Podgamer » freebies

A little less remuneration

News Elvis — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:30:11 +0000

Uh-huh, thngyrvrmsh, omnomburghrburghrdrgsdrgs. Issanr POGUHMRSAYRUNUP, a-huh. (Continued...)

Seaweed: Fathomable

J Nash — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 09:32:59 +0000

One of the acest things about iThing players is that we’ll try anything. There’s a brave indie contingent on, say, the Xbox, but you can’t imagine the general Xbox ownership queuing in their thousands at midnight to shoot each other over mishandled copies of Squid Yes! Not So Octopus. The iThing, on the other hand, has no artifice: the charts are equally as likely to be topped by heavily promoted big name rubbish like Assassin’s Creed as out of nowhere surprise zeitgeist rubbish like Angry Birds. We are cosmopolitan idiots. We’re also pretty and charming, unlike PC owners (fat), Xbox owners (drunk) and nobody could find any PS3 owners to determine what was wrong with them, and anyway Seaweed. (Continued...)

Monster Trucks Nitro: Trucker’s Edge

Craig Grannell — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:00:50 +0000

Vrrrmmmmm! MONSTER TRUCKS! Actually, I’m not Am-er-i-can, and since US import Grayson isn’t within earshot, I cannot ask what the appeal of BIG TRUCKS is, bar when you’re a kid and use them to run over next door’s cat. (That never happened, by the way, if you’re reading, Mr Griffiths of number 5. TIDDLES RAN AWAY.) What I can say is that they make for a pretty fun game, at least when they’re part of Monster Trucks Nitro. VRRRRRRMMMMMM! (Continued...)

Eggcellent value

Craig Grannell — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 15:30:07 +0000

Eggs is currently free on the App Store. If you’re very old indeed, you might remember Nintendo Game & Watch Egg or the similar Mickey Mouse. Chickens lay an alarming number of eggs and it’s your job to catch them all in your seemingly magic TARDIS-like frying pan. Eggs is pretty much the same, but in cartoon-o-vision. If we’re being brutally honest, we’re not sure we’d recommend this as a paid-for title, but it’s fun and jolly enough for a quickfire freebie, especially on this nasty, grey, wet, generally BLEURGH Saturday afternoon in soggy Hampshire.

Bang per (no) buck(s)

Craig Grannell — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 14:58:10 +0000

Often, the best games are those that strip a genre back to basics, leaving it in its purist form. In this modern age of hugely complex 3D shooting games, Westbang has long been a breeze of fresh air, battling against the stench of shit that emanates from the bulk of iOS shooters. Westbang cunningly eschews mid-1990s (and on) fare, instead drawing influence from Sega classic Bank Panic (or, as Suv points out on the comments, Gremlin’s blatant 1986 rip-off Westbank). You’re in a sheriff in a suspiciously busy bank. Doors randomly open. If it’s a customer, don’t shoot; if it’s a bandit, shoot—but only after they draw (because you’re one of the good guys). Over the game’s 25 levels, things speed up and 21 different characters are introduced. The basic tap controls are first-rate and the game looks, sounds and plays great. For 59p/€0,79/99¢, it was a massive bargain, but it’s currently free, do download it now.

Morning freebie: Super Laser

J Nash — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 10:37:15 +0000

1. Bullet hell? Check! 2. Tauntingly retrievable power-ups? Check! 3. Slightly too busy backgrounds? Check! 4. Frequent bosses you can shimmy past embarrassedly, claiming an important dental appointment? Check! 5. Free until lunchtime? Ch — Hang on, what? — eck! Go Go!! Epicforce’s Super Laser the Alien Fighter.

Tales of interest

Nathan Grayson — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 06:24:18 +0000

Normally “free” and “not shit” are enough to warrant a bark and a point from us, your trusty App Store hounds at Podgamer, but today I’ve decided to mix things up. See, while Brutal Fantasy-Prologue is definitely free and also gleefully slashy (though generically so) enough to cross the rickety bridge out of Shitsville and into Mediocrity Zone, it’s also – dare I say it – profound. Actually, I don’t dare say it, because it’s really not. But it is profound’s plainer, lose-the-glasses-and-we-might-have-something sister, “interesting.” See, in a slight twist on the normal App Store release formula, the full version of Brutal Fantasy won’t be out for another month, and this free Prologue – as you might expect – sports the beginnings of its storyline. What is that storyline, you ask? Uh, I think there was an evil knight or something like that. I didn’t really pay attention, but seeing as there are about three fantasy plots in existence, I’ve got a decent shot at being on the money. Point is, even if Brutal Fantasy-Prologue’s story physically spurted chopped liver out of my iPhone speaker, I wouldn’t have minded. It’s not important. What is important is the delivery of that story. (Continued...)

Minigore for mini price (no price)

Craig Grannell — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 14:26:36 +0000

PODGAMER PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT. Twin-stick shooter and RevStu fave Minigore is free for 48 hours. If you don’t already own it and also avoid downloading it within this 48-hour period, you are a dolt. That is all. END OF PODGAMER PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT. PODGAMER PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT, PART TWO. If the game is still showing a price tag, go back in a few hours. Apple’s black-turtleneck-powered servers might not have caught up with the exciting price-drop in your region yet. END OF PODGAMER PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT, PART TWO.

Flamin series: Flamin’ NORA!

