Price: $1.99
Publisher: Shinobi Ninja Video Game
Buy now on
Sometimes games come from nowhere and surprise the heck out of you. I recently had that happen to me and I got to tell you, it was exciting. The game is Shinobi Ninja Attacks. It has nothing at all to do with ninjas (well not directly). Instead it’s actually based band on a band of the same name from Brooklyn. You play as one of 4 band members and utilize your instrument of choice to whoop the bad guys. There have been a few music fighting games like this made in the past. Do you remember the Aerosmith game where you threw cd's at your enemies? The end result is a standard faire fighting game with one standout feature; the music. Fortunately the music alone makes this game worth playing.
Going in I had never heard of Shinobi Ninja. I went to their MySpace page and listened to a few of their songs. At first it reminded me of Beastie Boys but I think that was mostly due to them being from Brooklyn. As I listened to them more, I began to see that they really stand on their own as a band. The game is directly based on the musicians in the band. One character fights with a drum stick, another with a guitar, etc. Your mission is to get to a concert and there are a lot of people trying to hold you back from that goal. That resistance leaves your band with no choice left. You have to fight your way through the crowd of baddies.
The graphics are well done. Most of the characters are drawn in comic book fashion. The hand drawn characters are all rather nice looking and many things within the game are able to be destroyed including phone booths and benches. Destroying these items actually uncovers powerups that can help you on your quest to get to your concert on time. The sound and music is really where this game shines. Inside of the game, you have the ability to hear 6 full tracks from Shinobi Ninja's (the bands) cd. After beating the game you also unlock a code that gets you the six songs that are downloadable in five mp3 files that can be played anytime outside of the game. You also unlock 2 music videos that can be played within the game.
The controls themselves involve you fighting your way through crowds of people using a series of 2 buttons and a special powerup button that activates after beating up enough bad guys. The end result is a pretty decent rendition of Double Dragon/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles type gameplay. It's nothing special, but it’s definitely entertaining.
The main issue I have with the game lies in its length. The game is divided into four levels, each of which can be completed in 5-10 minutes each. I beat the game in one sitting which took about 30 minutes. At 2 bucks, this game clearly wouldn’t be worth it if you were only playing it for the game. The real replay value is not with the game but with the free tracks that you can download after beating the game. “Rock Hood” is especially a great track. All in all, this game is a must buy for any Shinobi Ninja fans. Even if you not a fan right now, take a few moments to listen to some of their tracks and see what you think. For me, the music alone is worth the price of admission. The game is just a bonus.
Overall Value for it's $1.99 price point
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Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Action. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Action. Mostrar todas las entradas
lunes, 1 de marzo de 2010
miércoles, 24 de febrero de 2010
Guerrilla Bob Review for iPhone/iPod Touch
Price: $2.99
Publisher: Chillingo
Buy now on
For better or worse, most of Guerrilla Bob is a throwback to the golden years of arcade shooters. The good includes some nice humor and quick gameplay. Unfortunately some of the bad stuff from the old days has been thrown in as well; Over-used voice samples and re-used locations and graphics. You'll definitely have fun for a while with Guerrilla Bob but its long term replay value is questionable.
The graphics within the game are the first thing I'll mention. Usually I’ll start with gameplay but the graphics overshadow everything else. They are superb. Great lighting, nice explosions, really well conceptualized characters and bosses. The entire game is shown in top down isometric view. It works pretty well in most cases although there are instances where the only way to kill the bad guys is by shooting at people off of the screen because the camera doesn't zoom out at all.
The gameplay itself is a mix of old school Ikari Warriors and iPhone/iPod based games like MiniGore and Alive4Ever. There is a minimal background story that propels you forward but after that you go in guns blazing and killing everyone you see. As you move Bob through missions you find weapon upgrades, speed boosts, health packs and damage multipliers. It's the very definition of an arcade shooter and it works pretty well. One of the main downsides is that the game only last about an hour or so. After beating all of the games missions, you do unlock a survival mode which I found to be extremely boring. Nevertheless, some of you guys out there might get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Swarm after swarm of baddies come after you and you try to last as long as you can.
The controls within the game are hard to get used to at first. It works as a dual control based game. In the beginning of the game they just feel really loose. After a while of playing they do feel better and become easier to use. Just don't go in expecting to hit all of your targets right away.
The sound within the game is pretty well done although it could have been better in some areas. There is voice acting done throughout the game. Bob is your usual tough guy action star spouting out all kinds of one liners that sound badass the first few times you hear them. After a while they can get a bit old though. The music within the game is pretty well done and fits the Middle East setting very well. The gun sounds on the other hand could have been better. Your machine gun tends to sound really hollow and dinky.
The main issues with the game arise after the second level. The first level is in the daytime in the Middle East. The second level is in the nighttime in the Middle East. Very cool settings. Then you realize that in every level you are going to see all of the same graphics over and over again throughout the game. All of the graphic tiles are re-used throughout the game in the following levels as well. There are a few nice touches later on towards the end of the game that change up the monotony but not enough. By the end of the game, it would have been nice to see Bob anywhere but the Middle East.
All in all, this is a pretty solid game. The price at $2.99 seems a bit high for about an hour or so of gameplay considering some of the other options out there. That being said, the graphics are extremely impressive (at least for the first few levels) and the gameplay is a lot of fun (once you get used to the controls). If you can get over those caveats then by all means, go ahead and buy Guerrilla Bob. If nothing else, it will give you a nice, warm retro game feeling, and who doesn’t want that?
Overall Value for it's $2.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Publisher: Chillingo
Buy now on
For better or worse, most of Guerrilla Bob is a throwback to the golden years of arcade shooters. The good includes some nice humor and quick gameplay. Unfortunately some of the bad stuff from the old days has been thrown in as well; Over-used voice samples and re-used locations and graphics. You'll definitely have fun for a while with Guerrilla Bob but its long term replay value is questionable.
The graphics within the game are the first thing I'll mention. Usually I’ll start with gameplay but the graphics overshadow everything else. They are superb. Great lighting, nice explosions, really well conceptualized characters and bosses. The entire game is shown in top down isometric view. It works pretty well in most cases although there are instances where the only way to kill the bad guys is by shooting at people off of the screen because the camera doesn't zoom out at all.
The gameplay itself is a mix of old school Ikari Warriors and iPhone/iPod based games like MiniGore and Alive4Ever. There is a minimal background story that propels you forward but after that you go in guns blazing and killing everyone you see. As you move Bob through missions you find weapon upgrades, speed boosts, health packs and damage multipliers. It's the very definition of an arcade shooter and it works pretty well. One of the main downsides is that the game only last about an hour or so. After beating all of the games missions, you do unlock a survival mode which I found to be extremely boring. Nevertheless, some of you guys out there might get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Swarm after swarm of baddies come after you and you try to last as long as you can.
The controls within the game are hard to get used to at first. It works as a dual control based game. In the beginning of the game they just feel really loose. After a while of playing they do feel better and become easier to use. Just don't go in expecting to hit all of your targets right away.
The sound within the game is pretty well done although it could have been better in some areas. There is voice acting done throughout the game. Bob is your usual tough guy action star spouting out all kinds of one liners that sound badass the first few times you hear them. After a while they can get a bit old though. The music within the game is pretty well done and fits the Middle East setting very well. The gun sounds on the other hand could have been better. Your machine gun tends to sound really hollow and dinky.
The main issues with the game arise after the second level. The first level is in the daytime in the Middle East. The second level is in the nighttime in the Middle East. Very cool settings. Then you realize that in every level you are going to see all of the same graphics over and over again throughout the game. All of the graphic tiles are re-used throughout the game in the following levels as well. There are a few nice touches later on towards the end of the game that change up the monotony but not enough. By the end of the game, it would have been nice to see Bob anywhere but the Middle East.
All in all, this is a pretty solid game. The price at $2.99 seems a bit high for about an hour or so of gameplay considering some of the other options out there. That being said, the graphics are extremely impressive (at least for the first few levels) and the gameplay is a lot of fun (once you get used to the controls). If you can get over those caveats then by all means, go ahead and buy Guerrilla Bob. If nothing else, it will give you a nice, warm retro game feeling, and who doesn’t want that?
Overall Value for it's $2.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
viernes, 5 de febrero de 2010
Vanquish: Oath of Brothers Review
Price: $2.99
Publisher:Gamevil
Buy now on
In my time spent playing Vanquish: Oath of Brothers I have felt a wide range of emotions. At first I was bored, then I was interested and finally I ended up feeling somewhere in the middle. The game certainly has its strengths but has a few faults that counter balance them and keep it from being a classic. You play 1 of 3 characters in the story that takes place in the ancient Chinese empire (during the Han dynasty). In that role, you fight to the death over and over and over again. Gamevil calls this an action RPG and it does have elements of an RPG, but don't be fooled, this game is nearly all about the action.
The gameplay revolves around you riding on a horse through the countryside of China killing off whoever gets in your way. The game is divided into a number of levels that once you beat, you never return to. The actual gameplay is unusual because even though you are constantly moving forward (there is no way to stop entirely or go backward), you do have the interesting ability to slow or slightly turn your horse riding character left and right. This game is a side scroller so the ability to turn is intriguing.
On the left of the screen you have you d-pad control and on the right side your attack buttons. One button is your primary weapon, which you need to be ready to push a million times (literally). You will be killing 300-500 people in a single level and these things only take 5 minutes each at the most. The gameplay is really quick. In fact, it is really hard to see what you are doing on the screen at any one time. The problem is you aren’t just fighting foot soldiers. You are also fighting horse riding enemies and occasionally protecting a horse drawn carriage. Sometimes there are as many as 20-25 enemies on the screen at once including 5-10 horses. That is a lot of legs to see on a screen as small as an iDevice, making it extremely difficult to tell where you horse is, especially since the graphics can blend in.
The graphics in the game are interesting. They are hand drawn and sometimes quite beautiful, other times they end up looking drab and monotonous. In fact, when you start turning they can become very pixilated and truly look bad. It is worth mentioning that the blood you see upon killing your enemies flies everywhere and it is very satisfying to see. Especially after coming off playing Assassin's Creed 2 and seeing no blood at all. The music within the game is done well but unfortunately is not turned on throughout your playing time. While playing you simply hear the sound of your main weapon constantly coming up against your enemies which makes a clanging noise that gets old after a while.
The actual storyline within the game is done fairly well. It is truly one of the bright spots in the game. It makes sense, develops your character and even made me laugh several times (intentionally I think). It certainly feels that some time was spent on the story and that is a very good thing. None of what is said is done by voice actors, closed caption only here, but that doesn’t really detract from anything in this case.
The main issue with this game again comes down to the pace, which is much too fast in most cases. While there is a slider in the options menu to speed the game up or slow it down, it doesn't really seem to help too much. There are still a ton of enemies in every screen and finding yourself is still a difficult proposition. If they could have made your character stand out more I would have given much higher marks throughout.
One other thing that also needs mentioned is the difficulty level. It gets too difficult, too quick. I was going through the levels as the first character in the game and moving through them quite smoothly until I got to level 7 and tried to fight the boss character. That battle took ages for me to win and repeating the entire mission over and over again to get to that battle was not fun at all. Normally, you could "revive" yourself with a purple gem in the game and go right back into the battle against the boss character. In this instance, things had been so easy up to this point; I was using the purple gems to upgrade my character. When I died, I had no purple gems left to use and so I had to restart the entire mission over and over again. Not fun.
