Home » Articles and Reviews by 'Alex Beech'
Wayward Souls Review
In theory, games with procedurally generated levels can offer an eternity of gameplay. For this near endless resource to be worth tapping, however, the journey has to be worth revisiting. The moment we stepping into the cruel and unforgiving world of Wayward Souls, we felt oddly at home. Its top-down 2D perspective gives the game a classic 16-bit RPG look, while the brutal permadeath runs and persistent leveling underscore the game's roguelike heratige. Wayward Souls embraces th…
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RetroGravity-inverting platformer VVVVVV is on its way to the App Store
Developer Terry Cavanagh's gravity-defying platformer VVVVVV is finally making its way to iOS. According to the developer's blog, the iOS port of his retro platformer has actually been 90% complete for some time, he just hadn't gotten around to perfecting the touchscreen controls. In a platformer an exacting as VVVVVV, controls could make or break a port. The video below shows that we probably shouldn’t worry, however, as Terry shows off the new interface through one of the hardest sections of the game, Veni, Vidi, Vici. VVVVVV is just about ready to be submitted for App Store approval, so we can expect more news, and a release date, in the near future.…
Third Eye Crime: Act 1 Review
Stealth games always run the risk of leaving you inactive. By necessity, they demand you pay attention to the world around you, learning patterns and waiting for your moment to skulk unseen through the shadows. Unfortunately, this means that rather than playing, much of your time is spent simply watching. Developer Moonshot Games clearly understood this problem, and has tried to address it with Third Eye Crime: Act 1. You take control of Rothko, a master thief. Set in noir ‘50s…
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Sonic & All Star Racing Transformed goes free-to-play on the App Store
Sega’s mascot-filled Sonic & All Star Racing Transformed has just removed its 69p / 99c entry fee, letting you get its freemium-styled content for, well, free. The shift to free isn’t completely out of the goodness of Sega’s heart of course. In-app purchases are still in place to grant access to new characters, and let you buy in game currency to speed up unlocks. Sonic & All Star Racing Transformed is a fun racer that let you whizz around iconic locations from various Sega franchises. Speeding through gates transforms your kart into a new type of vehicle depending on the terrain ahead. You'll transform into a speedboat to skipping across the waves, and morph into…
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review
With a great licence comes a great chance of disappointment. And, we'll admit, before even firing up the game, we were prepared to be underwhelmed by The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Things got off to a shaky start. Gameloft has squeezed an overwhelming amount into its latest movie tie-in, so within moments we were expected to have come to grips with the game’s virtual stick, buttons, and touch controls. These, along with a camera that could barely keep up with the action, c…
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New roguelike dungeon-crawler Wayward Souls out on iPhone and iPad
2D pixel-art dungeon crawlers may be as common as a +1 long sword, but they still have an allure. So, when we saw that developer of Super QuickHook Rocketcat Games had released Wayward Souls on the App Store, it caught our attention. This top-down action game takes the form of a roguelike. You have to jump into procedurally generated dungeons in an attempt to defeat beasties, unlock more challenging areas in which to farm better loot, and improve your chance of survival. Wayward Souls gives you a choice of six characters. Each has their own skills and fighting styles to master as you journey through the games 13 different area types. New environments will bring with them their…
Beautiful physics-platformer Leo’s Fortune has just bounced onto the App Store
Physics-based platformer Leo's Fortune has just bounced its way onto the App Store. Leopold is a green ball of fuzz who, after returning to his home, discovers all of his gold has been stolen. You must take control of the furry hero as he sets out after the devious culprit, following the bread crumb trail of gold coins the fleeing villain has left in its wake. The platformer features 24 levels for you to help Leopold through, collecting his dropped gold along the way. If he is to keep his facial hair free of deadly spikes, you must ensure the moustachioed hero avoids all the treacherous traps and pitfalls that stand in his way. Jumping through Leo’s Fortune’s beautiful world…
Stealth puzzler Third Eye Crime: Act 1 creeping onto the App Store tonight
