Home » Articles and Reviews by 'James Gilmour'
Asphalt 8 gets war-torn Venice track to celebrate the launch of Modern Combat 5
As you may have already heard, Modern Combat 5: Blackout is blasting its way onto the App Store this week. What you may not know is that Gameloft's new military shooter is also invading other games - specifically, high octane arcade racer Asphalt 8: Airborne. As part of an unusual cross-promotion, Asphalt 8 players will be able to zoom around a Venice track which is being bombarded by explosions, helicopters, and some more explosions. This perk is part of a Time Limited Event which expires when Modern Combat 5 goes live on the App Store on July 24th. What's more, navigate the war-torn track with skill, and you might even win a free copy of Modern Combat 5. You can download Asphal…
Hands-on with Star Admiral, the 3D sci-fi CCG
With Hearthstone stealing hearts, and Magic 2015 breathing new life into Wizards of the Coast's long running series, the collectible card game genre has never been more high profile. Star Admiral is another addition to the CCG canon. However, while it's technically a card game as far as the rules are concerned, the units you deploy are proper spaceships rendered in full 3D. Depsite the flashy visuals, the mechanics of play will be familiar to genre fans: drop units into the field of play, attack enemy units, and try to defeat the opposing warlord. I went hands-on with Star Admiral earlier today. Here's video evidence:…
Hands-on with Modern Combat 5: Blackout, Gameloft's bombastic shooter sequel
This week sees the launch of Modern Combat 5: Blackout, the fifth instalment in Gameloft's gung-ho military shooter series. As before, the game laces you into the steel toecaps of a battle-hardened soldier on a mission to do something brave and / or heroic. This mission involves handling enough high-powered weaponry to make Stallone weep, and taking out wave after wave of anonymous army dudes until all of the bullets in the world are gone. Ahead of its release on Thursday, we've gone hands-on with the first level Modern Combat 5: Blackout for your viewing pleasure. Check out the video below to see the game in action.…
Hands-on with Ninja Up, the high-jumping twitch timewaster
We're used to seeing ninjas portrayed as shadowy figures, most often found skulking around bamboo forests and running silently over rooftops. Gameloft's latest arcade iOS game Ninja Up throws stealth and subterfuge out of the window, focusing instead on catapulting a ninja warrior up the side of an office block in broad daylight. Rather than controlling the ninja directly, you must draw small elastic ropes onto the screen. These act as trampolines which propel your vertically ascending hero higher and higher. There are girders to avoid, and weird helicopter dudes who threaten to chop you into little ninja pieces. You can download Ninja Up for free on iPhone and iPad right now. To see wha…
Learn how to play Monster Hunter Freedom Unite with AppSpy - Episode 1
Monsters are jerks. Swaggering around with their gigantic crab-like claws and magical fire breath, playing 'who can chomp the most humans in a single bite' while they clear the bones of your relatives out of their monster bin. However, we at AppSpy have decided we're not going to take their crap any longer. Every Friday, Peter, Harry, and I are meeting up on the AppSpy Twitch channel to play the newly-released iOS version of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. Starting from scratch, the three of us are going to learn the ropes, improve our weapons and skills, and work our way through the game's enormous bestiary of dangerous and exotic creatures. And damn it, we're going to take out every las…
Hands-on with Zombie Commando, the undead-immolating team blaster
Upon seeing the title Zombie Commando appear in my App Store listings, a little part of me immediately wanted to switch off my iPhone, dive under a duvet, and sleep until this whole zombie craze finally blows over. However, having ignored my kneejerk cynicism and download the game regardless, I can report that Zombie Commando is a little more interesting than its name might suggest. Rather than taking control of a lone warrior, you get direct a team of up to eight characters around an undead-infested world, blasting your way to freedom with machine guns and flame-throwers, and cracking skull with baseball bats. The controls are super streamlined, with one virtual sticks guiding your…
Hands-on with Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, the new omg wtf ikr watevs I'm so over it you guys
So it's come to this. I've played enough free-to-play games to comfortably drain the wallets of 100 committed thumb-jostlers. I've flown futuristic hovercrafts. I've commanded armies to victory across the war-torn fields of feudal China. I've explored uncharted regions of faraway galaxies, and unlocked alternative dimensions with a flick of my wrist. Today, I helped Kim Kardashian choose a dress. She was so pleased that money literally popped out of her body and bounced along the boutique floor, upon which I scrambled to gather her casually discarded wealth like a grateful orphan chasing an abandoned crust of bread. The video below documents this event, which was just one of many humili…
Hands-on with Oscura: Second Shadow, the light gathering silhouette platformer
