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Hands-on with Deep Loot, a pixel perfect treasure of a diving game
The excitement of finding a sunken treasure in Deep Loot is palpable. When you happen upon a big golden chest full of goodies, or a precious lost artifact, or a rare dinosaur bone, and then add them to your ever-growing collection, it's like filling out the best sticker album ever made. Only the sticker album is comprised of pixel-rendered rarities, rather than this sort of thing. Deep Loot will surface on the App Store on the 31st July, but I've made an early little video of some of my first dives for you for a sneak peek. Here's how I got on.…
Deep Loot
Kritika: Chaos Unleashed Review
It doesn’t matter which of Kritika: Chaos Unleashed's colourful fighters you choose to play as. Whether you're an angry armoured warrior of powerful she-vixen, this action RPG's fluid, fast-paced combat is accessible from the word go This is largely thanks to virtual-stick and button controls that quickly become second nature. Despite only having limited offensive options when you begin, you'll soon find yourself chaining together 200-hit combos while you pirouette thr…
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Hands-on with Puzzix, the blissful shape matching game
Puzzix tasks you with matching corresponding shapes with one another, picking from a conveyor belt of candidates, and matching enough of them to remove them from play. It's a rather zen experience: the gradually shifting colour scheme, the slow fall of the puzzle pieces, and the tranquil music all combine to create a game that's very, very chill. I went hands-on with Puzzix, here's how I got on with it.…
Hands-on with Cubama, the fast-paced action puzzler that'll fit perfectly on your iOS device
The idea of Cubama is deceptively simple: get a specific shape through a specific hole in a wall. The reality of doing so is far from simple. You rotate the shape with a single tap of the screen, and must do so quickly, lest your shape smash against the wall and a “game over” screen appear. Cubama is fast, often frantic, and it's rather good too. Here's my hands-on with it.…
The Sailor's Dream is the next game from developer of Year Walk and Device 6, and this is what it looks like
Simogo has announced its latest game: it's called The Sailor's Dream, and it'll be out late 2014 on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. If you're not in the know as to who Simogo is, it's the developer of critically acclaimed iOS releases Year Walk and DEVICE 6, as well as Beat Sneak Bandit, Bumpy Road, and Kosmo Spin. We're therefore setting our bar of expectation pretty high on this one, especially after having seen the new trailer. The game is apparently "a challenge-free experience in which you explore a non-linear story through words, music, sounds and illustrations". The team's blog expands on this further;"In some ways The Sailor’s Dream is the culmination of ideas and concepts we…
Hands-on with Quizzolve, the neatly designed quiz game
Quizzolve is a straightforward, nicely put together but basic quiz game. It's got smart leaderboard support, a range of questions, some subtle uses of its premium currency, and though it's lacking sound, the visuals are minimal and neat. Quiz games don't often get much attention, so I decided to do a quick hands-on video of Quizzolve for those of you looking for a decent (and free-to-play) stab at the genre.…
Hands-on with Badass Trial Race, the Trials-esque racer from the Sky Tourist peeps
I got all excited when I heard that the folks behind Sky Tourist were making a new game, and doubly so when I heard it was a bit like the recent spate of high quality trials games, such as Trials Frontier, Urban Trial Freestyle, and Bike Trials. So it was a little disappointing when I went hands-on with the game - titled Badass Trial Race - only to find that it's a very simplistic effort that also has some crushingly aggressive free-to-play elements crudely bolted on. Oh well. Here's what Badass Trial Race - currently in soft-launch - looks like...…
Hands-on with Noah Ark Builder, the official... match-3 puzzler... of the new disaster movie
You might not immediately think a match-3 puzzle game would be suitable as the official movie tie-in of the new Noah movie. That's because it isn't, as evidenced by Noah Ark Builder. It's a fairly standard match-3 affair, and the only real ties to the silver screen source material are a few snippets from the film. The gigantic fictional flood barely seems to have any affect on the mechanics of this lacklustre tie-in.…
Telltale confirms The Walking Dead Season 3 is on the way
