Mastery reaps rewards as you gradually crack how to control Mombo at speed and dig further into the game. There’s a lot more going on too: quests characters to chat to the means to use gems you collect to kit out Mombo with special abilities.

Get enough of those and more areas are unlocked. Although you don’t have to zoom around like a maniac, dispatching a level’s entire quotient of foes before a timer ticks down nets you a coveted combo award. The game’s exploration elements feel very Metroid, but there are dollops of Super Meat Boy too as you barrel around, leaping off walls and jumping on enemies. Still, it’s now your lot as the purple, bouncy, big-tongued Mombo to give your foes a thorough licking. And we can guarantee the last of those wasn’t in the minds of Subrosa’s citizens when praying for a saviour to deliver them from the evil King of Nightmares. Mario has a plethora of power-ups to call on. Sonic can blaze along at breakneck speed. The more you have, the more you can take on in any one game – and on larger maps, too.Ĭelebrated platform game stars have unique characteristics that help them stand out. However you play, it’s an astonishing achievement, huge fun, and the best freebie game on iPhone.

In limiting your turns and giving you a score at the end, the game also feels puzzlish, since you must figure out how to better your lot with very limited resources and time.įor more bloodthirsty players, there’s also a ‘domination’ mode, where you play until only one tribe remains standing. In essence, then, this is Civilization in microcosm – a brilliantly conceived mobile take on 4X gaming (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) that betters actual Civ games that have appeared on iPhone. Would it be beneficial this turn to research hunting and utilise nearby (and tasty) wildlife? Or would the smart move be getting the technology to forge huge swords, subsequently enabling you to gleefully conquer rival cities?

Much of the game is based around strategising, making the best use of limited resource allowances.

Good games good games for free play