The upgrade system for your weapons and all of the additional powerups you can find/receive/buy can make the game quite a bit of fun. Each has its advantages and disadvantages and knowing when to buy an item (with one of the aforementioned purple gems) is an important thing to learn. Overall, this part of the game feels entirely right and is done quite well. You can even buy a better horse (which seems to make the game go even faster).
In summary, Vanquish: Oath of Brothers has a strong story, a great powerup/item system and an interesting use of controls and graphics. It also gives you several hours of gameplay. On the negative side its difficulty level raises too quickly, is extremely difficult to find your character in the mass of enemies surrounding you, and can become repetitive. As an action gamer, I think this game is worth your time. As a fan of RPG's, you might want to wait until Zenonia 2. This game is probably not going to be a good fit for you.
Overall Value for it's $2.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Publisher:Gamevil
Buy now on
In my time spent playing Vanquish: Oath of Brothers I have felt a wide range of emotions. At first I was bored, then I was interested and finally I ended up feeling somewhere in the middle. The game certainly has its strengths but has a few faults that counter balance them and keep it from being a classic. You play 1 of 3 characters in the story that takes place in the ancient Chinese empire (during the Han dynasty). In that role, you fight to the death over and over and over again. Gamevil calls this an action RPG and it does have elements of an RPG, but don't be fooled, this game is nearly all about the action.
The gameplay revolves around you riding on a horse through the countryside of China killing off whoever gets in your way. The game is divided into a number of levels that once you beat, you never return to. The actual gameplay is unusual because even though you are constantly moving forward (there is no way to stop entirely or go backward), you do have the interesting ability to slow or slightly turn your horse riding character left and right. This game is a side scroller so the ability to turn is intriguing.
On the left of the screen you have you d-pad control and on the right side your attack buttons. One button is your primary weapon, which you need to be ready to push a million times (literally). You will be killing 300-500 people in a single level and these things only take 5 minutes each at the most. The gameplay is really quick. In fact, it is really hard to see what you are doing on the screen at any one time. The problem is you aren’t just fighting foot soldiers. You are also fighting horse riding enemies and occasionally protecting a horse drawn carriage. Sometimes there are as many as 20-25 enemies on the screen at once including 5-10 horses. That is a lot of legs to see on a screen as small as an iDevice, making it extremely difficult to tell where you horse is, especially since the graphics can blend in.
The graphics in the game are interesting. They are hand drawn and sometimes quite beautiful, other times they end up looking drab and monotonous. In fact, when you start turning they can become very pixilated and truly look bad. It is worth mentioning that the blood you see upon killing your enemies flies everywhere and it is very satisfying to see. Especially after coming off playing Assassin's Creed 2 and seeing no blood at all. The music within the game is done well but unfortunately is not turned on throughout your playing time. While playing you simply hear the sound of your main weapon constantly coming up against your enemies which makes a clanging noise that gets old after a while.
The actual storyline within the game is done fairly well. It is truly one of the bright spots in the game. It makes sense, develops your character and even made me laugh several times (intentionally I think). It certainly feels that some time was spent on the story and that is a very good thing. None of what is said is done by voice actors, closed caption only here, but that doesn’t really detract from anything in this case.
The main issue with this game again comes down to the pace, which is much too fast in most cases. While there is a slider in the options menu to speed the game up or slow it down, it doesn't really seem to help too much. There are still a ton of enemies in every screen and finding yourself is still a difficult proposition. If they could have made your character stand out more I would have given much higher marks throughout.
One other thing that also needs mentioned is the difficulty level. It gets too difficult, too quick. I was going through the levels as the first character in the game and moving through them quite smoothly until I got to level 7 and tried to fight the boss character. That battle took ages for me to win and repeating the entire mission over and over again to get to that battle was not fun at all. Normally, you could "revive" yourself with a purple gem in the game and go right back into the battle against the boss character. In this instance, things had been so easy up to this point; I was using the purple gems to upgrade my character. When I died, I had no purple gems left to use and so I had to restart the entire mission over and over again. Not fun.
The upgrade system for your weapons and all of the additional powerups you can find/receive/buy can make the game quite a bit of fun. Each has its advantages and disadvantages and knowing when to buy an item (with one of the aforementioned purple gems) is an important thing to learn. Overall, this part of the game feels entirely right and is done quite well. You can even buy a better horse (which seems to make the game go even faster).
In summary, Vanquish: Oath of Brothers has a strong story, a great powerup/item system and an interesting use of controls and graphics. It also gives you several hours of gameplay. On the negative side its difficulty level raises too quickly, is extremely difficult to find your character in the mass of enemies surrounding you, and can become repetitive. As an action gamer, I think this game is worth your time. As a fan of RPG's, you might want to wait until Zenonia 2. This game is probably not going to be a good fit for you.
Overall Value for it's $2.99 price point
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Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
jueves, 4 de febrero de 2010
Assassin's Creed 2: Discovery Review
Price: $9.99
Publisher:Ubisoft
Buy now on
Assassins Creed 2: Discovery on the iPhone and iPod Touch plays a lot like an action game that wants you to think it is something else. To give you a little background, Assassins Creed 2, like the first game, takes place in the past with you as an assassin. Its plot is actually weirder and more complicated but let’s just goes with that. As an assassin you need to be stealthy in order to not get overwhelmed by your enemies, right? In theory yes, in practice no. In fact, the game forces you to be stealthy without giving you any reason to do so (other than losing missions) and therein lay the problem.
I assumed that as an assassin you would have nothing but your wits and a blade to help you but in this game, you are as fleet footed as an Olympic gymnast, you possess the brute force of a wrestler, and you also have the grace of a ballet dancer. You can scale 100 ft walls with no problem, jump from 50 ft into hay stacks in order to break your fall and hide. You have the ability to do incredible jumps and run as fast as Usain Bolt but remember, you’re also a stealthy assassin and the developers don’t want you to do these things to beat levels, they want you to walk slowly and sneak up on people to kill them. If that’s the case, why give you the ability to do these things at all?
With all of the above qualities your character possesses, if you want to go all out and stab someone straight on while they see you coming, you should be able to do it. But that is not always how it works in this game. During a level that makes you be stealthy, you can only kill people while they see you coming several times per level. If you do it too many times, the level ends. For example, if you kill the 5th person in a stealth mode level and they noticed you were coming before you killed them, sorry -restart from the last checkpoint. It's annoying and stupid. If you need to be stealthy, why give your character superhuman strength and the ability to literally kill four or five enemies at once? The stealth mode feels like an add-on on that doesn't make sense and is not fun.
The gameplay itself revolves around you using a slider on the left side of your iDevice to move your character forward or back. There is no up and down controller because this game is strictly a side scroller. There are additional buttons for jumping and knifing your way through an enemy. Just because the game treats you like a child and forces your hand when it comes to being stealthy doesn't mean it’s not fun. In fact, the game can be a blast at times. When you do kill someone silently, the game gives you a great 3D cutscene of you slitting a neck or stabbing someone through the chest. There are quite a few varieties and you can even counter an opponent’s attack and kill them in fantastic fashion. However, even this coolness is not without its own drawbacks. There is no blood in this game. To me it doesn’t make any sense. There is blood in quite a few other iPhone/iPod Touch games and its lack here in such a violent game doesn’t make sense.
The graphics in the game are ok. The close up killing looks great but the rest of the game is nothing special. While your character tends to look pixilated at times, most of the backgrounds and settings are well done. All said its graphics are not nearly up to the level of GTA: Chinatown Wars or even Spore Creatures. For a $10 game, I expected a bit more. The sound in the game is fairly well done. Most of the words said throughout the storyline are actually voice acted within the game. That was nice to see as most of it is done quite well. The soundtrack as well is spot-on and works well within the game’s setting and story.
When it comes to replay value, there are quite a few things to keep you busy. There is a minigame thrown into each level that involves you ripping the wanted posters off the walls throughout the city streets. Stats and feats are also tracked within the game and you also have the ability to unlock cheats (called “animus hacks” within the game). After beating the game and its 8 levels, you also unlock a series of challenges that will help to keep you busy. Certainly the game should give you 4 or 5 hours of play time which may or may not be worth $10 in your book.
Though the stealth missions are incredibly annoying, the other missions do help make up for them. The chase missions (where you are being tracked down by many guards) really shine and give you a reason to try to play through some of the more annoying parts of the game. The sad thing is that the best part of the game, the murders, has been made much less important by the developer. You either can’t kill someone straight on or if you can, you have to do it extremely quickly. In the end, the game has its ups and downs. Don't buy it before picking up the much superior GTA: CW but this game will keep your thumbs busy for a while as well. One additional note. I have seen other reports that this game doesn’t fare too well on anything less than an iPhone 3GS/newest iPod Touch models so beware of that.
Overall Value for it's $9.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Publisher:Ubisoft
Buy now on
Assassins Creed 2: Discovery on the iPhone and iPod Touch plays a lot like an action game that wants you to think it is something else. To give you a little background, Assassins Creed 2, like the first game, takes place in the past with you as an assassin. Its plot is actually weirder and more complicated but let’s just goes with that. As an assassin you need to be stealthy in order to not get overwhelmed by your enemies, right? In theory yes, in practice no. In fact, the game forces you to be stealthy without giving you any reason to do so (other than losing missions) and therein lay the problem.
I assumed that as an assassin you would have nothing but your wits and a blade to help you but in this game, you are as fleet footed as an Olympic gymnast, you possess the brute force of a wrestler, and you also have the grace of a ballet dancer. You can scale 100 ft walls with no problem, jump from 50 ft into hay stacks in order to break your fall and hide. You have the ability to do incredible jumps and run as fast as Usain Bolt but remember, you’re also a stealthy assassin and the developers don’t want you to do these things to beat levels, they want you to walk slowly and sneak up on people to kill them. If that’s the case, why give you the ability to do these things at all?
With all of the above qualities your character possesses, if you want to go all out and stab someone straight on while they see you coming, you should be able to do it. But that is not always how it works in this game. During a level that makes you be stealthy, you can only kill people while they see you coming several times per level. If you do it too many times, the level ends. For example, if you kill the 5th person in a stealth mode level and they noticed you were coming before you killed them, sorry -restart from the last checkpoint. It's annoying and stupid. If you need to be stealthy, why give your character superhuman strength and the ability to literally kill four or five enemies at once? The stealth mode feels like an add-on on that doesn't make sense and is not fun.
The gameplay itself revolves around you using a slider on the left side of your iDevice to move your character forward or back. There is no up and down controller because this game is strictly a side scroller. There are additional buttons for jumping and knifing your way through an enemy. Just because the game treats you like a child and forces your hand when it comes to being stealthy doesn't mean it’s not fun. In fact, the game can be a blast at times. When you do kill someone silently, the game gives you a great 3D cutscene of you slitting a neck or stabbing someone through the chest. There are quite a few varieties and you can even counter an opponent’s attack and kill them in fantastic fashion. However, even this coolness is not without its own drawbacks. There is no blood in this game. To me it doesn’t make any sense. There is blood in quite a few other iPhone/iPod Touch games and its lack here in such a violent game doesn’t make sense.
The graphics in the game are ok. The close up killing looks great but the rest of the game is nothing special. While your character tends to look pixilated at times, most of the backgrounds and settings are well done. All said its graphics are not nearly up to the level of GTA: Chinatown Wars or even Spore Creatures. For a $10 game, I expected a bit more. The sound in the game is fairly well done. Most of the words said throughout the storyline are actually voice acted within the game. That was nice to see as most of it is done quite well. The soundtrack as well is spot-on and works well within the game’s setting and story.
