The Sky Gamblers Series is Now on Apple TV

There is certainly no shortage of quality racing titles on Apple TV. We devoted a section to the genre in our list of Best Apple TV Games: Year One, so you can get up to speed right there. Since we put that list together, we’ve also seen the fantastic Riptide GP: Renegade hit Apple’s digital-only console, and it’s definitely worth picking up if you’re looking for something to justify gaming on your ATV. From that same studio – Vector Unit – Beach Buggy Racing is also worth a look if you’re after something in the way of arcade kart fun.

(And for something a bit different, check this out)

If you’re aware of the Sky Gamblers series noted above in the headline, you might be wondering why we’re prattling on about racing. The reason is the fifth game in the series has moved away from plane battling, and into the world of plane racing.

The trailer below shows high quality visuals typical of the series, and the action looks fast and furious. It looks like a nice twist on the series and plane racing certainly isn’t a genre within gaming that has been saturated by any means.

Sky Gamblers: Races is a collaboration between Atypical Games and Edon Games, and after a deep dive through some letter by letter alphabet searching I saw it just hit Apple TV last weekend. I wouldn’t mind betting that it might see a banner feature when the store refreshes its showcase games at the end of this week.

Check out the trailer below and let us know via the Facebook link at the top of this page if you’re having fun with it.

Wanna See 15 Minutes of Unedited Oceanhorn 2 Gameplay Video?

Studio Cornfox & Bros. told us a little while back that Apple TV was on the target list of platforms on which to release Oceanhorn 2, and ever since we’ve had all our fingers crossed hoping that would remain so.

After watching today’s video taken of the sequel running on an iPhone 7 Plus at the Nordic Game conference in Malmö, Sweden, we’ve crossed our toes as well. It’s looking very lovely indeed.

Hit page 2 for more.

Red’s Kingdom – 2 New Islands in Big Casino Update

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You gotta ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?

Well, do ya, punk?

Okay I’m quoting Dirty Harry because this latest update involves a Casino. Get it? It’s a bridge, and I crossed it. Sometimes I can’t help myself, and sometimes I don’t want to. There was probably a better way to open this quick story, but I couldn’t think of it, so here we are.

In hindsight I think it could’ve been worse.

Anyhoo…

Red’s Kingdom keeps on giving right? Right. The good folks at Cobra Mobile have been squirreled away behind closed doors creating more than 50 new levels in this latest update, which involves new foes, The Golden Nut Casino, and a new puzzle mechanic. Now keen observers would spy that I’m borrowing heavily from the iTunes update notes here, and they would be right.

My apologies but there just haven’t been enough hours in the day yet since this update dropped to enable some quality time with this excellent puzzler, but all going well ATVG will jump in this weekend and see what’s to see.

If the original release is anything to go by, which we reviewed here (and loved), then you’re in for a treat. We liked it so much we included it in our article featuring three games you just have to play with the Siri Remote.

Newcomers of course will have access to not only the original levels, but also the first update which already brought two new islands to explore, plus this latest update with another two islands.

Better get cracking folks.

Enjoy!

Pursuit of Light 2 – Moon. Moon. Star. Moon. Star. Beautiful.

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Happy Friday circle of Earth. And what timing too, on this Eurovision Song Contest weekend. Minus the 2, don’t you think Pursuit of Light is the perfect title for a Eurovision winner? It carries all the optimism, hope, cheese, and reaching for the sky the competition is famous for. After semi-final one I have to say my heart is with Belgium, but your smart money should always be on Sweden.

Full disclosure: I’ve only played the first three levels, so I’m in no position to offer any sort of authoritative critique here – this is purely a tell-it-like-I’ve-seen-it account.

Visually, first impressions of Lemon Jam Studio’s Pursuit of Light 2 are stunning. The backgrounds and cut-scenes are simply gorgeous. The music is also very soothing, with a mysterious and slightly cryptic edge to it. Check out the image above though – is the character from Journey missing a hoodie? Thatgamecompany has a lot to answer for.

Gameplay-wise, Pursuit of Light 2 makes me feel like someone has gone to an awful lot of trouble to try and teach me left from right. And when I grow up, I’m gonna have a very weird associative issue with Moons being left, and Stars being right. Maybe in higher levels gameplay gets more complex, but so far it’s a very simple platform puzzler explored one step at a time by hitting the left or right half of your Siri Remote, depending if the next step tells you it is a Moon or a Star.

It’s hard to write it off this early because it’s so lovely to look at and listen to – surely there is more to come.

Pursuit of Light 2 is free to play so jump in and give it a go, and let us know on the Facebook link up the top of this page if you’re digging it.

Cheers for now.

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Conduct THIS! – Never Too Old for Train Sets

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What is it about playing with train sets that excites us? Is it the sense of power and control it gives us? That feeling of playing God as you see your little mechanised world come to life in front of you is infectious. A small world that runs perfectly because of you.

This is the exact feeling that studio Northplay’s Conduct THIS! captures so well. And if you watch their developer diaries, you’ll know it’s Conduct THIS! and not Conduct This. There’s a big difference.

