Home » Articles and Reviews by 'Richard Brown'

Monster Dash Anti-Hero Invades Fragger's Territory

News By Richard Brown, 12 years, 8 months ago
Monster Dash Anti-Hero Invades Fragger's Territory

We love a good mash-up here on AppSpy, even one or two from that ridiculously uplifting Glee programme. Yep, guilty as charged. Of more interest to us, though, of course, are mash-ups in the mobile games biz, and so we were delighted to hear of a collaboration between the pair of venerable iPhone devs Halfbrick and Miniclip. The former is probably recognisable to most as the creator of Fruit Ninja, the insanely addictive slash-'em-up, whilst the latter is known for its suite of free flash games. Now, these two worlds collide, as the star of Halfbrick's brilliant Monster Dash Barry Steakfries invades Fragger in the latest update, bringing with him 30 additional levels of explosive fun. I…

Update and Price Drop For DoubleDragon On iPhone

News By Richard Brown, 12 years, 8 months ago
Update and Price Drop For DoubleDragon On iPhone

Back in April, AppSpy published a translated snippet of an AppsJP interview with the makers of DoubleDragon on iPhone, Bow Mobile. In the article, Bow Mobile's spokesman suggested that an update to their old skool side-scrolling action game was in the works, even though the details couldn't be disclosed. Suffice to say, he wasn't lying, for version 1.00.01 of Bow Mobile's reimagined brawler has finally gone live. Oh, and it's been reduced in price. Anyone fancying a trip down Arcade Nostalgia Alley in the company of Billy and Jimmy Lee will benefit from revised in-game text and a transparent control panel. In addition, DoubleDragon is now compatible with iOS versions under 4.0, so even…

Madden NFL 12 Jinking Onto iPhone On 30th August

News By Richard Brown, 12 years, 8 months ago
Madden NFL 12 Jinking Onto iPhone On 30th August

Red 69 Brown 3 Hut Hut Hut. No, not the demented cries of an oversexed Premier League footballer, but rather the snap count which precedes each play in American football. Of course, you'd be familiar with snaps, huddles, linebackers, and scrimmages, if you were a die-hard Super Bowl fan. Or just enjoyed an offensive play or two on Madden. I fall into the latter bracket, I'm afraid, so tend not to appreciate all of the intricacies of gridiron. Luckily for me, then, EA's five-star Madden NFL 11 for iPhone last year debuted GameFlow, an AI-controlled system for deciding the most appropriate next play. This venerable series is back on iOS - or at least it will be later in August - complete…

9-Year-Old Designer Helps PopCap Create Allied Star Police

News By Richard Brown, 12 years, 8 months ago
9-Year-Old Designer Helps PopCap Create Allied Star Police

If you weren't already aware, Electronic Arts acquired Seattle-based casual games phenom PopCap ten days ago for a cool $650 million. For that considerable outlay, the publishing giant behind NBA Jam and Dead Space picked up some of the most addictive iPhone IP around, including Plants vs Zombies, Peggle, and Bejeweled 2 + Blitz. In addition, EA will, naturally, inherit PopCap's recently formed spin-off label 4th & Battery, which is charged with producing edgier, stranger, more experimental games. Unpleasant Horse was the first creation from the 4th & Battery laboratory: unfortunately for the studio, it proved too hot for Apple to handle, and was promptly rejected. Next up from t…

Teaser Trailer Revealed For Square Enix's JRPG Chaos Rings II

News By Richard Brown, 12 years, 8 months ago
Teaser Trailer Revealed For Square Enix's JRPG Chaos Rings II

We don't need to stress the inherent quality of Square Enix's JRPG franchise Chaos Rings again, do we? Ok, maybe we do then. Well, the original - Chaos Rings - was selected as the game of 2010 by AppSpy. 'Nuff said about that. Meanwhile, Its prequel - Chaos Rings Omega - finished 2nd in our rundown of the best games of May 2011. So far, so impressive. In the run-up to Chaos Rings Omega's launch, we reported on an advert placed in Japanese game magazine Famitsu by Squeenix, which suggested a direct sequel to Chaos Rings (I) was in the works. Lo and behold, the role-playing game specialists have only gone and unsheathed a few screenies and a trailer for Chaos Rings II, thus confirming wha…

Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 Will Magically Appear On iPhone In November

News By Richard Brown, 12 years, 8 months ago
Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 Will Magically Appear On iPhone In November

So, after seven novels, eight movies, 14 years, and $15 billion in merchandising sales, Harry Potter has finally hung up his wizard's wand. Or has he...? Nope, he hasn't. The bespectacled one will be returning to your (touch)screens in November 2011 for the follow-up to the 5* Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4. Craftily entitled Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7, Traveller's Tales's iPhone game will reference the fantastical goings-on at Hogwarts from The Order of the Phoenix, The Half-Blood Prince, and The Deathly Hallows volumes. Lego Harry Potter: Year 5-7 will, therefore, take us on the journey to the climactic showdown between Harry and Lord Voldemort, where, of course - Spoiler Alert! Spoile…

Block-Based Puzzler Qvoid Hits App Store On 21st July

News By Richard Brown, 12 years, 8 months ago
Block-Based Puzzler Qvoid Hits App Store On 21st July

Ever heard of Gavina Games? Probably not - they haven't released anything yet. But this Spain-based team are just about ready to lay down some Qvoid on your iOS device. What's Qvoid, huh? Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that it looks like a pretty good puzzler. You roll a white cube along a surface of multi-coloured cubes, picking up each cube's colour and mixing it with the rest as you try and turn the whole surface black. The bad news? Teleporters, moving platforms, stubborn color blocks, and collapsing blocks mean that the 96 levels aren't going to be easy. It'll hit an App Store near you on 21st July. Not long now, folks.…