When it comes to replay value, there are quite a few things to keep you busy. There is a minigame thrown into each level that involves you ripping the wanted posters off the walls throughout the city streets. Stats and feats are also tracked within the game and you also have the ability to unlock cheats (called “animus hacks” within the game). After beating the game and its 8 levels, you also unlock a series of challenges that will help to keep you busy. Certainly the game should give you 4 or 5 hours of play time which may or may not be worth $10 in your book.
Though the stealth missions are incredibly annoying, the other missions do help make up for them. The chase missions (where you are being tracked down by many guards) really shine and give you a reason to try to play through some of the more annoying parts of the game. The sad thing is that the best part of the game, the murders, has been made much less important by the developer. You either can’t kill someone straight on or if you can, you have to do it extremely quickly. In the end, the game has its ups and downs. Don't buy it before picking up the much superior GTA: CW but this game will keep your thumbs busy for a while as well. One additional note. I have seen other reports that this game doesn’t fare too well on anything less than an iPhone 3GS/newest iPod Touch models so beware of that.
Overall Value for it's $9.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
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domingo, 31 de enero de 2010
Spore Creatures Review for iPhone and iPod Touch
Price: $6.99
Publisher EA Mobile
Buy now on
If you’re unfamiliar with the Spore universe, it was Will Wright's (The guy behind both SimCity and The Sims) final game he created while at EA. The general scope of the PC game took you from being an incredibly small single celled organism, to eventually building up your species through a series of evolutions into a galactic traveler/dominator. When EA Mobile brought Spore Creatures to the mobile, it was done on a much smaller scale but with the same basic principles. You design a creature and take it from its infancy to be the dominant creature on the planet.
One of the first things you will notice when loading the game is that the color palette is fantastic. Every color is bright and rich and gives an almost cartoon feel to the world. The gameplay revolves around you creating a new species and evolving different traits in order to be able to kill or socialize with other species in the world. It is entirely up to you what type of species you will create. Will you create a creature with spikes for a tail and razor sharp teeth? Or will you create a character that is extremely defensive based and can socialize with the best of them? The choice is yours and that is one of the best parts about the game.
The game revolves around you moving your character through a series of levels and finding ways to evolve. Eating smaller creatures, finding other species and either socializing with them or fighting them , and even killing bosses on each of the four levels will move you character closer to inter-species dominance. You have quite a few choices as you move through the game about how your character will look and what traits you have. Those traits will help you determine whether or not you should fight a new found species or socialize with them. However, the choices are much smaller than the PC version of the game and no matter what you choose to do; you cannot interact with other users throughout the Spore Creatures world. This is a single player game only.
The controls are done by tilting the device in the direction you want your creature to slither, crawl, or walk. There are a few additional buttons on the screen, one of which is the action button. To eat food, simply guide your creature towards it and it will lunge forward to grab it. While the competing creatures are often cute, there isn't much substance to the world. None of the creatures create societies, compete for resources, or are on their own missions for world dominance. Apparently you are the only one that has aspirations for world domination. The end result, it feels kind of empty and doesn't really sit well for me. I had gone in expecting to find a world like Civilization; instead I found something much simpler.
The music and sound are very well done. In fact, the entire game is very well produced but it seems like an empty shell of what it could have been. The game gives you about 2 or 3 hours of content. Of course, some of would say that there are limitless possibilities since each time you can create a new character. That isn't the case. The world is the same every time you load it up. The same species, the same levels, the same bosses. If it contained some dynamic engine to load up other user's content, that would have been a joy, but sadly it is not the case. Once you go through the four levels, there really isn't much else to do.
Spore Creatures isn't a bad game but it feels like it could have been much more. For $6.99, I say to pass unless you are someone that really enjoys casual gameplay. In fact, the best market for this game might be the Touch users out there that fall into the Teen category. For us adults and/or people who like more of a challenge, I recommend Civilization Revolution.
Overall Value for it's $6.99 price point
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Sound:
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Publisher EA Mobile
Buy now on
If you’re unfamiliar with the Spore universe, it was Will Wright's (The guy behind both SimCity and The Sims) final game he created while at EA. The general scope of the PC game took you from being an incredibly small single celled organism, to eventually building up your species through a series of evolutions into a galactic traveler/dominator. When EA Mobile brought Spore Creatures to the mobile, it was done on a much smaller scale but with the same basic principles. You design a creature and take it from its infancy to be the dominant creature on the planet.
One of the first things you will notice when loading the game is that the color palette is fantastic. Every color is bright and rich and gives an almost cartoon feel to the world. The gameplay revolves around you creating a new species and evolving different traits in order to be able to kill or socialize with other species in the world. It is entirely up to you what type of species you will create. Will you create a creature with spikes for a tail and razor sharp teeth? Or will you create a character that is extremely defensive based and can socialize with the best of them? The choice is yours and that is one of the best parts about the game.
The game revolves around you moving your character through a series of levels and finding ways to evolve. Eating smaller creatures, finding other species and either socializing with them or fighting them , and even killing bosses on each of the four levels will move you character closer to inter-species dominance. You have quite a few choices as you move through the game about how your character will look and what traits you have. Those traits will help you determine whether or not you should fight a new found species or socialize with them. However, the choices are much smaller than the PC version of the game and no matter what you choose to do; you cannot interact with other users throughout the Spore Creatures world. This is a single player game only.
The controls are done by tilting the device in the direction you want your creature to slither, crawl, or walk. There are a few additional buttons on the screen, one of which is the action button. To eat food, simply guide your creature towards it and it will lunge forward to grab it. While the competing creatures are often cute, there isn't much substance to the world. None of the creatures create societies, compete for resources, or are on their own missions for world dominance. Apparently you are the only one that has aspirations for world domination. The end result, it feels kind of empty and doesn't really sit well for me. I had gone in expecting to find a world like Civilization; instead I found something much simpler.
The music and sound are very well done. In fact, the entire game is very well produced but it seems like an empty shell of what it could have been. The game gives you about 2 or 3 hours of content. Of course, some of would say that there are limitless possibilities since each time you can create a new character. That isn't the case. The world is the same every time you load it up. The same species, the same levels, the same bosses. If it contained some dynamic engine to load up other user's content, that would have been a joy, but sadly it is not the case. Once you go through the four levels, there really isn't much else to do.
Spore Creatures isn't a bad game but it feels like it could have been much more. For $6.99, I say to pass unless you are someone that really enjoys casual gameplay. In fact, the best market for this game might be the Touch users out there that fall into the Teen category. For us adults and/or people who like more of a challenge, I recommend Civilization Revolution.
Overall Value for it's $6.99 price point
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lunes, 25 de enero de 2010
Canabalt Review for iPhone and iPod Touch
Price: $2.99
Publisher: Semi Secret Games
Buy now on
Be forewarned, Canabalt utilizes a single finger. In this case, one finger is all you need to have a great time. There is no real storyline, there are no complicated moves to perform; there is only a man on a mission to get as far away from the alien invaders as possible. Running is your only option, jumping your only salvation (pretty dramatic, right?).
The gameplay revolves around your character running forward and jumping from building to building (or several additional objects) and trying to jump over obstacles that are in your way. It certainly is a simple idea but its design is so slick that it makes you come back for more over and over again. This game came out a while ago, before this site began, but in the last month has been updated, so it made sense for us to do a review to ensure our readers know about it.
The graphics are very nice. The background art depicts a world in chaos and the urban setting only adds additional flavor to the setting. The obstacles within the game are done extremely well. Take care to listen to what is going on within the game to have a better idea of when a certain obstacle may appear. In that way, sound is used in unison with the graphics and gameplay to great effect. And when it comes to music, there is no comparison. The game gives you two songs, both of which are completely amazing and fitting. This game has the best music of any iPhone game I have ever played.
Of course as you get further along the road, the path gets more difficult. More obstacles begin appearing and your heart starts racing to beat your old score. The main thing here is that the world is different every time you load up a game. There are no set instances of things happening. This randomness keeps the world fresh and dynamic. The game tracks you scores both locally and also on a network so that you can compare your score to others around the world. My highest score is slightly above 5,000. I was pretty proud of that score until I saw the world leader had hit about 50,000. Jeez.
This game isn't for someone that needs a ton of buttons to push. Also, the price is probably too high. At $2.99, I would expect a few additional levels. If you are lucky enough to find the game on sale for $1.99, buy it. You can add an entire star to my overall score at that price. To get a good idea if you would like the general gameplay, try out the free flash version of the game. You can find that HERE. Despite the price, when it comes to 2 or 3 minute time killers, Canabalt is one of the finest. My only problem is that 2 or 3 minutes usually turns into 15-20 every time I play.
Overall Value for it's $2.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Publisher: Semi Secret Games
Buy now on
Be forewarned, Canabalt utilizes a single finger. In this case, one finger is all you need to have a great time. There is no real storyline, there are no complicated moves to perform; there is only a man on a mission to get as far away from the alien invaders as possible. Running is your only option, jumping your only salvation (pretty dramatic, right?).
The gameplay revolves around your character running forward and jumping from building to building (or several additional objects) and trying to jump over obstacles that are in your way. It certainly is a simple idea but its design is so slick that it makes you come back for more over and over again. This game came out a while ago, before this site began, but in the last month has been updated, so it made sense for us to do a review to ensure our readers know about it.
The graphics are very nice. The background art depicts a world in chaos and the urban setting only adds additional flavor to the setting. The obstacles within the game are done extremely well. Take care to listen to what is going on within the game to have a better idea of when a certain obstacle may appear. In that way, sound is used in unison with the graphics and gameplay to great effect. And when it comes to music, there is no comparison. The game gives you two songs, both of which are completely amazing and fitting. This game has the best music of any iPhone game I have ever played.
Of course as you get further along the road, the path gets more difficult. More obstacles begin appearing and your heart starts racing to beat your old score. The main thing here is that the world is different every time you load up a game. There are no set instances of things happening. This randomness keeps the world fresh and dynamic. The game tracks you scores both locally and also on a network so that you can compare your score to others around the world. My highest score is slightly above 5,000. I was pretty proud of that score until I saw the world leader had hit about 50,000. Jeez.
This game isn't for someone that needs a ton of buttons to push. Also, the price is probably too high. At $2.99, I would expect a few additional levels. If you are lucky enough to find the game on sale for $1.99, buy it. You can add an entire star to my overall score at that price. To get a good idea if you would like the general gameplay, try out the free flash version of the game. You can find that HERE. Despite the price, when it comes to 2 or 3 minute time killers, Canabalt is one of the finest. My only problem is that 2 or 3 minutes usually turns into 15-20 every time I play.
Overall Value for it's $2.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
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Hook Champ Review for iPhone and Ipod Touch
Price: $2.99
Publisher: Rocketcat Games
Buy now on
Hook Champ is an iPhone/iPod Touch action game based on using a grappling hook to swing as quick as possible through cavernous levels filled with bats, water, lava and the like while being chased by a giant floating fish that wants to eat you. In a word, it is awesome. The retro graphics (see screenshots) along with the music and humor make for an exciting, challenging game that is tough to put down.
The story begins with you and a friend finding a treasure map and a grappling hook. Using your amazing new found grappling skills you go into a cavern and are chased by the aforementioned giant floating fish. In the cave you quickly grapple your way through as speedily as possible while at the same time trying to pick up as many coins as possible (which by the way make a very nice jingle sound when picked up). After completing the stage you can go back to a shop and buy a variety of items or upgrades. You can even buy the ability to play with several different characters.
When it comes to the store, it adds a lot to the gameplay. In the beginning of the game you don't really have the ability to throw your grapple very far, it’s hard to pick up coins and you walk extremely slow (grappling being the best way to get around in a cave). By upgrading a variety of items you will progressively move much quicker (which is good because that giant floating fish gets quicker and quicker as the levels progress). One of the silliest features in the game is also one of the best. You have a tremendous variety of hats to buy at the shop from a ball cap to a gas mask. This game doesn't take itself seriously and that whimsical quality is really fun and is evident throughout.