Oscura was a fairly decent platformer. A moody, silhouette-styled game with creepy enemies and evil-looking machinery, it appeared on iOS back in 2011 in the wake of Limbo. Tonight, Oscura: Second Shadow hits the App Store, and aims to continue the journey of the light-bearing imp at the centre of the first game. As before, you'll be guiding him around hazardous environments filled with spiked beasties, water pits, lava, and other unpleasant obstructions. As you collect light shards, you open doors, and gain the ability to slow down time for a short period. This bullet-time effect helps you leg it past enemies who might otherwise outrun you, and can save your life if used wisely. The mos…
Hands-on with The Rhythm of Fighters, SNK Playmore's rhythm-action brawler
Whether its Han Solo busting moves in Star Wars Kinect, or Cloud Strife busting moves in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, it seems there's no franchise which can't be turned into a rhythm action game. The latest series to fall victim to the beat is The King of Fighters, the 2D brawler from SNK Playmore, which has been reinvented as a music-based tap-'em-up called The Rhythm of Fighters. While the visuals remain faithful to the series, the violence is controlled by tapping in time with dots which appear on the screen. Before long, you'll have to use expertly judged swipes and flicks to build combos and unleash special moves. The character list is a who's who of SNK characters, including fan favo…
Hands-on with Splot, the bouncy, alien-infested platformer
Another unreleased game we got our hands-on at Pocket Gamer Connects is Splot, a colourful and bouncy platformer for iPhone and iPad. As you can see from the video above, this game involves guiding a charismatic alien blob around the screen. The aim is to save the birds scattered around each environment, while racing a big black blob to the finish line. As well as inflating himself to beach ball-like proportions to propel himself across gaps and between platforms, Splot can also slide down vertical surfaces to avoid dropping onto hazards like rotating buzzsaws. Splot should bounce onto iPhone and iPad this summer. In the meantime, take a look at our hands-on video.…
Hands-on with Beatbuddy, the musical action adventure
Though we've posted a ton of videos from E3 and Pocket Gamer Connects over the past two weeks, we're still catching up with the backlog of hands-on footage we've captured. However, we couldn't go a moment longer without posting this video Beatbuddy, a gorgeous and ingenious new rhythm action game coming soon to iPhone and iPad. Dropped in the world of Symphonia, you must guide Beatbuddy around six 2D worlds to stop an evil maestro from stealing all the music in the world. Sounds and rhythms pulse from objects and platforms all over the world. You'll need to use them to navigate each level, rebounding off throbbing plantlife to break down barriers, and timing your movements to coincide w…
Get FTL: Faster Than Light on iPad 33% cheaper till July
Excellent sci-fi roguelike FTL: Faster Than Light has just received a 33% price cut courtesy of a surprise summer sale. Created by Subset Games, FTL: Faster Than Light puts you in command of a ship which is being pursued by an advancing rebel fleet. The aim of the game is to journey across seven sectors of space, during the course of which you must disable drones, do battle with pirates, collect scrap, and upgrade your vessel. As this is a roguelike, death is final, forcing you to restart your voyage after every your ship is reduced to space dust. Each run is such a unique and compelling adventure, however, that you'll you'll want to hire a new crew and get back out into the cosmos befor…
Hands-on with Very Big Indie Pitch winner AG Drive, the WipEout-style futuristic racer
In case you were wondering where my voice had got to this week, it was with me in Helsinki, where I was participating in the Pocket Gamer Connects conference. While there, we threw an AppSpy co-sponsored event called the Very Big Indie Pitch. If you're unfamiliar with the VBIP, it's a regular event where loads of indie developers get a chance to push their games into the eyeline of games journos, publishers, and industry types. Each pitcher has 3 minutes to grab our attention, after which they must move to the next table. Think X-Factor with more games and slightly less singing. Though there were some great entrants, many of which you'll be seeing in AppSpy hands-on videos over the com…
E3 2014: Hands-on with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite iOS on iPad
We've been interested in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite iOS since it first landed on the Japanese App Store. A spruced-up port of the 2009 PSP game, it features tweaked visuals, and a completely overhauled control system designed exclusively for iOS. However, as our Japanese is a little rusty, we were delighted when Capcom revealed that the creature-battling epic was on its way to the North American App Store. Naturally, the moment we arrived at E3, we immediately sprinted over the Capcom booth to get our hands on the English version. Here's some direct-from-iPad footage of Peter fighting a massive red dragon. And mostly losing. …
E3 2014: Hands-on with Hitman: Sniper on iPad
While Hitman Go was a critical success for Square Enix - we thought it was a fantastic and original interpretation of the Hitman series - there were some franchise fans who felt that it was lacking in the gunplay department. If you were one of these people, then fear not: Hitman: Sniper should scratch that itchy trigger finger of yours. Due to be released on iPad later this year, this tactical gallery shooter is all about being one with your sniper rifle. You have to assess your targets and their surroundings, planning several shots ahead to ensure you make your mark, and the alarm isn't sounded by a startled bodyguard or keen-eyed maid. We sent our own mercenary-for-hire Peter…
