Short App Reviews And News

This looks like a pretty fun Defend your Castle game.  Haven’t tried it yet, but it looks great.

ZombieSmash: [ App Store ] $1.99

From the App Store Description:

ZombieSmash! is a “Survival Comedy” game, featuring undead-themed castle defense and entertaining, physics-based gameplay. The game casts players as Joey, a lone survivor pit against a herd of writhing, unrelenting zombies – to defeat the undead masses, players must use their fingers to flick and smash them until they’re un-undead.

• To aid players in their fight, over 20 specials and upgrades allow for creative zombie demolition – including fun implements like asteroids, wrecking balls, liquid nitrogen and a gigantic, rolling boulder – combine specials (for instance, smash nitrogen-frozen zombies with a boulder!) for added hilarity.

• Sophisticated ragdoll physics produce unique and hysterical zombie deaths, and the proprietary SplatterEngine™ renders adorable cartoon blood and gore in a convincing and entertaining fashion.

• Three game modes provide limitless replay value:
o Campaign Mode challenges players to survive for 31 intense days against the mounting zombie threat.
o Endless Siege Mode confronts them with a never-ending zombie assault – hold out as long as possible, racking up an ever-rising body count.
o Sandbox Mode gives you all the tools to rain destruction down on those stinking, moaning zombies without any of the peril.

• Social features including Chillingo’s Crystal and Playhaven for online and community support, and the ability to share screenshots of your best ZombieSmashing moments!

• Original soundtrack produced by famed game music composer Chris Hülsbeck, the talented musician behind the scores to classic games like Turrican, Giana Sisters and the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series.

Castle Conflict is free today.  I’ve only played one game, but it appears to be a pretty fun strategy game.  It’s basically a castle defense type game where you must also attack another castle.  I’d say it’s worth adding to your collection especially cause it has multiplayer so you can play against your friends.

Castle Conflict: [ App Store ]

From the App Store Description:

Castle Conflict in collaboration with www.FreeAppaDay.com will be Free today and today only! Featured by apple in “What We’re Playing”! Castle Conflict merges the best elements of tower defense and real time strategies to create something truly unique. With deep strategy, campaign mode, and multiplayer, it offers hours of fun!

Your goal is simple: to conquer any who would dare resist you. Your army starts off simple, with ground soldiers to support your cause, but as you conquer, you will gain the ability to purchase more advanced units. But you must be warned – each unit has a strength, and a weakness! The cavalry is strong against most ground units – but can easily be defeated by pikemen! Advanced woodcutters get you resources faster, but thieves steal even more from them! Bombers rain havoc on the field, but a pirate zeppelin could turn it around and send it right back at you! (Luckily, you can shoot that pirate right out of the sky with a cannon before it gets the chance!)

Build your army with care, and none will be able to stand in your way!

Once you’ve built the perfect army, the fun is far from over! Take that army into multiplayer and test your strategy against your friends (and enemies)!

Not looking to defeat the world? Just want five minutes of fun? Then quick-play is for you, my friend! It will put you into the game so fast, your head will spin!

===

Features:
-33 unique unit types, each with their own strengths and weaknesses (+1 hidden unit)
-39 levels of gameplay in campaign mode with more planned!
-Multiple unit skins to pick from
-Deep strategy that balances the goal to kill your opponent against your need to collect resources
-Quickplay mode for when you just need a quick break!
-Local multiplayer over wifi and bluetooth!
-over 20 levels to battle your friends on!

===

If you liked Cartoon Wars, Avatar of War, Trenches, The Wars, etc., then you will love Castle Conflict!

===

“Utilizing unit creation and resource collecting, Castle Conflict has plenty of potential and gives the castle defense genre a new twist on the classic game.” -appmodo.com

===

What fans are saying!

“The campaign mode and all the purchasable unit types actually takes this style of game to a new level I haven’t seen before, and I like it.” -Kevenly

“Kudos to this developer for listening well to the users and delivering an amazing update … has a wealth of variety and strategy, and a gradually ramping difficulty as you play through the campaign” – Mies van der Robot

“The best APP I HAVE OUT OF 273!!” – C.conflict luver

“This game was pretty good to begin with, but it’s absolutely ADDICTIVE with the upgrade!!! You’ll never get anything done if you D/L this game!!!” – Segdirbj

===
“I’ve never been happier to make an appearance in a video game! Castle Conflict is simply smashing.” -Sir Theodore Quentin III

What’s new

-A new campaign, featuring 19 more levels, 10 new units, and game-changing new level elements
-14 new multiplayer levels
-A brand new unit skin
-Several bug fixes, optimisations, etc…

Plants Vs. Zombies is a great game.  It’s a defend your castle style game with a lot of charm.  You must defend your house with plants from the oncoming horde of zombies.  I’m having an absolute blast playing this game and highly recommend it.

Plants vs. Zombies: [App Store] $2.99

From App Store Description:

Plants vs. Zombies™: Stem a zombie attack on your iPhone!

Get ready to soil your plants in this brand-new version of the hit PopCap game! A mob of fun-loving zombies is about to invade your home, and your only defense is an arsenal of 49 zombie-zapping plants. Use peashooters, wall-nuts, cherry bombs and more to slow down, confuse, weaken and mulchify 26 types of zombies before they can reach your front door.

Each zombie has its own special skills, so you’ll need to think fast and plant faster to combat them all. But be careful how you use your limited supply of greens and seeds… as you battle the fun-dead, obstacles like a setting sun, creeping fog and a swimming pool add to the challenging fun. Get ready to soil your plants!

- Conquer all 50 levels of Adventure mode — through day, night and fog, in a swimming pool and on the rooftop
- Battle 26 types of zombies including pole-vaulters, snorkelers and “Zomboni” drivers
- Earn 49 powerful perennials and collect coins to buy upgrades, power-ups and more
- Open the Almanac to see all the plants and zombies, plus amusing “facts” and quotes
- Collect 13 iPhone-exclusive PvZ achievements
- Replay levels in the all-new Quick Play arena
- All the fun of the hit PC/Mac game — adapted for fun-dead fun on your iPhone
- Hilarious graphics, great soundtrack and a bonus music video

Coast Defense is a defend your castle style game with a lot of similarities to Battle Bears (Short App Review).  The controls are similar to Battle Bears in that you move/aim with your left thumb and shoot with your right, you can switch weapons during the round (and upgrade them between rounds), and the music is very similar too.  The biggest difference is that the enemy is going from left to right instead of at you and the theme is more serious.  Instead of shooting bears with a unicorn crossbow you’re firing an M-16 at enemy soldiers and tanks.

There are a variety of weapons to use and a number of different enemies that you have to defend against.  The sound and graphics are well done and you can tell there was a lot of effort put into making this game come out great.  If you like Battle Bears for the gameplay you will definitely like this one.  It’s a fun game.

There’s also a Lite version to try out for free.

Coast Defense: [App Store] $.99 at time of this review

Coast Defense Lite: [App Store] Free at time of this review

Knights Onrush from Chillingo Ltd has been released for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  This is a defend your castle type game with high end graphics.

Early reviews are painting this game in a positive light saying it’s not just all about flicking the attackers, but also about using different weapons and tactics.  It is selling for $4.99 [App Store]

A review will be coming soon.