The graphics are dated but done so purposely. They bring you back to the days of the original Super Mario. In the beginning, it really bothered me that everything felt so pixilated but for some reason the graphics grew on me and I accepted them for what they are. I love amazing graphics as much as the next guy but this game is all about gameplay. The music in the menu is quite good but for whatever reason it is not included during the actual playing of the game. Kind of a bummer but the game does allow you to use your own iPhone/iPod Touch playlist before you start the game and continue using it while playing.
The game saves your replay for each of your best grappling runs. You can race yourself or used in a built in quasi-multiplayer system to race against the world’s best grapplers for each level. It is kind of nice to have the additional urgency and actually see what they did as they go through each level. You can even find people that are playing Hook Champ nearby if you allow OpenFeint to locate you using your devices GPS. It's kind of a nice touch.
The controls feel weird at first. There is no virtual joystick; there is no on screen buttons. The top part of your screen is for the grapple hook and the bottom part of the screen allows you to run forward or backward. Once you play the game for a while you will get used to it and the controls become second nature.
This game is really well made, and is definitely a pleasure to play. It gives you a variety of different levels and gets progressively harder as you move forward. You can easily compare yourself to people all across the world or if you would like to, people just within your local area. If you like 2d platformers, you are surely going to enjoy this one. Enjoy the retro feel and forget about the graphics. Who needs graphics when you have an awesome grappling hook anyway?
Overall Value for it's $2.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Publisher: Rocketcat Games
Buy now on
Hook Champ is an iPhone/iPod Touch action game based on using a grappling hook to swing as quick as possible through cavernous levels filled with bats, water, lava and the like while being chased by a giant floating fish that wants to eat you. In a word, it is awesome. The retro graphics (see screenshots) along with the music and humor make for an exciting, challenging game that is tough to put down.
The story begins with you and a friend finding a treasure map and a grappling hook. Using your amazing new found grappling skills you go into a cavern and are chased by the aforementioned giant floating fish. In the cave you quickly grapple your way through as speedily as possible while at the same time trying to pick up as many coins as possible (which by the way make a very nice jingle sound when picked up). After completing the stage you can go back to a shop and buy a variety of items or upgrades. You can even buy the ability to play with several different characters.
When it comes to the store, it adds a lot to the gameplay. In the beginning of the game you don't really have the ability to throw your grapple very far, it’s hard to pick up coins and you walk extremely slow (grappling being the best way to get around in a cave). By upgrading a variety of items you will progressively move much quicker (which is good because that giant floating fish gets quicker and quicker as the levels progress). One of the silliest features in the game is also one of the best. You have a tremendous variety of hats to buy at the shop from a ball cap to a gas mask. This game doesn't take itself seriously and that whimsical quality is really fun and is evident throughout.
The graphics are dated but done so purposely. They bring you back to the days of the original Super Mario. In the beginning, it really bothered me that everything felt so pixilated but for some reason the graphics grew on me and I accepted them for what they are. I love amazing graphics as much as the next guy but this game is all about gameplay. The music in the menu is quite good but for whatever reason it is not included during the actual playing of the game. Kind of a bummer but the game does allow you to use your own iPhone/iPod Touch playlist before you start the game and continue using it while playing.
The game saves your replay for each of your best grappling runs. You can race yourself or used in a built in quasi-multiplayer system to race against the world’s best grapplers for each level. It is kind of nice to have the additional urgency and actually see what they did as they go through each level. You can even find people that are playing Hook Champ nearby if you allow OpenFeint to locate you using your devices GPS. It's kind of a nice touch.
The controls feel weird at first. There is no virtual joystick; there is no on screen buttons. The top part of your screen is for the grapple hook and the bottom part of the screen allows you to run forward or backward. Once you play the game for a while you will get used to it and the controls become second nature.
This game is really well made, and is definitely a pleasure to play. It gives you a variety of different levels and gets progressively harder as you move forward. You can easily compare yourself to people all across the world or if you would like to, people just within your local area. If you like 2d platformers, you are surely going to enjoy this one. Enjoy the retro feel and forget about the graphics. Who needs graphics when you have an awesome grappling hook anyway?
Overall Value for it's $2.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
domingo, 17 de enero de 2010
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Review
Price: $9.99
Publisher: Rockstar games
Buy it now on
Bringing the biggest gaming franchise in the world to the iPhone/iPod Touch certainly took a lot longer than some people had hoped. Now that it's here, the biggest question is whether or not it can live up to its name. Grant Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is adapted from the PSP game of the same name. You play the "bratty" progeny of a recently killed Chinese gang leader. Your mission, come to the United States, find his killers and along the way, make some money.
The opening scene of GTA: Chinatown plays out like a movie showing quite a few cutscenes, one after another. Through these scenes you find out who your character is, what he is doing in New York and see the outcome of his Liberty City arrival. All in all, these are well done, as most of the cutscenes are throughout the game. Just note that when I say cutscenes, I don't mean it in the same sense as the console GTA game. Instead, you are shown captions for the characters along with a comic book like shot of what is going on at that moment. It's understandable that live action cutscenes are not included and won't result in a lower score for the game.
The game brings you into the world and has you doing missions fairly quickly. Many of the same things you do in the other GTA games - Finding your safe house, going to missions, etc are all done here on the iPhone/iPod Touch version as well. I have to say that overall the production value is very good indeed. Many of the things that you can do in the console versions can also be done in this game as well. The in car GPS allows you to pick a point which the map will show you being created on the screen. There are several different radio stations that can be selected as you drive along. You also have a PDA/Laptop to check your emails and make a save at any time (other than when you are in a mission). You can even change the theme of your PDA (I know some of you care even though I do not).
The graphics are a mix of 3d along with an isometric top down view. Overall, they suit the gameplay very well. Basically they are a mix between Grand theft Auto 3 and the first two games in the series. The world is very detailed. The train tracks have sparks flying off, there are night/day cycles, rain, fogginess and smoke are shown throughout and overall the city has a vibrancy to it that is likely unmatched by any other iPhone/iPod Touch game of this type. One complaint I do have is that when you jump in a car and start driving, there is no real way of seeing what is in front of you as you drive. While you can use the GPS map on the top left, you can't actually see any cars that are more than 20 feet in front which frequently results in a wreck. It would have been nice to see a 3D view on the top of the screen that shows what is coming up next.
As with any GTA game, the real game is not only in the missions but what else you can do in the environment around you. There are quite a few good jokes thrown into most of the game's environment. Things shown on newspapers, ads, lines said by characters, written in your email, etc make Liberty City a really satisfying place to be. You can drive taxis, ambulances, and police car's and do missions for each type of transportation. Picking up travelers, killing criminals and saving lives adds a lot to the amount of time you will spend playing the game. Add in that every mission within the game can be replayed in a different mode that times you for how quick you can do it and this game offers an enormous amount of gameplay. There are also side games and outlets for spending your money. Want to go buy some scratch off lotto tickets? Go ahead. Better to waste your money in GTA than in real life.
So how do the controls stack up within the game? Certainly an important question since a game like this asks you to utilize them throughout to do many different things. The answer is that they are done very well. Driving is made simple by virtual left or right directional arrows. No need to use the virtual analog stick. A good idea since the virtual analog stick in most driving games is easy to lose track of with your thumb. The controls on the street use the aforementioned virtual analog stick which works extremely well and shooting is done by pointing yourself in the right direction and click shoot. An auto targeting function takes car of the rest. Jumping, punching, car stealing and kicking can also be done using virtual on screen buttons.
The sound in the game is great. There are 5 radio stations built into the game. While none of them have any words, they each have a different feel to them - reggae, rock, rap, etc. The 6th station can be a custom station you create yourself. Simply create a playlist on your iPhone or iPod Touch called GTA, select the independent radio station in the menu and your good to go. The rest of the game has decent sound throughout. Squealing tires, purring engines, dying gangsters, etc are all here. One issue with the music is that you can't play it outside of the car. It is kind of disappointing that they reverted back to not being able to do this after having this option in GTAIV.
When I started writing this review I had no idea how I was going to cover all of the things you can do throughout the game in our usual word count, about 700-800 words. I think I have my answer – there is simply no way to cover this game in one simple review that goes through all of the basic things you can do and tell you about some of the surprises that jump up along the way. For me the main storyline was just a side note because I love to do all of the other things that Rockstar has added to the game. That being said, if you’re a storyline buff, you are likely going to enjoy this one as well. A few twists and surprises around every bend. I hate to come off so glowing in any review but I have to tell you the truth. If you like the console versions of GTA, enjoy its gameplay, and love the deadly environments that you are thrust into then you will definitely enjoy Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. There I said it. Now time to get back to the game.
Overall Value for it's $9.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Publisher: Rockstar games
Buy it now on
Bringing the biggest gaming franchise in the world to the iPhone/iPod Touch certainly took a lot longer than some people had hoped. Now that it's here, the biggest question is whether or not it can live up to its name. Grant Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is adapted from the PSP game of the same name. You play the "bratty" progeny of a recently killed Chinese gang leader. Your mission, come to the United States, find his killers and along the way, make some money.
The opening scene of GTA: Chinatown plays out like a movie showing quite a few cutscenes, one after another. Through these scenes you find out who your character is, what he is doing in New York and see the outcome of his Liberty City arrival. All in all, these are well done, as most of the cutscenes are throughout the game. Just note that when I say cutscenes, I don't mean it in the same sense as the console GTA game. Instead, you are shown captions for the characters along with a comic book like shot of what is going on at that moment. It's understandable that live action cutscenes are not included and won't result in a lower score for the game.
The game brings you into the world and has you doing missions fairly quickly. Many of the same things you do in the other GTA games - Finding your safe house, going to missions, etc are all done here on the iPhone/iPod Touch version as well. I have to say that overall the production value is very good indeed. Many of the things that you can do in the console versions can also be done in this game as well. The in car GPS allows you to pick a point which the map will show you being created on the screen. There are several different radio stations that can be selected as you drive along. You also have a PDA/Laptop to check your emails and make a save at any time (other than when you are in a mission). You can even change the theme of your PDA (I know some of you care even though I do not).
The graphics are a mix of 3d along with an isometric top down view. Overall, they suit the gameplay very well. Basically they are a mix between Grand theft Auto 3 and the first two games in the series. The world is very detailed. The train tracks have sparks flying off, there are night/day cycles, rain, fogginess and smoke are shown throughout and overall the city has a vibrancy to it that is likely unmatched by any other iPhone/iPod Touch game of this type. One complaint I do have is that when you jump in a car and start driving, there is no real way of seeing what is in front of you as you drive. While you can use the GPS map on the top left, you can't actually see any cars that are more than 20 feet in front which frequently results in a wreck. It would have been nice to see a 3D view on the top of the screen that shows what is coming up next.
As with any GTA game, the real game is not only in the missions but what else you can do in the environment around you. There are quite a few good jokes thrown into most of the game's environment. Things shown on newspapers, ads, lines said by characters, written in your email, etc make Liberty City a really satisfying place to be. You can drive taxis, ambulances, and police car's and do missions for each type of transportation. Picking up travelers, killing criminals and saving lives adds a lot to the amount of time you will spend playing the game. Add in that every mission within the game can be replayed in a different mode that times you for how quick you can do it and this game offers an enormous amount of gameplay. There are also side games and outlets for spending your money. Want to go buy some scratch off lotto tickets? Go ahead. Better to waste your money in GTA than in real life.
