Home » Articles and Reviews by 'Alex Beech'
Overkills abounds in new iOS tower defence game OTTTD
Apparently, OTTTD is an acronym for Over The Top Tower Defence. And, in fairness, the game's overblown explosions and wacky cast of units deliver exactly what it says on the tin. While it may have tower defence in the title, the game actually blends a fair amount of traditional RTS into its melting pot of gameplay. Along with the standard defensive emplacements, OTTTD lets you take command a squad of heroes to take the devastation directly to your foes. RPG elements are also mixed into OTTTD’s flavoursome gameplay stew. You can level up your heroes, and personalise their equipment to suit your play style. If the trailer above isn’t enough, then you can always check…
App StorePeggle removed from New Zealand App Store to make way for free-to-play version
Peggle is dead, long live Peggle! EA has removed PopCap’s original Peggle from the App Store in New Zealand. In its place, the publisher has soft-launched its new free-to-play take on the game, called Peggle. While the free-to-play version shifts the perspective to a horizontal plane, the basics of the pachinko inspired gameplay remain intact. You must still clear the board of orange and blue pegs by firing your tiny metal balls at them, and enjoying the chaos that ensues. Look under the hood, however, and you will find more significant changes. The game is framed by an overworld map reminiscent Candy Crush Saga. As the difficulty increases, the free-to-play elements come to t…
Godzilla - Smash3 Review
We wonder what went through Rogue Play’s collective heads when they got the Godzilla licence. Given the leash of the world's most iconic building-mashing monster, we can’t work out at what point they felt that a match three puzzler would be the best fit. But while Godzilla - Smash3 may not offer the most apt use the king of lizards, it does offer some monstrous elements. Controlling Godzilla, you must battle the military, smash buildings, and defeat other monsters. While y…
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World Cup teams and kits come to FIFA 14 in latest update
With World Cup fever sweeping the globe, EA has decided to bring the biggest football tournament around to FIFA 14 on iPhone and iPad. The new update will let you take control of your favourite World Cup contenders in their officially licensed national kits. If that wasn’t enough, EA has even redesigned the FIFA 14 menu icon, and reskinned the ball to let you take the Adida Brazuca for a kick about. You will also be able to compete in the new Matches of the Week mode. If your FIFA 14 skills are as blunt as the AppSpy team's, however, that will just mean losing spectacularly with more people watching. Both the update and the game are free, so anyone itching for…
New pachinko-inspired Super Monkey Ball will be bouncing onto the App Store this summer
Sega has another Super Monkey Ball in the works: a pachinko-inspired mobile game called Super Monkey Ball Bounce. This new installment of the trapped simian simulator pits AiAi against the evil Prof. Boscis once again. To prove yourself top banana, you'll need to guide the mini monkey through pachinko inspired boards clearing all of the pegs en route. The game’s 120 stages will span environments that range from icy mountains to bubble volcanos. As you beat boards, you'll unlock seven characters from the franchise, such as MeeMee, Baby, and GonGon. Once released you will be able to play as these additional monkeys, and make use of their unique abilities. Super Monkey Ball Bounce&r…
Dragon Coins Review
Upon hearing that Dragon Coins was free-to-play game with a Pokemon-style focus on monster collection, we were tempted to run screaming from our phones with our hands clasped tightly around our wallets. After digging a little deeper, however, we discovered a tactical RPG with coin-dozer combat that offers more than enough of its touch-based fun for free. Dragon Coins combat will be instantly familiar if you have ever visited a seaside arcade. A field of coins meets you as you sta…
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Peter Molyneux’s Godus has been soft launched on the New Zealand App Store
Peter Molyneux’s 22Cans has just soft launched Godus, the Populous creator's latest god sim, on the New Zealand App Store. Asking you to omnipotently rule over the settlers of an island, Godus initially puts you in charge of only two people. By caring for them and editing the landscape to suit their needs, they will begin to populate the island and allow you to grow in power as their civilization develops. This god simulator first launched on PC last September, but is only now making its way to iPad and iPhone. Adding touchscreen controls to the geometry shifting gameplay should be an ideal fit, allowing you expand or erode the landscape with a simple swipe of the screen.…
Table Tennis Touch Review
