iPhone Qi Weekly Round-Up

31st March 2012

Stunt-puzzler Bike Baron leaps its way to 2 million downloads on iOS

Mountain Sheep's motorcycle stunt title Bike Baron has left the competition in a cloud of dust and exhaust fumes, racking up a hugely impressive 2 million downloads on iOS. The physics-action hit, which sees you guiding a motorbike across a series of hazardous obstacle courses, was released last October to favourable reviews.

Flight sim Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy soars up the Qi chart

The customer reviews are in and the consensus is clear: Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy has a lock on the hearts of iOS gamers everywhere. After landing on the App Store airstrip less than a fortnight ago, Namco's handsome arcade flight sim quickly entered Qi airspace, featuring in last week's Top 10 UK paid apps on iPad round-up. Now, the critics have jumped into the cockpit of goodwill, too, penning a host of positive reviews that have sent the game flying up the Qi chart.

Turn-based iOS boardgame conversion Catan receives AI tweaks, new almanac

Boardgame conversion Catan has just received the second of two major updates this month, which have brought visual adjustments and gameplay refinements to the turn-based strategy title. As in the game's inspiration Settlers of Catan, you must acquire victory points by managing resources, expanding cities, and trading with your opponent. If your enemy is controlled by the computer, you will notice that the AI difficulty settings have received a little tweaking since the updates.

Marvel Comics app receives update; Marvel augmented reality app incoming

Digital superhero portal Marvel Comics has just received an update that adds a couple of new features to the popular iOS app. The new Read button provides single-tap access to your latest fantastical purchase. Browsing the Marvel Store has also been made a little more user friendly, thanks to some newly streamlined title listings. If that wasn't enough, Marvel has announced plans for a new Marvel iOS app that will allow users to unlock bonus augmented reality content by using their iOS devices.

Follow the Quality Index on Twitter

If you don't already know, Qi trawls the print and online media for game and app reviews from respected sources like Macworld, TiPb, 148Apps, and GameSpot. A unique Qi formula is then applied to each site and publication to establish a definitive Qi score for the app or game. Top 5 recommendation lists, news round-ups, and regular industry analysis complement the dynamic Qi charts. Qi has its own Twitter feed, too, @qualityindex.

Notable changes to the iPhone Quality Index charts

Exploring the mystical realm of this week's iPhone Qi Top 10 is colourful RPG / platformer Swordigo.

Any Zelda fan worth his salt will be able to identify at least one of the inspirations behind this handsome 2.5D fantasy adventure.

Regardless of its roots, however, Touch Foo's genre mash-up of platform antics and RPG-style levelling-up seems to have touched a nerve with iPhone critics everywhere.

Bursting with magic, monsters, and, of course, sharpened metal, Swordigo may be just the thing to scratch that questing itch while you're out and about.

Blasting brightly coloured balls at the competition, meanwhile, is amphibious match-three puzzler Zuma's Revenge! HD.

You control an orally fixated frog who must clear the screen of stones by combining three or more of the same colour until the play area is clear.

Rather than throwing or rolling the stones to their desired destination, though, the frog achieves his goal by spitting a never-ending supply of the spheres out of his mouth.

With 120 levels and challenges to wrap your lime green lips around, Zuma's Revenge! HD will swallow your time, then spit it back in your face. Probably.

In Slide To Play's considered opinion, Zuma's Revenge! HD is "simple enough that anyone can pick it up and figure out the basics, but getting to the end and defeating that final boss will take more time and skill than you might think".

Not too much time, I hope.