So how do the controls stack up within the game? Certainly an important question since a game like this asks you to utilize them throughout to do many different things. The answer is that they are done very well. Driving is made simple by virtual left or right directional arrows. No need to use the virtual analog stick. A good idea since the virtual analog stick in most driving games is easy to lose track of with your thumb. The controls on the street use the aforementioned virtual analog stick which works extremely well and shooting is done by pointing yourself in the right direction and click shoot. An auto targeting function takes car of the rest. Jumping, punching, car stealing and kicking can also be done using virtual on screen buttons.
The sound in the game is great. There are 5 radio stations built into the game. While none of them have any words, they each have a different feel to them - reggae, rock, rap, etc. The 6th station can be a custom station you create yourself. Simply create a playlist on your iPhone or iPod Touch called GTA, select the independent radio station in the menu and your good to go. The rest of the game has decent sound throughout. Squealing tires, purring engines, dying gangsters, etc are all here. One issue with the music is that you can't play it outside of the car. It is kind of disappointing that they reverted back to not being able to do this after having this option in GTAIV.
When I started writing this review I had no idea how I was going to cover all of the things you can do throughout the game in our usual word count, about 700-800 words. I think I have my answer – there is simply no way to cover this game in one simple review that goes through all of the basic things you can do and tell you about some of the surprises that jump up along the way. For me the main storyline was just a side note because I love to do all of the other things that Rockstar has added to the game. That being said, if you’re a storyline buff, you are likely going to enjoy this one as well. A few twists and surprises around every bend. I hate to come off so glowing in any review but I have to tell you the truth. If you like the console versions of GTA, enjoy its gameplay, and love the deadly environments that you are thrust into then you will definitely enjoy Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. There I said it. Now time to get back to the game.
Overall Value for it's $9.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
sábado, 16 de enero de 2010
Battle Bears 1.5 Review
Price: $.99
Publisher: SkyVu Pictures Inc.
Buy now on
Battle Bears 1.5 is a really weird game. Not that there is anything wrong with that. In fact, its uniqueness helps set it apart from some games that play in a very similar manner. What makes this game so strange? How about the fact that you play a brown bear that fights off, with crossbows, machine guns, and the like, a never ending hoard of cuddly pink, blue and orange bears who want nothing more than to hug you? Does that strike you as a bit different? Or maybe you would consider it strange that when you kill them, the advancing bear's heads come off and a rainbow shoots out instead of blood.
If after reading those beginning paragraph you are already ready to buy this $.99 gem, I don't blame you. On the other hand, if you are shocked and offended, this might not be your game. Basically the gameplay during the story mode revolves around you shooting/killing the advancing bears in any way possible. You have quite a few weapons at your disposal. You will only be responsible for standing in a spot surrounded by sand bags, no need to move around and shoot. In some ways, think about a messed up version of Duck Hunt.
The controls are simple to get used to. Basically they are just the normal virtual pad controls you find on any shooting game. They work well and since you don't have to move and rarely become frustrating. The graphics are hilarious. They really are something to see. The animations along with the cut scenes, oh yes-there are many cut scenes, will likely astound you throughout the entire story mode. The cuts scenes especially are extremely bizarre but again it adds to the game’s character. One thing you can definitely say after watching the cut scenes, these were not made by Gameloft (whose cut scenes are always a rip-off of some console game). In my opinion, that's a good thing.
The sound within the game will likely make you laugh more than once. I know it did for me. Bad bear puns are thrown in throughout and pronounced by the characters enthusiastically. You'll hear things like "bearzooka" and "Bearbershop Quartet". Simply ridiculous but something about it is really charming. The music sounds a lot like an action move and is done well throughout. The sound in this game is one of the best uses of sound I have seen (heard I mean) out of an iPhone/ iPod Touch game.
In between levels you have the ability to add more ammo to one of the weapons or to rebuild your defenses. The strategy adds a nice touch to what would otherwise just be a shooter. Throughout the game saves are made frequently so even if you get hugged to death (yep, that's actually what happens), you can still go back to the place you were at. The same holds true for an interrupting phone call or needing to quit the game. Both of these are nice touches.
Besides the story mode (which has 3 different difficulty settings) which will give you a good hour of playtime, the game also gives you OpenFeint community achievements and a survival mode. The survival mode, which involves you trying to survive wave after wave of cuddly bears, allows your scores to be tracked using the aforementioned OpenFeint and post them for all to see. Overall, Battle Bears 1.5 is a good fit for most anyone with an iPhone/iPod Touch. The bear killing, maiming and unicorn horn shooting (yep, you do this too) should be experienced by anyone that has a bit of a dark side to them.
Overall Value for it's $.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Publisher: SkyVu Pictures Inc.
Buy now on
Battle Bears 1.5 is a really weird game. Not that there is anything wrong with that. In fact, its uniqueness helps set it apart from some games that play in a very similar manner. What makes this game so strange? How about the fact that you play a brown bear that fights off, with crossbows, machine guns, and the like, a never ending hoard of cuddly pink, blue and orange bears who want nothing more than to hug you? Does that strike you as a bit different? Or maybe you would consider it strange that when you kill them, the advancing bear's heads come off and a rainbow shoots out instead of blood.
If after reading those beginning paragraph you are already ready to buy this $.99 gem, I don't blame you. On the other hand, if you are shocked and offended, this might not be your game. Basically the gameplay during the story mode revolves around you shooting/killing the advancing bears in any way possible. You have quite a few weapons at your disposal. You will only be responsible for standing in a spot surrounded by sand bags, no need to move around and shoot. In some ways, think about a messed up version of Duck Hunt.
The controls are simple to get used to. Basically they are just the normal virtual pad controls you find on any shooting game. They work well and since you don't have to move and rarely become frustrating. The graphics are hilarious. They really are something to see. The animations along with the cut scenes, oh yes-there are many cut scenes, will likely astound you throughout the entire story mode. The cuts scenes especially are extremely bizarre but again it adds to the game’s character. One thing you can definitely say after watching the cut scenes, these were not made by Gameloft (whose cut scenes are always a rip-off of some console game). In my opinion, that's a good thing.
The sound within the game will likely make you laugh more than once. I know it did for me. Bad bear puns are thrown in throughout and pronounced by the characters enthusiastically. You'll hear things like "bearzooka" and "Bearbershop Quartet". Simply ridiculous but something about it is really charming. The music sounds a lot like an action move and is done well throughout. The sound in this game is one of the best uses of sound I have seen (heard I mean) out of an iPhone/ iPod Touch game.
In between levels you have the ability to add more ammo to one of the weapons or to rebuild your defenses. The strategy adds a nice touch to what would otherwise just be a shooter. Throughout the game saves are made frequently so even if you get hugged to death (yep, that's actually what happens), you can still go back to the place you were at. The same holds true for an interrupting phone call or needing to quit the game. Both of these are nice touches.
Besides the story mode (which has 3 different difficulty settings) which will give you a good hour of playtime, the game also gives you OpenFeint community achievements and a survival mode. The survival mode, which involves you trying to survive wave after wave of cuddly bears, allows your scores to be tracked using the aforementioned OpenFeint and post them for all to see. Overall, Battle Bears 1.5 is a good fit for most anyone with an iPhone/iPod Touch. The bear killing, maiming and unicorn horn shooting (yep, you do this too) should be experienced by anyone that has a bit of a dark side to them.
Overall Value for it's $.99 price point
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miércoles, 13 de enero de 2010
Scribble Pilot Review
Price: $1.99
Publisher: Sam Lotti
Buy now on
I would start by comparing this game to several older arcade games that have similar gameplay but I think many of my readers are simply too young to remember them. Instead I'll just start by setting the scene for Scribble Pilot. Doodle Jump graphics (see here for review) meshed with space action shoot-em-up gameplay. The end result leaves this reviewer wanting more of the same.
The gameplay involves you taking over a space aged jet fighter and going into space. Instead of being able to fly around in whatever direction you want to like you would find in an Asteroid type game, you use the angle of your iPhone/iPod to fly faster or slower depending on how much you slant it forward or back. To fly left or right, simply lean your device in that direction. On the bottom of the screen is a shoot button and the rest of the screen has an overlay to show important information. Things like fuel, number of rounds left, points scored, etc.
Standing (flying would be a more apt word I guess) in your way are asteroids, alien crafts, space aliens, space bombs and most substantially an alien “mothership” for each level you go through in the game (after the first two levels the motherships will be re-used but have additional weapons and powers). All of these alien scribbles are very well done. They scale from being ridiculously cute or quite nefarious in appearance. One of the green monsters that fires continuously at you has a huge smiley face and looks like am cloud flying around. It's almost makes you sad when you have to fire your blaster cannon and annihilate it.
Graphically the game is everything you would expect from a doodle or scribble based game. All of the graphics in the game have been hand drawn. The background of the game looks like a notepad and most of the object designs are creative and pleasant looking. The sound in the game isn't bad at all. There isn’t really any music to speak of until you get near the alien ship at the end of a level. At that point, you will hear some very ominous music that sets the mood. I wish there was more of that type of thing but overall, the graphics and sound fit the game very well.
The game gives you 3 or 4 weapons to use to destroy the alien/asteroid death being hurled your way. It would have been nice to have a few more options but overall the weapons given have a fairly satisfying feel. The same holds true for the multiple things you need to account for as you fly forward. Namely, not only are all of these alien space objects flying your way ensuring you are constantly on alert so you don’t get hit but you also need to keep track of how many fuel units, bullets, and lives you have left. In order to refuel or re-load you need to put yourself in front of fuel or bullet canisters that will fly towards you. Of course to do that you need to dodge or kill the objects in the way.
In my playtime, I was able to get myself to number 9 on the top OpenFeint player list. Of course this game was just recently released so I imagine I will fall down the list quite quickly. However, I did have one irksome moment in the game. I was up to about 26,000 points or so - good enough to be very close to the top person on the OpenFeint community list and I still had 2 lives left. Suddenly I received a phone call and the game quits (like you would expect). However, when the call was over, the game loaded back up and the menu for the game was there instead of my ongoing high score shattering game. Argh! If there is one thing I wish every developer had in their game was the ability for it to save automatically before you answer a phone call. This in no way is a game killer but was a frustrating moment.
Scribble Pilot has everything you would want out of a time killer. It gives you interesting gameplay, pleasant graphics, a competitive sense to try and get a high score (thank you OpenFeint) and in general is very well made. In the future I would love to see this developer add some achievements that you can earn to its OpenFeint community page along with having some system of saving for when a call comes in. The bottom line is that if you are looking for a casual game where you get to fly, shoot things and try to beat my number 9 rank in OpenFeint - this is the game for you.
Overall Value for it's $1.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Publisher: Sam Lotti
Buy now on
I would start by comparing this game to several older arcade games that have similar gameplay but I think many of my readers are simply too young to remember them. Instead I'll just start by setting the scene for Scribble Pilot. Doodle Jump graphics (see here for review) meshed with space action shoot-em-up gameplay. The end result leaves this reviewer wanting more of the same.
The gameplay involves you taking over a space aged jet fighter and going into space. Instead of being able to fly around in whatever direction you want to like you would find in an Asteroid type game, you use the angle of your iPhone/iPod to fly faster or slower depending on how much you slant it forward or back. To fly left or right, simply lean your device in that direction. On the bottom of the screen is a shoot button and the rest of the screen has an overlay to show important information. Things like fuel, number of rounds left, points scored, etc.
