Technologies

Play Katamari Damacy and 5 More Games on Apple Arcade Now

Subscribers can also play Space Invaders and RollerCoaster Tycoon.

More than 20 years after the release of the award-winning game Katamari Damacy, Apple brought the colorful and quirky series to Apple Arcade, along with five other games.

Apple Arcade is filled with familiar and classic games, alongside exclusive titles, that you can play for $7 per month (£7, AU$10). You can find many of these games in the App Store, but they have paywalls and ads that might hinder your gaming experience.

With an Apple Arcade subscription, you can play each game without paywalls and ads, a feature usually denoted by «Plus» in the name. Here are all the games Apple Arcade subscribers can play now. You can also check out the games Apple added in March.

Katamari Damacy Rolling Live

Developer: Bandai Namco

After Katamari Damacy’s release in 2004, the game launched a series of sequels and ports to other consoles, VR headsets and other devices. This Katamari game is the newest addition to the series, and it launched exclusively on Apple Arcade. In this game you’re still rolling objects scattered across Earth to create stars, but this time your adventure is being streamed by the King of All Cosmos, who gives you challenges as your star grows. Plus, as you complete challenges and grow your fanbase, you’ll unlock new dynamic stages.

Space Invaders Infinity Gene Evolve

Developer: Taito Corporation

Space Invaders is another classic game series, and Apple brought the latest entry to Apple Arcade. The game begins with the same mechanics as the classic 2D shooter many people know and love, but evolves into a fast paced shooter. You’ll unlock more powerful ships and weapons as you advance through the game, but you’ll need good reflexes to keep the ships flying and take down invaders.

RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic Plus

Developer: Atari

This version of RollerCoaster Tycoon combines the original game and the sequel, as well as three expansion packs to help you build the amusement park of your dreams. You’ll construct new rides piece by piece on your own or with premade designs, expand your park, and balance the needs and desires of your park customers. Or you can see how high you can shoot a coaster full of patrons into the air. We won’t judge.

Puffies

Developer: Lykke Studios

This puzzle game reimagines classic jigsaws with puffy, 3D-looking stickers. There’s no overarching image to view in these puzzles, but every single puzzle features a pack of stickers that fits together on one sheet of paper. Play the game every day and unlock daily challenges and grow your sticker collection.

The Game of Life 2 Plus

Developer: Marmalade Game Studio

Subscribers can play this award-winning game and experience the board game in a whole new way. This version features different choices and paths than the original Life. You’ll still move around the board via a spinner, but in this version you can pick a career as a dolphin trainer, customize your character piece and explore space in the Lunar Age expansion. The choice is yours.

Sesame Street Mecha Builders Plus

Developer: StoryToys

Join Mecha Elmo, Cookie Monster and Abby Cadabby in this STEM-focused learning adventure. This game combines mini-games and other activities with science, math and creativity. You’ll embark on exciting missions where you’ll practice coding, create music and mix colors in a fun environment. I was admittedly very disappointed when I learned this game was not Big Bird and the gang building giant mechs to defend Sesame Street. Maybe one day.

You can access these games, and others, on Apple Arcade now for $7 per month or $50 annually. You can also try Apple Arcade for free for one month with your first sign-up, or you can get a three-month free trial when you buy a new Apple device. To access Apple Arcade, open the App Store on your iPhone or iPad, and tap the joystick in the menu bar.

Technologies

British Comedy Caper Deep Cover is the Perfect Film to Kick Off Cozy-Crime Summer

This hilarious movie on Prime Video should be at the top of everyone’s weekend watch list.

You can’t move for hit British crime shows right now. Whether it’s Dept. Q or Adolescence on Netflix; MobLand on Paramount Plus; or Slow Horses on Apple TV Plus (even if that one’s technically more of a spy show), gritty and binge-worthy content is showing up on the best streaming services, all delivered in a vibrant array of British accents.

But a shift is happening. We’re about to enter cozy-crime summer, when the genre will get an injection of lighthearted comedy, largely thanks to the much-anticipated adaptation of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club book series, set to land on Netflix this August.

In the meantime, Prime Video is getting in there first with Deep Cover — an action-comedy that flips the British crime script from serious to silly in the best possible way.

In the film, which arrives on Prime Video on June 12, an unlikely trio of improv actors, all of differing skill levels, is recruited as undercover police officers and infiltrates London’s underworld, theoretically to bust a drug ring. Needless to say, am-dram chaos ensues.

Bryce Dallas Howard plays a failed stand-up comic turned improv teacher who ropes her two most hapless students into the gang: a method actor with delusions of grandeur, played by Orlando Bloom, and a nervy IT office nerd, played by Nick Mohammed. Together the three, nicknaming themselves Bonnie, Roach and the Squire, fudge their way through meetings with gangland bosses, each more intimidating than the next, and somehow manage to find friendship and romance along the way.

I went to the film’s premiere at SXSW London last week and came away convinced that Deep Cover should be at the top of everyone’s watch list this weekend. The combination of comedy and action lands it squarely in crowd-pleaser territory, somewhere between Hot Fuzz and The Fall Guy.

Of Deep Cover’s three stars, it’s Mohammed who has the most established comedy chops and gets the biggest laughs (you’ll likely know him best as Nathan Shelley in Ted Lasso — the kit man who defects to become a rival coach). That’s not to say Bloom, who steps somewhat out of his comfort zone in this role, and Howard don’t also deliver. The chemistry between the three lead characters keeps you rooting for them long after their «yes, and…» improv approach to undercover work seems to be failing them.

The film’s director, Tom Kingsley, has also worked on the Bafta-winning TV show Stath Lets Flats (available on Max), which is simultaneously the most Greek and most British piece of television you could ever hope to watch, and which I’ve long been convinced is a work of significant comic genius. Deep Cover has the same echoes of awkward, almost farcical humor, but with an Amazon-size budget behind it.

Still, as Kingsley explained during a Q&A following the premiere, the budget was far smaller than anyone might expect for such a production. Bringing in bona fide Hollywood stars Bloom and Johnson attracted more funding, as did Amazon hopping on board. But the film was reportedly made on something of a shoestring by Hollywood standards.

Still, it’s easy to see where the injection of cash ended up. Deep Cover’s action scenes are sometimes outlandishly slapstick, perfectly befitting of the three clowns at their center, and at times so graphic or high octane that they don’t always jell with the overall tenor of the film. It’s a minor niggle in the scheme of things, and one that shouldn’t deter you.

For all its silliness and stunts, Deep Cover is ultimately a heartwarming tale about developing adult friendships at that stage in life when you might feel like the moments for such opportunities have passed.

If you’re looking for something easy and fun to watch this weekend, then look no further.