Run is an Android app from Albino Blacksheep. The ad-supported game is now available for free on Google Play and carries no additional in-app purchases.

Run is a direct port of an Albino Blacksheep Flash game. The game follows the same style of other endless runners like Temple Run and Sonic Dash, where the player gets control of an always-running character who must be told when to jump and how to move. Unlike those other games, Run is much simpler. There’s no turning, no obstacles to avoid, and no structures to slide under. The only hazards present are holes, which can be jumped over or ran around. The other key difference between Run and other runners is the ability to shift the field. By running toward the wall, players can rotate the field, which makes avoiding gaps much easier.

That isn’t to say Run is a difficult game to begin with. Most players won’t face any struggle due to difficulty level. Run feels much slower than similar titles, making it easier to react to upcoming hazards. Players will have more than enough time to notice gaps in the road and have more than enough time deciding if they want to jump, swerve, or rotate around them. As players progress through the game, either in the level-based or infinite modes, the game gets a bit harder, but its speed is more than reasonable for most players to deal with.

Just because it’s slow doesn’t mean players won’t die. In fact, players are likely to die, and die a lot. Since Run is a direct port of a Flash game, the only noticeable change is the buttons for moving and jumping, replacing the keyboard controls of the Flash game. The problem with these controls is that they’re frequently unresponsive or delayed. The precision required for a button to register is likely to cause numerous headaches for players, and when a press does register, it occasionally takes a second to activate. These controls will lead to a boatload of failures for players. Luckily, there’s no serious penalty for falling down holes — users will instantly restart the level, which is typically short. Then, there’s the issue of the game asking players to press the “r” key to restart a level, a feature obviously not removed in the mobile version of the game. (more…)

CrayonPixel rolled out their freshman title on Facebook, Atlas Raider. Though the player introduction is sparse, the storyline is that your father has gone missing on a treasure hunt (perhaps for crystal skulls). Only a mysterious group called “The Foundation” knows his whereabouts. They hire you to find the crystal skulls and in the process you might find your father using your guide, an enchanted atlas.

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Jawfish Poker is an iOS release from Jawfish Games. It’s available now as a free download from the App Store and carries additional in-app purchases.

There are a ton of poker games on the market, and few manage to stand out. For every successful poker app, there’s a handful that follow the same formula and fail to pick up any momentum. The lack of diversity found in poker games creates an opening for games that are able to follow the basic concept of poker, but add its own spin. Jawfish Poker is a wonderful example of taking a popular idea, making a tiny change, and feeling a major impact.

Jawfish Poker is based around Texas Hold’em. Players are each given two cards, five cards are placed in the middle, and whoever can make the best five-card poker hand will win the round. Jawfish Poker takes that popular idea, and makes a change to one of the biggest parts of the game — betting. Real poker features a level of competitive betting every time new hands are dealt and new cards are shown. Jawfish Poker removes the deep level of strategy that comes from large groups and frequent betting. Instead, the system is based around one-on-one matchups where players get two choices: fold or go all-in. Serious poker enthusiasts may find this setup to be odd or downright childish, but casual fans who crave fast-paced gameplay may find exactly what their looking for.

There are two main modes to Jawfish Poker: Tournaments and King of the Hill. Tournaments are a series of head-to-head hands where players bet all or nothing and the last remaining competitor wins. There are three entry fee levels for tournaments, using in-game gold. The more gold players pay up front, the larger the prize pool is. Players who want to fight for the largest possible prize will be more interested in King of the Hill. This mode works similar to tournaments, but players can enter with various amounts of gold. The goal in King of the Hill is to continuously earn gold and battle to the top of the leaderboard in order to win the jackpot once the timer runs out. Competition is fierce in King of the Hill and users with large amounts of gold have a distinct advantage, but wisely playing the odds gives everyone a fair shot. (more…)

The Inside Network Job Board is dedicated to providing you with the best social media job opportunities across social and mobile application platforms. Here are this week’s highlights from the Inside Network Job Board, including positions at: Tango, Tradeshift, DeNa and more.

