“Monsters Ate My Condo” VideoReview
Check out this video review of Monsters Ate My Condo by AP9TV1 who also writes reviews on this site.
If your still undecided about this awesome game you can check out the official trailer for it below.
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HECTOR: Ep2 – Senseless Acts of Justice – 4.99 (Telltale Inc)
The long awaited sequel to HECTOR: Badge of Carnage Ep1 [$3.99] is finally upon us! HECTOR: Ep2 – Senseless Acts of Justice [$4.99] is the second episode of the humorous trilogy. I’ve actually never gotten the chance to play the first episode, shocker right! Since I haven’t played the first episode I can’t really compare them to which one’s the best. If you’re new to the series like me then you ought to know who the main characters are. The game follows Detective Hector and his assistant Lambert throughout the series. The Hector: Badge of Carnage series is a point-and-click adventure game where you have to interact with people and objects to complete your tasks. There’s a lot of silly crude humor, so this game isn’t for the young. It’s also not for people who don’t have a sense of humor. So, if you were born without that then you should probably stay far away from this game. I mean it. Even though this is a funny game it’ll require you
to use your brain every now and then to complete the task on hand. The controls are very simple. Just tap anywhere to move around. To interact with objects and people just tap once to do so. If you need to use an item then just double tap to use it. You can gather objects and store them into your inventory. Sometimes you’ll have to combine objects that you’re carrying to get the job done. Throughout the game you can switch back and forth between Hector and Lambert to perform the various duties. If you’re ever stuck, then you can use the hint menu, but I’m afraid to use it… it makes me feel dumb, because of how easy some of the tasks are. There’s not much more I can say about the game without spoiling the story. After playing HECTOR: Ep2 – Senseless Acts of Justice, I’ve found myself to truly love the series. I definitely need to go pick up the first game ASAP! If you’re new to the Badge of Carnage series like me then I suggest you go play the first one
before you play this one. You don’t really have to though. You’ll be fine by just hopping into episode 2, but if you would like to know the main plot then you should just start of at #1. Also, if you’ve played the first one before then there’s no way in the world that you can’t pick up this one. Come on for Pete’s sake! It’s Hector!!!! Overall, the dialogue in this game is fantastic and it’s hilarious. The graphics are nicely done and everything seems to flow very well. HECTOR: Ep2 – Senseless Acts of Justice is definitely worth $5… probably more! My final rating is 5 out of 5 stars. If your looking for a great puzzle adventure game and a nice long game then HECTOR: Ep2 – Senseless Acts of Justice for [$4.99] is definitely worth your time and hard earned money. Have an iPad? Well don’t worry! You can pick up the HD version for iPad for just $6.99 by clicking here.
Trailer:
Xurge – 0.99 (Paul Bryant)
Xurge is a new arcade tap shooter from Paul Bryant. In Xurge, you’ll be able to play through two different modes, Endurance, and Kamikaze, each having 5 different difficulty levels, Casual, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Extreme. The game brings back a lot of memories of playing arcade games, back when I was a kid, at the local bowling ally down the street from where I grew up. The graphics, gameplay, even down to the demo/tutorial that you’ll need to watch (instead of read) before playing the game in order to know how the game mechanics work.
In Endurance Mode, you’ll go through wave after wave of enemies, increasing in speed, amount, and difficulty. There are three different colors of enemies, blue, grey, and red. Blue and Red enemies need different types of shots in order for them to be killed, while Grey enemies can be hit with either type of shot and be taken down. To change the shot type, you’ll need to select the cannon you want to use, and then tap on it, then hit the fire button when the correct mode for the cannon is chosen. Red enemies can be killed using the default mode of the cannons, a grey outfit, while Blue enemies will need the blue shot, shown on the cannon by two blue stripes.
Each of the enemies will come at you through one of four tracks, each leading down to one of your four cannons. To kill them, you’ll need to pick the correct cannon, and fire at them, hopefully before they fire down at you, damaging your cannon. You can repair your cannons by tapping on their health bars, but only at a slow rate, making it impossible to repair your cannons if they’re taking constant damage.
In Kamikaze Mode, you’ll need to destroy each of the enemies before they crash into your cannons. You are aloud to take a certain amount of damage, and repair your cannons, just like Endurance Mode, but instead of stopping the enemies before they shoot at you, you’ll try and stop them before they run into you.