RevStu — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 11:03:35 +0000

Where, of course, NORA stands for “Numerous OpenFeint-supporting Redemption-style Arcade games”. Nicolas Robert‘s minimalist “Flamin” series is mostly based on those end-of-the-pier gaming machines that reward players with prizes either directly or by giving out tickets that you can redeem at a kiosk, but there are no prizes on offer here – not even Coin Dozer-type virtual ones. Happily, though, AuroraFeint’s popular high-score service has stepped in to save the day by providing an alternative goal-and-reward system, and everything’s worked out beautifully in the end. Hurrah! (Continued...)

Weekend freebie: Slashmaster

J Nash — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 01:49:52 +0000

Blimey, this is a messy game. On the Good Messy side, Zoobox’s 2D scrolling fighter is apparently sponsored by Bob’s Bladders of Blood Ltd and nothing occurs except as an explosion of chaotic mayhem. Each level lasts just long enough that you don’t care you’re chugging back and forth along the same threeish-screen-wide arena being randomly attacked from both sides until you fill your QUOTA OF DEATH. Bad Messy: the power-ups are divorced from your inventory. What this means is that you can buy upgrades (with coins from dead monsters) for the full set of weapons, anticipating the Random Allocation Bat will dispense one you’ve powered up when you kill it. (You have to double-jump to reach the bat and any bequeathed item vanishes after a few seconds, but the fighting’s such a dervish of punch-ups that you’ll inevitably auto-grab everything that passes. The trick is to upgrade everything to at least the first level before looking to pick a favourite.) The power-up combos rely on your pressing Fire again (eg, a whirlwind sword comes after a straight poke and a leaping stab) so technically you can break off in the middle, but the fighting’s such an etc that you’ll inevitably be desperately trying to turn towards a sneak ambush only to find the game still thinks you want to finish your super-flashy combo on that corpse. Boss fights are every five levels and are rubbishly cramped because they’re on top (rather than instead) of a standard minion rush. Pretty much a heavy metal version of that disappointingly out of favour comic standby where a fight’s an impenetrable dustcloud of fists and ooyahs, Slashmaster confused me at first, entertained me for half an hour, and then I ate an apple. It’s free this weekend.

Drift Mania Championship HD: The battle of b0rked drift

RevStu — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:01:50 +0000

Drift Mania Championship HD is free today. I’d had a brief play of the Lite version when it came out and dismissed it as an uncontrollable and dull stunt game (and I hate stunt games, because I’m not 12). So this seemed an ideal opportunity to give it a second chance, especially as I’d bought my iPhone 4 since then and would have a chance to admire its gleaming Retina graphics. I don’t think that’s actually them in the screenshot – it looks a lot crisper and shinier than that in real life, which begs the question of why a publisher would choose to use a low-res image when the high-res graphics are a sufficiently big deal as to be highlighted in the game’s title. But anyway. (Continued...)

Situation Shuffle: Do the iPod Shuffle

RevStu — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 19:35:50 +0000

If you liked the splendid Say What You See (and why wouldn’t you?), you might find the alliteratively-similar Situation Shuffle (currently free) a comparably pleasurable time-passer. It’s another game in which forensically examining the fine detail of hand-painted pictures is the key to success, and if you want to try it out, you can play a level using only the picture below. The object, as alert viewers might be able to ascertain, is to put the six frames of a short comic strip into the correct order. All you have to guide you is what’s in the pictures, and it’s not as easy as it looks. (Continued...)

Naughty Bear: The wrongest game of all

RevStu — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 15:25:53 +0000

Oh, this is wrong. It’s so, SO wrong. It’s ultra-wrong. It’s the wrongest thing ever. It’s Naughty Bear. The bears of Perfection Island are having a party, with yummy cupcakes for all. But they haven’t invited Naughty Bear. This makes Naughty Bear sad. And when Naughty Bear is sad, things happen. Bad things. (Continued...)

I am the Earl of Zombwich

RevStu — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 14:59:48 +0000

Somewhere in my voluminous cellar full of board games, I’ve got a version of this that I bought from Past Times many years ago and which is simply called The Viking Game. Presumably this was because the original name, Hnefatafl, wouldn’t have attracted many customers in a posh UK knick-knack chain, and Centurion Games have taken that thought process to its logical conclusion, giving their iPod version the altogether snappier – and more informative – moniker of Zombwich. The core of the temporarily-free game (which in the iOS incarnation has been simplified from the orifinal lineup of 24-vs-12 down to a punchy 8-vs-5) is capturing opposing pieces. Each side controls pieces which move like a castle in chess – covering as many squares as they like either horizontally or vertically – and capture an opposing piece by sandwiching it between two of their own side in immediately adjacent squares. But here, some of the pieces are ZOMBIES!!!!!! (Continued...)

(Super) Marble (Roll) madness

RevStu — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 10:12:53 +0000

It’s surprising that on a format with both tilt and (depending on generation) gyroscope controls, we haven’t seen more Marble Madness knockoffs. There are plenty of 2D tilting-and-rolling games but remarkably few utilising the third dimension to channel Atari’s 1984 cult classic, and that may be at least partly because Super Marble Roll pretty much nailed it first try. An App Store veteran with over 18 months service under its belt, Super Marble Roll recently went free for the first time ever. What we’re saying here is that you should go and download it now, yeah?