Need something to break you out of your platformer/runner rut? You might give Project 83113 a try. Not only does it lead this week’s best games selection, but it also combines swipe controls with running and platforming mechanics, as well as combat, to create something easy to play that’s a little different from what we’re all used to. Read about it, and four other great games, below.
Project 83113 (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
A running platforming title, Project 83113 is a fairly action-packed title with a very cool control scheme. Instead of virtual buttons, you use swipe controls to direct your character around the screen, and can do things like jump over or slide under obstacles, and jump off walls. Unlike similar titles, such as Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, you also have a health bar and weapons. You don’t actually do the shooting when you come up against enemies – it’s automatic – but you are tasked with avoiding taking damage from traps and bad guys, and with upgrading your guns to make them more effective. You also have a few deployable weapons when you get into a pinch. It’s a great take on platforming, and easy to just pick up and play.
Light the Night (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
There are quite a few endless runner titles filling the iTunes App Store, and the best ones take the tried-and-true formulas and add something new. In the case of Light the Night, it’s the game’s presentation. It features a lightning bug struck by lightning who’s sent ripping across a pond at breakneck speeds. Dodging objects and flowers is the goal, but just listening to the music and enjoying Light the Night’s art style and slow-mo bugs is pretty great. Plus, there are tons of varying missions to complete, much like in Jetpack Joyride, which break up the gameplay and push players to take down new high scores.
Dungeon Village (iPhone, iPad) $3.99
The developers at Kairosoft really only do one thing, but they do it very well. They make simulation titles, such as Game Dev Story and Epic Astro Story, in which players have to manage different facilities or businesses. In Dungeon Village, it’s like starting a town in a fantasy world such as Skyrim, the setting of another popular video game this year. Your goal is to make the place a haven for monster-hunting adventurers who would stop by your town to buy armor, sleep in inns and do other adventurer-type stuff. In many ways, it’s a reskinning of Kairosoft’s Epic Astro Story, its last title, but by the same token, it’s an addictive, deep and fun sim experience.
Plague Inc. (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
There are simulators out there that let you build cities and empires and create your very own world, and there are others – like Plague Inc. – that let you destroy it. Your job is to create a disease that can infect and then annihilate the human race, mutating it in such a way as to help it infect people in various countries and take them out. As time goes on, the humans will work to create a cure, but you can gain new mutations and slow cure research by popping “bubbles” that appear on the screen. With a great interface and lots of news updates to keep you engaged, Plague Inc. provides lots to do.
Love Me Not (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
Shooter Love Me Not is a fairly simple game. Bugs come at a flower at the center of the screen and you need to defend it. You do that by tapping the petals on the flower, shooting them into the air to take out the bugs. Love Me Not adds another layer by using tilt controls for aiming, requiring you not only to have quick reflexes, but to also execute expert timing in order to take down your adversaries. The game scores you on your quick-draw skills, and before long, things get pretty hairy with more and more bugs using different patterns of attack. Love Me Not is a quick game to pick up and learn, but it’ll keep you coming back to try to best your high score.
Find more great iOS games right here
