Home » Articles and Reviews by 'Peter Willington'
Hands-on with Seabeard, the mind-bogglingly beautiful adventure on the high seas
Seabeard is a new adventure game that's currently in soft-launch in a few territories. Its gameplay is kind of like a blend between The Legend of Zelda, Harvest Moon, and Animal Crossing, and it has a terrific sense of style that also feels like an amalgamation of those three console games. It's from Backflip Studios, it's free-to-play, it's coming soon. Get hyped, because I've a feeling it's going to be big.…
SeabeardHands-on with Pongu, the spangly new sci-fi take on Pong
Pong is an a staple of video games: one of the first games ever made, and a perennial classic that developers and gamers alike are constantly coming back to. Pongu is one such revisit, this time with a sci-fi look, and a few gameplay tweaks too. My hands-on video walks you through the very basics, but more importantly it shows how lovely looking it is. Seriously, look at it. Particles everywhere! You can get Pongu via the link below. [App Store link]…
7 mouth-watering Minecraft treats that you can make at home, plus videos of how to make them
If you're into your baking (or in the very least know someone who is), and you're not a stranger to a little mining and crafting in Mojang's mobile creative classic - Minecraft: Pocket Edition - then you're going to want to take a look at this big collection of culinary delights, which have been captured in video form. There are all sorts of cakes and sweets in the 7 videos listed below, all from really cool YouTuber types, including: MyCupcakeAddiction, yoyomax12, Happy Cake By Renee, iHasCupquake, and Rosanna Pansino. Square checkerboard cake Scrumptious Minecraft cupcakes A ridiculously lavish Minecraft cake The actual cake from Minecraft An explosive looking TnT block cake…
Hands-on with Star Wars: Galactic Defense, the Jedi-themed tower defence game
If you're still a fan of the TD genre, and you're a big fan of the Star Wars universe, then you might well be interested to know that Star Wars: Galactic Defense is a pretty decent stab at the genre, and adds a bit of Lucas into a well-established formula. As you'll see in my hands-on with the game below, I'm not super enthusiastic about Star Wars: Galactic Defense, simply because it doesn't change things up all that much, but if you're after a solid tower defence, you could do much worse. The game's out now for free on iOS and Android. [App Store link][Google Play link][Amazon Store link]…
Hands-on with Jet Run: City Defender, the Temple Run / Space Invaders hybrid
Jet Run: City Defender blends the endless action of an auto-runner, with the sci-fi shooting of a classic shmup. It all feels a bit Rez, curiously. The presentation is an odd mix too, with big chunky block aliens attempting to take over a fairly normal looking human city. If you want to find out more, you can watch my hands-on video below... … or you could grab it from the App Store now to see it for yourself. [App Store link]…
Hands-on with Crossy Road, a modern day take on an amphibian classic
No one is going to argue that Crossy Road isn't a take on iconic Konami arcade game Frogger. But as an homage it's super high quality, and very entertaining in its own right. It blends the jumping gameplay of Frogger with an auto-runner like Temple Run, to create a polished (and very good looking) high score chaser. Here's my hands-on with the game.…
Hands-on with Meat Factory, where animal welfare meets arcade action
Your job in Meat Factory is not, as you might be led to believe, to process cattle into delicious treats for omnivores. Instead it's to save cute little animals from being mashed up by a psychotic meat grinding machine. It's a pretty dark concept, but thankfully the bright visuals lighten the tone a lot. So does the arcade-oriented gameplay too, which feels a lot like playing a Game & Watch, such is its moreish simplicity. Here are my first impressions of Meat Factory, in video format. Meat Factory is out now, you can get it on the link below. [App Store link]…
Bitcoin Billionaire's launch trailer is full of pixel art loveliness and goofy Internet money
FizzPow Games has been in touch to say that its new game - Bitcoin Billionaire - is out on November 6th, and that there's a lovely new trailer to go with this news. You can see it below. From what we've seen so far of Bitcoin Billionaire, it looks a lot like a clicker type game, crossed with the look of a Kairosoft-esque management effort. Only instead of making a game studio, or running a racing team, or creating a shopping mall, you're farming fake Internet money for profit. It's also a bit of a swipe at grind-heavy games, as well as the tech geek lifestyle. Bitcoin Billionaire will be free-to-play when it launches on iOS this week.…
Tiny Realms update adds new Battle Command, tweaks Battlegrounds, video features cute dog
