Farm Invasion USA was just updated for controller support.
In this game, you play as a farmer trying to protect your farm from alien invaders. Accomplishing this tasks involves driving your corn harvester as far as you can through your corn fields, shooting every alien you can find with a shotgun, while simultaneously dodging obstacles and collecting power ups.
Farm Invasion is fun enough when it works, but itâs extremely buggy. After my first run through, the game crashed immediately, then refused to play again without immediately crashing. This bug can be worked around somewhat by enabling Airplane Mode.
The game is free to play with a giant ad banner on the top of the display, with an in-app purchase available to remove the ads. The in-game currency (Popcorn) can also be purchased in varying capacities. Of course, neither can be purchased in Airplane mode; fans of the game should hope for a quick fix to the bugs.
As a free game, Farm Invasion is worth a download. Just expect to uninstall it fairly quickly if you encounter game-breaking bugs, or decide you donât enjoy it enough to remove the ads.
Muffin Knight (also available as a free version) is a polished, fun, and often intense arena-based arcade platformer.
Gameplay consists of running and jumping around a somewhat small arena, dodging and shooting enemies, and collecting muffins to increase your experience. Collecting experience allows you to level up your attacks, unlock new stages, and gain new power ups.
The stages are presented in a 2.5D style that is somewhat reminiscent of the Super Smash Brothers series, with gameplay strongly inspired by indie classic Super Crate Box. But similarities granted, Muffin Knight is no mere Vlambeer game clone – this game expands and enhances the original formula with a rock solid presentation and a unique power-up system.
Ahh yes, the power-up system. This brings us to Muffin Knightâs most interesting aspect. Every time you collect a muffin, your character changes attacks and abilities. One minute youâre an archer with a powerful ranged attack, the next minute you could be a panda with a high jump and body slam, or a gnome with a short-range shotgun attack. Or a unicorn that craps exploding rainbows⦠didnât want to forget that one. This variety makes for a level of unpredictability, which makes the game much more entertaining. Youâll love some characters and hate others, but the time spent mastering each of them further keeps the game from ever really growing stale.
Add boss fights, multiplayer, achievements, and ability leveling to the in-built variety of character switching, and you can get a feel for just how much this game expands on its basic formula. The basic gameplay is addicting enough to bring you back for more rounds, and the expansiveness and variety of content keeps those rounds from getting too repetitive.
Muffin Knight hits all of the features youâd want in a truly classic iOS game. Universal compatibility, smooth framerate, multiplayer (online and local, battle and co-op), achievements, leaderboards, great voice acting, perfectly appropriate music, beautiful graphics, excellent controller support with both Standard and Extended controllers. Everything here just feels polished. There arenât any rough edges – this is just a premium quality experience through and through.
Muffin Knight, through relentlessly polishing and expanding a solid foundation, manages to earn a place as a truly classic iOS game, and a strong recommendation for anyone with a game controller.
This game has you flying a bird around a 3D arena, dropping bird bombs on unsuspecting civilians, picking up the presents they drop (for some reason), and avoiding death from enemies such as a helicopter. The game doesnât make a whole lot of sense, but its free, supports controllers, and features multiplayer. Canât think of a good reason not to download it and give it a play or twoâ¦
Top-down airplane combat game Pocket Dogfights was just updated for compatibility with iOS game controllers.
The gameplay of Pocket Dogfights is pretty straightforward, and generally consists of attempting to outmaneuver and outgun enemy planes, occasionally collecting weapon power ups, and attempting to take down larger enemies at the end of the stage.
The addition of MFi controller support is always welcome. The touch controls work well here, but would invariably result in fingers obscuring enemies. The use of a controller allows for better visibility. Both Standard and Extended layouts are supported, in-game and in the menus.
iPushover has just been released for iPhone with full iOS controller support.
The original Pushover was a puzzle game for the Amiga and SNES. The goal is to arrange dominoes such that a single push can knock them over and trigger the exit door to unlock.
I have never played the original version of this game from 1992, but this port feels right at home on iOS. 99 levels and 9 different worlds with different graphical themes should keep anyone who gets sucked into this game busy for quite some time.
Pac-Man is the classic of arcade classics. Back in its day, it probably sold more game consoles than any other game, with the possible exception of Pong. It’s been ported to every console under the sun, including multiple ports to iOS. Throughout all these years, and throughout countless ports and remakes, it has still managed to remain a fun and challenging experience.
