Home » Articles and Reviews by 'Jon Mundy'
Like Machinarium and Botinacula? Samorost 3 is a similarly enchanting iOS adventure game
Developer Amanita Design has made a name for itself in recent years with Machinarium and Botinacula - two beautiful and charming adventure games for iOS. Now it's released another in Samorost 3. As the name suggests, this is the third game in a trilogy, but the first two Samorost games have never appeared on iOS. The first two appeared more than a decade ago as Flash games. That doesn't matter, though. The developer calls Samarost 3 a "loose continuation" of the earlier games, and it's perfectly self-contained. Not your garden Gnome You're cast as Gnome, a little creature who lives in a tiny three-floor observatory. When Gnome discovers a magical flute (as you do), it kicks off a plane…
Samarost 3The 6 best iOS games to get your Battlefield 1 fix on the go
The Battlefield 1 beta recently went live on console and PC, meaning a generous slice of DICE's much-anticipated World War I-set online shooter is available to play for free. But what about mobile gamers? There's no Battlefield game on iOS (not anymore at least), but we can think of a few games that nail that Battlefield spirit. Most are simply accomplished online shooters - yes, they do exist on mobile - but we've also thrown in a nod to Battlefield 1's unusual World War I setting. Blitz Brigade No iOS game captures that Battlefield mix of online FPS action, open levels, and vehicular combat like Blitz Brigade. Okay, so the light-hearted tone is completely different to DICE's series.…
Auralux Constellations and 4 more RTS games that work on mobile
Auralux Constellations is out this week, bringing an absorbing slice of distilled real time strategy to iOS. It's not the only game to make RTS, a genre that typically belongs on PC, work well on mobile though. Indeed, various developers have taken on the challenge, with pleasingly diverse results. Check out these examples of mobile-friendly real time strategy games. Auralux Constellations The newest game on this list borrows heavily from mobile RTS pioneer Galcon, in that you're controlling whole planets full of troops and sending them out in swarms to conquer others. Auralux Constellations is deceptively intuitive yet bracingly tough. Crush Your Enemies This brilliantly pure stra…
Six! on iOS is like Jenga-flavoured digital bubble wrap
We're suckers for a good casual puzzle game on AppSpy - those games where the solid mechanics and tactile controls are everything, to the point where playing the game becomes like scratching a perpetual itch. New iOS release Six! is just such a game. It's pretty much digital bubble wrap. The idea is to drop a hexagonal block down from the top of an endless tower of Tetris-like blocks. You do this by tapping at individual blocks to make them disappear. Joy of Six Six! is simple enough to play, but the challenge comes from the fact that the blocks and your hexagon follow the laws of physics, so unbalancing the tower or tipping the hexagon at too steep an angle will send it careening off th…
Magic Mansion for iOS brilliantly evokes Nintendo's Game Boy and Game & Watch series
We've grown somewhat accustomed to seeing iOS games that evoke the 8-bit and 16-bit eras of gaming - all chunky sprites and chiptronica soundtrack. But most of these references come from past eras of home console gaming. Magic Mansion, on the other hand, references a very specific period of portable gaming. Its monochrome palette and crisp, simple 2D graphics evoke Nintendo's original Game Boy handheld, and the stand-alone Game & Watch devices that inspired that. Endless climber Developer Sets and Settings (who made Wrassling and Battle Golf) and publisher Nitrome (Beneath the Lighthouse, Gunbrick, Icebreaker) refers to this aesthetic as 1-bit, which just about sums it up to perfectio…
Space Marshals 2 shows how a proper Deus Ex mobile game could work
We've recently seen the release of Deus Ex GO onto the App Store, which is a brilliant puzzler set in the universe of the new Deus Ex: Mankind Divided game for console and PC. Deus Ex GO is far removed from the ambitious-but-flawed Deus Ex: The Fall, a 2013 iOS game that tried to be a little too faithful the the first person stealth-action of its host series. Indeed, in recognising the platform's unique attributes and - yes - limitations, we reckon that Deus Ex GO is the better mobile game of the two. But another new iOS release has me wondering if there was another way. Space Marshals 2 is a deeply impressive stealth-action game that nails many of the core elements of the Deus Ex console…
Solitairica and 4 more iOS solitaire games with a twist
Solitairica is out now on the App Store, bringing a delightful RPG twist to the classic single-player card game. It joins a surprisingly fertile sub-genre of games that take solitaire and apply some video game magic to form something new and exciting. Often that involves RPG elements, but it seems as if anything goes - from golf to pirates. If you're fed up of dealing yourself the same old cards, download a few of these onto your iPhone or iPad. Solitairica The latest addition to this list is Solitairica from Righteous Hammer Games. It's a colourful Unreal Engine-powered card battler that utilises solitaire rules as its basis, but stirs in some RPG elements. Clearing cards adds powers…
Riptide GP Renegade could be your new favourite iOS racing game
