The Best iOS Game Updates of 2014

As with all of our Finest of 2014 content material, this list is in no way a total list of all the excellentupdates that hit this year, as there's just far too several. This list represents the updates we believedhad been specifically important or have been for games that are unique favorites of ours. If you haveany game updates that you loved in 2014, definitely inform us about them in the comments beneath.This was certainly a great year for older games that you believed may have been abandoned foreverfinding unexpected updates and a new lease on life. I'm searching forward to all of the new gameswe'll be seeing in 2015, but I am also excited to see what type of updates arrive that let old favoritesto continue to get improved and reside on into the future.

Enviro-Bear 2010, $1.99 - Enviro-Bear 2010 set the planet on fire when it released for iPhone wayback in 2009. Regardless of lots of writing it off as merely a joke game, there are surprisingly solidmechanics behind it, and it takes a ton of practice and talent to be productive. I really feel reallyconfident in saying it's by far the most effective bear-driving-a-car or truck simulator ever released,and it's an all-time favored of all of us at TouchArcade. Sadly, poor Enviro-Bear had been neglectedfor the previous couple of years, but back in February an update hit with full widescreen and iOSassistance, bringing this driving bear game up to modern standards.

1-bit Ninja, $two.99 - Released in 2011, 1-bit Ninja was controversial for not allowing a prettyfundamental expectation of platforming games: moving to the left. Several, like ourselves, found thatrisky design selection to be the major issue in creating the game a single of the extra exciting andstrategic platformers around. Not to mention the incredibly cool potential to switch the viewpoint to3D at any time, which permitted for tons of hidden secrets and made it entertaining to discover. Theonly thing seriously missing was widescreen assistance, and this month an update appeared that notonly added widescreen but it added native resolution help for the new iPhones and Universal iPadhelp.

Aralon: Sword and Shadow, $4.99 - One particular of iOS's first open-planet RPGs got a new lease onlife with an update that added support for iOS 8, all the new iOS device screen sizes, and even threwin some new graphical effects. The game undoubtedly feels dated by today's requirements, but itwas enjoyable to be in a position to revisit the globe of Aralon, and it still feels magical possessingsuch an expansive small globe tucked away in my pocket.

Crossword Dungeon, $2.99 - Originally released in 2012, Crossword Dungeon was a dungeoncrawler where the dungeon was truly a crossword puzzle. It was an extremely unique notion thatblended two genres with each other truly effectively, but its initial version didn't feel totally fleshedout. This year a important update hit that addressed lots of of the problems with the release versionand expanded on the idea in a lot of exciting methods. There is nevertheless additional that can becarried out, but the most recent version of Crossword Dungeon finally realized a great deal of thepotential the original release had.

Slayin, $.99 - One of the earliest wonderful updates of 2014 was the version two. update for Slayin,which came out in January. Slayin is 1 of my all-time favored games, and this update added threebrand new playable characters. As everyone familiar with Slayin knows, every of the original 3playable characters played pretty differently from one another, and each gave the game a one of akind feel. The exact same was true of the new characters, and with a total of six playable charactersthere was a ton of variety to be discovered in Slayin.

Game Dev Story, $.99 - Practically everyone knows Game Dev Story. Originally released as aJapanese Computer game in the late '90s, the game was ported to iPhone in 2010 and fit like a glove.It's a simulation game that enables you to generate your personal game organization and developyour personal games in the hopes of becoming the largest game dev studio in the world. The game isbursting with charm and strong simulation gameplay. Being a port of such an old game, Game DevStory has always had some quirks on the iPhone, but in the past couple years it seriously started toreally feel outdated. Fortunately this year brought a new update with greater support for existingscreen resolutions and some beautiful border art to fill in the gaps left by the odd original screenratio. It nonetheless has some quirks but it feels much additional contemporary now. Plus this gamewas by no means about the graphics anyway, and the gameplay remains as powerful as ever.

Lunar Silver Star Story Touch, $six.99 - This early '90s JRPG has received several ports and re-releases on a wide variety of platforms more than the previous two decades, and in the summer timeof 2012 it arrived on iOS in the type of Lunar Silver Star Story Touch. It was a great port, but it didhave its share of challenges, and a enormous update to the game has been in the operates ever giventhat. This year that update ultimately hit and it added drastically enhanced visuals, accuratewidescreen support, and Game Center, generating it a lot less difficult for a complete newgeneration of mobile gamers and extended-time fans alike to experience Lunar Silver Star Story.

