Home » Articles and Reviews by 'James Gilmour'
Omicron HD iPad Review
The colour-tapping casual puzzler Omicron has been on the App Store for a couple of years now. However, clearly bored by the flat visuals and limited modes of the original, the devs have decided to completely overhaul and re-launch the game via a recent update. The core gameplay remains the same as always. You are presented with a colour at the beginning of every round. It's your job to tap every matching tile that appears, with the intention of clearing the screen. Successfuls taps a…
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Way of the Dogg Review
It may surprise you to hear this, but Way of the Dogg, a blacksploitation, time manipulating rhythm fighter starring rasta rapper Snoop Lion, isn't zany enough. You'd think a game that casts Snoop as a kung fu guru who possesses the secrets of time travel would be chock full of psychedelic visuals, crazy characters, and inventive special moves. Instead we have a perfectly competent rhythm game, one which arguably works better on iOS than it does on consoles, but which fails to take f…
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XCOM: Enemy Unknown out on Thursday
Strategic UFO shooter XCOM: Enemy Unknown is due to appear on the App Store this Thursday. This release will be an almost identical port of the acclaimed console and PC title of the same name. If you've never stumbled across the console version, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a turn-based strategy game which places you in command of a military response unit. You job is to monitor, manage and repel UFO incursions. Here's what you need to know: Firstly, it'll be available on iPhone and iPad. Secondly, as it's a port of a recent console release, you're going to be dealing with a pretty hefty file size. We're talking gigabytes rather than megabytes here, meaning you might have to m…
Man of Steel Review
Having made decent cameos in both Injustice: Gods Among Us and Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Krypton's favourite son has been in training for a brawler of his very own. It's a shame, then, that Man of Steel falls short of greatness. Instead of soaring into the clouds, this gesture-based brawler is weighed down by humdrum combat, and a disappointing lack of variety. As with Infinity Blade, fights are one-on-one bouts of gesture-powered pugilism. To let those fists of justice fly, yo…
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League of Evil 3 landing on the App Store June 27th
If there's one thing Ravenous Games knows, its 2D platformers. From the League of Evil series to Infestor and Random Heroes, the Canadian studio is a beacon to other iOS developers looking for examples of pixel-perfect touchscreen control systems. Which brings me to today's good news: League of Evil 3 is due to come leaping onto the App Store on June 27th. As before, you'll be guiding a partially mechanised super soldier through a series of hazardous envirnoments. Your mission: clobber the villainous scientists who have made you the (awesome) monster you are. Judging by the screenshots, it looks like the dev is sticking fairly closely to the established formula of jumping, dodging,…
Friday News Wrap-Up 14 June 2013
Now that the E3 conference has wound down, we think it's time to take a deep breath and take stock of all the new iOS gaming info that's emerged during the show. With that in mind, here is your AppSpy News Wrap-Up. The Walking Dead - 400 Days When the curtain fell on episode five of Telltale's interactive zombie drama The Walking Dead: The Game, many of us felt that we had experienced something rare and special. Telltale's coders were borne high on the shoulders of the gamers everywhere, and subsequently promised us another season's worth of harrowing survival gameplay and heartbreaking decisions. What the team didn't tell us was that they were secretly working on an additional DLC epis…
Gangstar Vegas Review
Gangstar Vegas is a textbook example of generation loss. If you're unfamiliar with the term, it describes the loss of quality that occurs when something is copied. In the case of the Gangstar franchise, the source material is clearly Grand Theft Auto. For Gangstar Vegas, Gameloft has transplanted the shooting, mugging, and carjacking action of its GTA wanabee franchise to Nevada's infamous Vegas Strip. This is presumably in an effort to inject some colour and fun into the s…
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Despicable Me: Minion Rush out now
With Despicable Me 2 due to arrive in cinemas later this month, the Hollywood hype machine is whirring into motion. One increasingly important cog in this noisy contraption is the tie-in video game. With that in mind, Gameloft has just released the trailer for its new iOS title Despicable Me: Minion Rush. It's a 3D endless runner in the vein of Temple Run, and stars the cute, yellow minions made famous by the first movie. We'll have a review ready for you later today, but you can check out the trailer below in the meantime. If you want to try it out for yourself, you can grab it free for iPhone and iPad right now. …