On the lookout for the next top iOS racer? We may have found just the game you're looking for - and there isn't a squealing tire in sight. Riptide GP Renegade is the third entry in the popular Riptide series. Vector Unit has built a reputation for creating graphically impressive, console-standard aquatic racers that are often used to show off fresh mobile hardware. Yes, we said aquatic. By taking the action off the road and onto the waves, it gives the developer a chance to show off some impressive water effects, with each 'track' reacting realistically and changing on the fly according to the actions of your fellow racers and other environmental incidents (a rocket ship taking off at trac…
The next Pokemon GO update will help you pick the best Pokemon for battle
Niantic is readying its next big Pokemon GO update, and while there's still no sign of a proper tracking feature, we can expect an interesting tool to help us pick our team for battle. Version 0.35.0 for Android and 1.5.0 for iOS devices is in the process of rolling out, according to Niantic. The biggest new feature to be added will be 'Pokémon Appraisal'. According to Niantic, "Trainers will now be able to learn about a Pokémon’s attack and defense capabilities from their Team Leader (Candela, Blanche or Spark) to determine which of their Pokémon have the most potential for battle." It has to be said that this sounds like a useful feature. It's tricky to get a…
Flip Diving is the perfect iOS game for budding Tom Daleys
Britain's Tom Daley may have experienced mixed fortunes at the Rio Olympics, but his performances and those of his fellow divers were enough to give many us the curious urge to throw ourselves off a high position into a body of water. Okay, so very few of us would be crazy enough to actually attempt high diving ourselves. But with Flip Diving, we can still get a tiny taster of this unique sport. Miniclip's free game is currently topping the free apps chart on the App Store, and it's easy to see why. It's got that irresistible mixture of one-button accessibility and refined technique. Flipping out With your diver positioned on the edge of a cliff (other jump locations are available as unl…
New iOS games we're looking forward to this week - Space Marshals 2, Riptide GP: Renegade and more
Each week a fresh batch of iOS games hits the App Store, and it can be easy to overlook or miss a few. We thought it would be a good example, then, to round up some of our most eagerly anticipated games headed for a release some time over the coming days. This week we're looking forward to a console-quality arcade racer, a top-notch twin-stick action game sequel, a colourful card game, and more. We should supply the caveat that no release dates are set in stone, particularly when it comes to Apple's App Store. But as far as we know, all of these games are set to launch this week. Space Marshals 2 The first Space Marshals was an uncommonly polished top-down twin-stick shooter with a hef…
7 iOS games made better by 3D Touch controls
With iOS classic Jetpack Joyride gaining 3D Touch compatibility through a recent update, it got us to thinking about the best gaming applications of Apple's pressure sensitive technology. The iPhone 6S is almost a year old now, so the announcement of the iPhone 7 (or whatever Apple calls it) is more than likely only a couple of weeks away. One of the things this will mean is that Apple's revolutionary 3D Touch technology will be well established, and most of the company's iPhone range will sport the technology. With added 3D Touch functionality likely to be added to the next version of iOS, we suspect that game developers will be working a little harder to implement 3D Touch controls into…
Leap of Fate is a new iOS roguelike shooter with real chops
Leap of Fate has just hit the iOS App Store, and it's a game that deserves some serious attention. With Deus Ex GO and Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n hitting the App Store this week, it's understandable that other iOS games might struggle for attention. But we're going to highlight one particular fresh release that you might want to know about. Leap of Fate doesn't have a big IP attached to it or a major studio behind it, but it's still got some intriguing pedigree. Steam punk It started out life on Steam as an indie PC game, where it's attracted a great deal of word-of-mouth praise. Now it's made its way over to iOS, where it looks set to impress a whole new crowd. Leap of Fate is a twin-s…
Grab Pixel Cup Soccer 2016 for free ahead of the Olympic Games Rio 2016 football finals
As the Premier League season reaches its second weekend and the Rio Olympics soccer tournament finals approach, it was a smart idea for Apple to choose one of the best mobile footy games of recent times as its Free App of the Week. You won't find real player names and likenesses or realistic ball physics in Pixel Cup Soccer 2016. Rather, it's been inspired by the pre-FIFA generation of footy games. These games were interested in fast-paced, arcadey gameplay over providing a precise simulation of the beautiful game. Many people would say they were all the better for it. Close control All we know in the here and now is that Pixel Cup Soccer 2016 is a blast to play on iPhone and iPad. The c…
Legend of the Skyfish and 5 more iOS games that remind us of Zelda
Legend of the Skyfish is a bright new iOS adventure game from Crescent Moon Games and Mgaia Studios, and it obviously owes a debt to Nintendo's Zelda series. It can be seen in the game's whimsical art style, top-down adventuring, and quirky fairytale lore. Even the protagonist's signature tool/weapon is reminiscent of the hook shot Link so often wields in the Zelda series. This isn't the first iOS game to take inspiration from Nintendo's iconic action-RPG. There are been plenty of tributes, both explicit and subtle. Here are five of best and most obvious Zelda-like games on iOS. Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas There's no getting away from it. Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas…
