Online competition leads this week’s best games in the form of Trigger Fist, a multi-faceted multiplayer first-person shooter. We’ve seen such before, of course, but Trigger Fist masters two crucial gaming elements. First, its controls work well on the platform and lend themselves to its breakneck gameplay. Second, it has the feel and level of polish gamers are accustomed to seeing in console and PC titles. We’ve got four other great games for you to try out this week, so read on!
Trigger Fist (iPhone, iPad) $4.99
Trigger Fist, developed by Lake Effect Applications, offers fast-paced console-level action to iOS players, bringing a multiplayer-only first-person shooter to the platform with some slick visuals. You battle against players from all over the world thanks to Game Center integration, competing over a Wi-Fi Internet connection in one of four unlockable game modes. Primarily, Trigger Fist offers lots of high-caliber competition, with solid controls that make competing easy on Apple devices. Simply running through each map is exhilarating, making Trigger Fist a worthy addition to your iPhone multiplayer offerings.
Bitless (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
Nicholas Rapp’s platformer Bitless is a masterpiece of simplicity, as well as masochistic challenge. The game puts you in the role of a square character whose only ability is to jump. In each stage, you’ll whip forward at a set speed and are required to dodge pits and enemies while bouncing off walls and abruptly changing directions when you hit obstacles. You will die…a lot. But it’s one of those extremely challenging titles that attracts players who enjoy building up their skills and fighting through a marathon of tough levels.
Download the Appolicious Android app
Megatroid (iPhone, iPad) Free
The coolest part about action side-scrolling platformer Megatroid is that it’s nearly impossible to run across the same level twice. In fact, it’s pretty hard to run across a level that one of your friends has played too, unless you want to, because Megatroid randomly generates the stages it presents for you every time you fire it up. So you can jump off walls, ride elevators, blast robots and avoid spikes in a stage that’s completely different from what another player might encounter – but through Megatroid’s magic, you can both play the same stages and compare scores if you so choose. Also, Triolith Entertainment deserves props for bringing an unofficial version of the classic console game Metroid to iOS devices.
Commando Jack (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
These days it seems like everybody loves a good tower defense title, especially on touchscreen platforms such as the iPhone and iPad. Chillingo’s Commando Jack joins the TD ranks and brings two important additions to the table, altering our expectations of the genre. Its three difficulty modes have the effect of actually altering each level to make the layout more difficult to deal with and require more strategy, as opposed to simply making enemies more difficult as you progress. Second, each level features the ability to switch to first-person and take command of a turret charged with defending the objective. The mixture of strategy and taking matters into your own hands makes Commando Jack stand alone.
Glass Balance (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
There are plenty of match-three titles in the App Store, but there’s a reason so many get made – they have a fun, addictive quality that keeps players coming back. That’s why games like Glass Balance from Gadgetcrafts are worth noticing. It reworks the classic match-three formula to keep things fresh and keep players guessing. In this case, you aren’t limited to matching glass objects on your screen of similar colors. In addition, you need to place them on a platform that tilts back and forth as it becomes weighed down with pieces. Every time you drop a piece of glass, you need to be constantly strategizing, thinking about both balancing and scoring points.
