How many times have you downloaded a free or bargain app, only to find there’s not much to it and you never use it again after your first, experimental try? This post highlights apps for the more discerning buyer, who wants richness, depth and artistry that will keep him coming back again and again, and doesn’t mind paying a little more to compensate the hardworking developers who are going the extra mile with their apps.
Machinarium (4/5 stars, guidance suggested, currently priced at $4.99 and currently comes bundled with a $1 Amazon MP3 Store credit) – This is a puzzle-solving adventure that’s similar to Myst, in that the puzzles and solutions aren’t spoon-fed to the player. The player must experiment and think through various ways of using the tools at hand to reach each goal. From Amazon:
Discover the award-winning, steam punk world of Machinarium, navigating a clever little robot called Josef from the scrapheap into the city to save his robot girlfriend.
Solve puzzles, quests, brain-teasers and mini-games to rid the city of the wicked Black Cap Brotherhood robots. Gorgeous hand-drawn graphics and animations bring the robot’s story to life, using unique comic bubbles and symbols to convey the plot.
The Machinarium world is populated only by robots of various forms and functions. One of the most interesting places in this world is old, rusty and legendary city of Machinarium where the game takes place. Backgrounds and characters are 2D hand-drawn represented through carefully crafted animations. An award winning and original soundtrack complements the game play throughout.
* Independent Game Festival – Excellence in Visual Art Award
* Best Indie Game – DIY Gamer, Gamasutra, VGChartz.com
Avadon: The Black Fortress (4.5/5 stars, guidance suggested, currently priced at $9.99) – At last, a true Role Playing Game (RPG) with all the complexity and depth gamers have come to expect is here for the Kindle Fire HD! From Amazon:
Experience the epic fantasy adventure of Avadon!
Avadon: The Black Fortress is an epic, old school fantasy role-playing adventure, with a fascinating story and 40+ hours of gameplay in glorious HD. Experience huge adventures, cunning foes, hundreds of magic artifacts to find, and countless enemies of your people to hunt down.
Avadon is the first chapter in a new, epic fantasy saga. You will serve the keep of Avadon, working as a spy and warrior to fight the enemies of your homeland. As a servant of the Black Fortress, your word is Law. Experience an exciting fantasy role-playing adventure and battle a conspiracy to destroy your people.
Reviews:
“Offers a classic RPG experience. Engrossing narrative. Hours of enjoyable gameplay. 4/5” – Mac|Life
“In the end, Avadon: The Black Fortress has everything a good RPG needs. Strong story and characters, great combat, excellent quests, addictive loot and leveling and high replayability.” – Inside Mac Games
“Avadon: The Black Fortress is easily one of the best RPGs you can buy. 9/10” – Digital Entertainment News
“Anybody who pines for the days of the older, massive classics and decries the state of the new streamlined, big-budget RPGs needs to put their money where their mouth is and buy this game. 90%” – RPGFan
World of Goo (4.5/5 stars, guidance suggested [due to puzzle complexity, there’s no adults-only material in it], currently priced at $4.99) – From Amazon:
– “Game of the Year” -MetaCritic, IGN, TouchArcade, Rock Paper Shotgun, GameTunnel
– Best Games for Android lists – NYTimes, techcrunch, pocketgamer, androidpolice, mashable, and many more
Beautiful and surprising, the millions of Goo Balls who live in the World of Goo are curious to explore – but they don’t know that they are in a game, or that they are extremely delicious.
This is the FULL award winning game, now on Amazon Apps! Drag and drop living, squirming, talking, globs of goo to build structures, bridges, cannonballs, zeppelins, and giant tongues.
Mysterious Levels – Each level is strange and dangerously beautiful, introducing new puzzles, areas, and the creatures that live in them.
World of Goo Balls – Along the way, undiscovered new species of Goo Ball, each with unique abilities, come together to ooze through reluctant tales of discovery, love, conspiracy, beauty, electric power, and the third dimension.
Canabalt HD (4.5/5 stars, all ages, currently priced at $2.99 and currently comes bundled with a $1 Amazon MP3 Store credit) – From Amazon:
The simple and fast-paced platform action game that pioneered a genre arrives on Android devices, remastered with new 3D backgrounds and smooth animation. Select between classic 2D artwork or new 3D artwork, track your performance on online high score boards, and more.
A few quotes about Canabalt:
“Canabalt is pure genius.” – necessarygames.com
“It’s going to be quite some time before you find something so simple, so thrilling again.” – Offworld
“This “daring escape” platformer is simply beautiful and beautifully simple.” – Kotaku
“Canabalt is actually much more intense than you’d assume of a game which requires a single finger to play.” – GameSpy
“It’s all very lovely and full of poignant subtext. And awesomeness. Canabalt is a prime example of a simple idea executed extremely well.” – JayIsGames
“I have never seen a concept so richly and successfully realized in such a simple yet stunningly complete form. Canabalt represents the power and potential of small independent games.” – gameinmind.com
“Music is another component that is just perfect – it enhances the strange and unsettling setting of the game and also gives a sense of speed with a hint of hope that quick feet might be the salvation to the horror.” – bartsnews.net
“Fast load times combined with short (yet exciting) game sessions really make for an attractive game to play on a mobile device.” – TouchArcade