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Gyro13 – 5.99 (Cinemax)

Gyro13 is a physics based helicopter arcade game developed by Cinemax. Within the game, you’ll pilot a steam powered helicopter through South American gyroxide mines while picking up stranded miners, and avoiding hazards, obstacles, and navigating through wind-gusts and sometimes extremely narrow paths. Gyro13 builds on old-school gameplay while using extremely polished graphics, and top notch physics.

Cinemax used the Unreal Engine to develop Gyro13, and it quickly joins the ranks of Dungeon Defenders and Infinity Blade in terms of amazingly beautiful graphics right at first glance. The environments are awe-inspiring, making it hard to go through the levels quickly. But since the atmosphere is toxic, you must get the miners to the safe-zone before they run out of air, and die.
Each of the 24 levels are designed brilliantly. The amount of thought that has gone into the path you will take while making it through level after level is insane. The hazards and objects that will make it harder for you to make it quickly through the mines are also very intelligently, and thoughtfully added, being placed and positioned with immense care. Big active windmills, huge pendulums quickly swinging, mechanical hammers, doors that require you to open them, mines that follow you along with mindfields to navigate through and gusts of wind that can send you directly into the side of the mines are just some of the objects you’ll need to maneuver our helicopter through.
Luckily, Gyro13 has great controls that make flying through even the more narrow corridors a task that can be accomplished even while rushing to the end of the level. You’re given a boost button, which, of course, boosts the rotation of your blades, sending you in the direction that you’re angled at, a slider bar that controls left and right movement, and a gun that gets rid of pockets of toxic gas, and mines, that‘s activated by touching anywhere else on the screen. These controls are, by default, boost on the left, slider bar on the right, but you’re able to flip these in the options menu. This set-up works exceedingly well, and actually gives players more control than you would think. Rushing through levels, you’ll end up narrowly escaping death hundreds of times, most of the time by almost running into an un-seen object. With the control set-up, you’re able to graze the sides of the mine, along with other objects, by flying at a tilted angle, using the objects to push you in the other direction by using the air pushed off of the propellers. Summed up, the controls work exceedingly well because of the top notch physics.
To top it all off, the soundtrack is astounding. I actually paused the game on levels 15 and 16 this morning, plugged my iPod into my stereo, and listened to the tracks on repeat for about an hour. The music adds so much to the feel of the game, it’s a shame I know a couple of people that are going to turn it off while they play just because they refuse to listen to any game music while playing games, but this is yet another game that will be added to my “I seriously hope they release the soundtrack on bandcamp or iTunes” list. The effects fit in with the music as well, the sound of the helicopter and the sounds for running into walls, machines, or picking up miners all fits in with the atmosphere that the music brings.
So by now, you probably think that Cinemax has paid me to write up this review, and might have blown me off as another sold soul, but I assure you, that is not the case. This truly is one of the best iOS games I have ever had the pleasure of playing. It’s incredibly immersive, has amazing graphics, superb animations, intelligent level design, great music, top notch physics matched with outstanding controls, and, of course, awesome gameplay. It’s no surprise that the game is $5.99. I really hope that more developers start putting this amount of work into their games, and bring us more console-like experiences on our handheld devices. The pricing doesn’t bother me at all when the game could be sold on Steam for double the price. Gyro13 is also universal, so you’ll be able to see all the amazing graphics the way they were meant to be seen on your iPad as well. Cinemax has definitely raised the bar for immersive iOS arcade gaming with this release. I really can not recommend it enough.
Gyro13 gets a perfect score of 10 out of 10.
Links:
Website – http://gyro13.com/

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September 25, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

Dodo Fly – 0.99 (Silver Delta)

Dodo Fly is a new arcade game from Silver Delta. In the game, you play as Dodo, a toy dolphin who has big dreams of reaching the real ocean, and becoming a real dolphin. Along the way, he’ll encounter loads of different toy enemies, along with a deadly shark that is hell-bent on making sure Dodo doesn’t get to become a real dolphin.

