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Added: 19.11.2013 17:00 | 4 views | 0 comments
Half the fun of seeing a movie is recalling the film's best moments for years to come. What's better than sitting with a fellow enthusiast over some beers and jabbing one another in the shoulder while hooting, "Ooh! Ooh! Do you remember that one part when--" MoviePop for mobile platforms is essentially a digitized version of the excited reminiscing you do with your friends over all things movie-related. Except you play against strangers or Facebook friends, and there are visual aids galore, which renders it difficult to give a wrong answer and make yourself look like a jackass in front of your buddies. As a whole experience, MoviePop is a decent way to waste a couple of hours. Before long, however, questions start repeating, making MoviePop an easy game to ace even if you're not big into cinema. |
Added: 19.11.2013 15:33 | 10 views | 0 comments
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There was a time, brief though it might be, that I really thought one-screen autorunners were going to be the next big thing. When ), but that's no reason to count them out just yet. Be sure to check back with Gamezebo for a full review after the game's December 4 release. |
Added: 19.11.2013 14:00 | 2 views | 0 comments
We've all had our App Store obsessions. Whether it's the sneakers you've burned through in . Released back in 2010, it was the sort of game that personified the "easy to learn, hard to master" mantra that defines great game design. Players would tilt their devices to control a defenseless arrow while avoiding an ever-growing collection of deadly red dots. Power-ups would temporarily turn you into a pointy little Rambo, but in a matter of seconds you'd be back to avoiding the dots and scrambling to reach the next power-up. |
Added: 18.11.2013 19:00 | 3 views | 0 comments
3D endless runner-type games are a dime a dozen on the App Store, so it takes something extra and/or special--perhaps even "extra special," if you will--to stand out from the rest. With the Phineas and Ferb license to use the exploits of Agent P (aka Perry the Platypus) versus Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz and all of the hijinks that entails, that might have been enough to do the job, at least for fans of the show (such as ourselves). Unfortunately, Agent P DoofenDASH just comes up short overall by missing a few key fundamentals, and of course, exploiting the free-to-play model. The graphics are great, despite being 3D (translating characters from the 2D hand-drawn Phineas and Ferb cartoons into full 3D models always tends to be a hit-or-miss proposition, but this does it well), and the voices and tunes almost make it feel like you're involved in another episode of the show. They even switch things up a bit by occasionally allowing you to switch over to a hang glider segment which operates much the same way as the running portions. In our experience, the controls are simply a bit lacking. Swiping left and right moves Perry in the corresponding direction, while swiping up has him jump, and swiping down makes him roll. At least, that's how it works in theory--too often, we found that we would swipe in a given direction, only to have Perry do something else, with the worst instance being swiping down to have him roll and instead seeing him jump right into the obstacle we were trying to avoid. As is often the case with these games, it only takes one small slip-up before you have to start all over, so there is no forgiveness here. Incidentally, the tutorial is a little lacking as well. Granted, there's not a whole lot to take in here, and fortunately, as noted, the glider portions operate much in the same way as the running. What the tutorial doesn't cover, however, is cornering and whether or not turning is automatic. Turns out that it isn't--back to the start, and rather quickly after just beginning the game, too. Not a great first impression. |
Added: 18.11.2013 15:00 | 3 views | 0 comments
A longtime classic gaming genre is that of the bullet hell shooter: games which typically put the player in a massive crossfire of tons upon tons of flying onscreen ordnance which appears to be impossibly overwhelming, yet allows players to really strut their stuff as they take down the foes responsible. But what if the one responsible for putting all those bullets on screen... was you? That is basically the premise behind Don't Shoot Yourself!, a bullet hell game in which you must always keep moving, and as you're moving, you're always firing. Eventually, the screen is filled with a bullet hell of your own making, where your own firepower is your greatest enemy as you attempt to simply survive until the time runs out. And, in truth, there really isn't much more to the game than that. The rest comes through in the 50 different levels provided, which each have their own shapes and quirks to add and change up the challenge each time you go in. Narrow walls, odd shapes, and even portals through which your bullets pass in order to come back to haunt you keep things interesting. Graphically, the game doesn't do much--no roving soldiers on a battlefield, no starships blasting through alien armadas or asteroid fields. It's all very simple and basic, yet pleasant. The only problem we really had is that it seemed that some of our bullets weren't hurting us upon contact while others were, and determining which is which proves to be a bit tricky with so many all around you. On the other hand, it could just be a hitbox-detection thing, which is common enough--and exploitable, in the right hands--in these types of games. |
Added: 15.11.2013 21:00 | 4 views | 0 comments
There can often be a fine line between inspiration and cloning. Inspiration is when you take an idea that inspires you, and either build on the base concept, or branch off with your own take on the concept. Cloning, on the other hand, is when you take an idea that inspires you, and completely rip it off such that there's little to separate your own creation from the original. Despite featuring a disclaimer that it is inspired by Terry Cavanagh's wonderful , Groove Vortex definitely falls into the latter category, and essentially clones the original without putting barely any of its own spin on the concept. What we're left with is Super Hexagon, but not as good - or to put it another way, a rather pointless experience. |
Added: 15.11.2013 20:00 | 5 views | 0 comments
The Mothership Stella has been awakened. Ore and nova crystals have been found, two elements necessary to create new bots. Before the celebration can commence, the war begins, pitting machines and alien creatures against each other, in a fight for control over the valuable resources. So begins Stellar Wars, an elegant combination of a strategy game, a resource management sim, and a good old fashioned combat title rolled into one beautiful mobile package. Stellar Wars is split between two major areas: combat and upgrade management. Combat takes place in a 2.5D environment marked by three lanes where your troops and enemies will meet for battle. Gather ore in the background by deploying a Minerbot, and then get to work setting your troops on the field. The ship rests on the side of the screen and deploys units as quickly as you can gather the ore to pay for their creation. Once activated, send them forward to battle aliens and gather energy and ore from the screen. Swipe to change lanes, a tactic you can use to sneak up on certain enemies as well as avoid long range attacks. You can team up on foes, run at them from behind, or command your entire army at once using menu options. You certainly won't feel helpless in combat, but don't think Stellar Wars is going to just hand you a victory, either! |
Added: 15.11.2013 18:00 | 5 views | 0 comments
The Lord of the Rings brand has become an almost sacred property. So beloved are the books and movies that expectations have grown to proportions nearly as epic as the journey the nine must make to Mordor to destroy the one ring. So how can familiar and exceptional stories be reworked into the video game medium while maintaining the elements that breed popularity while expanding the universe and reaching innovation? Throw LEGOs into the mix. Boom. This is LEGO Lord of the Rings, and you need it. Tolkien's massive tale of power, corruption, love, adventure, and orcs transitions into the LEGO universe with ease. That said, the iOS version is definitely smaller than previous releases. LEGO Lord of the Rings will be especially familiar to those who played last year's handheld or PC/Mac versions of the title, but whether through platform limitations or conscious choice for mobile style of play, everything has been diluted. |