Third Eye Crime: Act 1 is a noir stealth puzzler that casts you as Rothko, a smooth talking criminal with the telepathic power to predict his enemies’ movements. Giving you the ability to see the path of Rothko’s pursuers certainly gives the thief an edge in his career of choice. Played from a top-down perspective, the game lays the puzzle out before you as you try and guide the criminal through the world to his target. This eliminates some of the guess work usually associated with such stealth titles, while also removing the need to memorise your enemies search patterns. Coming from Moonshot Games, a studio made up of former Bungie staff, Third Eye Crime is designed as a cinem…
Unpossible Review
With the endless genre ever expanding, Unpossible feels like a natural next step. Its fast paced twitch 3D gameplay attaches you to a tube floating in space and proceeds to fling you forward along its twisting length. At times, it feels like a first-person Super Hexagon, forcing you to rotate around a circular core to dodge past various neon blue obstacles. Fighting for good positioning around the tube’s circumference is vital as you shot along Unpossible’s courses, as the…
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Epidemic sim Plague Inc. gets new scenarios and difficulty mode
Plague Inc.’s latest "Mega" update adds four new scenarios, and an additional Mega-Brutal difficulty mode, to the game's disease-ridden playground. The new difficulty level brings the game’s hardest challenge yet. Random medical checks will now be in place, along with research and tech improvements, to fight your attempts to infect the globe. This will require you to constantly adapt your disease if it's to stand a chance of successfully eradicating humanity. To further test the resilience of your illness, Plague Inc.’s four new scenarios will have you facing a host of challenges. These include trying to adapt and survive in a world of artificial organs, and even trying&n…
Monument Valley Review
It would be easy to describe Monument Valley as an interactive M.C, Escher lithograph. But, while the game's topsy turvy environments certainly owe much to the Dutch artist’s work, giving you the ability to interact with a world of perspective-bending vistas, it is more than just a clever picture come to life. The aim of the game is to guide Princess Ida to the top of a series of towers. There are ten stages to complete, each containing a unique piece of architecture t…
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The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has crawled its way on to the App Store
Gameloft’s run of Marvel movie tie-ins continues with The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the new web-slinging brawler which has just swung onto the App store. As usual, you play as Peter Parker's costumed alter-ego as he swings around the streets of New York, getting into fights with thugs and super villains. Naturally, you'll go toe-to-toe with the film’s main antagonists Electro and Green Goblin, while also taking a deeper dive into Spider-Man lore to to battle the likes of Black Cat and Screwball. It won’t all be fisticuffs, however, with the game letting you swing through the city streets, leap from car to car, and even partake in aerial battles as you bring justice…
Gorgeous geometry-twisting puzzler Monument Valley to receive new levels
The stunning Escher-inspired puzzler Monument Valley is to receive additional levels in the future, developer ustwo has promised. Even though the game has only been out on iOS for a few weeks, ustwo’s Director of Games, Neil McFarland, is already considering the next content update. During the development process, it seems that the team were careful to only keep what worked within the narrative, leading to some ideas being cut from the finished game. Now, the London-based studio wants to revisit these concepts, and work them back into story. The effort put into the original ten stages was clearly painstaking, so just how long it will take it to make these new levels remains to be…
Hitman GO Review
Hitman GO is not the game fans of the series might expect. Rather than take the form of a standard third-person action game, Hitman GO plays out like a strategic board game. You begin by selecting a contract. Each of these mission play out on their own uniquely styled board. The settings range from a country club setting to more industrial locations, each with their own tile sets and enemy types. The goal is to guide Agent 47’s through the grid-based play area to his…
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Blizzard’s collectible card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft arrives on iPad
Blizzard’s take on the collectible card genre, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, has just been released on App Store for iPad. Hearthstone mines Blizzard’s popular World of Warcraft series as inspiration for its wolrd and characters. The depth of the franchise's lore ensures hundreds of different cards from which to build your deck, each with their own rules and art. The various card combinations offer a vast array of tactical options for CCG fans, while anyone who has played WoW will have a convenient shorthand for many of the individual card’s rules. Battles can be fought against other players, or against computer-controlled heroes from the WoW …
