Home » Apps with tag 'challenge'
Rayman Jungle Run Review
When it comes to the Rayman series, I feel as though it has been a slow-burner - though always fun, the success of its spin-offs has brought the series full-circle and we’re being reminded of what it feels like to play a high-quality platformer. Rayman Jungle Run may strip-out the depth of a regular Rayman game, but what’s left is far from casual in its challenge as you use taps to jump, glide, wall-run and yes, even punch your way through stages. To reduce the controls to…
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casual
Wonderputt iPad Review
What do you get when you combine a funky, vibrant isometric stage with toads, submarines, volcanoes, and Stonehenge? The answer, cryptically, is the world of Wonderputt by Damp Gnat. It's in this world that you'll attempt to slingshot a ball in to a hole, hopefully picking up points along the way, but more importantly hopefully to have fun. Playing the game couldn't be easier as you hold down on the ball and drag away from it, slingshot-style, letting go once you're happy with your ai…
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Super Hexagon Review
Sometimes the simplest titles can be the hardest to review. When there's depth, it can take a large paragraph or two to explain the mechanics at play, but on the opposite end, you may be clambering for anything to fill space. If it hasn't been given away yet, Super Hexagon by Terry Cavanagh of VVVVVV fame is a very simple game. One shouldn't take that as reason to overlook this title however, for we have a word for when simplicity meets quality, and that word is elegance. At the menu…
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VS. Racing 2 Review
While other top-down racers are content to keep pushing the visual boundaries of the iOS platform, VS. Racing 2 sticks with the tried-and-true 2D sprite system (albeit with some 3D elements adding depth), and even more surprisingly, controls that require - at most - two fingers. The overall effect is that of the game feeling very tightly designed - it efficiently throws you amongst a variety of AI opponents on winding and twisting tracks where you vie for pole-position to earn as much…
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Splice : Tree of Life iPad Review
Much like Mother Nature, Splice : Tree of Life is unforgiving in its relentless brutality. You’re popped in to a universe almost without any concept of what you’re meant to do and while you can find some help, it won’t do you any good until you can understand it. Cipher Prime Studios capture this vicious elegance in their cell-splicing puzzler and you’ll need to ponder and experiment to make any headway. First and foremost, Splice is a beautifully presented gam…
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Blast-A-Way Review
Illusion Labs are quickly working their way up my list of developers I can trust to provide fresh and compelling reasons to pick up an iOS device. Blast-A-Way is their latest release and you’re charged with the task of returning the young ‘boxies’ back to safety by blasting them free of the blocks they’re stuck inside. Those used to navigating touch-screen interfaces will appreciate the smart, casual simplicity of Blast-A-Way’s controls. Dragging one of t…
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Qwak HD iPad Review
When we first saw Qwak on the iOS platform it was restricted to the tiny screens of the iPhones and iPods of the world. The lightning-sharp responsiveness of the controls helped to bring the Amiga classic back to life, but with so much going on, screen-space was definitely a concern... until now. Qwak HD makes the best of the iPad, making it a snap to keep track of the busy platforming action while also adding a two-player mode in to the proceedings. This last feature is pulled off fl…
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Granny Smith Review
Mediocre have a grip on physics. That's a lame pun, and I may be scientifically inaccurate there too, but the sentiment is definitely true. Sprinkle was an amazingly cute and complex title that made use of some of the best fluid physics seen on the App Store and the team is back with Granny Smith. Instead of putting out fires you're chasing down thieves on roller-skates and crashing through the countryside and cityscape in an attempt to recover your delicious fruit. Like any great iOS…
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Diskobolos Review
You know that famous Greek sculpture of the man hunched over, holding a discus? That's Discobolus. Go on, Google the name, you'll know it when you see it. So what does this game have to do with that statue? Well not much really, but you are shooting out digital discs at a series of encroaching insects for multipliers and high scores, and that's got to count for something right? Diskobolus is a lot of fun once you work out how it all comes together. You have a disc shooter at the botto…
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KooZac™ Review
[KooZac was featured as the Mini-Review for the Friday News Wrap-Up for the 24th of August, 2012] Square Enix have certainly been trying a new approach when it comes to the iOS platform - while their premium RPGs are certainly worthwhile, their casual titles often leave out something in their final release. Or rather something is left in that should be left out - a hand in your pocket. KooZac is a brain-tickling arcade puzzler that challenges players to throw down numbered blocks in…
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Mikey Shorts Review
I almost feel sick of needing to make the point so often, but if you're going to make a platformer, you need to make the core gameplay (that is to say, running and jumping) feel good. In some cases it's a matter of responsiveness from the controls, and in others its anything from the physics to the character animations, but in Mikey Shorts by BeaverTap, none of these things are a problem. In fact you'd be forgiven for thinking someone from Rocketcat Games ran away with someone from Ra…
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Lost Cities Review
Reiner Knizia is no small fish in the world of board games. Titles such as the Lord of the Rings and Ingenious are enjoyed world wide, while Lost Cities, a 2-player 60-card game has even proven to be popular enough to warrant an XBLA remake. Having previously converted Carcassonne to the iOS platform, The Coding Monkeys have taken it upon themselves to restore Lost Cities to its original design, bolstering it with individually scaling AI opponents and multiple asynchronous online games…
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Bad Hotel Review
It takes a certain kind of mad clarity to sit there and take the genre of 'Tower Defense' as literally as Bad Hotel does. Conceptually Lucky Frame's game is the same as it ever was - drop blocks as defenses against an onslaught of creatures bent on destroying your base, but this time around you're actually building the eponymous hotel, adding rooms to accommodate tourists and shoot down sentient clouds. I may have lost you on that last point. See, your task is simple - build a profita…
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Flip’s Escape Review
Warioware introduced us to the idea of the micro arcade game, in that you only had a couple of seconds to work out what you needed to do, and then accomplish that task to the best of your ability. These games usually revolved around one very simple mechanic and once you got the hang of it, there were options to see how far you could get. I bring this up because at its heart, Flip's Escape is reminiscent of those micro arcade experiences, and really, it's only once you work out how the…
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Critter Escape Review
Isn't it always the way. You're some weird anthropomorphic creature minding your own business chasing butterflies in a field, when you're captured by scientists and probed for study, only to have to sneak and attack your way to freedom. Critter Escape is a line drawing sneak game, popularized by such titles as Spy Mouse, in which you must draw a line to move your critter around the guards and to the exit. What this title brings to the table are challenge based stars, a host of interest…
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