bremerton, WA – June 17, 2010 – Rocketcat Games today released Super QuickHook, their second major iPhone title. Super QuickHook is the sequel to their first game, Hook Champ, which was a cult hit and finalist for Best iPhone Game in the 2010 IGF Mobile awards. The new title improves on the original in every way.

Rocketcat Games
Rocketcat Games is a team of three people that, one day, decided to make games. Their motivation for doing this is that many modern day games are made to be too disposable. They focus on replay value, controls designed specifically for the iPhone platform, and inspirations from retro game design.

[Source: GamesPress]

Who knew line drawing games could be so much fun? I mean, first we had FlightControl appear on the iPhone App Store to wildly popular sales. After that we, obiously, recieved a number of other “line drawing” games that were roughly the same thing.

Today’s game, CarGo Rush is no different really, except maybe it is a little bit. Yes, CarGo Rush is, essentially, a line drawing game based around getting airliner luggage to and from the proper storage areas. No doubt about it. But it goes above and beyond what FlightControl is. You see, where as FlightControl has roughly one gameplay mode, where you just draw lines to the connecting airfields, CarGo Rush comes with more than that. Here’s the list:

“Snake” Mode: the adaptation of the classic game where your goal is to pick up as many containers as you can with the trucks while making sure they do not run into one another.

Classic Mode: the usual line drawer gameplay. You do not need to bother with containers, only drive the trucks to the exit by drawing their routes.

Normal mode: you must pick up different number of containers with the trucks and transport them to the exit.

Survive Mode: in this mode the trucks tow different number of containers already, your task is to simply drive them to the exit. What makes it not so simple is the fact that you will have to control more and more as well as longer and longer trucks as you progress.

The game comes as a lite version or the full version. The lite version is free, comes with ads, and has 9 career levels. The full version has no ads, an online ranking system, and 40 career levels. It costs $2.99.

[buy/try]

Screenshots

I think there’s a lot of potential in a cute virtual pet game for the iPhone. A good one would blend all the adorable options of a Tamagotchi (remember those?), with the ease of an iPhone interface and touchscreen, and a great game would let users exchange items or let me bring my virtual pet to play with your virtual pet if we were in the same place. Anyone have a pocket pet to recommend to me?

To celebrate the new release, Battery Acid is also offering their previous music and patterns game, Simone Says, free on the app store.

From the press release:

Who can resist the temptation of having their very own cute and cuddly puppy? Puppies are adorable, beautiful, fun, loving and offers even the heartless an oasis of endless joy! From developer Battery Acid Games comes “Pet Puppy”, just released on the App Store, compatible with your Apple iPhone™ & Apple iPod touch®.

In Pet Puppy you have the ability to customize your very own puppy, and you are invited to bring along your fluffy friend to Puppy Springs, a luxurious new park made just for the two of you! Feed, play, and accessorize your puppy to keep it healthy, happy, and active. You can earn puppy points by satisfying your friend’s needs, giving you the option to purchase new items and activities! If you are a true dog lover then perhaps, if you are caring and loving enough, you will succeed as a dog owner, and assemble the entire collection of available toys and accessories!

In addition to customizing your very own puppy and bringing it to life, you will participate in real-world actions like petting and playing catch! It doesn’t get more cutesy and fun; Pet Puppy has a fantastic inventory system for maintaining and using various items in the game. You will also find a general store in which you can purchase not only the best puppy food, but also toys and other accessories. The game has Facebook integration allowing you to share your experience with friends online, and also features an award system for completing various tasks!

[Source: Indie Developer Consulting, Battery Acid Games site]

But, slowly, I started to get ahead of my survival meters, and I could craft storage bags to reduce my trips home, or a lean-to to make my sleep more refreshing. Once you craft a bow and arrows, you can hunt the island boar, leading to roasted boar, a more filling meal than a coconut or a fish. If you can hold off instead of immediately devouring picked berries, you can plant them for new berry bushes.

I usually enjoy ingame crafting, but Stranded offered a particularly good crafting system, managing to be both straitforward and challenging. You can always see what new goods you can make with currently available items, there are no recipes to remember or confusion about what makes what. Items you can practically make with current items will appear in your crafting menu, too, with an unavailable component or two greyed out.Components can be found at any point and as soon as you have the materials, you can craft. If you want to build radio batteries while you’re still sleeping on the ground and eating raw fish, go ahead! No forced progression or crafting levels will stop you, eliminating a common frustration and allowing for a lot more personalization.

