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Dead by Daylight Mobile's relaunch fails in as many areas as it succeeds
Returning players won't be happy
Dead by Daylight Mobile is back for round two. After its original release in 2020 had more issues than a slasher film has idiotic teenagers, the developers decided to remove the game from the Play Store in December 2022 in preparation for a complete overhaul. While the broad strokes of Dead by Daylight Mobile's gameplay remain the same, some noticeable differences in the user experience will undoubtedly frustrate returning players.
Rocket League Sideswipe appropriately enters its third season with a new 3v3 mode
Plus, Rocket Pass rewards for season 2
Back in February, Rocket League Sideswipe's second season landed on Android, bringing causal playlists to the game. Well, it would appear that Psyonix is currently on a bi-monthly cadence, releasing a new season every couple of months, and so season 3 is officially here. Up to this point, 2v2 matches were the primary focus, but today you can finally jump into 3v3 matches with five other players. Along with the addition of a new 3v3 mode, a new arena is in the mix as well as a fresh spectator mode, plus there's a new Rocket Pass for those looking to earn some extra rewards.
The Impossible Game 2 is here to ruin your day (but in a good way)
Bringing fresh content and a battle royale mode along for the ride
Thirteen years ago, The Impossible Game entered our lives as an enjoyable yet frustrating 2D platformer that held true to its name. To say it is challenging is an understatement, and yet going back for one more run has remained as addictive as ever. Well, seeing that the original is pretty old at this point, it makes sense that a sequel was in the works. Today that sequel is available, known as The Impossible Game 2, and this time around, it's a free-to-play release that offers online battle royale gameplay, and thankfully the monetization is on point, which means The Impossible Game 2 is a quality followup to the original.
Here's the fix if you can't play Rocket League Sideswipe on the Pixel 6
Don't worry, it's an easy solution
Earlier in the month, we learned that Psyonix was planning to release its mobile sidescrolling interpretation of Rocket League on mobile across the globe. This rollout started with a few territories and has finally expanded to the US and EU, completing the worldwide launch for Rocket League Sideswipe. Amazingly, the game is great. I went hands-on with the title back in March when it was still in testing and came away pretty impressed, and I'm a diehard Rocket League player that plays on PC every night, so I'm not easily swayed. Not only does the core gameplay of hitting giant soccer balls into goals with cars hold up in its sidescrolling form, there's no monetization yet, which means the only way to earn in-game cosmetics is by playing the game. No matter how you slice it, Psyonix has hit this one out of the park.
Rocket League Sideswipe hands-on: A near-perfect bite-sized version of a classic
No kidding, the game is really good
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Below is the original story, first published on March 30, 2021
That Pokémon MOBA all your friends are playing on Switch lands on Android next month
Coming September 22nd
The last we heard about the mobile version of Pokémon UNITE was back in June when The Pokémon Company and TiMi Studio Group announced the MOBA would land sometime in September but failed to provide an actual date. This left both companies open to execute another announcement, which was made today during the latest Pokémon Presents. As of this morning, we now know Pokémon UNITE will be released on Android and iOS on September 22nd, and better yet, pre-registration is finally open on the Play Store, clearly illustrating the ramp-up to next month's launch.
Hands-on with League of Legends: Wild Rift, possibly the best MOBA on mobile
Gameplay video included, two full matches
The build-up to the US open beta for League of Legends: Wild Rift has been a long one, but now that this beta is almost here, I've taken it for a spin ahead of time to report on my findings. Below I've detailed all of the critical bits, things like performance, controls, and monetization, and I've even taken the time to record a 48-minute gameplay video so that everybody can see exactly what this open beta will have to offer when it's released on Monday. So if you're eager to learn all about the upcoming US beta for Wild Rift, this hands-on is for you.
Mario Kart Tour's online multiplayer will officially land on March 8 (Update: Out now)
It's been a long road, but online multiplayer is finally coming to Mario Kart Tour
It's official, Nintendo has tweeted the arrival date for Mario Kart Tour's long-awaited addition of online multiplayer. Back when the game first landed on Android in September of 2019, it was clear the lack of a true online multiplayer mode held the game back. Two months later, Nintendo released a limited online multiplayer beta for subscription members to test, and then a second beta took place at the end of this past January, and this one was open to the public. Well, now that fans and the general public alike have adequately tested the upcoming multiplayer mode, it's now clear that we can expect the official arrival of Mario Kart Tour's online multiplayer on March 8th.
