When we first saw Office Heroes, I admit I was more than a little surprised with the overwhelmingly positive response the game saw both in article comments and on our forums. It seems that social gaming is a guilty pleasure for many, and as I mentioned in the preview, Office Heroes has an incredibly clever premise in that you’re wasting your virtual life away inside of an office as you’re wasting your real life away sinking your time in to the game.

In Office Heroes, you have an incredibly customizable avatar who lives inside of a (initially) tiny virtual office. Gameplay is identical to similar social games in that you’re managing in-game resources that are both generated by completing tasks in games with others that are gained via an in-app purchase. As you level up and get more friends, you unlock more decorations for your office and various gizmos to waste your avatar’s time on. Absolutely nothing you do to earn money in game is productive in any way. For instance, you buy your little dude a computer and he uses it to tweet, or you can get him a phone to make personal phone calls, along with tons of other activities with other office items.

There’s not much sense in really “reviewing” a game like this as it’s free and you either love these kind of social games or hate them. Office Heroes doesn’t do anything other games haven’t done before, but it’s still incredibly refreshing to play a social game that actually has an original premise. So many of them on the App Store do little more than pick a popular Zynga game and duplicate it, so it’s nice to see Astro Ape Studios releasing something that doesn’t have to do with tending fields.

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This represents the 3rd in the franchise which originally began on mobile phones but is now extending to smartphones and even the desktop. The game allows both single player and online play in 8-ball, 9-ball and Snooker. Players can also make in-game wagers against their opponents and use winnings to upgrade table felts, cue sticks and new pool halls. The 3d game allows you to rotate your view and pinch/zoom to line up your shot.

The games are free for Wednesday only (normally $4.99). Pool Pro Online 3 represents the launch title for Namco’s UniteSDK which provides achievements, leaderboards and cross-platform online play.

App Store Links: Pool Pro Online 3, Free, Pool Pro Online 3 for iPad, Free

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Sky Force is a traditional vertical arcade shooter in which you must battle across seven different levels, one of which features a boss-battle at the end. The game offers a variety of pickups and powerups along the way.

The game bears much similarity to Infinite Dreams’ earlier iPhone release, Sky Force Reloaded, which we reviewed back in March. (Reloaded was, interestingly, released to the App Store before Sky Force.) The game delivers a solid arcade shooter feel superior to that of many similar titles that can be found in the App Store.

Originally a mobile title that launched to rave reviews, the iPhone version, normally priced at .99, is free for the duration of the weekend. Don’t miss a freebie on a great iPhone vertical shooter experience.

App Store Link: Sky Force, Free (limited time)

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1337 Game Design has dropped the price of their fun ball roller Dark Nebula to free for the weekend. We reviewed this game back in October, and aside from the rather short campaign, there was a lot we loved about the game.

Dark Nebula is a tilt-controlled ball roller, but one that adopts an action/arcade vibe rather than the more tedious precision work found in many others. In fact, it feels so different, I’d hesitate to put it in the same genre. The game proceeds across 10 levels of action-packed gaming. Each level is very well designed with a variety of obstacles introduced along the way. Your tasks include the avoiding of spikes, triggering switches, avoiding laser fire, and more. The game has since been updated with calibration options, expert difficulty and global leaderboards.

We suspect they are gearing up for the next installment of levels, but you should definitely pick it up while its free this weekend.

App Store Link: Dark Nebula, Free (This Weekend)

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Yes, there’s another farm game on the iPhone. Luckily, Tap Farm is the closest thing to Farmville you can currently get – that is unless Zynga decides to have a foray into the mobile world. It’s almost a complete clone.

For that reason it’s actually quite good, and should you crave some crop-planting action whilst on the bus, Tap Farm should fit the bill nicely.

In true farming game fashion, you start off with a few gold coins that you have to invest into crops. In real time your crops will grow, and once they’re ready you can then sell them for more coinage. And don’t worry: the real time system means you don’t need to have your phone on for your seedlings to grow.

As you might expect, your riches can be used to buy trees, livestock, and more crops. As you continue to harvest your level increases, thus unlocking yet more items to use on your land.

The most notable difference between Farmville and Tap Farm is the actual system for running your farm. Instead of tapping and clicking, you drag and drop. Quite how that works out we aren’t sure.

Tap Farm is available free on the App Store now, should you still yearn for a bit of the good life.

The post Tap Farm: New additions appeared first on AppTrawler.

The developers behind Gunman [App Store], a camera-based shooter game, are currently running a contest encouraging people to get involved in Gunman battles at CES– And if the Twitter activity is any indication, quite a few people are. While this contest is largely irrelevant to those of us who aren’t at CES, one great thing came out of it: Gunman is free for the duration of the convention.

Gunman makes use of the iPhone’s camera to create a real-world multiplayer game similar to laser tag. By connecting to a WiFi network, players join a game then “shoot” each other by taking photos using the phone’s camera. If you’re running the latest iPhone OS, you can even zoom in as if you were using a sniper scope. Each player is tracked by the color of their shirt, and in my testing of the game I found the color recognition to be shockingly good.

The game comes with a few caveats of course. Large multiplayer games require WiFi, everyone must be wearing a different color shirt, and needless to say, until an iPod touch with a camera materializes you need an iPhone to play. Still, if you can round up a few friends all willing to wear different colored shirts that have iPhones in an area blanketed by WiFi, and don’t mind people wondering what in the world you’re doing running around pretending to shoot people with your phone, Gunman looks to be a lot of fun.

App Store Link: Gunman, Free (For a limited time.)

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We hope you all had a fun and safe time celebrating the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 last night, but let’s get down to business. While you were watching the ball drop, a few great games were going on sale. Here are a few of the more noteworthy games with recent price reductions:

• bChamp Beatbox, 99¢ → Free
• Vector Tanks, .99 → Free
• Aera, .99 → 99¢
• Cell War, .99 → 99¢
• Harbor Havoc 3D, .99 → 99¢
• Harry Potter: Spells, .99 → 99¢
• Liberty Boom, .99 → 99¢
• Navy Patrol: Coastal Defense, .99 → 99¢
• Sword of Fargoal, .99 → .99 (Sale Extended)
• The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, .99 → .99
• Ravensword: The Fallen King, .99 → .99
• The Settlers, .99 → .99
• James Cameron’s Avatar, .99 → .99

As always, the prices listed are current as of this posting.

Otherwise, you can check AppShopper for popular games with price changes as well as all games with price changes.

The post Happy New Year! Temporary Game Sales and Freebies appeared first on AppTrawler.

Wild West Pinball [Free] was released first, followed by The Deep Pinball [Free] and as of a few days ago, Jungle Style Pinball [99¢] is the latest in Gameprom’s pinball lineup. Normally both 99¢, Wild West and The Deep both went free to promote the launch of Jungle Style. On top of that, the previous two games also were recently updated to “Christmas Editions” which just amount to each of the tables having their art slightly modified to be more festive.

Jungle Style Pinball takes the same gameplay and adds a new jungle themed pinball table. Much like The Deep was an improvement on the table found in Wild West, Jungle Style takes this even farther with even more things to hit and hidden areas to boost your score.

The developer released the following gameplay trailer:

I highly recommend downloading The Deep Pinball and Wild West Pinball while they’re free. If you enjoy either of those games, you should like Jungle Style Pinball just as much if not even more.

App Store Links

• Wild West Pinball, Free
• The Deep Pinball, Free
• Jungle Style Pinball, 99¢

The post The Deep Pinball & Wild West Pinball For Free appeared first on AppTrawler.

A few months ago we reviewed the highly addictive match 3 game ‘Piyo Blocks’ by Big Pixel Studios.  Since the review the game has undergone some great improvements and as a Christmas Treat they have now released the game FREE over the Christmas period.

(possibly UK only)

The post Piyo Block for Free over Christmas! appeared first on AppTrawler.

Goals! is a top down arcade soccer game that uses an on screen joystick and virtual buttons to control the action. The game has been discounted to 0.99 in the days since it’s release and also offers a Lite version to try yourself.

The Pro version was originally released at 1.99 and has since dropped to 0.99.