The controls are nice and responsive, though they are timed. You can not just double tap on a cannon to activate it and change it’s shot type, you’ll need to tap on the cannon, and wait for it to activate, and then tap on it, and wait for it to change it’s shot type before you can make it fire. This added timed tapping mechanic adds quite a bit of action to the gameplay, as you’ll be trying to get each cannon active and changed to the desired shot as fast as you can, racing the clock before enemies shoot at or crash into you.
The scoring system in Xurge is done quite well, as each ship will give you a set number of points, and if you hit enemies without missing a shot, you’ll add to your chain. Every multiple of 10 on your chain number will add an extra bonus set of points, going up as your chain goes up. So you’ll get bonus points on your 10th, 20th, 30th, ect consecutive hits, with the bonus going up about 100 points each time. Games that add scoring mechanics like this are great, and I just go nut-so over them. They add depth to the scoring, and drive gamers to play better, and score higher. Xurge is no exception. Constantly giving players that ‘one more time’ feeling each time they hit the game over screen, it’s sure to eat up hours and hours of your free-time. There are also quite a few different power-ups that you will get when destroying ships that are carrying them. Full health upgrades, special shot types, invincibility, and more help add to the gameplay quite a bit.
The scoring system in Xurge is done quite well, as each ship will give you a set number of points, and if you hit enemies without missing a shot, you’ll add to your chain. Every multiple of 10 on your chain number will add an extra bonus set of points, going up as your chain goes up. So you’ll get bonus points on your 10th, 20th, 30th, ect consecutive hits, with the bonus going up about 100 points each time. Games that add scoring mechanics like this are great, and I just go nut-so over them. They add depth to the scoring, and drive gamers to play better, and score higher. Xurge is no exception. Constantly giving players that ‘one more time’ feeling each time they hit the game over screen, it’s sure to eat up hours and hours of your free-time. There are also quite a few different power-ups that you will get when destroying ships that are carrying them. Full health upgrades, special shot types, invincibility, and more help add to the gameplay quite a bit.
The retro graphics and soundtrack also add to the feeling of the game, and are sure to bring back memories of childhood play for gamers in their 20’s and 30’s. There are GameCenter and OpenFeint leader boards for both modes, and for each of the different difficulties, giving players a total of 12 global leader boards total. There’s also 17 achievements to keep achievement hunters busy for some time. For this small 2 person developing team, Xurge is a great game, and one that’s sure to nab them a few well deserved fans. For $0.99, there’s enough content, and replay ability to keep any retro gamer fan happy for quite some time.
Xurge gets a score of 8 out of 10.
Links;
Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xurge/id461718872?mt=8
Website – http://www.xurge-game.com/
Run Fox Run – 0.99 (Icewire)
Run Fox Run is a new endless runner by Icewire. In the game, you’ll be able to go through 3 different modes of play, Story, Endless, and Coin Mode. In Story Mode, you’ll be able to run through 24 levels spread up across 4 different environments, each with different enemies, and progressing difficulty. Endless Mode lets you face all of the 40 different enemies while running through environments from all 4 different worlds in Story Mode, while Coin Mode lets you run from the main menu. You’re able to hit an arrow up on the menu selection area so that the ‘Story” and “Endless” mode selections are not blocking up the screen, and then you can run as far as you can while collecting as many coins as possible.
Each mode has different mechanics, and different ways of dealing with enemies. A lot of thought was put into the scoring of Run Fox Run, which is always nice to see no matter what genre you’re dealing with. In Story Mode, there is no score, but instead, you’re given 3 hearts to start out with, and have the option of trying to pick up more, up to 5, as they’re scattered throughout the level as item pick-ups. There’s a little gauge on the top right corner that lets you know how far you’ve gone in the level, and how far you have until the end. Jumping on enemies isn’t necessary, as there is no score, but if you run into or hit one of them, you’ll loose a heart. Loose all your hearts, and you’ll need to start over. Making it to the end of the level without loosing a heart, and you’ll get a C Star, that stands for Cunning. Collecting these perfect stars, along with progressing through the levels are the main points of playing in this mode.
Endless Mode has some more complex scoring, as you’re scored on distance. But jumping on enemies gives you a multiplier, increasing your distance score. A little 2x or 3x will stay above your fox for as long as the multiplier is active, while jumping on more enemies while the multiplier is shown above your head will add to it. You’re given 3 hearts, as well as heart pick-ups throughout the levels, to use before you die, and need to start from the beginning. There are level changes within Endless Mode, as the levels are about as long as Story Mode levels, but your score carries over from level to level.
