Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Pirates ($5) is an Assassin’s Creed game in name only, with only the most modest link to the console games. Instead of tracking down human targets from a first-person perspective, Pirates puts players behind the wheel of a pirate ship. It’s a turn-based naval battle game with very modest need for quick interactions, and players can upgrade their weapons, crew, and ships as the game progresses. You might enjoy it as long as you can distance your expectations from the Assassin’s Creed name; the graphics are extremely impressive, apart from the odd juxtaposition of cutout-like 2-D art atop fully 3-D worlds and ships.
Doctor Who: Legacy from Tiny Rebel Games (free) has arrived, likely much to the delight of the multitudes of Whovians. A turn-based puzzle/strategy game, Doctor Who: Legacy lets players revisit old episodes from the TV series. Episodes from seasons six and seven are available at launch, with more episodes and characters to be added daily.
Double Dragon Trilogy ($3) from DotEmu features emulated versions of the original three arcade games, Double Dragon, Double Dragon 2: The Revenge, and Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone. Bear in mind that if you were a fan of the NES game Double Dragon 3: The Sacred Stones, this Double Dragon 3 isn’t the same title—and you’ll note in Rosetta Stone that there are even prompts to insert coins for extra power-ups.
Graphics and sounds are what you’d expect from relatively late 8-bit and early 16-bit titles, with the walk/punch/kick/jump gameplay that helped define the beat-em-up genre before Street Fighter II and other one-on-one titles took over. The collection promises gamepad support “very soon,” but for now, onscreen controls are required, and still a little glitchy on the iPad, which DotEmu really should address.
Foursquare has updated its free location scouting and check-in app to version 7.0. Completely redesigned for iOS 7, Foursquare claims the app is smarter — it can now offer information when you arrive somewhere new, even if the app isn’t open, though you can opt out of that feature if you prefer.
