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Extraction: Project Outbreak Review
One thing that never fails to amaze me about having so many developers trying their hand at breaking in to the iOS market is seeing the creativity that comes from adversity. One of the defining features of the platform is its touch screen, but it can be as much a curse as a boon. Twin-stick shooters have reached an almost amicable middle-ground of 'it works, but isn't perfect' situation, but developer ShortRound have broken out of the box with their latest work for publisher Chillingo…
Watch The Video ReviewElder Sign: Omens Review
It's hard to be a fan of board games and not be aware of US based publisher Fantasy Flight Games; not only have they worked with some of geekdom's most treasured franchises, but they've delved in to the dark depths that is the Lovecraftian Mythos and produced some truly chilling games. One of their latest is a standalone card game dubbed 'Elder Sign' and iOS gamers can now get their hands on a digital version tweaked for the platform under Elder Sign: Omens. The premise is a simple on…
Watch The Video ReviewBlueprint 3D Review
Solving a jigsaw puzzle is a pastime that has survived for generations and may well continue to see its appeal in to the future as fans of the simple time-waster test their observation skills to match and piece together beautiful images one jagged piece at a time. Blueprint 3D by FDG Mobile Games pushes the limits of the concept by taking imagery and blowing it up in to dozens, if not hundreds of fragments ballooned out in to a 3D space and it's up to you to reassemble it in mere secon…
Watch The Video ReviewFlick Home Run ! Review
Sometimes you want nothing more than an excuse to waste time and fill the dull moments in the day with something more interesting than what's happening around you. This could be called antisocial behavior, but sometimes you don't want to try to make friends with the smelly shirtless guy riding the bus with you. Insert Flick Home Run! by infinity pocket; an arcade-style home run title that proves to be addictive mostly thanks to its satisfyingly simple, but visceral controls. All you n…
Watch The Video ReviewJanryumon PLUS (Mahjong) Review
Janryumon by NCSoft is simultaneously the most amazing and the most frustrating game I've played on an iOS device and this includes games I've either praised like a gibbering fan-boy or scalded for mistakes that go beyond basic flaws. This is because Janryumon is a client to play Reach Mahjong online against other players around the world, but more importantly the gameplay behind Mahjong is so rich - is so complex - that unless you are practiced in the game already, you WILL fail and f…
Watch The Video ReviewEPOCH. Review
When small indie game studios boast about their prior professional experience it's generally a PR move to inspire confidence in what they're presenting. What really counts is the final product and in the case of Uppercut Games and their release of EPOCH., the experience and polish that comes from their years in the industry really shows in almost every aspect of the game. You play as an AI controlled robot (think slightly less horrifying than a Terminator, but no less deadly) with a m…
Watch The Video ReviewAsteroids: Gunner Review
The original Asteroids by Atari is easily recognizable as one of the forefathers of Arcade gaming that has eventually led to common genres like the twin-stick shooter. The fact that the iOS ended up with such amazing titles like Space Miner: Space Ore Bust and Meteor Blitz by restoring some of the classic formula only goes to show how far-reaching the concept came to be. With Atari celebrating Asteroids 30th year out of the Arcades (the Atari 2600 first saw the game in 1981), it'…
Watch The Video ReviewEvertales Review
Evertales by Crescent Moon Games and Thunder Game Works sounds like the perfect storm of experience developer, experienced publisher and a great concept as the two companies seek to bring a Trine-like experience to the App Store. However, much of the game can be characterized by a pervading sense that everything has been cut short just before anything interesting happens, making it tease of a relatively short game. Each of the game's six worlds are split in to two stages, ended firstl…
Watch The Video ReviewGangstar Rio: City of Saints Review
It hardly bears pointing out that the Gangstar series from Gameloft has taken its inspiration from Rockstar's GTA series, but where previous incarnations of Gangstar were happy to simply ape older generations of GTA, the latest version takes a swing at something entirely new. Unfortunately it's a swing and a miss as no matter how you look at it, Gangstar Rio: City of Saints fails to excite and inspire the same sort of sandbox fun it attempts to emulate. The problems are evident early…
Watch The Video ReviewJunk Jack Review
There's a sort of epiphany, a miniature moment of enlightenment if you will, that comes from a lifetime of playing video games. It can come even earlier than this, but you start to see the vast reams of games you've played as a rainbow of genres, each one blurring seamlessly in to the next with some becoming the strongest example of a specific moment. If you've not played the free-form exploration title Minecraft you've done yourself a disservice; while I personally dipped in and out…
Watch The Video ReviewWizardry Labyrinth of Lost Souls Review
I'm prepared to be lynched by the mob, but first hear me out: While I was never a personal fan of the first-person RPG while growing up (even despite some amazing examples of the genre on the Commodore Amiga, I get what makes them so appealing - I love the challenge of overcoming my ignorance and mastering an otherwise puzzling system of gameplay. Unfortunately for Wizardry Labyrinth of Lost Souls this is 2011 and we have better ways to remove 'hand holding' without making a player fee…
Watch The Video ReviewSpinTrip Review
Most platformers are content with assigning players a handful of 'powers', be it through tokens they earn that give them temporary special abilities or by using button combinations to add a level of skill to the gameplay. SpinTrip takes a slightly different approach, breaking down the gameplay in to moving left/right and jumping while only being able to activate one power at a time; the catch is, you need to 'find' the power in question first. It's an intriguing idea and where most ga…
Watch The Video ReviewZombie Samurai Review
Jumping in to Zombie Samurai by Eye Interactive and Alawar Entertainment almost immediately took me back - not to some distant childhood memory of gaming, but rather to the beginning of my iOS gaming when castle defense titles roamed the landscape like large lumbering behemoths that you couldn't escape. Sure, we see shadows of this rarefied beast now and then in other titles, but this game brings back the genre lock, stock and barrel, perhaps as a reminder of why we've moved on. The p…
Watch The Video ReviewZombieville USA 2 Review
For those who have been iOS gaming for a while now, Zombieville USA is somewhat of a classic icon of the platform - while it wasn't terribly complicated, trying to survive as long as possible while having limited resources made for a fun distraction, if not actually compelling gameplay for some. Times have changed though and what was refreshing compared to the limited amount of titles available back then isn't quite so fresh any more, so how does Mika Mobile's sequel, Zombieville USA 2…
Watch The Video ReviewWonton 51 Review
The popularity of abstract shooters and endless titles was eventually bound to result in a developer marrying the two, with games like Phoenix by Firi Games capturing the spirit of a bullet hell shoot'em-up while still having the hook of hitting 'replay' over and over. Wonton 51 by Quarter Circle Punch takes another stab at the formula, opting for a self-aware style that adds some humor in to the mix. As with any self-respecting game invoking the early days of the arcade (as this retr…
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