Hit page 2 for more details.

Review – MouseBot: Escape from CatLab

On gaming consoles in the second half of the ‘90s, 3D platform games reigned. Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot were just a few of the mascots showcasing the third dimension. Gamers were now being drawn into the screen, rather than merely traversing left, right, up, or down across its surface.

As fictional character Rust Cohle said in True Detective, “Time is a circle,” and much the same as pixel art is often used to conjure nostalgia for the ‘80s, polygons and 3D platform games are currently showing millennials what they just missed out on with modern tributes such as Yooka-Laylee.

Vector Unit have jumped into the fray, taking elements from the studio’s racing efforts Beach Buggy Racing and the Riptide series (one of which we reviewed here), and mixing them with classic late 90’s gameplay.

It’s an interesting combo, but does it work? Is it peanut butter and jelly, or oil and water? Turn the page to find out.

RunGunJumpGun – It Does What it Says on the Box

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Isn’t it great when something does exactly what it says it does? This weaponised cave-flier from ThirtyThree Games landed on Apple TV yesterday, and there’s no better way to describe it than simply reiterating the game’s title – Running. Gunning. Jumping. And more gunning.

With an art style that can only be described as eyeball melting retro arcade madness, we think the bigger the screen the better for this sort of caper.

It’s great to see some movement this week on the Apple TV’s App Store, with a bunch of featured new releases. RunGunJumpGun joins Burly Men at Sea this week – a couple of freshly ported titles from iOS to tvOS that we’re keen to get our hands on.

Check out the trailer to see why:

Burlier, Manlier, More Sea – Burly Men at Sea Hits Apple TV

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She makes the coffee, he eats Werther’s Originals. She is the artist, he is the programmer. Right brain, left brain – Brooke and David Condolora’s Burly Men at Sea hit Apple TV today, and while this sort of choice-driven adventure may work a treat on your smart phone or tablet, the bigger the better right? Why wouldn’t you want to add 60 inches to every video game?

With gorgeous art, does size matter? I don’t know, but it sure makes it a hell of a lot easier to see from three metres away, so we’re pretty happy to see this beautiful game come to life on Apple TV.

Over at Grab It Magazine, we watched the development of studio Brain&Brain’s Burly Men at Sea with interest, and on release Grab It staff writer Stephen Mitchell had good things to say about this strange, original tale inspired by Scandinavian folklore. Now, for the most part, I trust Stephen. He’s only steered me wrong once, but that’s a tale for another time.

“To know that my choices shape the story being told gives me such a thrill that makes me want to jump right back in and tell another story: my story,” said Mitchell in his review. Tantalising stuff, and even more tantalising after learning that one half of Brain&Brain – David Condolora – left work as an assistant editor at Pixar in order to follow dreams of independence with Brain&Brain.

Today’s feature tile on Apple TV’s menu for Burly Men at Sea offers up a stylish invitation – will you accept?

6 Upcoming Apple TV Games We’re Excited About

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Over the last few months, ATVG has posted previews of several upcoming games that caught our interest. This morning, after putting them all in one list in the interest of housekeeping, and purely for the love of lists, we thought, hey, that’s a nice little list. It’s nice to get all your ducks in a row occasionally and do a roundup of games that are just over the horizon somewhere. It’s fun talking about games that you can’t play yet – building anticipation, and just a little hype. The gaming industry and media has a love/hate relationship with hype – we love it, and then we hate it. After it bites us on the arse.

Anyway…

There’s six in total, from shooters, to RPGs, and platform games. Something for everyone. And then there’s a seventh game at the bottom of the list. This seventh game hasn’t actually been announced for Apple TV – it’s more wishful thinking than anything else – but rumblings across the Internet lead us to believe there’s a good chance it might make it’s way to the platform, so it’s being added as a possibly…maybe…hopefully…upcoming game for Apple TV.

Right? Right.

Let’s hook in then. Hit the page 2 button. Now. Now!

Did You Know MouseBot has Easter Eggs? Literally.

Quick post on the fly here, due to something I saw this morning – Easter Sunday morning – in MouseBot: an actual Easter Egg.

Yep. Not a symbolic gaming Easter Egg, but an actual, wrapped-in-coloured-foil Easter Egg lying on the ground in one of the levels. I won’t say which one, because I don’t want to spoil your own Easter Egg hunt, but it’s there, trust me.

Is there only one? Has anyone found more? I believe it unlocked a hat and paint job that I didn’t have before. Now I’ll be playing with my eyes peeled.

I have to say I’m warming to MouseBot a little more each time I play it. In my early impressions piece I mentioned having fun with it, but I wasn’t blown away. It’s a creeper though. I’m not sure that I’m blown away now either, but it’s definitely sneaking up on me a little more with each session.

And then…BAM!…Easter Eggs! Just in time for Easter. Perfect.

Things are a bit crazy around the ATVG bunker at the moment, so posts have been few and far between this week, but I expect a review of MouseBot won’t be too far away. And other stuff.

Right, back to the hunt.

Happy Easter!

The Apple TV Gaming Blog

Author: garrybalogh