Miss Claire Garden, $.99 - One particular of 2011's finest and most underrated platformers MissClaire's Garden received a Enormous update in early 2014. It featured fully remastered HD visuals,Universal iPad help, Game Center achievements, assistance for MFi controllers, widescreen help, aset of brand new levels and many additional new functions. If you loved that mechanic in theAmerican version of Super Mario Bros. two exactly where you could pick up items and enemies andtoss them around, then I can just about guarantee you are going to enjoy Miss Claire's Garden, as itreally is a total homage to that. Nonetheless, it is also a completely original and charming platformerin its personal suitable, and hopefully the updated version garners it the type of exposure itdeserves.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, $2.99 - GTA: Chinatown Wars is an often overlooked GTA game,but it can effortlessly hang with its console and Computer older brothers. At the time of its originalrelease in 2009, it even introduced a bunch of novel suggestions to the GTA formula that are stillutilised now. Becoming a game produced for yet another touchscreen device, the Nintendo DS, ittransitioned nicely to the iOS platform in 2010. Nonetheless, like other games on this list it had beenneglected for several years and in this case it was even fully broken on iOS eight. FortunatelyRockstar allocated some resources to the little GTA that could and with a significant update just acouple of weeks ago Chinatown Wars on iOS is now improved than it's ever been with completeRetina resolution assistance, Universal iPad help, MFi controller support and proper assistance forall iOS screen sizes.

True Skate, $1.99 - Correct Skate released back in October of 2012, and absolutely received somenice updates during 2013. But it was in 2014 when developer True Axis really cranked it up to 11.Along with a steady stream of new original parks and tons of added functions, 1 of the mostconsiderable issues to come about to True Skate in 2014 was when it partnered up with StreetLeague Skateboarding to develop into the official mobile game of the popular annual street skatingcompetition. This incorporated a slew of new parks that have been recreations of SLS parks fromlast year and this year. I have a feeling the globe of True Skate will continue to expand and enhancethroughout 2015.

There are a lot of terrific items about living in the totally digital globe of the App Store. For 1, youcan magically beam new games and apps appropriate out of thin air and onto your device devoid ofpossessing to get off your lazy butt and drive to some shop. Even so, even though becoming lazy iswonderful, an even larger bonus to the App Retailer is the ability for developers to supply contentand bug repair updates for months and even years right after a game is initially released. Back in theday if you purchased a game for your console that had a critical bug in it, you have been fairly agreat deal stuck with it, and new content usually meant waiting for a sequel. That is not how we rollanymore. With that, here's a appear at some of the most effective updates we saw this year.

Secret of Mana, $three.99 - One particular of the 16-bit era's most revered RPGs, Secret of Mana,arrived on the App Store in late 2010, and was a perfect fit for a mobile device like the iPhone. Itwas a quite superior port at the time, but however it hadn't received significantly really like giventhat and felt decidedly lacking in certain areas. That was until this year when in July Square Enixreleased a substantial update which added widescreen support by way of colorful border art, MFicontroller assistance, improved visuals and greatly enhanced virtual controls. With the iOS versionfinally feeling up to date, this legendary RPG can continue to live on.

Wolfenstein 3D Classic Platinum, $1.99 - Wolfenstein 3D was a single of the 1st successful 1st-particular person shooters on the App Store when it launched way, way back in March of 2009. A lotof that was simply due to it becoming an all about superb game, but the lack of up/down movementwhen aiming also translated extremely nicely to virtual touchscreen controls. id Software added a lotof content material to Wolfenstein 3D over the years, like the Spear of Destiny expansion levels,Universal iPad assistance and Retina Show graphics. 1 issue it was sorely missing for some timeeven though was widescreen assistance, so when iOS 8 broke the game id took the time to repair it

up and returned it to the App Shop full with glorious widescreen.

Significant Action Mega Fight!, $.99 - Huge Action Mega Fight! is a fairly killer homage to old-college beat'em ups that launched in November of final year, and in an effort to cast as wide a net ofplayers as attainable, it was created as a no cost to play game. Power timers, in-game currencies...the complete bit. The problem was that model just didn't match this style of game. So this past Junethe developers said screw it and removed all IAP from the game, rebalancing every thing and givingit a one particular-time up-front price, and not only was it a better encounter for players but itearned much more in a week as a paid game than half a year as a cost-free to play one.

Reckless Racing, $.99 (iPad Version - $.99) - We have three distinctive games in the Reckless Racingseries these days, and I appreciate all three in distinctive approaches. As a great deal as the gamewas expanded on in the second and third entries, there's anything about the original that will oftenhold a particular spot in my heart. Sadly the original Reckless Racing languished for years with outany sort of update, but alongside developer Pixelbite taking the game back from EA and republishingit below their personal name, they released a new update earlier this month that brought support foriOS eight and the many iOS device screen sizes that are out there now. It was an absolute treat to bein a position to revisit this App Store classic once once again.

