The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, NetEase’s officially licensed geo-strategic war game, has finally been released today on iOS and Android devices. Players from all over the world can now experience Middle-earth once again in stunning accuracy as they march to Dol Guldur for control of the One Ring.

As a geo-strategic game, The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War sets itself apart with its millions of tiles that are just ripe for the taking. Players can conquer their own neighboring tiles as well as those of their Fellowships and Faction members (which you can choose from Gondor, Rohan, Lothlórien, Erebor, Mordor, Isengard, Angmar, and Rhûn). These tiles can either contain automatically spawning resources, or Control Points that provide access to capturing a whole region. Tiles can also have harbors that offer passage from one side of the map to another, providing a strategic advantage for your troops when it comes to expanding your territory.

You’ll start your journey by picking your ring, and once you do, there’s no looking back. The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War is available to download on the App Store, the Galaxy Store, and on the Google Play Store. It’s a free-to-play game with in-app purchases.

After much waiting and excitement, the Pokemon Company and TiMi Studios have finally launched Pokemon Unite on Android and iOS. The game’s 5v5 MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle-Arena) format mixed with the world undoubtedly grabbed a lot of attention.

In Pokemon Unite, players will form a team of five Pokemon and pitch it against the opponent’s team. The team that manages to outscore the other wins.

What does Pokemon Unite look like?

Each match inPokemon Unite has a MOBA element. For each round, a player’s team of Pokemon will attack NPCs (wild Pokemon) and try to conquer their region of the map. As the round progresses, the wild Pokemon get more aggressive and difficult to defeat.

Catching Pokemon nets your team points, which can then be scored in your opponent's goal, which would usually be a tower in another MOBA. Your team will level up and unlock new moves throughout the match. This will help your Pokemon to evolve and become stronger. Additionally, each Pokemon will have a powerful Unite move that could turn the tide of battle.

Pokemon Unite Crossplay

Perhaps one of the best things about Pokemon Unite is the flexible crossplay that it offers. Players can install and play the game on their Android and iOS devices as well as Nintendo Switch. This will significantly reduce the matchmaking time. As the progress will be synced across devices, players can easily access the game anywhere.

Features in Pokemon Unite

Along with the novel gameplay, the game has introduced some amazing features. Players will be able to create Unite Squads, meaning they can team up with their mates. The new in-game events will make it easier to obtain and upgrade items.

The new battle pass is loaded with cosmetic items. Notably, the Holowear range has already become a hit with players. These are effectively skins that see Pokemon roaming the map with a variety of outfits.

Players can now download Pokemon Unite on their devices via Google Play Store and App Store. Pre-registered players will get exclusive rewards.

Relumine, indie developer Ammil’s adorable 3D spatial puzzle adventure, takes you on a relaxing and magical ride through abandoned mines and mystical civilizations, all filled to the brim with satisfying puzzles for logic aficionados. As Relu, you’ll explore mysterious landscapes in your search for your long-lost father, while a giant shadow chases you and spirit guides lead you on your way.

Call of Duty Mobile is heading towards its second anniversary and players are excited about the rewards, Battle Pass, and new things that might get added to the game. The second-anniversary celebrations will begin on September 22 at around 5 PM PT.

Games publisher NetEase wants to transport you back to Middle-earth with The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, the brand new strategy game for fans of Tolkien’s Iconic world. It's been a while since gamers have had a chance to play a proper The Lord of the Rings game, with the last title being Middle-earth: Shadow of War, released way back in 2017 by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. However, whilst Shadow of War was an RPG available across multiple platforms, including console and PC, The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War has been designed from the ground up exclusively for mobile devices, built around strategic play with a unique social interaction aspect in which you work together each season with other players to battle and conquer.

An Epic Story

The story is an original tale from Middle-earth. Set in the same universe as the trilogy, The One Ring, which was thought to be lost, has reemerged, waiting in the bowels of Dol Guldur - the Dark Fortress of Mirkwood. Soon war breaks out over the news of its return, tempting the world of men, Dwarves and Elves alike to seek out its dark properties in an attempt to wield its immense power. As the player you will have to strategize and battle your way through many foes who want to take possession of the One Ring for themselves. You will need intelligent planning; using clever tactics to keep one step ahead of your enemies and those that want to reclaim the One Ring to rule them all!

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Every day, we pick out a curated list of the best mobile discounts on the App Store and post them here. This list won't be comprehensive, but it every game on it is recommended. Feel free to check out the coverage we did on them in the links below to further vet these discounted games before you decide to buy:

^{Games marked with an asterisk(*) denote that the entire developer/publisher’s catalog is discounted, despite the fact that all of their games may not be listed here.}

Following the success of Free Fire, Garena announced Free Fire MAX, a version that promises to deliver better graphics and enhanced gameplay. The tweaked version of Free Fire is all set to roll out globally on September 28th.