The much-anticipated release of Mario Kart Tour this September (after an extended period of testing) was a bit of a letdown. The game was riddled with excessive in-app-purchases, had a questionable loot box mechanism, and lacked a multiplayer component — arguably the selling point of the entire Mario Kart series. At the time, the in-game-menu said that multiplayer was "inbound", and we now know more details.
League of Wonderland is a strategy game themed around fairy tales, historical figures, and popular myths to create an ensemble cast where players use hero cards to defeat their opponent's tower within a 2-minute timespan, much like Clash Royale. It will be up to you to lead your characters to victory to become the best player in the League of Wonderland.
Earlier this week, we learned that Microsoft would bring its Funko-Pop-themed Gears of War spinoff to Android on August 22nd. Now that Gears POP is here, it's quite clear that this strategy game was designed to play very similarly to Clash Royale. The setup is almost exactly the same. You'll work your way up the field by sending out an assortment of troops to take down your opponent's turrets and base. It's a standard free-to-play real-time multiplayer title with a Funko-Pop Gears of War skin, and yes, it's packed with in-app purchases, multiple currencies, wait timers, and loot boxes.
N3TWORK has partnered with The Tetris Company to exclusively develop and publish new Tetris games for mobile, and the first game that will reach Android is called Tetris Royale. Much like the Nintendo Switch game Tetris 99, 100-player matches will be the focus of Tetris Royale so that mobile players can put their falling-block skills to the test to battle their way up the leaderboards each season.
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a quirky 2D platformer, a fantastically twitchy brick-breaker, a gorgeous throwback to '90s-era point and click adventure games, a narrative-driven puzzle game, a competitive block placement game, an on-rails shooter that looks like it belongs on the SNES, and a vibrant platformer that exudes a high level of polish. Without further ado:
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Some of you may remember a quirky little auto-runner from 2013 called Badland. It's been downloaded over 50 million times across the world, which is probably why a sequel was released in 2015. Apparently, the developer Frogmind has pushed aside the auto-running genre since that followup and has moved on to bigger and better things. The result is the upcoming release of Badland Brawl, a physics-based multiplayer brawler that's available for pre-registration as of today, and it looks nothing like the original games in the series, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Supercell's mobile multiplayer combat game Brawl Stars has apparently found a lot of success on iOS despite its year-long existence as a soft launched title that few could access. The thing is, Android users never heard one word about a release on our platform, so as you can imagine, fans on our side of the fence were starting to get real antsy. Luckily the devs hinted at an Android version over the weekend and have delivered today by soft launching the game in a few select countries around the world. The official date of the iOS and Android release is still unknown, but it's definitely great to see some movement from the company in this regard. So let's hope we all get to play this real soon.
Lo and behold Asmodee Digital has stayed true to their word and have released Carcassonne – Tiles & Tactics before the end of the year. Not only does this new version of Carcassonne deliver a worthwhile online multiplayer experience, but it's also cross-compatible with the Steam version that just so happens to have launched today as well. And if that wasn't enough to garner your interest you can also expect two unlockable expansions, all-new 3D graphics, and a solo mode for all of you Meeple lovers out there who want to brush up on your skills before diving into an online or local multiplayer match.
Catan Universe is United Soft Media's newest version of Catan and not only is it finally a multiplayer focused release on Android, but it can also be played against your friends and family no matter the platform they want to play on. That's right, whether you have purchased the game on PC, macOS, iOS, or Android you can enjoy an online multiplayer round of Catan.
Psst. Hey, Pokémon fans. I know you're all very busy obsessing over Pokémon Sun and Moon, the new entries in the main game series, after the starters were revealed this morning. But those games are still months away, and you need something to fill the Pokémon-shaped hole in your soul until then. Well I have good news, Poke-faithful: the official online digital version of the Pokémon Trading Card Game is now out of beta and available as a regular old vanilla download on Android tablets. Have at it.
If you're around the same age as me, you fondly remember playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG for short) for hours in middle school. Or more accurately, you remember watching all the other kids play it because your parents couldn't afford to buy 10,000 licensed pieces of cardboard just so you could get a shiny Blastoise. (It's OK, I played the Game Boy Color version for vicarious thrills.) As it turns out, the Pokemon card game is still rolling along with a huge following, and now there's even an online digital version. Yes, that's a video game based on a card game based on a video game - try to keep up.
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a game about killing adorable fuzzy creatures, an online mech-battler, a new Noodlecake platformer, an old-school strategy game, a jigsaw puzzler, and a ping pong twitch game. Without further ado: