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Type:Rider Review
Type:Rider is a difficult game to classify. If you boil it down to its bare bones, it's a stunt racer in the mould or Trials or Motoheroz. However, instead of a bike, you're controlling a colon. In fact, the entire game is constructed from letters and punctuation, with each level a kind of alphabet assault course. What pushes Type:Rider beyond the stunt racer classification is its physics-based contraptions and historical info-bursts. You see, as you work your way through the stages,…
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Steampunk Tower Review
Most tower defence games get their title from the numerous weapon towers which players must erect to protect themselves. In the case of Steampunk Tower, the developers have gone one step further, and put a bloody great tower in the middle of the screen to act as a support structure for your weapon towers. It's a bit like Inception, only with towers. Anyhow, this being a steampunk game, you must use a mixture of 1930s-era tech to fend off wave after wave of moisture-powered monstrositi…
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Kart racer Angry Birds Go! coming December 11th
Get ready to start your engines: Rovio's brand new kart racer Angry Birds Go! will come screeching onto the App Store on December 11th. In the first true deviation from the series (Bad Piggies doesn't count - there weren't any birds involved) Angry Birds Go! will let you get behind the wheel of a selection of racing karts, and navigate your favourite aggrevated avian around Piggy Island. Not only does this signify a change of direction for the series in terms of gameplay, this is the first time we have seen the Angry Birds flock rendered in 3D. As you can see from the debut trailer below, the results are actually pretty impressive. Given that is an iOS release in the year 2013, An…
Rollabear Review
What is it about the iOS platform that makes developers want to fire animals from slingshots? Nope, we're not talking about those Angry Birds again. This time, we talking about bears. Bears being fired at little men dressed up as bunnies. And the men dressed as bunnies are actually bowling pins. And the bear has a fish which can turn back time. Still with me? Nevermind - let me explain. You've heard of crazy gold, right? Well, Rollabear is essentially crazy bowling. You launch your c…
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Gunner Z Review
You might be surprised to learn that the nastiest thing about BitMonster's zombie shooter Gunner Z isn't the zombies. Having apparently poured all of their warmth and creativity into last year's charming RPG adventure Lili, the ex-Epic staffers decided to muddy up the App Store waters with yet another undead-themed blaster. However, in their quest for the mighty dollar, the team has concocted a freemium framework which does its level best to impede your progress and hamper your enjoym…
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It'll be 'a few years' before Final Fantasy VII comes to iOS
Sqaure Enix producer and director Takashi Tokita has revealed that classic JRPG Final Fantasy VI will be available from the App Store before the year is out. During a conversation with Kotaku last week, Tokita said that the iOS version of Final Fantasy VI will essentially be a remake, with new battle systems and less "grinding". However, having whetted our appetites for a optimised version FFVI, Tokita went on to suggest that an iOS port of the genre-defining Final Fantasy VII could be around the corner. Specifically, Tokita said: "If this Legacy project works out well, we would like to one day be able to work with VII." As you can imagine, the prospect of two of the best Final Fantasy g…
Shadowrun Returns Review
For years now, the pen and paper game Shadowrun has delighted players with its mixture of magic, future-tech, and corporate espionage. The Kickstarter-funded Shadowrun Returns plays like a PC RPG from the late '90s. Cast as a titular Shadowrunner, you explore your surroundings, talk to the locals, take on quests, or just follow the clear story objectives. When you get into a fight, the game turns into a less cinematic version of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. You can take cover, use ranged or m…
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The mind bending continues with Draw The Line!
