A bumper month of new smartphone gaming apps includes a mobile version of Destiny and a surprisingly good clone of Cuphead.
The world of video games may currently be in full meltdown over the long-awaited launch of Hollow Knight: Silksong, but mobile release schedules plough on regardless. This month’s highlights include Cuphead style 2D shoot ‘em-up Acecraft, the portable version of accomplished Advance Wars-alike Wargroove 2, and the launch of the surprisingly compelling Destiny: Rising, which if you enjoyed its older brothers will be well worth your time.
Destiny: Rising
iOS & Android, free (NetEase)
One of the most successful live service games on consoles and PC makes its way to mobile, and while some fans have been worried about the involvement of NetEase, previous releases like EVE Echoes have shown that’s not always a problem.
Destiny: Rising impresses where it counts, which is to say that even without using a controller, its movement, aiming, and shooting feel good on a touchscreen. Most importantly, it’s pleasingly similar to the signature Bungie gunplay that is so revered. This is a mobile game though, so a roster of gacha driven heroes has been grafted onto it, along with multiple currencies for upgrades and shop purchases, and the usual endless procession of rewards to collect.
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Fortunately, it’s great fun anyway and avoids some of the frankly exhausting grind of Destiny 2. It’s constantly tempting to drop real cash, but even without giving in to that, there’s lots to explore and do, and a hefty chunk of plot to get your teeth into.
Score: 8/10
Acecraft
iOS & Android, free (Vizta Games)
Acecraft is a 2D vertically scrolling bullet hell shooter, which borrows the choice-of-three upgrades and merging mechanics from Archero, but whose most noticeable piece of artistic thievery is from Cuphead.
That means you’ll be shooting down enemies and bosses that look as though they come from a 1930s cartoon, its hand drawn art style looking just as lovely as its inspiration. It also has a neat feature where taking your finger off the screen hoovers up pink incoming munitions, which are then automatically fired back at enemies.
While it’s perfectly playable as a freebie, its monetisation is aggressive, from the recharging energy required to play levels, to repeated entreaties to buy upgrade packs, even if underneath all the sales effort its gameplay remains mildly diverting, and its artwork sublime.
Score: 6/10
Bitmap Bay
iOS & Android, £1.99 (Grandom Games)
Choose a pirate, then take to the high seas in search of gold and infamy in this turn-based roguelike buccaneer simulator.
Each turn you’ll be greeted with an event, whether a mermaid sighting, kraken attack, the hangover from your crew’s drinking contest, or more usually a fellow seafarer to plunder. In the latter case a quick comparison between their ship’s hit points and number of cannons, and your own, will tell you whether they’ll be easy prey or not.
In its turn-based battles, you need to tap the fire button as near as possible to its brief timer expiring. Doing that perfectly gives you maximum damage but wait even a fraction of a second too long and you’ll misfire, doing no damage at all.
Its charming 8-bit styling, accordion music, and use of actual historical privateers evoke an agreeably piratey atmosphere, while its simple quick-fire rounds lend themselves to a swift blast between other tasks, even if that roguelike staple, the lumpy difficulty level, can end runs abruptly.
Score: 7/10
Wargroove 2: Pocket Edition
iOS & Android, £6.99 (Chucklefish)
Released in 2019, Wargroove is what can politely be called a homage, and less politely a blatant copy, of Advance Wars. It borrows its cartoon styling, turn-based tactical gameplay, and at least some of its sense of balance between units. Just swapping a semi-real world setting for a Tolkien-esque fantasy world.
Its sequel doesn’t for one moment try and reinvent the wheel, instead providing a massive additional dose of the same thing. This time its campaign is split into three sizeable parts, each of which focuses on a different faction, with its own units and variations in terrain.
As if that wasn’t enough, there’s the roguelike Conquest Mode, and a souped-up map creator. It’s a huge game, and just as polished and entertaining as its predecessor.
Score: 8/10
Let’s Go Mightycat!
iOS, included with Apple Arcade subscription (Ponos)
Launch Mightycat at blocks to knock them over and ditch the doges sitting on top of them onto the ground, in this distinctly mellow physics-based puzzle game that’s oddly reminiscent of 2008 Nintendo Wii title Boom Blox, which was a collaboration between Steven Spielberg and EA. That sounds like something from a fever dream, but it did genuinely exist.
Mightycat’s version has you tactically deploying tough guy iron cat, explosive bomb cat, and several others in your quest to complete each level in as few throws as possible, earning coins to buy new outfits and interior decoration for Mightycat’s house.
After a few dozen rounds the jaunty but unremittingly insistent music is enough to trigger homicidal rage, but once that’s switched off it’s a breeze, to the extent that our first non-three-star performance was the boss fight on stage 30. If you like your challenges gentle or have a game-curious preschooler in the house, this might be just what you’re after.
Score: 6/10
