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Jetpack Joyride developer lets you play with its huge snake in Colossatron: Massive World Threat
Jetpack Joyride developer Halfbrick Studios has taken to YouTube to warn us of an incoming threat to our national security. According the video (below) a giant mechanical snake called Colossatron is tearing up capital cities, laying siege to skyscrapers and soldiers alike with a terrifying arsenal of space-age weaponry. Luckily for us, this massive metal serpent is merely a character in Halfbrick's lastest iOS project Colossatron: Massive World Threat. You will take control of the titular snake, and have to conquer earth's military defences while increasing your own firepower. To boost your weapons' capabilities, you need to reconfigure the snake's modular 'powercores', aligning d…
Tricky sequel Touchgrind Skate 2 rolls onto the App Store after midnight
I don't know about you, but I like my modes of transportation to have an engine and some nice, comfy seats. However, if you're one of those 'active' types who enjoys belting around concrete parks on a piece of wood nailed to a set of shopping trolley wheels, then you might want to check out Touchgrind Skate 2 when it appears on the App Store later tonight. The sequel to the popular Touchgrind Skate expands on the original game by offering a choice of skateparks in which to practise your stunts. As before, you pop these tricks by placing two fingers on the deck and using a combination of well-timed taps and flicks. There's also the option to record your best moves and share them onl…
Deemo Review
It's been a while since gamers fell out of love with rhythm games. This was mostly due to the over-saturation of rock music sims driven by plastic guitars, but also because of lack of creativity in the games themselves. Deemo does its best to address these issues by not only providing feedback as you tap and slide, but also presenting a fantasy through the melding of music and haunting artwork. The story, such as it is, tells the melancholic tale of a lonely creature who finds the co…
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Joe Dever's Lone Wolf Review
Gamebooks may be a niche market, but it is amazing how many people have fond memories of them. Relying on people's nostalgia for the '80s has worked for many gamebook publishers, and now Joe Dever, author of the infamous Lone Wolf series has thrown his hat into the fray with a new four part saga. With the release of Steve Jackson's excellent Sorcery! earlier this year, however, Lone Wolf has its work cut out for it. It's an interesting take on the genre, but one which creates as many p…
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Friendstrap - a game of comfort and endurance
How well do you know your friends? Have you ever wanted to have an interesting conversation with a complete stranger? That's where Friendstrap comes in. The concept is simple. Each of the two people participating hold their finger on the screen. The first one to lift their finger off loses. The game suggests topics of conversation that range from the mundane and bizarre, to deeply personal, and things you might not want anybody to know. The 12 minute demo video will explain it all better than I could (if you have the endurance to watch it). A game of chicken lies at the center of this app, but even for a completely open and honest person (or someone playing the game with their partne…
Saddle up for new Kairosoft sim Pocket Stables
Management sim maestro Kairosoft has just released its latest mobile timesink onto the App Store. It's called Pocket Stables, and it's all about running a hairdressing salon. Just kidding - it's about horses. The game puts you in charge of a ranch, and tasks you with training up your thoroughbreds to competition standard. Once you've got your fillies in fine fettle, you'll enter them in races. If any of your horses turn out to be the next Seabiscuit, then you'll unlock more races, and be entered into global tournaments. A quick glance Pocket Stables confirms that Kairosoft is up to its usual pixel-art tricks again. However, previous efforts Game Dev Story and Grand Prix Story prov…
Shadowrun Returns expansion Dragonfall confirmed for iOS
Cyberpunk RPG Shadowrun Returns will receive a brand new campaign in 2014, developer Harebrained Schemes has confirmed. Set in the anarchic state of Berlin, the Dragonfall expansion will explore a mysterious event which took place when the Awakened world was in its infancy. As well as added a full-length campaign to Shadowrun Returns, the dev team has promised to deliver a selection of new characters, weapons, and enemies. At present, the PC and Mac versions of Shadowrun: Dragonfall has been confirmed for January 2014, when they will launch with a price tag of $14.99. However, a report by Polygon states that the iOS version is expected to follow later. We broadly approved of Shadowrun…
Oceanhorn ™ Review
