Manic Monkey Mayhem for the iPhone and iPod touch is available on the App Store for £2.99 and offers a solid game concept, good presentation and lots of games but disappointing controls and game play, giving it big potential from a future update.

A port over from the WiiWare game of the same name it has retained the humour, presentation and concept as the original and brings with it plenty of content and games, which goes some way to justifying the £2.99 price point, consisting of a 3 part campaign (plus tutorial) and 3 additional game modes: Greatest Ape in which you must outlast the other opponents to be crowned Greatest Ape, Minute Monkey in which you compete for the highest score in a minute, and Ape Team which pits you in teams against an opposing team.  Assuming you enjoy the mechanics and concept of the game there is plenty of content to Manic Monkey Mayhem, certainly enough to give you a long-time app on your device that you'll come back to again and again.  Similarly, if you really enjoyed playing this on another platform you will most likely enjoy playing this on the iPhone/iPod touch as well.

Read More  »

Battle Blasters is a one-on-one beat-em-up-come-shoot-em-up that packs a real punch.  Available now for £1.79 it's an addictive game with surprising depth that will provide you with hours of fun.

The game concept is simple enough: you will be pitted in 1 on 1 fights against each of the 6 characters in a tournament and to progress you must beat them in a best of three match.  Losing doesn't mean you have to start again, you can replay the match you are currently stuck on as many times as you like, and with whatever character you like; a welcome feature for a pick up and play title.  The game play can get fast, frantic and exciting.  Matches are out of 3 rounds and at 1-1 with not much health left on either side there's an excitable tension that will see you dodging their shots and firing off yours whenever you can, resulting in a small leap of joy or nearly throwing your iPhone across the room.

If the concept is simple, the controls are slightly less so.  Moving firing, blocking and special attacks are all done with a touch or swipe of the screen and there is often a lot to do at once, requiring fairly frantic, complex movements and practice which may deter non regular gamers. This could be a reason why non gamers may struggle but it might also the reason gamers will love it.

Read More  »

Retro style games have been a bit of a dying breed at late. With the innovation of the iPhone sparking that 'quick fix' feeling in your everyday gamer, there isn't much room for games that take time, effort and skill. Marble Worlds 2, created by Limelight Studios, is one such game.

Read More  »

For a game that makes an abysmal first impression, Speed Forge Extreme sure takes a risky and dangerous approach to pacing. Let’s not kid ourselves - iPhone/iTouch gamers are notorious for downloading oodles of free demos, testing them out briefly, and buying only a select few titles. Simply put, if one were to play this game for only five minutes, he/she would be completely justified in deleting it. However, like a fine wine, this game’s quality improves over time.

At the most basic level, Speed Forge Extreme is a futuristic racer comparable to the F-Zero and Wipeout franchises. Players have six different vehicles to choose from, each possessing their own stats and attributes including mass, speed, agility, engine, and munitions. Keep in mind that only one vehicle is available from the get-go, and it is the smallest/worst aircraft in the game. Bigger and better vehicles are unlocked by progressing through the game and out-performing opponents in both races and destruction derbies.

Read More  »

Previous | Image 1 of 4 | Next

Aztec_Quest_Review_Screenshot_2.jpg

Aztec Quest is an absolute gem of a puzzle game for iPhone and iPod Touch.  Priced at £0.59p its a fantastic value, must have app for puzzle fans, logic game fans and anyone who likes a challenge.  Hours and hours of entertainment, challenge and fun come from this bright, colourful, fun, family friendly, fantastic sounding game.  Right now I can't think of a better way to spend £0.59p.

Like a lot of the great games or puzzles, the premise of Aztec Quest is very simple.  Using a combination of 6 different elements you must guide the ball from it's starting point to the crystal located somewhere on the board.  The 6 different elements are rollers, spring pads, hammers, curved tubes, teleport pads and catapults, and all available elements must be used to complete a level.  Since all elements have to be used you can't take shortcuts and must complete the course in the way that it's author intended. There is a small bug in the game meaning you can take a short cut and then just arrange the remaining pieces in any remaining space, however you'll likely want to do each course in it's intended way or you'll feel unfulfilled and beaten!

