Home » Articles and Reviews by 'Dave Flodine'
The Double Dragon trilogy is making its way to iOS
Long before Final Fight, before Turtles in Time, and eons before Castle Crashers, Double Dragon was the king of the 'beat em up'. The arcades were full of people pumping quarters into these machines to beat up punks and just make it that little bit further. Dotemu is bringing the original arcade trilogy to iOS sometime before the end of the year. There will be local co-op over bluetooth, support for gamepads, and a remastered soundtrack (that you will hear while watching the trailer below). I find it amusing that the easy mode on the difficulty screen is 'mobile'. One wonders if there's a leniency with the movement or hit detection. Now part of me is a little saddened…
One of the strangest game crossovers...
Puzzle & Dragons is part match-3 game, and part RPG dungeon crawler. While it won't set the world on fire like, let's say Puzzle Quest, it has a large following, and is carving out its own niche on the App Store. It is also now the home of the strangest game crossover we've ever laid eyes upon. The characters of the recent console release Batman: Origins have invaded the world of Puzzle & Dragons. This is not the first crossover in the history of Puzzle & Dragons, and if the game continues to be successful it won't be the last, but it's certainly an odd pairing to be sure. The content is available in an event specific dungeon that launches today on the 30th…
Pathogen - an intriguing game of cellular combat
With the release of Pandemic a couple weeks ago, virus based multiplayer games on the iOS are becoming a thing. Have a look at this trailer for the upcoming Pathogen. I am not ashamed to admit that after watching this a couple times, I am a little confused about how the game works, but none the less, am excited to give it a go upon release (especially with friends). Planning to overtake huge swaths of the board in a single chain reaction looks to be a blast. No price has been set but the game will be out on the App Store next week on November 7th.…
Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies receives a launch date
A little over a week ago, we revealed that the sequel to Sid Meier's Ace Patrol, was being released before the end of the year. Luckily it turns out that fans of the popular turn based dog-fighting strategy title don't have to wait that long at all. The iOS version will be out on the App Store on November 7th, two days after the PC release. Both versions will cost $4.99. It makes sense that with only two months left that we wouldn't be waiting too long, but this is a pleasant surprise. Here's hoping it's worth the wait!…
Mimpi Review
Mimpi is a game for anyone who has ever wondered what's going on inside their dog's mind when its asleep. The answer, according to this arty puzzle platformer, is that man's best friend is exploring bizarre abstract environments, manipulating clouds, and chatting with Chihuahua headed mermaids. You control Mimpi using the arrows on screen. The movement and jump animations are a little stiff, but luckily, precision platforming is not what the majority of the game is about. Instead, th…
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The Stormglass Protocol is a new type of room escape game
My knowledge of room escape games is limited to the Zero Escape series (I'm about twenty hours into Virtue's Last Reward at the moment), but I am quite familiar with their popularity, especially as browser games. The Stormglass Protocol looks to envelop the room escape puzzle experience in dark humour and intrigue. Tying together these room puzzles within larger context should work well, and the trailer makes it look interesting if nothing else. Have a look for yourselves. The game is out for free on the App Store. The first three rooms are free, with the rest being unlocked through in-app purchase. The email we received from the developers makes it sound like this is only…
Tilt To Live 2 looks pretty redonkulous
We heard the rumours that One Man Left Studios was working on a sequel to their critically acclaimed dot avoider Tilt To Live. With the release of this trailer, these rumours have been confirmed! One of the strengths of the original game was to show how resposive and nuanced tilt controls could be on the iPhone, and judging from the trailer, everything that made the original such a joy to play has been expanded. Have a look for yourselves! The plan is for the game to be released sometime in November but there is no confirmation of that at this current time. We'll let you know as soon as we do, because this is something I'm personally looking forward to taking for a test drive as…
Cosmoplan is a different kind of physics puzzler
For instance, it takes place in space! Seriously though, the idea of using different sections of a rocket to blast off in different directions looks to be pretty engaging. The trailer has a bit of story, but if you stick around till the end, you'll see the complexity of later stages revealing itself (with orbits and black holes), and it looks pretty mind-bending in its amazingness. Cosmoplan: A Space Puzzle is available now on the App Store for the price of $0.99. [App Store Link]…
Dice Jockey Review
Whether you play Monopoly, the craps table at your local casino, or a game of Warhammer, we're sure you're all familiar with dice - those little cubes of luck and chance. Dice Jockey takes a little bit of a different tack, demanding you learn the layout of a six-sided die, and use this knowledge to align and match face values to create combos and complete levels. Dragging a die with your finger will roll it along the game grid. The aim is to line up a series of dice so that they all d…
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Paint it Back Review
Anyone whose spent any time on a Nintendo system should be familiar with Picross, the puzzle game which involves creating pixelated pictures by filling in squares on a grid. To help you solve these puzzles, numbers are attached to the end of every row and column. These numbers tell you how many squares must be filled, and how many should be left blank. The trick is to work out which squares you need to paint to complete the picture without putting a foot wrong along the way. It's a si…
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A sequel to New Star Soccer possibly in the works
This is probably more from James' wheelhouse as Football is a much bigger deal in the UK where he resides, rather than Australia where I reside. For instance, I was actually unaware of New Star Soccer or its popularity (it won the BAFTA award for best sports game of the year), but in a recent studio profile from our sister site Pocketgamer.biz, developer Simon Read talks about his team's desire to create a full sequel that will span all console and handheld devices (including mobile of course). This is exciting news for fans of the game. If any of you wish to educate me on why you enjoy New Star Soccer so much, please do so in the comments!…
Brainsquare is set to test your grey matter
The premise of Brainsquare seems simple enough - swipe coloured tiles around until they all line up with their corresponding pegs. Watching it in action though makes my brain squeal in terror. The trailer might instill similar reactions in you. Watch at your own risk! The game is from Sompom Creative Studio, a young indie studio based in Cambodia. Those with a penchant to test their mental wits will likely delight at the challenge held within Brainsquare. For the rest of us... well, the game is free, so why not give it a try? You might enjoy what it has to offer. [App Store Link]…
ARC Squadron: Redux Review
Last year, developer Psyonix released Arc Squadron, a well-reviewed space shooter with great controls and a load of content. Now almost a year later, the dev has restructured the game, introduced a few balancing tweaks, and made the whole experience free-to-play. This is Arc Squadron: Redux. As your ship (and the galaxy) is under attack by the mysterious and violent Guardians, humanity needs all the help it can get. You take control of a lowly janitor who finds himself in the cockpit…
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Color Zen Kids is Colour Zen... for kids!
Color Zen is shaping up to be one of my favourite games this year so far. I have a soft spot for simple and elegant puzzle titles, the colour matching and wiping gameplay of the original just hit that sweet spot of pure engagement. Today on the App Store, Large Animal Games releases Color Zen Kids. The game is targeting the 3 - 5 year old market, and tries to make the shapes more engaging by creating animals out of them, which the player then rearranges to meld together, eventually leaving a swath of only one colour. Have a look at the trailer... I don't have any kids myself, so couldn't comment on whether the game might be too complex or not engaging enough for them, but I like how…
Pixel People receives a massive Halloween update
For those of you still splicing together pixely humans to acquire new job types, you'll want to take a look at the latest update for Chillingo's Pixel People. Not only are there twenty four new jobs to uncover, plenty of new hideouts, new missions, and the ability to use candy as currency, but some of your townsfolk will be turning into zombies. That kind of thing is bound to have an effect on Utopia, and not in a positive way. For those of you unfamiliar with Pixel People, our review can be found here. Happy Halloween to the Utopia project!…