Acquinity Interactive

• Partner Sales Manager
• Director of Partner Sales
• Advertiser Injections Developer
• Sr. Email Marketing Manager

App Minis LLC

• Senior Unity Game Programmer

BrightRoll

• Manager, Publisher Development
• Marketing Manager
• Account Manager (CHI)
• Associate Manager, Publisher Development

DeNa

• Performance Marketing Manager

Disney Interactive | Playdom

• Mobile Game Designer
• Sr. Game Designer

Fandango

• Social Media Marketing Manager

King

• Senior Game Developer

POPSUGAR

• Sr. Web Engineer
• Java Search Engineer

Tango

• Senior Software Engineer Client

Tradeshift

• Enterprise Sales Engineer: East Coast

Wooga GmbH

• Game Designer – New Mobile Game

Order & Chaos Duels is a new iOS and Android game from Gameloft. It’s available now as a free download from the App Store and Google Play, and carries additional in-app purchases.

Order & Chaos Duels is the third entry in Gameloft’s Order & Chaos series, which has to date included a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game known as Order & Chaos Online and a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game known as Heroes of Order & Chaos. The Order & Chaos series bears a strong resemblance to Blizzard’s popular Warcraft series in terms of both art style and gameplay, and Order & Chaos Duels continues this trend. While Order & Chaos Online resembles World of Warcraft and Heroes of Order & Chaos is heavily inspired by the popular Warcraft 3 mod Defense of the Ancients (and its immensely popular recent counterparts Dota 2 and League of Legends), Order & Chaos Duels sounds very much like Blizzard’s recently-announced Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. Gameloft is well-known for putting out mobile titles that provide similar experiences to well-established franchises on PC and console, but in the case of Order & Chaos Duels, it has actually beaten Blizzard to the punch by getting its game onto the market first.

Order & Chaos Duels is a card battle game, but it doesn’t follow the usual barely-interactive mold set by popular mobile games such as Rage of Bahamut and Confrontation. Instead, its gameplay is more akin to titles such as Shadow Era from Wulven Game Studios — a game which proved popular enough on mobile to spawn a physical version.

In an individual Order & Chaos Duels battle, two players face off against each other and draw cards into their hand. Each card has a mana cost to play — if the player doesn’t have enough mana to play a card, they can’t play one, but conversely if they have enough mana they may play more than one. A single card per turn may be sacrificed to add a single point to the user’s maximum mana, which replenishes fully at the start of the next turn. Some of the player characters also have special abilities that allow them to temporarily gain additional mana. (more…)

Fast and Furious 6: The Game is an iOS and Android game from Kabam. It is available now for free in the App Store, and coming soon to Google Play. It carries additional in-app purchases.

Fast and Furious 6: The Game is based around the newest installment of the Fast and Furious film series. In the game, players travel around the city, meeting characters from the movie, and drag and drift their way through the ranks with the goal of becoming the city’s top racer. It’s a setting that looks to appeal to fans of the movie series, but the references are light enough to not push away players who aren’t familiar with source material.

The game starts off by dropping players behind the wheel and walks them through the process of a drag race. Since the race is a straight shot from point A to B, there’s no steering wheel, gas pedal, or break system. Instead, each race starts with a countdown at the end of which, the player hits a “launch” button. During a drag race, the only controls are a lever to shift gears and a nitrous oxide boost. There are also drift races, which work identical to drag races, but about halfway through a race, the gear shift lever is replaced with a drift button, and players must hold it as they float along curves. Both race types are simple enough for most players to grasp, but the timing required to compete with high-level opponents may be a bit much for some players.

Winning races and completing challenges earns credits. These credits act as one of the in-game currencies and they can be used to purchase nearly everything in the game. Players are given enough credits for a car at the start, and from there they can purchase more as they progress. There are currently about twenty cars available, and only three are available from the beginning. As players win races and advance to different areas of the city, more expensive cars become available. Fast and Furious 6: The Game isn’t going to draw in car aficionados with its relatively small array of vehicles, but fans of the movies may enjoy the style and speed of the lineup. Players can also use their in-game credits to purchase upgrades to their available cars. These upgrades improve how the car performs, but any purchase made with credits may take a few minutes to arrive.

Players who don’t want to wait can receive their purchase automatically by using gold, the other form of in-game currency, and how Fast and Furious 6: The Game monetizes. Gold can purchase everything credits can, but can also buy design changes and save time. There are various instances where players need to wait due to an energy mechanic  which limits how long a user game session time. Whether they’ve purchased an upgrade or ran out of fuel, players can continue with the action by spending gold. A little bit of gold can be earned by playing the game but more can be purchased in the shop. Gold pricing ranges from $2.99 to $99.99, although any bundle cheaper than $19.99 won’t likely be enough for serious players.

