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The AppSpy retrospective - The 3 best games of April 2016
We're up to April in our retrospective series. Doesn't time fly? But only in one direction. Like a bird condemned to forever fly around the world, never stopping, never experiencing a rest, just ever onwards into an endless dawn. Anyway April was a pretty damn good month for mobile gaming, as you'll probably be able to see from the three games that make it on to our best-of list. They're fresh, they're exciting, and there's a good chance you've forgotten all about them in the past eight months. So this list is going to set that straight. Top up your coffee, turn off any other electrical devices that might distract you, and let's get right on with it. Pang Adventures A super hard reboot…
The best games on sale on iPhone and iPad right now - December 14th
It's Wednesday, so that means it's time for a round up of the best games that are on sale on iPad and iPhone this week. It's getting close to Christmas, and we know you like to save your pennies so you can get the people you love something nice. Or so you can get drunk enough to forget about the whole thing and then sober up in January when it's over. Either way, there are some real gems on sale this week, and a good chunk of them won't cost you anything. So sit back, relax, put your feet up, poor yourself an eggnog, and let's get this show on the road. Or at the very least onto the grass verge near the road. Implosion: Never Lose Hope One of the finest action games on mobile. This one…
The Tuesday Best of - Star Wars games
Guess what’s coming out this week? Star Wars: Rogue One. So that means it’s the perfect time to have a look back at the best Star Wars games on mobile. There aren’t that many that are REAL good, so it’s quite a short list. But that’s okay, because as we all know it’s quality not quantity that makes the wheels of the world go round. Or something like that. And these games really are of the tip toppest quality. One of them might even be my favourite game ever. And the other two are probably the best examples of the series they’re part of. So all in all, there might not be that many ace Star Wars games on mobile, but the ace ones are super ace. Just g…
The AppSpy retrospective - The 3 best games of March 2016
March. That seems like it was ages ago. Even saying March feels like a step back into the dim and distant past. March March March March. I’ve said it too many times now and it’s lost all meaning. Ah well. As we continue our look back at the last 12 months of mobile gaming, we’ve reached the first of our really big hitters. March saw the release of Clash Royale, and unless you’ve been living under a rock without a 4G connection for 9 months, then there’s a good chance you’ve heard of it. But it wasn’t the only gem to come out that month. In fact there were quite a few. But in my humble opinion, these three right here were the finest. Disagree? Then…
Clash RoyaleThe AppSpy retrospective - The 3 best games of February 2016
Ah February. The shortest month of the year. Tiny little February, wandering around all lost and lonely and wondering why hack journalists keep anthropomorphising it for their strained introductions to retrospective pieces. February might not have been a golden month for iOS gaming, but some gems did emerge from the dirt. And a lot of dirt was wrapped around the gems. There was a low gem to dirt ratio is what I'm trying to say. Anyway, here are the three best iOS games that came out in February 2016. It was a long time ago, but I think I've remembered it right. Join us next time for March, which was much, much better than February. _Prism A game with a name that screams “please d…
The Monday Musing - Where is mobile gaming heading in 2017?
Oh hello there. Fancy seeing you here. Is it Monday again? Doesn't time fly when you're alive and doing things to fill it? I suppose it's time to have a little bit of a musing then. A little bit of a think about one of the big things that's affecting mobile gaming right now. And since we're in the run up to Christmas and the new year, I thought it'd be interesting to look at some of the big questions that we're going to be posing about mobile gaming in the coming 12 months. A sort of where are we going and how are we going to get there kind of thing. I don't claim to have all of the answers, but I do claim to have three of the questions. And here they are, in an easy to digest list format.…
Super Mario Run isn't too expensive, and here's why
It’s the question that’s been keeping some of us up all week - is Super Mario Run too expensive? Well since it’s Friday I thought I’d put my brain in gear for a little bit longer and have a good old think about it. And since I’ve had that think already, I thought I’d write a brief article going over the main arguments for and against the pricing structure that Nintendo has decided to use for its first outing into the mobile world. You might agree. You might disagree. You might sit on the fence somewhere in the middle, kicking your shoes up and down and uhming and ahing about what to do. Wherever on the spectrum you sit though, feel free to shout at me in…
The 5 best iPad and iPhone games this week - December 9th