Tiny Realms is a strategy management game I'm absolutely in love with, as this review over on Pocket Gamer will attest.The game has just been updated to version 1.6.0, and includes a fair few additions and improvements, as well as the usual bug squishing. You can now issue a Battle Command called Hold the Line. This means that your soldiers will stand where they are and fight. To issue it, you simply hold your finger on the area of the map you want your troops to stop. Battlegrounds has also been updated to include new map filters, and a detailed progress report. This video - which features an adorable dog named Holly - explains the update in more detail. The update is live now, but if…
Drift Girls is basically Initial D meets LovePlus meets Out Run, and I have exploded at the thought of such a game existing
If you were to take the drifting of a game like Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune or Initial D, and then mix it in with a dating sim, like Animal Boyfriend, you'd get Drift Girls, a mobile video game I think I would knife my gran for, just for a chance to play it. The trailer below is a bit sexy, the music a bit loud, and the drifting a bit ridiculous - all of which is A-OK with me. But it's the concept as a whole that I'm completely in love with: they've basically made a whole game out of the girlfriend from Out Run 2. Watch the trailer, and weep at the fact that this iOS / Android title probably isn't coming to the west. If you can read Korean, you can pre-register here. It makes me sad th…
Road Racer trailer shows Android hill climber's core gameplay, early access alpha available now
Blue River Arts has just popped over a trailer for its new Android racing game Road Racer. In it you can see the low poly art style and bright colour palette, as well as the fundamentals of what you'll be doing in the game moment to moment. A hill climber, it's your job to drive up extremely steep hills as quickly as you possibly can, throwing in a few tricks here and there for good measure. There's an infinite number of courses available to play, loads of upgrades to purchase for your vehicle, and even the odd virtual pet or two. Here's what it looks like in motion. Feel like giving it a go? You can grab an early build of the game on Android right now, for free, on the link below. [G…
Surviving in Minecraft: Pocket Edition, Episode 9 - Streaming Ahead
Significant progress is made in this episode of Surviving in Minecraft: Pocket Edition, our Let's Play / Let's Survive of Mojang's mobile masterpiece. There's mining, there's chest creating, there's monument building, there's the beginnings of an adventure, and there's another incident with a Creeper. So click play on the video and get stuck in with this jumbo-sized entry in the series. Also: vertigo! You forgot to watch a previous episode? Not to worry, you can catch up using our Playlist here.…
A frightful week - AppSpy's Sunday Service
AppSpy's Sunday Service is your super quick catch up on everything from here on AppSpy that we think is totally amazing, wonderfully silly, and completely unmissable. The Big Stories 1. These are the 5 spookiest mobile games we could think of to make your Halloween week more ghastly... 2. … and these are the 5 best new game updates for Halloween. Terrifying! 3. I've collected up 11 videos of gamers almost soiling themselves playing Eyes - The Horror Game. 4. Drift'N'Drive is a whipsmart, super fast top-down racer, with some brilliant multiplayer stuff thrown in for good measure. 5. Cooking Fever's new Breakfast Cafe update includes the English Breakfast. Hooray for British cuisi…
Learn how to play Monster Hunter Freedom Unite with AppSpy - Part 17
Do you like cats? I'm not a big fan, I must say. Harry and James literally cannot fathom how this is the case, and even my story about Max - an old cat of mine - doesn't convince them why I might feel like this. Even when Harry's stuff is being pinched by renegade cat burglers he runs to their defence! But still, there's monster hunting to be done in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for iOS, and we set aside (most of) our differences to tackle some big beasties. Plus we fight perhaps one of the best monsters we've come up against thus far. Behind on the series? Catch up with our nifty little Playlist on YouTube.…
Want 21 free premium games for your Android device? Get Sonic The Hedgehog, Eufloria, World of Goo, Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage plus more for nada, now
Amazon is giving away a bunch of top tier Android games and apps in celebration of Halloween. 21 games, and 15 utility apps to be precise, which equates to a saving of well over $100. These games aren't any old rubbish either. From big name games to indie darlings, there's a whole bunch of quality in here. The offer runs until some time on November 1st, so you'll need to be quick, and of course you'll need the Amazon App Store on your phone, but that's not much hassle for a bunch of absolute gaming gems for zero money down. The list of games (and apps) in full; Games Alpha Wave - [Amazon Store link]Blocky Roads - [Amazon Store link]Braveland - [Amazon Store link]Can You Escape - Adventur…