Fast and Furious 6: The Game is a fun experience. There aren’t many notable drag racing games on the market, so it still feels somewhat rare. Because it’s a licensed title, a lot of players are likely to pass on it before they try, but those who give it a shot are likely to find themselves entertained. It lacks a bit of staying power, partially because it uses a movie license, and partially due to a lack of multiplayer interaction. However, there’s still a fun experience that’s likely to draw in both racing fans and Fast and Furious fans.

You can follow Fast and Furious 6: The Game’s progress on AppData, our tracking tool for mobile and social apps and developers.

Sonic the Hedgehog is an iOS and Android game by Sega. It’s available now on the App Store and Google Play for $2.99 and carries no additional in-app purchases.

Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog is a mobile port of the classic Sega Genesis videogame. In it, players take control of Sonic, a blue hedgehog who runs, jumps and spins like a buzz saw. New players will quickly adjust to the simple control scheme and straightforward gameplay. All players are in for a treat, as this mobile entry is an excellent new visit to a legendary game.

Sonic’s previous entries to the mobile gaming scene weren’t often met with praise from hardcore fans. Games like Sonic Jump and Sonic Dash were great, but a far cry from classic Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 captured the feel of the classic games, but ran into its own set of issues. Fortunately, Sega has been able to gather what the core Sonic audience likes and dislikes and they’ve put it all together in this outing. The biggest point of criticism Sega is likely to face is the control scheme, but the on-screen controls are some of the sharpest we’ve seen, and it feels great. Touch screen controls lack a bit of precision compared to physical controllers, but there’s still not much to complain about on this one. Sonic purists may also take issue with Sonic being able to use his spin dash (a feature not available in the original game), but many players won’t even notice as the move has become a trademark of the series. (more…)

The Inside Network Job Board is dedicated to providing you with the best social media job opportunities across social and mobile application platforms. Here are this week’s highlights from the Inside Network Job Board, including positions at: Brightroll, Wooga GmbH, King and more.

Acquinity Interactive

• Partner Sales Manager
• Director of Partner Sales
• Advertiser Injections Developer
• Sr. Email Marketing Manager

App Minis LLC

• Senior Unity Game Programmer

BrightRoll

• Manager, Publisher Development
• Marketing Manager
• Account Manager (CHI)

DeNa

• Performance Marketing Manager

Disney Interactive | Playdom

• Mobile Game Designer
• Sr. Game Designer

Fandango

• Social Media Marketing Manager

King

• Senior Game Developer

POPSUGAR

• Sr. Web Engineer
• Java Search Engineer

Tradeshift

• Enterprise Sales Engineer: East Coast

Wooga GmbH

• Software Engineer – Backend
• iOS Games Developer
• Game Designer – New Mobile Game

EA inviting Sim City Social refugees to Plants vs. Zombies Adventures – Last month we reported that game developer and publisher Electronic Arts announced that on June 14 it will retire three of its Facebook games: Sim City Social, The Sims Social and Pet Society. Today we’ve learned that EA is inviting Sim City Social players to play the beta for the highly anticipated Plants vs. Zombies Adventures Facebook game via emails. The game will launch publicly on May 20.

DreamWorks, PikPok and Verizon promote Turbo with mobile game and $1M in rewards – DreamWorks Animation announced it is promoting its upcoming film Turbo with a mobile game by developer PikPok, which will feature a contest with $1 million in total cash prizes. The Turbo Racing League mobile game is available on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android handsets and tablets, and Windows Phone 8, but players on Verizon, which is presenting the $1 million Shell-Out contest, will have access to unique content. You can read about the contest rules in detail here.

Former New York Times digital and mobile products manager joins EA’s Board of Directors – Game developer and publisher Electronic Arts has appointed Denise F. Warren to its Board of Directors. Warren is executive vice president of the digital products and services group and former chief advertising officer at The New York Times Company. The announcement comes on the heels of EA’s Q4 2013 earnings report which revealed the company earned $104 million in revenue from mobile, and its increasing focus on mobile and digital products.

Elephant Mouse launches Star Trek Rivals – Mobile game developer Elephant Mouse announced the launch of a free-to-play card battle game based on the recently released Star Trek Into Darkness feature film. The game will feature more than 100 cards for players to collect, representing characters, starships and technoolgies that appear in the film. The game is avilable to download for free from the iTunes App Store.

