Hello everyone, and welcome to the week! It’s time once again for our look back at the noteworthy updates of the last seven days. I figured I’d throw in some different games with a few of the regulars for this week’s round-up. You know, variety is the spice of life and all that. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself by participating in the TouchArcade forums. This weekly summary is just here to fill you in on the things you might have missed. Let’s go for it!
Bugsnax, Free
The mobile port of Bugsnax is excellent, and it’s little wonder Young Horses thought it would be fair to put it up on the App Store for a very reasonable $9.99 price. Alas, that is a very tough row to hoe in the current mobile market and I suspect that lesson was learned very sharply following the game’s release. Thus, Bugsnax is now a free-to-start game. You can play the first little bit at no cost, and then the full unlock is priced at $9.99. If you already bought the game, don’t worry. Nothing will change on your end. And hey, for those on the fence, this is a nice way to try out the game before committing to that tenner.
Gravitas!, $1.99
I don’t know why it took so long for someone to make a proper homage to Meteos, but someone finally did and did a rather good job of it. When I reviewed this game I noted that it was a little tricky to play on the smaller screens of iPhones. Well, this update adjusts things to make the block movement more responsive, improves the physics and combo systems, boosts the play area on bigger iPads, and makes a bunch of little tweaks to balance out the difficulty curve. Also, bug fixes! I’d really recommend giving this a go, even more so after seeing the developer’s diligence in pushing this update so quickly.
Jetpack Joyride, Free
I’m going to be frank with you for a second here, friends. Most Jetpack Joyride updates are really, really boring these days. I get that the game is as old as the hills, but I really wish Halfbrick could manage something more interesting than dusting off the Bling Event and pretending it’s something exciting. But I am including it here because I like to have at least one or two of the classics show up here, and this is certainly a classic. Both the game, and this event.
Teeny Tiny Town, Free
This is another developer that is seriously putting in the work to make an already solid game even better. This time around it’s mostly about improving the aesthetics, and that’s more than fine. The animations for merging items have been refined to make them smoother, the collection book now displays 3D models instead of 2D images, and a bunch of bugs have been ended ‘neath the boot of improved code. It’s never a bad time to give this one a go.
Injustice 2, Free
It has been a rough year for DC’s movies, and as such a pretty rough one for DC games trying to make some salad off the back of them. This latest one doesn’t seem to even be getting an icon change, and that’s a shame. Anyway, there’s a new DC movie out. I can’t blame you if you missed it, because WB Discovery didn’t do a whole lot of promotion for it. Blue Beetle is the film in question, and it seems like it’s pretty decent. To go with the movie, Blue Beetle is now available in Injustice 2. He might cost you a pretty penny, though. Man has to pay for that suit somehow, and the movie sure isn’t going to help with that.
Temple Run 2, Free
No, it can’t be! Is it really time for the Fall Jungle? It’s still hot as heck outside. The kids aren’t back in school yet! Dread it. Run from it. Fall Jungle arrives all the same. For a limited time, anyway. If you’ve got some Scrolls saved up, you can unlock a new runner named Deepak Dham. He’s a private detective from India, and I’m not even going to ask how he ended up in this situation. There are also two new pets, a tiger and a… a fairy of teeth? Do I want to know? No, I do not. Get out there and grab some artifacts and coins in that Fall Jungle while you can.
Genshin Impact V4.0: Fontaine, Free
Wow, a full version number up, eh? I guess I’ll give it the coveted UMMSotW award for this week to commemorate the occasion. You get a whole new region called Fontaine to explore, a few new characters who go by the names of Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet, a new main event to play, a brand-new mechanic called Fontaine’s Blessing, some new stories, a couple of new artifacts, a new weapon, and a couple of new bosses to try that new weapon out on. Yes, that all seems very impressive. The stuff of full version number changes. Something to stick in the app’s name, for sure. Well, have fun.
Homescapes, Free
Forget Puzzle and Dragons, it’s time for Austin and Dragons. Austin gets isekai‘d by Truck-kun and finds himself in a fantasy world. He has to defeat an evil sorcerer to save the realm and get a unique decoration. Will he gather a harem of party members while he’s there? Probably not. This isn’t one of your mangas, pal. Back in the real world, Austin and Robbie have to motivate Chloe to head back to school. Good luck, boys. The only kids who like going back to school are narcs. All this, plus you get to help Adam make a movie! Not that kind of movie! This isn’t one of your mangas, pal!
Disney SpellStruck,
He’s gonna wreck it! Ha ha, that is the catch phrase of the great Disney hero, Wreck-It Ralph. The star of so many great movies, such as Wreck-It Ralph. Perhaps he was in another movie, but who can say? Only someone who would have watched that movie and is willing to admit it. Wouldn’t be me. Anyway, Ralph has joined the roster of this game, and he’s just in time to enjoy the new Adventure Mode map, the CyberSpace Station. Ralph and the Internet? That would be a peculiar and bad combination! The game now supports more languages and has had some pesky bug fixes stomped out. Wrecked, if you will.
PAC-MAN Party Royale,
We’ll finish things out this week with a look at the latest version of Pac-Man Party Royale. There’s a new feature in the game now called Maze Traps. They are traps! For the maze! Well, I suppose that was self-explanatory. I’ll head home now. I suppose I should explain a couple of extra points. There are now Conveyor Belts and Arrows that might appear on the floors of mazes, and they will mess with you. Not the Ghosts. They do not have feet. This update also includes three new worlds to play in the Adventure mode. Yes, some of them feature these new traps.
That about wraps it up for last week’s significant updates. I’m sure I’ve missed some, though, so please feel free to comment below and let everyone know if you think something should be mentioned. As usual, major updates will likely get their own news stories throughout this week, and I’ll be back next Monday to summarize and fill in the blanks. Have a great week!
