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Games We Like

John and Ste recommend some of their favourite iOS games, made by some of their favourite indie developers

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Ste's Pick - Lap Uranus

Lap Uranus dumps you into a suicide mission. You are the pilot of an out-of-control rocket that only has one working control remaining, the "Turn Left" button. Touching the screen activates a burst of your "Turn Left" rocket; touch it too much and you'll be ploughing into Uranus at high speed, don't touch it enough and you'll be sucked off into outer space. The rings of Uranus are your only haven. Stay in there for long enough and pray that someone comes to rescue you (SPOILER: They won't...)

Lap Uranus is a simple game, with a never ending challenge. And if you fancy raising the stakes, you can upgrade and play the multi-player version and have up to four people all Lapping Uranus at the same time - it's the best way to sort out office disputes, or to decide who pays for the next round of drinks.

 

I really like the super-simple control scheme for this game, made by an indie developer from Yorkshire, in the north of England.

You just press to turn / accellerate, and let go to slow down. That's it! There's barely even a game here, but sometimes that's all you need for an iOS product.

I think this is a great exploration of what kind of game / control ideas work on a tiny, handheld touch-screen device, with super short playtimes, and super low price. The sort of ideas that could only work as part of a package of mini games (ala Wario Ware) when you're selling $40 retail games are allowed to be stand-alone games on iOS.

Plus I'm always a sucker for cheeky titles - the sort of thing that the publisher would always say 'no' to is allowed when you're self-publishing, for better or worse.

 

 

It's got a simulataneous four player mode as well, on the same screen!

That's a great use of multi-touch.

 

» Lap Uranus website

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Metacrtic ratings:

MB: Blueprint iOS

81

Naked War PC

83

Wetrix N64

81