Home » Articles and Reviews by 'James Gilmour'
Time is of the essence in Kemco's latest JRPG Chronus Arc
Japanese RPG factory Kemco has just spat out another of its retro-styled, fantasy themed quest-'em-ups. This one's called Chronus Arc. According the the App Store blurb, it features "familiar quests" and dungeons. Well, at least they're up front about it. The actual plot concerns powerful artifacts called Chronus Fragments. When assembled, these fragments can control the passage of time. It all sounds a bit Chrono Trigger to us, but we're sure that's just a coincidence or a paradox or something. Anyhow, it's up to you to reclaim this time shrapnel from a sinister chap named Geppel, who probably wants to use it to travel back in time to just after he was born and persuade his parents to gi…
Trade in your rocket booster for a giant mech with new Jetpack Joyride update
Jetpack Joyride is great and all, but I've always felt it was lacking one important element: the ability to play as an enormous homicidal robot. Thankfully, the folks at Halfbrick have seen fit to correct this terrible oversight in the game's most recent update, codenamed 'S.A.M.' If you can get Barry to collect three tokens, then the stubble-faced aeronaut will leap into the belly of the giant mech. Check it out: What's more, if you manage to hop inside S.A.M.'s metal chassis on five consecutive days, you'll unlock some bonus costumes for Barry. And, for those of you who already have Christmas on the brain (for shame) you can now purchase Santa's rocket-equipped sleigh, an…
Document editing suite Polaris Office reduced from $19.99 to 99c
We realise that we usually focus on games here at AppSpy. Still, even dedicated gamers like ourselves (very) occasionally use our iPhones or iPads for business purposes. The Polaris Office suite has earned a reputation as one of the better document editing apps on the App Store. Basically, it lets you edit a wide range of MS Office documents (including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint pages) using your Apple tablet or phone. It also interacts with filesharing services like Dropbox, allowing you to move your edited files back and forth between handset and PC. All this functionality comes at a cost, though. When Polaris Office originally hit the App Store last year, it came with a price…
Rev your chainswords for the debut trailer of Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf
Mere days after Games Workshop's tabletop corridor shooter Space Hulk lumbers onto iOS, another Warhammer 40K property has been sighted making a charge for App Store glory. According to its brand new announcement trailer, Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf will bring turn-based combat mechanics to the collectible card game genre, and shower both elements in a fountain of blood. Cooked up by the folks at HeroCraft, the game will be free-to-play, and is set to arrive in the spring of 2014. The trailer (above) shows some sturdy looking Space Wolves being equipped with weaponry via a card selection screen, before putting those weapons to devastating use against some Chaos Marines. As we don't ge…
Candy Crush Saga follow-up Papa Pear Saga ready to be plucked from App Stores worldwide
The pear flavoured follow-up to global success story Candy Crush Saga has just gone live on App Stores around the world. Papa Pear Saga is essentially developer King's take on PopCap's iconic ball-pinger Peggle. You chuck a marble at a floating cluster of fruit, and the marble eliminates every object it touches from the screen. There's a huge amount of luck involved in clearing a screen, but the game makes plenty of encourages noises and dole's out mad rainbow victory fireworks to make you feel like you've earned your three stars. It's nothing we haven't seen before, but if it enjoys half the success of Candy Crush Saga, then you, your mates, and your mum will all be playing it by tomor…
Enjoy a cornucopia of extras in Junk Jack X's Thanksgiving update
We took a bit of an interest in the malleable digital playground that is Junk Junk X. So much so, in fact, that Peter and I documented some of our early, naive fumblings with the game in The Junk Jack X Files (below). However, while we were trying to work out which end of the pickaxe does the digging, the dev was busy knocking up the game's latest update. The 2.0.5 Thanksgiving update adds 100 new achievements, a collection of toys to mess around with, and some rare items to get your blocky mitts on. Of course, this is a seasonal update, so it also comes with the obligatory cornucopia full of Thanksgiving goodies. There are a ton of additional improvements in the changelog, including a…
Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse Review
Trying recapture past glories is a dangerous pursuit. Just because something worked for an audience 20 years ago, doesn't mean it's going to play to modern tastes. However, that hasn't stopped Disney from taking another run its beloved platformer Castle of Illusion. Originally released on consoles, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse draws inspiration from the 2D Mega Drive classic. Instead of a direct remake, however, this digital download is an all-new experience, featuring fre…
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Critically acclaimed strategy game Skulls of the Shogun out now on iOS
