Home » Articles and Reviews by 'James Gilmour'
DEVICE 6 Review
In DEVICE 6, words will set you free. As you navigate your way through Year Walk developer Simogo's text-based adventure, you quickly come to realise that the words on screen are your eyes, your ears, your map, your compass, your salvation, and - potentially - your doom. You assume the role of Anna, a woman who is trying to escape the confines of an unspecified island. Like an '80s adventure book, her story unfolds via blocks of text punctuated by moments of interactivity. These momen…
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AppSpy hits 40,000 subscribers on YouTube
As the title of this post suggests, we've just hit a huge landmark for our YouTube channel. If you head on over to the AppSpy video channel, you'll see we now have over 40,000 YouTube subscribers. Naturally, we’re absolutely thrilled, and just wanted to give a big thanks to everyone who has hit that beautiful red 'Subscribe' button. You guys are awesome, and we’re incredibly lucky to have such a faithful (and discerning) community. We have lots of exciting things lined up for the future of AppSpy, and loads more reviews, news, and features which we can’t wait to share with you. AppSpy has always operated under the mantra "We review, you decide." Thanks for deciding to…
Get hack-happy tonight with match-3 puzzler Neurokult
Hackers, take note: Cyberpunk puzzler Neurokult will break down the App Store's firewall at midnight tonight. That is to say, you can buy Neurokult for iPhone and iPad in a few hours. The App Store's security hasn't been compromised or anything. Relax already. Geez. So, why all this talk of hacking? Well, Neurokult gives players a window into an abstract world filled with neon colours and floating circuitry, and then asks you to connect coloured neurones together. It's essentially a match-three puzzler set against the clock. The circular neurones float from left to right, giving you a limited window to select the correct colour and tap them into oblivion. You have look out for curvebal…
Simogo's text-puzzler DEVICE 6 out at midnight tonight
It hasn't been that long since Year Walk, the creepy exploration-puzzler from Beat Sneak Bandit creator Simogo, strode onto our iPhones. As of midnight tonight, however, prepare yourself to get textually excited by the studio's newest App Store project, DEVICE 6. This genre-merging effort combines elements from text-based adventures and puzzlers to tell the story of a young girl called Anna who awakes on an island with no memory of how she got there. If you've ever played Year Walk or Beat Sneak Bandit, you'll know that Simogo is a studio that likes to explore the leftfield. And, with talk of bizarre logic puzzles, sci-fi overtones, and paragraphs of text which turn into maps, it sounds…
Canadians can play Dungeon Keeper right now
An all-new iOS version of Dungeon Keeper has just been soft-launched on the Canadian App Store. Based on Peter Molyneux's isometric strategy classic from 1997, this new interpretation of Dungeon Keeper puts you in charge of managing and maintaining a subterranean lair full of workshy imps and other nasties. This time around, you control the infamous Hand of Evil with your finger, allowing you to remodel your dungeon with a swipe, and redistribute troops to deal with pesky heroic invaders. It should come as no surprise to anyone that EA has built Dungeon Keeper to be a free-to-play experience. So, expect to come face-to-face with wait timers during your construction projects. Though…
Type:Rider Review
Type:Rider is a difficult game to classify. If you boil it down to its bare bones, it's a stunt racer in the mould or Trials or Motoheroz. However, instead of a bike, you're controlling a colon. In fact, the entire game is constructed from letters and punctuation, with each level a kind of alphabet assault course. What pushes Type:Rider beyond the stunt racer classification is its physics-based contraptions and historical info-bursts. You see, as you work your way through the stages,…
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Steampunk Tower Review
Most tower defence games get their title from the numerous weapon towers which players must erect to protect themselves. In the case of Steampunk Tower, the developers have gone one step further, and put a bloody great tower in the middle of the screen to act as a support structure for your weapon towers. It's a bit like Inception, only with towers. Anyhow, this being a steampunk game, you must use a mixture of 1930s-era tech to fend off wave after wave of moisture-powered monstrositi…
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Kart racer Angry Birds Go! coming December 11th