Telltale has confirmed that its acclaimed interactive adventure The Walking Dead will return for a third season. The announcement was made at this year's Comic Con in San Diego, and later shared with the world via the developer's Twitter account. Given the ongoing success of the zombie-themed series, it's no surprise that Telltale is keen to continue building stories in the world of The Walking Dead. However, with the team already prepping Tales from the Borderlands and an interactive Game of Thones series for release before 2015, it's going to be a very busy year for the studio. Unfortunately, there's no word at this time whether Clementine will return in season three, or when the gam…
Marvel Contest of Champions lets you play as Deadpool, Spider-Man, Hulk and more
San Diego Comic-Con was full of big announcements for big franchises this year, such as the Angry Birds Transformers news we posted about on Friday. Over on the Marvel Video Games panel, the folks at Kabam (The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth, Wartune, Fast and Furious 6: The Game) announced Marvel Contest of Champions, a brand new mobile game set for release on "mobile" (read: iOS and Android) in Autumn 2014. The above teaser makes the game look like a one-on-one fighting game, like Tekken or King of Fighters, but we're yet to confirm that with Kabam. We do also know that it's being made by Kabam's Vancouver studio, and that players will battle heroes and villains from the Marvel univ…
Game of Thrones Ascent Review
Game of Thrones Ascent’s premise is simple: raise yourself from the dirt of Westeros to become noble through some careful decision making and time management skills. By aiding the king you are initially rewarded a small holding to of land. Then you must then decide how you will lead your house to greatness: commit yourself to the realm, your family, or some other allegiance. Whatever your motivation, most of the decisions come with three possible options. Some of these are visib…
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Hands-on with The Phantom P.I. Mission Apparition, the spooktacular puzzle adventure
Combining the best bits of Tiny Thief, Broken Sword, and Scooby-Doo, The Phantom P.I. Mission Apparition is a charming, hilarious, and occasionally touching side-scrolling adventure. Packed with puzzles and rammed full of ghosts, it's your job to navigate haunted houses, solving mysteries and zapping ghouls. I went hands-on with the game recently, here's what I made of it.…
Hands-on with The King of Fighters '98, the best-of brawler from SNK and DotEmu
As I explain in the hands-on video, I'm a big fan of fighters, so it should come as no surprise that I was first to call “dibs” on giving The King of Fighters '98's re-release a go. If you've got a good controller, the game plays exactly as you remember, and if you can handle touchscreen controls for fighters then you'll be well-served here too. The King of Fighters '98 is potentially going to disappoint a few fans, since it's not the fancypants enhanced version that came out on the last couple of generations of consoles, but if you're after an arcade fighting classic, it should be right up your street.…
Hands-on with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the arena brawler based on the Michael Bay movie
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came out a day or so back, and we've been keen to see how this latest effort from the team behind Combo Crew has turned out. After a little while with the game, it remains difficult to say conclusively whether I really like it or not. On the one hand, the combo system can be exciting when you've chained together loads of hits, and the special attacks - where you call upon the rest of The Turtles to provide assistance - are impressive sights to behold. But the fractured mission structure, the IAPs in this premium title, and the lack of variety, is rather off-putting. Take a look at my hands-on with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles below to help make up your own mi…
Hands-on with Revolution 60, the self-serious yet schlocky sci-fi adventure
Revolution 60 mixes a mid-nineties, early polygonal 3D PC aesthetic with ludicrous character designs and a story that often attempts to come off as serious and badass. The results are mixed, and that's mostly due to its gameplay, or lack thereof. Most of the actions in the game are QTEs, and the combat limps along early in the game. However, the cutscenes - i.e. most of the game - do look pretty boss, especially if the art style grabs you. Here's a hands-on video for you to get stuck into and see if you like what Revolution 60's throwing down.…
