There were more than a few great and interesting games that hit the App Store this Thursday, but we couldn’t get them all into yesterday’s Fresh Games list. So we’re making it up today, leading with Coconut Dodge, an iOS port of a game that was named the PlayStation Network’s 2010 Game of the Year. We also have the info on Men vs Machines, Glu’s newest freemium two-stick shooter, and A.I.R Defense from Chillingo, a fresh take on tower defense.
Coconut Dodge (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
Fire up Coconut Dodge and you might at first wonder what you’re looking at. You control a crab, which can skitter from side to side on a beach, collecting coins that fall from the trees above and dodging coconuts. At first it seems both simple and underwhelming — which is why you’ll check the description again to verify that it was, in fact, the PlayStation Network Game of the Year in 2010. But spend a little time with Coconut Dodge and it starts to prove its worth.
Yes, you merely control a crab that has to dodge coconuts and collect shiny things as they fall, but Coconut Dodge is actually both addictive and engaging. Coconuts just don’t fall — the waves of descending items are actually arranged in some pretty clever ways, and many levels will have you running falling “mazes” of junk, trying not to die. A turbo button lets you go two speeds faster, which gives you the ability to strategize as well as test your reflexes. Coconut Dodge is actually much deeper than it appears, and it even packs Game Center support so you can share high scores and earn achievements.
Men vs Machines (iPhone, iPad) Free
Glu does a pretty great job with the “freemium” model. They’ve got a hit on their hands with the free-to-play two-stick shooter Gun Bros., and they’ve replicated that model in Men vs. Machines. The game puts you and a friend (or you and a computer-controlled ally) against an onslaught of mechanical monsters in a steampunk, brass-and-gears kind of world, with great results.
Blasting through waves of robotic enemies earns you currency to buy new weapons, items and armor in order to help you fight off more bad guys. The difficulty ramps up at a good pace and will keep you on your toes. It also features Game Center support for achievements and leaderboards.
A.I.R Defense (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
Strategy and planning are key to success in A.I.R Defense, a top-down game that employs a lot of the popular gameplay mechanics from Flight Control, and mixes it with the tower defense genre. You control a base that needs to be defended from an onslaught of alien attackers, and to do so, you’ll purchase different aircraft and their flight paths to send them to take out enemies.
Enemies will attack your base in waves, providing you with more money to upgrade your fleet and become more effective at stopping the alien threat. The more levels you work through, the more dangerous and deadly the aliens become.
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