Get ready to start your engines: Rovio's brand new kart racer Angry Birds Go! will come screeching onto the App Store on December 11th. In the first true deviation from the series (Bad Piggies doesn't count - there weren't any birds involved) Angry Birds Go! will let you get behind the wheel of a selection of racing karts, and navigate your favourite aggrevated avian around Piggy Island. Not only does this signify a change of direction for the series in terms of gameplay, this is the first time we have seen the Angry Birds flock rendered in 3D. As you can see from the debut trailer below, the results are actually pretty impressive. Given that is an iOS release in the year 2013, An…
Rollabear Review
What is it about the iOS platform that makes developers want to fire animals from slingshots? Nope, we're not talking about those Angry Birds again. This time, we talking about bears. Bears being fired at little men dressed up as bunnies. And the men dressed as bunnies are actually bowling pins. And the bear has a fish which can turn back time. Still with me? Nevermind - let me explain. You've heard of crazy gold, right? Well, Rollabear is essentially crazy bowling. You launch your c…
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Gunner Z Review
You might be surprised to learn that the nastiest thing about BitMonster's zombie shooter Gunner Z isn't the zombies. Having apparently poured all of their warmth and creativity into last year's charming RPG adventure Lili, the ex-Epic staffers decided to muddy up the App Store waters with yet another undead-themed blaster. However, in their quest for the mighty dollar, the team has concocted a freemium framework which does its level best to impede your progress and hamper your enjoym…
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It'll be 'a few years' before Final Fantasy VII comes to iOS
Sqaure Enix producer and director Takashi Tokita has revealed that classic JRPG Final Fantasy VI will be available from the App Store before the year is out. During a conversation with Kotaku last week, Tokita said that the iOS version of Final Fantasy VI will essentially be a remake, with new battle systems and less "grinding". However, having whetted our appetites for a optimised version FFVI, Tokita went on to suggest that an iOS port of the genre-defining Final Fantasy VII could be around the corner. Specifically, Tokita said: "If this Legacy project works out well, we would like to one day be able to work with VII." As you can imagine, the prospect of two of the best Final Fantasy g…
Horror approaches: Dare you visit Indigo Lake this Thursday?
First-person survival-horror game Indigo Lake is set to creep onto the App Store this Thursday. From what we can gather, this is essentially Most Haunted (or Paranormal Activity for you US folks) with guns. When your ghostbusting buddy Dr. Everett goes missing near a holiday resort called Indigo Lake, it's up to you to strap on your proton pack (read: hand gun) and track him down. As you can see from the trailer (below), gameplay consists of running around spooky-looking forest environments, shooting spirits with a tracer gun (which apparently scares them away), and completing puzzles. We don't know what these puzzles will involve but we are going to assume they feature blood, de…
Star Wars: Tiny Death Star out in Australia and NZ
Name one thing that could make NimbleBit's pixel-art hit Tiny Tower better. If you said planes, trains, or automobiles, then you're wrong (and at least two sequels too late). If, however, you said a fully-automated space station with the firepower to destroy an entire planet, then the force is clearly with you. Late last week, Star Wars: Tiny Death Star was soft-launched in Australia and New Zealand. As you have no doubt guessed, it is essentially a Star Wars-themed re-imagining of Tiny Tower. You play as the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, Darth "I don't like sand" Vader. Instead of brooding silently on the bridge of a Star Destroyer, however, Vader has to act as an intergal…
Batman: Arkham Origins bringing justice to iOS soon
An iOS version of Batman: Arkham Origins is set to swoop onto the App Store alongside its console counterpart this autumn. Cooked up by Batman: Arkham City Lockdown developer NetherRealm, the game will revolve around one-on-one brawls between The Dark Knight and Gotham's rogue's gallery of psychotic villains. Speaking to Pocket Gamer, a spokesperson from NetherRealm confirmed that Batman: Arkham Origins will feature "light RPG elements" which will allow players to tailor The Caped Crusader's fighting style to their liking. We've also been promised an array of unlockable Batsuits to collect, plus appearances from supervillains Deathstroke, The Electrocutioner, and Bane. What's more, if yo…
KAMI Review
Colour-based grid puzzlers are ten-a-penny on the App Store. Throw a stone and you'll hit a Bejeweled or a Polymer or a Crush!, all of which ask you to manipulate and match colours and for points and prestige. The latest game to emerge from this iOS tradition is KAMI, a paper-themed puzzler which has been infused with a powerful Eastern flavour. You are presented with a patterned grid at the beginning of each level. Using the painting palette on the right-hand side of the screen, your…
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