Standing (flying would be a more apt word I guess) in your way are asteroids, alien crafts, space aliens, space bombs and most substantially an alien “mothership” for each level you go through in the game (after the first two levels the motherships will be re-used but have additional weapons and powers). All of these alien scribbles are very well done. They scale from being ridiculously cute or quite nefarious in appearance. One of the green monsters that fires continuously at you has a huge smiley face and looks like am cloud flying around. It's almost makes you sad when you have to fire your blaster cannon and annihilate it.
Graphically the game is everything you would expect from a doodle or scribble based game. All of the graphics in the game have been hand drawn. The background of the game looks like a notepad and most of the object designs are creative and pleasant looking. The sound in the game isn't bad at all. There isn’t really any music to speak of until you get near the alien ship at the end of a level. At that point, you will hear some very ominous music that sets the mood. I wish there was more of that type of thing but overall, the graphics and sound fit the game very well.
The game gives you 3 or 4 weapons to use to destroy the alien/asteroid death being hurled your way. It would have been nice to have a few more options but overall the weapons given have a fairly satisfying feel. The same holds true for the multiple things you need to account for as you fly forward. Namely, not only are all of these alien space objects flying your way ensuring you are constantly on alert so you don’t get hit but you also need to keep track of how many fuel units, bullets, and lives you have left. In order to refuel or re-load you need to put yourself in front of fuel or bullet canisters that will fly towards you. Of course to do that you need to dodge or kill the objects in the way.
In my playtime, I was able to get myself to number 9 on the top OpenFeint player list. Of course this game was just recently released so I imagine I will fall down the list quite quickly. However, I did have one irksome moment in the game. I was up to about 26,000 points or so - good enough to be very close to the top person on the OpenFeint community list and I still had 2 lives left. Suddenly I received a phone call and the game quits (like you would expect). However, when the call was over, the game loaded back up and the menu for the game was there instead of my ongoing high score shattering game. Argh! If there is one thing I wish every developer had in their game was the ability for it to save automatically before you answer a phone call. This in no way is a game killer but was a frustrating moment.
Scribble Pilot has everything you would want out of a time killer. It gives you interesting gameplay, pleasant graphics, a competitive sense to try and get a high score (thank you OpenFeint) and in general is very well made. In the future I would love to see this developer add some achievements that you can earn to its OpenFeint community page along with having some system of saving for when a call comes in. The bottom line is that if you are looking for a casual game where you get to fly, shoot things and try to beat my number 9 rank in OpenFeint - this is the game for you.
Overall Value for it's $1.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
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lunes, 11 de enero de 2010
James Cameron's Avatar Review
Price: $6.99
Publisher: Gameloft
Buy now on
It takes a special kind of person to have not heard of Avatar. The movie is everywhere, its licensed games, ads, and toys make it hard to go anywhere without falling over them. Over a billion dollars made at the box office in just about a month. Maybe it will surprise you then that I haven't seen the movie. Nevertheless, I have played the iPhone/iPod Touch game and I have some impressions.
This game has some type of weird storyline that I couldn't follow at all. Perhaps it is based on the movie's storyline, but maybe not. Anyway it sounds like you are a soldier that becomes a hybrid of a human and a Na’vi (blue aliens). Along with looking the part, you now have the alien race's body and skill set (or something like that). In that role you go to different places throughout the alien world named Pandora and fight off the many enemies in the process.
Avatar's gameplay revolves around you using your amazing Na'vi skills to kill wild beasts in the jungles of Pandora. You hack and slash your way through the world. You have the ability to use several different weapon types within the game, including a bow and arrow type weapon which is pretty fun. Your character can perform some pretty amazing acrobatics and sometimes all of the action reminds you of a Tarantino flick, only on a really bright world.
The sound, along with the graphics are well done. The score from the game is well suited for a science fiction based action game and the graphics are very clean, bright and plush with life. The frame rate rarely, if ever drops on my 3GS. Character models and beasts/monsters are also very well animated and overall the game feels fairly polished when it comes to the graphics and sound. To be honest, It's not really a surprise as Gameloft usually excels in these departments in their games.
Unfortunately the part they usually don't excel in, the actual gameplay is again a mix of good and bad. While the gameplay feels pretty lively, the game’s camera is not up to par. In fact the camera is truly horrible. There are times when you feel like you have no idea where to go and there is no way to direct the camera backwards. Unfortunately all camera movements are performed automatically by the game. Sometimes you will be attacked off screen by a beast and you won't even see them because they aren’t in your field of vision.
The game's difficulties don't end there. This game is a plat former in the mold of Tomb Raider. Like Tomb Raider there are jumping and climbing puzzles galore. Also like early Tomb Raider games, the controls are very difficult to use when jumping. Since the camera doesn’t follow directly behind your character all of the time, judging the distance you need to jump or the direction in which you should jump is made much more difficult than it needs to be. One saving grace is that the game does create quite a few checkpoint saves along the way. However it can be pretty annoying to do the same jumping puzzle for 15 minutes.
The controls are a mix of virtual d-pad and on screen action buttons that offer several different functionalities. All in all, it's a good system for movement. This game also offers quite a bit of content. It took me about 6 or 7 hours to beat it in full and you end up going through about 15 levels. Though there are quite a few levels, many of them are similar and again, there are far too many jumping puzzles. One nice thing I can say is that even if I wasn't playing this game for a review site, I would have tried to finish it. The gameplay of Avatar is usually satisfying enough throughout that I can partially overlook some of the camera issues.
With its lengthy campaign, pleasant graphics and sound I am going to suggest this game is worth it if you can get it for $5 or so. Unfortunately it is priced a bit higher at this point but when it comes down during a sale you might want to take a chance with it. The value of this game is that it gives you a ton of content and the action within it is a lot of fun. If your OK with looking past some of its issues, then you will probably have a pretty good time playing it. To me, it is obvious that with this game, Gameloft made a better effort than in past games (NOVA for example). Next time out I hope they can do even better.
Overall Value for it's $6.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Publisher: Gameloft
Buy now on
It takes a special kind of person to have not heard of Avatar. The movie is everywhere, its licensed games, ads, and toys make it hard to go anywhere without falling over them. Over a billion dollars made at the box office in just about a month. Maybe it will surprise you then that I haven't seen the movie. Nevertheless, I have played the iPhone/iPod Touch game and I have some impressions.
This game has some type of weird storyline that I couldn't follow at all. Perhaps it is based on the movie's storyline, but maybe not. Anyway it sounds like you are a soldier that becomes a hybrid of a human and a Na’vi (blue aliens). Along with looking the part, you now have the alien race's body and skill set (or something like that). In that role you go to different places throughout the alien world named Pandora and fight off the many enemies in the process.
Avatar's gameplay revolves around you using your amazing Na'vi skills to kill wild beasts in the jungles of Pandora. You hack and slash your way through the world. You have the ability to use several different weapon types within the game, including a bow and arrow type weapon which is pretty fun. Your character can perform some pretty amazing acrobatics and sometimes all of the action reminds you of a Tarantino flick, only on a really bright world.
The sound, along with the graphics are well done. The score from the game is well suited for a science fiction based action game and the graphics are very clean, bright and plush with life. The frame rate rarely, if ever drops on my 3GS. Character models and beasts/monsters are also very well animated and overall the game feels fairly polished when it comes to the graphics and sound. To be honest, It's not really a surprise as Gameloft usually excels in these departments in their games.
Unfortunately the part they usually don't excel in, the actual gameplay is again a mix of good and bad. While the gameplay feels pretty lively, the game’s camera is not up to par. In fact the camera is truly horrible. There are times when you feel like you have no idea where to go and there is no way to direct the camera backwards. Unfortunately all camera movements are performed automatically by the game. Sometimes you will be attacked off screen by a beast and you won't even see them because they aren’t in your field of vision.
The game's difficulties don't end there. This game is a plat former in the mold of Tomb Raider. Like Tomb Raider there are jumping and climbing puzzles galore. Also like early Tomb Raider games, the controls are very difficult to use when jumping. Since the camera doesn’t follow directly behind your character all of the time, judging the distance you need to jump or the direction in which you should jump is made much more difficult than it needs to be. One saving grace is that the game does create quite a few checkpoint saves along the way. However it can be pretty annoying to do the same jumping puzzle for 15 minutes.
The controls are a mix of virtual d-pad and on screen action buttons that offer several different functionalities. All in all, it's a good system for movement. This game also offers quite a bit of content. It took me about 6 or 7 hours to beat it in full and you end up going through about 15 levels. Though there are quite a few levels, many of them are similar and again, there are far too many jumping puzzles. One nice thing I can say is that even if I wasn't playing this game for a review site, I would have tried to finish it. The gameplay of Avatar is usually satisfying enough throughout that I can partially overlook some of the camera issues.
With its lengthy campaign, pleasant graphics and sound I am going to suggest this game is worth it if you can get it for $5 or so. Unfortunately it is priced a bit higher at this point but when it comes down during a sale you might want to take a chance with it. The value of this game is that it gives you a ton of content and the action within it is a lot of fun. If your OK with looking past some of its issues, then you will probably have a pretty good time playing it. To me, it is obvious that with this game, Gameloft made a better effort than in past games (NOVA for example). Next time out I hope they can do even better.
Overall Value for it's $6.99 price point
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viernes, 1 de enero de 2010
Shaun White Snowboarding: Origins Review
Price: .99
Publisher: Advanced Mobile Applications
Buy now on
For me, Shaun White Snowboarding: Origins was a welcome sight in the app store. Both the skateboard and snowboarding genres that are both so popular in the console gaming world have been noticeably sparse in the appstore. This game is a decent start. A game like this has quite a few challenges for a mobile device since even on the console, the controls can be challenging. On a virtual stick, a developer needs to give the player enough variety when it comes to tricks and moves but at the same time keep things simple. For the most part, this important aspect of the game is a success.
Loading up the game you can see right away that the game modes are few. A single player free play mode coupled with some ghost competition options. If you aren't familiar with competing against a ghost, imagine competing against you or a friend’s replay of an existing run down the mountain. The end result is you can see what they do, when they do it, giving you a sense of real time competition despite the lack of true multiplayer. This mode is welcome but unfortunately doesn't make up fully for the lack of Wi Fi or even the ubiquitous Bluetooth multiplayer support in the game.
Once you do get into the game, you will likely find the controls easy to learn and quick to respond. The trickiest (and often the most frustrating) part of this game is trying to make as many moves as you can while going down the mountain and not timing the landings correctly resulting in a crash and a loss of all of the points you made during that jump/series of tricks. However, since the controls are easily learned, practice should help quite a bit. The game offers 4 different mountains to go down with each having a different layout and course. The game integrates with an online community that allows you to track your progress as you go. The achievement system is really fleshed out and there are quite a few to keep you busy.
The graphics and sound of the game are both fairly decent. It would have been nice to be able to listen to your own music catalog as you push yourself down the mountain side but that's a small issue. The graphics do tend to be glitchy at times and occasionally you fall down the side of the hill and get your head stuck until you hit the jump button but thankfully it doesn't happen too often. The rest of the environments in the game are fairly pretty and the player models vary a bit as well. This game isn’t going to throw all of your friends into an uproar about the graphics but they are more than serviceable.
The game gives you the aforementioned 4 levels and also includes several different characters with varying ranges of abilities. Some are quicker, a few are better at tricks, etc. The real shame is that this game offers no customization at all. You can't create a new snowboarder and nor can you take part in career events, earn money, etc that are all part of most games of this type. For me, that was a pretty big letdown as a lack of career mode means the replay value for this game is fairly limited. Even more bizarre, the game doesn't include any races at all against ai opponents. Just the ghost racing mentioned above. It seems like this would have been an afterthought for most games of this type but here it isn't even included.
