This week’s best games list offers a pretty wide variety of quality titles at (mostly) bargain prices, and it kicks off with Gameloft’s newest entry to the App Store, Order & Chaos Online. If you’ve heard of World of Warcraft, you probably get the gist of the developer’s expansive and ambitious title. There are a lot of players to team up with in Order & Chaos, and the first three months of gameplay are free without a subscription. Get the goods below, and keep reading, because we’ve got several great offerings for you this week, and you aren’t going to want to miss any of them.
Order & Chaos Online (iPhone, iPad) $6.99
Well, Gameloft finally did it. They made an iOS emulation of the 12 million player-strong World of Warcraft. The game just went live all over the world and already it’s packed full of players creating characters, taking up swords and magic spells, and heading out into the Order & Chaos Online world, looking for adventures. Gamers familiar with massively multiplayer online role-playing games will recognize familiar conventions, like auto-attacking and chat functions. Gameloft isn’t the first to create MMOs on the iPhone and iPad, but Order & Chaos is among the prettiest to hit the App Store so far. The game also feels rather huge, which is a good thing — players should be engrossed long enough to justify the $0.99 per month (or $1.99 per three months) subscription fee after the initial free three-month period runs out.
Gears (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
Another beautiful new addition to the App Store, Gears comes direct from Crescent Moon Games, the developer behind Aralon: Sword and Shadow. This time around, Crescent Moon has gone with a rolling-ball platformer, in which you have to guide a ball through a series of dangerous levels either using swipe controls or by tilting. The goal is simple enough — gather objects, avoid falling off narrow runways and rotating gears, and try to beat the ticking clock. It’s Gears’ steampunk visual style, polish and production values that set it apart, as well as its quality level design. It’s also on sale for launch, so fans of the top-down games featuring carefully rolling objects through perilous landscapes should act fast.
NBA Jam for iPad (iPad) $9.99
NBA Jam was already great when it hit the iPhone this winter. It provided the awesome two-on-two arcade basketball it promised with great, intuitive touch controls and a great 3D look. EA Sports is keeping the game updated with current rosters, which is very nice, and optimized this version specifically for the iPad, bringing more players into the fold just in time to release a local multiplayer mode. NBA Jammers can take on friends and nearby enemies using a local Wi-Fi network or a Bluetooth connection — not quite as good as online play — but multiplayer nonetheless. The adjustment also means iPad players can take on their iPhone-bearing brethren, which means that you’ve got double the chance of finding someone with whom to play this awesome title.
Super Stickman Golf (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
Physics fiends, beware: just like real golf, Super Stickman Golf is both addicting, fun and violently frustrating. The game contains sand traps and water hazards, but instead of playing in 3D space as you would with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12, say, you instead are relegated to a side-scrolling world. Super Stickman plays a lot more like Angry Birds, with the player determining the direction and power of each swing, but ingenious level design with tough-to-beat traps, twists, floating platforms and other obstacles are what will keep you coming back for more. Oh, and Super Stickman also includes a great multiplayer mode that supports up to four players, even over the Internet. Come for the physics puzzles, stay for 2D foursome tee-offs with friends.
Coin Drop! (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
Pachinko-style coin-drop games are nothing new to the App Store, but Coin Drop! sets itself apart with some great level designs and a fun graphical look. Tilting and shaking your iOS device is key to clearing each level, in which you have to direct your good penny to touch and clear all the “bad” pennies on each, all while trying to position them to maximize your points in the stage. You have a limited number of coins in each level, so careful planning is key to pulling down a high score. More than anything, though, levels are ingeniously built to challenge players and look great, making Coin Drop! a lot of fun.