In both Story and Endless Modes, there’s also power-ups. Many are scattered throughout the levels, and one is a power-up that keeps recharging after you use it. The rechargeable power-up, shown at the bottom of the screen, is a speed booster that leaves you invincible while it’s active. You can quickly run through groups of enemies very easily with this power-up enabled, and it keeps charging while you run. If you get hit by an enemy, the gauge will drop back about half way, and you’ll need to re-charge it again in order to use it. Some of the power-ups are a shield, a jump booster, a speed power-up booster which gives you a full speed gauge, and a power-up that kills all enemies on two platforms.
Coin Mode, played at the main menu, is more basic with it’s scoring, and doesn‘t use any power-ups or the speed ability. There’s two types of coins, one worth 1 point, and coins with silver around them, worth 5 points. The goal is to collect as many coins before you hit 1 enemy. Hitting an enemy automatically resets the coin counter back to zero, and you’ll keep running, trying to collect as many coins as you can all over again.
GameCenter and OpenFeint have two leader boards, one for Endless Mode, and one for Coin Mode, along with 27 achievements. The online support is a great addition, and adds a lot to the replay value of the game, even after finishing the Story Mode, and playing around with the other modes. There’s also a Credits Mode, where you can run and jump on enemies while the credits are playing. Jumping on an enemy shows you the name in the credits in a darker color, and is not scored, and has no real purpose other than to give you something to do while reading the credits. It is, however, a very nice addition, as no other game that I’ve seen lets you actually play through the credits.
The graphics in Run Fox Run are done extremely well, with great environments, and painted backgrounds, the game is extremely vibrant, and professional looking. The animations are also very well done, from the running of the fox to the movement of the enemies, especially in the later levels with Abstract World. The music goes along fairly well with the game, and doesn’t get annoying at all. The effects also add quite a bit to the game, and it all creates quite a nice atmosphere. The controls in Run Fox Run are also very well done, having the fox’s jumping height dependant on how long you hold down on the screen, and never struggling for timing with unresponsive or laggy control.
The graphics in Run Fox Run are done extremely well, with great environments, and painted backgrounds, the game is extremely vibrant, and professional looking. The animations are also very well done, from the running of the fox to the movement of the enemies, especially in the later levels with Abstract World. The music goes along fairly well with the game, and doesn’t get annoying at all. The effects also add quite a bit to the game, and it all creates quite a nice atmosphere. The controls in Run Fox Run are also very well done, having the fox’s jumping height dependant on how long you hold down on the screen, and never struggling for timing with unresponsive or laggy control.
Icewire has done an amazing job creating their first iOS game, and has shown that they know exactly what it takes to break into a genre already overflowing with great games and make their mark. Run Fox Run has more than enough content, and incredible replay value, with online support, and very responsive developers behind it all. For $0.99, it’s a great buy, and one that will end up staying on your device for a long, long time. I, for one, and very excited to see what the future holds for the new development company, and can’t wait to find out what they have in store for their next game.
Run Fox Run gets a perfect score of 10 out of 10, and is recommended to all fans of the endless runner genre.
Links:
Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/run-fox-run/id461151279?mt=8
Website – http://www.runfoxrun.com/
Haraka – 0.99 (Studio Joho)
Haraka is a pong type game from Studio Joho. It is an interesting and modern take on the old classic, giving it a sci-fi style, super quick movement, a leveling up system, great graphics, and plenty of one and two player content.
In the game there’s 9 levels, each represented by a color, and progressing in difficulty. You control a character in a space age suit on a blocked in court, holding a big stick. The controls are simple, directional arrows on each side of the screen. You can move left and right, but also climb up the sides of the court, up to the center of the screen. To score a point, all you need to do is hit the ball, which is done automatically once you’re next to the ball, and have it hit the walls of the court on your opponents side. 10 points, and you win. Obviously, its ideal to try and hit all 3 edges of the other players section before the ball returns to you. If you were last to touch the ball, and the ball comes flying back to your side of the court, hitting the wall, it does not count against you. Only if the opposing player was the last one to touch the ball. Your player is also upgraded as you progress throughout the game, gaining speed, strength, and agility, which is a great addition to the pong type genre, giving it more replay value just for trying to get your character’s stats as high as they can go.
