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R.TYPE Review

Review DotEmu By Dave Flodine, 11 years, 5 months ago
R.TYPE Review

R-Type, the side-scrolling classic shoot em up from 1987, was ported over to the App Store a couple years ago. However, it was removed earlier this year due to licensing issues. While the legalities were being ironed out, the developers thought it would be a good idea to make a few adjustments. Now that it's returned to the App Store, it's time to see what's changed. If you're new to the blaster, here are the basics. You take control of a spaceship, which you must guide through a seri…

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Expander Review

Review Josef Ortner By Dave Flodine, 11 years, 5 months ago
Expander Review

There are some games which don't waste time explaining things. Often, this is the hallmark of a bad game, as many of people will give up on a potentially enjoyable experience due to confusion and frustration. Bit Pilot and Endless Road are examples of games in which potentially addictive gameplay is buried beneath odd controls and punishing difficulty. Now, it looks like Expander is set to join their ranks. In essence, Expander is an endless-runner starring an expanding block. Moving…

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Futuridium EP Review

Review Mixedbag Srl By Dave Flodine, 11 years, 5 months ago
Futuridium EP Review

Futuridium EP casts you as a lone pilot lost in a dimensional loop. Destined to travel to and fro across a series of small flat surfaces, you must avoid obstacles and shoot blocks to open the a dimensional gate to get to the next area (which is hopefully one step closer to home). It's sort of like Starfox by way of Sliders. You control your craft by dragging your finger around the left side of the screen. It's a suprisingly sensitive system, with small gestures sending your spacecraft…

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PAC-MAN DASH! Review

PAC-MAN DASH! Review

You'd be hard pressed to meet someone who hasn't at least heard of Pac-Man. One of the original videogame icons, his legacy persists to this day, largely thanks to his fans, and his revival in games such as Pac-Man Championship Edition. With Sega chucking Sonic onto the auto-runner bandwagon, it's not surpise to see Namco pushing out their spherical star towards the genre. Thing is, while Pac-Man Dash! does approach the genre in an interesting way, it may be too little too late. The a…

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Sine Mora Review

Review HandyGames By James Gilmour, 11 years, 5 months ago
Sine Mora Review

Sine Mora is a game about time. In this beautiful bullet-hell blaster - just like in real life - it's a commodity you never seem to have enough of. As you guide your futuristic aircraft through the near constant barrage of neon bullet-sprays, you'll find yourself glancing not at an energy bar, but at a timer. Every time you get shot in Sine Mora, valuable seconds are deducted from the clock. Let the timer reach zero, and it's game over. The only way to win time back is by destroying e…

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Pacific Rim Review

Pacific Rim Review

Pacific Rim is a silly, but enjoyable summer blockbuster that involves giant robots punching giant monsters. Obviously, a movie tie-in game was inevitable, and the core concept of Jaegers vs Kaiju is perfect video game fodder. The developer of Pacific Rim on iOS decided to emulate the gameplay of Infinity Blade, which again is a really great fit for the combat-heavy subject matter. It's just a pity the execution failed live up to its potential. If you're familiar with Infinity Bl…

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Deus Ex: The Fall Review

Review SQUARE ENIX By James Gilmour, 11 years, 5 months ago
Deus Ex: The Fall Review

Shoot or sneak? Hack or attack? Immobilise or kill? These are the choices you are confronted with throughout Deux Ex: The Fall. Taking its lead from the console-based Deus Ex: Human Revolution, this iOS spin-off sticks very close to its heavily augmented gold-tinged roots. On the plus side, this means you get a some stellar visuals, and narrative-driven campaign featuring missions which can be completed using either aggressive or non-aggressive tactics. On the downside, it means you ha…

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Contra: Evolution Review

Review PunchBox Studios By Dave Flodine, 11 years, 5 months ago
Contra: Evolution Review

Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start. Most gamers who owned a NES are familiar with the Konami code. This familiarity is most likely due to Contra, in which the code would grant you thirty lives. While you could certainly become good enough at the game not to need this boost, it was always appreciated, and made this platforming classic a little more accessible. Now we have Contra: Evolution. Punchbox Studios has taken this seminal side scroller and not only given…

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Return to Castlerama Review

Review CODENRAMA By Dave Flodine, 11 years, 5 months ago
Return to Castlerama Review

When Castlerama was released in 2011, it was described by its creators as a “photo-realistic walk”. Its apparent success has led to a full fledged game known as Return to Castlerama. In this case, the term 'photo-realistic walk' is only partially apt. While the are some nice lighting effects, it's hardly what we would call photo-realistic. But you definitely do a lot of walking. You play as David, the son of a herbalist who discovers that he has a greater destiny as saviou…

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LIMBO Game Review

Review Playdead By James Gilmour, 11 years, 5 months ago
LIMBO Game Review

There's a recurring set piece in Limbo which involves a spider. You're making your way through the grey fog, plodding towards the next jump or physics puzzle, when a set of spindly legs hove into view behind you. You can't run especially fast, but the spider is in no hurry. A rising terror creeps up your back as you push forward, desperate to escape the advancing arachnid's hairy, stabbing limbs. If you don't think fast, a grisly death awaits you. You run. You jump. You hope. You'll e…

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League of Evil 3 Review

Review Ravenous Games Inc. By James Gilmour, 11 years, 6 months ago
League of Evil 3 Review

League of Evil 3 is hard. You remember the first two games in the series? Remember restarting levels 20, 30, even 40 times, all the while cursing your disobedient thumbs for every mistimed jump overlooked bullet? Yeah. This one's harder. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on your appetite for punishment. You see, League of Evil 3 manages to embody everything that made the franchise the platforming powerhouse it is today. The controls are still some of the tightest yo…

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Gloomy Hollow Review

Review EA Chillingo By Dave Flodine, 11 years, 6 months ago
Gloomy Hollow Review

Welcome to purgatory. Welcome to Gloomy Hollow. What better way to spend eternity than by engaging in an action-RPG experience set in expansive worlds packed full of enemies, that's then broken down into small, manageable levels. Hell, if you find enough souls, you may even be able to buy your way back to the land of the living. Now, we've seen plenty of ARPGs on the App Store before. And yes, we've even seen bite sized levels before, but there's something in the design and presentati…

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Spiral Episode 1 Review

Review Pixel Hero Games By Dave Flodine, 11 years, 6 months ago
Spiral Episode 1 Review

Spiral is certainly a strange beast. It features a very striking, and sometimes gorgeous visual style. It's got competent voice acting and an intriguing narrative. The gameplay not only offers variety, but incorporates touch controls relatively well. Saying all of this, the game plays havoc on your battery, and some of the aspects of the experience are not as well implemented as they should be. You play as Tempus, a young amnesiac who shares a body with a robotic arm called AVA. On co…

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Way of the Dogg Review

Review 505 Games (US), Inc. By James Gilmour, 11 years, 6 months ago
Way of the Dogg Review

It may surprise you to hear this, but Way of the Dogg, a blacksploitation, time manipulating rhythm fighter starring rasta rapper Snoop Lion, isn't zany enough. You'd think a game that casts Snoop as a kung fu guru who possesses the secrets of time travel would be chock full of psychedelic visuals, crazy characters, and inventive special moves. Instead we have a perfectly competent rhythm game, one which arguably works better on iOS than it does on consoles, but which fails to take f…

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Man of Steel Review

Review Warner Bros. By James Gilmour, 11 years, 6 months ago
Man of Steel Review

Having made decent cameos in both Injustice: Gods Among Us and Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Krypton's favourite son has been in training for a brawler of his very own. It's a shame, then, that Man of Steel falls short of greatness. Instead of soaring into the clouds, this gesture-based brawler is weighed down by humdrum combat, and a disappointing lack of variety. As with Infinity Blade, fights are one-on-one bouts of gesture-powered pugilism. To let those fists of justice fly, yo…

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