There are 8 levels in Dodo Fly, but each of them will take numerous play-throughs in order to beat. Each of the levels has a different environment, different enemies, and is set up so that you can memorize the level, and make it through getting the best score you can. It’s set up as a one-touch game, very accessible to casual players, but has enough challenge to keep even hardcore gamers interested and glued to the game til the end.
You’ll go through each level, slightly bouncing on top of the water, tapping the screen to jump and avoid enemies. There’s stars that are spread out through each level, and collecting these add to your score, and skill gauge. There’s also rockets, shields, and skill gauge booster pick-ups. There are 3 different skills that you can unlock and choose from in the main menu. One is a booster that lets you boost forward a little bit, knocking out enemies that are in the way. This skill is given to you at the beginning of the game. The second skill that you’ll unlock, when you reach 50,000 total points, is a submarine type power-up. When activated, you’ll end up in a large mechanical fish, able to plow through enemies, and jump in the air. The last skill you’ll unlock is given to you at 100,000 total points, and is an airplane. This sends you to the top of the level for a short period of time, making sure you will not come in contact will any enemies while it’s active.
The rockets are the most important items in the levels. They are set up and spread out so that you can stay on them, going from one to the next, with very well timed jumps. If you can manage to make it from one to the next without going back to the water, it will give you a score multiplier. The longer you stay jumping from one rocket to the next, the larger your multiplier will get. This is essential for scoring big. Once you’ve stayed in the air for a certain amount of time, hitting one or two rockets, you’ll get a burning type shield in front of you, which makes it so that you’ll knock out any enemies you come in contact with when hitting the water again. This is a very nice addition, because most of your deaths will be from coming back down after jumps, and hitting un-seen enemies.
Right now, the game is not supported by GameCenter or OpenFeint, and there are no in-game achievements. However, this doesn’t take away much from the replay value. The sheer amount of challenge in memorizing the levels well enough to beat all 8 of them will keep you going for quite some time. With the game being $0.99, it’s a great buy, and has a lot of potential. I really think an endless mode would add quite a bit to the game, as would online support, but as it is now, it’s definitely worth buying. Silver Delta has proven that they know exactly what it takes to make a casual game that will drive hardcore gamers crazy.
Dodo Fly gets a score of 7 out of 10.
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September 24, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

Invasion Earth: 1953 – 1.99 (285 Digital)

Invasion Earth: 1953 is an endless shoot-em-up developed by 285 Digital. This is their first real game that’s been released for the iOS, and boy is it a great one. The AppStore has desperately needed a quality endless shmup for a long time now. We do have Gunrazor, but really, after about Wave 5, it’s just not very interesting. Invasion Earth: 1953 has filled a void on our devices, and really, we couldn’t be more grateful for it.

The game takes place in 1953, after World War 2, when tensions were still high, and the threat of invasion, both from other countries, and from space, were on the minds of everyone in the world. You’ll take the reigns of a UFO going up against the military, blasting them all to pieces. And better yet, it’s endless, so the difficulty just increases as you progress. This makes it a great game for casual and hardcore shmup gamers.
The game’s upgrade system is given to us in the Tiny Wings style. You will need to complete 3 different objectives in order to gain a power-up that will help you go further in the game, and get higher and higher scores. There are 31 objectives, and 12 different power-ups. Sometimes giving you a stronger magnet that will pull items to you from further away, other times giving you stronger abilities, or a permanent additional life to sacrifice in-game.
While you’re flying through the city, destroying helicopters, planes, and various aircraft bosses, each of the enemies will give you stars when destroyed. These stars add to your score multiplier, and fill up your ability gauge. There’s also random enemies that will drop weapon upgrades, and these are always highlighted by a little arrow that says “pickup” hovering next to it. When they’re destroyed, they’ll drop a hexagon shaped orb, when picked up, your weapon will get stronger.
You will always have 3 abilities that you can use when your ability gauge fills up. You’ll be able to choose between Magnet Power, which automatically draws all stars straight to you when enemies are destroyed, Shield, which absorbs enemies projectiles, and Laser, which lets you drag your finger on the right side of the screen to control a large powerful laser, each lasting a short period of time.
While you’re traveling through the city, you’ll be able to go through bonus rounds. These sort of signify the end of a wave, and start the next one when completed. Each bonus round has a certain amount of stars that you’ll need to try and collect. There’s also a health pick-up somewhere in the bonus level, which will take some quick maneuvering in order to snag. Collecting all the stars in a bonus round will give you a special perfect bonus round bonus score, which also helps with climbing the leader boards.
The graphics in Invasion Earth are extremely polished, and presented very well. The planes are graphically made to look the time period, and the animations are awesome, especially the animations for enemies blowing up, and the UFO being shot down. The music also adds quite a bit to the edge of your seat feeling you’ll have when playing through the game. The controls are also done extremely well, giving a 1:1 relative touch control that works perfectly, along with a little hit box on the UFO that’s easy to see, and great to use while dodging through enemy fire. However, your ship does cover up enemies projectiles when going over them, so perfectly maneuvering through enemy fire can be difficult, though not impossible.
285 Digital has presented an extremely well made, and very polished, professional shmup. One that is endless, with the difficulty rising perfectly. Casual gamers, as well as hardcore players will find Invasion Earth: 1953 extremely entertaining, and very easy to pick up and play. Right now, later in the game, there is some slowdown. After you hit around 200,000 points, you’ll notice that the frame-rate gets a little out of hand, and there’s some noticeable lag and jitteriness. The developers have commented on this, and have said that they are working on a solution to the problem by staying in contact with the #1 score holder on GameCenter, so hopefully this issue will be addressed soon. Aside from that one issue, and the UFO covering up enemies projectiles when going over them, I can not find anything else wrong with the game. It’s got loads of style, an awesome scoring system, fantastic gameplay, 3 GameCenter leader boards, endless replayabilty, and personality out the kazoo. Being $1.99, it’s an awesome buy, and one that every shmup fan should get as soon as possible.
Invasion Earth: 1953 gets a score of 9 out of 10
Links:
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September 24, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