Power-ups have been included, and they all fit very well within the game. Strength increase, speed increase, agility increase, add 2 to your score, a deflector, and a 2x point multiplier. There’s also power-downs, including slowdown ball, decrease skills, remove deflector, and score – (minus) 2. Each of these power-pods can be used by touching and then dragging them onto the side of the player you want to use the ability. So you can decrease the opponents skills, and increase yours, making for some quick easy points. The power-ups are generally abundant, but you need to be careful and watch what you do with them. They can also be hit by the ball, which makes them active, so if you don’t move a power-down out of the way and over to your opponent, it could end up effecting you, which is a nice game mechanic, and adds some action to the already pretty hectic gameplay.
Power-ups have been included, and they all fit very well within the game. Strength increase, speed increase, agility increase, add 2 to your score, a deflector, and a 2x point multiplier. There’s also power-downs, including slowdown ball, decrease skills, remove deflector, and score – (minus) 2. Each of these power-pods can be used by touching and then dragging them onto the side of the player you want to use the ability. So you can decrease the opponents skills, and increase yours, making for some quick easy points. The power-ups are generally abundant, but you need to be careful and watch what you do with them. They can also be hit by the ball, which makes them active, so if you don’t move a power-down out of the way and over to your opponent, it could end up effecting you, which is a nice game mechanic, and adds some action to the already pretty hectic gameplay.
The two player content is a played the same way, but on the same screen. That’s right, no multiplayer online, but done on the same device. This can be kind of hard to get use to, as are most 2 player iPod games are that are played on the same device, but once you get use to it, it provides you with quite a bit of entertainment. Me and my wife have been playing this quite a bit over the last week, bringing back a lot of memories from when we first got together, and would play old arcade games at the bar up the street. So even though it might not be ideal, playing a game with two players on one little iPod, I can see it working pretty well on the iPad, which is kind of upsetting, because the game is not universal, and not retina, so I also imagine it looks kind of bad on larger screens. Though I could be totally wrong. Games with this much quick action, with gamers focusing on one little moving point on the screen, probably play well regardless of the stretched or slightly blurry graphics.
Right now, there isn’t any online support, no GameCenter or OpenFeint, but the developers have said that it’s coming soon. I doubt the inclusion of GC will include wi-fi multiplayer, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As with most GameCenter auto-matched multiplayer games, there would be no indication of what level the other player is, and soon after the update, a lot of players would be turned off of the wi-fi multiplayer because the players with their maxed stats would be constantly whooping up on the new-comers, and there wouldn’t be anything we could do about it. The main inclusion with GameCenter will be the achievements. This will add a decent amount of replay value, with having goals set, it should take a while to collect all of them. There is also no scoring system at the moment, and I’m not sure one will be added, so that means no online leader boards, unless it’s put up with how many total wins each player has got.
Right now, there isn’t any online support, no GameCenter or OpenFeint, but the developers have said that it’s coming soon. I doubt the inclusion of GC will include wi-fi multiplayer, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As with most GameCenter auto-matched multiplayer games, there would be no indication of what level the other player is, and soon after the update, a lot of players would be turned off of the wi-fi multiplayer because the players with their maxed stats would be constantly whooping up on the new-comers, and there wouldn’t be anything we could do about it. The main inclusion with GameCenter will be the achievements. This will add a decent amount of replay value, with having goals set, it should take a while to collect all of them. There is also no scoring system at the moment, and I’m not sure one will be added, so that means no online leader boards, unless it’s put up with how many total wins each player has got.
Studio Joho has done a very nice job here creating a modern sci-fi pong game. Being $0.99, it’s a great game, and offers quite a bit of content, even with only one playable mode, especially considering it’s essentially pong on steroids. I was pleasantly surprised while playing, and am finding it more and more enjoyable as I progress in the game. It’s actually turning into a pretty addictive game, and one that I’d recommend any fan of old-school, or quick moving arcade games gets, even with the non-retina non-universal graphics. It’s a game that will grow on you fairly quickly, and one that you can enjoy quite a bit with a friend.
Haraka gets a score of 8 out of 10.
Links;
Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/haraka/id432734789?mt=8
Website – http://blog.mentaldrink.com/haraka
Burn The Rope: Worlds – 0.99 (Big Blue Bubble)
Burn The Rope: Worlds is the sequel to the very popular Burn The Rope, by Big Blue Bubble (also responsible for Paper Munchers, City Of Thieves, Thumpies, the Fighting Fantasy series, and more). In Worlds, there’s more of the same great gameplay that made the original so popular, which is great, because companies that change up gameplay too much in their sequels, trying to find a new gimmick, generally upset the previous games fans. Big Blue Bubble has taken the approach of, “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, expand on it”, and we really couldn’t be happier about this decision.
