Home » Articles and Reviews by 'Alex Beech'
Get a free copy of Deus Ex: The Fall over on IGN
Here is a nice way to kick off your E3 week: it seems IGN is giving away copies of Square Enix’s open-world cyber-stealth game Deus Ex: The Fall to anyone who wants one. Grabbing the code is relatively quick and painless. The first step is to head over to the offer page on IGN. Once there, you'll want to hit the ‘Get My Code’ button, which will instantly generate a code. Finally, enter the code in the Redeem box on the front page of the App Store, and your gamewill start to download. There are a few snags to this fantastic offer, the first of which is that the code is only redeemable in selected countries, including the US and UK. Also, the code is only valid unt…
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Sky Force 2014 Review
The original Sky Force came out on mobile devices in 2004. It was a great looking mobile game for its day, and fantastic shooter to boot. Now, a decade later, Sky Force 2014 is looking to do the same again with the benefit of modern tech. Sky Force 2014 retains the tight shmup combat and vertically scrolling levels of the original. As before, you must attack approaching targets, while trying to avoid the halestorm of bullets the game throws at you. A responsive one-to-one contr…
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Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for iOS is coming to the US App Store
Capcom’s Monster Hunter series has always been popular in Japan, but has struggled to make the transition to western markets. Now, having been out in its home territory for some time, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for iOS is making its way to to other markets. Monster Hunter is an apt title for a series that has you hunt, trap, and kill monsters for the valuable materials they offer. These can then be crafted to form more powerful equipment in order to hunt larger creatures. The satisfying feedback loop this provides is further enhanced by the multiplayer aspect, in which hunting larger game requires you to work as a team - all fulfilling different roles in the hunt. The series' pop…
Rival Knights Review
There aren't many medieval sport simulators on App Store. Enter Rival Knights, a game which casts you as a lowly knight who must battle his way through the noble jousting leagues to earn riches and status. Matches begin with you stirring your steed into action. Once charging down the lane, you must build up speed. Spurring on your horse is achieved by the act of stopping a marker on target as it scrolls back and forth along a meter. The final stage of combat has you drop you…
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First episode of stealth hacker Republique is now available free on iPhone and iPad
The first episode of Camouflaj’s episodic stealth game Republique is currently available for free on the App Store. Set in a dystopian future, Republique has you helping a girl named Hope as she flees for her life through an oppressive city state. Acting remotely, you view the action through security cameras, hacking various electronics in the world to clear a path, and letting Hope know when its safe to run. Hacking games seems quite de rigueur at the moment, exemplified by apps like Watch_Dogs Companion: ctOS Mobile. Featuring tons of computer tinkering fun, this tie in to Watch_Dogs gives you control of the city's security system, letting you chase down console an…
Free-to-play shmup Sky Force 2014 has just flown onto the App Store
Sky Force was an impressive-looking mobile shump back in the Java days of 2004. Now, ten years later, Infinite Dreams has bought it back as free-to-play shooter Sky Force 2014. A lot has changed in a decade, most notably in the visual department. While the original looked good for its time, this new instalment is stunning. The 3D graphics models bring notable depth to the smooth top-down combat. This is made all the more impressive thanks to the beautiful explosion and lighting effects that fill every screen. The one-to-one touch controls have you dragging your little ship around the screen constantly shooting its cannons. However, in an interesting twist to this tried and tested system…
BIOSIS Review
Apparently, Biosis is a suffix that means “mode of life." Fittingly, it's a great way to describe the main theme of this squishy, creature-manipulating 2D physics puzzler. You must guide a tiny organism through a hostile world towards a goal. Your little blob is a bit useless, however, so you must rely on other creatures in the world to push and pull it towards its destination. Every one of the lifeforms you use to guide your organism to the exit has two states. Tapping on a cr…
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Jousting simulator Rival Knights charging onto iPhone and iPad tonight
Hear ye, hear ye! Gameloft has just revealed its upcoming jousting game, Rival Knights. What's more, it's galloping onto the App Store this very night. Starting you off as a lowly competitor in the medieval sport of jousting, Rival Knights challenges you to rise through the ranks to become one of the finest lancemen in the land. Think of it as the career mode in FIFA, only with more armour and fewer injuries. Rival Knights will feature a huge variety of upgrades for your armour and jouster. The developer has also gone to thr trouble of using motion capture for the game's animations - though we suspect this will just be for the knights and not their noble steeds. If the daft trailers a…