thingSOUP – 0.99 (Sherpa Reynolds) + Promo Codes

ThingSOUP is a climber/distance game developed by Sherpa Reynolds. When it first came out, there was a lot of great feedback on the pretty basic game in the Touch Arcade Forums, and since then, Sherpa has released the 1.0.1 update, giving the game more content, and more polish.

In the game, you’ll control the “thing”. A mysterious little creature that has been captured and taken down a large hole while he was out looking for food. Now he must try and make his way back up to the top, or else be trapped in the “soup” forever. To control “thing”, you’ll need to tap on the screen and hold down to stretch out his tongue, which he can attach to the mysterious balls floating in the air, then use them to fling himself up, then tilt your device to move him left and right. The longer his tongue gets before hooking onto an orb, the higher he will fling himself.
There are bits of orange putty throughout the environment, and when you pick up 5 of them, you activate a power up that lets you fly a good distance upward. There are also little orange putty flies that when eaten will let you use your arms to fly up about 3 or 4 times by pressing on the screen. Along the way there are also lizards on the sides of the hole’s wall that stick out their tongues. If you land on them, they give you a big boost upward. But there are also exploding orbs that leave pieces of themselves behind. If you get these pieces on you, it will slow you down, and make it so that you can not fling yourself up as high. Once you get about 3 or 4 of these pieces on you, you’re pretty screwed, especially after about a distance of 10,000, when the orbs are more spread out, and you need bigger flicks to keep progressing.
The graphics in thingSOUP are pretty nice. They look more like clay than anything else. You can tell that it’s not made by a big name developer, but it’s got loads of personality. I really like the graphics quite a bit. The animations, as well, don’t look like they’re done by a big name company, but they fit the graphical style. They’re not choppy, or poor in any way, and they do add life to the game, but this whole “armature” style of graphics might turn some people off. It is, however, something I’m pretty drawn to.
The music and effects play a bigger part in the game than you would think. Aside from adding loads of feeling to the atmosphere, they give you hints as to when enemies and helpers are coming up. Listening to the music can help you get further in the game. This addition, and use, of music, is awesome. I really do wish that more developers would do things like this.
GameCenter has also been added, giving players 2 different leader boards, one for Distance, and another for how much Orange Putty you’ve collected. There are also 16 achievements, most of which will give you a decent challenge. This addition of GameCenter has added quite a bit of replay value to the game. ThingSOUP is only $0.99, and has more content coming in future updates. The developer has said that more levels, along with more characters will be coming soon. This addition of new characters and levels will add a lot to the aesthetic, and gameplay, and I’m pretty excited about it. This is definitely one game that has left it’s mark on me, and I can’t wait for more content to be added, and am also very excited to see what Sherpa Reynolds will come up with for future games.
ThingSOUP is getting a score of 7 out of 10.
Links;

Sherpa Reynolds was also kind enough to give us 4 promo codes to post with this review – so we hope that you guys who do redeem these codes after reading the review enjoy the game!

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September 24, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

Devourer – 0.99 (Li Min)

Devourer is a new drag-collect-dodge arcade game from Li Min, in the same vein as Bit Pilot and Runaway UFO, but with more emphasis on collecting objects than dodging them, though the dodging element is still there. In Devourer, you’ll drag a black hole around the screen, sucking up all the green, blue, and yellow invaders, while avoiding the red ones. It’s a very simple game, but once you get into it, and understand the scoring, and start using the items in the shop, it becomes very addicting, and really, a very nice little arcade game.