Today must be the day where I discover all the games designed to make your brain pulse. Draw the Line! is kind of like that brain teaser where you have to connect points within a shape using lines that cannot intersect with each other. It goes one further by having you draw lines through each side of the shapes in each stage. To make matters more complicated, certain sides can only be entered in one direction, and other sides must be unlocked before a line can pass through them. The trailer will explain in more detail. The chalkboard style looks like it melds well with the gameplay, as long as you don't imagine that you're solving these puzzles in front of everyone back in elementary…
Shift the way you think with Move
No, the Playstation motion controller hasn't somehow made its way to iOS. Move: A Brain Shifting Game is a game where you move all the pieces together, and use the game board to get the dots to their respective coloured squares. We've featured and reviewed many games of this type. The presention of Move, and the sheer glut of puzzle available make this worth a look for those ready to test the limits of their synapses. Have a watch of the trailer. My brain hurts just watching some of the last puzzles shown in that trailer, but the best of luck to those who rise to the challenge. The game is free to play and is available on the App Store now. [App Store Link]…
Horror approaches: Dare you visit Indigo Lake this Thursday?
First-person survival-horror game Indigo Lake is set to creep onto the App Store this Thursday. From what we can gather, this is essentially Most Haunted (or Paranormal Activity for you US folks) with guns. When your ghostbusting buddy Dr. Everett goes missing near a holiday resort called Indigo Lake, it's up to you to strap on your proton pack (read: hand gun) and track him down. As you can see from the trailer (below), gameplay consists of running around spooky-looking forest environments, shooting spirits with a tracer gun (which apparently scares them away), and completing puzzles. We don't know what these puzzles will involve but we are going to assume they feature blood, de…
Star Wars: Tiny Death Star out in Australia and NZ
Name one thing that could make NimbleBit's pixel-art hit Tiny Tower better. If you said planes, trains, or automobiles, then you're wrong (and at least two sequels too late). If, however, you said a fully-automated space station with the firepower to destroy an entire planet, then the force is clearly with you. Late last week, Star Wars: Tiny Death Star was soft-launched in Australia and New Zealand. As you have no doubt guessed, it is essentially a Star Wars-themed re-imagining of Tiny Tower. You play as the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, Darth "I don't like sand" Vader. Instead of brooding silently on the bridge of a Star Destroyer, however, Vader has to act as an intergal…
Batman: Arkham Origins bringing justice to iOS soon
An iOS version of Batman: Arkham Origins is set to swoop onto the App Store alongside its console counterpart this autumn. Cooked up by Batman: Arkham City Lockdown developer NetherRealm, the game will revolve around one-on-one brawls between The Dark Knight and Gotham's rogue's gallery of psychotic villains. Speaking to Pocket Gamer, a spokesperson from NetherRealm confirmed that Batman: Arkham Origins will feature "light RPG elements" which will allow players to tailor The Caped Crusader's fighting style to their liking. We've also been promised an array of unlockable Batsuits to collect, plus appearances from supervillains Deathstroke, The Electrocutioner, and Bane. What's more, if yo…
KAMI Review
Colour-based grid puzzlers are ten-a-penny on the App Store. Throw a stone and you'll hit a Bejeweled or a Polymer or a Crush!, all of which ask you to manipulate and match colours and for points and prestige. The latest game to emerge from this iOS tradition is KAMI, a paper-themed puzzler which has been infused with a powerful Eastern flavour. You are presented with a patterned grid at the beginning of each level. Using the painting palette on the right-hand side of the screen, your…
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HOOKBALL Review
We finally know the reason behind the destruction of the Mayan civilisation: They were playing Hookball. What is Hookball, you ask? Well, it's a game where too much is going on at once, and death is literally only seconds away. Despite the insanity of the sport, it's quite an addictive experience, but one which requires a large amount of dedication to master. The Mayan calendar in the middle of the stage acts as the game timer. Through the collection of gears, you add time to the cloc…
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Trouserheart Review
Is a hero still a hero when you can see his underpants? Man of Steel director Zack Snyder says no. Luckily for the star of affable top-down hack-and-slash game Trouserheart, developer 10tons believes that heroism can't be killed by visible underwear. In fact, in Trouserheart, the revealing of our protagonist's boxers is the catalyst for level-upon-level of action and adventure. Having had his pantaloons nabbed by a cheeky klepto goblin, Trouserheart's kingly star decides to set off on…
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