The momentum is back! After having gone a month between play sessions of Divinity - Original Sin 2 (partially due to how inconvenient it is to keep a huge game installed on a device), I'm back in a regular rhythm with the game, and things continue to move forward.

It also helps that I ended my last play session on a heck of a cliffhanger, with a battle against magisters being interruped by a gigantic void worm. The first session posted at the starts with fight against said worm, while my second play session revolves around just about getting off of this initial island that is mostly comprised of Fort Joy and a marsh wasteland.

PUBG New State has received over 40 million pre-registrations on both Android and iOS, Krafton has recently announced. The futuristic, sci-fi PUBG Mobiletitle is all set to launch later this year, in October.

COD Mobile is often lauded for its vast array of weapons and elaborate customization. With every update, the guns get some kind of nerfs or buffs. Regardless of that, SMGs remain popular with players for close to mid-range combat.

Officially licensed and based on the trilogy of books by J.R.R. Tolkien - with elements from OSCAR®-winning film adaptations by Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War is launching soon on September 23rd. Fans can pre-register for the mobile strategy game by NetEase Games and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and score a portrait of Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit of the Shire, at launch.

In case you missed it, I am on a quest to rank every Apple Arcade game there is.

Over a year into the Apple Arcade experiment, I’m adjusting my approach to these rankings to make it a bit less cumbersome to update and read. For the most part, this means the number of updates on previously released games will decrease, and the text below each entry will be kept to a brief-yet-accurate justification for its positioning.

This has less to do with the pace of Apple Arcade releases and more to do with the fact that the general quality of games on the service simply isn’t what it should be. In the time that one release comes to the service, multiple high quality games hit the App Store that you don’t have to pay monthly upkeep for. Unless something drastic changes with the service, my opinion on it probably won’t change much. With the most recent update bringing older established titles to the service, Arcade is certainly the strongest it has ever been, but additional shakeups like this will need to keep happening to finally sell me on the service.

Anyway, on with the ranking updates:

Game ranking updates for 9/16:

• Masterchef: Let's Cook! (#90)
• Layton's Mystery Journey+ (#109)
• Zen Pinball Party (#122)
• Zookeeper World (#166)
Continue reading Apple Arcade: Ranked - Top 25 [Updated 9.16] »

This is part 6 of our Apple Arcade rankings. Quick navigation to other parts:

1-25 | 26-50 | 51-75 | 76-100 | 101-125 | 126-150 | 151-175 | 176+

126. Down in Bermuda

Description:

Down in Bermuda gives players an isometric view of colorful dioramas that you mostly just tap around in to solve puzzles. It kind of bridges the gap between a hidden object game and adventure game, as some tapping actions revolve around simply spotting certain kinds of objects, where as others require some logic and environmental manipulation.

Rank Explanation:

When I play Down in Bermuda, I’m reminded of titles like GNOG, and Vignettes, though both of those games are more enjoyable. There are some wonky controls in Down in Bermuda that definitely take some getting used to. Also, this game is a little overwhelming with the amount of things it wants you to collect and tap on. Some of these things result in entertaining and clever interactions, but there are other collection objectives that just feel like filler.

This is part 7 of our Apple Arcade rankings. Quick navigation to other parts:

1-25 | 26-50 | 51-75 | 76-100 | 101-125 | 126-150 | 151-175 | 176+

151. DoDonPachi Resurrection HD+

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Description:

The heralded vertical shooter has come to Apple Arcade. Control one of three ships and slide around waves of bullets and enemies while blasting them away. For this iOS version of the game, DoDonPachi Resurrection HD+ has a special Smartphone Mode that allows for easier play and a modified scoring system, as well as a straight up port of the original arcade version.

Rank Explanation:

I don't know much about the DoDonPachi games or bullet hell games in general. This seems like it would be a solid one--perhaps even good or great--if not for a ton of frame rate issues. Maybe on newer devices this is not a problem, but on my iPhone XR, there isn't a single level where things aren't stuttering at some point.

This is part 8 of our Apple Arcade rankings. Quick navigation to other parts:

1-25 | 26-50 | 51-75 | 76-100 | 101-125 | 126-150 | 151-175 | 176+

176. Towers of Everland

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Description:

Towers of Everland is a dungeon-crawler in the same vein as Legend of Grimrock, albeit a much more stripped down and procedurally generated affair. You choose a hero from several fantasy archetypes, go on quests to kill enemies and loot towers, and then use your spoils to upgrade your hero and town to take on more difficult quests.

Rank Explanation:

Towers of Everland is so streamlined that it’s pretty boring. The environments are almost completely non-interactive, and any new loot or stat upgrades to your hero don’t really change up the combat. They just make you stronger as your enemies get stronger, so everything ends up feeling static throughout.