Sonic The Hedgehog debuts on Android – Game developer and publisher Sega announced that the 16-bit Genesis classic Sonic The Hedgehog has launched on Android. The game, which was already available on iOS, is now available to download from the iTunes App Store for $2.99.

Kabam to implement Google+ Sign-In – Social game developer Kabam announced that it will be the first games company to implement Google+ Sign-In. The new integration will provide users with a simple and secure sign-in process on Kabam.com and the ability to engage users with interactive posts, which allow players to share content and prompt friends to take specific actions in their games.

Corona Labs announces Dilbert Game Jam — Venture-backed mobile software company Corona Labs has teamed up with the creator of the Dilbert comic strip Venture-backed mobile software company for a mobile game development contest. Developers are invited to create a winning a game with the Corona SDK and Dilbert artwork. The winner will have the opportunity to publish the the game to major app stores. Additional prizes include yearlong subscriptions to Corona SDK Pro, iTunes gift cards and more. The contest runs from May 14 through July 12 with winners to be announced on July 19. You can read more about the Dilbert Game Jam here.

Google announces game services — During Google’s sixth annual I/O keynote in San Francisco Google’s vice president of Android product management Hugo Barra announced the launch of Google’s equivalent to iOS’ Game Center, Google Play game services. The new feature allows developers to add cloud sync to any game, so users can save their data like player progression and game state across any Android device. Additionally, Google Play game services adds leaderboards and achievements support as well as a new multiplayer feature. Also, game services isn’t limited to Android apps, the service can be integrated into an iOS or web app, allowing cross-platform play.

Slots game SlotoQuest: Gambling Adventure took the top spot on this week’s top emerging games on Facebook, growing by an estimated 19,901 monthly active users for a 24 percent gain. AppData estimates that this puts the game at 91,210 MAU.

Coming in at the No. 2 spot for the second week in a row is GamePoint’s German word game WortSalat with 19,556 new MAU for a gain of 64 percent. 2Bsocial’s dinosaur-themed Jurassic Farm took the No. 3 spot with 18,903 MAU for a gain of 27 percent. Coming in at the  No. 4 spot is Turkish developer Consala’s Pirate-themed Son Korsan with 18,283 MAU for a 57 percent gain. Finally, closing out this week’s list top emerging games on Facebook is Spanish developer Pot Country’s País do Baseado with 18,120 MAU and a 25 percent gain.

This week also saw significant gains in emerging apps outside the top 5. Starting at the No. 8 spot through the No. 11 spot, Bytro Labs’ Supremacy 1914, Spelpunt’s Spelpunt Bingo, Idea Channel’s CASTLOT and Akamon Entertainment’s Roulette all showed a gain of 97 percent. Lastly, Webkinz Friends from developer Ganz came in at No. 14 spot with a gain of 95 percent.

	Name	MAU_ESTIMATExxxxx	Gainxxxxx	Gain,%
1.	SlotoQuest: Gambling Adventurexxxxx	91,210	+19,901	+ 28%
2.	WortSalat	50,117	+19,556	+ 64%
3.	Jurassic Farm	90,212	+18,903	+ 27%
4.	Son Korsan	50,117	+18,283	+ 57%
5.	País do Baseado	90,212	+18,120	+ 25%
6.	Royal Casino Slots	96,477	+14,981	+ 18%
7.	KnobelParty	75,976	+14,854	+ 24%
8.	Supremacy 1914	20,047	+9,860	+ 97%
9.	Spelpunt Bingo	20,047	+9,860	+ 97%
10.	CASTLOT	20,047	+9,860	+ 97%
11.	Roulette	20,047	+9,860	+ 97%
12.	Ashtaria	30,070	+9,696	+ 48%
13.	TheFacemons	30,070	+9,696	+ 48%
14.	Webkinz Friends	19,865	+9,678	+ 95%
15.	Warzone	40,094	+9,533	+ 31%
16.	Crazy Car	50,117	+9,369	+ 23%
17.	ILikeBasketball	50,117	+9,369	+ 23%
18.	Motorcycle Madness	60,141	+9,206	+ 18%
19.	EcoCity	60,141	+9,206	+ 18%
20.	Playwright Slots	60,141	+9,206	+ 18%

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service, AppData. Come back next week for our top weekly gainers by monthly active users on Monday, our daily active users on Wednesday, and the top emerging apps on Friday.