There are 50 levels in the initial download, which depending on how quickly you crack each course should keep you busy for around 8 hours.  With the ability to download extra levels for free, the playability and longevity of Aztec Quest is substantially increased.  The game is accessible to players of just about any age or gaming experience, from younger players right the way through to older App Store gamers.  The first few introductory levels are very easy and introduce you to each element and the game concept.  They get progressively harder until the final 5-10 levels where they do get quite tough.  Towards the final 5 levels I was using the 'Clue' option, which puts one of the available elements in the correct position, as they are particularly difficult.

Read More  »

Previous | Image 1 of 4 | Next

Mission Deep Sea Screenshot 1

A lovely looking under water game with a short but enjoyable list of missions, improved greatly by a recent App Store Update.  Worth a look if you like the underwater setting or the pleasant, chilled game play concept, Mission: Deep Sea is a quality looking app with just about enough substance and content.

The game concept of Mission: Deep Sea is a little weirder and out there than it need be; you play as/control a sea turtle in the year 2017, carrying out missions in several under water locations.  Missions consist of swimming around a fairly large area finding, tagging or photographing objectives, such as finding and attaching buoys to radioactive waste, tagging a giant manta so it can be tracked, finding and photographing lost missiles in an ancient under water city, finding and rescuing a member of the crew and photographing parts of an ancient under water city.  It's family friendly, inoffensive and there's no combat (apart from munching on the odd jelly fish), making it an almost relaxing title and certainly a change from a lot of others currently on sale.

You might encounter some frustrating elements while playing Mission: Deep Sea but you will constantly be impressed by the presentation and graphics.  While playing a mission objects will approach and disappear through the haze of the ocean very nicely and movements of other elements/animals are all animated very well.  Fixed objects like ocean beds, walls and pillars also look great and movement around the level is smooth.  One of the highlights of the game for me was the during the Pursuit mission, seeing the giant manta swim in and out of view with great animation and presentation.

Read More  »

Ravensword: The Fallen King is available on the App store now for £3.99.  It's an RPG action adventure in handy pocket sized form: it has a pocket sized story line, pocket sized characters, pocket sized RPG experience and levelling progression.  It's all there and makes for an excellent adventure and there are few, if any, better games for your pocket.

The story begins with a young man (you) found in the forest, knowing nothing about your past.  Taken to the town of Aven to recover you'll complete a number of quests around the town as favors for the locals to build up your gold and start to level up your character.  These serve as the learning curve for the game and consists of basic tasks like killing rats, herding sheep, destroying bee hives.  From there you'll take on progressively harder quests that require you to venture further out of the town.

Each quest leads fairly smoothly onto the next and if ever you find yourself without anything to do, talking to the locals of Aven will point you in the right direction.  Failing that wandering around areas you haven't investigated much will also lead you to the quest or quests available there.  One of the great things about Ravensword is that when you re-enter the game you will start exactly where you exited last time.  This means you can pick up on quests from where you left off, making it easy to play the game in sessions of varying lengths without having to repeat yourself, without which the game would be severely hindered.

Read More  »

A fusion of Risk and Bejewelled, Samurai Puzzle Battle (Game of the Year Edition) is available on the App Store now for 0.59p and, if you're willing to put the time in to learn and get comfortable with all of it's aspects, will be a rewarding and excellent value game.

The game is split into 2 areas, the Map and the Puzzle areas.  The map is straight forward and instantly recognisable to players of games like Risk or Civilisation.  The map is split into islands of different sizes, with each island occupied by one or more Shogun. Each Shogun has a castle in which they live and from which units are created with Gold.  Defeating al of the other Shoguns is the ultimate aim of the game and will see you crowned ultimate ruler of Japan.

Each island is split into sections and control of each section can bring bonuses (or damages) and increases how much gold you can earn from Jewel rounds.  All players in the game move around the map in a turn-based way and to take control of an occupied section you need to fight the opponent units.  Unlike Risk however where this is decided purely by throwing dice, in Samurai Puzzle Battle you fight via puzzle games, similar in concept to things like Bejewelled. 

The Puzzle board is made up of 6 or more different symbols and the aim of the game is to line 3 or more of the same symbols up in a row.  Doing this will explode the symbols, damaging your opponent or regenerating/healing yourself.  Taking it in turns with your opponent who is also doing this, the first player to take wipe the other's energy out is the winner.