Another week has been and gone. Did you get up to much good stuff? Or did you just sit around thinking to yourself, ah it's nearly the end of the year, there's not much point trying to start anything new now? Guess which I did. Anyway, the end of a week means that it's time for us to have a look at the best games that came out in that said week. And all in all it's been a pretty impressive seven days for mobile gamings. We've got some great ports, and some great new original mobile games of every sort. So maybe it it time to try something new. Maybe it's time to try something new like one of the games on the list? Go on, treat yourself. Galaxy on Fire 3: Manticore A big swooshy swoopy…
The Thursday Find - HoverCrash
Oh hi there, Thursday. Where have you been hiding? And what have you been doing while you’ve been hiding there? Oh god Thursday, why are you covered in blood? Oh no, no Thursday put down the axe. Okay, while I deal with this it’s probably time for a Thursday find. This week’s is a game that owes a lot to the past and a lot to the present. And probably a lot to the future. Although I’ve not been there so I can’t be completely sure. But if you like endless runners and retro futurism then this could well be the sort of game that makes you go “ooooh, that combines two of my interests.” Now where was I? Oh yeah, the axe. THURSDAY, don’t make me hu…
The AppSpy retrospective - The 3 best games of January 2016
It’s that time of year again. Everything is winding down, the nights have drawn in, and people are looking longingly at January when we can start this whole hideous charade of life again. But people are also making game of the year lists. That sounds like a lot of fun to me, but also not the sort of thing that AppSpy would be. Because we’re not normal. We’re the rebels, we’re out there, fighting the good fight in the only way we know how. I mean I’m probably going to do one of those as well, but I also thought we could have a look back over each month of the last 12 in turn and remind you of some of the ace games that came out. So without further ado, let&rsq…
Supercell's iPad and iPhone games ranked from worst to best
In the first of a new series of features, we’re going to have a look at the work of a single developer on the App Store. But rather than doing it in a nice way, we’re going to have a right big fight. This time around we’re looking at Supercell, and ranking its iOS games from the worst to the best. Who knows, you might even be surprised by the conclusions that we reach when we get to the end of the article. All of the games here are good, but some of them are just more gooderer than the others. If you disagree with us, well feel free to have a right old slanging match in the comments. Call us idiots, say that we smell bad like poop. Just say anything, I’m so lonely.…
The best games on sale on iPad and iPhone right now - December 7th
It’s Wednesday, so that can only mean one thing. It’s time to take a look at the best games that are on sale on the App Store right now. It probably means other things as well, but let’s not concern ourselves with them. There’s a few gems here, and we’re only too happy to help you to save a bit of money. So if you’ve been umming and aahing about whether you should spend on these, now’s the time to take the plunge. And as we all know plunging is a lot of fun. It’s the capitalist version of freedom of expression. Or something like that. Anyway here are the games. Red 7 A super simple digital version of a super simple card game. This one&rsq…
Clash of Clans is getting its own cartoon, and these mobile games should too
How do you know when a mobile game is doing well? Is it when it gets a spot during the Superbowl adverts? Is it when you see adverts for it before big film releases like Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Nah, it’s none of them. It’s when it gets its own series of cartoons. Angry Birds did it, Where’s My Water did, even Cut the Rope did. And now it’s the turn of Clash of Clans. Eat your heart out Candy Crush game show. Here’s the first trailer for the upcoming cartoon, which is due to land in just 3 days time on December 9th. That’s not very long at all, in pretty much every measure of time. Almost inevitably this got me thinking about other games it&rsquo…
The Tuesday Best Of - The 5 best mobile point-and-click adventures ranked in order
There are a lot of point and click adventures on the App Store. Some of them are good. Some of them are bad. Some of them are mediocre. But which are the best? Which are the finest examples of the genre you can get on mobile? Well that's what this week's Tuesday Best Of is all about. We're going to rank the five best point-and-tappers in order. And we're not afraid to do it. We're a bit crazy like that over here at App Spy. So without further ado here's the list. And if you agree, disagree, or just want all of this to stop, then feel free to stick your own no-doubt revolutionary ideas in the comments all the way down there. 5 Tales from the Borderlands This is, without a doubt, Telltal…
The Monday Musing - What do we want to see from the iPhone 8?
Ah Monday, what a perfect time to get introspective and think about some of the things that are going on in mobile gaming right now. But what is going on in mobile gaming right now? Not a lot, so let's put on our special magical future-looking spectacles and have a peer into the future of that sort of gaming what we all love so much. There'll be a new iPhone next year. There might even be two, who knows? 2017 does mark the tenth anniversary of the world-changing handset after all. But what do we want to see in the iPhone 8? What does Apple need to do to make sure it stays ahead of the gaming handset curve? Well, how about some of this stuff? More 3D Touch For gaming, 3D Touch could be…