RedLynx's DrawRace Decelerates To Zero Pennies

News By Richard Brown, 12 years, 8 months ago
RedLynx's DrawRace Decelerates To Zero Pennies

Finnish developers RedLynx have a good pedigree on the AppSpy circuit, what with their five-star rated Monster Trucks Nitro 2 and DrawRace tearing up the competition. In preparation for the much-anticipated sequel to the latter (due out later this month), RedLynx have rather kindly trimmed the price of DrawRace down to nothing. For those of you unfamiliar with this well-regarded iPhone title, it's essentially a cross between Flight Control and Formula 1. You trace out the perfect racing line with your finger on-screen, the speed at which you move your digits corresponding to the vehicle's acceleration and braking. In addition to reducing the game's ticket price, RedLynx have thrown in fi…

Apple Adjusts App Store Prices Across The World

News By Richard Brown, 12 years, 8 months ago
Apple Adjusts App Store Prices Across The World

Well, there's good news and there's bad news, AppSpy readers. If you live in Australia - like my good friend Andrew - pop open the champagne bottles this morning, for App Store prices in your region have fallen. If you live in England - like my good self - curl up into a small ball and pray the last 24 hours have been nothing but a bad dream. A nightmare, basically. To explain: Apple has decided to raise the RRP of iPhone games in the UK across the board (with the exception of £2.99 titles), so that the lowest paid-for price point is now 69p, up from 59p. Whether this affects the frankly ridonkulous sales of Angry Birds in the future is open to debate, but I'd suggest not. Down Un…

Guardians: The Last Day of the Citadel Slashes It Way Onto iPhone

News By Richard Brown, 12 years, 8 months ago
Guardians: The Last Day of the Citadel Slashes It Way Onto iPhone

Guardians: The Last Day of the Citadel, a hack-and-slasher by Drakkar Dev, has just landed on the App Store. And with 3D graphics powered by the Unity engine, it certainly looks the biz. You play as Loreena, a female warrior with a serious axe to grind. Your home - the Citadel - has been invaded by the demonic Vash and you've got to escape. Guardians: The Last Day of the Citadel also boasts an original soundtrack, a full campaign, and 'cinematic-style' fight sequences. If you fancy a piece of this slash-'em-up action, download Guardians: The Last Day of the Citadel now on iPhone for $4.99.…

Execute The Perfect Punishment In Torture Bunny

News By Richard Brown, 12 years, 8 months ago
Execute The Perfect Punishment In Torture Bunny

Chillingo's subsidiary studio Clickgamer are without question most famous for publishing monster hit Angry Birds, yet perhaps surprisingly the feral fowl only received a 4/5 from AppSpy. Clickgamer needn't feel too aggrieved, though, for we did later dish out a perfect 5 for their Helsing's Fire iPhone title. Looking to emulate Helsing Fire's critical success is Torture Bunny, a somewhat sadistic game involving torture chambers, domesticated animals, and dark humour. Drag and drop your desired instruments of pain, then sit back and watch the helpless bunny ripped asunder in all manner of ways. You inflict this horrific / entertaining suffering across 50 levels and five separate dungeons,…

Edge Games Decide If You Can't Sue 'Em, Beat 'Em

News By Richard Brown, 12 years, 9 months ago
Edge Games Decide If You Can't Sue 'Em, Beat 'Em

As we noted in passing last week, French iPhone publisher Mobigame obtained the trademark in May to the term 'Edge' after a long-running dispute with notorious IP troll Tim Langdell. Most industry observers sided with Mobigame in their copyright infringement battle with Langdell's company Edge Games, who for more than a decade seemed content to protect their right to the phrase 'Edge' rather than develop fresh titles of their own. Well, now Langdell & Co. no longer have a trademark to aggressively defend in and out of court, they've decided to bite the bullet and produce a new game. Oh, the shame and the horror. The isometric puzzler EDGEBobby2, therefore, marks Edge Games's first fo…

New Quests Added To MMORPG Order & Chaos Online

News By Richard Brown, 12 years, 9 months ago
New Quests Added To MMORPG Order & Chaos Online

Ying and yang. Black and white. Crouch and Messi. iPod and Zune. To that list of famous polar opposites, we should, natch, add Order & Chaos. Gameloft decided to take these two sides of the state space coin online in its World of Warcraft-esque title on iPhone at the end of April. Fast forward two months and this 3D, real-time epic MMORPG has levelled-up to version 1.0.2. So, what's in store for all the Elves, Orcs, and Undead who brave the App Store forest and click 'Update' when prompted? New quests, language-specific chat channels, additional armour sets, and a teleporter in Greenmont, mainly. And if you happen to be particularly rubbish at battling and consistently meet your vir…

Grab Street Fighter IV: Volt For iPhone At Reduced Price

News By Richard Brown, 12 years, 9 months ago
Grab Street Fighter IV: Volt For iPhone At Reduced Price

Back in the ‘90s, the battle for arcade beat-‘em-up supremacy was as keenly, errrr, fought as the US presidential elections. Albeit less bloody. The two main contenders were, of course, the Street Fighter series and Midway’s Mortal Kombat franchise. Well, on iPhone in the 2010s, nothing changes (or at least everything stays the same), for this pair of monster grapplers are duking it out once more. In Round 1, Ryu, Ken, Guile, & co. took the AppSpy honours, tasting victory with a perfect 5/5 rating. By comparison, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3's warriors couldn't muster the same winning combo of graphics + audio + gameplay, Finishing with a solid but unspectacular 3. Look…