One downside to crafting is that too many final items involved building the same parts and sub-parts multiple times. For example, players need to harvest six Reeds to make a Twine, make six Twines to make a Net Section, make six Net Sections to make a Net, so you’ll need to harvest Reed 108 times before you can fish with a Net… and you’ll need to fish repetitively to fill your nutrition meter. When games require the same action too many times, I start to feel like it’s filler content.

Bits of salvage from your space wreck, like bubblegum, canned ham and radio parts, wash up on the shore, just waiting to be used in a makeshift radio to phone home.  When life hands you lemons, use some zinc and wire to build a battery!

The game became less responsive as I played, pausing for longer and longer periods before performing an action, and finally crashed to the iTouch menu a few times. The system requirements listed on the App Store are OS 3.1.2, on the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, and I’m running OS 3.1.3 It’s worth pointing out that I have a 2G iPod Touch, not a new one. Let me know how it runs for you.

Overall, I could not stop playing this game, and I’d sit down for just a few moments of Stranded and play until my battery ran out.

Since Phasic Labs knows how to describe their game more adequately than I do, here are the full features of Hexius as they exist in the press release:

Features
• Time Attack Mode – connect matching hexagons as fast as possible, until time runs out – the faster you play, the higher the score multiplier goes!
• Level Challenge Mode – collect all the targets to move onto progressively harder levels. The faster you go, the more time is carried over to the next level – find out how far can you go before time runs out!
• Bonuses – make use of Bomb, Reveal, and Freeze bonuses to help maximize your score.
• Tutorials – hints and tips show you ways of creating bonuses and getting higher scores.
• Online score tables – see you friends all-time high scores, and enter weekly score challenges.
• Addictive gameplay – with simple to learn rules, Hexius will appeal to the casual player and puzzle lovers, whilst the subtle tactics required to get really high scores will intrigue the more advanced gamer.

Hexius is available on the App Store for $2.99.

Press Release:

Liverpool, United Kingdom 24 May 2010 – Hexius, the new fast-paced puzzle game from Phasic Labs can now be downloaded from the App Store.

Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, and iPod touch are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.
PlayStation® is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

[Source: GamesPress]

As part of Venan Entertainment’s Venan Arcade collection, Ninjatown: Trees of Doom proves to be one of the best games available on the App Store. But even with all of its high points, Venan exemplifies a bit of humility by charging only $0.99. In short, they — just as so many other developers have done with the App Store’s casual game market — have discovered the key combination to success. But what sets Venan’s newest apart from the rest of the games on the App Store?

GAMEPLAY

To be blunt, Ninjatown: Trees of Doom is excruciatingly fun and not hard to get a hang of. I guess you could consider it more or less a platformer — you play as a ninja jumping inbetween two trees, avoiding goo (I think?) and bugs and whatever else may slow you down and making use of devices (flying mustaches, no kidding!) that will aid you in your quest to the top. Sure, it’s not the most original concept; we already have the aforementioned Doodle Jump, and this entire formula of “get-as-far-to-the-top-as-you-can” may not be the newest creation. Yet, to undermine the appeal of Ninjatown would be extraordinarily unfair. The game is absolute gold and will hook you in for hours.

The beauty and appeal of a casual gaming experience is its quick-fix methodology. You don’t have to invest hours of your time into it, there’s no planning, and the arcadey tendencies only require you beat your high score every now and then. You’re sitting on the train? You can play this game. Waiting for a haircut? You can play this game. Going to the bathroom? You can play this game. You get the point: it doesn’t require too much time or energy and is readily accessible wherever you may be. It’s a good filler for the empty space within your life, but as your addiction grows you’ll start making time for Ninjatown. I’m not here to promote that addiction, but I have to admit it’s pretty sweet.

STYLE

From the instant you fire up Ninjatown: Trees of Doom on your iPhone/iPod Touch, you’ll enjoy the polished artwork and Japanese cartoon graphical style. The menus aren’t overcomplicated and the design looks fantastic. If you take a break from your trek to the top just to check out the scenery behind you (a fuming volcano), you’ll realize just how beautiful the 2D artwork is. Movements are smooth and the game has yet to lag once for me, further impressing me with its polish and fluidity.

STORY

Err, not much of a story here; you’re proving your Wee Ninja worth to the Ol’ Master Ninja.

EVERYTHING ELSE

The Plus+ integration offers leaderboards and achievements — which feel right at home with the casual appeal of Ninjatown: Trees of Doom. Also, gamers can show off their high score via Twitter. The sound design of the game is especially useful at making players feel the allure of the environment. Bottom line: you’ll love Ninjatown: Trees of Doom because it’s easy to get into but almost impossible to get out. For $0.99, this is one of the best options on the App Store.

[Buy from iTunes.]

[DIYgamer obtained a free copy of the game for review purposes. This in no way affected the outcome of the review.]