Critically acclaimed strategy game Skulls of the Shogun is finally available on the App Store. Originally released for Windows 8 last year, this ghoulish take on the turn-based strategy genre puts you in charge of a dead Japanese general. It's up to you to marshal your ghostly army, and cut a swathe of spiritual destruction through the forces of the underworld. The game's humorous presentation, accessibility, and surprising depth earned it praise from critics and gamers alike. As you can see from the trailer below, it also looks fantastic. As 17-Bit Studios has kept iOS gamers waiting for so long, it has decided to throw in some bonus content previously only present on the Steam r…
Get on your bike and get your kit off in Icycle: On Thin Ice
We've done some funny thing on our iOS devices over the years. We've chucked birds at pigs. We've cut ropes to feed candy to a small green monster. However, we've never guided a naked man on a bicycle across an ever-shifting plane of ice and snow. Until now. You see, this bizarre scenario is precisely what you'll be faced with if you download new puzzle-platformer Icycle: On Thin Ice. Created as a kind of quasi-sequel to one of developer Damp Gnat's Flash games, Icycle: On Thin Ice comprises a series of gorgeous-looking multi-screen levels. The aim is to get your nude cyclist across the screen, collecting objects and cash - and (hopefully) picking up some clothes - along the way.…
Angry Birds Go! | Hands-On
If you happen to live in New Zealand, you may have noticed that you can now download Rovio's free-to-play kart racer Angry Birds Go! from the App Store. While I don't live in New Zealand, I do have a magical portal which allows me to cross time zones, download games from faraway lands, and zip back to Blighty before my Cornflakes go soggy. Thanks to this geography-defying temporal disturbance, I have managed to coax the feathery racer onto my iPhone, and record a little hands-on so that the rest of you can see what you're missing. Remember, this is the soft launch version of Angry Birds Go!, so the game may change between now and the game's global release date, December 11th…
Assassin's Creed Pirates | Hands-On
Ubisoft has just announced that Assassin's Creed Pirates, its seafaring iOS tie-in to console release Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, will drop anchor in App Store waters on December 5th. However, it just so happens that we've got our hooked hands on a preview build of the privateering sim, and have been putting it through its peg-legged paces. Cast as salty scoundrel Alonzo Batilla, you must sail the seas of the Caribbean blowing up other ships, looting treasure, and generally being a bit piratey. If you want to see what all of that looks like, then cast your eyes over our hands-on video below, in which I guide you through the first 15 minutes of the game.…
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas coming to iOS next month
It was inevitable, we suppose. After the critical and commercial success of the iOS versions of GTA III and GTA: Vice City, it was only a matter of time before Rockstar got around to porting its first Los Angeles-inspired epic to iPhone and iPad. Well, it turns out that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is set to tear up the App Store in December. That's THIS December. Next month. Within four weeks. Just like the other iOS ports in the crime sim series, GTA: San Andreas will feature contextual touchscreen controls. According to a press release from Rockstar, there will be no less than three different control variations for steering vehicles, and support for those new iOS controllers we'…
Catch your breath in surreal adventure The Inner World, out on iOS tomorrow
Surreal point-and-click adventure The Inner World is set to appear on the App Store tomorrow. This unusual story charts the exploits of Robert, a court musician with a flute for a nose. When his monastery's air supply is cut off, Robert must team up with roguish accomplice Laura to reactivate the wind fountains, and save the land from suffocation. As you can see from the trailer (below), the developer has opted to set simple, hand-drawn character designs against more detailed backdrops. The Inner World received fair reviews when it landed on PC, with players heaping praise upon the game's unique and bizarre environments. We've yet to see how the puzzle mechanics will translate ont…
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years | Hands-On
As we reported yesterday, Square Enix has just released its 3D revamp of pseudo sequel Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. Picking up some 17 years after the events of Final Fantasy IV, the game lets you revisit old characters, and explore new storylines over several self-contained chapters. This is a Square Enix game, so the barrier for entry is pretty high - £10.99 / $15.99 to be exact. While we will be reviewing The After Years, these RPGs take a little time to complete. To tide you over in the meantime, we've gone hands-on with the game and posted to the results for your perusal. [App Store link]…
Games Workshop classic Space Hulk coming to iPad on December 5th
The iOS version of Games Workshop's tabletop classic Space Hulk will stomp onto iPads everywhere next week. Set in the Warhammer 40K universe and developed by Full Control, the tactical isometric blaster will recreate the Sin of Damnation campaign from the original game. As with most Space Hulk scenarios, this campaign involves guiding your squad of Space Marine Terminators through the claustrophobic corridors of an abandoned ship, fending off attacks from multi-limbed Genestealers. Though Space Hulk is only coming to iPads (sorry, iPhone owners) it will support cross-platform multiplayer, allowing you to do battle with other commanders via iPad, PC, and Mac. Space Hulk will go live on t…
