Every Thursday, FingerGaming rounds up the most popular free iPhone and iPod Touch applications, as current that day on the iTunes App Store. This week’s top titles are:
This week’s results show Yuji Yasuhara’s touch-based shooter SPACE DEADBEEF taking the top spot, with a demo version of Digital Chocolate’s winter-themed action title Crazy Penguin Catapult finishing at second. Microsoft’s image navigation tool Seadragon Mobile takes top honors among non-game apps, meanwhile, as the clock application Night Stand and The Weather Channel trail close behind.
oeFun has made their fast-paced shape-matching puzzle game, Cosmic One (Free), free for a limited time, originally the game sells for 99 cents. Cosmic One has the unique distinction of being friendly for both left and right-handed people. We posted a preview back in October, which also includes a high-quality gameplay video. A low-quality version can be seen below.
Use your catcher at the bottom of the screen to capture the falling tiles. Simply move the catcher by turning it with your thumb to match the symbol of the falling tile. If you want to drop the tile faster for more points, tap the top of the screen.
Cosmic One features an integrated online leader-board for high scoring and a scoring system that rewards quick and accurate play.
Storybird had to change the name of Ikanoid to Space Buster due to legal threats from Atari, and to also prevent the same from happening from Taito, who owns the Arkanoid franchise. Not too long ago, a few other games went through this same problem, and had to change their names to get Atari to stop harassing them.
Space Buster recently received an update that adds a bunch of new levels, bug fixes, and more. Ikanoid/Space Buster is one of my favorite Breakout/Arkanoid clones on the iPhone, as you can see from my review here.
Sunflat Games are known for their simple, yet addictive series of games for the iPhone, featuring a round, red ball named Papi. The first game from them is PapiJump (Free), and then they released PapiRiver, and finally they have PapiPole (Free). All three games are free (with the exception of PapiJump Plus ($0.99)).
Oddly enough though, there’s a game in the App Store called Papi Lander for 99 cents, which features Papi, but is from the developer, AAApplications. The game clearly isn’t from Sunflat Games, and is probably trying to cash in on confused buyers thinking it’s an official game from the Papi series. People doing a search for Papi in the App Store will see this game listed along with the other, official, games from Sunflat Games. This is unfortunate, as it takes away the remarkable achievements by Sunflat Games, and created specifically for nerfarious purposes (taking advantage of unwary buyers.)
I purchased it to find out just how much similar to the Papi series of games it is. When starting up the game, immediately I noticed it is labeled as PopyLander within the game. The game is basically a rebranded Crash Landing (Free) or Apache Lander (Free). Crash Landing and Apache Lander, if you haven’t played them, aren’t terribly fun and are more frustrating than anything else. Papi Lander even shares the same UI, function, and feel as Crash Landing.
So basically Papi Lander is taking the name/idea from Sunflat Games and putting it in the game of Crash Landing/Apache Lander, and charging 99 cents for it.
Virus Lite (Free) is a free demo that has you expanding white blood cells and filling up the screen as much as you can while avoiding the bouncing viruses. Two levels are included in this free demo for you to play. The full version is available for $1.99.
Rock’n'Roll Lite (Free) lets you try out the dizzying action/puzzle game that has you twisting and turning in a series of mazes to reach the end before time runs out. This version allows you to play 3 levels from the full version. The full version is available for $0.99.
Finblade has provided a free version of their popular word puzzle game, WordSearch ($1.99), in the form of the holiday-themed Halloween WordSearch (Free). This version contains these features:
all new Halloween-themed words
three spine-tingling visual themes
chilling soundtrack
timed mode and casual mode
If you enjoy this free Halloween version, you’ll likely enjoy the full version of WordSearch ($1.99) which offers a lot more features and gameplay.
TAG Games has made their spinning dizzy action puzzle game, Rock’n'Roll, available for free for today only (ends at Thursday, midnight PST.) Originally the game sells for 99 cents. The developer claims that due to a delay in the free Lite version of the game, they’re offering it for free so people can try the game out.
Set out on an epic quest to save your kidnapped best friend and have fun along the way in this AWARD WINNING arcade puzzle game!
Rock’n’Roll is an arcade game of rapidly spinning mazes and manic action everyone will enjoy! Just rotate the maze using motion or touch control to ROCK and ROLL!
If you liked Super Monkey Ball, Jewel Quest or Labyrinth you’ll love this!
Manta Research has made their latest action/strategy game free, Virus (Free), likely for a limited time. Originally the game sold for 99 cents. You’ll find the gameplay similar to Expando on the iPhone/iPod Touch, or Filler on the internet, where you touch the screen to expand a circle (in this case, a white blood cell) while avoiding bouncing objects on the screen (viruses). Once a certain ratio of the screen is filled up, you complete the level and move on to the next, where more viruses appear and bounce around faster, increasing the challenge.
We found Virus to be a fun game with great visuals, sound effects, and features. It’s more polished than Expando, while providing real information about viruses that attack our bodies. IGN Wireless recently reviewed Virus and gave it a 7.5 out of 10.
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