Fans of the original Burn The Rope will feel right at home when starting up BTR: Worlds. The controls work the same, rotating your device to keep the flame pointing upwards, but with better handling of the corners on each rope, which is a great addition, because there‘s more turns than ever in Worlds. You can also touch the screen to increase the speed of the flame. You’ll burn designs made of rope, trying to burn more than 60 percent of the shapes to move on. There’s also the bugs that change the flame’s color. Big Blue Bubble has added more of these bugs. There’s now fire bugs that when hit with a flame, will explode, causing everything in it’s radius to burn up, and sending multiple flames out in every direction, electric bugs, that when hit, will connect to another electric bug, and burn everything in-between the two, and more.
Within the Classic Mode, there’s 4 worlds, Jungle, Fantasy, Mechanical, and Space, each having 25 levels, and themes for each of the rope’s objects. You can play in any of the 4 worlds from the beginning of the game, as they’re all unlocked once you start. There’s also a Casual Mode, which gives you all of the same levels, without bugs. This means that there’s no colored ropes, and no extra special bugs you help or harm your progress in each level. Better yet, both Modes share progress, so if you’re having trouble with a specific level in Classic Mode, you can play it in Casual Mode, and then go back to Classic Mode, and try and finish the world.
Along with new bugs, new levels, and new mechanics, there’s bonus rounds, which come into play every 4 levels. In these bonus rounds, you’ll get to try and burn as many bugs as you can in a certain amount of time, giving you a time bonus for burning them all before time runs out. These bonus rounds do not effect your score on the game, and are more for fun, and adding to the gameplay. There’s also a new mode called Endless Burn, where you will get to play a snake-like game, where you’ll rotate your device to change the direction of a growing flame. Each bug you burn with the flame adds to the length. You can pick between 5 different types of flames, yellow, orange, purple, blue, and green, each with different size and speed, and each is unlocked by rating the game, liking the developer’s FaceBook page, sending your friend an e-mail, and things like that.
Also, to keep in the tradition of the original Burn The Rope, there are puzzles of the day, which are supported by ads. Free to play, but if you want to get rid of the ads for the daily puzzles, it’ll require an IAP of $0.99. This is a great way to add endless replay ability to the game, and give it more life on your device.
Also, to keep in the tradition of the original Burn The Rope, there are puzzles of the day, which are supported by ads. Free to play, but if you want to get rid of the ads for the daily puzzles, it’ll require an IAP of $0.99. This is a great way to add endless replay ability to the game, and give it more life on your device.
In the end, Burn The Rope: Worlds is done like Cut The Rope: Experiments. More of the same type of gameplay with a couple of expansions on the gameplay. Again, if you enjoyed the original Burn The Rope, Worlds will give you the same kind of great gameplay you fell in love with, just more of it. For $0.99, and loads of content, it’s a great buy. One that every puzzle fan should experience.
Burn The Rope: Worlds gets a score of 9 out of 10.
Links:
Original Lite Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/burn-the-rope-lite/id417015740?mt=8
Website – http://www.bigbluebubble.com/
Floria – 0.99 (m42 Studios)
Floria is a new endless floater, and first iOS game, from m42 Studios. In the game, you maneuver a flower through different enemies and objects trying to collect as many items as you can before the summer is over and winter arrives. Collecting the orbs throughout the game will give you points that you can use to unlock different types of flowers that have different abilities and power-ups.
The controls in Floria work well, but are a little jittery. Tilting moves the flower up and down, and rotating your device clockwise moves it forward, while counterclockwise moves it back. These controls do take a bit of getting use to, but once you do, they work well. The graphics look amazing, especially on devices with retina display. The animations in the game are done very well too. The backgrounds seem to come alive as you move through the world, with everything blooming right before your eyes. The movements of the flower, enemies, and growth of the thorns all looks amazing. The music and effects are also soothing, and add quite a bit to the atmosphere of the game.
There is a good variety of enemies throughout the world, lizards, spiders, birds, bees, and more will have you waving and dodging your way throughout the whole game. Orbs that you pick up for unlock points also add to your main score, and each different colored orb has a different score amount. There are also flower pick-ups, which fill a gauge at the bottom of the screen, and once you collect enough of the flowers, you can trigger the power-up and become invincible for a short time. During this time, running into enemies and objects adds to your score. There is an animation addition for invincible mode, having small flowers fly in a trail behind you, and when the power-up fades away, the flower starts to blink. There’s also special music for when the power-up is active, so you’ll never be stuck coming out of invincible mode, and running into enemies thinking the power-up is still active.