It's fair to say that many action-RPGs released in the last 15 years have been influenced in some way by the Zelda franchise. However, few games wear their inspiration as proudly as Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas. Stop me if you've heard this one: You're a young boy with a mysterious backstory who is sent on a perilous quest. You're armed with a sword, shield, and bow, and must explore forests, deserts, and caverns in search of keys to unlock doors. Along the way you'll chop up…
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Get ready to explore The Room Two on December 12th
Fireproof Games has just confirmed that The Room Two will be heading to iPad on December 12th. After winning widespread critical acclaim - not to mention a BAFTA award - for their gorgeously spooky logic-puzzler The Room last year, the dev team started work on what they describe as the "difficult second album". Despite the warm reception the first game received, the creative minds responsible for the indie hit were more than aware of its limitations. "We know our first game had many weak points," explains Fireproof Games' Barry Meade. "It was on the simplistic side, it took place in an overly confined world, it ended quiet abruptly, and above all else, it was too damn short." The dev d…
Galaxy Run is an auto-runner... platformer... puzzler... kind of
Rez has crashlanded on an unknown planet. The easiest way to repair his ship and get home is by running through a set of increasingly dangerous levels. Spiel Studios wished to create an auto-runner with single screen levels, slowly adding to the challenge and variety of the gameplay on offer. From the few examples shown in the trailer, it looks like they might have hit the ground running with the right formula (joke!). The has a one-touch control system, and will be available on December 4th for 69p / 99c. …
See a giant floating skull bleed in the first trailer for Hero Siege
There's no shortage of top-down hack-'n'-slash games on iOS, especially ones with retro visuals. However, we do have to give the first trailer for dungeon-crawling gore factory Hero Siege props for cramming so much carnage into two minutes. The video wastes no time with pesky details like back story or character motivation, and cuts straight to the gratuitous blood-letting. Rats, skeletons, a giant death mask which hovers eerily in mid-air - all are remorselessly slashed to ribbons within the first 30 seconds. Check it out: The game's helmed protagonist isn't some psychotic wading through a cloud of red mist, though. In fact, he's performing a public service by saving the kingdom…
Robot cover-shooter Epoch.2 scraps launch price, now 50% off
Fans of hiding behind vertical surfaces with guns clasped purposefully in their hands might have noticed Epoch.2 popping up on the App Store last week. The chromed cover-shooter picks up the hydraulic baton from its 2011 predecessor. It features the same swipe-to-conceal, tap-to-target mechanics as the first game, but has been upgraded with a fresh story and some shiny new weapons. In celebration of its launch, Uppercut Games has decided to lower the price of Epoch.2 to £1.99 / $2.99. That's a 50% cut, if you're counting. Anyone who's on the fence should probably check out our hands-on with Epoch.2, which you can find below. The price drop is only temporary, though, so bear that in…
Don't Shoot Yourself! Review
“Don't shoot yourself!” Once just sensible piece of advice, this statement is now the title of an iOS game. This game has a simple premise: survive long enough to shoot 100 bullets. How hard can that be? As you might expect, it's tougher than it sounds. You take control of a small arrow which finds itself trapped inside a number of oddly-shaped prisons. Normally this solitude would be good for such activities as introspection and self-discovery. But the arrow has a problem…
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See the first Cut the Rope 2 teaser trailer
Zeptolab has just released the first teaser trailer for monster-feeding sequel Cut the Rope 2. Despite being the fourth Cut the Rope game in the Russian developer's ongoing mobile franchise, the team has labelled this latest episode the "first true sequel". The teaser trailer (below) shows the series' ravenous protagonist Om Nom dangling from a rope as he is carried off into the sky, surrounded by his beloved candies. We still don't know much about the Cut the Rope 2, but both the trailer and clues from Zeptolab's PR department suggest that Om Nom will be leaving the confines of his boxes and exploring new environments. However, we have just learned that the game's full title is…
Parcel Panic 2 looks to ramp up the thrills
We reviewed the original Parcel Panic back in early 2010, and while it was great to see a game following the spirit of Crazy Taxi, it just did not deliver the engaging speedy gameplay it should have. All these years later Mad Processor have created a sequel, and at least according to the trailer, it looks to be more of a high octane parcel delivery experience than its predecessor. Now the game is free, and you would have noticed the large amount of coins littering the game world in the trailer. We hope that the flow of coin collection and whatever upgrades or aesthetic changes available are well balanced to not intrude on what might be a fast paced race around town. The game is…
