iOS Game Watch: Hairy Balls, Pocket Climber, Qin
Today I look at strategy game and mans’ greatest fear, Hairy Balls; Crazy Climber’s love child, Pocket Climber; and Reiner Knizia’s latest, Qin.
Developer Redtribe has released freemium puzzler Hairy Balls. Players must use strategy to move their balls via swipe in a limited number of turns to their destination…Ding-Dong mushrooms. Yeah, the in-jokes abound. The puzzles are pretty challenging right from the beginning, so if you can get around having to sidestep your 8-yr-old asking what’s so funny about the blue-ball character, you’re good to go. No ads, but you can purchase hint packs through in-app purchases in the game. You can download through the App Store as a universal app for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.
CocoaChina released last week Pocket Climber. This takes the endless runner genre and turns it on its side…literally. Instead of running horizontally, you are climbing up. Scale skyscrapers, gather coins, and avoid obstacles thrown at you from some asshole above you. Oh, and a gorilla. Yeah, apparently King Kong makes an appearance. If you were a fan of ’80s arcade classic Crazy Climber, you’ll see a lot of similarities from this adaptation. You can get the game for $0.99 for both iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad.
Reiner Knizia, King of board games, has released new game Qin. What makes this interesting is that for the first time an iPad adaptation of the board game has been released at the same time. Using the same graphics as the board game, the game is playable by 2-4 players, or one player against AI. The game is set in China over 2000 years ago. The players must unite a bickering China by colonizing the back country and incorporating what he creates into his own realm. You can download this game for iPad for $4.99.