Through the world, there’s also time stopping pick-ups, shown as hour glasses, and speed increasers, shown as little arrows, that you’ll need to collect in order to get as far as you can before winter descends. Hitting enemies and objects will cause you to slow down, and if you hit a spider web, you’ll need to shake your device to get out of it.
Floria is a great ‘how far can you get’ game, with some great scoring, and nice game mechanics. It desperately needs some online leader boards though, as the only replay value you’ll have is for unlocking the additional 3 flowers, and beating your own score. Once you unlock all the flowers, the desire to play the game will drop pretty fast, and it will most likely just end up sitting there on your device waiting for an update that will add more content.
However, the game is very beautifully made, and the gameplay you have will provide you with quite the experience. The graphics are top notch, and the jittery controls really just effect the look, not the gameplay. At $0.99, it is a great buy if you’re into endless or get as far as you can games. M42 Studios has done a great job with their first release, and I’m really looking forward to additions to the game, as well as what they’ll come up with next.
However, the game is very beautifully made, and the gameplay you have will provide you with quite the experience. The graphics are top notch, and the jittery controls really just effect the look, not the gameplay. At $0.99, it is a great buy if you’re into endless or get as far as you can games. M42 Studios has done a great job with their first release, and I’m really looking forward to additions to the game, as well as what they’ll come up with next.
Floria gets a score of 7 out of 10.
Links;
Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/floria/id451928277?mt=8
Website – http://www.m42studios.com/
Fearless Ninja – (Box Shaped Games)
Fearless Ninja is a casual arcade game from Box Shaped Games (Max Injury + Max Injury 2). You will play as a ninja who needs to kill as many enemies as possible by collecting blue orbs that let you attack them, trying to get the highest score you can.
The graphics and animations in Fearless Ninja are done pretty well. The animations for attacking, movement, and the enemies is all top notch, while the background of the game looks nice. There is no variation in the environments though, and you’ll only see a couple of different enemies in the game until you get reasonably good. The variation with enemies is nice, but it would have been better if different enemies came out of the woodwork earlier in the game. Even playing on Easy, it took me 2 days before I saw the 3rd enemy.
The controls are done well, giving you a tap option, which lets you use the corners of the screen kind of like arrows, tapping on the bottom right to move the ninja right, and left to move left, and a swipe control that’s still kind of hard to be precise with, swiping in the direction you want to move, making moving while attacking a difficult task.
The controls are done well, giving you a tap option, which lets you use the corners of the screen kind of like arrows, tapping on the bottom right to move the ninja right, and left to move left, and a swipe control that’s still kind of hard to be precise with, swiping in the direction you want to move, making moving while attacking a difficult task.
Enemies are spawned about halfway up the screen, and bounce along the ground, making you weave and dodge through them while trying to get to the blue orbs that come down from the sky as well. The orbs send you into an attacking flip where you can either run into enemies, or bounce off of them, chaining together combos for bigger and better groups of points. The more enemies you kill before touching the ground, the bigger your score.
The main enemies only need one hit in order to be killed, but occasionally, a more powerful enemy will bounce across the screen, and need 4 hits. These enemies that need more hits are great for bouncing on, killing all the one hit enemies in the process, shooting your combo score through the roof. There are also scrolls that drop once you hit a certain amount of points, and collecting them lets you use a power-up. To start off, you’ll get a tornado attack, which lets you spin up into the air, and then float there for a second, hitting enemies as they spawn, and then floating back down to the ground. If you store these power-ups, and another scroll falls, you’ll get some added health, which can really help extend your game quite a bit. You’re given 4 hits on your health bar before you die, so saving up the power-ups until you really need them is rewarded well.
GameCenter has leader boards for each of the 3 difficulties, Easy, Medium, and Hard, as well as a leader boards for how many enemies you’ve killed in one play-through on each difficulty, and one Ninja Score leader board, which is calculated from your Easy, Medium, and Hard scores to rank every player. There is plenty of variety once you get conformable with the game to push the fact that there is no change in the environment to the back of your mind. Different enemies and power-ups coupled with getting the best combo you can to drive your score up will be your main focus. For $0.99, and Universal, Fearless Ninja is a great casual arcade game that will also fit well on any hardcore gamers iDevice. The challenge is high, but like most high-scoring arcade games, the replay value is higher, and once you feel like you’ve mastered the game, it’ll still be able to beat up on you. Hopefully more modes will be added in the future to help give the game a bit more variety, but as it is now, it’s definitely worth the price of admission. If you’re still curious, you can check out the game for free on the developer’s website, inside the Unity player.
