Home » Articles and Reviews by 'Dave Flodine'
Alice In Wonderland – An Adventure Beyond The Mirror Review
With the release of the new movie almost upon us, it was inevitable that there would be licensed game tie-ins. Alice in Wonderland for the iphone takes the basic premise of the film, and turns it into a pretty decent puzzle platformer. Alice is older now and back in the world of Wonderland. Problem is, she can't remember anything about it. Control is normal fair for iphone platformers. There's two buttons for movement and a button to jump. The main portion of the gameplay is solving p…
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Chop Chop Ninja Review
Platformers have had a rough time on the iphone. A touch directional pad or analogue stick does not give the same fidelity as its real life counterpart. Chop Chop Ninja has decided to create a control scheme made for the iphone that allows jumping and attacking at the touch of a finger. The emporer's daughter has been cursed, and it is up to you to find the ingredients needed to save her! Everything in this game is touch based. Tapping the sides of the screen will move the ninja, tapp…
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Catacombs Review
Ever since Guantlet, dungeon crawlers have been a simple, and fun game genre. Catacombs by Inmotion Software has taken the guantlet formula, streamlined it, and created an addictive pick up and play game for the iphone. As either a warrior, mage, or archer, you travel through floor after floor of a dungeon, slaughtering foes, levelling up, finding the treasure and heading to the exit. The game controls like a twin stick shooter. One joystick for movement, the other for attack. The con…
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Speed Forge Extreme Review
Futuristic racing games are a special breed. The idea is that in the future, racing will be much faster and more dangerous than it is today. Speed Forge Extreme is here to add to the genre. In the year 2142, Mars has been colonized and the inhabitants need a form of entertainment. Enter high speed combat racing! There are a couple choices of control scheme here. The default is using tilt steering, with touch breaking and weapons. Alternatively you can use a virtual steering wheel, and…
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Tiki Towers Review
Physics based games are popular to some and frustrating to others. The bridge builder has been a sub genre that exemplifies this. In Tiki Towers you have a limited amount of bamboo to build a structure that will withstand the amount of force swinging monkeys will put on it as they make their way to the exit, grabbing bananas along the way. Control is pretty decent. You click or drag from a build point to create bamboo structures. Once satisfied, click the action button and see how it…
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Dracula: The Path Of The Dragon – Part 1 Review
Point and click adventure games are making a resurgence on the iphone. In this vein, Chillingo have ported over from the PC part one of a three part adventure titled Dracula: The Path of the Dragon. Redesigned for iphone use, you play as Father Arno Moriani, who is sent to the town of Vladoviste, Transylvania to investigate a potential candidate for sainthood. What you find there is not exactly expected. The control is one of the highlights of this game. Like Realmyst, you have a 360…
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Thumpies Review
Rhythm games are fun right? People like furry creatures right? Well what if there was a game that combined them? Thumpies by Big Blue Bubble is a game where you tap drums or mushrooms and furry heads bounce on them in order to fill a score meter, and eventually create a song. Control consists of tapping the appropriate drum when a Thumpy hits it. If you continue to be accurate in your timing, the Thumpy will become electric and your score will double, completing the current track much…
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HEAVY GUNNER 3D Review
Earth is under attack! It's up to your defensive skills behind the mounted gun to stop the alien invasion from taking over. Heavy Gunner 3d is a defense shooter where you must mow down waves upon waves of incoming enemies with a vast selection of upgradable weapons. The controls are a little complex, but they work well. Tilting your iphone moves the camera around your 360 degree viewport. Using two fingers (one from each hand) you control the two guns. Initially it is confusing lookin…
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Robot Rampage Review
Rampage was a lot of fun. Choosing a giant lizard, gorilla, or wolfman and destroying cities for no reason kept gamers playing for a very long time. The basic idea has now been revitalized for the iphone, and instead of a giant animal, you're a giant robot! Yes the point of the game is to see how many city blocks you can destroy before the army ends your reign of carnage. You have a few attacks in your arsenal. Tapping and holding on screen fires your eye laser which will be your main…
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B-Boy Beats Review
It's always nice to see new attempts at innovative gameplay within the rhythm genre. B-Boy Beats is a rhythm game where you travel around New York engaging in dance battles with hip hop backing, using your fingers in the place of legs as you cut up the dance mat. Control is very reminiscent of the Ouendan series on the DS. You use your fingers to tap or slide along circles in time with the music, and the better you do, the higher your score and multiplier goes. The controls themselves…
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Vancouver 2010™ — Official Game of the Olympic Winter Games Review
The winter olympics are upon us! For those of you not content to just simply watch the global competition, you can now compete against the computer and friends in RealArcade's official Vancouver 2010 game. You select a character and a nationality and compete in cross country skiing, speed skating, snowboarding, freestyle and biathlon. The controls are comprised mostly of pressing the large button when it appears on screen. Some games use a timer where you have to press the button just…
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Drift Sumi-e Review
Drawrace was an interesting concept. Draw a line with your finger around the track, and then see how fast your car gets to the finish line. Drift Sumi-e takes this mechanic and combines drifting cars with the elegance of Japanese sumi-e brush painting. Control is quite basic. When presented with the track, you draw a line from start to finish, avoiding the red trouble spots of the track. After you're finished, the game will go into race mode as your car drifts through the turns you la…
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The Mystery of the Crystal Portal (Full) Review
Hidden object games tend to divide people. Some like to search an environment finding treasures while others see them as a waste of time. To make the genre more palatable, they have often been combined with intriguing storylines and puzzles. Mystery of the Crystal Portal is one of these games. You play as Nicole Rankwist who is on the trail of her missing father. As you travel from locale to locale, you find objects and solve puzzles to unlock clues, and complete the mystery. The game…
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Blue Skies 3GS Review
Since the 3GS came out last year, not many games have required its use, most likely due to the fact that many iphone customers have earlier models. Chris Egerter found a solution by creating a graphical update for his game Blue Skies to take advantage of 3GS graphical features. As a new recruit at Blue Skies Air Force Academy, you learn to fly a helicopter and engage in battle with both air and ground forces. You control your aircraft via tilting your iphone in the direction you wish…
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Rise of the Triad: Dark War Review
Originally developed by Apogee software in 1995, Rise of the Triad is a FPS boiled down to its elements. Get to the exit of each level while collecting as many points and inflicting as much damage upon your enemies as possible with a multitude of fun weapons and powerups. Does this iphone port capture the fun of the original however? Mobila have ported the game with a huge selection of control options, but none seem to be optimal. After testing all four main ones, this reviewer found…
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