Now, the classic iOS versions have been updated across-the-board to support MFi game controllers. And it isn’t just Pac-Man; each version of the also-classic sequel Ms. Pac-Man has also received an iOS game controller update, with support for both Standard and Extended controllers, in the iPhone, iPad, and Free versions.
Give these a shot – no matter which version you get, Pac-Man on iOS with a game controller is one of the best ways you can play these true classics.
Air Wings is a paper-airplane based multiplayer ariel combat game. The goal is to throw a paper airplane into an arena, then control it using the gyroscope (or game controller!) in an attempt to destroy your opponents and rack up enough points to achieve a high score.
Throw your airplane into the field of battle!
This is a pretty major new upgrade, featuring a significantly redesigned in-game interface, new levels, an expanded single player mode that lets you play every level you’ve purchased, 64-bit support for the new iPhones and iPads, and various other little tweaks and fixes.
Those upgrades join an already impressive feature list, including Universal compatibility, Game Center achievements, online multiplayer, voice chat, well-integrated Airplay support, and excellently implemented iOS Game Controller support for both Standard and Extended layouts.
The new levels shake things up with some added challenge
Pangea Software, the developers of Airwings, have been one of the true standouts of iOS development (and Mac development before that). They’ve historically hit every major milestone in the history of gaming on iOS, being first on the scene with Airplay, universal iPad and iPhone support, Game Center, multiplayer, retina graphics, widescreen display, 64 bit A7 – every major gaming related move Apple has made. In the era of the Mac, Pangea was still quick on the scene, with several of their classic games coming bundled on various Macs – also leading to one of their games making it to our list of classic Mac games you can play with an iPhone.
In addition to updatingalmosteverygame theymake for controller support, they recently released a new game, Dragon Trials, in partnership with Team Chaos; a partnership that will extend to yet another new game later this month, in the form of Enigmo: Explore
Great level designs make for exciting ariel dogfights
If you’ve somehow missed out on Air Wings in it’s multi-year history on the App Store, give this an immediate download. It’s free to play, with any purchase permanently removing advertisements. Controller support is excellent on Standard and Extended layouts, and on iPhone and iPad. Multiplayer is well implemented and fun. Give this one a try.
Mr. NooO is an unexpected surprise. I downloaded this game without huge expectations, and what I found here is a really challenging and fun game. The gameplay basically consists of running your character across a treadmill in order to reach a button, then hitting that button a certain number of times, all the while avoiding swarms of projectiles that will deplete your health and eventually end your game.
Hit the button, avoid the enemies – beautifully simple
I have to give a lot of credit here: the individual ideas on display in this game are old classics in game design – we’ve been avoiding things and running on moving platforms for years – but I’ve never actually seen them put together exactly like this before. It’s a new arrangement on some classic video game themes, and it plays very well
Controller support is well implemented, with both Standard and Extended layouts being compatible on iPhone and iPad. As an added bonus, the controllers can be used to navigate the menus – more games need to do that.
Some levels are more challenging than others
Don’t let the simple graphics and presentation stop you from downloading this one; sometimes simplicity is a virtue. Mr. NooO is free, fun, and challenging – there’s no reason not to give it a try.
I havenât heard of this one before; Dragon Trials is a multiplayer 3D flying game in the same vein as Nanosaur. Supports both standard and extended layouts, though game controllers must manually be enabled in the options menu.
Dragon Trials seems fun so far, though with too many ads for my taste. Still, since itâs free, it definitely seems worth a download.
Updated: Turns out the similarities to Nanosaur arenât just coincidental – Pangea was a co-developer on this one! Also, ads can be removed by purchasing any of the IAP options. This one is definitely worth a closer look
Final Fury (available in pro and free versions) was recently updated for controller support.
Final Fury is a top-down wave based arena shooter with a decent presentation and some fun gameplay. As opposed to most arena shooters, this game places a strong emphasis on combos, with rewards escalating in accordance with the amount of time you can avoid being injured.
Final Fury is hampered somewhat by a strong freemium component, with the now common two-currency system is in full swing in both the free and pro versions. There is still plenty of amusement to be had here for casual gamers without things devolving into too much of a grind. For those who do get hooked, there is a solid amount of content here, with a somewhat huge amount of weapons and special items to unlock.
Also included is a solid assortment of features: Universal compatibility, Game Center achievements and leaderboards, Standard and Extended MFi controller support, and – of particular interest – co-op multiplayer, both locally and wide-area.
Final Fury is a fun game that, although held back by freemium components, is still worth a download. Give the free version a shot – at the very least, youâll get your download timeâs worth of entertainment out of it.