GameCenter has leader boards for each of the 3 difficulties, Easy, Medium, and Hard, as well as a leader boards for how many enemies you’ve killed in one play-through on each difficulty, and one Ninja Score leader board, which is calculated from your Easy, Medium, and Hard scores to rank every player. There is plenty of variety once you get conformable with the game to push the fact that there is no change in the environment to the back of your mind. Different enemies and power-ups coupled with getting the best combo you can to drive your score up will be your main focus. For $0.99, and Universal, Fearless Ninja is a great casual arcade game that will also fit well on any hardcore gamers iDevice. The challenge is high, but like most high-scoring arcade games, the replay value is higher, and once you feel like you’ve mastered the game, it’ll still be able to beat up on you. Hopefully more modes will be added in the future to help give the game a bit more variety, but as it is now, it’s definitely worth the price of admission. If you’re still curious, you can check out the game for free on the developer’s website, inside the Unity player.
Fearless Ninja gets a score of 7 out of 10.
Links;
Website – http://www.boxshapedgames.com/fearless/
Fractal Combat – Version 1.1 Update Released!
Fractal Combat, one of the best arial combat games in the AppStore, and one that I was given the chance to review last month, has just had it’s first update to version 1.1 – and damn, is it a nice one!
Version 1.1 has these new features;
– New, more challenging, bosses
– Improved user interface
– Added “Free Flight” mode
– Improved buttons layout on iPad
– Reduced shaking of controls
– Energy is now pulled towards the player
– Fixed bug about 500 enemies down achievement
– New Icon
The new bosses look great, and add a bunch to the already hectic action filled gameplay. As for the new user interface, if you’ve had Fractal Combat for a while, the level select screen might take you by surprise at first, I know it did me. But once you look around, you’ll see how improved it is. You can now see your scores and rankings for each level in each planet. Just tap on the planet in the top left, and all the levels show up on the bottom of the screen, with a list going down the right side of the screen with the rankings and scores for each level. This is awesome for being able to go back and replay the levels that you want to try and get better scores on, or to find that one level that you don’t have 3 starson yet. There is no more scrolling, and the whole look of it is a lot more cleaned up and organized.
The Free Flight Mode is a great addition, letting you visit each of the planets, and gives you an opportunity to play around with different ship set-ups without worrying about enemies. Here, you can master the thruster engines, or get a grip on the rotor powered ships, which in my opinion, are a bit harder to handle. But it’s worth learning how to fly them, as they have quite a bit more defensive strength. Also added is reduced shaking of the controls. This is a huge improvement, as there’s no longer noticeable shaking when you’re holding your device. It makes the flight aspect of the game a whole lot smoother, and in turn improves the gameplay experience.
Now, you are also able to fly by energy pick-ups without worrying about needing to go through them in order to pick them up. You can now fly over, under or beside the energy and it’ll be picked up by your ship. This helps a lot with focusing on the action at hand instead of keeping your eyes on the energy balls and not the enemies. It’s an awesome addition to the game.
Bottom line. If you don’t have Fractal Combat, the price has gone down to $0.99 permanently, and it’s now even better than it was before, you need to buy this game. It’s going to end up in my top 5 favorites of 2011 list for sure. Especially with the next update brining more features, larger enemy bases, more game modes, more game context, new weapons, new ships, and new worlds. The developer is also taking suggestions through a contact page on his blog, which can be found here – Fractal Combat Developers Blog – and is also a great place to stay up to speed with the new features being added to the game.
If you’d like to read the review from The App Shack, it can be found here – Fractal Combat Review – and if you’re ready to jump in and buy possibly the best arial combat game for the iOS for the amazingly low price of $0.99, you can get it here – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fractal-combat/id422010858?mt=8
Neon Thrust – 0.99 (shiny-games)
Neon Thrust is an action physics puzzler from shiny-games in which you’ll guide a little neon box, named Neo, through 60 levels while trying to collect each of the power crystals and make it back out of the levels before they explode. There are also green and red Neons to collect and avoid while navigating through each of the 4 zones.
The controls in Neon Thrust work exceptionally well, giving players a joystick and a thrust button. Moving the joystick in the direction you want to go, and then pressing the thrust button will give you a nice push in the desired direction. The thrust doesn’t last long after you let go of the thrust button, so navigating is done smoothly, and easily throughout the levels.