Table Tennis is part of videogaming lore. From helping to popularise gaming with Pong back in 1972, to Rockstar's Table Tennis for the Xbox 360, the tabletop sport has a long and gloried history with gaming. Now, developer Yakuto has brought Table Tennis Touch to iPhone and iPad, a game that delivers one of the most faithful interpretations of the sport we have seen. The controls are simple and intuitive. Swiping upwards towards an approaching ball will return it, while jerking the p…
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Frantic twitch puzzler Hyper Square is on the App Store now
Hyper Square, a frantic twitch based puzzle game from Team Signal, is out now on the App Store. The gameplay revolves around swiping squares into portals to make them disappear. While the basics may seem easy, however, Team Signal adds increasingly more complex layers of mechanics, requiring you to resize and rotate tiles against the clock before flinging them into the requisite portal. Hyper Square’s vibrant aesthetic keeps the gameplay visually interesting and exciting, while also managing to increase its sense of urgency with its pulsing lines and colours. Despite this it remains quite minimal, ensuring that even at its most fraught you are able to follow what is going on.…
Free-to-play match-three puzzler Godzilla - Smash3 spotted in the App Store ocean
With the new Godzilla movie on the horizon, we were expecting a monster of a game to emerge from the ocean of the App Store. Not to disappoint, developer Rogue Play has unleashed Godzilla - Smash3, a free-to-play match-three puzzler. Never ones to run from danger, we have thrown ourselves headlong into the game’s monstrous maw. Taking control of the massive reptile, we advanced on the worlds cities, wiping out all manner of military defences. The top of the screen shows Godzilla’s path of destruction in full 3D, allowing us pick and choose our targets. You must control his attacks by matching coloured shapes on the grid beneath. This match-three gameplay follows a similar st…
JoyJoy Review
There is nothing new about JoyJoy’s premise. At heart it is a classic twin stick shooter formed from the same mold as Smash TV and Geometry Wars. What developer Radiangames has attemted to bring to this tried and tested formula is an attractive visual style, and versatile weapons system. You must guide your ship around an arena populated by ever increasing waves of enemies. Collecting them from fallen foes, you can hold a total of six ammunition types. These include spread…
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Badland update brings four player co-op to Day 1 campaign
Frogmind’s latest update to its wonderfully floaty side-scroller Badland has added four player co-op The multiplayer levels are all modified versions of the game’s original Day 1 levels. These 40 stages have been tweaked for co-op play, and feature 120 new missions, plus seven new achievements, to test your group's skill. While the update will let you and your chums control your flying furballs using a corner of your iPad's touch screen, it also supports MFi controllers. If you have the controllers on hand, this allows you to all get a good view of the action without your friends' thumbs getting in the way. Playing through Badland with four other players will likely cha…
dEXTRIS Review
Dextris is twitch gaming distilled down to its purest form. Controlling two neon coloured blocks in unison, your simple task is to dodge left and right as you rocket endlessly upwards through its vertically-scrolling course. By default, the pink and blue squares you command sit happily in the middle of the screen. Holding the right side of the screen causes both blocks to shoot rapidly to the right and grind their way up the wall. Hold the left side, and you'll get the opposite result…
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Charming indie platformer Thomas Was Alone has just jumped onto the iPad
Mike Bithell has finally ported his minimalist indie platformer Thomas Was Alone to iPad. Set in a dark, angular universe, Thomas Was Alone has you take control of a selection of different sized rectangles as they try to escape their collapsing world. While the cast is just a collection of four side shapes, the differences between them goes deeper than just their dimensions Each rectangle possessing unique abilities. Take Clare, the large blue square, who, despite worrying about her size, is the only one of the team able to float on water. Then there's the cynical Chris, whose shorter stature lets him fit through gaps others cannot. It is only by making use of every block's individual…
Alone in the Dark to sneak onto the App Store at midnight tonight
Alone in the Dark, the game that inspired the survival horror genre back in 1992, is finally making its way to the App Store. The iOS version of the Lovecraft-inspired chiller has you solving the murder of Jeremy Hartwood. Letting you take on either the role of private investigator Edward Cornby or the victim’s niece Emily, you must complete the various puzzle’s that fill Hartwood’s manner to unravel the mystery. Naturally, this port of the Atari PC classic feature’s new controls to optimise the experience for touchscreen. Controls aside, though, we're keen to see whether time has been cruel or kind to this infamous entry in the horror genre. Appropriately, …
