Home » Articles and Reviews by 'Dave Flodine'
Clash Force Review
With the popularity of pixel art, chiptune music and sending gamers back to a simpler time period bathed in the warm glow of nostalgia, the landscape is as ripe and ready as it's ever going to be for a game like Clash Force. Taking its cues and look from games like Contra and Megaman, this game feels like it would be right at home on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Does that translate well to a touch screen mobile device however? Well yes and no. A NES-esque gamepad lays at the bot…
Watch The Video Review
Rune Raiders Review
The title of Rune Raiders is misleading. You're not raiding runes. You're not even raiding ruins. This is a dungeon crawler... well kinda. Think of a grid based table top game like Hero Quest, and then put that into videogame form, except there are no dice roles, you control the entire party, and some of the banter between your group members is quite humorous. The comparison to table top dungeon crawlers was made due to your party members and all the enemies being represented by what…
Watch The Video Review
Light The Flower Review
Most plant owners know that since sunlight is a necessity for flower growth, that the pots should be set near a window or skylight so the plant is never at want for those tasty rays. Someone neglected to tell the home owner of Light the Flower this, so now it's up to the player to use the magic of reflective surfaces (ie. Mirrors) to make sure the flowers get the sunlight they so richly deserve. Puzzle fans should be familiar with the style of game on offer here. Instead of ninety deg…
Watch The Video Review
English Country Tune Review
This game came to our attention via an article in the New Yorker about ultra difficulty in games. In some ways its easy to see why English Country Tune was one of the focuses of the piece. What we have here is an abstract puzzle game with little to no direction, that should appeal to hardcore puzzle aficionados. What about the rest of the gaming populace however? Well you may be intrigued by what's on offer here. The first world of the game, 'larva' revolves around putting the spheric…
Watch The Video Review
puzzle game
SpellTower Review
Your average word game never fails to impress on some level as word formation is such a simple yet addictive puzzle for our brains to solve. What sets some above others is not only the format of finding words, but the elegance of word creation itself, and this is where Spelltower by Zach Gage shines. Words are created by swiping through letters. Not just vertically and horizontally however, but diagonally as well. And it's not to say it's like a word find either. You can start your wo…
Watch The Video Review
Madcoaster Review
One of the first games AppSpy ever reviewed was 3D Rollercoaster Rush, and to be honest, upon opening up Mad Coaster, there was some expectations that it would be similar (as it had some fun albeit not long-lasting gameplay). Mad Coaster is not even close however, taking the concept of riding a rollercoaster and plopping it in the endless runner genre, complete with coin collecting, and objectives to complete. All you need to know to play this is that you tap the screen to jump over c…
Watch The Video Review
Azkend 2 - The World Beneath Review
Traveling on a boat from Liverpool, England to New York, you find yourself swept up in a maelstrom and awaken beneath the waves, embarking on an adventure full of wondrous locations untouched and unseen by any explorer before. To back up this intriguing tale with gameplay, Azkend 2 takes the popular match three formula, adds its own unique spin, and throws in some easy hidden object diversion for good measure. The match three game is based around fixing or acquiring lost or broken obj…
Watch The Video Review
Circadia Review
When Circadia loads up and you find yourself staring at the title screen waiting for something to happen, tap on the colored dot. That small interaction is all you need to know for this minimalistic puzzler. OK, well it's not everything you need to know, but let's call it at least two thirds. Tapping a colored dot will send out a ripple of color and sound. When that ripple hits the white dot, the next stage unveils itself. That's just the beginning however. Soon enough two colored dot…
Watch The Video Review
Harry the Fairy Review
Nature vs industry has been a very common theme in many stories across many mediums, but somehow it gains even more emphasis when there's no setup, and only through playing the game and witnessing what is going on, does a theme begin to form. Harry the Fairy spends each level flying around a cavern trying to free one of his fairy friends who has been captured. Along the way there are stars to collect, hazards to avoid, and small puzzles to overcome. Harry is controlled completely by t…
Watch The Video Review
Super Lemonade Factory Review
Sometimes a game doesn't click with you no matter how amazingly it's presented, and let's not mince words, Super Lemonade Factory is immaculately presented. From the detailed low fidelity pixel art to the groovy chiptune soundtrack, all the way to the intriguing story filled with interesting characters. The thing is though that every aspect of a game needs to work in tandem to deliver a memorable and enjoyable gaming experience and in the gameplay department, at least for us at AppSpy,…
Watch The Video Review
Zuma's Revenge! Review
The original Zuma was one of the titles that cemented Popcap's reputation for developing games that were simple, fun, and addictive. Since the release, many games have copied Zuma's formula, and while many of them have been quite good, there's nothing like the genuine article, and that leads us to the 2009 sequel Zuma's Revenge making its way onto the app store. A lone frog washes up on a desert island plagued by vengeful tiki spirits. Luckily the frog is able to burp up and shoot col…
Watch The Video Review
Final Freeway 2R Review
Weren't racing games at the arcades awesome back in the day? They usually had this giant car cabinet that you sat in. There was a steering wheel, and pedals. Sometimes even a gearbox! Sure the physics and the graphics have gotten a lot better over the years, and you can buy these elaborate peripherals for home use, but the experience is more than a little diluted. Still, we appreciate a throwback to simpler times and that's exactly what Final Freeway 2R offers. Let's get the compariso…
Watch The Video Review
Cavorite 2 Review
I bet you thought that after the first Cavorite, Dr. Cavor escaped from the moon with his anti-gravity formula and made his way back home safe and sound. Not when there's a sequel to make! Running out of fuel, the good doctor makes an emergency lunar landing and goes to work in the moon's caverns to find enough gems to finally get off this tide-controlling rock for good. If you've played the first game, you should know what you're in for. Each level is a small puzzle that is based aro…
Watch The Video Review
IX-Runner Review
The runner is an interesting sub-genre of the platformer, and what makes it unique is often its simplicity. Running and jumping along an endless road avoiding obstacles and enemies, aching for that high score. You could make the argument that it's stripping the platformer down to its purest elements. Then you have the runners that aren't endless, that add a little more complexity but try and keep the same pure style of gameplay. IX-Runner is one of these. Let's see if it can have its c…
Watch The Video Review
Coco Loco™ Review
Coco Loco is not what you would call a mellow game. Instead it's what you might call a mallow game. Some of your gooey marshmallow cohorts have been taken prisoner by the primitive chocolate guardians, and what follows is an adventure over many candied lands to rescue them and deliver a unique brand of delicious vengeance. This is a physics flinger as popularized by the now infamous Angry Birds, but before you switch off your interest, you should hear what Coco Loco has to offer, as i…
Watch The Video Review