The Walking Dead - 400 Days DLC trailer revealed
When the curtain fell on episode five of Telltale's interactive zombie drama The Walking Dead: The Game, many of us felt that we had experienced something rare and special. Telltale's coders were borne high on the shoulders of the gamers everywhere, and subsequently promised us another season's worth of harrowing survival gameplay and heartbreaking decisions. What the team didn't tell us was that they were secretly working on an additional DLC episode to accompany the first series. However, at E3 today, Telltale unveiled the first trailer for The Walking Dead - 400 Days. As you can see from the teaser (below), this episode moves away from the trials and tribulations of Lee and Clementine…
Deep Dungeons of Doom Review
Who'd have thought that one of the most sophisiticated pieces of handheld technology available today would play host to so many pixel-art games? MiniBoss's retro action-RPG Deep Dungeons of Doom is merely the latest in a long and block procession of games seeking to ape the 8-bit aesthetic of yesteryear. However, while we admit to having a soft spot for retro titles, a game cannot pass muster on nostalgia factor alone. Luckily for Deep Dungeons of Doom, it succeeds in providing a super…
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First trailer for Asphalt 8: Airborne
Gameloft has just posted the first trailer for upcoming racing sequel Asphalt 8: Airborne. While the series's trademark good looks are still intact, it's Asphalt 8: Airborne's array of stunt opportunities which have gained our attention. You see, thanks to a new physics engine, you'll be able to launch your supercharged racer off the tarmac and into the air, where you can perform gnarly spins and flips. These hair-raising stunts can be performed over the game's eight new maps, which will take you "from the Nevada desert to the city streets of London". You can also look forward to a variety of different weather conditions, all of which will affect the handling of your vehicle. Socia…
Kingdom Rush Frontiers HD iPad Review
Sequels can be tricky. You have to give the fans more of what they loved the first time out, while adding enough new elements to warrant a second visit. It's doubly difficult when you're following an acclaimed title like tower defence titan Kingdom Rush. Luckily for us, developer Ironhide has kept its cool and delivered another top tier instalment to artillery-oriented action. The team hasn't deviated far from the original template, but considering the quality of the original, that's n…
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See the debut trailer for Pacific Rim: The Mobile Game
The movie fans among you might be familiar with upcoming mechs-vs-monsters flick Pacific Rim. Helmed by Pans Labyrinth and Hellboy mastermind Guillermo del Toro, the film promises to marry the old fashioned sensibilities of the Godzilla movies with the mech-heavy iron fisticuffs of Gundam. Of course, nowadays you can't have a blockbuster film without the obligatory tie-in mobile game. And, sure enough, Reliance Games has just posted the trailer for Pacific Rim: The Mobile Game. It's only a teaser, and we're not sure how much of it (if any) is actual in-game footage. However, if we had to guess, we'd say that this is probably going to be a gesture controlled brawler in the vein of Batm…
World War Z Review
World War Z is a conflicted game. On the one hand, its developer has tried to revamp the first-person shooter genre by creating a new control system tailor-made for touchscreen devices. But, while the controls may be progressive, the gameplay all too frequently lapses into uninspired - and frankly quite tedious - shoot and collect missions. It's not all bad news, though. In fact, World War Z's drab, grey surface betrays stabs or real colour and excitement. The game is probably at is s…
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Friday News Wrap-Up 7 June 2013
With E3 looming on the horizon, this week has been a veritable smorgasbord of trailers and teasers. To save you tiring out your clicking finger, we've compiled the most interesting ones in this week's AppSpy News Wrap-Up. Enjoy. Plants vs. Zombies 2 coming to iOS on July 18th It’s been a long time coming, but the Plants vs. Zombies sequel is nearly upon us. It’s called Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time, and will shuffle onto our lawns on July 18th. Much like the most recent Cut the Rope sequel, this fertile follow up will propel the player between different periods of history. The developer has also announced that PvsZ 2 will be a freemium title. Shifting the franc…