Canabalt, $2.99 - The granddaddy of endless runners on iOS had been feeling fairly neglected for thepast couple of years, but that changed in 2014. In June Canabalt at extended final received andupdate with widescreen assistance along with some new playable characters and new music. In Julya big update hit that added several new game modes that toyed about with the basic mechanics ofthe game. Then just this month an update hit which added native resolution help for the new iPhonemodels, making sure Canabalt will have a spot forever on my device.

10000000, $2.99 - A extended-time preferred about TouchArcade, Luca Redwood's 10000000received an awesome update in February of this year. This RPG-ish match-three was one of thegreatest gaming experiences about in 2012, but the trouble was as soon as you beat the game therereally wasn't a lot of explanation to continue playing, which is type of strange for a matching gamelike this. February's update addressed this in a good way, primarily letting you restart with a "newgame+" when you have beaten it. Each time you beat 10000000 now will level up your Ace rating,which will somehow translate to Redwood's upcoming game You Must Create A Boat. Even withouthaving that, it really is fantastic to have a reason to continue playing 10000000 forever, and thatvery same update also added a bunch of Game Center achievements and complete 4-inch screensupport.

Minecraft - Pocket Edition, $6.99 - Minecraft has been on iOS for years now, and has received acontinual stream of updates adding new bits to the game here and there. But it was this year thattwo major updates landed that finally made this portable version feel a lot more along the lines of itsComputer counterpart. An update in July added infinite planet and caves (finally!), along with plentyof new block forms and a ton more new characteristics. This update alone produced the PocketEdition feel the most Minecraft-y yet. In November version .10 was released, and although muchmore minor, it gave the game a welcome facelift and once again added in many new features. Whoknows? Maybe in 2015 we'll lastly attain version 1. with Minecraft - Pocket Edition.

Terraria, $four.99 - It was a massive deal when the hit craft 'em up action adventure Terraria landedon iOS final year. Nevertheless, the iOS version was a quite vanilla expertise, and it was a bit lackingwhen compared to its Pc counterpart, which about that very same time had received a huge contentmaterial update. It took some time, but in early December the version 1.2 update hit Terraria on iOS,bringing it extremely close to matching the quantity of content in the Pc version. Do not get meincorrect, the original release of Terraria on iOS was fantastic, but this massive update added soconsiderably new stuff it feels like a whole new game now. With the Computer version set to get adifferent huge update soon, the mobile version might once more be playing catch-up, but I am apatient man and I welcome any and all future updates to Terraria on iOS.

Boson X, $two.99 - The really like kid of Temple Run and Super Hexagon got two hefty updates in2014. Back in June Boson X received an update with 6 brand new levels. Seeing as the original gamecontained 6 levels itself, this properly doubled the content of the game for absolutely free. Sweet!But they weren't performed but, as just this month yet another update with a batch of six new levelsalong with a new playable character pushed this currently remarkable game way more than the best.

Oceanhorn (TM), $four.99 - One of the biggest games of 2013 continued to get a ton of really likethroughout 2014. The gorgeous Zelda-inspired adventure Oceanhorn seemed like it was frequentlyacquiring updated to take benefit of new hardware or computer software capabilities, but it was themassive Game of the Year Edition update in August that felt the most important of the bunch. It

added 4 more hours of gameplay which incorporated a brand new region known as the Island ofWhispers. The update also included a new fishing mini-game comprehensive with Game Centerleaderboard help, simply because you know, every single action adventure game requires a fishingmini-game.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light(TM), $4.99 - Originally released on consoles and Pc in mid-2010, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a superb dual-stick shooter set in the Tomb Raideruniverse. Shortly soon after its debut it made its way to iOS and felt excellent on the touchscreenplatform. It hadn't noticed any updates in the past couple of years, but with the release of a newsequel on Computer and present-gen consoles this month Guardian of Light on iOS received aconsiderably-necessary refresh with help for iOS 8, all the newest screen sizes and resolutions, andUniversal iPad compatibility. The update breathed new life into a single of the greater games on iOS,but I'm still holding out hope that the sequel tends to make its way to mobile in the future.

Injustice: Gods Amongst Us, Cost-free - My most significant guilty pleasure of 2013 got some major

enjoy by means of updates in 2014. DC and Warner Bros' fighting game/card collector hybridInjustice: Gods Among Us has received typical updates ever due to the fact its original release, but itwas in celebration of its initial anniversary that a huge version 2. update was launched adding an on-line multiplayer component, a welcome UI overhaul, new characters and a new gear method thatdrastically expanded the upgradeability of the fighters in the game. Injustice just keeps on bringingit as well with common new challenges, promotions and more. I have a feeling 2015 will be yetanother huge year for this well known game.