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Hands-on with Castaway Paradise, the Animal Crossing-inspired desert island adventure
If I had just been shipwrecked on a desert island, I'm not sure whether the sight of a talking pig in people clothes would be a comfort, or confirmation that I was suffering from a nasty case of the bends. This is precisely you find yourself in upon booting up Castaway Paradise, a new island-based Animal Crossing-esque life simulator. With nowhere else to go and surrounded by chatty animals who all need odd jobs done, you set about fixing fences, watering plants, and customising your new home as you see fit. Curious? Then simply have a peek at our hands-on video above.…
Hands-on with ORBB, the peaceful planetary puzzler
You might notice a slightly different tone to my voice in this hands. It's mostly due to me feeling extremely serene, and wonderfully calm, even if I wasn't doing brilliantly at the game in front of me. That's because that game is ORBB, a title designed to be super super super chill. Here's how I got on...…
ORBBHands-on with Pixel Boat Rush, the racer with big waves and big guns
When I started practising for my boat license, I never expected to be schooled by a shouty drill sergeant stereotype pulled straight from Full Metal Jacket. Yet that's exactly what happened when I fired up Pixel Boat Rush, a low-fi side-scrolling boat racer set to appear on the App Store tomorrow. Though the angry instructor is a bit obnoxious, his words are worth heeding, as there's more nuance to this extreme sport than you might think. Check out the video above to see what I mean.…
Anomaly Defenders Review
The Anomaly series made a name for itself by reversing the standard tower defence formula, and putting you in charge of the advancing force you usually find yourself repelling. However, for Anomaly Defenders, the final entry in the series, the studio has reversed its own genre reversal, ending its tower offence saga with a normal tower defence game. Has the move unlocked a new dimension to the sci-fi combat favourite, or is Anomaly Defenders one reversal too many? Pocket Gamer's Harr…
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Hands-on with Pumped BMX 2, the intense BMX simulation game with bold cartoon visuals
At first blush it's easy to assume that Yeah Us!'s latest is going to be an auto-runner, or an arcade-centric action game. It's bright and chunky and very colourful indeed. But after a few minutes with it you quickly realise that Pumped BMX 2 is about as hardcore as it gets for extreme sports games on mobile. As you'll see in the hands-on video, I've become a big fan of Pumped BMX 2 in the small amount of time I've had with it, but I'm still nowhere close to mastering its deep trick system, and fiendishly tough courses.…
Sleep Attack TD trailer will leave you spinning
The big twist in Sleep Attack TD is that, in addition to placing down towers to defend your location, you can also quite literally twist the battlegrounds to work in your favour. So if powerful enemies are approaching from one angle, but your towers that will deal with them most effectively are in another location, you can simply spin the world around and bring the baddies to the area they'll be weakest in. Neat, eh? Sleep Attack TD will be available October 23rd on the App Store, and will be priced $2.99 / £1.99. Here's the trailer to keep you going until then.…
Mark of the Dragon is coming to iOS and Android this November, looks like Panzer Dragoon plus Clash of Clans
Gamevil's latest game announcement is Mark of the Dragon, a title that promises that you'll "collect, tame, and control dragons and use them to grow (your) kingdom". The game's out on iOS and Android in November of this year, and the video we've just got our hands on - which you can see below - shows gameplay that looks a bit like a cross between Clash of Clans and Panzer Dragoon.…
Add 'bracelet that can play Tetris' to your list of novel gaming wearables
Yep, you read that right, a very clever person with an eye for fashion tech has created a bracelet that runs a full-on version of Tetris. It's not exactly the most handsome looking bit of jewellery, and the potential for other games on bracelets is perhaps a little limited, but nevertheless this is a very cool achievement in engineering.…
Darkness Reborn intro film shows new gameplay footage of the MORPG, Android Closed Beta registration now open
As you'll see in the trailer below, you'll be tackling not one mighty boss in Darkness Reborn, but two: a double-headed dragon called Belphegor, and a fallen knight named Damien. Darkness Reborn appears to be taken a story-driven approach for its MORPG action, featuring flashy combat, dynamic camera angles, and special effects aplenty. What's potentially even more interesting, though, is that the game features multiplayer co-op dungeoneering, six player boss raids, and three on three PvP - all of which is completely synchronous. If you have an Android device, live in the United States or Canada, and feel like playing the game before anyone else, you can sign up for the Closed Beta here. T…
Hands-on with Adventure Xpress, the magic-filled match-3 puzzler
If you're after another match-3 puzzler to help fill the space on your iOS device, then Adventure Xpress appears to be a quality choice. In my quick look at the game, I find a puzzle title that's incredibly well conceived, looks and sounds great, and plays just fine too. There seems to be plenty of content in here to keep you busy too. And did I mention that Adventure Xpress is about a fantastical postal delivery service, fending off attackers with its various swords and magic? Awesome.…
Hands-on with Call of Duty: Heroes, in which clans of soldiers clash in modern warfare scenarios
If you were waiting for a Call of Duty game to come along that was effectively a take on Clash of Clans, then you're in luck, as Call of Duty: Heroes is currently in soft-launch. We don't know when it'll go global, but we wanted to get an early look at it and bring you our first impressions of this strategy management game with links to the main Call of Duty canon.…
Skylanders Trap Team prank video is directed by Jackass creator, voiced by Adam Carolla, actually quite funny
Here's the deal: Skylanders Trap Team is out soon, and it's awesome. You can watch our review here and gawp at its high definition full console experience loveliness. The game is primarily aimed at kids, and kids are easily tricked by grown-ups - grown-ups like Jeff Tremaine (the co-creator of Jackass) and comedian Adam Carolla. So the pair of them embedded themselves in a toy shop to prank a bunch of kids. What unfolds is a bit brilliant.…
Kapsula Review
What do you get when you combine a futuristic arcade racer with a match-three puzzler? The answer is Kapsula, a peculiar mash-up of genres and ideas from developer Beavl Games. In addition to making you navigate your vehicle around a minimalistic sci-fi cityscape, the game also encourages you to merge with other vehicles by crashing into them. You can then create chains of colour which must be wiped out for points. Pocket Gamer review Harry Slater was a bit bemused by the game, as y…
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Goat Simulator Review
Goat Simulator is a difficult game to review. On the one hand, it's a transparently broken game riddled with bugs, glitches, frame-rate issues, and optimisation problems. On the other hands, however, the whole game is a very conscious joke - one designed to poke fun at the subjective dullness of games like Truck Simulator and Train Simulator. As a result, it can be argued that the game is deliberately broken, and therefore cite its technical weaknessess as part of the joke. Harry Sl…
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Check out this footage of Chop Block's endless minimalist platforming
Vital Zigns' latest - Chop Block - is a hardcore platformer, and if you're a regular AppSpy viewer then you'll know I'm a sucker for a hardcore platformer. I'm immediately reminded of Super Meat Boy when watching the newly-released trailer for Chop Block: the minimalist art style, the need for precision, the spinning blades, and so on. Instead of Meat Boy, you'll be playing as Woodman, and it's your job to guide him away from dangers for as long as possible, until you're inevitably chipped. Chop Block is a free-to-play game and will be available on iOS and Android from October 9th.…