You can see the action in this gameplay video:

App Store Links: Goals! Pro, {content}.99, Goals!, Free

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Sad Cat Software released Project Phoenix into the App Store tonight. Project Phoenix is a very nice twin stick tank shooter with large levels and frantic gameplay. Oh, and it’s FREE for a limited time.

After successfully defending a key research facility from invading aliens in “Team Alpha” you have been promoted, and are now in charge of the army’s most advanced tank prototype. Your mission? Free the Earth of the evil invaders, which are going to throw their best military technology at you. Can you do it and save the planet?

The developer’s gameplay video shows the action which can get intense with tons of enemies on screen:

The game is well controlled using left and right dual thumb sticks. The current version of the game spans 7 different missions/levels each with a specific goal. Kills award cash which can be used to upgrade your vehicle’s armor, weaponry and more. Health and power-ups are also strewn across the levels giving items such as helper vehicles or air strikes. The game has a great classic arcade feel to it and you really should download while you can.

Project Phoenix is free for a “very, very” limited time. The developer plans on added more levels and features to the game over time.

App Store Link: Project Phoenix, Free (limited time)

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Reebok iSprint, from UK developer ustwo in conjunction with mobile marketing agency Inside Mobile, is now live on the App Store.

It’s a neat little app that has you running the 100m with your fingers – basically flick running – to get the fastest time you can.

Reebok iSprint links up to a global scoring system that is already peaking at around 7.5 second, or around three seconds faster than my little fingers can run.

There’s also a two player Bluetooth head-to-head mode, while you can run through four courses – indoor, outdoor, grass, and tarmac.

Obviously, the point of the game is for Reebok to advertises its ware, so after each race, you’ll be hit with a geographically localised, full-screen ad, which allows Reebok to serve up fresh offers and content to different markets.

And as you get better at iSprint, you’ll also be provided with discount voucher codes on Reebok clothes and shoes which you redeem via reebok.com.

Reebok iSprint is available for free. Hit the Buy It! button to run over to the App Store.

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Free for 24 hours only! Personalize your very own iPhone shelf with your pictures and art. Accesorize the shelves and share with your friends via email or Facebooks.

App Description:

“Tap your framed photos to view them full size. Create item notes to capture your memories. Tap a TV or Radio to put on music or a podcast.

This application includes hundreds of items, over 100 professional frames plus 100 classical masterpiece paintings.

PhotoShelf is truly unique in what it can do. Sending and storing photos on your iPhone or iPod Touch has never been this fun, stylish, and customizable.

The post Free: PhotoShelf (U.S) appeared first on AppTrawler.

Riptide managed to slam the brakes on just moments before submitting the game, when it heard that Apple was now allowing micro-transactions and in-app purchases on free games.

In light of this exciting development, Gravity Sling will now be going free, offering a couple levels of space faring, orbital action to entice you in, and an option to purchase level packs from within the game.

Riptide Games needed to make a few adjustments to Gravity Sling for it to make use of micro-transactions, but it’s hoping this will only delay submission to Apple by a couple of days.

Ngmoco has already announced something similar with its highly anticipated online shooter Eliminate, and considering this unique revenue model has the potential to keep on giving back to the developer while simultaneously reducing piracy, we can probably expect a lot more games to follow suit.

The post Gravity Sling Now Free appeared first on AppTrawler.

More details are said to be following, but Ngmoco has long announced that Eliminate would carry in-app purchases for energy that allows players to earn additional credits. Every player gets a certain auto-renewable source of energy, but once depleted, to earn more credits the player must either 1) wait a certain amount of time for your energy to recharge or 2) purchase more energy. If you don’t care about credits, you may also continue to play but simply be ineligible to earn credits during those games. Credits are used for equipment upgrades and leveling up. We had a hands on with the game earlier this month which explains the system in detail and also gives impressions of the gameplay.

Based on comments by Ngmoco about the “aggressive” pricing of Eliminate, we long suspected that Ngmoco planned on making the bulk of its income in these in-app purchases. The move to a completely free game would expose Eliminate to a much larger audience of potential customers and also remove the issue of having a large enough user base to support an online multiplayer game.

Eliminate has been submitted and is awaiting approval from Apple.