Read More  »

Ihooy is available on the App Store now to download for £0.59p and offers a game of Zombie smashing fun from an independent studio, delivering a gutsy, unique game of challenging timing and coordination based levels.

The concept of the game is very simple, wrapped up inside a bizarre explosive-zombie storyline.  There are 4 channels/corridors, the outer 2 harbour zombies that explode (bombiez) and the inner 2 carry uninfected civilians you need to let into the base.  Playing through each of the levels you will need to crush the zombies in the outer 2 corridors by hitting the red button below and slide open the entrance to the base in the inner 2.  This leads to a bizarre game play combination that fuses the coordination, timing and concentration of games like Guitar Hero with the zombie, bloody mayhem of Dead Rising.  Each of the 4 channels start sending Bombiez and civilians at you, and I'm sure you quickly get the idea of how it works. Failing to crush a zombie means it will explode against the wall defending your camp.  Let too many Bombiez through and your wall will be destroyed and it's game over.  Similarly, if you fail to open the entrance to the camp for the civilian to enter, they'll kill themselves on spikes placed just behind it.

Read More  »

Previous | Image 1 of 5 | Next

Formula 1 (Formula One) 2009 iPhone and iPod Touch 1

Coming soon to Apple's app store for download onto the iPod Touch and iPhone is Formula One 2009, a port of the same title already released on the Nintendo Wii and PSP.  Codemasters will bring the game to the growing mobile gaming platform in the next few weeks and give players the chance to race as the stars of the sport, including Jensen Button, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.

All 10 teams, 20 drivers and 17 circuits from the recently finished 2009 season will be on offer.  We are promised “stunning visuals and a totally authentic FORMULA ONE experience” and highlights will include the Eau Rouge at Spa Francorchamps, Silverstone and experience, the claustrophobic streets of Monaco, Singapore night race and the Yas Marina circuit in the United Arab Emirates.

Sounds great so far, however from initial reports it seems the game will only allow the player to race against the clock.  While this will still make for a good game it's the competitive racing and other cars/over taking that would make me most excited about this game.  Two game modes will be supported, Time Trial and Endurance.  Time trial will put the player at the equivalent of a Saturday qualification session, tasked with setting the fasted Flying Lap time at any of the circuits and driving as any of the drivers.  Endurance will task the player with either a 6, 9 of 12 lap session as they try to set the best average lap time.  Both flying lap times and average lap times will be available for upload to the  AGON Online Social Platform Leaderboard.

While I was slightly confused by the Formula One 2009 games when they were announced, after the end of the season and when fans are already looking to next year's championship, I'm increasingly comfortable and excited with giving the 2009 game a go, bridging the gap between this season and next season and the PS3/Xbox360 2010 season game that it will bring.

Read More  »

Previous | Image 1 of 10 | Next

2XL ATV Off Road (iPhone + iPod Touch) 1

ATV Off Road is a quad racer in the same style as 2XL's previous game Supercross, carrying with it the same quality and and quantity of game to justify it's current £4.99 price point.

The game splits itself in to two principle areas; Career Mode and Arcade mode.  Career mode see's you competing in 11 events spanning 4 stadium based supercross races, 4 outdoor motocross races and 2 freestyle events based on performing stunts to accumulate as many points as possible in time allowed.  Once a race and event is complete you can't re-run it, giving each race that little more importance and pressure than if you can simply redo it afterwards.  It also means taking time out to practice in the Arcade mode is actually useful.  Arcade mode offers 2 freestlye, 8 motocross and 8 supercross tracks offering timetrial, practice and race options.  The motocross events take place across a range or forest, alpine, mountain and desert locations, all excellently presented and loads of fun to race in while the supercross events take place in stadiums with huge crowds.  Freestyle levels, by virtue of lacking structure or direction can be confusing leaving the player unsure what to do or how to do it, but after a few practices these become a pleasant break from the races and an enjoyable part of the overall game.

There is also a multiplayer feature that currently works over a shared wi-fi connection, allowing you to compete against other players on your wi-fi connection if you both have the game.  This is expected to be extended to allow for bluetooth multiplayer soon.

Read More  »