King's match-three puzzle sequel Bubble Witch Saga 2 has just bounced onto iPhone and iPad
Bubble Witch Saga 2, the latest free-to-play match three puzzler from Candy Crush Saga creators King, has just appeared on the App Store. This latest installment in the Bubble Witch series has you reprising the role of Stella the witch in her battle against dark spirits. To fend off these evils she must take down groups of coloured bubbles by firing her own orbs towards them. When her shots meet with two or more bubbles of the same colour they disappear, with any bubbles attached beneath crashing down as a result. The game features 50 levels, with more promised every two weeks. Returning fans of the franchise may also notice new game modes to test your bubble bouncing skills. If th…
Kiwanuka Review
Kiwanuka's title screen, with its beautiful geometric visual design and psychedelic soundtrack, sets the tone for the levels to follow. What isn’t immediately apparent is that this charming puzzler is built on a single, elegant gameplay mechanic that perhaps doesn't offer enough depth to support the weight of an entire game. Cast in the role of a tiny wizard, you must use your magic to escort a host of followers across a series of 2D levels. Touching anywhere on the screen produ…
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Double Fine’s Broken Age is coming to iPad in 'a matter of weeks'
Act 1 of Double Fine’s point-and-click adventure Broken Age is finally on its way to the App Store. It was over two years ago that Double Fine took to Kickstarter to launch Broken Age, then titled Double Fine Adventure. After smashing its $400,000 goal, the first development update announced that the game would also be coming for iOS. Now, six months after the game was launched on PC for backers, Double Fine has announced that the iPad version of Broken Age Act 1 is “in the final stretch” and should be in our hands in “a matter of weeks." Broken Age tells the story of two characters: a boy trapped on a spaceship by an overbearing AI guardian,…
Free vertical shooter Final Flight of the Perseus gets new Expert Mode
Final Flight of the Perseus is a vertical shmup developed by Third Party Ninjas. Despite already being free, the team has clearly decided that it wasn't offering enough value, and has just added a new Expert Mode. The wave-based shump offers short bursts of icreasingly challenging sci-fi combat. Every enemy killed earns you in-game cash, which you can then spend on upgrades to power up your cannons, or to replenish your shields. As any good star pilot will tell you, dropping to zero shields in Final Flight of the Perseus is dangerous. This is where the new Expert Mode comes in, encouraging you to flight in this prone state to earn double cash rewards. Resist the urge to power up yo…
Drawn to Life Review
Drawn to Life was a originally released back in 2007 on DS. It was based around the tantalising idea of letting you draw characters and items directly into a game world. Seven years on, the game has now made its way on to the App Store. All this port delivers, however, is proof that some things are best left in the past. Despite the fact that creation is the the game's main hook, it is a limited mechanic. Each of your creations must conform to a specific size and shape, limiting your…
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Creature-battler Outernauts: Monster Battle has just gone global on iPhone and iPad
Having been in soft launch for several weeks, Insomniac's free-to-play creature-catcher Outernauts: Monster Battle has been launched worldwide on iPhone and iPad. As with so many creature-fight simulators, you must gather all kinds of bizarre beasts to battle for you in your quest to become number one on PETA’s most wanted list. Outernauts does offer a few twists on the classic formula, however, with its strategic combat far more rapid than similar titles. The game’s social aspects also do a lot to set it apart. PvP arena’s let you battle other players online, pitting your collection of handdrawn monsters against theirs. Online leaderboards ensure you can quantifiably…
Eerily beautiful iOS point-and-click adventure Pinstripe is nearing completion
Posthumous point-and-click platforming adventure Pinstripe is nearly ready to hit iPhone and iPad. Pinstripe's gameplay mixes side-scrolling platforming with classic adventure game puzzles. Taking control of a dead man in search of his wife in the afterlife, you must solve all manner of problems to progress, with only a shotgun and a little grey dog to help. The good news is that according to developer Thomas Brush, "after almost 3 years, Pinstripe is almost playable in its entirety." The game is brought to life by Brush's stunning, eerie art, and is populated by a colourful cast of characters, each with their own tales to tale. After nearly three years in development we are exci…