The post Ngmoco’s Eliminate Game – FREE appeared first on AppTrawler.

Free

• Car Jack Streets (.99 -> Free) – A top down Grand Theft Auto-alike that was well received back in April. The game has since seen increasing competition with Gameloft’s 3D Gangstar as well as the upcoming official Grand Theft Auto from Rockstar. Still, this top-down sandbox game had its fans and is certainly worth a download.
• Peter und Vlad (.99 -> Free) – Yet another line-drawing game, but this time your job is to herd your sheep to safety to avoid an out-of-control weather machine. The game is well done, though we didn’t find the herding gameplay as compelling as the other line-drawing games.
• Roadkill Cafe ({content}.99 -> Free) – Can you successfully dodge traffic while picking up roadkill? A humorous game that has its fans. Pick it up for free this weekend.

US Accounts Only – Need a US account click here >>

The post A Few More Weekend Freebies!! (US Only) appeared first on AppTrawler.

Studio Radiolaris has dropped the price of their musical shooter Radio Flare [App Store] to free for this weekend only (from .99). The game is a solid side scrolling shooter for the iPhone with a musical component to it that we enjoyed when it first came out. The developers have since added a number of new features and levels to the game since its original release and is certainly worth downloading for free.

The reason for the price drop is in celebration of the announcement of their follow-up title Radio Flare Redux. This time, Studio Radiolaris is teaming up with Chillingo as a publisher for their new title. Radio Flare Redux is said to bring a whole new experience with a fresh new style.

“It will be great to have multiple licensed music tracks in Radio Flare Redux. This way each level will be a unique experience.” says Fares Kayali, Sound Designer at studio radiolaris. Adds Martin Pichlmair, Lead Designer for Radio Flare Redux, “Everything is driven by rhythm and beat – from the enemies’ paths to their actions and even the background graphics!”

The following teaser video has been released:

Redux is due for release in “Winter 2009”.

App Store Link: Radio Flare, Free (This weekend only)

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Get this while it’s still free! Groove Media dropped the price for Marine Sharpshooter to zero on Saturday, and their sale prices never seem to last very long. Regular price on this game is .99.

Marine Sharpshooter puts you behind the scope of a really big gun as you try to pick off bad guys before they wack you good. It’s a sniper game with both story and arcade modes, and of course you also get to choose your weapon; some rifles are weak but can be fired fast, while others pack more punch but need more time before another shot can be fired.

Moving around and finding targets can be a little difficult, and one time when I was about to blow someone’s brains out the game mysteriously kicked me back to the beginning of the level I was on, but this is still a high quality game with great graphics and pretty decent gameplay. I’d probably be willing to pay for it, and for nothing it’s a no-brainer if you enjoy murdering people!

iTunes Link – Marine Sharpshooter
Version 1.1
Reviewed on iPhone 3G OS3.1

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If you’re unfamiliar with NimbleBit’s collection of games, here is what’s available for free that would have cost you a buck or two yesterday (and will tomorrow):

• Bluebird – Play as a small bird trying to fly as far as possible. Eat bugs to regain energy and tap the screen to flap your wings
• Hanoi Plus – A classic logic puzzle, move stacks of differently sized baskets to the opposite side of the screen stacked smallest to largest.
• Moon Drop – Assist astronauts colonizing the moon. Tap and hold the screen to fire the thrusters of the lunar landers to help them land safely.
• Scoops – Catch falling scoops of ice cream as high as you can while avoiding tomatoes and onions. Play long enough and you will be stacking ice cream past the planets of our solar system.
• Sky Burger – Fill orders for burgers utilizing ingredients falling from the sky. Gameplay is similar to Scoops, but with objectives.
• Textropolis – Search for words using the letters of various city names. With each word match the definition flies by and buildings are built on the top half of the screen.

US Accounts Only – Need a US account click here >>

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Dr. Awesome Plus+ (Free) – This Qix clone is also free. As Dr. Awesome, you must perform microsurgery to save your friends from a deadly virus. A fun game that’s worth getting for free.

The post Topple 2 & Dr Awesome FREE for limited time appeared first on AppTrawler.