Home » Articles and Reviews by 'Dave Flodine'
T.E.C 3001 Review
No one can accuse T.E.C. 3001 of being ugly. As your robot runs through a virtual reality world collecting batteries for the benefit of humanity, the two-tone colour pallettes can't help but bring to mind nostalgic memories of '80s video games and Tron. Pretty visuals aside, though, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this is another run of the mill endless runner. In fact, though it does have endless mode, the heart of the game is its varied campaign challenges. There's your standar…
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Modern Combat 5 delayed till 2014
Bad news for fans that were anticipating the next installment in the Modern Combat franchise. Gameloft tweeted earlier that to fully achieve their vision for the game, it will be delayed till next year. Those looking for a Gameloft first person shooter experience shouldn't fret however, because Brothers In Arms 3 is supposed to release before 2014 hits. So if you think about it, you'll be getting two high quality shooting experiences within a few months of one another. These games always make my iPhone run extra hot, so my advice would be to start training your hands for extreme temperatures!…
Boyz: Big Bang
We've all seen our fair share of physics flingers on the App Store, but every now and then, something about a new release in the genre just hits a perfect microcosm. Boyz: Big Bang's trailer is such an occurence with its bizarre yet endearing characters, their animations, and the nasaly theme song that accompanies everything. Take a look for yourselves. See what I mean? there's something definitely there. The game is already out in Canada, but won't be seeing a worldwide release until Novmeber 7th. If you want to help odd boys meet odd girls, this may be the game you've been waiting for.…
Drop That Candy Review
Drop That Candy introduces us to an adorable little creature named Gizmo, and encourages us to give him diabetes by indulging his never-ending appetite for sweets. Each stage presents a colourful concoction of candy that can be transferred to Gizmo's bowl via taps. If two or more pieces of the same colour are touching, they will disappear when tapped. Three stars will be awarded if you can rid the store of candy in the least number of taps, through clever manipulation of gravity and t…
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Incredipede Review
When attempting to up the ante over the course of their games, most developers create more complex and testing enviroments for their characters to overcome. The devs behind Incredipede have gone the other way, choosing to adjust the shape and abilities of its lead character to provide new challenges. Quozzle is an incredipede, a creature that has the ability to grow and change its limbs. She starts each level with a different arrangement of appendages. You'll usually find yourself sta…
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Storyteller is a lighthearted yet Grimm look at telling stories
While Daniel Benmergui's game Storyteller currently has no release date aside from 'this year', it's fascinating enough to spread the word about. The video below is from alpha gameplay released much earlier in the year, but it shows off how the story creation works as a puzzle element, and the level of creativity afforded the player at that time (I expect it has gotten more complex in the interim). As you can see, a lot of the subject matter is quite dark (hence the pun in the title of this piece), but there's an amusing nature about how what the story asks of you boils human emotion down into its more simplistic core. Love, betrayal, dispair: all these fun emotions and mor…
Rolling with Rollabear
Usually I have a catchy intro to lead into the trailers for upcoming games, but in the case of Rollabear, I think you would be better served to step into the trailer cold. Here we go! Initially I thought it was a bear-themed Katamari Damacy, but it looks more like a bear-themed platform / bowling game. With the right amount of precision in the controls, this looks wacky and varied enough in its enviroments to be a bit of a giggle. It will be released next week on October 8th, so we'll see if it's worth taking for a spin then. Get it?!…
Ron Gilbert's The Cave due out on October 3rd
SEGA has teamed up with Double Fine to bring The Cave to iOS. Arriving on October 3rd, Ron Gilbert's puzzle platformer about seven adventurers searching for their deepest desires in a talking cave will be available for $4.99. Below is the trailer for the original release. I played this on PC a few months ago, and while I was not impressed with the puzzles or slow movement, the personality and humour were top notch. We'll see if any changes have been made to the gameplay when it releases later this week.…
Paint it Back
[Edit] A release date of October 17th has been announced. Some of you might be familiar with Picross. It's a puzzle game most notably released on Nintendo handheld devices where the solution to the puzzle creates a picture (and the puzzle itself is creating that picture). Using logic for how many blocks are together in a row and where the gaps should go, things can get pretty hectic. It's kind of like Sudoku meets Pathpix (although I am sure that developer took his inspiration from Picross in the first place). Edward Brown, an ex-Popcap developer is bringing Picross to the iPhone with his upcoming game Paint it Back. You use the same process to repai…
Boson X Review
You might have heard that the scientists of CERN are busy smashing atoms together at unbelievable speeds in order to witness what happens upon collision. But the scientist in Boson X takes the dedication to his craft one step further by placing himself directly into the machine. While the game is an endless runner in the style of Temple Run, the developer seems to have drawn some inspiration from Super Hexagon. The influence to Terry Cavanagh's geometric puzzler is evident in everyt…
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The Question
Hello there loyal Appspy readers! It’s finally come to that point. No, not the end of the question and answer segment, but the call out for ideas. Drawing a complete blank on what question to ask you all this week, the idea of asking a question for a question arose. So this week’s question is simply this: What sorts of questions would you like to be asked in future installments of the question and answer column? We have readers with such diverse backgrounds from all around the world, so I’m calling on your individual experience and unique view of not only the world, but the iOS platform to come up with any questions that you would be intrigued to hear other answers to.…
Space Qube
Space Qube is out on the App Store today. Imagine Space Invaders, if you could design your own spacecraft in a voxel editor. Not sure what I'm talking about? This trailer should explain further: Listen to that catchy music! While the gameplay seems to be your standard space shoot-'em-up fare, the ability to create your own ship (well... really create whatever you like), and have the amount of voxels used inversely balance the armour and speed of your vessel is a great idea. Those that wish to give the game a try should follow the link below. [App Store Link]…
Almightree
Oceanhorn isn't the only iOS game inspired by the Zelda franchise arriving these last few months of 2013. Almightree, developed by Chocoarts and published by Crescent Moon, delivers a 3D block-puzzler based around the mechanic of 'plantsportation' (which is apparently teleporting, but with plants). Have a look at the trailer for a better understanding. While the basis of a 3D block-puzzler has some link (heh) to the Zelda series (think about a lot of the infamous dungeon puzzles), it seems more that the game is banking off the name recognition of Zelda more than being directly inspired by it. I could of course be wrong. Nevertheless, it looks enjoyable enough for a puzzle game (inclu…
Mr. Fireworks
If you enjoy fireworks set to the crescendos of classical music, the upcoming Mr. Fireworks might be the game for you. Controlling a fireworks mortar, you have to hit targets to increase your timer and to collect coins to upgrade your fireworks. The video shows off the gameplay. Whether it has any staying power or is a flash in the pan experience (like a firework itself), we won't know till its release on October 10th.…
Appseed - creating prototypes from sketches
For a site called Appspy, we don't cover a lot of non-game apps, and there's a reason for that. Most apps are variations on productivity software that while useful, is more a case of preference, and not worth mentioning when new programs appear. We also tend not to cover Kickstarter campaigns, because there's a good chance that what we cover won't end up being funded, so creating hype can seem disingenuous. Every now and then though, we rethink these policies when we receive certain submissions, and Appseed is interesting enough to inform our readers about. It's an app that can turn a drawn concept into an actual working prototype. Watch the video below to understand. Seeing ho…