Overall, this game is no dud. It has good controls, nice graphics and is pretty fun when you learn to piece a bunch of tricks together in a row. However, if you are looking for live racing, multiplayer, customization of characters, or a ton of replay value on the virtual mountains of the world, you may need to wait for another snowboarding game to come out. I have a feeling this isn’t the last Shaun White game we will see on the iPhone and that’s not a bad thing.
Overall Value for it's $.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Publisher: Advanced Mobile Applications
Buy now on
For me, Shaun White Snowboarding: Origins was a welcome sight in the app store. Both the skateboard and snowboarding genres that are both so popular in the console gaming world have been noticeably sparse in the appstore. This game is a decent start. A game like this has quite a few challenges for a mobile device since even on the console, the controls can be challenging. On a virtual stick, a developer needs to give the player enough variety when it comes to tricks and moves but at the same time keep things simple. For the most part, this important aspect of the game is a success.
Loading up the game you can see right away that the game modes are few. A single player free play mode coupled with some ghost competition options. If you aren't familiar with competing against a ghost, imagine competing against you or a friend’s replay of an existing run down the mountain. The end result is you can see what they do, when they do it, giving you a sense of real time competition despite the lack of true multiplayer. This mode is welcome but unfortunately doesn't make up fully for the lack of Wi Fi or even the ubiquitous Bluetooth multiplayer support in the game.
Once you do get into the game, you will likely find the controls easy to learn and quick to respond. The trickiest (and often the most frustrating) part of this game is trying to make as many moves as you can while going down the mountain and not timing the landings correctly resulting in a crash and a loss of all of the points you made during that jump/series of tricks. However, since the controls are easily learned, practice should help quite a bit. The game offers 4 different mountains to go down with each having a different layout and course. The game integrates with an online community that allows you to track your progress as you go. The achievement system is really fleshed out and there are quite a few to keep you busy.
The graphics and sound of the game are both fairly decent. It would have been nice to be able to listen to your own music catalog as you push yourself down the mountain side but that's a small issue. The graphics do tend to be glitchy at times and occasionally you fall down the side of the hill and get your head stuck until you hit the jump button but thankfully it doesn't happen too often. The rest of the environments in the game are fairly pretty and the player models vary a bit as well. This game isn’t going to throw all of your friends into an uproar about the graphics but they are more than serviceable.
The game gives you the aforementioned 4 levels and also includes several different characters with varying ranges of abilities. Some are quicker, a few are better at tricks, etc. The real shame is that this game offers no customization at all. You can't create a new snowboarder and nor can you take part in career events, earn money, etc that are all part of most games of this type. For me, that was a pretty big letdown as a lack of career mode means the replay value for this game is fairly limited. Even more bizarre, the game doesn't include any races at all against ai opponents. Just the ghost racing mentioned above. It seems like this would have been an afterthought for most games of this type but here it isn't even included.
Overall, this game is no dud. It has good controls, nice graphics and is pretty fun when you learn to piece a bunch of tricks together in a row. However, if you are looking for live racing, multiplayer, customization of characters, or a ton of replay value on the virtual mountains of the world, you may need to wait for another snowboarding game to come out. I have a feeling this isn’t the last Shaun White game we will see on the iPhone and that’s not a bad thing.
Overall Value for it's $.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
martes, 22 de diciembre de 2009
Rail Adventures Review
Price: $1.99
Buy now on
Rail Adventures uses a good premise for a game. The setting: You’re an Indiana Jones-like character in a mining shaft on a rail cart trying to escape the “mountains before it’s too late.” Along the way you can pick up gold, shoot monsters and jump over obstacles. It has all of the makings of a fun pick up and play game but unfortunately the game doesn’t use its fine premise in an effective way and your left with a game that is frustrating and tedious.
First, even though your cart moves quicker and quicker as it whips around railway bends, you are asked to slow it down by braking. Slowing down the cart would be an ok gaming mechanic if there was something chasing you or the mine was going to collapse or something was going to happen that only allowed you a certain amount of time to escape with your life. Sadly, that is not the case. You can casually slow down the railway car without a worry in the world. The lack of a time sensitive escape makes the game much less compelling than it could be and the escape action music ironic instead of fitting.
While escaping the mine, you have to kill skeletons, monsters, bats, zombies, etc and lots of them. They stand directly in front of your path and you try to shoot them 6 or 7 times until you destroy them. They don’t move and the only thing that happens if you don’t shoot them 6 or 7 times is you run them over with your cart. Talk about self preservation. It would have been a lot more interesting if they could move and instead of a fixed crosshair for your gun (straight ahead), you had the ability to aim at least left and right. As it is, it feels like something that was added on at the end of the development cycle.
Most damning though was after going through the first level in the game, I was instructed to replay it. I received very little explanation as to why. All I knew was that the game didn’t unlock the next level for me. I restarted the first level thinking it would tell me what I did wrong or what I needed to do differently. Instead it told me the same thing it told me the first time. After playing the level yet again, I saw screen I missed the first time. “You must collect all gold bars and have all percentages over 95% to help unlock the final level and over 85% to unlock the next level”. What in the hell? Instead of having a timed escape, the adventurer has some arbitrary percentages he has to meet. This is without a doubt a game killer.
The game has nice music and the graphics aren’t all that bad but due to the game design, little else matters. This game is good for all of 10 or 20 minutes because it doesn’t give you any reward for playing. So is this game worth its $1.99 asking price? Not in the least unless you find it fun trying to meet arbitrary goals and see the same level over and over again. Think of this scenario; You finally escaped the doomed mountain on your rail cart. Wait, no I didn’t, you only jumped 80% of the objects in the middle of the tracks which obviously means you are doomed…doomed to play the same level again and again. No thanks.
Overall Value for it's $1.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Buy now on
Rail Adventures uses a good premise for a game. The setting: You’re an Indiana Jones-like character in a mining shaft on a rail cart trying to escape the “mountains before it’s too late.” Along the way you can pick up gold, shoot monsters and jump over obstacles. It has all of the makings of a fun pick up and play game but unfortunately the game doesn’t use its fine premise in an effective way and your left with a game that is frustrating and tedious.
First, even though your cart moves quicker and quicker as it whips around railway bends, you are asked to slow it down by braking. Slowing down the cart would be an ok gaming mechanic if there was something chasing you or the mine was going to collapse or something was going to happen that only allowed you a certain amount of time to escape with your life. Sadly, that is not the case. You can casually slow down the railway car without a worry in the world. The lack of a time sensitive escape makes the game much less compelling than it could be and the escape action music ironic instead of fitting.
While escaping the mine, you have to kill skeletons, monsters, bats, zombies, etc and lots of them. They stand directly in front of your path and you try to shoot them 6 or 7 times until you destroy them. They don’t move and the only thing that happens if you don’t shoot them 6 or 7 times is you run them over with your cart. Talk about self preservation. It would have been a lot more interesting if they could move and instead of a fixed crosshair for your gun (straight ahead), you had the ability to aim at least left and right. As it is, it feels like something that was added on at the end of the development cycle.
Most damning though was after going through the first level in the game, I was instructed to replay it. I received very little explanation as to why. All I knew was that the game didn’t unlock the next level for me. I restarted the first level thinking it would tell me what I did wrong or what I needed to do differently. Instead it told me the same thing it told me the first time. After playing the level yet again, I saw screen I missed the first time. “You must collect all gold bars and have all percentages over 95% to help unlock the final level and over 85% to unlock the next level”. What in the hell? Instead of having a timed escape, the adventurer has some arbitrary percentages he has to meet. This is without a doubt a game killer.
The game has nice music and the graphics aren’t all that bad but due to the game design, little else matters. This game is good for all of 10 or 20 minutes because it doesn’t give you any reward for playing. So is this game worth its $1.99 asking price? Not in the least unless you find it fun trying to meet arbitrary goals and see the same level over and over again. Think of this scenario; You finally escaped the doomed mountain on your rail cart. Wait, no I didn’t, you only jumped 80% of the objects in the middle of the tracks which obviously means you are doomed…doomed to play the same level again and again. No thanks.
Overall Value for it's $1.99 price point
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domingo, 20 de diciembre de 2009
N.O.V.A Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance Review
Cost: $6.99
Publisher: Gameloft
Buy now on
I guess I should start this review with a disclaimer. I don't like HALO. I think it's bad. I think the single player mode has an embarrassingly poor story line (in all of the HALO games) and the multiplayer mode isn't much better than some of the first multiplayer games ever developed for PC gamers. I know people like it. I am not one of those people.
The reason I mention all of this before reviewing N.O.V.A is that for all intents and purposes, N.O.V.A is another 4 letter name for HALO (complete with a stupid acronym). That doesn't mean it's all bad. In fact, parts of the game are surprisingly fun.
N.O.V.A starts off its single player mode with some decent looking cut scenes and with some half thought out story about aliens in the future. I have no problem with this. Just a typical sci-fi plot. The first thing you'll notice as you go through the opening tutorial level is that it's pretty. In fact, the graphics are among the best of any game I have seen on the iPhone. The colors are bright and clean. In fact, the levels you play through in the game (12 or so) all look good on the iPhone's screen. Each is distinctive as you go from a jungle map to a space ship to an alien planet.
The sound is standard fare for a science fiction FPS. The background music is nice but some of the alien noises are a little over the top. My wife overheard me playing and thoughts I was killing dinosaurs. Unfortunately there are very few different alien types in the game. So even though you travel all over the galaxy, you’re likely to see the same foes again and again.
The controls are ok. However, in some places it is almost impossible to turn quickly enough to not be killed or grabbed (some of the aliens can pick you up). That brings me to one of my most hated parts of this game. The ubiquitous enemy pop-ins. Like an old Nintendo game, if I walk 1 more foot I know another enemy will fall through the ceiling or magically teleport behind me in a room and begin shooting. The publisher, Gameloft, has trouble with this in quite a few of their games (another example is Modern Combat). Being shot suddenly from behind occurs throughout the entire game and can become quite frustrating.
Along with the enemy pop-in, there are other annoyances that keep the game from being as fun as it could be. For example, as I run through a level, I may miss killing one or two baddies. The game will allow me to go up the elevator, into the next room but not allow me to progress. What’s wrong? Oh, I get it. I forgot to kill an alien and he is down the elevator waiting for me to kill him (literally). Wow, how fun.
Once you leave the single player campaign, things do get a bit better. The game offers the standard Bluetooth multiplayer and local Wi Fi options but it also offers online Wi Fi mode that allows you to play 3 other people around the world in 1 on 1 (on 1 on 1) death match. For this mode, it uses Gameloft's excellent online server service. The game connects you quickly to an online lobby and I was able to connect immediately each time I tried a new game. Multiplayer offers several maps that allow you to see everyone at the same time. Death comes quickly to those regardless of their skill. You have the ability to use 6 weapons to maim and kill your opponents in any way you can. This part of the game can be fun for a few minutes.
Unfortunately the only multiplayer option available is deathmatch. It would have been nice to offer co-op mode (at least someone else could share the experience of that awful story) or team deathmatch. perhaps these will be future additions but for now, you should get a good 30 minutes of enjoyment out of deathmatch. Probably a lot more if you really like HALO.
All in all, NOVA isn't necessarily a bad game. I think it's a bit disappointing that it wasn’t better. When are we going to see story telling on the iPhone like we do in games like Half Life or Deus Ex on a PC or console? If you play through the whole single player game and give multiplayer a shot, the game should give you a good 2 or 3 hours. It also offers some achievements and other rewards for playing the game that will give some people enough reason to replay it. Overall, N.O.V.A is decent in a pinch but I doubt I'll run back to it anytime soon.
