This week saw a number of great casual and arcade titles hit the iTunes App Store, and one nicely updated simulation game that’s finally available to a lot more players. That game is Rebuild, in which you’ll need to gather survivors of a zombie apocalypse and rebuild a city, Sim City-style. It’s also on sale this week, which definitely makes it worth checking out, along with four other solid titles with lots of different experiences on offer.
Rebuild (iPhone, iPad) $2.99 (on sale this week for $0.99)
Zombies have destroyed a city, but a small group of humans have been able to hold out. Now it’s time to rebuild, expanding the occupied territory, revitalizing the structures, and getting the world back the way it should be, all while fighting off the zombie hordes just outside the fences. That’s the premise of Rebuild, a great strategy title that has just made its way from being iPad-exclusive to grace the small screen of the iPhone and iPod Touch. It’s hard to go wrong with the zombie apocalypse, especially when you marry simulator and strategy elements. Rebuild takes a different look at zombies and does a good job of being a compelling city-building game on top of it.
The Lost City (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
The Lost City is an old-school entry into a classic genre. The point-and-click adventure game has the player tapping around each area, searching for objects that can help him or her solve puzzles. The goal is to keep moving forward, opening doors by finding the correct object or solving the right puzzle in different areas. The longer you go through the game, the more paths branch out before you. The Lost City also has the cool puzzle-solving mechanic of giving players the ability to change the seasons, with certain puzzles only solvable during certain times of year. Fans of Myst and similar games will have a good, casual time with The Lost City, especially at this price.
The Hacker (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
Here’s a game that earns points just for its 1980s graphical aesthetic. The Hacker turns your iPhone or iPad into an old PC, putting you into a game in which you play a hacker attempting to get revenge on the corporation that fired you by breaking into its system. The whole game takes place on a dark screen with green text, but the actual hacking isn’t all lines of code and remembering passwords. In fact, to break through the systems’ security, you’ll play mini-games and solve puzzles. There’s a lot to do in The Hacker, as well as much to unlock and earn along the way.
Order Up!! To Go (iPhone, iPad) Free
Fast food time management title Order Up!! To Go will test your reflexes, your memory and your ability to act fast. As a chef, you venture to several different restaurants and cook food for customers. At the opening burger joint, for example, you’ll man the drive-thru, flipping burgers, frying fries and filling drinks. Doing the job fast and doing it well scores you more money to spend in the game’s shop to upgrade your cooking tools. The further you go, the more restaurants you’ll unlock, presenting new cooking challenges to play through. Order Up!! is an addictive title, and it’ll keep you playing for a while, especially thanks to its free price tag.
Gorilla Gondola (iPhone, iPad) $1.99
Things are pretty simple in Gorilla Gondola, at least at first: you control a gorilla that’s riding a cable car, and your goal is to jump up and grab bananas. You can’t fall off the gondola, but you still need to dodge things like trees and cliffs along the way. You do that by getting your gondola bouncing, jumping up and then dropping back down hard to make it swing. Timing is critical to get the best scores, and Gorilla Gondola takes a little getting used to, but ultimately it’s a unique take on arcade titles in a genre that’s full of games about birds and other objects destroying structures.