There are 60 levels, split up into 4 zones, giving us 15 levels in each of the different zones. The difficulty builds pretty slowly, giving players an opportunity to get a pretty good grip on the handling of the controls and physics within the game. The difficulty also climbs at a rate that will leave enough room for gamers to want to return to the first world of the game in order to try and better over all scores, and get the 3 star scores for each of the levels once they’ve gone through the game and can handle Neo with near expert precision. This, along with the GameCenter leader boards for each of the zones, and a total score, add a lot of replay value to Neon Thrust.
There are 60 levels, split up into 4 zones, giving us 15 levels in each of the different zones. The difficulty builds pretty slowly, giving players an opportunity to get a pretty good grip on the handling of the controls and physics within the game. The difficulty also climbs at a rate that will leave enough room for gamers to want to return to the first world of the game in order to try and better over all scores, and get the 3 star scores for each of the levels once they’ve gone through the game and can handle Neo with near expert precision. This, along with the GameCenter leader boards for each of the zones, and a total score, add a lot of replay value to Neon Thrust.While going through each of the zones, new obstacles will be added, like red walls that Neo can not touch, spots in the levels that either end up pushing or pulling gravity, timed lasers, doors that are triggered with switches, and more. The level design is wonderful, and the placement of each of the green and red Neons will leave even the most expert gamers wondering how to get through the level in the shortest amount of time while collecting all the required items in order to get the best score. In order to get 3 stars on a level, you must guide Neo through the level, collect all of the green Neons, avoid all of the red Neons, grab the power crystal, and make it back to the entrance/exit of the level before the timer that starts when you pick up the power crystal reaches zero.
Graphics in Neon Thrust are simple, and minimal, but work extremely well within the game. Neo, the green box that you guide around the levels, is a simple neon green with 2 white squares for eyes, and a white rectangle for his thruster. Each of the 4 zones is a different color, red, purple, brown, and turquoise, each with squares and sharp angles being the main visual theme. The walls are outlined in white, or red, red being the color that you can not touch while going through the levels, either with the walls, or the Neons. The graphics do come off as being retro inspired, but still keep a very modern look about them. This sort of graphical style is quickly becoming a favorite for me, not just throughout mobile iPod games, but with any console.
There is no music except for on the main menu, but the game does have some excellent sound effects. However, I did find the sound that’s made after you die and are given a ‘retry’ screen to be pretty annoying. It would have been much better if the level automatically restarted after each death, because each gamer will die quite a few times throughout the game. Having to hit ‘retry’ every 3 seconds in some areas really took away from the flow of the experience, though this is nothing too big, or really an issue for most people.
In the end, Neon Thrust is a great gaming experience. Wonderful level design with great obstacles and puzzles, along with quite a bit of action because of the timed aspect makes it a very enjoyable game. The addition of GameCenter was done very well, with each of the scores changing each time you do better on a level. This means that players can not simply play the first zone over and over again, and end up with the #1 score on the total leader board. You’ll need to play through each level in the game multiple times, and try and find the best possible route for Neo to take. 60 levels gives us quite a bit of content, but the levels are pretty short. However, more levels are coming in the future, and with the replay value being pretty high, the shortness of the levels shouldn’t really be a problem. Great graphics, and a very smooth gameplay experience make Neon Thrust a great buy at $0.99. If you’re a fan of action, puzzle, physics, or just all around good score driven games, it’s one that you should definitely check out.
In the end, Neon Thrust is a great gaming experience. Wonderful level design with great obstacles and puzzles, along with quite a bit of action because of the timed aspect makes it a very enjoyable game. The addition of GameCenter was done very well, with each of the scores changing each time you do better on a level. This means that players can not simply play the first zone over and over again, and end up with the #1 score on the total leader board. You’ll need to play through each level in the game multiple times, and try and find the best possible route for Neo to take. 60 levels gives us quite a bit of content, but the levels are pretty short. However, more levels are coming in the future, and with the replay value being pretty high, the shortness of the levels shouldn’t really be a problem. Great graphics, and a very smooth gameplay experience make Neon Thrust a great buy at $0.99. If you’re a fan of action, puzzle, physics, or just all around good score driven games, it’s one that you should definitely check out. Neon Thrust is getting a score of 9 out of 10.
Links;
Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/neon-thrust/id451117107?mt=8
Website – http://www.neonthrust.com/