Overall Value for it's $6.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Publisher: Gameloft
Buy now on
I guess I should start this review with a disclaimer. I don't like HALO. I think it's bad. I think the single player mode has an embarrassingly poor story line (in all of the HALO games) and the multiplayer mode isn't much better than some of the first multiplayer games ever developed for PC gamers. I know people like it. I am not one of those people.
The reason I mention all of this before reviewing N.O.V.A is that for all intents and purposes, N.O.V.A is another 4 letter name for HALO (complete with a stupid acronym). That doesn't mean it's all bad. In fact, parts of the game are surprisingly fun.
N.O.V.A starts off its single player mode with some decent looking cut scenes and with some half thought out story about aliens in the future. I have no problem with this. Just a typical sci-fi plot. The first thing you'll notice as you go through the opening tutorial level is that it's pretty. In fact, the graphics are among the best of any game I have seen on the iPhone. The colors are bright and clean. In fact, the levels you play through in the game (12 or so) all look good on the iPhone's screen. Each is distinctive as you go from a jungle map to a space ship to an alien planet.
The sound is standard fare for a science fiction FPS. The background music is nice but some of the alien noises are a little over the top. My wife overheard me playing and thoughts I was killing dinosaurs. Unfortunately there are very few different alien types in the game. So even though you travel all over the galaxy, you’re likely to see the same foes again and again.
The controls are ok. However, in some places it is almost impossible to turn quickly enough to not be killed or grabbed (some of the aliens can pick you up). That brings me to one of my most hated parts of this game. The ubiquitous enemy pop-ins. Like an old Nintendo game, if I walk 1 more foot I know another enemy will fall through the ceiling or magically teleport behind me in a room and begin shooting. The publisher, Gameloft, has trouble with this in quite a few of their games (another example is Modern Combat). Being shot suddenly from behind occurs throughout the entire game and can become quite frustrating.
Along with the enemy pop-in, there are other annoyances that keep the game from being as fun as it could be. For example, as I run through a level, I may miss killing one or two baddies. The game will allow me to go up the elevator, into the next room but not allow me to progress. What’s wrong? Oh, I get it. I forgot to kill an alien and he is down the elevator waiting for me to kill him (literally). Wow, how fun.
Once you leave the single player campaign, things do get a bit better. The game offers the standard Bluetooth multiplayer and local Wi Fi options but it also offers online Wi Fi mode that allows you to play 3 other people around the world in 1 on 1 (on 1 on 1) death match. For this mode, it uses Gameloft's excellent online server service. The game connects you quickly to an online lobby and I was able to connect immediately each time I tried a new game. Multiplayer offers several maps that allow you to see everyone at the same time. Death comes quickly to those regardless of their skill. You have the ability to use 6 weapons to maim and kill your opponents in any way you can. This part of the game can be fun for a few minutes.
Unfortunately the only multiplayer option available is deathmatch. It would have been nice to offer co-op mode (at least someone else could share the experience of that awful story) or team deathmatch. perhaps these will be future additions but for now, you should get a good 30 minutes of enjoyment out of deathmatch. Probably a lot more if you really like HALO.
All in all, NOVA isn't necessarily a bad game. I think it's a bit disappointing that it wasn’t better. When are we going to see story telling on the iPhone like we do in games like Half Life or Deus Ex on a PC or console? If you play through the whole single player game and give multiplayer a shot, the game should give you a good 2 or 3 hours. It also offers some achievements and other rewards for playing the game that will give some people enough reason to replay it. Overall, N.O.V.A is decent in a pinch but I doubt I'll run back to it anytime soon.
Overall Value for it's $6.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
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sábado, 19 de diciembre de 2009
Doom: Resurrection Review
Cost:$6.99
Publisher: ID Software
Buy now on
Doom: Resurrection is a tough game to judge. It has quite a few good qualities but one major downside, especially when comparing it to other first person shooters on the iPhone. That downside, depending on who you are and how you enjoy playing games, could be considered a big one.
The specific downfall is one that plagued early iPhone games. You control the crosshair and the aiming of your gun but you have no control over your movement. If you have ever played House of the Dead or any other "rail shooter" you know what I mean. Your character moves around a lot but you are not the one doing the moving. If you can get past that hurdle, Doom can be a pretty good experience.
First off, the graphics are great. Pretty clean cut and if you ever played any of the original Doom's, you will ap0preciate that all of the textures and graphics have been vastly improved. The sounds are creepy and can give you a decent idea of what type of monster you’re facing before they even show up on the screen.
The monsters also do vary quite a bit. There are at least 8 or 9 different monsters in the game and if you count some variations, even more. Each of them moves differently, sounds different and takes a different amount of damage. The variation is nice and makes the game more interesting as you move along. The game play is also varied by the boss battles that ensue through several portions of the game. The boss battles really are generally much tougher and a couple of them may take you a few tries. Thankfully the checkpoint system doesn’t make you start too far back.
The controls for the game are very good. The one I ended up using was motion based. Depending on which way you turned the iPhone, the crosshairs move with you. Calibration resets at the beginning of each level and can be reset at anytime through the option menu. It's easily the best control system on a FPS that I have seen but since it’s a rail shooter, it can't be compared apples to apples.
Though the game only has a single player mode, it is quite long. I was able to play it for just about 3 hours so before finishing it. There isn't really much replay value for the actual campaign, especially since this game plays on rails (literally). There are a few things you can do after beating the game. There are several interesting challenges built into the game along with some maps you can play separately from the campaign. The amount of content packed into Doom: Resurrection puts other games like Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies to shame. If you get past the shooter on rails limitation, you will find yourself having a very good time indeed.
Overall Value for it's $6.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Publisher: ID Software
Buy now on
Doom: Resurrection is a tough game to judge. It has quite a few good qualities but one major downside, especially when comparing it to other first person shooters on the iPhone. That downside, depending on who you are and how you enjoy playing games, could be considered a big one.
The specific downfall is one that plagued early iPhone games. You control the crosshair and the aiming of your gun but you have no control over your movement. If you have ever played House of the Dead or any other "rail shooter" you know what I mean. Your character moves around a lot but you are not the one doing the moving. If you can get past that hurdle, Doom can be a pretty good experience.
First off, the graphics are great. Pretty clean cut and if you ever played any of the original Doom's, you will ap0preciate that all of the textures and graphics have been vastly improved. The sounds are creepy and can give you a decent idea of what type of monster you’re facing before they even show up on the screen.
The monsters also do vary quite a bit. There are at least 8 or 9 different monsters in the game and if you count some variations, even more. Each of them moves differently, sounds different and takes a different amount of damage. The variation is nice and makes the game more interesting as you move along. The game play is also varied by the boss battles that ensue through several portions of the game. The boss battles really are generally much tougher and a couple of them may take you a few tries. Thankfully the checkpoint system doesn’t make you start too far back.
The controls for the game are very good. The one I ended up using was motion based. Depending on which way you turned the iPhone, the crosshairs move with you. Calibration resets at the beginning of each level and can be reset at anytime through the option menu. It's easily the best control system on a FPS that I have seen but since it’s a rail shooter, it can't be compared apples to apples.
Though the game only has a single player mode, it is quite long. I was able to play it for just about 3 hours so before finishing it. There isn't really much replay value for the actual campaign, especially since this game plays on rails (literally). There are a few things you can do after beating the game. There are several interesting challenges built into the game along with some maps you can play separately from the campaign. The amount of content packed into Doom: Resurrection puts other games like Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies to shame. If you get past the shooter on rails limitation, you will find yourself having a very good time indeed.
Overall Value for it's $6.99 price point
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies Review
Cost: $9.99
Publisher: Activision
Buy now on
Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies is a FPS built in the vein of the other Call of Duty games. The script; Nazis have turned into Zombies and apparently want to eat your brains. You need to kill them to survive. First person shooters have been tried on the iPhone with a varying degrees of success. COD: Zombies has its ups and downs. The ups would easily outweigh the downs if it only the game included more value for the money.
The game includes both single player and multiplayer components. The single player mode is built on the idea of killing zombies, lots of them. In fact, the mode revolves around the idea of continuous swarms of zombies trying to break down barricades and killing as many zombies that make it through. You run around the house, spending the points you earn for killing zombies on new guns and to open up new portions of the house. If you think it sounds really basic, you would be right but it is also a great deal of fun. The problems lie in the fact that there is simply one level in the game and just the one single player mode (survival mode). Inevitably you will die; it’s just a matter of trying to make it as long as you can before a zombie kills you in cliché zombie fashion (again with the brain eating).
Activision promises new maps and levels but unfortunately they will charge for the additional maps they release. In other words, you are spending 10 bucks for 1 mode and one map. A steep price to play in my option. That being said, the controls are great and offer 3 different control schemes for killing zombies. In an iPhone FPS, nothing is more important than fluid controls and one of the three control options is likely to be a good fit for you.
Multiplayer is hit and miss. The online component usually has games available where you and 3 additional players try to fight off the advancing zombie horde but unfortunately disconnects are common. The game also offers Bluetooth and local Wi-Fi options. The only multiplayer mode offered is co-op which is fun and welcome in most FPS, but no deathmatch mode means replay value is less than it could be.
If my reviews only dealt with the graphics, controls and the sound of an iPhone game, Call of Duty: World at War Zombies would be rated much higher. As it is, the value just isn't there and the money you spend on this game could be better spent on several other, lower cost games. That all being said, if you have the money and are looking for an hour or two diversion (and not much more), Zombies is a top notch fit.
Ratings for this game at $9.99
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
Publisher: Activision
Buy now on
Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies is a FPS built in the vein of the other Call of Duty games. The script; Nazis have turned into Zombies and apparently want to eat your brains. You need to kill them to survive. First person shooters have been tried on the iPhone with a varying degrees of success. COD: Zombies has its ups and downs. The ups would easily outweigh the downs if it only the game included more value for the money.
The game includes both single player and multiplayer components. The single player mode is built on the idea of killing zombies, lots of them. In fact, the mode revolves around the idea of continuous swarms of zombies trying to break down barricades and killing as many zombies that make it through. You run around the house, spending the points you earn for killing zombies on new guns and to open up new portions of the house. If you think it sounds really basic, you would be right but it is also a great deal of fun. The problems lie in the fact that there is simply one level in the game and just the one single player mode (survival mode). Inevitably you will die; it’s just a matter of trying to make it as long as you can before a zombie kills you in cliché zombie fashion (again with the brain eating).
Activision promises new maps and levels but unfortunately they will charge for the additional maps they release. In other words, you are spending 10 bucks for 1 mode and one map. A steep price to play in my option. That being said, the controls are great and offer 3 different control schemes for killing zombies. In an iPhone FPS, nothing is more important than fluid controls and one of the three control options is likely to be a good fit for you.
Multiplayer is hit and miss. The online component usually has games available where you and 3 additional players try to fight off the advancing zombie horde but unfortunately disconnects are common. The game also offers Bluetooth and local Wi-Fi options. The only multiplayer mode offered is co-op which is fun and welcome in most FPS, but no deathmatch mode means replay value is less than it could be.
If my reviews only dealt with the graphics, controls and the sound of an iPhone game, Call of Duty: World at War Zombies would be rated much higher. As it is, the value just isn't there and the money you spend on this game could be better spent on several other, lower cost games. That all being said, if you have the money and are looking for an hour or two diversion (and not much more), Zombies is a top notch fit.
Ratings for this game at $9.99
Overall Value:
Graphics:
Sound:
Controls:
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