The controls are set up nicely, using relative touch to control the black hole, meaning you can place your finger anywhere on the screen in order to drag the black hole around the screen. This makes it easier to see all the invaders around your black hole, and a whole lot more comfortable.
There are two different game modes in Devourer, Classic, and Survival. In Classic Mode, you’ll drag your black hole around the screen collecting the “normal”, or blue, invaders, which there are two different kinds, a regular invader, worth 20 points, and a type of super invader, worth 80 points, “bonus”, or green, invaders, which add 1 to your multiplier, and “bomb”, or yellow, invaders, that blow up everything on the screen. There’s also red, or “toxic” invaders. If you hit one of these, they will reset your multiplier, and drop you 100 points, along with coins that randomly appear on the screen, and give you 5 gold points. You’ll have 2 minutes to try and get the highest score you can, and can not die before the 2 minutes is up.
In Survival Mode, you’ll have all the same types of invaders, along with the random coins, and the goal is to not let any blue invaders escape the screen, and to not hit any red invaders. If you hit a red invader, or miss a blue invader before it disappears off the side of the screen, you’ll loose a life, and have 3 lives total. The amount of time you survive is your high score.
Both Modes let you use spells. Within the store, you can buy these spells, which can be equipped in the hotspots on the right side of the screen. Some of these include Shrink, which makes all of the invaders 30% smaller, Freeze, which slows down all the invaders, Slack, which reduces the rate of invaders by half, and many more. These power-up type spells will help out greatly when trying to achieve a high-score, though there are only a couple that will really, really get that high-score up when combined. For instance, I like to use Burst, which doubles the amount of invaders, Bless, which destroys all Toxic invaders, and prevents more from being spawned, and Double, which doubles the points. Using all 3 of these together will usually shoot your score up about 250,000 points, or more depending on when you use them. Each of the spells has a set amount of time that it will last, and you can only use the spells once after you buy them. This adds quite a bit of strategy to the gameplay, as you’ll need to find out what spells work best for your style of play, and when to use them.
The graphics in Devourer are done pretty well. There are movement animations for each of the invaders, making it look like they’re swimming through space. Along with the rock type soundtrack, it’s all got a pretty nice atmosphere. Considering this game comes from the same developer of Tap Burst, I’d say it’s quite a step up from the previous game, and has given me pretty high hopes for the future of Li Min.
With GameCenter and OpenFeint support, 2 leader boards, and 21 achievements that will take you quite a bit of time to unlock, and the two different game modes, Devourer has endless replay ability. The scoring system is set up very nicely, and the addition of the shop and toxic invaders add quite a bit of strategy to the game. It could use a bit more polish, and maybe more items in the shop, along with more enemy types, but for $0.99, it’s a great buy, packed with loads of action, and will give you hours upon hours of addictive gameplay.
Devourer is getting a score of 8 out of 10.
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September 20, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

QuBIT Gets a Major Update and Goes Free!

QuBIT, a crystal smashing, color matching racer from Secret Sauce Studios, just got it’s 1.2.0 update, and it’s a big one! This debut release from the UK company caught my attention the moment I saw the release trailer. I ended up staying up the night of it’s release to check it out, and even ended up updating my iPod from iOS 4.0 to iOS 4.3, which I previously swore I would never do for any game. But boy was I so happy that I finally did.

QuBIT turned out to be one of the best and most original racing games I had ever experienced. Everything from the graphics to the gameplay, scoring to the matching, down to the racing, I was completely hooked, and found it hard to play anything else for the first two weeks I had the game on my device. Then the obsession faded, like it does, until last Friday, the 16th, when Secret Sauce released it’s version 1.2.0 update, and the love affair was re-kindled.
Here’s a list of the new features;
–Retina Display Support
–New game mode, Surge
–2 new QuBOTs, QuBYT, and QuTI
–Solid Gold Plated Bot for those who bought the game before it went free back in July

and of course
–QuBIT is now FREE, with the new Surge Mode, and two new characters available through IAP.
Secret Sauce’s decision to make the previously $0.99 app, free, was not one that was taken lightly. Within the first week of the release, 50% of the activity on the leaderboards was from pirated copies. Cracked software has, is, and will always, be a problem for game developers, but it’s especially sad when it happens to such a great game made by such a great development team. With every issue brought up on the Touch Arcade and Secret Sauce Forums, the team has been there to swiftly and quickly address the issue, sending out a fix as soon as possible, and listening to what the gamers had to say.
So here’s hoping that the change to go free does help fight the onslaught of cracked copies, and those of you who bought QuBIT before it went free back in July, or even after it went free, only to see the part of the game that you paid for go free, will be glad to know that your money went back into the development of the game, and the in app purchase of the new Surge Mode, new characters, and unlockables, along with the Retina Display addition, is well worth another $0.99. Especially when coming from such a dedicated developer, who’s sure to put that money back into amazing, mind-bending games for it’s fans, and new-customers.
Be sure and check out QuBIT, now that’s free, you’ve got nothing to loose, except of course, for a buck that you’ll most likely end up spending on the Surge Mode once you get hooked on the Classic Mode that’s, to say the least, VERY addicting. We here at The App Shack wish Secret Sauce the best of luck with this new pricing set-up, and with the game, as it’s one of our favorites.
You can also check out the Secret Sauce team’s blog/forum/webpage at http://www.secretsauce.co/
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September 20, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

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.
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.
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.
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September 17, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

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.
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.
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September 17, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

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 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.
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September 17, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >

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.
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.
Fearless Ninja gets a score of 7 out of 10.
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September 15, 2011 Uncategorized 0 Read more >